Invisible Monsters

As they continue their drive to Seattle, Shannon reflects on the last Thanksgiving she spent with her parents before her accident. There was a new tablecloth that was not her mother’s usual taste, so Shannon asked about it. Her parents explained they bought a piece of cloth to decorate so they could have it added to the AIDS Memorial Quilt in Shane’s honor, but they could not settle on a design, so made the tablecloth instead. Shannon is embarrassed by the conversation and angry with Shane.

During and after her hospital stay, Shannon lied to her parents, claiming to be out of the country on a modeling job rather than tell them about her accident. She recalls when Shane was 15, he was burned by an exploding hairspray can while burning trash. Shannon knows her parents will not react to her accident the same way they did Shane’s because he was their favorite child. That is, he was the favorite until he was 16 and contracted a sexually transmitted disease in his throat, supposedly after intimacy with a male partner. Despite their present support for the LGBTQ+ community, Shannon’s parents held a strong anti-gay bias before Shane’s death.

Brandy has everyone write their secrets on postcards while they are visiting the top of the Space Needle in Seattle. Brandy reads hers and Manus’s aloud, but Shannon drops hers from the Space Needle before Brandy can read it because it refers to her attempts to kill Manus. Unfortunately, the card fell on their car and Brandy finds it. Rather than read it aloud, Brandy silently reads it and tucks it away in her purse.

The narrative jumps back in time. Shannon and Brandy spend hours together in the speech therapist’s waiting room. Without knowing Shannon’s true identity, Brandy gives Shannon the name “Daisy St. Patience” to help Shannon establish a new sense of self. Brandy helps Shannon make veils, telling her, “Behind a veil, you’re the great unknown” (76). Shannon compares Brandy’s idea to her father feeding his pigs dozens of expired bakery products just before taking them to market so that they would appear to weigh much more than they did.

Brandy tucks Shannon into bed as she and Manus prepare to sell their collection of drugs. As she does, all Shannon can think of is how much she misses her physical relationship with Manus. When they are gone, Shannon comes across the infomercial on television that features Evie, Shannon, and Manus. As she watches, she notices for the first time a look between Evie and Manus that suggests they might have been lovers and is ashamed because before her accident, all Shannon noticed during the many times she watched the infomercial was how beautiful she (Shannon) was.