The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2282 by Angharad Copyright© 2014 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

“I don’t know whether Cindy is a positive influence on Danielle,” I confided to Simon.

“What makes you say that?”

“I overheard them talking earlier.”

“You weren’t listening at doors were you?”

Thankfully he couldn’t see me blush in the darkness of the bedroom. “Of course not,” I lied, “they were chatting quite openly.”

“What did they say?”

“Danni accused her of encouraging him to become a girl.”

“She wasn’t the only one, Trish did so and I suspect I might have done so as well. It’s not a capital offence as far as I know.”

“But she said that she only encouraged Danni as a bit of a laugh.”

“Ah, I see what you mean.”

“I also heard the Danni had joked about letting Pia do her orchidectomy.”

“Doesn’t seem so funny now, does it?”

“Why d’you think I’m bothering to tell you all this?”

“I assumed, like everything else you tell me, that it would have a purpose which would become increasingly obvious even to my addled brain.”

I wasn’t sure if he was complimenting or insulting me but continued nonetheless. “I was trying to put together some sort of chronology of Danni’s interest in changing gender. For ages he seemed a normal enough boy—as far as I could tell, not that I have much experience...”

“He did, take my word for it.”

“Thank you.” I pecked him on the cheek. “Then the assault in France happened and he changed.”

“Wouldn’t anyone?”

“I wasn’t making a value judgement just trying to get things in some sort of order.”

“Oh, okay; carry on.”

“Then Peter did that self castration.” I felt Simon wince. “And of all the stupid things I’ve done, I think encouraging Danny to stay friendly with Peter was a grave mistake.”

“You weren’t to know he was a psychopath.”

“Before that happened, if you recall Danny started using makeup and dressing up at Peter’s to humour his friend.”

“Wasn’t there an element of competition involved, I seem to remember you saying something about it.”

“Gosh, darling, you have quite a good memory when it’s switched on.” I gently teased him.

“Why you...” he started to tickle me and I had to rush off to the loo. I don’t know why he bothers, I either rush off to the loo or wet myself. You’d think he’d have learnt by now. Back in bed I returned to our earlier theme.

“Danny did enjoy it or so he said because he was better at it than Peter. It was about this time that Cindy appeared and she encouraged him to do it—I even had to go and rescue them from some older boys who were intent on beating them up.”

“That’s surmise, you don’t know they were going to beat them up.”

“What would a pack of older boys be doing chasing our girly ones around for then—to learn how to put their makeup on more professionally?”

“Okay, I’ll concede that they were in danger of a hiding.”

“And it seemed to go on from there. One minute it seemed we had another daughter and the next she wanted to be a boy again.”

“Then we went up to Scotland.”

“Yes, that was possibly the second dumbest thing I’ve done, making Danny dress as a girl for the whole trip.”

“I don’t remember too many complaints and she seemed to acquire an interest in boys as well.”

“I wondered if she was gay but in denial.”

“It crossed my mind as well.”

“Even role playing wouldn’t account for what appeared initially as a heterosexual boy becoming interested in dating boys.”

“I suspect there may be some fundies somewhere who’d consider you made our son gay, but nobody who has the slightest idea of psychological theory would agree with them. Isn’t sexual preference fixed quite early?”

“Before age twelve or thirteen, though in all fairness, not everyone is aware of it or might be in denial, suppressing it.”

“But before Danni’s age?”

“I’d have thought so.”

“So did the assault switch something on which had hitherto been in the off position?”

“That was something that puzzled me too.”

“Didn’t you suggest he’d enjoyed it and was disgusted with himself?”

“I think he experienced his first orgasm during it.”

“Poor little bugger.”

“Exactly, but I’d have thought something like that could screw you up for decades, especially knowing it’s ‘wrong’ to enjoy such a thing.”

“Wouldn’t that have shown they hit his prostate during penetration?”

“That’s the most likely scenario, but plenty of women enjoy rape fantasies, so maybe he was really transgender then.”

“Hang about, that’s a huge step. I agree he could have enjoyed himself if they nudged his prostate, but why would he try to ignore it now?”

“She’s a self conscious adolescent. Telling her she’s got a spot on her face sends her squealing to the mirror.”

“Well that’s a girly thing, isn’t it?”

“I don’t remember doing it.”

“Did you have any spots?”

“Um—not really,” I was incandescent with embarrassment and was sure the room was getting lighter as a consequence.

“That would explain why you didn’t go running and screaming to the mirror.”

“I think I’ve lost the plot somewhere along the line, darling.”

“You were going through a chronological order of Danni’s increasing transgender tendencies.”

“It’s getting too late,” I yawned as if to prove my point.

“It is now she’s a girl proper.”

“My brain is hurting, I’m going to sleep.”I kissed him and turned over to sleep. He spooned around my back and held me tightly. I went off to sleep feeling loved and secure.

The bed was empty when I woke, though it still felt warm on his side. I was delighted when he came back from the bathroom. “What are you still doing here?”

“Day off.”

“You could have told me, I could have organised something.”

“’S why I didn’t tell you, I just want to chill.” I felt like telling him I didn’t have that luxury, which in most families is a male one, we women have to get on with things like baby care.

“You can help the girls with breakfast while I get in a bike ride.”

“Um, babes?”

“What?” I asked in irritation.

“It’s um, tanking down.”

I said something very unladylike and he roared with laughter which woke up Lizzie and the daily cycle began again.

After breakfast I suggested Danielle try on her school uniform to ensure it fitted properly. She was very reluctant but Cindy was very enthusiastic and carried the day. Danni was not happy modelling the blazer and skirt but Cindy was in seeing her. Because it was fine for fit, I was quite pleased as well.

“Can I take it off now, Mummy?”

“Yes, darling, but do hang it up properly, won’t you?”

“No I’m going to trash it—Of course I will,” she said back muttering the first part.

“If you do trash it, you’ll be rather cool in your bra and pants on Monday,” I retorted, “because you’re still going to school.”

“I can’t wait to see you in school,” sighed Cindy and Danni nearly threw up.