Dar snorted. "We donate." She lifted a hand. "They want more, they can come do my job and then they can take what they want. Screw that."
"That's right," Kerry said. "We've never said no when David's called us."
"Hey!" Rachel edged back a little. "I didn't say that's what we thought. I just said maybe that's what they think, you know? I mean, your paycheck's your own, yeah? Like all of ours is." She shrugged. "Some people get really jealous when they see someone who has stuff they don't."
"Give me a break." Dar picked up her YooHoo and took a sip.
Kerry sucked at her beer, a look of wry cynicism crossing her face. "Isn't that the truth. I've had to deal with that since I was in frilly Pampers." She sighed. "But you know what, my family only has money. I earn mine."
Lori perched on the arm of the chair her partner was sitting in. "What exactly do you guys do, anyway?" she asked, tactfully steering the conversation down a different track. "Investment banking?"
Dar settled back and extended her legs out, crossing them at the ankles. "We're nerds," she explained briefly.
"Nerds?" Rachel laughed. "You're kidding me. Really?"
Kerry nodded. "Really. Regular, ordinary, working nerds," she added. "Besides, we do our part here. I'm working with those kids every week, and Dar..." She glanced at her partner, who smiled faintly. "Dar shows up and looks great, and doesn't get mad at me for dragging her in here all the time."
"Heh," Dar responded.
"You could join our community action group," Lori suggested. "We've got a lot of stuff planned for this year...lobbying and all that. Bet you're good at it."
"Bet I'm not," Dar said. "Thanks, but no thanks."
Both women across from them looked uncomfortable at that, Kerry noticed. But it was the truth, and she knew Dar generally refused to sugarcoat her answers. "Honestly, our schedule doesn't permit either of us a lot of slack in doing organized things," Kerry said. "We never know when we might have to travel, or get stuck late taking care of a problem."
"Okay, just a suggestion," Lori said. "I'm getting another beer. Want one?" she asked Rachel.
"Sure."
Lori got up and left. Kerry used the slight pause to finish up her beer, and note that Dar had done the same with her YooHoo. "Want another one?" She indicated the bottle. "Or something stronger?"
Dar fiddled with the bottle, then handed it over. "Nah. I'll stick to this. Thanks."
Kerry eased off the couch and gave her a pat on the knee as she planned a path through the growing crowd toward the bar.
Rachel waited for Kerry to vanish, then turned her attention back to the tall, dark haired woman on the couch. "Nerd, huh?"
Dar plucked at the seam of her denims. "Yeah."
"Uh huh."
"KNOW WHAT I think?" Dar sat back, letting the car's air conditioning cool her off.
Kerry was curled up in the passenger seat, looking tousled and somewhat aggravated. "What?"
"I think we need to find a new church."
"Ungh." Kerry rested her head against the leather seat back. "Tell you what. Give me tomorrow off, and I'll find us a new church. How's that?" She shifted, grimacing at the cramping that had manifested with aching suddenness, giving her an unwelcome, yet welcome excuse to leave the party.
Dar glanced at her in perfect sympathy. "Sweetheart, you can have the day off any time you want," she replied. "I know your area's covered."
Kerry grimaced again. "You know what's not covered?" she asked mournfully. "I forgot to stop and pick up supplies at Walgreen's." Her eyes met Dar's. "And you know I can't handle the kind you use."
Dar put the car into reverse and commenced backing out. "Guess we're going to the drugstore then," she said. "S'all right. I need some stuff too. We're low on Advil..."
"Ahhhh!!!" Kerry squeaked.
"And I need some batteries for my digital," Dar finished. "So put the seat back and relax, and we'll get ourselves taken care of."
Kerry took advantage of the offer, releasing the seat and tilting it back about halfway. She closed her eyes and left the driving to her partner, idly listening to the soft new age music coming from the speakers. "They really were kinda sucky today, huh?" she said. "I wonder why? We never had them act like that before. Did we do something I don't remember?"
Dar was silent for a while, drumming her thumbs on the steering wheel as she made her way through the surface streets toward the drugstore. "I don't know," she finally muttered. "It just pisses me off that they act like we owe them something all the time."
Did they? Kerry pondered the idea. "Well, most churches do assume their memberships will do stuff like bake cookies and put money in the plate, Dar," she conceded. "I know ours did at home. Big time. Not that anyone ever said anything outright, but boy...if you skipped a week, the looks you got."
Dar made a rude noise.
"Well, you know, they have to raise money somehow." Kerry felt herself in the odd position of defending a faith she often was at serious odds with. "They have to keep the place up, and pay the pastor, and do community programs. The money has to come from somewhere."
Dar pulled into the parking lot and parked in front of the drugstore. She set the parking brake, but left the car running. "Yeah, I know." She opened the driver's side door. "It's not that part I mind. They do good stuff, especially for those kids you mess with. It's the other stuff they expect us to do." She got out. "As if just because we're gay, we have to be revolutionaries about it. Not my gig."
Kerry watched in bemusement as her partner shut the door gently, and strode off toward the entrance to the Walgreen's.
DAR WAITED IN line, glancing at the items available for sale on the nearby racks out of boredom. She had her chosen items, obtained in quick order, but there was only one clerk working and several people ahead of her waiting to pay.
C'mon. I've got melting ice cream here. Dar glared evilly at the line from behind her shades.
The clerk, unfortunately, was busy trying to understand the request of the first woman in line, who was attempting to obtain a specific type of cigarette using a language even Dar wasn't familiar with. It was hard to say at this point which one of them was the more frustrated.
Her eyes fell on a shelf about thigh level, and she examined the contents, a grudging smile slowly appearing as she reached down and selected one of the items. After a quick look around, she added it to her basket, then resumed waiting.
The woman ahead of her let out a deliberately audible sigh. "Jesus."
The clerk glanced up at her, giving her an apologetic grimace, but slightly shrugging her shoulders. The foreign woman pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and unfolded it, showing it to the clerk with a bit of impatience. "Ma'am, we don't have those."
The woman questioned her in her own language.
"Ma'am, we don't have those," the clerk repeated, with commendable patience. She pointed at the picture in the paper and shook her head. The woman shook the paper at her, her voice rising.
"Jesus." The customer in front of Dar repeated. "What an idiot." With a disgusted look, she tossed her packages onto the counter and walked away, leaving the store with a slap at the sliding door on her way out. The man ahead of her did the same, shooting the clerk a bird as he followed suit.
At the same moment, the foreign woman grabbed back her paper and shoved it in her purse, storming off and walking quickly through the door on the heels of the other two.
That left the clerk staring after them, and Dar with no one ahead of her in line. Not one to look a gift tourist in the mouth, she stepped forward and began removing her choices from her basket, placing them down on the register counter.
"Why do people do that?" the clerk wondered, as she picked up the first item and scanned it. "Move to a place and not know how to communicate?"