The Interview (6)
by
Angharad.
I don't know how, but it seemed that Fiona got outed to the press. Now, as it is very few weeks go by without there being something mentioned in the press about trans something or other. I mean the day before, that foul reptile like creature occupying the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, was calling for all trans servicemen to be discharged immediately. It could bring him troubles in future because trans soldiers and technicians are usually quite specialist and in case of war might be needed. I suspect he'd rather cut his arm off than admit he was wrong. I'm not sure why he is so vigorously transphobic, as well as a convicted felon and sex offender, one wonders what the American electorate was thinking voting for such a screwed up individual, but they did. The same could be asked of Brits who voted for Brexit and are turning to Farage to solve the country's problems, he's an avowed transphobe and feels that we should receive no treatment from the NHS. I wonder if the NHS rejected all Reform voters as being non-human, telling them to go to the local vets. we'd probably save lots of money that way.

The first I knew of Fiona's outing to the media, was when someone from the Daily Mail called at the school. It was they, a few years ago that drove a young schoolteacher to her death. I wasn't going to help them if I could help it.

The principal called me to his office where a reporter from the aforementioned gutter press, was sitting waiting. He had told the scumbag reporter that we were waiting for guidance from the education committee on how to deal with the situation, as were many schools and colleges.

"You mean you are risking the welfare of hundreds of biological girls and women so one weirdo can wear dresses?" asked our learned member of the media. I felt like removing his teeth one at a time with my knuckles, but held my tongue.

"We try to accommodate all types here and not let their individual needs obscure their educational ones," the principal fired back

"But why should many be affected because of one unnatural student, pretending to be a girl. The Supreme Court ruling says she isn't nor ever can be." My hands itched to separate this hack from his incisors.

"You obviously know nothing of transgenderism." I said to the piece of human filth.

"What's to know? It's unnatural and a threat to real women."

"Not as much as lesbianism or nearly half the population. Male sex predators are the problem. There is little or no evidence of a transwoman attacking another woman in a bathroom. In America, there are confirmed reports of women attacking a transwoman who just wanted to use the loo. But because your mind is poisoned, you'll only write what you want your readers to believe in words of one syllable. You don't work for a newspaper it's a comic or scandal sheet, no more reliable than social media."

"Why are you so involved, you're not one too are you?"

"The girl involved happens to be a student of mine and until you came with your shit-stirring scurrilous rag, she was settling in quite well. You are now going to make her very upset and who knows what will happen. Don't you feel ashamed for what you do?"

For a moment he blushed, " No I don't, I'm protecting the real females from a fake."

"You are not you are whipping up hysteria where there was none before. What happened to the danger of attack from outer space? That is just as ludicrous as an attack by a trans woman on another woman, in a bathroom or elsewhere. I can't say the same about attacks on women by men, in fact I can almost guarantee it."

"So you say, how come you know so much about it? and why should the taxpayer fund NHS treatment? Why shouldn't those queers cut their own balls off or pay for the treatment. I'm sure my readers would offer to chop them off for them."

If you readers had another synapse they'd be dangerous, mind you most only look at the pictures. It's a well know fact, that people who buy your rag only do so to line the cat's dirt tray or to pretend they don't have a learning difficulty."

The reporter left while snarling at me, not helped by the principal's secretary coming through his office door with a tray of teas and coffees as the hack was going out. Once the hot water landed on his lower body he proved he was pretty good as an exotic dancer doing moves I wouldn't have thought possible in a biological way while yelling some unknown language in a high pitched voice. "You stupid bitch," he yelled at Karen the secretary, while snarling at us, "you haven't heard the end of this."

He stormed off while we burst out laughing but we knew he thought it was deliberate but it was a complete accident, but I so enjoyed being a witness to it.

Back in my lab, I told Fiona to watch out for photographers because the story is enhanced by a picture. She said she pull up the hood on her hoodie before she left the building. I also told her to use the fire door and escape to the back of the building and I'd come and lock it again after she did. It all seemed so ridiculous caused by a handful of enraged feminists who couldn't see the larger picture and court who couldn't see any picture at all but negatives. I'm sure the rightwing media were busy stroking their phalluses in celebration, bloody tossers the lot.

I knew that I had left myself open to some poking from the paper, but I didn't think they'd be able to find much. I had published a few papers in scientific journals and they were all in my female name having transitioned as I went to do my baccalaureate and as it was known to only a few of the university staff, there is little chance that anything remains of my original existence. However, it did put me off my dinner that evening and I hope that Fiona had escaped. I sent her a text warning her to be aware of the risk when she came to college. I'd have gone and got her but if we were seen together I could draw attention to us as she was unknown up to now.

The principal and I after we finished laughing at the reporter's dance wearing our tea and coffee, we would alert the staff to keeping quiet about it and to refer them to the principal. We also suggested that any strangers be challenged and if necessary asked to leave. There was another reporter the next day from a tabloid who received a bum's rush once we knew who he was. I spoke to the class and informed them of Fiona's problem, I was astonished that they closed ranks saying they they wouldn't talk to anyone let alone sleazy tabloid reporters. I reminded them that the Guardian was a tabloid these days and they all laughed, as they'd seen me reading it. I was impressed by their loyalty to one of their class. "We don't know nuffin'," they said as they left for the evening.

Fiona had declined to attend today and I sent her some of my teaching notes via email along with the assignment I set the rest of them. She texted me back to say she had received it. It was largely about reading an article from a researcher who had been looking at macroinvertebrates as a measure of water pollution. Absolutely mind-blowing reading but probably not to a sixteen-year-old. If they were interested they would be able to find half a dozen papers from the references in the original paper, including one of mine, but I didn't think anyone would be that interested to find it, there were after all about sixty references, mine was part of my PhD dissertation and thus very boring unless it's your thing. In my case it had been, but that was several years ago, now, I just taught what they wanted and took the money at the end of the month, I'd done the impoverished researcher bit and had moved on to some financial security. I had thought of perhaps teaching at university and climbing the academic ladder there but learned that university lecturers aren't that well paid and many are on zero hours contracts, so rather insecure. I didn't know if I was bright enough to get to reader or professor and it seemed pretty competitive, a real rat race, so I got in here and shall stay here as long as it doesn't get too bad and I have been putting together a field guide to aquatic life, which is a long term private project which may provide some pennies or at least passes the time. I'm not wildly sociable so my time is my own, I don't do parties and as I mentioned before, I don't do alcohol after experiencing my low threshold to it when I was a student. It was lone drinking and all it brought was sickness, the most awful diarrhoea and awful hangovers, it also cost quite a bit as I did drink nice wine, just too much in one go. The last time was a 'never again night' and I kept my word. I haven't touched a drop since.

After a weekend which I thought would probably produce a reaction if I was being investigated by the press and was an anticlimax, I went to work and discovered Fiona sitting talking with several classmates, all joking and laughing. They had let her in via the fire door and locked it afterwards - it's one of those that just require a push on the bar from inside and if done quickly, you can close and lock it again before the alarm realises it and we have to evacuate the whole building. Not something to encourage.

I recapped the paper I asked them to read and by the answers from the questions I asked, at least three of them had, recommending it as a cure for insomnia. Then Fiona asked, "Was that you paper in the references?"

"Yes, it was part of my PhD dissertation."

"I see it predated many of the other references."

"Yes, I was somewhat precocious as a student."

"It was very good if a difficult read," she commented.

"Thank you, it was aimed at other post graduates not your level."

"I down loaded it through the library connection all 80 pages of it, read it all but had to look up quite a lot of words. You were quite a high flyer weren't you?"

I was quite embarrassed to be called out for something none of them were equipped to read and understand, "I think this is a bit of a side issue, I've said I'm guilty as charged, let's get back to our own situation and see if the premise is true or false, can we use the presence or absence of aquatic macroinvertebrates as a means to recognise pollution or not and if so how and why?"

I had thus got them back on track and they all realised that there was an essay due in a week's time about this very subject. I also challenged them to consider corroborative evidence, such as examining plants and smaller items such as zooplankton and algae floating on the top layers of the water as well as the algae that festooned rocks and stones. It was also worth looking at the presence or absence of fish and any other vertebrate fauna like voles, rats, otters and wildfowl.

That discussion lasted until lunch and I considered I had given them loads more information than they needed but reminded them to try and link it with our previous studies and fieldwork, I also reminded them it was worth ten bonus marks if they could do so in a convincing way not just mention it and hope that was enough because it wouldn't be.

I reflected on the morning's teaching, they were all doing quite well but two or three should ace the first year of a degree if not more. That felt good.