Regarding The Lady Chablis—Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil 20 YEARS LATER
Tears in a Bucket
Of course, this survivor also knows how to ignore the labels and enjoy life. Her trademark saying, “Two tears in a bucket…” is more than a quip. It’s her mantra, and she feels drawn to speak with young people and pass her hard-won perspective on to them.
She remembers arriving for a show in Rhode Island to find a young lesbian woman waiting to speak with her.
“That girl was just precious. She told me that, because of me, she didn’t feel alone in the world.” Chablis looks at herself in the mirror again. She takes a deep breath and fresh tears begin to spill over her thick eyelashes. “She said her mother read my book to her when she was 8 years old to help her understand what was going on with her.”
In Hiding My Candy, Chablis candidly narrates her childhood and her journey to make peace with her inner turmoil about sexuality.
“God, you know what I would have given to have someone talk to me when I was 8 years old? I just held that girl and we cried together,” she says.
Chablis pauses to wipe her tears on a wadded napkin she used earlier to blot her red lipstick. She straightens her back, gathers her familiar elegant composure and shakes her long, angular finger in the air.
“That’s what it’s all about.”
More: A Lady After Midnight