"Truth and Tale" by Lys Morton — Our September 2020 Bronze Medal Winner

Lys is our third place winner from the contest posted in our September 2020 issue!

What the judges had to say:

“Nicely nuanced progression through the revelations in the story, using the skates as a touchstone to explain so much. The voices of the characters are clear and unique and appropriate. The strength of the story is in how difficult discussions can be made familiar, in how what is unusual for some of us is still grounded in humanity and family. Well done.”

“Anything but stereotypical, this tale weaves the chosen image into a contemporary moment anchored by two very different histories. The author is a craftsperson who deftly manages to bring characters and moments to life on the page. Tightly constructed and creatively told, this story captured the image of the skates with mastery.”

Meet Lys

Lys Morton is a queer trans writer out of Nanaimo, BC. Prairie boy, Island bound, his work has been featured in The Nav, Incline, Five Dials, Disabled Voices Anthology, and was shortlisted in Room's 2020 fiction contest. He is a recent graduate of Vancouver Island University with a major in Creative Writing. You can find him at lyswritesnow.ca

Truth and Tale

the unedited story by Lys Morton

“Daaad!”

Tyler jolts out of the dozing state he’d been in, sitting on the deck swing out front. Eyes squinting at the late morning sun, still adjusting to the light that was a stark contrast to the EMT nights he’s been working.

The front door bangs open as Ella stumbles out, arms filled with ageing red leather items, hair hanging over her eyes as she tries to shake it out of the way.

“Look what I found at Amma’s yesterday!” She dumps the items on the porch, rightens them up, and pushes them along the deck towards Tyler.

“Oh wow. Your Amma’s old skates.” Tyler leans forward, elbows resting on knees as he stares at the pieces of memory.

Ella pushes bangs out of her face, brows furrowed as her focus shifts from the roller-skates to her dad and back. “She said they were your skates.”

Tyler can’t hold back the snort of laughter, reaching for the coffee perched on the deck table. “Well, I hauled them out of your Afi’s garage one summer and claimed them as mine, but they started off as you Amma’s. She wore them when she worked the… I think it was called Nelson’s Novelties. Burger and ice cream shop.”

“What?” Ella’s used to her dad telling tall tales but roller-skating at a job sounded as likely as when he said planting cheerios in the backyard would grow a bagel tree.

Tyler taps at the seat cushion beside him on the swing and Ella scrambles up to sit by him as he pushes back with a foot. “They didn’t have drive through, but it was a small little place. So, people would park behind the mall, big parking lot, and your Amma would run the orders out from the kitchen back door. And one day she used her tip money to buy skates so she could get orders out faster.”

“That sounds ridiculous.” Ella throws herself back against the seat, an exasperated sigh leaving her as she gives Tyler a disappointed look. He wasn’t even trying to fool her this time.

“I’m serious! You ask her the next time you’re over there. Pretty sure there’s photos of her all in her work garb, tray balanced in one hand. Your Afi would pull it out whenever your uncle brought a girlfriend over.”

Ella cackles at the image of Afi doing things to embarrass her uncle. “Wait, how come he didn’t show it to your girlfriends?”

Tyler pauses the swing, trying to suss out just how to answer this bit. It’s not like he hides this truth from Ella, but it’s always a toss up as to what he feels a six-year-old should know. “I… didn’t have any girlfriends coming over when I still lived with your Amma and Afi.”

“Oh.” Ella leans forward, fingers twisting in the laces of the skates. “Because they didn’t know you were a boy?”

It still catches Tyler off guard how much relief comes at these moments of affirmation. He shouldn’t expect anything else from his daughter, she has no reason to demand a lie from him, but over thirty years of habit was hard to shake.

“Did you work at the ice cream place? Is that why you got the skates?”

“Oh, no. I’m pretty sure Nelson’s had moved down to Elboya by then, finally got a drive through. I wanted them to try out for the Roller Derby team.”

“What?” The confusion is back on Ella’s face as she stares at her dad for a hint he’s pulling her leg. “That’s a girl sport. Maddie says it’s for girls only!”

“Well yeah, but everyone has to know you’re not a girl if they want to keep you off the team.”

“So you roller derbied back when you were pretending to be a girl?”

“Yeah, back when everyone thought I was a girl,” Tyler laughs. “Although a couple of the old teammates weren’t that surprised when I came out. They were always saying I was the brusiest of blockers.”

Ella spins the wheels, brow crinkling with concentration as she mulls over this fact.

“Why did you join a girl sport if you weren’t a girl?”

There it is again, how to dole out this truth so it’s not a heavy one to carry.

“Because… roller derby girls are pretty super. And I was hoping they would teach me how to be super.”

“But you would be a super boy, not a super girl.”

Tyler laughs, shoulders dropping with the release of tension as he brushes Ella’s bangs up and out of her face. “You’ve got this all worked out, don’t you?”

She drops the skates to the deck and wrangles her feet in, the old leather creaking as it stretches and shifts. Standing tall, Ella sways back and forth just the tiniest bit as she looks her dad in the eyes.

“I’m going to be a super girl.”

“Oh, are you now?” Tyler reaches forward and takes her hands in his. “I can see that happening. You’d be very super.”

A grin growing wide, Ella nods at her dad’s encouragement, bangs cascading down over her eyes as she works to spin around and across the deck.

“Mooom!” Ella yanks the door open and clunks into the house, arms waving for balance as she works to lift her feet. “I’m going to roller derby. Dad says I can.”

“Oh, he said that did he?” Laura leans against the doorframe of her office, a grin of amusement at the scene in front of her. “Did he say you can wear a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads?”

Tyler places hands on Ella’s back and pushes her along the hall, giving Laura that overconfident grin of a man who is certain no chaos can come from this plan. “We’ll be snagging a mouthguard as well.”