Prejudice and Pride

Papa Don't Preach

"Maisie? Maisie? Maisie, do you hear me calling you, girl?"

Maisie's eyes fluttered as the sound of her mother's voice brought her back to the present. Her mind had been a million miles away.

"I'm sorry, Mama, did you say something?"

Rebecca Evans huffed in exasperation.

"What on earth has gotten into you? I've been calling for you for 20 minutes to come set the table for supper."

"Yes ma'am," she nodded and hurried to the kitchen.

Rebecca and Hattie were putting the finishing touches on the family meal. Meat Loaf, corn, and mashed potatoes. Once the table was set, the reverend joined them. The family bowed their heads as he blessed the meal with the grace. It was tradition. Prayer before a meal, eating in silence, and afterwards, discussing the events of the day.

"What's wrong with your food?" Hattie inquired.

"What?"

"You're not eating. You're just picking away at it."

All eyes were on Maisie.

"Nothing's wrong," she cleared her throat, nodding an apologetic acknowledgement towards her mother. "Everything is delicious."

For emphasis, she shoveled a forkful of meat into her mouth and forced a small smile before putting her head back down. She couldn't stop thinking about Kai and the events that had transpired just two short days before. College in itself had opened a whole other door of life but hearing about Kai's sexuality had been mind blowing. It had been hard to think of anything else, actually. She hadn't been able to understand why someone had chosen that life. To her, it was disturbing. It was a sin. And why would anyone deliberately choose to sin against God?

LGBTQ. Pansexual. None of it made sense. It gave her a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. If Kai was really like that, what would it even mean for their friendship? Could they still be friends? After all, that is what they had been building towards...a genuine friendship. It was something Maisie had been wanting more than anything. She didn't have friends outside of her church community. College was important to her. She was meeting new people. Because of her strict religious background, it had been expected that other people would be different. Didn't she have an obligation to Christ to love everyone and treat them equally, even if they lived and loved differently from her? Or was that accepting and condoning sinful behavior? It was all so confusing. Even more confusing was that she still liked Kai. She still wanted to be her friend. After all, Kai was still the same person she was when they had first met.

As distracted as she was, Maisie forced herself to join the family conversation. A smile and a nod ever so often at least made it look like everything was okay. Afterwards, they enjoyed home baked, fresh peach pie with ice cream. When dessert was over, just like every other night, the daughters cleared the table as their father retreated into his study for quiet time.

"Papa, can I talk to you for a minute, please?" Maisie interrupted with a knock.

He looked up over his reading glasses and put the Bible down. Nodding, he gestured for his middle daughter to come into the room.

"You looked troubled," he noted.

She shrugged it off.

"Not really. I, um, I just kind of had a question about some things."

His eyes narrowed.

"What things?"

She took a deep breath. Her father had been so worried about her going to college. He had been so opposed to her being exposed to sin. She needed his wisdom as a father and as a man of the cloth but didn't want to make him angry.