The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3068 by Angharad Copyright© 2016 Angharad

---

This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
*****

“Have you seen this, Mummy?” Sammi handed me her copy of the i a newspaper that used to be published by the Independent but is now owned by Johnson Press, who publish the Scotsman and Yorkshire Post. The story was about a gang of thugs who were caught after beating a transgender person with a whip. They actually filmed it and placed it on the internet. She then showed me a report in an American paper complete with the film clip which she’d found on her iPad.

I watched it in disbelief. A man beat a woman who was dressed in red with what looked like a whip. Apparently, the police eventually took note and the gang were arrested. They’d apparently been making a living by demanding protection money from their transgender victims who they treated abysmally and frequently with beatings or degradation. Many of the women work as prostitutes or beggars in order to scrape by. It seems in Pakistan that treating minorities like dirt is common practice; but then they often treat ordinary women pretty badly, too.

It strikes me that in some countries where there isn’t a culture of tolerance for differences people often do awful things to each other without fearing much in the way of retribution. Apparently, racist attacks have increased in this country since the Brexit referendum and the same appears to be true in the States since Donald Duck won the presidential vote running on a Mickey Mouse ticket, or is that his vice president? I can’t remember—oh yes I can, his name is something like Twenty Pence. So where did Mickey Mouse feature? Never mind...

“On Wednesday there’s a programme on about the Tavistock Clinic and some GD kids. You going to let our lot watch it?”

“Oh yes, Mummy,” declared Trish and Livvie who were bouncing up and down. “It’s the only gender clinic for children in the NHS,” read Trish from the week’s television guide. “So how come we didn’t go there?”

“Yeah how come I didn’t go there?” asked Livvie.

“You’re not transgender, are you?”

“Don’t be silly, course I’m not—oh, yeah, oops,” she slipped out of the room blushing like a tail light.

“What about me, how come I didn’t go there?” Trish asked.

“Because we had Stephanie.”

“Yeah but it says this is the only place for us.”

“Where d’you think she was trained?”

“How do I know?”

“The Tavistock and Portman Clinics.”

“But it’s not the same as actually going there, is it?”

“If we had, you’d still be waiting for hormones let alone surgery.”

“Why—that’s silly.”

“Because that’s the way they operate, you might have had hormone blockers but that’s all.”

“I’m glad I saw Stephanie then, stupid programme,” after which declaration she sloped off to presumably join her seditious sister.

“I wondered if the others might learn something from it, that’s all,” suggested Sammi.

“Would they or would it be rehashing old stuff and reminding them of the situation when everyone appears to have moved on from it?”

“But what if it comes up—in like a couple of year’s time—such as when they’ve got boyfriends?”

“I won’t be actively supporting any of them having boyfriends at age twelve, it’s too young.”

“And Danielle—she’s already got one—she’s only thirteen.”

“Fourteen, and I’m well aware of her situation, she confided in me some while ago.” It was fib, Julie had told me and it had been confirmed by the younger girls and Danielle and I had had words about it. She wasn’t exactly pleased but complied when I explained my concerns. For a teenager she’s actually remarkably mature at times.

“Did you get your post yesterday?” asked Stella.

“No, I wasn’t aware we had any.”

She disappeared and reappeared with a couple of envelopes. One was obviously a begging letter from a charity which I binned the other looked sort of official. I tore it open and as soon as I saw the letter heading my heart started to beat rather quickly.

“You all right?” asked Stella.

I handed her the letter. She scanned it and then read it again. “Can they do this?”

“Only if she’s happy to allow it or we are up until she’s eighteen, I think. After that it’s up to her.”

“But she’s your daughter now—they even got her name wrong.”

“They presumably don’t know about her change of lifestyle.”

“Is that going to be a problem?”

“In what way?”

“Well they’re not going to accuse you of making her do it, are they?”

“I don’t see how they can, Stephanie was involved throughout and she’s an expert.”

“What if they tried to take her back?”

“D’you think she’d go for that?”

“I’m just asking, Cathy.”

“Can I see?” asked Sammi who picked up the letter after I assented.

“So this adoption tracing agency is asking if this woman can meet up with her son—oops, she’ll have a bit of a surprise if she does. I mean, she’s so girly you wouldn’t be able to disguise her as a boy, would you?”

“Can I have a drink,” said Trish flouncing into the kitchen.

“Would you ask Danni to pop in, please?”

“I s’pose,” she muttered and sloped off to find her sister who was apparently re-damp-proofing her eyelashes after taking a shower. We have her mascara delivered by the truckload.

I waited while Trish made herself and Livvie a drink and left the kitchen. I showed Danielle the letter. She stared at it for several minutes. “What does it mean? You’re not going to make me meet her are you?”

“No, if you don’t wish to meet her I’ll ask Mr Henstridge to reply and say no.”

“She thinks I’m a boy, Mummy, what would she do if she found out I’m not anymore?”

“It’s hardly gonna grow back, is it?” advised Sammi.

“I hope not, it was too bloody painful to want to do again.”

“Girls, look I don’t know what would happen. I would think that as we did this under medical supervision, we should be okay.”

“Except she got surgery under age,” said Sammi reminding me of a very dangerous fact.

“But that was because she’d been damaged too badly to effect a repair, Mr O’Rourke did what he considered best for her, especially as she was living as female anyway, which Stephanie will have documented.”

“I don’t want to be a boy again, I’m having tons more fun as a girl than I ever did as a boy.” Danni started to sob and came and sat on my lap. “She can’t make me be a boy again, can she?”

“Not if you don’t want to be one, sweetheart.”

“Why is life so unfair, it all seems to be going so well and then some bitch comes out of the past and fucks it all up? Why, Mummy, why should she be allowed to stir it all up again?”

“We’ll both go to see Mr Henstridge tomorrow and you can show him you are refusing to meet her, I’ll also ask him not to let slip about your change of status.”

The others eventually left after making Danielle and I cups of tea, she stayed cuddling with me seeking reassurance that she was safe with us and as the girl she enjoyed being. I hoped I gave it to her.

https://www.rt.com/viral/366902-pakistan-transgender-sialkot...