Chapter 2
Sixteen years ago…
Cinching the jacket around her waist as she race walked down the empty hall to the front office, Leah hoped the toilet paper she’d wrapped around the crotch of her panties would hold up until she got pads from the nurse. She’d told her father’s wife that she was running low on the hygiene products, but as usual, nothing she said mattered. Her flighty younger sister refrained from keeping any of the necessities in her locker, fearing that someone passing by might notice the items and mock her and Leah didn’t have any close female friends at the school she could turn to in a jam. Leah’s period wasn’t due until the weekend and she would be spending it with her uncle and grandma who would make sure she had the items she needed, but mother nature had other plans.
After pulling open the glass door, Leah walked up to the desk and waited for the desk clerk to finish her phone call. “Can I help you?” asked the woman behind the wraparound counter in the high school’s front office. Her pinched expression told Leah she’d rather be anywhere but dealing with her, the ringing phone in the background or the chirping coming from the walkie talkie on the desktop.
“I need to see the nurse,” Leah said, keeping her tone as light and respectful as she could, not wanting to give any attitude that would cause the prickly woman to dismiss her. Although she was a good student and hadn’t caused a problem for anyone, being a Black student in a predominantly White school attended by the children of many of the affluent members of Nelson, South Carolina, she knew it only took one wrong move to be labeled a problem. And with her father being one of the most well-known pastors in the state, she was cautioned that she represented her family every time she stepped out of her door and to act accordingly.
“She’s not here, honey. Won’t be in the office until after lunch.”
“Okay.” She concealed her dejection with a tight smile as she stepped away from the desk. “I’ll come back later.”
As she walked down the hall back to her study hall, she promised herself she wouldn’t cry even as her vision began to blur with tears. She’d just make due with toilet paper until after lunch. She had clean underwear in her personal refresh kit, so all would be well in a couple of hours. Her uncle D was out of town on business or he would have been her first call. The man would drop everything to see that she had what she needed. She knew after this weekend, this wouldn’t be an issue. But that was two days away and her father’s wife would probably still play deaf to her plight. Maybe she could beg enough pads from the nurse without setting off alarm bells. If the nurse got the idea she was in any way being neglected, it could signal an investigation and embarrassing her family would be upsetting to her father and his wife.
“Excuse me.”
Leah looked up from her tan saddle shoes to the tall, curly haired boy standing at an open locker on the other side of the wide hall. Noah Wesley. He was a senior, two years ahead of her and captain of the Leddel High School wrestling team. “Are you talking to me?”
“Yeah.”
They didn’t run in the same circles. Actually, Leah ran in no circles. As a PK, she was seen as one of two extremes, a holy roller that didn’t socialize or a closet freak. She was neither, but the longer skirt she was forced to wear by her father’s wife after his insistence, and her zero social life, she was staunchly pigeonholed in the former category. Which made Noah talking to her all the more unusual. What could he want to talk to her about? “What do you need?”
“I don’t mean to pry but, uh, I noticed that you have your jacket tied around your waist and I wondered if you needed any help.”
“Huh?”
She watched as he turned back to his locker, reaching up on the small top shelf with ease. “I have four sisters and I kinda recognized the signs.” Her ears detected a bit of a country twang, different from the accents prevalent in South Carolina. When he turned back to face her, a small pink and green box filled his hand. “You can have the box.” This big country White boy was offering her a box of tampons. When she made no move to accept the box, she saw him hesitate. “If you don’t need them…I just assumed. Like I said, I have four sisters and…”
“No, thank you,” Leah said, taking the box with shaky fingers. She had no idea how to use them, but the box was unopened and she could hopefully follow the instructions. Right now, this was her only option. “Thank you. Really. I appreciate it. The nurse is out and…” She was rambling, as if she owed him an explanation.
“Glad I could help,” he said, giving her a small smile.
She waved awkwardly as she walked away, her destination, her locker to grab her refresh kit then to the girls’ restroom. In the dimly lit stall, Leah tore into the small box, eager to access its contents. She unfolded the small, printed instructions, her attention focused on the images provided for the use of the products. After a false start, she managed to get the hygiene item inserted and the relief and pride she felt was palpable.
As Leah added a few tampons to her refresh kit, she felt as if her life had just been turned upside-down. The feeling of not walking around wearing something tantamount to an adult diaper was freeing. But she also knew she couldn’t tell anyone save her uncle about this. Since she began having periods at the age of thirteen, her father’s wife was responsible for supplying period products for her and had made it clear that tampons were not to be used by unmarried women. The woman had intimated that the introduction of an item into the vagina would encourage sexual activity. She couldn’t turn to her younger sister with her new discovery, even if Rachel could benefit from it. She was her mother’s biggest fan and considered the woman’s word law. No, this act of liberation would have to remain her secret.
***
“That day changed my life, Noah.” Leah watched as he took a sip of his Arnold Palmer with his long legs stretched out sitting across from her in the booth. When they exchanged info yesterday in the parking lot, she didn’t expect him to reach out that same evening asking if they could meet up. Because he had a pressing engagement, he wasn’t able to linger yesterday evening, but he wanted to talk with her. He wanted clarification on how he’d managed to have an effect on the life of a virtual stranger.
The quiet of the skating rink at this time of day contrasted with the anticipation of the Wednesday night crowd. Later on, it would host 80s night, and the wood floor would be filled with people moving around the rink under multicolored lights and pulse pounding music.
“Foxy, I am glad I could help. I remember that day but if I’d known it was you…”
“Like I said, I was a late bloomer so I wouldn’t have been on your radar. And you wouldn’t have been on mine because I’m a PK.”
“PK?” he asked, obviously never having heard the abbreviation.
“Preacher’s kid.” She took a sip of her tea, enjoying the feeling of warmth that bled into her palm. “And you reaching out to a girl who you had no interest in other than to help, that says a lot about you.”
“Like I said before, I have four sisters. My dad reared me that way.”
“Well, he should be proud, Texas.”
“I will be sure to pass that along to him. At least he’ll know some of the things he taught me stuck. Now,” he said, placing down his half empty glass, “how did you ever come to own a skating rink?”
“One of the ways I’m healing my inner child,” she chuckled. “As a PK, there were a lot of things I didn”t get to do until I was out of my father’s house. Going to the local skating rink was one of them.”
“Kinda sheltered, huh?”
“Oh yeah. Long skirts, at church at least three times a week, no boys, no secular music, no prom. Oh, no tampons. The list goes on and on.”
“Wait? Is that what you meant by the day changing your life?”
“Oh, yeah. I know you don”t have to use them, but tampons were like freedom from a prison. And I’ll let you in on how else you changed me. There was, and to some degree, still is a stigma about women wearing tampons, so I had to sneak to use them. Only my Uncle Dayo knew because he would buy them for me.” Leah was afraid to use them in her own home because she knew how closely Theresa Vines watched Leah and anything she did. She couldn’t run the risk of a wrapper being discovered in her trash can.
She eventually started planning to spend the week of her period at her grandmother’s home. “I promised myself that girls in my community wouldn’t have to be at the mercy of school nurses. I started with the youth camp I attended when I was younger. It’s for “future church leaders.” I rallied to have our local delegation start a grant for feminine products that are supplied directly to the girl’s bathrooms in all the public schools in the county. I’m still working to get this implemented statewide.”
“And all of that happened because I gave you tampons?” Shock colored Noah’s face.
“The butterfly effect.” Leah had to fight tooth and nail, mostly against the older women in leadership of the group, her father’s wife included, to get the item even brought up on the board’s meeting calendar. Once she got the request before the board, it was smooth sailing. It turned out that the men of the council didn’t have the same hang-ups as their female counterparts. “That one small act of kindness started it all.”
“I’ll definitely have to tell my dad about that. And if he doesn’t believe me, I may need you to bear witness for me.”
“Is that your way of asking me to meet your daddy?”
“It’s a roundabout way of asking you on a date, Foxy.” He gave his cheek a scratch and she could hear the scruff against his fingers. She’d bet the sting would feel amazing against the tender flesh of her inner thighs.
Leah had planned to be unencumbered for the summer. She’d only been out of her relationship with Giles for six months and she wasn’t sure she was ready to risk her single status. “I’m not interested in a relationship.”
“I don’t recall asking for your hand.” He palmed a large handful of apple pie popcorn and started tossing the kernels into his mouth. “This is damn good.”
“Thanks. It’s my own recipe.”
“So, now that we are clear that I won”t be outside your window serenading you like some lovesick boy, will you go on a date with me?”
“Why not,” Leah shrugged. “Could be fun.” Hella fun, she thought as she eyed the tall, broad drink of water before her. Noah had been an attractive boy in high school. She remembered hearing girls titter over the star athlete, droning on and on about his good looks and hard body. Teenage Noah couldn’t hold a candle to the man sitting across from her. His curly hair had grayed at the temples, but if she remembered correctly, there were sprinkles of silver at the sides of his head in high school. He’d grown about three or so inches and his thick wrestler’s frame had filled out even more. The feeling of hard muscles under her fingers as her arms circled his chest had been heady. If things went well, maybe she could look forward to becoming further acquainted with his body.