Murmurs filled the audience, and I could hear the sequins on mother's dress rustle, and then she uttered "Shit, they've done it again!" as she struggled to put her feet back in those too-small heels.
The flood lights that were hitched to the green exit sign lit up above the side escape door in the wall to our far right, and lighters began to flash all over the room. The fairy lights that flickered in the center of each table cast an eery red hue through the room, and little embers of orange glowed and danced like chubby lightening bugs through out the audience to indicate nervous smokers in the dark. Of course, the fans that had previously trapped the fog in the center of the stage had ceased, so the fog wafted up and around the first few rows of seats. I could feel the humid cold of the fog on my face, and my visibility was almost nill. A tremendous uneasiness came over me. After turning to Willadean and telling her to watch the money, Mother turned to me.
"Come on, " she said tersely.
"What's going on?" I asked with a little trepidation.
"Some asshole has turned off the electricity again. I told Twyman to move that damn breaker box inside the bar." she said as she waved her hands in that characteristic gay fashion as if it was a common occurrence.
Her nonchalance comforted me, but I still didn't think it was wise -- or safe -- to go outside especially since we knew that someone had purposefully shut off the power.....but maybe it was safer to be outside rather than inside because I didn't know what these pranksters had in mind, so I was torn. Homophobia ran rampant in the supposed City of the Arts in Arkansas, and the current situation proved that fact...if mother was correct in her supposition. For all I knew, there was a city wide power-outage, and we were only members of failed electricity and not victims of harrasment.
"Mother,it's not safe to go out there. They might still be there. Let's just wait a minute. Maybe it's a power outage", I urged, which of course, was the common sense thing to say.
"Gurl, I am a seven feet tall drag queen who weighs," and she paused a moment before she revealed her weight then continued, "Who weighs enough and you know I am mean as hell. Now, come on," and she tugged on my shirt, so I rose and started to follow her but not before I waved Kerry and SiAra along with us. I told myself there was strength in numbers. "I won't let anyone hurt you, chicken shit," Mother said supremely, but I wasn't totally convinced of that even though I'd witnessed her manic power.
Reluctantly, Kerry and SiAra rose, and we all began to follow Mother Superior across the dance floor and into a seeming thunderhead of rising fog. I could hear SiAra's quiet protests to Kerry between her coughs, but Kerry didn't say a word. He trudged onward like a zombie, and his toes kept bumping into my heels - for which he did not apologize. It was taking awhile for our eyes to adjust to the darkness, but we did pretty good as we felt our way through the cloud of fog.....until Mother bumped into the bowed head of Bianca and knocked her crown off, and I fully expected to hear a crash of thunder and see a flash of lightening. ( Later, Mother told me it was an accident, but it was so terribly convenient that I believed it was happenstance as much as the puke was.....). I heard a clatter of metal and Bianca yelped , "My Crown," and Mother let out a whoop that scared the audience which caused loud jabbers and mutterings to break forth from them. I heard lezzies and queers alike rouse and rise from their seats. Bianca was hunting all over the floor with her hands ( she even grabbed my shoes which made me get the willies ) before she finally located her crown and released a relaxed sigh.
"Hey..Sit down and Shut up! Don't nobody panic. We just blew a breaker because of that damn fog machine. Sip your cocktails and Bessie get some flashlights and hustle your ass and get these people some more drinks," Mother bellowed and calmed the crowd. She thought quickly on her feet, I thought, and the calmness in her voice chased away any uneasiness that began to enter the minds of the audience. If I didn't know of her suspicions about homophobes in the night, I would have believed her and sat still............and that's just what they did.
"And Bessie, bring us some flashlights. They're under the bar..... Craig, help her," Mother added.
"Bianca, honey, come with us and help us with the breaker," Mother uttered willy-nilly in the darkness, and I wondered just how many drag queens it took to turn the lights back on.............Apparently, Mother was being cautious just in case the pranksters wanted to accost us outside, and I wasn't the only person thinking about strength in numbers. I really don't know why she didn't grab a few butch lesbians on our way out, but she didn't.
"Baby, I aint' got no clothes on..and it's 30 degrees outside. I ain't goin' out there. I need to git my tips before someone takes off with the whole wad." Bianca protested as I followed her voice as she rose from the floor to our ear level in the darkness because I couldn't see her. The stage was a dark abyss...and I gathered that "baby" was her word much like Mother's "gurl" and Cora's "queen".
"Oh...Okay..but tell your crew to git out there and stay with Kit and the cash register..but tell them to put some clothes on. They might have to whoop some ass." Mother instructed., and her words certainly didn't comfort me. I assumed she wanted to leave some strength inside the building just in case more trouble decided to invite itself within. But, she was calm and only taking precautions..I don't think she really supposed anything would happen; she just wanted to cover all bases in the event of an attack, or I hoped so. I told myself this must have been how settlers and soldiers felt as they faced an onslaught of enemies as they hid within a supposedly safe fortress.
"Baby, I'm sure those straight boys have their clothes on now. Do you think those straight boys are gonna' stay naked in a room full of half dressed drag queens? Now, go on, and get those lights back on," Bianca chided, and we all followed Mother in the darkness as we clung to the backs of each other. As we walked, I took note of the ease in the conversation between Mother and Bianca. Months and Months of hard feelings ( and gallons of puke ) had seemingly melted and disappeared.....But that was Hot Springs. These queens could fight and argue for weeks on end, and then something would trigger forgiveness ( or Mother's mood just simply changed ), and all those bad feelings appeared to vanish if only on the surface. It was very familial in that regard, howbeit dysfunctional, -- as long as everyone remained in the family.
The flood lights that were hitched to the green exit sign lit up above the side escape door in the wall to our far right, and lighters began to flash all over the room. The fairy lights that flickered in the center of each table cast an eery red hue through the room, and little embers of orange glowed and danced like chubby lightening bugs through out the audience to indicate nervous smokers in the dark. Of course, the fans that had previously trapped the fog in the center of the stage had ceased, so the fog wafted up and around the first few rows of seats. I could feel the humid cold of the fog on my face, and my visibility was almost nill. A tremendous uneasiness came over me. After turning to Willadean and telling her to watch the money, Mother turned to me.
"Come on, " she said tersely.
"What's going on?" I asked with a little trepidation.
"Some asshole has turned off the electricity again. I told Twyman to move that damn breaker box inside the bar." she said as she waved her hands in that characteristic gay fashion as if it was a common occurrence.
Her nonchalance comforted me, but I still didn't think it was wise -- or safe -- to go outside especially since we knew that someone had purposefully shut off the power.....but maybe it was safer to be outside rather than inside because I didn't know what these pranksters had in mind, so I was torn. Homophobia ran rampant in the supposed City of the Arts in Arkansas, and the current situation proved that fact...if mother was correct in her supposition. For all I knew, there was a city wide power-outage, and we were only members of failed electricity and not victims of harrasment.
"Mother,it's not safe to go out there. They might still be there. Let's just wait a minute. Maybe it's a power outage", I urged, which of course, was the common sense thing to say.
"Gurl, I am a seven feet tall drag queen who weighs," and she paused a moment before she revealed her weight then continued, "Who weighs enough and you know I am mean as hell. Now, come on," and she tugged on my shirt, so I rose and started to follow her but not before I waved Kerry and SiAra along with us. I told myself there was strength in numbers. "I won't let anyone hurt you, chicken shit," Mother said supremely, but I wasn't totally convinced of that even though I'd witnessed her manic power.
Reluctantly, Kerry and SiAra rose, and we all began to follow Mother Superior across the dance floor and into a seeming thunderhead of rising fog. I could hear SiAra's quiet protests to Kerry between her coughs, but Kerry didn't say a word. He trudged onward like a zombie, and his toes kept bumping into my heels - for which he did not apologize. It was taking awhile for our eyes to adjust to the darkness, but we did pretty good as we felt our way through the cloud of fog.....until Mother bumped into the bowed head of Bianca and knocked her crown off, and I fully expected to hear a crash of thunder and see a flash of lightening. ( Later, Mother told me it was an accident, but it was so terribly convenient that I believed it was happenstance as much as the puke was.....). I heard a clatter of metal and Bianca yelped , "My Crown," and Mother let out a whoop that scared the audience which caused loud jabbers and mutterings to break forth from them. I heard lezzies and queers alike rouse and rise from their seats. Bianca was hunting all over the floor with her hands ( she even grabbed my shoes which made me get the willies ) before she finally located her crown and released a relaxed sigh.
"Hey..Sit down and Shut up! Don't nobody panic. We just blew a breaker because of that damn fog machine. Sip your cocktails and Bessie get some flashlights and hustle your ass and get these people some more drinks," Mother bellowed and calmed the crowd. She thought quickly on her feet, I thought, and the calmness in her voice chased away any uneasiness that began to enter the minds of the audience. If I didn't know of her suspicions about homophobes in the night, I would have believed her and sat still............and that's just what they did.
"And Bessie, bring us some flashlights. They're under the bar..... Craig, help her," Mother added.
"Bianca, honey, come with us and help us with the breaker," Mother uttered willy-nilly in the darkness, and I wondered just how many drag queens it took to turn the lights back on.............Apparently, Mother was being cautious just in case the pranksters wanted to accost us outside, and I wasn't the only person thinking about strength in numbers. I really don't know why she didn't grab a few butch lesbians on our way out, but she didn't.
"Baby, I aint' got no clothes on..and it's 30 degrees outside. I ain't goin' out there. I need to git my tips before someone takes off with the whole wad." Bianca protested as I followed her voice as she rose from the floor to our ear level in the darkness because I couldn't see her. The stage was a dark abyss...and I gathered that "baby" was her word much like Mother's "gurl" and Cora's "queen".
"Oh...Okay..but tell your crew to git out there and stay with Kit and the cash register..but tell them to put some clothes on. They might have to whoop some ass." Mother instructed., and her words certainly didn't comfort me. I assumed she wanted to leave some strength inside the building just in case more trouble decided to invite itself within. But, she was calm and only taking precautions..I don't think she really supposed anything would happen; she just wanted to cover all bases in the event of an attack, or I hoped so. I told myself this must have been how settlers and soldiers felt as they faced an onslaught of enemies as they hid within a supposedly safe fortress.
"Baby, I'm sure those straight boys have their clothes on now. Do you think those straight boys are gonna' stay naked in a room full of half dressed drag queens? Now, go on, and get those lights back on," Bianca chided, and we all followed Mother in the darkness as we clung to the backs of each other. As we walked, I took note of the ease in the conversation between Mother and Bianca. Months and Months of hard feelings ( and gallons of puke ) had seemingly melted and disappeared.....But that was Hot Springs. These queens could fight and argue for weeks on end, and then something would trigger forgiveness ( or Mother's mood just simply changed ), and all those bad feelings appeared to vanish if only on the surface. It was very familial in that regard, howbeit dysfunctional, -- as long as everyone remained in the family.
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