Set the Record Straight

by Hannah Bonam-Young

“It is not easy to be a woman in this field. It is not easy to carve a spot for yourself in a mountain when your male colleagues have chisels and jackhammers, whereas you have nothing but your fingernails.”

“When men cannot obtain you, they are far less likely to promote you. Remember that.”

What if they only hired me because I’m gay?” “You’re not gay.” “Exactly!” “Are you seriously claiming reverse discrimination? In this year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-two?”

“I actually thought there were only two kinds of love before. That it was just love like your family or romantic love. But I think there may be hundreds of kinds. Love like a new lease on life. Love like a place to exist freely. Love like being understood. Love like the contented quiet. Love like freshly baked cookies. Love like a thin veil between wishing it’d started earlier and loving the way it began.”

“Clara, I love you,” I say in a rush. I cannot believe I forgot to say it back. I’ve said it so many times to her in my head, in deleted texts, and to her sleeping body that I didn’t even think to reply out loud. “I love you,” I repeat—just to be sure.