Dot and Sam 41

Dorothy Philpot. Landlady of The Harbour Light pub
Sam Philpot. Drag-queen and lifelong companion of Dot’s.
Billy Parkins Doorkeeper.
Jessica Merlot The town’ and county archaeologist.
Josephine MacDonald The town and county archivist.
Richard Drummond Town planning inspector
Robert Vincent. Junior planning inspector.
Georgina. (Georgie) Homeless Transgender girl previously known as George.
Bobby Gay boy on the school bus.
Marty Girl on the school bus. (She becomes Georgie’s best friend and lover)
Jack. Marty’s twin brother (Keen runner).
Trevor Aitkins, Georgie’s Biological father.
Lucinda Aitkins Georgie’s biological mother
Terence Georgie’s step-dad
Peter Terence’s homophobic son.
Allison. Old school friend of Trevor & Retired Solicitor
Fred Allison’s husband
Elizabeth Aitkins (Beth) Georgie’s younger biological sister. Later proves to be sympathetic to her ‘sister.’
Jonathon Aitkins (Johnny) Georgie’s younger biological brother.
Rosie the Rivetter Terf Gang Leader on campus.

Chapter 41

In the months between Returning from Oz and getting themselves into the grooves of their new jobs, Both Georgie and Marty found little time for social activities. Marty was having to prepare lessons for various classes from grade seven to grade twelve and for the first month or so, she found herself floundering a bit despite having passed college with an excellent degree.
Such was the shortage of maths and physics teachers the school had begged her to start without first studying for her teaching diploma which was usually a pre-requisite to teach at secondary school level, especially when teaching grades ten, eleven and twelve.

The school had agreed for her to study extra-curricular in order to take an exam during the following academic year. This put a considerable burden on Marty, but she persevered, and with the help of the previous physics teacher who had retired but offered to mentor her, she managed to complete the year with her classes getting satisfactory grades.

She felt she might have done better with more time to prepare but such was the need for physics and maths teachers, the school was just glad that her classes had survived the OFSTED inspections.

Georgie on the other hand, firstly found herself having to commute a considerable distance each day for the first year just getting adjusted to the nature of her work. For the first month she drove in every morning all the way to Cheltenham but then she befriended a work colleague and arranged for a lift from Cheltenham station to the Doughnut each working day.

This enabled her to commute by train from home to Cheltenham and saved the tiring stress of driving many miles each day.
In their second years of work, Marty had at last established a workable routine while Georgie was moved to an office in Bristol, and this halved her daily commute. Furthermore, her hours were made more flexible and this enabled her to lengthen the midweek days thus allowing early POETS days.
(NB. POETS Day is British office slang for -
Push – Off – Early – Tomorrow’s – Saturday)

During the first year back from Oz Georgie saw very little of her biological mother or her step-father. Though she did learn from her siblings Johnny and Beth that her mother had more-or-less given her oldest child up for dead because she assumed that Georgie would never give her grandchildren,

Georgie had not mentioned that she had frozen her sperm long before her transition, thanks to the kindliness of Dot and Sam when they had first adopted her.
It was during one of the only two instances after she had met her bio-mother in the last two years since returning from Oz, that Georgie was to learn that her bio-mother and step-father had disinherited her. Even this was learned second hand from Beth and Johnny as they chatted during a walk around the city of Cambridge where Johnny had gained entry to university.
They had stopped at a café the conversation had turned to family and it was Beth who let slip the information because both of Georgie’s siblings had presumed that Georgie knew. Georgie had responded with some anger, but she was not greatly surprised.

“I suppose that was Terence’s idea, was it?” Georgie replied as she sipped the last of her coffee.

Neither sibling could say for certain, but Marty was about to comment about Georgie’s frozen sperm until Georgie gave her shin a tap.
Neither Beth nor Johnny noticed the glance between Marty and Georgie, but the matter of the disinheritance was not laid as Georgie caught the waitresses’ eye for more coffee.

Georgie continued.

“I suppose that was Terence looking to cut the costs of inheritance for we three Aitkins kids, so they cut me out of the will because Dot adopted me.”

“Probably,” Johhny agreed somewhat apologetically. “Terry’s something of a prick as we all know. But I didn’t think he’d go this far.”

“But that’s not fair!” Beth protested, mum’s house was sold to get the bigger house for us and Terence’s three kids. The house should be split six ways not five. You’ve been denied your share.”

Georgie just grimaced wryly and responded.

“Should I really care? Dot and Sam have deeded the ‘Harbour Light’ pub to me in their wills. That’s not just an inheritance, that’s a bloody good income as well.”

“Yeah, you’ve landed on your feet and no mistake.”

“Are you going to bring your inheritance up with Terry?” Beth persisted.

“What’s the point?” Georgie replied as they finished their drinks and returned to where they had agreed to meet Terry and Lucinda.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did you enjoy your tour of the college?” Lucinda asked the four as they joined their table.

“We only looked at the traditional colleges and only a couple of those.” Johhny replied. “There’s too much to see in a day.”

“Yeah, we only saw the old, historical stuff.” Marty agreed, “Nothing of any labs or science.

“I’m reading pure maths.” Johhny explained. There’s not much in the way of science or lab work during the first year.
Terence remained silent, he had never been to university and felt frankly, out of his depth. Even the visit to Cambridge on Johhny and Beth’s behalves had only reinforced his resentment that his own three children were not academically inclined, though his son seemed to have a bent for the building business.
His brooding silence put a damper on the meal and conversation lagged somewhat until Beth, ever the stirrer, decided to ask Terry and Lucinda why Georgie had been cur out of the will.

The parents exchanged concerned glances until Lucinda decided to grasp the bull by the horns.

“Georgie is no longer considered our child now that she’s been adopted by that Dorothy woman at the pub.”

“She’s still our dad Trevor’s child and Trevor still has equity in the money you transferred to buy the bigger house for all the children. He told me the legal deal when you sold the house. His equity still remains as a quarter of the current house so by rights, if there are six children then the equity in our current home should be divided up among six children, that is if your wills are fair.”

“Well, we don’t consider Georgie to be one of our children because she’s incapable of giving us grandchildren.”

“You’re just being transphobic now! What if Georgie had been born a girl but unable to have children.” Beth persisted.

“Well, she wasn’t, she could have given me grandchildren, but she chose not to. That’s not what grandparents want to hear.”

Marty was about to speak up, but not for the first time did she feel Georgie’s toe poking her shin. She had just drawn breath to declare that Georgie would be able to give Lucinda grandchildren but the toe-poke and cautioning glance from Georgie caused her to stop. Beth however was an insightful young woman, and she caught the silent interplay between her trans-sister and Marty. She turned to demand what had just transpired silently between Marty and Georgie but a baleful squint from Georgie told her not to push it. Instead, she resolved to ask Georgie later.
Having concluded that her sister Beth was intellectually resourceful enough to recognise when some things were best left secret, Georgie just gave her sister another meaningful glance as a clear message that the issued would be resolved later, possibly another day. Then, to clear the air a bit Georgie explained.
“Listen everybody, I’m not in the least bit interested in any inheritance, whichever way it comes to me. Dad has promised me, I’ll be getting my fair share from his own estate and of course, Dot and Sam have promised me the ‘Harbour Light’ when they pass.”
Marty caught Terry eyeing Georgie speculatively and she toe-poked her companion whilst giving a surreptitious nod towards the stepfather. Georgie turned to look at Marty and caught the interest in Terry’s eyes, so she explained a little further.

“I’ve seen Dot and Sam’s wills; indeed, in addition to being the sole benefactor of the wills, I am also a named witness to them, along with their lawyers so I have no problems with any other inheritance. Now let’s drop the subject.”
This time it was Georgie’s bio-mother Lucinda’s turn to interject.

“Well, if we’re talking inheritances, who stands to inherit that pub after you die?”

Georgie snorted with amusement.

“Ha! It won’t be you or Terry will it. I don’t expect to die young.”

“You might die in a car accident or something.”

“This is getting morbid now,” Marty observed then added. “Georgie and I will be getting married in a few years. We’re living together at the pub most of the time even now.”
“You must write a will,” Lucinda advised, “you could both die in a car accident.”

“Huh, that sounds sinister,” Johnny smirked as he glanced meaningfully at Terry... “Got your brake pipe cutters ready and waiting dad?”

“How dare you suggest such a thing!” Lucinda snapped angrily.

“Well, we already know Terry hates her guts. He knocked her about and drove her out so I wouldn’t put something like that past him.”

“Dammit! Enough, I say!” Georgie cursed loud enough to attract stares from other passengers on the train. “Will you stop talking inheritances before anybody’s bloody dead!”

The whole family took the hint and for several minutes they fell silent until the buffet trolly appeared and they purchased some sandwiches and drinks. The embarrassment about inheritances caused the family to remain silent until half an hour before arriving in Kings Cross station, then necessity demanded that arrangements and contact numbers were exchanged for when Johhny went up to Cambridge.

Finally, in London they split up as Georgie and Marty travelled down to the West country while the rest travelled home to Gloucester. When Georgie and Marty finally arrived home, they flopped down on their bed at the Harbour Light pub. Dealing with Terry and Lucinda had been a trial.

“I’m glad that’s over. No more Terry until Christmas.” Georgie sighed.

“Your mother’s relentless.” Marty opined, “She’s obsessed about grand-kids.”

“Let her carry-on obsessing;” Georgie retorted through pursed lips to express her distaste. “If we do have kids, she still won’t have grandparent rights. Those go to your parents and Trevor.”

“What about Dot and Sam?”

“Well, yes; them as well. That’s a given if you’re agreeable.”

“Ayye, they’ve earned that right,” Marty sighed, as she curled up into the crook of Georgie’s arms as it stretched across the pillow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next time Georgie and Marty had any communication with Johny and Beth was at Christmas. In truth, the younger siblings had so enjoyed themselves at the Harbour Light during the summer, they were itching to come down for the Christmas festivities.

They had heard lots of tales about the drag nights and even articles in the local West Country press describing the quality of entertainment. For such a somewhat remote estuarine venue, tucked down on the Cornish-Devon peninsular, The Harbour Light had somewhat surpassed itself.

Dot and Sam had again been forced to extend the premises by buying the only remaining space between their stable restaurant and the little boat museum. This had entailed building an extended portal over the old dockyard gates and thus creating a cosy enclosed space that provided a safe and secure perimeter that deterred thieves and reinforced the fire regulations.

Furthermore, it had created a secure secondary access to the newbuilds behind Trevor’s lock-keeper cottage and the converted warehouses and fishing cottages. These cottages had once had fishing lofts or artisan’s workshops, so they had become rather desirable local homes controlled by the council as part of the development contract. All in all, the old basin had become a very vibrant and mixed community thanks to Dots foresight when the developers had come knocking. There was life in the area during weekdays as well as the weekends when the new-build second homes were occupied.

When Johhny and Beth arrived after their colleges had ‘gone-down’ for Christmas they were delighted to find the Basin already festooned with Christmas decorations and lights. But, when they turned up as arranged at the Harbour light, they were mildly disappointed to find that Marty and Georgie were still up in Bristol, however, Dot and Sam made them welcome and soon Trevor arrived.

“Where are Marty and Georgie?” They demanded to know of their siblings.

“They’re up in Town,” Trevor explained, “I suppose they’ll be down soon. We’ll get the buzz when their train’s due and we can meet them at the station.”

Feeling slightly miffed that their older sibling had not agreed to meet them in Bristol and then they could have travelled down together, Johnny and Beth took a stroll around the new extensions to the pub. Eventually, Trevor buzzed them to tell them that Georgie and Marty were expected at the station in half an hour, so they immediately clambered into the land-rover and Johnny practiced his new driving skills with a longer vehicle.

By now the ‘meeting the train routine’ was known off pat by everybody who lived or stayed at The Harbour Light. Johnny was parked in their usual location to be readily visible just before the train entered the station. They were perfectly parked as Georgie and Marty stepped off the train.

“I thought you’d be loaded down with Christmas shopping.” Beth remarked with a voice tinged with disappointment.

“Nah, we had more important things to sort out.” Johnny replied.

“Oooh! Am I hearing wedding bells.” Beth asked hopefully.

“Steady on sis,” Georgie laughed. It’ll be years yet before we’re set up for that.”

Thus, in a light-hearted mood, they arrived home.

Once home, Georgie met privately with Dot and showed her the letter.

“So, what did they advise?” Dot asked.

“Well Marty took the usual fertility tests and everything is as we expected, she’s healthy, relatively young, and fertile. They say now is about the best time to go for it. The frozen sperm is still healthy and Marty’s at the best age, early twenties.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~