“Don’t let the bastards make you nervous,” Tammy told herself over and over again. “Even if you are.” Still, Tammy wore a wig and glasses. She also rented a car to drive to and from the studio. She also crossed her fingers that no one would recognize her later. Senseless passions like this same-sex marriage issue could make people do the strangest things. And most of all, she couldn’t let on that Bobo was still missing.
She didn’t thump a Bible. She even rolled her eyes at the pastor seated next to her on the city’s talk show panel. She guessed he was there to boost ratings.
Tammy talked over the hooting, frowning, lisping gay audience to the undecided heterosexual and blessedly invisible viewer. She spoke calmly about same-sex marriage setting a dangerous precedent America couldn’t afford. She quoted statistics and opinion polls of other countries and tied it neatly in to fluctuations on the stock market.
And all the time, she tried not to worry about her missing cat, Bobo. The red tabby was her only family. She neutered him to stop his wandering, but somehow he’d wandered off that morning.
The black lesbian smirked at her. Her hair was dyed the same color as Bobo’s ginger stripes. “Honey, you just sayin’ all this “˜cause you ain’t found the right girl yet.”
Tammy stiffly smiled, and then quietly replied. “In order to preserve the economy, we need to preserve the status quo. Like it or not, that means man-woman marriages only.”
And soon it was all over. As she trotted off of the stage, the producer (who was not on her side, Tammy was sure, else that preacher would never have been on) congratulated her and thanked her again for coming on at the last minute.
Tammy nodded patiently, and then rushed away. On the road, she ditched the wig and glasses.
Her cell phone meowed.
“Tammy Jones? I think Bobo is looking for you.”
“OMIGAWD! Where is he?”
“Hillside Vet. He’s been turned in by a concerned citizen. When can–”
“I’ll be there yesterday!” Tammy screeched, aching to hold her scruffy kitty. The car raced as fast as her pulse.
The moment was more delicious than she’d dared to hope when she held the purring troublemaker in her arms, murmuring forgiveness into the fur. The veterinary receptionist smiled and said, “I love a happy ending! Oh, by the way, the person who turned him in is right behind you.”
Tammy turned, money outstretched and eyes shining in thanks.
And saw the ginger-haired black lesbian grinning at her. No recognition was in her eyes. She waved away the money, laughing. “Real superheroes don’t take money for their deeds, sweetie. The look on your face is payment enough. I love cats, too. I wish I could have one, but the landlord won’t let me.”
Tammy’s face burned red and suddenly she sobbed. She had a sick feeling she knew why the landlord wouldn’t let Bobo’s hero have a cat.
Bobo’s hero shushed her and told her it was all right now.
But it wasn’t all right now. That show was on tape. Tammy couldn’t take it back. She wasn’t sure even if Bobo would forgive her.
Rena Sherwood has lived homeless in England and homed in America, and now resides in the greater Philadelphia area. She wants to be a white horse when she grows up, but until that day she is a freelance writer. She has had numerous short stories and poems published online and in print. Her work has appeared in Atomjack, Susurrus, GlassFire, Every Day Fiction and StoryStation.
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26 Responses to “A HERO FOR BOBO • by Rena Sherwood”
Comments
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April 3rd, 2008 at 3:42 am
So the anti-gay lady regrets being anti-gay marriage because the black lesbian’s homophobic?/racist? landlord won’t let her have a cat? Or because the black lady found her cat. I don’t really buy that. It would suggest that if the Klu Klux Klan helped her cat out of a tree she’d suddenly be burning crosses in front of the black lady’s apartment again.
These past few stories are going right over my head.
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:43 am
Oh and I was sure that story would feature a pussy pun at some point, so I felt quite let down.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:04 am
I enjoyed this story. Even though I am not familiar with the setting etc., this story touched a chord. I felt the bigger picture was not about anti-lesbian issues, but more about acting upon one’s prejudices and then realizing that everyone is human after all. Thanks for the story.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:38 am
Nicely done.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:11 am
This is a rather tired trope, that taking a position against homosexuality can be based only on ignorance and an unwillingness to recognize the humanity of homosexuals. An activist would either have a much better thought-out position or else be too hardened to have their prejudices collapse so easily. Sorry, this was a very unconvincing story. The axe-grinding (including the misdirect as to the nature of the axe) made for sloppy story-telling.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:09 am
Hooray! I’ve pissed people off
Thanks for bothering to read, though.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 am
Okay i know there are some negative comments…but you got published here so its good enough for EDF. I admit that i did read this earlier and wasnt sure how to comment becuase i found the story made me lost and confused…but all i know is…Bobo is safe…YAY!
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:19 am
Man, some of these comments are really TOO much. As an animal lover with a gay son, I don’t have any problem buying this. I like the story. I think it shows great insight. Come on, guys, don’t look too deep, don’t look too shallow. Good job, Rena (but I also like stories that piss me off).
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:38 am
Between the wig and the name “Bobo,” I spent the first three paragraphs of this story believing that Tammy was subbing for some mysteriously-disappeared homophobic TV clown. A Bible-thumping pastor and a statistics-slinging clown certainly should boost ratings! Can I write that story?
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:08 am
Rena,
Great story.
I love cats and gays, black people with ginger hair, ginger-black gay cats, and people named Jones. But I don’t like jonesing, bible-thumping preachers, or the name Bobo.
Seriously, though, it’s believable. I change my opinions all the time–shatter preconceptions and prejudices with a moment. (Voltaire would call you a lying fool if you didn’t.) Tammy’s moment of realization is absolutely believable.
I’m still pissed that you named a redhead “Bobo”, though.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
Janet, you reveal your ignorance about cultures, societies and countries outside your domain with your virulent reaction -”This is a rather….the hunmanity of homosexuals.” I know of women who have been threatened with rape because they are lesbians, and coincidentally I just saw a TV documentary on a South Asian gentleman who had to flee his country and come to US, NYC because he is gay. He wrote the first Gay book in Hindi/urdu (I think) called Narman.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:26 am
Agree with you there, Sam. Cheers!
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:42 am
hmm i just wanna clarify by the way this is a great and well written the story…i just got lost due to my own ignorance on this specific subject, also i think there is nothing wrong with redheads called Bobo…in fact i think Kevin should be renamed “Bobo”
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:03 am
I’m glad the cat is safe and I already knew that a black lesbian could be a hero. I have a friend who used to have a big black dog (not a lesbian) who’s name was Bobo, so the neutered ginger-haired cat still roaming the alleys looking for love kind of had me taken aback trying to picture him, but I wasn’t really pissed because it’s okay for Tammy to be grateful–even to an adversary.
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:06 am
That sounds like a good idea for a story. Go for it, Jenn.
Come to think of it, I never did reveal what Tammy’s job was. Perhaps it was part time clown, part time economics stastistician. I wasn’t sure it mattered. Tammys are everywhere. (There’s a bumper sticker in that sentence somewhere).
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
The origin of “A Hero for Bobo”:
In a “Best SF” anthology was a horrifying tale entitled something like “Going for Bobo” or “Searching for Bobo”. That cat met a sticky end.
So I had to write a piece where Bobo winds up fine. That was my motivation. All of the rest of it just sort of wrote itself.
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm
This you call virulent? That I opposed a stereotype? That there are real life examples of that stereotype is undeniable, but tired stereotypes make for poor story-telling. I also found the stereotyping of gays in the first part of the story hard to take. That, of course, was the misdirect.
You are guilty, in addition to hyberbole, of two logical fallacies: the straw man argument and the ad hominem argument. First you misrepresented my remarks and then, on the basis of that, attacked me personally. Without having a shred of knowledge about who I am or what my position on anything at all is. Forgive me if I am not impressed. Please reread my comments, making careful note of the word “only” in the first sentence, and of the two possibilities presented in the second sentence, and then feel free to drop by my blog and throw rocks at me there.
For what it’s worth, I oppose rape at all times under all circumstances.
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
The story was well written with an extremely well developed central character. We thought she was effective at illustrating the dualities in all of us.
We knew this story would draw some fire, and we’ve published stories with similar themes before.
There are a few expectations we should have of all fiction, and one of the most important is that it have an emotion impact. This impact need not necessarily be positive, but it should “jolt” us out of our every day lives. From the comments, it looks like the story has succeeded on these grounds.
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
*yawn*
In the last couple of weeks.. some stories have just not worked for me.
In this story.. it is this sentence that spoiled it for me: “She had a sick feeling she knew why the landlord wouldn’t let Bobo’s hero have a cat.”
That she is ignorant is established earlier in the story (she linked homosexuality to stock markets, and thought that she did a good job), but if the character thinks that a landlord who is fine with renting the place out to a lesbian, but not with letting her have a cat.. then the author has some more thinking to do.
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I’m sorry to hear this, Posner.
Did you know that our stories are now categorized by author?
If you find something you like, you can find the author in the “author” tab at the top of the main page, and read stories by writers whose fiction you enjoy.
April 4th, 2008 at 1:48 am
I agree – I don’t mind being “jolted” but the logic just fell apart for me. I accepted the weirdness of the wig but then the lesbian banned from having a cat (pussy joke?) made me realise it wasn’t just that I was missing something.
April 4th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Your accusation of hyperbole as well as the content of your post emphasize the accuracy of my earlier post. However no personal attack was intended. That much is regretted. Your practice of johnsonese is amusing, but seriously I have to move on, this is getting way out of the scope of this thread, besides I have things to do. And, yes, I did go to your blog since you invited me to, for a few minutes; sorry, my rocks are better served elsewhere.
April 6th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Just wanted to say that this story made me stop and think. I liked that about it. Good work.
April 6th, 2008 at 9:34 am
The writing was good, but parts of it seemed quite contrived/forced so that the story could be told.
Also, I couldn’t help thinking of Mr. Burns’s teddybear Bobo in the Simpsons!
April 9th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
As a gay cat lover, I enjoyed this story quite a bit. The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was her screeching, “OHMIGAWD!” I don’t know, that just bothered me… but you immediately fixed that with the line, “I’ll be there yesterday!”
A nice story. I’m a firm believer that pets have an uncanny talent for bringing people together, no matter how much they may clash.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:14 am
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