The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2278 by Angharad Copyright© 2014 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

Not bothering to rouse the others after showering and dressing I went downstairs where Tom was sitting in the kitchen drinking the river mud which had an aroma of coffee but I could never pluck up the courage to taste. We chatted while I made some toast and squashed a banana onto it, then carried it and the cup of tea I’d made to the table.

“Och, hoo can ye’eat that?”

“Quite easily, want some?”

“No I do not,” he replied firmly speaking normal English—that confused me for a moment.

“Suit yersel’, hen,” was my response in a passable lowland accent.

“Aye, I will.” He gave me an old fashioned look before we both started to chuckle. Sometimes this sort of silliness was just what I needed to cheer me up. The peace couldn’t last and we were joined by a troop of monkeys who demanded breakfast with menaces. I told them we didn’t have any menaces so they instantly transformed into young women and demanded breakfast without menaces. I gave in and fed them.

Danni and Cindy hadn’t arrived with the rest of the hoi polloi so I went up to see where they were. They were in Danni’s room trying on clothes from her wardrobe. “Did you sleep well?” I asked our visitor.

“Oh yes, Lady C. Could we do some more sewing today, I really enjoyed it yesterday.” Danni’s expression was one of astonished reluctance and the devil in me me smiled and responded that we could, and it would be fun wouldn’t it, Danni? Her reply was less than enthusiastic. It could be said that Cindy got it all sewn up before Danni could grasp the thread—and yes, it left me in stitches.

Once breakfast was cleared up, I surrendered the kitchen to David and took those who wanted to come, into my study and we sewed. Despite her reluctance, Danni actually got more out of the session than Cindy. By lunchtime, Danni had sewn the main seams and with a little help put the zip in her new skirt. Suddenly, she gained some enthusiasm for continuing after lunch, feeling that she could just finish it by tea time.

I didn’t mind, I had mending to do and although I had to stop and feed Lizzie a couple of times, I did make inroads into sorting popped seams and lost buttons. Sammi texted at lunchtime to say she’d gone out and bought some slightly less tight trousers and her soreness problem was much easier. It can be a problem, I found jeans were a little hard for several months after my surgery. It’s so annoying because part of you wants to flaunt the fact that there is no bulge in your panties anymore and only tight trousers or leggings prove it, mind you a good gaffe or tight knickers can also have the same appearance before surgery.

With some help, Danni finished her skirt about ten minutes before Simon and Sammi arrived. Cindy was having awful problems with inserting the zip so in the end, I did it for her and she was able to sit and sew the hem while they watched some DVD with the younger girls after dinner.

Cindy’s mum had called me and asked if she could stay another night to give her a chance to drive up to Essex somewhere to visit an elderly relative who had been taken ill and wasn’t expected to recover. Being a generous soul, I agreed that Cindy could stay a couple of nights if it was necessary so Brenda needn’t rush back. She said she’d drop some more clothes over on her way to Essex.

I asked Cindy if she was happy to stay with us and she nodded. It appeared the person who lived in Colchester was her mother’s uncle who was unhappy with his great nephew becoming his great niece. I nodded my understanding and left the subject but she decided to fill me in on it more than I needed to know.

“Great Uncle Alf is a bit of pain in the bum, Lady C. He doesn’t think anyone can change sex or that people can be born with a gender problem. When he met me last time, he kept calling me by my original name and using a male pronoun and refused to change his behaviour even when I cried about it. Mummy was very cross with him, telling him it was a recognised medical condition and he just pooh-poohed her, saying if that was the case how come it didn’t happen when he was younger.”

“It did, Cindy, in Germany and this country before the Second World War. It wasn’t as common as it is now, but that’s mainly because treatment has allowed successful transition to occur. In previous times hormones weren’t as well understood and the surgery now is much, much better. Just look at how Mr O’Rourke was able to save enough tissue from Danni’s mutilation to give her a functioning vagina.”

“That makes me so jealous, Lady C. I’ve got to wait another five years before I can have surgery.”

“Yes, but yours will only need to be done once, Danni might have to have further operations because she’s so young.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“It happens with AIS girls, they might need two or three visits to theatre because the tissue of the vagina is partly scar tissue which can shrink over time and certainly doesn’t grow like normal tissue but the rest of the body does.”

“So maybe I’m better off than I thought,” she mused to herself.

“It could well be true, plus having been raised as a girl, you’ll have a better chance of living successfully as a woman.”

“I hope so. I’d like to make a career for myself like you have rather than what my mum has done.”

“Whatever you decide, kiddo, the best chance you can have is to do as well at school as you’re able. You never get a chance to relive that time or to make up the shortfall, because even if you get your qualifications later on, the people who did well the first time round will have had a start on you and it’s difficult to catch them up.”

“I never thought of it like that.”

“Lots of people don’t and lose out. They think they have loads of time to get it together and decide what they want to do, but they can so easily lose out to those who decided early and went for it. Have you any idea what you’d like to do?”

“I thought I’d decide when I see what GCSEs I get.”

“You might be better deciding what you want to do and make sure you get the right exams to enable you to do it.”

“What like taking control—can you do that?”

“Yes you can, just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean you have to be passive about everything, especially things like your future career. It’s too important not to.”

“Is that feminism, Lady C?”

“Is that a problem?”

“No, I think I’d like to be a feminist.”

“I think any thinking person should be. Feminism isn’t just about women’s rights, it’s about fair play for everyone. It’s a nonsense that half the population of the world is seen as a minority group by the other half.”

“But that doesn’t make sense, half the population?”

“Yes half the population—the female half.”

A little later I heard Danni and Cindy talking together unaware I was nearby. “I like your mum, she’s clever and she knows what’s going on.”

“You get tired of women’s rights after a while.”

“How can you get tired of that, you’re a woman now, remember.”

“Okay, so I forget sometimes...”

“Duh!”