Book 2, Chapter 62

With Dumblebit secured in Swansea Marina I phoned Mum to let her know I was in safely then Serena and I wandered into the Swansea city centre where Serena was keen on doing a behind the scenes tour of the Grand Theatre.

“Are you thinking of redeveloping it as another shopping centre I teased?”

“I’ll have you know there’s much more to me than money and shopping!” she snapped back with such vehemence that I knew that what I’d meant as a gentle gybe had struck a very sore point.

“I’m sorry See. We’ve been friends for so long because you can tolerate my stupidity and because I know there is more to you than meets the eye. So spill.”

For some reason it embarrassed Serena to admit that acting on stage appealed to her. The idea of joining an amateur theatrical group led to her wanting a look round a real theatre - especially one where she wasn’t known - and she’d seen the ‘Behind the Scenes Tour’ advertised. It was fun and a bit spooky with just a few of us backstage of the otherwise empty Grand Theatre and Serena’s probing of the guide produced information about the Swansea Little Theatre Company, who were an amateur group based in the local Dylan Thomas Theatre which was back by the marina.

Serena’s luck was on a roll as that theatre was also open for rehearsals and before she could chicken out she was invited in to meet members while I wandered back to Dumblebit so as not to cramp her style. I must admit that the Naomi side of my character kicked a little at the wait as she’d had several days of being centre stage and liked the attention. Still having a friend who was literally centre stage could be fun and was almost certainly an opportunity for Serena to blossom as more than the business woman she was also becoming.

Serena reappeared almost an hour later but she was so bubbly and flushed I didn’t have the heart to complain so we strolled slowly to her car for the drive back to Cardiff during which I learnt that Serena had taken her first steps as an actor. Getting in about 6 pm Serena joined my family for the late dinner they’d planned and I thought how different our families were. There was a constant flow between the homes of my parents, aunt Sophie’s, Gran’s and more recently Bill’s house while, although the Johnson's often ate out or invited business acquaintances for dinner, they didn’t seem to casually socialise with family or friends. Maybe that was why Serena had taken so long to come out as a thespian.

"When I have my own home I’ll get a huge expanding dining table so there will be space for everybody who visits,” I declared.

“Do they make them that big because to listen to you this morning you want to have at least a dozen children…”

Serena looked around the table, aware of the sudden silence from the others, then at me … “Whoops! They don’t know.”

Litara was first to guess. “Aunt Flo has come to visit Venus?”

I blushed and nodded. Why I should blush is a mystery but then I also felt proud although I'd done nothing special. Crying was also an option but not at the dinner table so maybe a blush was the best compromise. Wrong!! Mum started crying for me then Aunt Sophie and Grandma Tina came round the table to give me a huge group hug while Da went to the cupboard reappearing with two bottles of wine. Maybe my family is the strange one not Serena’s.

Today was lighting the blue touch paper on my new life. OK, there were still 3 months to go before I left England but not knowing had deterred me from dreaming of a personal future. Naturally my various doctors would want a poke around as I might be bleeding for other reasons. Then it hit me…

"Bill? How do I get to see my Member of Parliament and how do I lean on them?"

"If this is a PMS joke it had better be good because I don’t want to be any part of threats, bribes or blackmailing of an MP……. Lobbying-with-menaces on the other hand can be ethically condoned. What do you want done.”

“A few days ago the Hardings asked me if I could help their daughter and her friends in Mermaids. At the time all I could think of was to give the children support and room to grow but what if I had a child with Gender Dysphoria? Despite being a mother with all of the physical disadvantages that entails; I would be liable for all of the legal disadvantages of being male and none of the legal advantages of being female. Would I want a child of mine to go through life like that just because of a Male or Female mark on their birth certificate? Why shouldn’t birth certificates be changed? Why shouldn’t Arwen go to school as a girl even before she has surgery? Is it for our protection or is it because Arwen and I are such a threat to others?”

There was silence and only as I finished did I realise I had been standing; pounding the table with my fist. Aunt Sophie rose…

“Anyone for tea?”

Nothing happens overnight, even if like me you spend an hour on the phone after dinner calling members of Mermaids to offer help as a public figure and businesswoman with a publicly known relevant medical condition. I had no new ideas that the members of Mermaids hadn’t already looked at, refined and improved upon. There was already pressure being applied through the European courts as it wasn’t enough to change just British law. What I could do was present the relevant material, which they would give me, while trying to persuade my MP to be amenable to or even to promote, changes in the law.