Beau and I absorbed this, both of us shocked that we hadn’t known this information years ago. We’d been some of the only people who’d stood up for Bonnie while people were bullying her and her parents because of that name. Then again, they’d also bullied her because she was genetically from two white people, but she wasn’t white herself. Fuck, that really pissed me off, even now.
“But why did we think your name was Bonnie Blue, then?” Beau asked, sounding as tormented as I felt.
“When Bonnie was five, she came home from school crying because that group of girls—” she gestured at her head where Shonelle was sitting “—said that her dad and I were racist c-words. I’d had it said to me directly and had even been spat at on the street, but them saying it to her? It really hurt, so we told her that we were going to change it. It’s one thing to target me, it’s another thing to say it to a little girl who didn’t have a mean word to say about anyone.”
Smiling softly at her mom, Bonnie added, “I refused. My name had meaning to it, which is more than could be said about a lot of names, and I wanted to keep it.”
“We spoke to the principal about it, but he didn’t care. So, when it continued, we spoke to the Sheriff at the time, Kirk Greenwood. He told us that he’d speak to the parents involved but also said to Bonnie that if you took away the power to hurt, the people trying to do it lost their power over you. She took that advice to heart and stopped correcting people when they called her Bonnie Blue.”
Looking at Sadie, Bonnie explained, “I’m my parents' biological child, but I’m black.”
Sadie jerked at this comment. “Why does that make a difference?”
“Both Mom and Dad are white.”
Sadie’s eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. “Are you telling me that you were bullied because of your color?”
“Sort of. We all have dormant genes inside us that go back centuries, if not millennia. One of mine became active again, meaning I was born black.”
While she was explaining this, Grams had joined us and was talking to Sheila, but both women were clearly listening to the conversation.
“Atavism, right?” Sadie asked, shocking all of us, but getting a nod from Bonnie, too. It wasn’t the sort of thing most people knew about. “Right, one of the kids I went to school with had white parents, too. The way I understood it is it’s a gift and makes you truly unique. Heck, anyone can be born ordinary,” she pointed at herself just as Elijah joined us, her words getting frowns from all of us, “but to have your beauty stay hidden for hundreds of years? No, that’s nothing to sneer at or be a bitch about. That’s something for people to be grateful they’ve had the chance to witness.”
A shy smile grew on Bonnie’s face, but she asked, “You think you’re ordinary?”
“Of course. I’m blonde and short, babe. If I didn’t dye my eyebrows and eyelashes, people would think I was the spawn of the abominable snowman or something. It doesn’t get much more ordinary than that.”
“Excuse me,” Elijah growled. “When you’re finished here, we need to have a word over there.” He pointed at a stool at the end of the bar, waiting for Sadie to acknowledge the order before moving to sit on it.
“Wow,” Bonnie snickered. “Girl, you’re in trouble.”
“I’m always in trouble,” Sadie sighed, waving her hand dismissively in the air. “Anyway, what I’m saying is that for people to pick on you for your beauty—and on a technicality, your color—is just the highest level of bullshit.”
Then, a voice none of us enjoyed hearing interrupted. “Uh, it’s not that people don’t like her because of her beauty,” Shonelle sneered. “It’s because her family are all liars. There’s no way two white people could ever produce a black child. You either adopted her, or your momma had an affair. Just tell the truth.”
The area around us went quiet, all of us staying silent as her words registered. Sadie was the first to move, reaching up to take out her earrings, but it was Grams who broke the silence.
“You have a problem with her color regardless of your excuses. You can argue you’re not, but the fact you gaslight Bonnie because of her color puts you in one of the most disgusting categories a person can be put into. A racist.”
“Bitch, you don’t know me,” Shonelle spat.
“You’re wrong, Shonelle Bell.” Yeah, her last name really was Bell. “I know your mom had a crush on Bonnie’s dad, Doug, and hated that he fell in love with Sheila. I also know your mom was the one to start the rumor about Bonnie’s name and about Sheila having an affair. I further know that she went to Doug after Bonnie was born and offered to comfort him using her vagina,” she said quietly so that only our group would hear it. “You’d be amazed what else I know, Shonelle. I just have to wonder exactly why you and that mama of yours are so obsessed with the Butlers and everyone else that lives here. You can deflect attention off what y’all get up to, but that doesn’t mean people don’t know. Think about that, and for the love of God, stop being a bitch to everyone.”