Crossing The Line Chapter 7 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 Angharad

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(title picture Andrea Piacquadio)

The phone ringing disturbed the relative peace of the cottage. Jenny was washing dishes while Maddy and Gaby were out in the garden, messing about with a ball. Jenny, scowling and muttering under her breath went to answer it, shaking the water off her hands as she walked.

“Is Gaby there?”

“Who’s calling?”

“It’s Harry. Dad’s agreed to buy me a new bike,” gasped an excited voice down the phone.

“I’m glad for you,” said Jenny, “I’ll see if I can find her for you.” She put the phone down and called from the back door. “Gaby, Harry wants you on the phone.”

Drew duly came and spoke briefly on the phone. Then returning to the kitchen, spoke to Jenny and Maddy, the latter was making a drink. “Harry’s gonna buy the bike he borrowed today. His dad phoned Matt, who agreed to sell it to them.”

“He’s only buying it to be closer to his girlfriend,” said Maddy, in a detached voice.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” snapped back Drew.

“Exactly what I said. He wants to win favour with you, so he’s buying a racing bike. I hope his blisters have gone down.”

“Well he’s wasting his time. Like, I mean we’re only gonna be here another couple of days. Like, I might never see him again. Like, if he can’t ride twenty miles without getting a sore bum, he isn’t gonna be riding up to Warsop, is he?”

“Come on you two,” interjected Jenny, “Maybe he’s just decided he likes riding and that’s why he’s buying a new bike. Let’s face it, that mountain bike thing he had was no incentive to want to ride, was it?”

“I still think he’s besotted with Gabs. He’d do anything to get in her good books.”

“Well he’s wasting his time,” said Drew, now blushing and wishing he’d not spoken at all.

“So is he going to see Matt tomorrow?” asked Jenny.

“No, his dad bought it by card over the phone. Got it for three hundred, I think.”

“Not a bad price,” Jenny said nodding her head.

“Dunno,” replied Drew, “Depends on what the new price was.”

“Well you won’t get much for less than about four or five hundred, will you?”

“No, I s’pose not. Anyway, his dad’s taking him into Dorchester to get some cycle shorts.” Drew started to snigger as he said this, thinking about how saddle sore the poor boy was. The other two laughed as well, as they thought about it.

“It isn’t funny really,” said Jenny, suppressing with limited success, a laugh. “We’ve all had sore bottoms from racing saddles. I can remember how things were before gel saddles, then you just got on with it, and the chamois in the shorts were just that, leather.”

“Have you been cycling that long?” asked Maddy.

“What, like before Dr Dunlop invented pneumatic tyres?” asked Jenny, with a smile still on her face.

“I dunno,” said Maddy, looking bemused.

“Don’t tease her mum, tell her about how you won the Cheshire junior county title. She beat the boys in her age group too.”

“So you’re both like, cycling prodigies?” said Maddy.

“I suppose we are. I’ve ridden a bike since I was about three years old, and Drew and Jules have done the same. But Jules doesn’t particularly like it, unlike the wunderkind here.”

“How old were you when you started racing?” asked Maddy.

“About ten, I think. I persuaded my dad to get a me a racing type bike, we had to get it built, I was so small. Cost about sixty pounds in those days, which was considerably more than it sounds today. I watched Eddy Merckx racing and I wanted to be like him.”

“You wanted to be like a man?” said Maddy with some astonishment.

“No, not like a man, I just wanted to win cycle races and he was the best. Some consider he was possibly the best all round rider of the lot.”

“What about Lance, I’ll bet he goes on to win the Tour, over and over again,” said Drew with some insistence.

“He well might, but you don’t see him racing in much else do you?” replied his mother.

“So. He’s a Tour specialist.”

“Merckx, won the Tour five times, and may have made six if some idiot Frenchman hadn’t punched him as he went past. He crashed and broke his jaw. But he was racing all season, not just one race, he might do six majors plus some shorter stuff. I don’t see Armstrong doing that.”

“Well I still think he’s good,” said Drew, huffing.

“I didn’t say he wasn’t, I simply said I thought Merckx was better.”

Drew went back out into the garden, still huffing. He rarely won an argument on cycling with his mother, especially when she could bring up names from the past he’d hardly heard of. He knew of Merckx, and she was probably right, but he wasn’t going to agree with her, so he made a tactical withdrawal.

“I’m glad you didn’t want to be a man,” said Maddy, as she followed Drew out to the garden.

Jenny stood aghast as she took on board what Maddy had just said to her. Maddy had completely misunderstood what she had said. She had meant to say she wanted to win, like Merckx, not become him. Thinking of Drew’s situation, it became obvious to her where Maddy was coming from. “Oh God, I hope she doesn’t think we’re all suffering from Gender Identity Disorder, because even Drew, has nothing proven yet. He might be gay, he may be absolutely normal, he might have one of those chromosomal abnormalities or be androgen insensitive.”

Maddy’s comment shook her to the core, and it suddenly made her even more sensitive or empathic to Drew’s possible position, assuming it was something other than normal. “Maybe he’s just transvestite, likes girly clothes and things, lots of men are according to the statistics. Oh hell, this gets so complicated, yet I don’t want him to go to a doctor at the moment in case it prejudices his own choice. I’ll have to talk to Dave, even if he doesn’t like it.”

Out in the garden, Maddy and Drew were sat enjoying a bit of late afternoon sun.

“I’m glad Auntie Jenny didn’t want to be a man.”

“What?” said Drew sitting up. “Course she didn’t. There’s nothing wrong with my mum.”

“I know, I know. That’s what I was saying,” said Maddy trying to calm things down.

“So what are you getting at then, like, ‘cos I look a bit like a girl, that it’s because my mum wanted to be a boy?”

“No. I didn’t say that, and I didn’t mean it.” She paused until she sensed Drew had cooled a little, “No I just meant because life is better as a girl, don’t you think?”

“How would I know?” said Drew obstructively.

“I would have thought you were exactly the person to know. Not many boys have had a chance to live as a girl, and as successfully as you.”

“So are you telling me I’m, like, more girly than other boys?”

“No silly, but you have lived as a girl and as a boy, so you have some idea of what that means.”

“Not especially, I might look like a girl, but under these clothes is pure boy.” Drew stood up as he spoke. Maddy half expected him to beat his chest like Tarzan, and for his voice to suddenly deepen as he spoke. However, neither of these things happened. He looked and sounded like she did. She looked at him and then shook her head.

“So, if you are so macho, how come you didn’t help Harry fix his loose chain?”

“I was like, role playing. You know, like, pretending I might dirty my hands or chip my nail varnish.”

“It’s already chipped,” said Maddy.

“Oh no!” exclaimed Drew, “It’s supposed to be extra hard.”

“Like you?”

“Yeah. Like me.” He examined his nails, holding his long fingers out before him, palms down. “I can’t see where it’s chipped.”

“It isn’t,” said Maddy shaking her head.

“Then why did you say…?” But Maddy was walking away. “Maddy, why…?” he called trotting after her.

Dave, Jules and Carol walked in through the front door as Drew entered the kitchen. He watched his parents embrace, “Good day?” asked Jenny, to which Dave nodded.

Drew felt a tear form in his eyes, which he tried to swallow back, but seeing his parents act as they usually did when his mother wasn’t away was slightly too much for our hero, especially given the mind game Maddy had been playing recently. He rushed up and hugged them both.

“Hey kiddo, you nearly knocked me over,” said Dave.

“Sorry,” replied Drew, sniffing.

“You got a cold?” asked Dave.

“No.” said Drew blushing, and looking down at the floor, but continuing to hug them.

“Okay girl, good ride?” Drew felt choked and unable to speak, nodded an answer.

Jenny realised that Drew was struggling for some reason, so answered for them both, “We had a nice gentle ride, didn’t we Gaby?” She rubbed Drew on the head. Drew hugged them both tighter.

“Ugh! I’ve got sand in everything,” announced the arrival of Jules, “I’m going for a shower,” prefixed her departure. However, her teenage self-centredness was enough to break the emotional spell which had entranced Drew, and he was able to sniff back the tears and walk away before anyone spotted his runny mascara.

“I need to go to the toilet,” he lied, as he went up the stairs, feeling very mixed up. However, he knew one thing, he was going to enjoy his parents being together while it lasted. He knew it would be ephemeral, his mother was missing races and her position in the table would be affected soon if it wasn’t already.

He took his compact from the small handbag he was using. Careful use of a tissue minimised the damage to his eye makeup. He was still screwed up, nevertheless, he was determined to make the best of things. This meant not thinking about the things Maddy and he had been talking about. There was time for that later.

After composing himself, he descended the stairs to the smells of cooking meat. Hunger now became his dominant need, and he hoped they wouldn’t have to wait too long to eat.

Maddy and Carol were talking in the lounge, Jenny was in the kitchen with Dave, he was adding knobs of butter to new potatoes. “Can I help?” he asked.

“No that’s alright ,Gabs. Oh, can you take the mint sauce through?” said Jenny indicating a small jug on top of a work surface.

“Roast lamb, yummee,” he said as he carried the little jug to the dining room.

“Gaby, can you tell your sister she has five minutes maximum?” called Jenny from the kitchen.

“ ‘kay.” He slipped up the stairs and knocked on the bathroom door. “Dinner in five minutes.”

“What?” said a voice behind him.

“Jeez!” he said jumping. He stood facing his sister his hands over his chest, “You frightened the life out of me then,” his heart was still pounding in overdrive.

“That makes a change then.”

“What?”

“Usually it’s the brown stuff you have frightened out of you!”

“What are you on about?”

“When you accuse someone of frightening you, you usually say ‘shit’ not ‘life’.”

“What does it matter?” Drew was now blushing and feeling very confused.

“It’s just you seem more of a girl every time I see or speak to you.” Jules was rubbing her head with a towel as she spoke.

“Don’t you start as well,” he sighed, trying not to engage in a conversation on this topic.

“Why, who else was saying it? Don’t tell me, Maddy?” Jules smiled triumphantly.

“Who else?” Drew then terminated the conversation, “If you’ve finished in here, I’m gonna wash my hands.” He slipped into the bathroom, and was thankful the mirror over the washbasin was steamed up. He washed his hands and then opened the window, leaving before the mirror cleared.

The meal was eaten with the minimum of small talk. Drew although hungry still felt choked so he ate slowly, forcing down each morsel. He couldn’t believe how this nonsense was affecting him, but it was. He was glad when the meal was over, and as he was helping carry dirty dishes to the kitchen the door bell rang. He went to open it.

“Hi Gaby, you okay?” said the young man stood at the door.

“Yes, thanks to you. I never did say thanks for saving my life.” Drew blushed as he spoke to John.

“That’s okay, any time,” said John nonchalantly. He held open his arms to Gaby, who accepted his embrace, and then pecked him on the cheek. “It’s almost worth the risk to get kissed by a pretty girl afterwards.”

Drew stood blushing like a tomato.

“Gaby Bond get your dirty paws off my fellah,” called Jules. Drew felt himself shrinking as he withdrew from the older teenagers.

“It’s okay, she was just thanking me for saving her life,” said John laughing.

“If she’s not careful, it’ll be me threatening her not some local yokel,” said Jules, before taking possession of the caller. “We’re off, Mum, see you later.”

“Don’t be too late,” called Dave, “Back here by eleven thirty at the latest.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Jules before the door closed.

After the postprandial clean up, feeling at a loose end Drew announced, “I’m going for a quick ride.”

“No you’re not,” said his father.

“Why not?”

“In case that lunatic’s about, who knows where he is.”

“I’ll be alright.”

“I know you will, because you’re staying here,” said Dave firmly.

“I wanna go for a ride.”

“I don’t care what you want to do, you’ll do as I say young lady.”

“That’s not fair.”

“I don’t care. Any more shenanigans from you and I’ll send you up to your room.”

“I’m bloody well going there anyway. So there!” Drew began to storm off up the stairs.

“Gaby, you come back here, this minute. I’ll tell you when you can go.” Dave was seething.

“Up yours,” was muttered under the breath; instead Drew knew when he was licked.

“What?” he said curtly.

“Don’t you dare speak to either your mother or me like that ever again, or so help me I’ll stop you riding for … a … month. Understand?”

“Yes,” said Drew sullenly, “Can I go now?”

“Yes.”

He turned dejectedly and on heavy legs climbed the stairs. He entered his bedroom and threw himself down on the bed and began to sob into his pillow, clutching bunny tightly.

“What was all that about?” asked Jenny.

“Gaby wanted to go out on her bike and I said, no.”

“I could have gone with her,” said Jenny.

“In view of the danger of that lunatic still at large, I said no.”

“So why did she get so upset?”

“She cheeked me, so I sent her to her room.”

“Oh!”

“So, what did I do wrong?” asked Dave feeling in the minority again.

“Nothing. It’s simply that she’s been a bit emotional today, I don’t know why. So maybe she’s not herself.”

“That’s the whole bloody problem isn’t it, she’s not feeling herself,” said Dave exasperated.

“Oh, we’re back to that are we? I thought we’d agreed.” Jenny took the moral high ground and in best school ma’am fashion called Dave to account like a naughty schoolboy.

“Oh, for God’s sake.” He walked off, to go and tinker with his car.

Carol, who was opening a bottle of wine in the kitchen, observed to Jenny, “Here have a glass of plonk, it’ll calm you down and you’ll see things differently. Maddy, can you take a can of beer out to your uncle?” Maddy, grumbling, came and did as she was asked.

“Maybe I will have a drink, I can’t feel any worse, can I?”

“So what’s happening? Tell your Auntie Carol.” said Carol, quickly draining the glass.

“Cor, Carol, that was quick,” exclaimed Jenny.

“Not really, I like to savour the first one,” smiled Carol.

“Crikey, it looked as if you didn’t like the taste of it and were drinking it as fast as you could.”

“Yes, Mummy,” quipped Carol. “You see it helps the pain.”

“Pain? What pain are you in?”

“Oh I’m not at the moment, but I’ll have a headache in the morning,” smiled Carol, quaffing her second glass. Jenny had yet to touch hers.

“You are crazy cuz,” said Jenny smiling at her cousin.

“Me, I’m not mad. I’m the only sane one here,” said Carol, hamming it up. “Please don’t send for the men in white coats, unless they’re from the off licence.”

Jenny laughed at the antics before her. She shook her head and tears were forming in her eyes. “You are bonkers,” she said, laughing.

“Well I may be, but you look better. Now what’s the problem.”

Jenny looked to see where Maddy was, she was still talking to Dave, before closing the kitchen door. “Several things, obviously this business about the attempts on Gaby’s life is the major one, but I’m also worried about this girlishness that Drew seems to be showing. At times I almost forget he ever was a boy, and it is really getting to Dave. He saw it as an occasional thing, which he tolerated. Coping with it for several days, is pushing that tolerance.”

“I see. I had noticed how easily Drew slipped into the Gaby role, and I’m probably guilty of encouraging it. But it does seem so natural and he makes such a pretty girl.”

“I happened in on him in his undies and he looks like a female from behind, his hips and bottom are rounded and his waist is narrow, so are his shoulders. That can’t have just happened overnight, so how have we missed it?”

“It’s very easy, believe me. Besides, how often do you see teenagers with their kit off? Not very, normally boys are stuck in those shapeless things they call clothes, so when dressed in more fitting stuff, who knows what we might see.” Carol poured herself another drink.

“I feel I need to talk some more with Dave, but he just gets upset. He seems to think if he ignores it, it will go away. Typical man.” Then she blushed, as she said, “The other thing is, we don’t really have time to discuss it properly. I’ve got to get back to Germany as soon as I can. It’s a pain, but we need the money. If I can stay at the top for a year, it should help the coffers and we so need a new car. That VW’s been so good, but I hate to think how many miles are on it, and the camper’s pretty old too. I feel caught in a cleft stick.”

“I’m sure you’re doing the right thing. Gaby seems happy enough most of the time, so why worry for the moment? I’ll try and make myself available if she wants to talk to an older woman.”

“Thanks Carol, you are such a help. Gosh is the bottle empty?” Jenny almost gasped this last question, as she hadn’t touched her drink.

“Never mind, got another somewhere.”

“Is that wise? I mean it’s your business, I know, but if you are driving in the morning, you might be over the limit.”

“Good point,” said Carol, “Damn! I suppose I’d better have some tea or coffee.”

“Some water might be better, dilute it more.”

“Good idea,” she filled a glass from the tap. “Yuck!” She said, “I can’t believe we’re eighty per cent this stuff.”

“Do you think riding a bike would make Drew’s little bum bigger and rounder?”

“I’ve no idea, but I wouldn’t have thought so. I mean, if you look at those who do so professionally, they’re like stick insects, aren’t they? I mean, look at yourself, hardly a fuller figure, are you?”

“So something isn’t right with him then?” Said Jenny finally sipping her wine.

“I honestly don’t know, but she isn’t complaining, is she?”

“No I suppose not. Dave seems to think once she’s home, a quick hair cut and Drew will be back. I tried to tell him, he could be wrong but ... you know men, once they have an idea in their heads, it’s….”

“I know dear, but it happens so infrequently the novelty disturbs them,” said Carol casually.

“What?” said Jenny.

“Men and thinking, it’s why they get married, to have someone do it for them, like their washing and cooking. They’re little boys really, need mothering.”

“That’s a bit sexist, isn’t it?” said Jenny, feeling that Dave wasn’t like that.

“It’s true though,” said Carol, making faces at the glass of water.

“Not always, my Dave isn’t like that at all.”

“Pity Jesus isn’t here,” sighed Carol.

“What?” gasped Jenny wondering what Carol was going to say next.

“He’s supposed to do a nice trick with water. God this is horrible,” she announced and poured it down the sink.

As the two women chatted downstairs, Drew had dozed off. Dave shutting the car bonnet woke him. He was stiff and his mouth was dry, his eyes were all stuck together, too. He gingerly prised them open and sat up on his bed. He stood up carefully and checked his face in the mirror, his eyes were red rimmed and puffy and his mascara had migrated over large swathes of his cheeks.

He went to the bathroom and washed his face, it felt cooling and refreshing. After using the loo, he went and sat on his bed. It was ages since he’d been grounded and he didn’t like the bad feeling with his father. He knew his dad was right, it was dangerous out on his own, but he loved to ride especially when he wanted to mull something over. He decided he had but one course of action left to him.

He tidied himself up and went downstairs. Dave was washing the car with a bucket and sponge. “Dad, I came to apologise. You were right and I was out of order.”

Dave paused, dropping the sponge in the bucket. “Yes you were, but I accept your apology. Right you have a choice, either go back up to your room or help me clean these cars.”

“Which one do you want me to do?” said Drew smiling, and feeling a tremendous sense of relief.