The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3396 by Angharad Copyright© 2023 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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After the episode with Jane, I decided I wasn't going to get involved with anyone else's kids, I had enough of my own to worry about and just equipping them for holidays was enough to keep my nervous system twitching for umpteen days.

Those who attended university may be surprised that it doesn't just close down for the summer. As a student, once exams were over, you were free to go unless you had failed them or were involved in extra research or in a sports team of some sort. Lots of field work gets done in the supposedly better weather and of course, we have to get everything ready for next term and tie up loose ends for this one.

I tend to hold a party for the staff and researchers, some of whom we'd be saying goodbye to as they were retiring or moving on to other universities. This was in a local hotel which just so happens to be owned by my pa-in-law's bank, so my department got it at a discount. Wonderful things families, especially mine who encourage me to use the facilities they have available. So the date was set, a buffet meal was organised and we'd all be hoping to dance off all the extra calories in our posh frocks and suits. Partners were invited and I had a chance to meet the other halves of my staff and to thank them for their support. A couple usually look as blank as their dresses, but most just say they try to help as they can even though we all know it's a fib. However, it breaks the ice and reminds people that their job sometimes involves pressures on partners too. Most jobs do from time to time and so far I'd been able to keep everyone in employment, whether full or part-time. That had caused me some juggling about with budgets and I was almost pleased to hear some of the existing staff were moving on or retiring. Administration never seems to stop and thankfully, Diane was my liaison between our office and front office, which is mainly populated by mindless morons who Diane manages to keep away from me because at times I am inclined to want to commit mass murder. I haven't so far but it has been close.

Things were going quite well and a couple of glasses of wine had relaxed me, Simon was chatting with several members of staff he knew quite well and the dress I'd chosen wasn't duplicated by anyone else. Mind you the fact that it was Vera Wang designed, and made and altered to fit me, might have had something to do with it and I'd collected a few compliments from other women and the odd man during the evening. I'd also had two passes of the buffet and was feeling quite mellow with a full tummy and an alcohol blood count which was relaxing me. Last year a member of staff collapsed and with mostly unseen blue light I managed to keep him alive until the paramedics came; he survived but took early retirement. This year looked much better and after a couple of turns around the dance floor with Simon and also Daddy, I was half looking to sit and snooze until it was time to go home. If only I could stay awake for another hour, then I could go home and sleep.

The first thing was Danni phoned me to say the FA had sent her a text asking her to call them, and the lady who looks after the villa on Menorca had phoned to say that we should cancel our holiday or postpone it because it was too hot to go outside. As I'd been hoping to do lots of that, it seemed I might have to rethink what I wanted to do.

I waited to hear from Danni again and was alarmed by the thought of telling a whole pile of girls that their holiday was cancelled because of hot weather, sort of like cancelling a party because they supplied too much cake. While allowing myself to worry about these things, Debbie came over and asked if we could talk somewhere private.

I asked myself how I could dance in these shoes but they felt too high to walk in. The answer was Simon, he held me up despite them. We asked a member of the hotel staff if we could use a room for a quick conflab and she led us to an unused office-type room. I looked at Debbie with a questioning glance and she shut the door.

"Because I was upfront about my transition lots of people know about it."

"Well, you were on telly flirting with all the reporters," I offered back trying to stay awake.

"My neighbour came to see me last night, apparently her son, who is fifteen, thinks he should have been born a girl." At last a subject I'd hoped I finished with from a personal and family point of view

"So, what do you expect me to do?"

"Well, you have dealt with some trans children."

I admitted that I had but still failed to see how it pertained to me. "Look the last trans kid I helped ended up adopting me, though I admit she has been worth her weight in gold. The rest of them, except Danni, have no maternal skills or drive."

"That's because you do everything for them."

I had to admit I mostly did.

"Look, can you talk to this woman, give her some advice and put her in touch with the people she needs to see, or at least the kid does."

I ummed and ahhed, wondering whether I wanted to invite a stranger into my house and where she would learn who I was and could embarrass me in future.

"Why don't you come to my place and I'll invite her in and possibly the kid and you just have a chat with her, I'll get some dark chocolate Hob Nobs."

The biscuits were almost working, they were my favourite and I did love them.

"We have to set some boundaries, don't tell her I'm your boss..."

Debbie suddenly blushed, "I think I already have."

"Well, don't repeat it. Set a time to start and I can only spend an hour with her."

Debbie nodded and I know wanted to say something.

"Look, Simon and I don't see much of each other and I don't want to give that up over some stranger's kid, they may have needs but I also have some as well."

"Thanks, Cathy, I'll set it up for tomorrow at eleven o'clock."

"Right, anything else?"

"You're an absolute angel."

"No, I am not and if anything else happens tonight I shall kill someone."

"Oh, like what?"

"I think the FA are going to see if Danni is available to play in the World Cup, and I think we're going to have to postpone our holiday; Mrs Smith, my woman who looks after the villa for me in Menorca, has told me not come at the moment it's too hot to go outdoors."

"Oh, how sad, but they have been saying that temperatures were up over a hundred and still climbing and there are all these wildfires."

"All right, I'll see your neighbour tomorrow at eleven and she has an hour, though I suspect she'd be better off consulting Stephanie than me."

"That's the sort of stuff she needs to know; see you are helpful."

"No, I'm not, I'm a bloody doormat, can't say no."

"Well, I'm very glad to call you my friend."

"Only because I'm useful to you."

"Am I that transparent?"

"No, I'm the trans parent."

She laughed and poked my shoulder, "Very good, Cathy."

We went back into the party and I drank a glass of bitter lemon and had a sausage roll, though I wasn't hungry but it seemed to be saying, 'eat me.' So I did.

The party eventually ended and Simon and I got a cab hom. I went to bed anticipating that he would be glad to see me, except he changed into his PJs and promptly fell asleep while I was changing into a silk nightdress which should have got him going. Oh well, it was par for the course for tonight. I'd had to deal with an excited teenager who had been invited to replace a player who'd been injured in training and had pulled a cruciate ligament, so was being sent home. I said I would speak to the FA tomorrow.

It was tomorrow all too soon. I got up with Sarah and the kids and had breakfast, Simon was still comatose. I spoke to the FA and asked why my daughter should come and bail them out when they'd omitted her from the squad. I was told that they wanted to protect her from injury but as she was available, they had decided that she'd be their secret weapon as she was unknown on an international stage of the sort like a world cup. I reminded them that she would take at least two days to get there and then have to deal with jet lag. He assured me that all that would be taken into account. I had compiled a list with Danni and we'd go shopping after lunch then I had to get her to Heathrow for a flight tomorrow evening at 8.00 o'clock. Yeah, right.

I had to go and see Debbie and told Danni to wash anything she wanted to take that wasn't clean and do it now. I then left taking my Jag to go to Debbie's house. I got there at dead on eleven. She let me in and she asked how Danni was and I explained 'like a bottle of pop that had been shaken vigorously'. If I'd had my way I'd have told the FA to go and whistle, but it wasn't my call. I did remind them that if there was any publicity about her change of gender that I'd go and get her on the next plane. She had not undergone a male puberty and was now legally female. I reminded them that she wasn't transsexual but the victim of a sexual attack and she wasn't female from choice but from circumstance and she happened to be the best player they had.

Simon agreed to take her to Heathrow and he'd go to London afterwards. All I had to do was deal with the neighbour of Debbie's. Great.

The woman was about forty and she explained that they wanted the best for their son. I accepted that as most parents would want the best for their child. She was blonde and her short hair was nicely cut. I suggested my experience may be different to hers.

"You're the mother of that footballer girl, aren't you? I remember you being on telly with her after some Russian bandits attacked you both."

"I am," I admitted, "and she has just been called up to the England squad, we have to get her to Heathrow tomorrow."

"She's transgender isn't she?"

"No, she was just an ordinary boy and she was attacked by her friend and the damage to her genitals meant that they suggested changing her to female.(I told her half the story). If I had been there at the time I wouldn't have agreed to it. So she is a woman by dint of circumstance rather than intention. She hated the idea for a while and only the football kept her sane until she adjusted. It was hard for everyone, especially her. She has adjusted to her new life and is making a great success of it, she's at university, playing for Bournemouth and now England again."

I told her that although I'd had another child who had changed gender, my experience would most likely be different but to go and see her family doctor and ask him to refer to Dr Cauldwell, who was well-versed in treating gender-different children and who was very good. The child came in and he looked embarrassed in a summer dress, with a little makeup and his hair brushed into as female a style as they could. I had a couple of my biscuits and a cuppa but I don't think I was too much help, it's all so different now and we were both different as were our children.

Finally before I left, I suggested that if this was really going to happen then it may be worth switching her child to St Claire's and that scholarships were sometimes available. She thanked me and I left. I felt I did my duty but I'm not sure I did anything else, however, I saw her and could now deal with my own problems, I hoped.