Two of the Lucky Ones

 

Two of the Lucky Ones

(Manuel Hipólito Soler)

I

It had been a hot afternoon at the camp zones at the outsides of the city. Kimberly Hitchcock wished to finish the conversation at the campfire, but she didn’t want to go to sleep. Instead, she strongly wanted to get rid of all her classmates, except for one, who was very special.

Kimberly knew Janet Lewis since both were sixteen years old. Both were, at that time, the newest girls in the classroom, due to that their families decided to move and transfer them to a new school.

The first day, she thought that she was going to be alone until she could get on well with her new classmates, but it was a very big surprise to meet Janet and notice, after talking to her, that she also was new at school.

They soon became very good friends, but there was a problem: Kimberly wanted to be something more than just a friend to Janet. She knew, thanks to certain rumors, that it was possible that Janet also was lesbian like her. She was there wanting everybody to go to sleep, except for Janet.

She spent almost all of High School waiting for a moment like this one. Of course, she also did all the effort to study, concentrate and learn. She thought of starting the career of an English teacher at a teacher training college.

For her, books and school were an eternal part of life. She desired to be a good teacher, work with children and teens, and she also thought of improving her Italian and her German in order to also be able to teach foreign European people.

Janet was lesbian, like Kimberly. She liked books as Kimberly, but she also liked to go to concerts. She even invited Kimberly to watch a live performance of The Sounds once, but Kimberly couldn’t go because her parents didn’t let her go.

Both girls were worried about what the others would think about them. Times had changed; however, many people continued talking about that kind of love and relationships as mental disorders, or as the Devil’s mark.

Finally, almost all the other guys and girls went to sleep. Was it going to be Kimberly’s chance? Could it be Kimberly’s happiest school camping after finishing high school and before beginning college?

She made a sign to call Janet to come closer, and then invited her to walk a little. They asked permission from Mark, one of the teachers who were in charge of looking after the students all night.

- Janet, I’d like to tell you something.

- What’s going on Kim?

- Well, do you remember that first school day when we met? And all our friendships until the present?

- Mmm, yep.

- Did you know that you have been one of my best friends all these years? I really like to spend time with you.

- Me too.

- I was dying to say this to you for a long time. Did you notice that I have never had a boyfriend? And you know what? I…

- You don’t like men, right?

- Well, yeah. And I have a lot of good friends, both men and women, but you are really special to me.

- You know what? I also was dying to say the same thing to you.

Kimberly felt something like a bliss impulse. She felt like she was swimming at the beach, having a great time.

- So, we are much more than just friends, right?

- I love you, Kim. Each time I see you, I feel more than happy. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s like I had butterflies in my stomach.

- So, do you remember when we wanted to go to The Sounds’ show? Sadly, I couldn’t. But I tell you by the way, that The Sounds is one of my favorite bands to listen to. I listen to them in my little free time while I draw or write things in my journal. I also listen to them to recover when I am sad about something.

Kimberly joined hands with Janet, whose eyes were starting to drop small tears.

- Janet, what’s happening Darling?

- Is it just that I love you! And I confess to you that that day when we met for the first time at school was a wonderful day for me because finally, I could have someone special in my life, apart from a lot of new friends. When we moved, I hoped to get a happier life.

- What do you mean with a happier life?

- Forget it! I don’t want to ruin this moment with stupid and ugly bad memories!

- Janet, please, tell me, what happened? I mean, having someone special as a girlfriend or couple is like having family or good friends, that’s to say, you should count on them to help you.

- You are like an angel Kim.

- Oh come on Darling, it’s just that I can’t see you that way.

- Well, before knowing you, I had few friends. I was too shy, and many girls made fun of me. Some of them knew that I was lesbian and bullied me for that. Sometimes the cruelest of them said things like “oh, here comes Mister Johnny-Janet Lesbian Lewis” when they saw me coming.

Kimberly’s eyes began to drop some little tears too.

- I understand. I was quite lucky because my family accepted me as I was, though they didn’t let me go to that show with you, maybe because they knew or suspected something. However, I can’t say the same about my past classmates. I had never talked openly about it, but they knew it I don’t know-how.

- And I don’t know why they hate us for being who and what we are. It’s ok if they don’t like it. I am not asking them to accept and enjoy something they don’t like, but why can’t they tolerate us and leave us alone? Simply leave us alone, so we can enjoy or suffer all by ourselves.

- “Live and let live”. I wish it could be possible.

Suddenly, teacher Mark appeared and told the girls that it was too late and it would be better if they returned to the camp and went to sleep. While they were returning, Janet came closer to Kimberly and whispered something in her ear.

II

One week later, the ultimate school trip had ended, and Janet was trying to enjoy her holidays before starting her college studies. She had planned to become a psychologist. She wanted to help people. During a big deal of her life she had suffered different issues and challenges, like bearing the pain of being rejected and spending time alone.

Of course she also had happy moments, like when she went to listen to live music, or mainly when she was with Kimberly or with her best friends. But she knew sadness. And that was the reason for her to be a psychologist. 

“I want to help people. Everywhere there are people hurt, who need someone to guide them to a better road. Actually, almost nobody really deserves to bear all that pain and sadness” she used to think to herself. 

“It’s ok Janet. You know what? At a certain point, madness is like gravity, you only need a push, and society is like an asylum whose guards are the cops” said George, one of her cousins, who showed her some songs like Welcome Home Sanitarium by Metallica. She liked that song a lot, though she used to prefer other kinds of rock music. 

She whispered to Kimberly that they would continue talking mainly by phone, but they wanted to visit each other often, before they had to leave the city to go to study.

“I’ll record her a CD” she thought at that moment. A homemade mixtape CD could be more special than an original one, because it could have all the magic and love of selecting certain songs for someone. 

“Oh Kim, I’ll also buy a CD box and decorate it with a photo of ourselves”. “It will be that one when we went to the amusement park with Gary and Peter, and you’ll love it”. 

Meanwhile, at Hitchcock's residence, Kimberly was drawing something in her journal. At the beginning, she was simply scrawling, later she drew some hearts, and a beautiful butterfly. 

“It’s like that, when love is so deep and true, it can be something like a butterfly” She thought, “we begin being like a little ugly worm, and moments later, after being isolated in ourselves, we are free to fly and enjoy, having colors in our beautiful wings”, she continued thinking. 

“It’s like The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Yes! How right were those who stated that childhood should be happy and innocent but at the same time it is like a preparation stage before all the madness, sadness and confusion of surviving in this world!” she continued thinking. 

“I’ll write her a poem,” she concluded. Looking through her room’s window, she could watch how it was starting to rain. She was really moved, the rain was really touching to her heart. So, she started to write.

“Out in the street is raining,

Inside myself my heart is crying, 

My heart is crying because it has

To blossom without you. 

How I would enjoy a last dance

With you, my Darling. 

When I see your eyes, I feel 

Like we are the lucky ones.

We are the lucky ones who can

Stand together, running through these

Everlasting beautiful fields,

Where we would like to 

Run and catch the sky.

Certain people say that we are

Crazy, doing what we are doing,

Certain people say that we are crazy 

Being what we are, but I would

Like to ask them: 

It’s so Terrible and bad to be mad? 

They can hurt us, but Darling don’t worry

They can hurt us, but Darling don’t cry

They can try to spill our blood and steal our light,

But love wins, love always wins,

And thanks to love we are the lucky ones”.

III

Six years later, Kimberly was returning home from a busy day at one school. Now she was living in another city, and she attended different schools as a teacher. While she was driving, she was listening to music on her car’s radio. She often listened to news and talk radio programmes, but she also liked to listen to some of her favorite CDs on Fridays’ evenings.

She usually enjoyed listening to beautiful classical music, jazz and similar songs from films and tv shows’s soundtrack, but that evening she was listening to Janet’s gift CD. That one also contained great songs, mainly of The Sounds, such as No One Sleeps When I Am Awake, Night After Night and Dance With Me, along with more very nice songs like Imagine by John Lennon, In The City by Joe Walsh and finally it finished with Two Of The Lucky Ones by The Droge & Summers Blend. 

The last song was the most special. It reminded Kimberly of the poem she had written, and other things like the last goodbye kiss which she had with Janet. Now, she had a whole life ahead, working at school. And curiously, she didn’t have more news about Janet, who had stopped writing messages. 

However, that Friday evening was one of the happiest moments of her life. Why? Because when she arrived home, she saw her special girl. Her Darling had moved and researched where she lived. 

“Kim, I moved, and I opened my new consulting room very near here” said Janet. So, between tears of happiness, Kimberly went to hug her. From that day, it didn’t matter if it was raining; they always had sun in their hearts. They were two of the lucky ones.