Chapter 3.16

June 9th, 2023

Chatham Yardworks, North Pole

2:46PM

The office building was half a block off the main drag in North Pole, but there was a large sign that was placed at the corner, pointing down the cross street letting people know where they were. Beside the office was a salon on one side, and Ross’ Diner, the same fast food joint where Chet had finally realized how he felt about Mage, on the other.

Bob pulled the car he and Mike were driving into the parking lot. They’d called ahead and found out that it had been a busy day at the office, so when they got out of the car, they went to the diner and ordered some burgers for the office staff, which consisted of Rick and his wife Carla.

She did a twirl, which was adorable and would have been much prettier if she’d had room for her dress to flare out without bumping into the walls and furniture.

Sweater Weather
Copyright 2022 by Heather Rose Brown

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“What was that shit you were saying, calling me a bitch?” I demanded.

Ever think of something that made you blush all the way down to your navel?

“She already knows, Cami. I talked to her.”

I must have looked as astonished as I felt. Though he was uncomfortable, he didn’t look away.

“It was a couple days ago. Before we made love. I knew what I wanted, but I was so afraid that I would hurt you, somehow. Especially because of your issues with PTSD. So I talked to Fiona. She’s your dragon. I figured if she thought there was any likelihood of a problem, she would wave me off. She . . . ah . . . well. She didn’t.” He was blushing, bless the man. “She also wasn’t surprised.”

“Give it time. This is all coming at you so fast. And you’re still sick, and you’re dealing with Iain. If there’s something there, let it grow at its own pace, and don’t tie yourself in knots if everything isn’t wrapped up in a bow by lunchtime. Okay?”

“Okay,” I said. “What would I do without you?”

She laughed and said, “that’s easy. You would think too much and you would worry yourself silly. You’re in lockdown with a good looking guy who wants to kiss you. Just enjoy it!”

I have amazing friends.

“Cami. Each of us is going to need to do what we can when we have the strength to do it. I was useless earlier and you wore yourself out. So it was my turn. Now sit here a minute.” He got up, invaded my ear with the thermometer, and said “100.7. Okay, Cami. Time for Tylenol, then go lie down.”

I took the pills, smiled and said, “Aye, aye, Cap’n.”

He chuckled and said, “wrong service branch, Cadet. Fifty demerits!” I went to go lie down.

He continued to glare at me, until suddenly his expression changed completely and he simply looked like he’d been hit by a locomotive. “Fi IS saving the world, jackass,” I said conversationally. “And you’d be the first to agree that the world can spare a lawyer or five. So stop being stupid, will you?”

"Hi, my daughter needs to be fitted for a new bra."

“It’s like one of those bad dreams, where you can see a train go off the rails, or a car careening into a group of people, and you try to cry out, or move, but you can’t.”

“Wow,” she said. “The boys are going to be watching that show.”

“I think you just said you like to eat Germans!” she giggled.

“Who doesn’t?” I replied.

I slipped back into the apartment that had been my sanctuary for these incredible months of change, and suddenly, so very suddenly, wasn’t. Life was just coming at me too quickly.

It was cold in the High Lady Jenwise’s office, perhaps colder than it should have been. I stood there a good distance away from her desk while she chatted with some dignitary that I didn’t recognize. To the left and right, two guards, each in a pressed blue uniform, each with a rifle slung over their shoulders. Their faces were expressionless but I knew that they were watching me, even as I stood there in my tattered prison uniform and barely passable footwraps.

“Cool. So do you want me to turn you into something today?”

 

“Yeah, Sophia and I talked it over and we thought: dragon sisters!”

A woman researcher finds the plans for a regression and mind control device and uses it to benefit mankind. No, wait, this is trans-fiction, as her ex-boyfriend, her woman boss, a random guy she picks up at a bar and a husband about to divorce his wife find out.

“Nice day for it,” I muse as I enter the park where the rest of the cricket team is assembled.

“Yep,” Stuart concurs. “Pity there’s no ‘it’ for it to be a nice day for, heh.”

“Well- yep, can’t argue with THAT,” I sigh as I gaze around at the other guys, all of whom- myself included- are keeping a distance of at least two metres away from each other.

“Dorothy was a child, and she missed her home. Her Aunty Em. I left home when I was 21, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back even to visit. It’s not home anymore. And I’ll be honest: I’ve always thought Dorothy was an idiot for going back.”

She cocked an eyebrow in question and I said, “Have you been to Kansas?”

“I know this is only going to be for a couple of hours, but it’ll be a taste of what you can have all the time, later on.”

I’d pretty much given up on trying to convince myself I wasn’t trans by that point. I was still trying to convince myself that a girl body, whether human or dragon, was a “nice to have” rather than the burning need it had soon become once I’d started thinking about it.

Were some trans women lesbians, if that was the right word for it? The parental control software wouldn’t let me find out and I couldn’t ask anyone.

Another self-contained short story about a gender-fluid boy, his mom, and an understanding hair stylist dealing with contemporary issues. How will Jackie handle an upcoming road trip through a state with bathroom laws?

Amy moves back to the United States, after living most of her childhood and completing her RGN training in England. She is halfway through a year of board certification. The Ethical Clothing Act changes everything.

This was first posted over seventeen years ago. It has been updated and edited but – unfortunately – it’s message is timeless. Keep in mind that I wrote this during the second Bush era and have made only cosmetic changes to make it fit into the current day. The steady assault by a misguided political world on transgender rights makes this cautionary tale as relevant today, as it ever has been.