The smile fell off Shannon’s face. “Talk about a degree I haven’t used. After the last election, I totally checked out. Nothing makes sense anymore.”
Jess couldn’t nod any harder. “Tell me about it.” Nothing.Nothingmade sense anymore! Not Shannon walking into her life again. Not her hunting down Jess for reasons unknown. Definitely not discussing the women of the Bible with her.
It made her wonder how far she could push the topic.
“You ever hear of Lilith?”
Shannon furrowed her immaculate brows. “Vaguely.”
“She’s my favorite religious figure, and she’s not even in the Christian Bible.”
“Come again?”
Oh, boy. Jess may have set herself up for this, but Shannon had inadvertently opened a can of worms by questioning Jess’sfavoritesubject. She could crack her knuckles talking about Lilith.
“She’s from the Talmud.” When Jess met another quizzical look, she continued, “Ancient Jewish text. I also like to think of her as the first feminist.”
“Go on.”
Jess stretched her arms above her head. One of the buttons on her blouse popped open. “She was Adam’s first wife. Before Eve. You know the story of Adam and Eve, right?” That may have been one of the most eye-roll-worthy questions she could’ve asked another American, but Jess rarely knew what to expect anymore. The most unexpected people could rattle off Biblical facts because of their backgrounds and how well-read in Western Literature they were. Others from some of the most religious areas in the nation barely knew who Moses was.
“Yeah, of course. Apples and snakes.”
“Riiiight. Apples and snakes.” Jess chuckled. “Anyway, legend says that God made Adam and Lilith separately, both of them from piles of earth in the Garden of Eden. When Lilith was informed that she was to submit to Adam,includingbeing the bottom in all sexual endeavors, she basically screamed in his face, turned into a demonic bat, and flew away to have tons of orgies and beget a billion demon babies. Badass.”
“Suppose that explains why God made sure to fashion Eve out of a dude’s pelvic bone.”
Jess cringed. That sounded… painful. “Rib bone.”
“Right. Ribs.” Shannon pulled her wallet out of her bag and glanced at the line forming at the register. “What happened to her after that?”
“After what?”
“After she had a billion demon babies.”
Shrugging, Jess said, “Nobody can agree. Honestly, she was probably a leftover from assimilated Sumerian myths. There are a lot of similarities between her and another ancient goddess of the time. It’s how religions spread.” Jess looked away. “Guess I sound like a nut talking about this stuff.”
“Huh? Why? I think it’s cool that you know so much.” Shannon got up. “I’m gonna get a latte. Be right back.”
Jess remained in her seat and pretended to get back to work. Except how could she, when she swore she embarrassed herself in front of the one woman she never wanted to be embarrassed around?I may be over her, but some habits are hard to break.Jess finished putting her things away, save for her laptop, and shook her head.Really, Jess? Going on about Lilith, of all figures? You might as well scream some more about what a raging dyke you are.Jess would be far from the first lesbian she knew to talk about getting a Lilith tattoo. Any woman screaming at a man that he would never own her became a legendary figure in the gay chat rooms.Next time, go on about Sarah. Or Esther. Literally anyone else.
“Jezebel,” she muttered. “Fucking Jezebel!”
A man in the corner of the café slammed his newspaper down and glared at her. She glared right back at him.
She then looked at Shannon, whose soft hair glided to the front of the line while her delicate hand fished into her wallet and her pretty pink lips politely asked for a mocha latte.
Don’t fall for it. You wanna talk about a Jezebel? There’s your own right there.No, wait. Shannon wasn’t a Jezebel, another figure demonized throughout history. She was more like a Delilah, waiting to cut Jess where she would hurt the most.
Or maybe she was Judith, ready to cut someone’s fucking head off!
Ooh, Judith. There’s a good article to start with.Jess pulled her notebook out and jotted down some words she wouldn’t remember writing later.
***
Memory #13
My twenty-second birthday was the worst, and it was because of Shannon Parker.
