I made my way up to my room, called Lisa, and told her I was headed to her house with news. Lisa loves news … not TV news, but other news … OK, gossip. I told her it was something that involved my gender and it was amazing and incredible. I took my time getting to her house and made her suffer a little. She was waiting just outside her front door when I arrived, patting her foot and pretending to be looking at her watch. We talked as headed to her room.

“Damn, babe, took a while! What’s up?”

“Lisa, when I tell you this, I know you will understand the importance of keeping it confidential.”

“Ok, whacha got?”

“Let me repeat the word ‘confidential’ ”.

“OK. You know me. You know I definitely know the meaning of the word, as well as how to put the word into practice … ‘wild horses’, etc.”

“OK … here goes … ready?”

“Come on, babe, you’re killing me!”

“I’m a girl.”

“Of course! That’s not news! We talked about that! Inside, you’re a female, and you’re ready to have an operation to correct your body to match your soul. So you talked to your parents? “

“No, I didn’t tell them I want to be a female. They told me I should have an operation.”

“What!? A sex change operation!?”

“No. I’m already a girl.”

“Tracy, you’re an enigma, but I love you. I’m gonna sit here and let you put this puzzle together so it makes sense. As of right now, however, I don’t see any way you can do that.”

“Ok. It’s simple. The tests the doctor had done show that I have 2 ‘X’ chromosomes. The tests also show that, internally, I have female parts. I have a womb, ovaries and all the other parts that are female. I’m as much female as you, except for a small amount of tissue that resembles a penis and testicles. The muscles that would cause an erection are not there. So, I was right when I said I could ‘lay it on’ a girl, but not ‘sock it to her’. That would be one disappointing date!”

Lisa sat for a long time in shock. She said nothing. I didn’t know if she was going to laugh, cry, or … who knows? I looked closer, however, and saw wheels turning. Her complex super-brain was working at the speed of light (at least) to analyze every scenario this change would bring. She sat with wide eyes and her mouth agape as she thought of the changes for me, for her (we were cousins), for my parents, for the rest of the family, for the school. I’m sure her amazing brain continued analyzing until all possibilities were exhausted. This must have taken at least 10 seconds. Very slowly, the look of shock began to fade, replaced, gradually, by a smile. “Tracy … you’ll … Tracy … you’re … Tracy … Oh … My … God …. You’re my girl cousin! Life is beautiful!”

“Well, Lisa, it’s not that simple ….”

“It couldn’t be more simple, Tracy! You, see, there are only 2 sexes ….”

“Lisa! Stop!” She smiled. “Lisa, you’ve always known that you’re a girl, you went to school as a girl. You did everything as a girl, so it is that simple for you. I’ve been living as a boy, and there is no way I can just switch clothes, restrooms, and everything else. ‘Hey everybody! Y’all thought I was a boy. Surprise! How do you like me now?’ And the answer comes back, ‘Pervert’, ‘Queer’, ‘Homo’!”

“You’re right, people are touchy about gender. You’re either male or female, zero or one, a pointer or a sitter.”

“What?”

“Not important. What you gonna do?”

“Well, just before the end of the school year, in May, my dad is getting a transfer at work. I have to get surgery to remove this excess tissue, and hopefully finish the few weeks left of school by doing my schoolwork at home. When the school year is done, my mom and I can join my dad, and I can start anew in a new city, new school, new life!”

“Great!” She smiled a smile which quickly disappeared. We knew this move was coming. Likewise, we both hated it. We had campaigned, encouraged, cried, begged and made outrageous promises to get Lisa’s mom to move with us, but, so far, it didn’t seem like it was going to happen. Her mom had a law degree, but spent most of her time on her thriving online business, so moving was simple. She could work from any place in or out of the country. The only reason they wouldn’t agree seemed to be that they were adults, and adults don’t ‘cling’ to each other like that. Then, we tried to sell them on the idea that ‘clinging’ could be a good thing. We were desperate. We seemed doomed to both lose our best friend.

“Lisa. Our parents have to understand that I can’t do this alone. I need an advisor, a confidante, a friend! There is only one person I trust to fill these roles.”

“Who?”

“Lisa … come on … you!”

She smiled again. “Awww, thanks, sis … cousin … sis !” We frequently referred to each other as ‘sis’ when no one else was around. Now we could say it in ‘public’! “Ok, we’ve tried everything else. This will work. You can’t be just cast among a new group of people with no training on how to speak or interact with your peer group. Matter of fact, your old group had penises ….”

“Were penises, to be exact!”

“You’re right about that! Your new peer group has vaginas. Of course, the differences between the groups go way beyond what’s between the legs. You’re going to be in like … a whole different dimension! They can’t expect you to go it alone!”

We heard the front door open. “Lisa! It’s mom. I need to talk to you about something.”

Lisa hurried into the living room with me lagging behind. She could hardly wait to share. “Mom, we have something for you first.”

“No, mine first. Lisa, I’ve decided you and I are going to move to Houston this summer so you and Tracy can be together for the transition.”

“So, you know already!” We were stunned.

“Of course! I’ve talked to my sister. The situation is unusual, to say the least, and Tracy is gonna need all the help he … she can get. Dammit! I promised myself I wouldn’t get the pronouns wrong! Tracy, are you gonna change your name? ‘Tracy’ could be a girl’s name, but I’ll bet you’re gonna want to change it.”

“Yes, the name Tracy that I have is a boy’s name, because it was thought that it was being given to a boy. Yes, I’d like to change it. I want a clean break. I’ll have to think about it.”

“Good for you! I will help you all I can. Who knows? Lisa might even help a little, too.”

“Mom! I’m the supervisor of this whole transition!”

“She’s right,” I had to admit. “Since this ‘news’ broke, I think I’ve talked more with Lisa than my parents.”

Aunt Katy smiled. “Lisa knows about being a girl.”

“How are my parents, Aunt Katy?”

“Oh, they’re fine! We’re all in shock, of course. The question is ‘how are you?’ ”

“I’m good! A lot of things make sense that didn’t seem right before.”

“I’m not surprised by that. When I was a kid, I can’t imagine living as a boy. I was a real girly-girl; your mom was too. Now … what did you girls want to tell me?”

Lisa spoke up, “Well, it’s already settled, but I’ll ask anyway. Is there any way in the world we can move to Houston with Tracy’s family?”

“Well, let me think … OK, let’s do that. I’m glad it’s settled. I don’t think I could go another day with y’all pestering me about that.”

“I can hardly wait until tomorrow morning so I can not go to school. Sorry, Lisa.”

“I’m fine. I’ll be at your house after school every day to supervise your work.”

“You’re just supposed to bring me my work, but I know you. You’ll make me actually do the work!”

“I’m the supervisor of this transition, and schoolwork at home is part of it!”

“Lisa grabs as much power as she can. So, where are you girls headed next?”

“We’re off to my room to get Tracy into some decent clothes.”

“Ok. When you decide on something, I’d like to see how she looks.”

“With me supervising, you know she’ll look fantastic!”

“Of course! I’ll call Tracy’s mom so she won’t think …she … jumped off a cliff or something. Y’all have fun!”

“Ok, mom; we’ll be a while because I want to do this right!”

We headed to Lisa’s room. I couldn’t help but think how weird it was to be trying on all those neat clothes … and it was ok!

Next: No More Cross-Dressing