Party time

Richard glanced at the calender, and sighed. It was the day before his fortieth birthday, and it was an occasion he dreaded. But not just for the usual reasons - the idea of getting older rarely appealed after twenty five, but for a more complicated reason.

Richard had never really felt “right” as a male. Sadly, it had taken him far too long to realize there was actually something he could had done about that, and so he approached forty no further along toward being a woman than he had at twenty.

Mostly, his girl self lived online, in chat rooms and especially fiction sites. He (She, really) wrote poems and songs and stories, and even kept a blog sharing her inner self with the others who were like her.

She just posted a blog entry, trying to keep the self-pity to minimum, but several people sent encouraging messages privately to try and get her to focus on the positive steps she had taken.

“You finally told your brother, your sister, and your mom, Donna. Did they kick you out of their lives? No. Sure, they don’t totally get it, but they still want to see you, that counts for something.” one message said.

“I know, but just once, I would like a birthday as a woman. To be the birthday girl.”

She wiped her tears, turned off the computer, and went to sleep.

The day of her birthday dawned, and she struggled to get going. The day dragged, and by the end of her shift, she was ready to crawl into a bed and forget that it was her birthday.

But just after she got home, the phone rang, and it was her brother.

“You got plans for tonight?”

“A hot bath and a warm bed.”

“No good. Its your birthday, so you got forty minutes to get your best dress on, Donna.”

“I thought you weren't comfortable with me dressing up in front of you.”

“Its a special day.”

“Fine. Remember, you asked.”

Exactly forty minutes later, her brother rang the bell, and Donna had to rush out the bedroom to answer.

“Nice dress.” he said, “Come on, the family is waiting.”

They drove to a restaurant, and Donna gasped as they entered.

Inside, a table had been set up for the birthday party, and practically everything on the table was pink.

The table was covered with a pink tablecloth, on top of which were pink plates, with pink napkins beside them. Presents wrapped in pink paper with pink bows were in the center of the table, circling a pink cake. Even the knives, forks and spoons were pink.

“Happy birthday, Donna!” Her family said.

Her mother gave her a kiss, and gave her a plastic tiara that said “birthday princess” on it.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart.” her mother said.

Her sister came up and hung a sash on her that said, “Birthday girl” and hugged her.

“Happy birthday sis.” Her sister said.

“Thank you. thank you all.” Donna said, and wept tears of joy.

Once the food and cake were eaten, the gifts were opened, and everyone but Donna and her brother had left, she turned to him, and said, “Okay. Give. What made you guys decide to accept me all of a sudden?”

“You gave me a link to your stories, once. I finally took the time to read them. I … I was amazed at your talent, and I … finally saw my sister, for the first time. I called everyone else, and it didn’t take long to talk everyone else into this. I’m....sorry it took us so long.”

Donna hugged her brother, and said, “Its okay.It took me a long time to come to grips with what I am myself. It was probably unreasonable to expect you guys to get it in one day.”

“Probably.”

“Hey!”

“Hey, just cause your my sister instead of my brother, doesn’t mean I cant bug you a bit.”

“Okay, okay. “ She said, She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and said, “Thanks, bro. Lets go home.”