"I want to talk to you, son," Ross McCann didn't sound too happy. Ronnie McCann had left Amanda upstairs to freshen up before dinner. He didn't like the tone of his father's voice.
"It's that girlfriend of yours," Ross continued. "That Amanda. Tell me more about her."
"What do you want to know?" Ronnie noticed his mother was strangely absent from her kitchen. And dinner was cooking.
"Like, where was she born? Where did she go to school? Where are her parents? Does she work? What's her social security number
"Get to the point, dad. What's eating you?
"Son, just how well do you know this person? Have you ever been, ah, intimate with her?"
Ronnie's face flushed. "I think that's a pretty personal question..."
Ross interrupted. "I'm sorry, Ron, but your mother and I have serious doubts as to the true sex of this 'Amanda' person."
Well now it was out in the open. A million thoughts raced through Ronnie's head. Should he just get it over with now? Should he bluff his way out of it? What should he say about himself?
Before Ronnie could get a cohesive thought together. a voice piped up from behind him. Amanda's.
"Your son has a confession to make, Mr. McCann. I came along to help make it easier on everybody."
"This is a private conversation between my son and myself," Ross said sternly.
"Dad, I need her here - I, I have something to tell you."
"What? That your girlfriend is really a man" Ross was practically shouting.
Amanda gave out a little high-pitched squeal and lifted her hand to her mouth in mock astonishment.
"We were trying to show you that Amanda is a fine person, a warm and caring human being, despite the mix-up created at her birth. She's a transsexual, dad. She couldn't help being born that way, and she's trying to correct the mistake." Ronnie looked at Amanda for moral support, his temperature was rising, his heart pounded in his temples. Amanda looked back at him, her eyes dancing merrily, giving him that look, the one she always gave him when he was losing confidence when they were out dressed. The look that said 'who cares what people think? It's your life, and it's none of their business. Enjoy yourself!'
"Dad, I think I'm a transsexual, too."
Ross McCann looked at his son dumbfounded. He was about to say something when he was interrupted by a voice behind him. His wife, Marion.
"Oh, Ronnie!" She rushed past her husband and embraced her son tightly. Ross gave a deadly look at Amanda, who just smiled back. She went over to the visibly shaken Ronnie and his weeping mother.
"Come on, Ronnie. Upstairs. Everybody needs to calm down for a few minutes." She took Ronnie's hand and they left the kitchen in silence. Ronnie took one last look at his father before exiting and saw the anger had been replaced by bewilderment.
"I can't, Amanda! Not now! It's not the
"I can't think of a better time, dear. This is it. Everything is out in the open. It's time to show them that you are very serious about this. Now come on, get dressed."
''Where did I go wrong? How did I fail him? I must have mothered him too much or, or, I remember I dressed him like a girl for Halloween a few times - I, I - "
"You can't blame yourself, Marion. I'm just as much to blame. I didn't pay enough*h attention to him when he was little so naturally, he identified with you. It's my fault." Ross and Marion were seated at the kitchen table. The dinner Marion had been preparing was forgotten.
Amanda appeared in the entrance and both adults turned simultaneously to look at her. "It's nobody's fault," she said.
"Beg pardon?" Ross said. Marion dabbed a soaked tissue under her eye and looked away.
'Nobody can say for sure what causes a person to become a transsexual. It is generally believed that the person is born that way. 1 mix-up at the gene pool, causing the wrong body to develop in relation with the mind.
"Some think it's sociological, something in childhood that triggered it. Nobody knows for sure. You can't blame yourselves."
'How long has he been like this?" Ross asked. Marion shot him a look, astounded that her husband was even talking to her.
"When I met him, he was extremely confused about what he was. This was two years ago. We've discussed it and dissected it and questioned it d then discussed it some more and we've decided that, yes, he is indeed a transsexual."
"So, he's attracted to men?"
"Ross!" Marion on bellowed.
"When he's dressed, he seems to enjoy the attention of men, but only straight men." Amanda said, ignoring Marion's outburst.
Ross wiped his hand across his brow. "Dressed? He dresses like a girl?"
As if on cue, Ronnie entered the room. both Ross and Marion stood up, Ross's chair tipping backward and crashing to the floor. Marion put both palms to her face and gasped.
Their son was wearing a full I grey skirt, a silky pink blouse with full Dolman sleeves and grey pumps. He was wearing his blonde wig, his face made-up. He wore earrings and a bracelet.
He looked fantastic.
"Say hello to your daughter Debbie." Amanda said, breaking the silence.
"D-Debbie?" Marion said. She looked at her husband, who was staring at the shaking girl in front of him. He couldn't take his eyes of f of her .
"Ross, do something! This has gone far enough!" She was getting hysterical, her hands had balled into fists. "Bring back my son!"
"Marion, calm down," Ross said. "We have to settle this like adults."
"How about we all sit down in the living room?" Amanda said, leading the way out of the kitchen. Debbie quickly followed. Her parents soon left the kitchen and found the two girls seated on the couch. Ross sat in his usual easy chair and Marion sat on the footstool beside him.
"Ronnie, please stop - ," Marion started.
'Debbie," Amanda quickly corrected Marion.
"Debbie! I can't call someone I raised, someone I named after my own father!, my own son - anything other than Ronnie!"
Debbie looked down at her feet, wringing her hands together in her lap.
'"This is quite a shock," Ross said quietly. "And not at al I what I expected. I always suspected that you were gay, son, uh, sorry." he looked sheepishly at his feminized child.
Debbie looked bock at her father, seeing a new person. Here was somebody genuinely trying to understand. She then looked at her mother, who quickly looked away avoiding her gaze. Here was the person she expected to understand - or at least try to. It broke her heart to see her mother so hurt.
"I think a compromise is in order here," Ross said. "We can't be expected to just open up our arms and welcome our new 'daughter' home. There are other concerns to be dealt with. Like the rest of the family , your grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins. I don't think they need to be told just yet, if ever."
Upon hearing the words 'grandparents' Marion gave another little squeal and shook her head. 'y mother will just die." she mumbled.
Ross continued: "If this is truly the way you feel, you must accommodate us. Whenever you are home, you are Ron, my son. You can do what you want when you aren't here, and we won't interfere. We'll even be supportive.
"Take some time to think about this. I think you should see a counselor, and think you should not do anything permanent until you are finished school. You should keep this under your, uh, wig, until you have graduated, so as not to jeopardize your schooling. o you agree?"
"I think so," Debbie said quietly.
'e don't want to do anything to hurt you, believe me. We want to help and to understand, but it's not easy. Can you see that?"
"Yes."
"Okay then, under these terms, we accept your condition and promise to help in any way we can. Don't we, Marion?"
Ross' distraught wife looked at him, a tear running down her cheek. She looked at the pretty girl sitting across from her, a frightened, confused human being. A person she had raised, had given birth to. She saw the hurt in her eyes that she, herself, was causing. Marion wiped the tear from her cheek and stood up. She steadied herself and went over to Debbie. Debbie braced herself, not knowing what to expect. Amanda moved to the edge of the couch, ready to spring into action, if necessary.
But Marion only took the hands of Debbie into her own and gently pulled her up from the couch until they stood eye-to-eye. then she threw her arms around her.
Both women were now crying profusely, clutching the other tightly. Ross stood up and felt his emotions, too, giving way. Amanda took his hand and squeezed, smiling. Ross squeezed back, and wiped a tear from his eye with his free hand.
"There, that wasn't so bad, was i t?" Amanda said, and everybody laughed behind their tears.
"Welcome home, daughter," Marion said. "Now can we eat?"
They walked arm in arm into the kitchen.
The END
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