softly strumming guitarist, and Lily had cried until she marveled that there was any fluid left in her body.
But today’s service had nothing to do with Charlotte. Had she been alive, it would have been thekind of thing you couldn’t have dragged her to. Today’s service was about Charlotte’s parents and howthey wanted to remember her — which, of course, was in complete contrast to her. Now that Charlottewas dead, her parents could shape her into what they had always wanted her to be: a dutiful, passive,Christian daughter. Of course, the only reason they could make this transformation was that Charlotte wasno longer around to defend herself.
But Lily was still around — a fact, she was sure, that troubled Charlotte’s parents no end. And foras long as she was around, she would defend Charlotte’s real memory. Charlotte’s parents might not likeit, but they would have to put up with Lily’s troublemaking for one reason: Mimi, the bearer ofCharlotte’s genetic material, who was snoring sweetly in her crib.
The story of Mimi’s conception, like the conception stories of all children of lesbian parents, was along one. Lily and Charlotte had often discussed the fact that if straight couples had to go to the sametrouble as lesbians to get pregnant, there would be fewer cases of abused and neglected children becausethere would be no instances of “oops, a pregnancy.” Every child would be wanted because the parentswould have gone to a whole hell of a lot of trouble in order to conceive.
Even though Mimi’s conception was the result of many frustrating months and so many intimateencounters with a turkey baster that Thanksgiving would never be the same again, the method by whichMimi’s biological parents were chosen had been as simple as a game at a children’s party.
Lily and Charlotte’s best friends were Desmond and Ben, who lived in the condo adjoining theirs.
Ex-lovers whose personalities were as different as RuPaul’s and Bruce Bawer’s, Desmond and Ben hadcontinued to share the same living quarters even after they had stopped sharing a bed. It was as if they haddecided that now that they were no longer lovers, they would be brothers instead — with a specialemphasis on sibling rivalry.
On the evening Lily and Charlotte had naively thought their baby’s conception would take place,Lily had made a pan of her famous eggplant parmesan while Charlotte had gone out to buy the biggest jugof decent wine she could find. That night, after Lily, Desmond, Ben, and Charlotte had eaten dinner and