Summer Surprise Pt. 04

Matt was surprised Chloe was wearing only shorts and a t-shirt with a light tan colored raincoat, although she also had a small bag with something else. This was a big deal. The Governor, members of the University of Wisconsin university system and a couple of other political big shots were going to be there. He thought Chloe would be wearing some sort of business attire or even what she wore to Monica's funeral, but she said she had her attire covered. It was her show, so he didn't question her decision.

They ate a light lunch, and Ethel said she'd feed everyone someplace after the Memorial.

Everything was going like clockwork and they were all at the Stadium early. Matt, Marty, Dianne and Yolanda went to meet the incoming busses and get everything needed for the production. Chloe and Ethel met with a couple of people to make sure everything was on track. The Governor's staff gave Chloe update statistics. Another of the victims of the attack had died in the hospital that morning. The totals were now 24 dead and 73 more wounded and hospitalized and hundreds of others traumatized, including the families of all the victims.

There was going to be a Minister opening with a prayer for all the victims, a speech by the Governor, a US Senator and the Mayor of Madison as well as President of Wisconsin-Madison. That's when Chloe's presentation would begin. Her eyes were red again, she'd spent some time weeping as she thought about what she was going to say and the person she was saying it for.

Matt, and Dianne returned and told Chloe everything was ready. She was with the other guest speakers. Marty was down on one of the goal lines with the mannequin covered by a blanket. The rest of the cast was down there with a microphone and stacks of red and yellow blankets and the other props. Chloe had her raincoat on, even though the day was sunny and warm.

"Aren't you going to be warm wearing that, Chloe?"

"I won't be wearing it much longer. Don't worry about it."

The program began a couple minutes after one PM. The prayer didn't take very long and the speeches from the assembled politicians were relatively brief as those things went. All of them were on the big scoreboard as they said all the right things about the terrible thing which happened one week ago during a peaceful protest.

The President of Madison introduced Chloe saying, "We have a student from Wisconsin-La Crosse here to talk about the victims of this crime. Ms. Chloe Hamilton was engaged to one of the victims."

Chloe stood up and moved to the microphone. Chloe appeared up on the scoreboard. "Good afternoon and thank you to everyone who came today to honor the victims of this tragedy one week ago. The Governor's staff informed me just prior to the program that we lost another life today. The total deaths so far are twenty-four dead, and seventy-three others who required hospitalization from either being struck initially by the truck ramming through the crowd, or the gunshots fired afterward.

"We will speak about everyone who were injured or died that day, but I would like to start with my fiancée, Monica Franklin, because I knew her the best. Monica realized she was a lesbian when still in high school, so she knew her sexual identity for the last six years. I was a little behind her. I didn't discover I was a lesbian until I was a sophomore in college. I knew there was something wrong with me. I was dating a wonderful man, but I couldn't love him the way he loved me. Then, I met a woman who turned my world upside down, because I knew then what I'd been missing. I dated a lot of women, but none who blew me away, until I met Monica.

"Monica decided she was going to spend some of her time at school helping to rally support for young lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and people questioning their sexual identity. She organized gay pride rallies at a lot of the schools in the Wisconsin University system. She knew our lives were difficult, not only when we came out, but all the time. Called names, spit on, attacked. She could point out lots and lots of statistics. Six hundred LGBTQ people killed over the last twenty years for nothing more than being different from the norm. Fifteen hundred attacked and assaulted every year for the same reason. I told her statistics don't mean anything to most people except statisticians. Nobody cares. I often wondered if everyone in the twin towers had been lesbian or gay, Osama bin Laden would still be alive because no one would have cared. 'It's just a bunch of queers. Big deal.' Of course, those statistics just got a whole lot worse this year. We'll have a nice little blip in the statistics. Or maybe it won't be a blip because attacks keep increasing on the LGBTQ population. Monica helped organize Monday's rally in support of our brothers and sisters here in Madison.

"I met Monica in June of last year when she came to a one woman show I performed whose title made her think I might be a gay basher. I wasn't and we quickly realized we were the perfect complements to each other and we decided to get married this July after we both graduated from La Crosse. Being relatively poor students, we couldn't afford anything fancy as engagement rings, so we gave each other spoon rings made from spoons we found at an antique store." She held up her hand. "Can you zoom in on this so everyone can see."

The picture zoomed in on Chloe's left hand ring finger, showing the spoon ring, then gradually pulling back.

"This ring will remain on me in some capacity for the rest of my life as Monica was the first love of my life. I'd hoped she'd be my last, but someone took that away from me. Her ring was buried with her this past Saturday in Milwaukee in a closed casket ceremony. I didn't come to Madison with her, because I was busy working on another show, or perhaps my parents would have buried me as well. This is a picture of Monica we had taken when we got engaged." A picture went up on the scoreboard. "Isn't she beautiful. She stole my breath away each time I looked at her. So why was it a closed casket ceremony? Because this is what she looked like when the police found her lifeless body."

The scoreboard changed again and the whole stadium gasped. It could barely be recognized as human, more like a pile of rags.

"What turned this beautiful woman I loved into the meat sack of bones you saw in the last picture? So smashed up her father of 21 years could barely make an identification? This."

The now famous overhead video showing the large pickup truck smashing into the crowd of people started and another collective gasp went up from the crowd. The video proceeded to a certain part and stopped. A circle appeared on the video, around a spot of blue in front of the truck.

"Police believe Mr. Harley accelerated his truck to 70 miles per hour as he hit the crowd. The truck started slowing as it hit people and began to roll over bodies. At the point it struck Monica, the truck was still going between 60 and 65 miles per hour. Her body flew 163 feet through the air to land somewhere behind the stage that you will see shortly in this video."

The video continued until the truck crashed into the stage and stopped again. The red circle followed the spot of blue as it moved through the air, landing off screen somewhere.

"One hundred, sixty-three feet. Some of you may not realize what that looks like. Marty, you're up. If you would please drag my Monica stand in to just a foot short of the 46 yard line on the opposite end of the field, we'll show the crowd, what a 163 feet looks like."

Marty uncovered the mannequin in the blue dress and dragging a sledge hammer and the mannequin moved over the fifty yard line to the opposite part of the field.

"Thanks, Marty. Now because that mannequin was not thrown there by the impact of a 3000 pound truck, we're going to demonstrate why her father had a hard time identifying her. One broken tibia, left leg."

Marty lifted up the sledge hammer and hit the mannequins lower left leg, smashing it. At the same time, Chloe snapped six pencils right next to the microphone causing the sound to echo around the stadium.

"Next we have two broken femurs, Marty, the big bones in the upper legs if you please."

He smashed the upper legs and Chloe broke another dozen pencils.

"Two fractures to the hips, Marty." Two more blows, another dozen pencils. "Two ribs on the left side where her heart was, Marty." Two more blows, more snapping. "One rib on the right side." Smash, snap. "Upper arm, right side." Smash, snap. "Clavicle on the left side." Smash, snap. "Wrist, left side." Smash, snap. "And two fractures of the skull, Marty." Marty caved the mannequins head in. Snap, snap. "There were lots of smaller bones, a total of 35 fractures in all, but who's counting. It's only a number, another meaningless statistic."

The stadium was silent.

"That's why her father had a hard time identifying her. One of the reasons he could was because of the ring she wore. The ring I gave her."

Chloe finally took off the raincoat, and under it, she had the blue dress Monica had been wearing at the rally. It wasn't blue anymore.

"This is the dress my beloved was wearing, the blue dress in the video." The scoreboard picture showed Chloe again, tears in her eyes, wearing Monica's dress. "As you can see, it's no longer a nice sky blue color. Lots of blood and organs and brain material will do that to a dress, mess it up a little."

Another gasp.

"I now direct your attention to the scoreboard again."

The video started up and a figure got out of the truck and started shooting with an automatic pistol in each hand, continuing until the he was killed by a policeman on the scene. The scoreboard went dark for the moment.

"Not content with ramming his truck into the crowd, Mr. Harley got out of the truck and started shooting at anything that was still moving, and even some who weren't. I'd like to say we had a lot more video of the event, but out of four network TV stations in Madison, only one was covering the rally. A gay pride rally isn't newsworthy until someone tries to kill everyone in it. That finally got everyone's attention. What is it going to take to get our country's attention, the world's attention? How many more people will need to die?"

Chloe left the microphone, walked down onto the field and kissed the broken mannequin, then covered it with a red cloth. As soon as she did that, Yolanda stepped up to the microphone on the goal line. A photo showed up on the scoreboard, a mother and child.

"My name is Shanequa Roberts. I was attending the rally a week ago with my nine month old son, Jamal. I'm not a lesbian, but I wanted to support my brother, Dedrick, who is gay. The truck failed to strike me last Monday, but as I was trying to protect Jamal, I was hit with two bullets fired from his gun. One of the bullets penetrated me and killed my son, who didn't live to see his first birthday."

Yolanda left the microphone carrying the doll that was purchased, grabbed two red cloths. She walked out to the ten yard line, set the baby down and covered it, then laid down and covered her body.

Another person was at the microphone as she walked, and a new picture went up on the screen, the voice saying, "My name is Michael Downing. I was in pre-med, planning on getting my medical degree and studying epidemiology to prevent the next wave of pandemics like the bird flu. I'm not gay, but a friend of mine is. I was showing my support for my friend. I was run over and died instantly. I suppose someone else will have to cure people."

He went out with a red cloth, walking a little farther than Yolanda, lying on the ground and covering himself with a red cloth as yet another person took the microphone and another picture showed up on the screen.

"My name is Nick Falde. I was studying physics, interested in the fundamental building blocks of the universe. I came out as gay two months ago and was attending my first gay pride rally. I was struck by the truck, suffering two broken legs and shot twice as I tried to crawl away. My parents were proud of me and willing to support my choices for myself. Not everyone felt I should be able to love who I want."

He grabbed a red cloth and went out on the field, another person taking his place and another face on the screen.

"My name is Linnea Mainquist. I'm a lesbian who married my sweetheart a month ago. I'm in the hospital on life support after suffering a broken spine and collapsed lung after being struck by the truck. I was a registered nurse in the critical care ward I'm now lying in. I'll never walk again. My spouse is the doctor who now looks after me." She grabbed a yellow cloth and went out onto the field covering herself with it.

Over and over, on and on it went. Each of the people who'd died or been injured having their picture shown as one of the cast members read their story, then took their place out on the field, covered by a yellow or red cloth, depending upon if they'd died or been injured. Every story short, but meaningful, often talking about the people left behind. Halfway through, there wasn't a dry eye in the stadium. As the field became littered with more and more bodies, they took up more space on the field. As the last five people began speaking and moving out, Chloe moved back to her microphone.

The last person moved out onto the field, ninety seven colored cloths covering the green football field in swaths of yellow and red.

"As you've just seen and heard, none of these people had ever killed anyone or done harm to anyone. Some of them were already professionals, some students, some gays, some straight, some too young to even make a choice about what they wanted to do in their life. What brought them together last week was the conviction that it didn't make any difference who you loved, or why, but that you should get to make that choice for yourself and express your love freely with whomever you wanted.

"Mr. Harley felt differently. We don't know the exact reasons why as he never told anyone why. But he disagreed with the premise we all deserve to love someone. Rather than initiate a dialogue, he decided to kill as many of these horribly bad people as he could before dying himself. There have been microphones set up at the bottom of each tier. If you wish, you may tell everyone here why you came to this Memorial today to recognize the people who were killed."

Ethel was already standing at one, prepared. "My name is Ethel Thornhill, sister of William Thornhill. I am coming out as a lesbian today. I came because Monica Franklin was helping me with the decision of whether or not I wanted to continue hiding my identity from all the people I love. I met with Monica several times and she was one of the nicest people I've ever met. I will miss her and the advice she gave me greatly."

Georgina immediately took over the microphone. "My name is Georgina Sanders. I'm a bisexual, preparing to marry Ethel Thornhill. Chloe Hamilton is like a daughter to me and I met and interacted with her fiancé, Monica many times in that capacity. I was looking forward to seeing them married."

Matt jumped in. "My name is Matt Sanders. I'm heterosexual. I was Chloe's last boyfriend before she discovered her sexual identity. We remained friends and I was going to be Best Man at her wedding with Monica. I loved them both dearly."

"Hello, my name is Dianne Rogers. I'm a heterosexual and I was Chloe and Monica's roommate. Monica was one of the nicest people I've ever met. I stand for the right of people to freely choose who they are and who they love."

"Our name is Ben and Mary Jane Hamilton and we initially refused to accept our only daughter was a lesbian, but when we met Monica and saw how much joy she gave our daughter, we knew we had to accept the truth. We would have been proud to have Monica as our daughter-in-law."

By this time, other people had reached the various microphones and started to speak. Parents, siblings, friends, neighbors, all chose to stand and say why they were there, the voices running over each other as more and more people chose to speak, and it didn't matter. Some were gay or lesbian, most were not. Several hundred chose to testify that day.

When it was all over the Governor got up to speak. "The Wisconsin Legislature has authorized, and I just signed into law a proclamation declaring April 15 to be Monica Franklin Day, a day to recognize the struggle of the LGBTQ community and all who have died in the struggle for their rights here in Wisconsin."

Chloe collapsed to the ground, crying, and the last thing anyone saw on the big screen before it went dark was her crumpled form sobbing her eyes out, before four helping hands helped her to her feet, hugging her. When she'd gotten most of her sadness out, she changed out of the blue dress and put on the other clothes she'd brought with her, Dianne helping to wipe her off.

******

Everyone, including Monica's parents were in the stretch limousine heading to the airport after the dinner at the fine restaurant where she'd hired an entire room.

Chloe was sitting between her parents and Monica's, still crying on occasion now that she didn't have to hold everything together.

"Ethel, you arranged for that proclamation, didn't you?" Chloe asked.

"Some political contributions do help in greasing the wheels of politics," Ethel said kindly, holding Georgina's hand. "The television stations should send you digital files containing all the coverage from today's event. I was thinking perhaps some type of documentary, submitted to Sundance or SXSW for consideration for some of their prizes. I know you will be busy the next couple weeks, but expect to see some video processing equipment and a powerful computer for editing to arrive in the next few weeks."

Chloe started crying some more and crossed the car to hug Ethel. "Thank you. I wanted Monica to be remembered always, and you're making sure she will be. I couldn't ask for a nicer gift."

"And I couldn't ask for nicer friends. It's out now, and I'm sure there will be adjustments once word gets around I'm a full blown lesbian, but I'll have you to back me and support me as I go forward; all of you. Ben and Mary Jane, I've arranged for a helicopter to take you back to Manitowoc. Cassandra and Paul, tickets to Milwaukee are relatively easy to get. You're booked on the next American Airlines out. You five will go back to La Crosse on Bill's jet. It should be a quick trip."

At the airport, they all said goodbye to each other. Chloe hugged Monica's and her parents goodbye, thanking them for all the help they provided.

When they got back to the apartment, all three of them took a shower together, and went to Dianne's bed.

"Can you make love to me tonight, Dianne? I need it so much."

"Of course, Chloe, whatever you need."

Dianne got over Chloe in a sixty-nine, and as they pleasured each other, Matt would stroke Dianne's ass, and occasionally kiss her, tasting Chloe on her lips. When they finished, Dianne rode his cock while Chloe rode his face. Better times were had by all after all the pain of the day.

******