Wedding Bell Blues - [58]

On the stand for Hamilton, Mike Maycomb blubbered for his sister’s soul. “When I think of mysister, being eternally consumed by the fires of hell, all I can do to comfort myself is to save my niecefrom that same fate.”

“It’s interesting,” Buzz said in his cross-examination, “how you say the only thing that can saveMimi is to raise her in a Christian family, and yet the McGillys are a Christian family. Why, I see JennieMcGilly and Big Ben’s mama over at the Presbyterian church every Sunday. Doesn’t that sound like aChristian family to you?”

“It’s Mimi’s nuclear family I’m concerned about,” Mike said, pronouncing the word nuclear asnu-kyu-ler. Lily guessed they didn’t spend much time on vocabulary at the Christian junior college he hadattended. “I’m sure most of the McGillys mean well, but Lily and Ben ... well, I believe our attorney hassome evidence that’ll prove once and for all that whatever their relationship is, it’s not a Christianmarriage.”

“Oh, so what you’re saying is that Mr. Hamilton is about to pull out the big guns?” Buzz laughed.

“Okay, then. No further questions. Hamilton, let’s see what you’ve got.”

“Because Mr. Charles Maycomb finds today’s matter too painful to discuss publicly, he hasdeclined to take the stand and has asked instead that I screen this videotape, which I would like to do now,with permission of the court.” He held the videotape aloft in his diamond-ringed hand.

Judge Sanders sighed. “How long is this gonna take, Mr. Hamilton? The country club stopsserving lunch in thirty minutes.”

“The running time on this tape is three minutes and twenty-two seconds, Your Honor.”

“Proceed.”

Hamilton popped the tape into the VCR. Lily watched as the Atlanta skyline appeared on thescreen. The camera panned a long line of men and women carrying rainbow flags and placards. It wasAtlanta’s gay pride parade — Lily wasn’t sure which year, but it was recent, judging from the, clothingand hairstyles.

A convertible in which a gorgeous black drag queen sat, smiling and waving, drove out of thecamera’s range, and then another group of marchers came into view, carrying a banner readingLESBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL PARENTS. The camera zoomed in on four faces. One of them, Lilynoted with horror, was her own.

There, onscreen, were Lily and Charlotte wearing matching T-shirts that read GAYBY BOOM.

Marching alongside Charlotte and Lily was Ben, wearing a white polo shirt with a small, discreet pinktriangle on the chest.

There was nothing discreet, however, about Ben’s marching partner. Dez was decked out in a hotpink caftan and a rhinestone tiara. Though he was not in full drag makeup, Dez was wearing hot pinklipstick and a set of false eyelashes so large that they re¬sembled a pair of tarantulas resting on hiseyelids. He held the tiny baby Mimi, who was laughing and cooing, high above his head, while heshrieked at the top of his lungs, “We’ve come for your children! We’ve come for your children!”

As the screen went blank, the only sound in the courtroom was Big Ben’s laughter. When JudgeSanders banged his gavel, Big Ben said, still laughing, “I’m sorry, Your Honor. I couldn’t help it. ThatDez may have had ruffles on his drawers, but he was funny as hell.”

Judge Sanders removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. “Well ... onthat note, let’s break for lunch. Court will reconvene at two o’clock.”

Lily sat at the table as if she had been turned to stone. When Ben turned to face her, shewhispered, “Lost.”

CHAPTER 20

In Buzz Dobson’s dingy office, over cold sandwiches no one seemed to have much of an appetitefor, Buzz, Lily, and Ben grimly discussed the morning’s proceedings.

“I just don’t understand how that bastard got hold of that tape,” Lily said, pushing away heruneaten sandwich.

“Oh, he probably got it from Charlotte’s crazy brother,” Ben said. “That group he’s president ofhas a whole collection of videos of gay marches —so they can use them to show the evils ofhomosexuality.”

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter how Hamilton got it,” Lily sighed. “All that matters is that he gotit, and now we’re screwed.”

“Come on now, Mrs. McGilly,” Buzz cajoled. “We’ve not even made our argument yet. Thetestimony of the McGillys holds a lot of water in this town.”

Lily refused to be comforted. “Yeah, well, it’s kinda hard to compete with a man in drag shrieking,

‘We’ve come for your children!’ Did you see Judge Sanders’ face when he saw that? He turned positivelygray.”

“Well, all we can do is get out there on the field and give it all we’ve got,” Buzz said.

Great, Lily thought. Super-slick Stephen Hamilton has proven our entire marriage to be a fraud,and now our lawyer thinks he’s back on the high school football team. Well, what do you expect fromsomeone who graduated from a law school in a building that sits smack-dab between a Krystal and aChurch’s Fried Chicken?

Back at the hearing, Jeanie McGilly testified that Lily was as good a mother as she had ever seen

—that she not only saw to Mimi’s basic physical needs, but also spent a great deal of time reading to her