Leftover Baggage from Llanview

4

River-Risa:

"Good," Professor Marta Rivista tells the ten of us after we each present to her our thesis topics for the semester.

It's early September and I'm registered as a female and my name is Risa.

I've always felt different from the time I was small...and more and more I felt as if I had been given the wrong body.

But with lots of reading and research, I understand far better...at Ohio State, I also connected with a transgender group and this was when I realized I am actually a female who happened to be born with a male body.

I've had quite a time reassuring my parents that no, my nature did not come about from any "bad" parenting...my dad, who still lives near Llanview, still thinks that I had been mixed up with a cult.

I'm glad Gran knows about transgenders and understands.

She has an advanced doctorate degree, is quite sophisticated and has done tons of reading and lots of traveling.

I think it's because Gran herself is different...she's bisexual and when she was living in Llanview, she really had a hard time because unlike the other Llanview elites, Gran was brash and said what was on her mind.

With Gran, you always know where you stand...there's never any false smiles while undermining you behind your back with her.

I have to hand it to Gran...she went through so much crap, beginning with a rough childhood and going through being bullied and often ostracized in Llanview, even by her own stepdaughter, yet came through it all like a trooper.

I'm so glad Gran was able to reunite with Great-Aunt Addie and with her nieces...and I'm glad to be able to have them in my life.

Starr and Langston are close to my age and the three of us text every so often.

Gran mentioned that we might go up to New York to see Aunt Addie, Blair, Starr and Hope two weekends from now and perhaps to Largo to see Langston later on this month, so I'm rather excited about that.

•••••••••••••

Dorian:

"Senator Lord..." my secretary, Lahara calls across the way after our last session of the week in chambers.

She clicks into my office, her purple heels and braids clicking and closes the door.

"Hm...?" I mumble somewhat absently, but look up.

"There's a message from a Tina Rogan for you," she tells me. "She's claiming that it's a very important family matter back in Llanview."

My eyes widen as I take the little notepaper she hands me.

My mouth opens a bit as my eyes widen and I feel rooted to my spot for a few minutes as I skim through the note.

"Senator...?" Lahara asks softly. "Are you all right? You look a bit pale."

"Y-yes, yes, I'm fine," I hasten to reassure her even though I am fearfully wondering what Tina Roberts-Rogan wants with me. "If she calls again, just tell her that I'm extremely busy and will call her back whenever I'm...able to."

Lahara nods, but I know that she is still wondering at my strong reaction to the message.

Folding the note, I put it in my purse, bid Lahara a good evening, then pack my briefcase, willing my hands not to shake.

I'm undecided if I will return Tina's message since with her, nothing is straightforward and everything regarding her is "important."

I really don't know if I can consider her truly family since the only time she considered me "family" is when she needed or wanted something from me.

A bitter smile touches my mouth as I remember how back in 1987, she tried to manipulate me into lying to her then-lover Cord for her...but I saw through her and told her where to get off.

She is often even more devious than her older half-sister Viki.

On countless occasions, she has either scammed people or has roped others into her schemes.

She has spent most of her adult life bouncing from lover to lover, the most recent ones from the 1990s being Cord Roberts and Cain Rogan.

Two Novembers ago, she married Cord a fourth time after divorcing Cain a second time after the equally scheming con man Cain bilked Tina out of her share of the fortune that she inherited from the Lord estate.

Viki rang me from that wedding to expedite their license to clear them for the wedding, so I did...I smile ironically on the way home thinking how back in Llanview, for years I was considered the wicked witch of Llanview, especially by Viki and usually by Tina.

I know I am not one of the friendliest people and I am brash, blunt, opinionated, strong-willed and streetwise in a way that was offputting to the genteel, sheltered upper-crust crowd of Llanview.

Add in that I came from a working-class background, worked my way through medical school and became a doctor and a businesswoman long before I ever married.

Even after I was fired from Llanview hospital, I still retained my doctorate degree and made even more money from several businesses, including several building properties.

Contrary to the gossip that Viki, Clint and Tina spread around Llanview, I only gained about ten percent of Victor's fortune.

Tina gained about twenty percent while Viki as Victor's only living heir, gained the rest of that fortune.

It has only been whenever Viki needed my help with something, she then was my "frenemy," as she once put it.

Ever since I moved here and became senator, Viki now bandies my name about that small town and from what I've seen on social media postings, Viki has proclaimed me to be her "favorite senator."

Go figure...and I still absolutely loathe the verbal mashup frenemy.

•••••••••••••

The six of us...Addie, Blair, Starr, Hope, Risa and I...make quite a loud medley as we shriek each other's names as we run into each other's arms at the Times Square Station and hug in a bundle that drizzly Friday late afternoon.

Risa and I rode up by a driver and despite the rather dense traffic, I think we made good time.

Risa only has one eleven o' clock class on Friday, so it's easy for us to leave by early afternoon by car or train and arrive in New York by late afternoon.

As we walk up several blocks toward Blair's penthouse, we rather breathlessly chatter among ourselves, even me.

I can't help but feel proud of my family and how far they've come as I gaze at them subtly.

Addie's dark hair, almost as dark as mine is now graying and now she's leading a fairly normal life.

Blair, tall and willowy, has grown into quite a business mogul in her own right.

Her dark hair is in a sleek straight-cut style just past her shoulders and her blue blazer complements her blue eyes.

Starr has almost completed undergrad school majoring in performing arts...she's extremely talented in music, including singing and playing the piano, bass, violin, drums and harp.

Her hair has darkened into a caramel color and is long again.

Hope skips among us, happy to see all of us. I am relieved to see her smile again.

Her once-wheat-blond hair is darkening into a medium brown...she may end up with dark hair like Cole's.

Arriving at Blair's penthouse, we talk and do about an hour of catching up in the spacious living room with a great view.

Blair in on the fifth floor, so despite the overcast, misty day and impending evening, we get a good view of the city skyline.

I'm glad for this weekend getaway not only because I get to see my sister, my niece and my great-nieces again, but I can banish Llanview and Tina's "very important" message out of my mind.