Theresa from WahpetonRandi Beardslee

I was born on November 3rd, 1964.

My mother worked as a waitress at the local dairy bar at the time, serving up ice cream cones to the Indians and the whites alike.

My mother was white, but I was half Chippewa. My Indian father left to –

somewhere – before I had the chance to learn his name.

The dichotomy I felt in my own blood was often unbearable.

Somewher

e

Wahpeton

In the morning, I had to decide whether I wanted to braid my hair, or ask my mom to straighten the stubborn waves with the clothing iron.

One day, I picked up a book on zodiac signs at our local library.

The older white librarian often eyed me with suspicion whenever I came around.

Bent from

use

I discovered that I was a Scorpio. All of the listed characteristics and idiosyncrasies

seemed to match me perfectly.

I felt a sense of understanding and belonging when I read the book: it knew I was loyal, passionate, and observant.

It also knew my secrets: I could be manipulative, paranoid, and jealous.

Katherine

Benoit

Me

Water was my element.

I found a definition of myself that I had longed for my entire life.

Used for hair and

linens

An interesting portion of the book outlined the various body parts which the signs were associated with. I discovered that, according

to my sun sign, I was most closely connected with my vagina.

This, accompanied with how often my sign insisted that I was such a

“passionate lover” piqued my interest.

ClandestineUncharted

NewfangledTender

As I grew older, my zodiac definition stuck in the back of my mind. I grew breasts,

discovered men boys, and found that I really was a “passionate lover”.

At least, that’s what Joseph Migwans told me in his father’s tool shed when

I was 15.

Eventually, the men I met and began to “go steady” with didn’t like my passion. They

seemed threatened.

They found it off-putting, like I was an over-excited bitch dog that wanted her

stomach rubbed.

CUNT

I felt disappointment, like I had done something wrong. So, I abandoned my Scorpio self. I forgot about myself my

sexuality.

I became a waitress at the dairy bar, with my mother. I dropped out of high school, because that’s what my mother did. And she always

turned out just fine.

Then Kyle Olney got me pregnant. And, he left to somewhere, too. And I had a baby, a

minimum-wage job, and a mother who hadn’t turned out just fine.

Her boyfriend left her and the bottle found her.

Gift from the

Migwans

Regularly

restocked

In short, I needed money.