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Me, My Brother, and the Last Night of Summer
Copyright 2024 by Heather Rose Brown
This is a short story about a preteen nonbinary kid trying to deal with gender issues, and what happens when a sibling with similar but different issues reaches out to them.
=-=-=
I was curled up on my bed, using a sketchy phone app to search the grey web for an online source of hormone blockers, when someone knocked on my bedroom door.
"Who is it?" I shouted while shutting down the app.
"It's me, Darcy," my little brother shouted back through the door.
I smiled when I heard him using my new name, then got up and opened my door before saying, "Come in, Shel."
He grinned and said, "Thanks," before striding into my room. His grin went lopsided as he ran his fingers through his freshly buzzed hair and said, "I know ya really stuck your neck out when ya told Dad you'd cut my hair this morning, but ... I kinda need another favor."
I thought about the promising lead I'd uncovered, then said, "I'm a bit busy right now. Maybe another time?"
"After what you did to Michelle," our dad said while leaning against my doorframe, "you'd better do anything she asks you."
Shel frowned at Dad when he heard his deadname. Even though he hadn't completely come out to our parents like he'd done with me, they still knew he didn't want to be called Michelle. His face softened when he looked at me and said, "Never mind."
"Never mind my ass," Dad said, giving us both a somewhat unfocused glare before taking a sip from the dark brown bottle in his hand.
I glared back at my father before I turned my attention back to my brother, then rested a gentle hand on his shoulder while saying, "Whatever ya wanna say, go ahead and say it."
He looked down at his sandals and said, "I was just wonderin' ... would ya be up to goin' on a bike ride with me tonight?" He looked back up and said, "I know it's pretty late, but ... it's the last night of summer, and ... I just thought it'd be kinda nice."
I thought again about the lead I'd found, then I thought about my brother spending another minute in the same house with the man who'd threatened to buy a wig to make his 'daughter' look proper. I grabbed Shel's hand and said, "You got it," before leading the way out of my room.
"Where you think you're going?" our dad said while shifting to a more upright position."
I did my best to ignore the stench of stale sweat and beer while muttering, "Out," before shoving my way through the gap between Dad and the doorframe.
=-=-=
There were still wisps of pink and orange where the sun had dipped below the horizon, but most of the sky was dotted with bright pinpoints of starlight. As I climbed onto my bike, sad music started playing in the house, which meant our dad would be sleeping off the six-pack by the time me and my brother got back.
I looked over at my little brother. The only light available was coming through the living room curtains, but I could still tell he was smiling from ear to ear. Even having to ride a girl's bike couldn't ruin his mood. I smiled back, and said, "Come on."
My brother and I pedaled down our gravel driveway onto the cracked asphalt some people might mistake for a road. We turned towards where the moon would soon be rising, and began pedaling faster.
The air was still a little damp from the muggy afternoon, but it had cooled when the sun set, and felt almost velvety when it slipped over my bare arms and fluttered through my growing hair. I glanced at my brother, and saw the silhouette of a boy who was more relaxed than I'd seen him all summer.
I also saw the person who'd be there for me, no matter what, just like I'd always be there for him. At that moment, I realized that, as brother and ... whatever I was, we'd make it through anything that came our way.
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Comments
Savoring moments of beauty in the face of adversity
This perfect little vignette has the bittersweet nostalgia of a Ray Bradbury story. You've always had a real knack for tugging at a reader's heartstrings, and this one's no exception The simple pleasures of a bike ride at dusk on the last night of summer, a brief escape from their hostile home life. The Dad sounds just awful, but from this brief sketch it's hard to tell just how entrenched his transphobia is. I like to think there's a chance he's just reacting out of fear of something he doesn't understand, trying to fix the situation (by making his children knock off the weird gender bullshit and be NORMAL, goddamn it!) the only way he knows as a emotionally stunted traditional American alcoholic manly-man; and will prove teachable in the long run when he sees his kids are so much happier as their real selves. Neither of my parents did, but maybe he will. If not, your narrator and their brother have a bond of love, understanding + mutual support that will help these siblings survive.
~hugs, Veronica
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EDIT 7 HOURS LATER: Had to change one word- "her" to "their"... Pronounz am important..
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
This story was inspired...
... by the real life experience of my little brother and I going for a bike ride at the end of summer. Even though he isn't transgender like the brother in this story, he is very special to me, like Shel is to Darcy. As far as the dad goes, I see him as more thoroughly confused rather than bad.
Even though it's not specified in the story, I see him as someone who feels like he's failed as a father, because both of his kids went to strangers online, rather than coming to him about being homosexual. I think he might be able to come around, if he's able to accept his kids aren't mixed up about thier sexual orientation, but rather they're expressing their gender identities.
Veronica captures my feelings exactly.
This is a beautiful story, perfect as a line drawing.
— Emma
Thank you!
I'm so glad you enjoyed this story. :)
Not sure how I would react.
Both my parents were supportive when I came out. My sister had already come out, and they understood how important it was. Not that they knew how much gender dysphoria is torture, but they knew it was important to me. How I would react to this situation is hard to imagine.
Hugs!
Rosemary
I didn't come out ...
... to my family until I was an adult, so I'm not sure how I would have reacted if I'd come out when I was Darcy or Shel's age. I did sorta try to drop hints at that age, but I pretty much had to fight tooth and nail to look even a little feminine. I didn't get a whole lot of flak for how I spoke or acted, except for a couple of times when my dad tried to help me talk and act more like a man. I'm glad to say that, when I did come out, I only lost some of my family, and a few that I did lose came around later.
lovely story, hon!
thanks for sharing, huggles!
Yaaay!
I'm really glad ya liked it! *huggles*
An Only Child
Could wish for a scenario like this. If my imaginary sister was there to help me with my funny feelings that I was more like her than the boys at school. I had to make do with clandestine dressing in my mother's clothes and they were not glamorous. Nocturnal ventures around the block were all I could manage, coupled with the fear of being discovered.
I kinda wish ...
.. I could have had this scenario too. Not the part where the dad is drunk, but the part where Darcy and Shel were able to come out as nonbinary and transgender as kids, and were able to offer mutual support for each other. Even though I do have siblings, I was too afraid of losing them if I came out, so I put off things until I was an adult an living on my own. Even then, I went to strangers for support, because I was still afraid of coming out to them. I'm really glad I was able to find that support, because it helped me feel brave enough to come out to my family.