The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3445 by Angharad Copyright© 2024 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.
~~~~~287 dozen for dodecaphiles~~~~`

After my day of triumph at the conference, I was tempted to give the flowers to Diane for putting up with me, instead I gave them to Danni as she helped me put the talk together and gave me quite a bit of her time. She was absolutely speechless when I presented her with them after we got home. "But you earned those, you did the talk and very good it was too."

"Thank you, I think. The back room girls rarely get appreciated, but this time you are, you were wonderful in trying to help me put the talk together, giving up your afternoon and evening. So I'm saying I recognise that help and I thought you'd like the flowers."

"I don't know what to say, thanks, Mum it was really good seeing how you put a talk together, I couldn't do but I'm learning from a master." She blushed and kissed me and gave me a little hug, I think that was to hide the tears that were starting to form and she took her flowers and dashed into the laundry room. Hannah went to follow her but I called her back, she just shrugged and mouthed hormones at me, so I nodded. Those pesky chemicals are a damn nuisance, causing all sorts of emotional problems for us women and girls, but without them, things would be a whole lot worse, even with a body like mine that generates some of its own.

That stimulated a distant memory of Murray spotting my modest breast growth and accusing me of artificial boosting, 'to advertise my availability to a certain type of boy or man'. He told me it was disgraceful and wouldn't let me answer him. But just as he was bawling me out in his horrible office, his secretary popped her head in to give him a message. I called to her and asked if she would accompany me to a staff toilet to verify that the breast growth was mine .She looked aghast at my suggestion but followed me to one of the female staff toilets, that I was told to use when dressed as a girl.

"What exactly are we doing, Watts?"

"Murray has accused me of wearing a bra stuffed with filling to simulate breast growth, I want you to see that I'm not and tell him so."

She looked oddly at me as I stripped off my blazer, jumper and shirt and tie. I drew open the shirt and although I was wearing a sports bra, the small A-cup breasts were real. She looked on in astonishment. "How do I know they aren't those stick on ones the drag artists use"

I undid the bra and held it in my hand, "Touch them, they're real and all me."

"I don't know, staff get accused of all sorts of things by naughty pupils."

"I can assure you I won't, I just want you to verify that I'm not wearing a padded bra to attract boys for immoral actions, like that dipstick Murray accuses me."

"I don't think you should call the headmaster names, Watts."

"Call him names, the misogynistic sadistic creep shouldn't be allowed anywhere near children, he's dangerous and accusing me of being things I'm not. I just want to get an education and go to university."

She gave me a funny look, "How does him picking on you make him a misogynist?"

"Because I'm a girl and I noticed how he treats you and other female staff."

"If you're a girl, shouldn't you be transferring to the girls' school?"

"My body sort of says boy, but my brain is all girl. My dad doesn't want to think about it and beats me up every time I mention it. Murray hasn't laid a hand on me, but he turns a blind eye to bullies doing it for him. He announces my presence to the school and gives coded messages to the bullies that it's okay to beat me up or harass me, which they do."

"You're not gay are you Watts?"

"I'm a nothing, but I know I feel like a girl, my best friend who is a girl even accuses me of having monthly cycles of emotional ups and downs. I don't have periods but I do sometimes have an awareness of grumpiness and sometimes being upset for no reason like she is when she's at different stages of her cycle."

"Isn't that just wish fulfilment, fooling yourself that you're simulating periods."

"I want to go to the doctor and have him take blood and see what hormones are there, but my dad won't allow it, he calls me queer and is ashamed of me because his stupid religion tells him I'm a sinner. If God made us in his own likeness, then he must have made me too, although I think man made god in his own likeness and churches have been conning us ever since."

"Your breasts appear to be real, is it gynecomastia?"

"I don't know, I don't tend to flash them about because it tends to have negative repercussions, and I certainly don't take my shirt off in front of my dad."

"What about your mum? We mums are perhaps more understanding of these things?"

"She's another god-botherer and under Dad's control. She's taught me to cook and sew a bit, but she has to be careful that my dad doesn't catch on. I had to shorten his last new trousers and she made me do it properly. She tells him if ever she's ill, I can stand in for her. He doesn't like it but he can hardly boil an egg for himself."

"Put your bra back on, is that a sports one?"

"Yes it stops them bouncing when I run and flattens them a little, but I wear a jumper under my blazer to try and hide them."

"Aren't you a bit warm in this weather?" It was May.

"You get used to that."

"You're not taking anything to make them grow, like birth control pills."

"No, a doctor wouldn't prescribe them until I'm at least 16 and my dad would play hell if he did."

"I think you need to see one."

"Yeah, well that's not gonna happen, is it?"

"Sorry I can't help you, Watts."

"You already are, maybe you can notice how often he victimises me?"

"I suspect you give as good as you get."

"I plan on surviving long enough to get my A-levels and get to uni, maybe I can sort myself out there and live as the girl I know I should be."

"I wish you luck Watts, but you realise I can't get involved."

"If you do as I ask and tell him what you saw, that will be enough. I'm not asking for anything else."

She left me to redress, obviously having an internal dialogue with herself, possibly seeing how vulnerable I really was both to bullies, Murray and my dad. I didn't realise that she left shortly afterwards having written to the education department of our council but Murray had friends there and nothing ever came of it. They say the Devil looks after his own, which is more than a supposed poxy god does, in my experience anyway. I reckon if Jesus came to earth now, Christians would nail him to a tree within a couple of weeks, especially if he preached love and tolerance, they tend to find hate makes more money or power, which is why I eschew them as much as I can. My agnosticism hasn't half helped my vocabulary.

My day dream seemed to last hours but in fact it was only minutes because Danni asked me what we were going to do about the TERFs. My attention had been distracted by other things although my hand still ached from time to time, so what the woman mountain's jaw was like I hated to think. Apart from the occasional twinge I had no regrets and felt my hand was probably well enough to hit her again, though I wasn't sure a professor brawling with malign forces was exactly the picture I wanted to present, although in my defence I was defending my students, staff and a couple of coppers.

"I haven't given it a lot of thought; the TERFs did a small protest at the conference and they have me down as a tranny lover, which has a certain irony of its own, when you think about it." Danni smirked, she was down as the same, even though in both our cases it had been recorded that we had been registered as male once upon a time.

"I asked Diane if Sussex had sent anything, she said not yet," Danni told me.

"You're really into this, aren't you?"

"I plan on surviving and as a female, so I have to be interested. Those nutters from Sussex are dangerous. But then anyone who went there is." She rolled her eyes to see if I would bite.

"You're accusing Debs of being dangerous then? Or Laura, remember they came from there."

"I'm well aware that someone a lot closer to me is probably ten times as dangerous as anyone else, and hope it continues, it may be the only thing keeping me safe."

"I'm glad you appreciate your old mum occasionally."

"We all appreciate you all the time, I just don't tell you always because it would make you big-headed."

"Is that what you really think?"

"No but it was the best I could do at short notice."

"Come into my office, and I'll email Esmond." She did a few minutes later having made tea for Diane and us. Diane followed her in.

"You dragged her up all right and proper," she announced to both of us.

"See girl, I knew someone would spot it one day."

"Only because she'd like to keep her job," cracked Danni.

"Is that what you really think?" asked Diane.

"Hush, Esmond's sending something through to us, he thinks something is brewing, they've been too quiet for too long, ever since that woman sumo wrestler attacked us and got carted off by the police."

"Oh, I didn't notice what they had hold of," joked Danni.

"More will follow as he receives it, I also had one from Simon, it's gone quiet in the States as well, ever since someone tried to perforate Trump and Joe Biden resigned from the race. I think he did the right thing as the Democrats seem to have hope again of winning. Trump won't be quiet for long but a lot of his rhetoric is out of date now, 'Sleepy Joe', and all that. People may also reckon as he is nearly twenty years older than Harris, that he's too old as well and should withdraw, as Vance won't win on his own, too many know he's a hypocrite, but then that's never stopped Trump. People know he's a liar and a convicted felon but they still vote for him, because he's Trump. It's bit like how Boris had support even though he was a cad and rogue who told nearly as many lies as Trump."

"But he had a bit more class than Trump," suggested Diane and I looked at Danni who rolled her eyes.

"He may have had a better education than the orange one, Eton and Oxford, but he's still lazy and unreliable, hopefully the electorate will know it if he ever tries to surface again." I philosophised.

"He couldn't, could he?" asked an astonished Danni.

"There are so many factors these days, all the conspiracies of the net plus all the nonsense of Facebook and its closed groups, I would say anything is possible though I hope unlikely. Plus interference from Russia and China."

"Gosh that frightening," said Danni, visibly shuddering.

"It makes war more likely, but I forecast that years ago. Putin needs to be beaten and forced to withdraw, but without US support that is unlikely. If Trump wins it becomes even less likely." I gave my opinion and we all felt a little worried.

"Seeing as we depend too much on computers, and the chaos the other week, Russia and China must be rubbing their hands. Remember both are ruthless as well as unprincipled, so watch this space."

"Wow, Mum, ever thought about buying something in Scotland and building a nuclear-type shelter, I mean Dad could probably afford it."

"I think we'll just put that on the back burner for the moment."

"If you do, keep me a room, you never know when you'll need a secretary," added Diane and we all went off for lunch in the refectory, which was only open for an hour at lunch in the holiday.