One of the best things about going to any conference was the networking and socialization. The talks, lectures, and Q&A sessions gave the participants valuable information, but the stated purpose of a conference did not help as much as the human interactions. Making those social connections helped those who went to the conference in many other ways than learning about a new trend. The conference-goers made their network bigger by getting new friends, new job leads, and a nice little bullet point to put on their resume.

Nancy Collive was out on the town socializing and networking when her phone rang. There was no way she was going to answer the phone right away. She was having too much fun and the nightclub was too loud. Plus she did not want anyone to know exactly where she was. Her ID might have said she was 21, but in reality, she was 20.

At the same time she knew better than to blow off the caller. The person on the other line was her mom. Nancy was a junior in college so by the letter was an adult, but by the spirit she was not. She had none of the responsibilities which came with adulthood. Nancy still lived under her parent's roof. They also were paying for her education. The underage lady understood it was their house, their rules. Following her parents’ rules was easy because the older Nancy became the fewer restrictions she had.

Both the call and the ensuing conversation were perplexing to the dancing queen. Nancy was coming home tomorrow and she just talked with Dawn, her mom, earlier today. Nancy was blessed that she did not have parents which hovered over her and shined a light on her to keep track of her like a police helicopter. They gave her room and would not call to check up on her. So getting the call itself was odd.

The relationship between Nancy and her parents meant the call should have been important. To Nancy it was not, but the directness of the questions was a sign otherwise. There was no conversation, only Nancy’s mom asking questions. If the call being information gathering was not strange enough then the subject matter made it even more. Nancy’s mom wanted to know about the borrowing habits of her and her sister. Nancy also felt like her mom was disappointed in her for not getting permission to borrow her sister Linda’s dress. The sister had an agreement that they would ask but did not have to so her mom was overreacting over nothing.

Then, right before saying goodbye, Dawn added “we will talk about this more when you get home.” Those words baffled Nancy. It made no sense that somehow this trivial topic was of high importance. There was no way her and her sister had always did warranted this call for verification. Her mom and dad could have just asked Linda. The topic of the call does not need to be revisited. Not only was it going to be revisited but it was an announced one. Those kinds of talks were always serious.

After getting off the phone, Nancy went back into the nightclub and did her best to not dwell on the mysterious phone call. It was hard until she had a couple of more drinks. The liquor became the lubricant which helped the thoughts of that call to slip out of her mind. Within 10 minutes she was back on the dance floor having a great time.

***************

The birds were singing and these heralds of the sun woke Ron Coville up by announcing the start of a new day. This morning being a Sunday in May made it also the start of a new week, and also a new nature cycle. Maybe all these new beginnings would be a sign that there would also be a fresh start with Ron and his family. The reset was sorely needed. The relationship between them was going fine until his sister, Linda, made unfounded accusations of Ron borrowing and destroying her clothes.

The damage of the family bond was done by the steps taken by the patriarch and matriarch when they heard Linda’s claims. Instead of needing proof of wrongdoing Ron was found guilty of all charges levied against him. Trying to be progressive parents, Kyle and Dawn, did not punish their son. Dawn did it because she wanted to help her son and Kyle because being the progressive parent would make him look good to others. Instead they went with forcing him to have a learning experience. Ron was made to have a compulsory weekend as a girl. A way for him to freely express his feminine side.

The name given to an action does not change the action. It is how the person who is receiving the effect of an action which makes an action what it is. How Ron had to dress and live this weekend was a punishment to him. Making someone act like the gender they are not is a punishment. Not being his true self made the boy miss his track team’s sectional meet and also the year end school awards banquet. Missing big events in one’s life for an unneeded learning experience was also a punishment.

The weekend went over as well as reality does to a conspiracy theorist. More damage was done to the connection between Ron and his family when none of them listened to his denials. His dad broke even more trust when he had Ron’s best friend, Chloe, come over to meet Ron en femme. Instead of believing Ron, Kyle took his son’s firm declaration of not wanting to be a girl as protesting too much. Having Chloe come over was supposed to open Ron up to being Ronda.

Linda’s resistance to hearing Ron out manifested in her lashing out at him. She wanted to be supportive by being there for her new kid sister. She also liked the idea of having a kid sister. It was going to be so nice to be able to be like Nancy for Rhonda. Instead of bonding with Rhonda, she had to deal with a defiant brat. One of the most frustrating things in life is offering to help someone who needs it and they stubbornly reject it. The annoyance which came from her kindness being greeted with resistance made her lash out. Linda was going to force Ron to see he wanted to be Rhonda. Her threat of cutting his hair cut any tie Ron felt with his sister.

The least amount of damage was done to Ron’s relationship with his mom. For the most part, Dawn actually did listen to what Ron was saying when he was being treated like another one of her daughters. Actually listening to Ron when he was Rhonda was overshadowed by his mom going along with the feminine weekend. Dawn should have been stronger with her objections.

As Ron was leaving his room there was the first sign that even with it being a new day there would be no new beginning with the relationship between him and his sister. Linda was waiting in the hall to speak with her brother. She was too concerned with starting to mend the tear in the relationship with her brother to honor what he wanted, to be left alone by her.

Her good morning was greeted by silence by Ron. Last night he made it clear he wanted nothing to do with Linda and in his eyes she was nothing to him. The hurt teenage girl repeated her greeting. Instead of the defending sound of silence she got the same reply as last night, an ear piercing “Fuck off!”

Their father angrily yelled “Ronald, get down here right now!” Yet another sign there was no turning of a new page in the relationship between Ron and his family. There would have been no yelling if today was a new beginning between father and son. Kyle would have understood and respected that his son wanted to keep his distance from Linda.

Even with his father and sister trying to keep the status quo, Ron did change. The respect and admiration he had for his family was gone. Respect at first is given, then people have to work at keeping it. Once lost people have to work the hardest ever to earn it back.

Ron’s new attitude to his family was on exhibit when he strongly walked down the step. Then looked straight into his father’s eyes and scornfully said “What!?”

Kyle was not going to let his son show his disdain. Ron needed to be more respectful to his authority figures. “You don’t talk to me like that!”

Being told how to talk added to Ron’s contempt. The last two days he was told how to act, how to dress, and to see himself as someone who he was not. There was more scorn in Kyle’s son's voice when he said “Like what?”

Before the cold war between father and son could heat up Dawn interjected “Ron can say fuck off to her if she tries to talk to him. He can bark back at you if you bark at him for no reason. He needs space from you two and he will get it, understand dear,”

Ron wanted to make sure that his mom did not rewrite the weekend. She might have been more understanding but she went along with the girly weekend. There was no excuse for his mom treating him like a girl. Her understanding did not make what she did any less wrong. “And you mom. I need space from you.”

“Ron, you are right. I should have included myself.”

Kyle disagreed with Dawn. His wife ending her request with dear did not work this time. There was no way that Ron was going to be able to treat him or anyone else in this house like they were not family. Ron had to start forgiving them right away. “No Honey. Ron has to treat me like his father and Linda like his sister. The weekend was a mistake, but he has to move on from it. We are making up for it.”

The common consensus was good parenting meant having a united front in front of your children. Generally that was true. Parents should come to their decision before dealing with the child. In this case Dawn had to make sure that their son knew she disagreed with her husband.
“Kyle, you have no right to say how Ron has to treat anyone. You did not listen to him, you did not treat him with respect, you did not keep your word to him. You’re already back to calling that bad decision a mistake. I should have known you would try to defend what we did by how strongly you said ‘Hell no’ to telling Jim the truth. That is not how a father acts. A father owns up when they mess up. They learn from it. You are not.

If you want to be treated like a father, start acting like one. If Linda wants to be treated like his sister, she better start acting like one. I want Ron to treat me like his mother one day, so I am going to act like one.”

Kyle did not want any change in the relationship dynamics in his family. The changing of the status quo would be a reminder of how he let his son down. “Ron needs to act like a son also, if he wants to be treated like one.”

Ron said “What will you do if I don’t. Let me guess, you are going to treat me like your daughter again. I don’t care how you treat me.”

The frustrated father said “Quit bringing that up. I know I messed up. We are moving on from it right now. Understand?”

“Oh we are moving on from what you did. You did put me in a dress for something I did not do and that is now part of our relationship.”

This was not the time for Kyle and his son to have it out. At this moment neither of them were listening to each other. Kyle was talking at his son and not responding to the legit grievances which were being aired. Being back to normal was more important to the father than the process of doing so. He thought that sweeping the weekend under the rug would not leave a huge lump which everyone would trip over,

Dawn knew the fight had to be postponed. “Kyle, drop it. We have to deal with what happened this weekend. You are not ready and we heard Linda saying good morning to Ron. She should have not done that. She really should not have repeated herself when our son said nothing.

Now, when Ron is ready, me and him are going to drop off those clothes to goodwill and then pick up that Playstation 5. Until then Kyle I think it is best that you stay away from Ron. He does not need to be aggravated by you anymore.”

**************

Even with it being six days from today, Chloe Pruitt was already making plans for her huge first date with Ron. The girl finally got the boy she had a huge crush on and wanted their first date to be as special as she saw him. The hardest part of dating for a pair of freshmen was the transportation logistics. Neither of them would have a driver license so they were at the mercy of others to get their destination. This issue was easy for Chloe to solve, ask her dad.

Her dad, Jim Pruitt, was going to be forced to say yes. Chloe’s dad would be house hunting for a better neighborhood in her heart after finding out how wrong he was. Jim’s bad decision was refusing to believe his daughter about Ron not being a crossdresser. Being their personal taxi service for a night would be a great start on him moving out of his new Chloe's dog house.

The plan had one hiccup which Chloe did not know about. Ron’s dad, Kyle, has not kept his word about telling Jim the truth. Kyle was too concerned about his pride and his friend looking down on him than clearing up what other people think of his son. Jim believing Ron had a feminine side would not hurt anyone. Now Jim knowing that Kyle forced his son to live like a girl even for a weekend would forever damage their friendship. Jim would lose respect for Kyle. How severe and drastic the punishment was would make Kyle lose trust in Jim's decision making and moral character.

Chloe’s reasonable request was not brought up until the family was having their traditional Sunday brunch. Jim, still believing that Ron was also Ronda, made it so he had no idea of his change of address. Chloe did get the expected answer. Her dad was more than happy to make sure his daughter was able to enjoy a social life. Having her out of the house also gave him and his wife, Sabrina , time alone.

The answer did come with an unexpected question. “Will it be Ron or Rhonda you are hanging out with on Saturday?”

The price for any real estate outside of Chloe’s doghouse skyrocketed with the question for her father. “Dad, you know that is not true about Ron!”

The revelation of Rhonda did not surprise or confuse Sabrina . Jim told her about how Ron was exploring his feminine side. Now Chloe’s older brother, Devlin, was confused. He said the only question which could come to him “Huh?”

Being an adult Jim put it upon himself to answer the question. These types of questions should be answered by parents, not siblings. Chloe being in denial about who her friend really was just gave more credence that he was the right one to answer it.

“Dev, Ron is also Rhonda. He sometimes likes to express that side of him by….”

Chloe was not going to let her dad lie about the boy she found sweet. “Dad, you know the truth so quit lying.”

“Chloe, you know better than to interrupt someone who is explaining something. Like I was saying.”

“Dad, you are wrong. You know that I told you when we were over Ron’s. Also, Ron’s dad called you last night and explained everything.”

“Chloe, you need to accept the truth. Ron was not ready to tell you about Rhonda yesterday, but how you two made up I assumed he told you. His dad did not call me last night. Kyle would not lie about his son like this.”

“Dad, you are wrong. His dad was supposed to, Ron told me so.”

“Chloe, this is the third time you cut me off. You need to let people speak.”

Sabrina knew something was wrong with her husband’s account of yesterday. Their daughter was respectful and would not keep on trying to take over the conversation unless Chloe truly believed her dad was not right. “Jim let Chloe speak, we are talking about her friend. She knows Ron better than you.”

Jim being irked made him more concerned about being right than knowing the truth. “Does she know Ron better than Kyle?”

Sabrina being the voice of reason said “You know teenagers. They keep things from their parents all the time. You had no idea about Devlin’s love for fishing. He knew so much about fishing by the time he asked you to buy him that nice rod.

Now Chloe, why do you think your dad has it wrong?”

“I know dad has it wrong. This is because Linda blamed Ron for taking her dress and he did not. She could not find her dress and thought he destroyed it by wearing it. With that dress being missing their mom and dad believed her. They forced him to be Rhonda for the weekend.”

Jim still wanted to be right. If he was not then he messed up big time by asking about Rhoda. People do not like being wrong and they hate messing up because of their false beliefs even more. “ Ron is bigger than Linda so he properly did destroy that dress trying it on.”

The hypocritical act of interrupting Chloe got the best of her. How dare her dad talk about not doing something and then do it right away. She was taught a rule for thee but not for me was wrong. “How about letting me finish before you interrupt dad. The dress was not destroyed. Nancy borrowed it.”

Jim's temperature went up so he started to scold his daughter.“Don’t get an attitude with me young lady.”

Sabrina again being the voice of reason was going to cool everyone down. “Hun, you just talked to Chloe about not cutting people off and you did that to her. We teach by example, so don’t cut her off again.

Chloe dear, you need to not let your emotions get the best of you. You have to handle disagreements better. Now go on.”

“Like I was saying, the truth came out when Ron saw a picture of Nancy on Facebook wearing that dress. We were talking then. He said that his dad was going to call you to clear it up.

Even before that I believed him. He said he did not like to wear dresses and explained why. He was being honest. He does not want to wear dresses.

Dad, don't worry about driving us on Saturday. We will find our own way to the movies.”

Devlin spoke up. The fog of his confusion was lifted. He understood what happened. Linda was being over dramatic about something and forced people into believing what she thought was true. “Sis, I will drive you and Ron. It will be nice to see him.”

“Thanks, Dev. Please don’t say you know about what Ron was forced to do.”

“Sis, I won’t bring up the stupid punishment his mom and dad came up with.”

Jim wanted to be right about something, anything so he had to correct his son. “Devlin, don’t call people stupid. You know better than that.”

Wanting to be right instead of doing the right thing made Jim wrong once again and Devlin gently pointed it out by saying “Dad I would never call Mr and Ms Coville stupid. I said their punishment was. They forced their son to dress and be something he was not. Even if he was exploring his feminine side, that cannot be forced upon someone. At least, if you want good results.”

The father’s injured pride might have been obscuring him from seeing the big picture, but even with his blurred vision he started to question the narrative he believed. His eldest child Devlin was neutral about the situation and believed that Ron did not want to wear a dress. This led to him to see the next path he should take, call Kyle to totally clear the situation up.

******************

Nancy was sipping her morning coffee already reminiscing about this weekend. There were so many great memories to relive. Meeting and mingling with so many kindred spirits about advancing women in STEM made those long studies sessions worth the time and effort. She knew that she was going to part of the point of the spear which helped break the glass ceiling which was still holding women back.

There was one event which kept on creeping up which she wished would not, her mom calling her last night. How the call was about checking up on something was like a miser giving to charity, totally out of character. Nancy’s mom and dad trusted their children. The information her mom wanted was trivial. Why would her parents be so concerned about the lending practices of their daughters?

Nancy not asking Linda about the dress was a huge deal to her mom for some reason. This question became work instead of just enjoying the moment. Nancy needed to know more information so she could go back to binge watching her favorite reruns of this weekend’s events. Taking a trip down memory lane was about stopping and smelling the roses, not pruning the rose bush. There was a quick and easy solution, call her sister.

Nancy felt a little uneasy when she heard Linda's voice. The younger sister’s normally cheerful tone was replaced with one which was on edge. Then hearing about her sister’s award banquet last night made Nancy feel bad. She was confused about which weekend it was going to happen. If she correctly remembered the banquet was last night Nancy would have never taken that turquoise dress. She knew her sister wanted to wear that dress on that night. That party dress was Linda’s goto dress for fancy occasions.

Nancy started to profusely apologize. Messing up her sister’s big night made her feel so guilty. This still did not explain why mom called. Linda would have just found something in her or Nancy’s closet to wear. That bright yellow A-line with the flared out hem would have also been a great choice. Nancy was right about the second choice for that was what Linda did wear.

When Linda confirmed Nancy’s thought about the bright yellow dress it made the elder sister lose interest in what the issue was. She then straight up asked Linda why the call if everything worked out great, Nancy’s sister had to know that the dress was with her if she could not find it. This was when the real issue came out.

Linda was flabbergasted when she found out about her parents thinking that Ron was a crossdresser and the punishment. Making Ron be Rhonda for a weekend because they thought he was a crossdresser was radical. She did not think her mom and dad had it in them to think so far out of the box. The eldest daughter was also impressed that the punishment her parents came up with was also a learning experience. It was supposed to help Ron. Lastly, her parents did not back down when Ron denied being a crossdresser so they did not baby their baby..

Then that new found respect Linda had for her parents quickly became disappointment when she found out the rest of the story. Her mom and dad went too far when they found out the truth. Making Linda miss out on so many of her senior year rites of passage was just cruel. Linda did not mean any harm, she truly believed that Ron ruined her dress. Nancy was warned to watch her stuff.

Linda was pissed at Ron. He was acting like a big baby over the weekend. So what? He had to wear dresses for two days. That is not a big deal, they were clothes. Instead of dwelling on the perceived slight to his manhood, her baby brother should learn from the experience. He now knew how much time and effort a woman has to take to look presentable. That selfish boy needs to have some empathy. He should have downplayed how mad he was to look out for his sister. Overall, in the long run this weekend helped Ron to become a better man if he was not so self-centered.

After the phone call, Nancy was going to become Linda's champion. She was going to advocate for her younger sister’s behalf. This decision of how to handle the situation at home was formed without important facts. Once again Linda left out vital information which would make her look wrong. If Nancy was told about how Linda lied about Ron wearing her panties and those two always asking before borrowing anything along with her threatening to cut Ron’s hair. Her story left out Ron missing his huge sectional track meet and how he did not get to go to the awards banquet.

**************

Dawn was happy seeing her son back to being more of who he really is. How Ron was using this weekend to help some less fortunate stranger by dropping off Rhonda’s wardrobe at Goodwill made it so Dawn knew that she and her husband were able to instill good morals into their son. Ron was going to be a great man. This weekend had a bad decision and thankfully its effects did not hamper Ron’s growth as a person.

The happiness did come with some pain. Dawn was doubtful if they were going to be a huge part of Ron’s life. How much Ron was hurt by the bad decision of making him be Rhonda and his parents not believing him broke the trust between them.The trust between a parent and child was vital for the family bond to stay tight. Working on making that bond strong again was going to take everyone involved. Her husband’s half-hearted attempt to accept blame and Linda acting like nothing major happened was not going to help make Ron try to meet them halfway.

Dawn’s emotional pain became stronger after Ron thanked her for the Playstation. The sincerity of his words acted like a sharp sword on the paper heart she had right then. Even with her son being mad at her actions he was still able to show his love and appreciation for his mom. She quickly excused herself to use the restroom. There was no way Dawn was going to let her son see the tears forming in her eyes. That would be emotional manipulation on her part. The mom wanted her actions and not how bad she felt to be the catalyst of her son’s forgiveness.

After regaining her self composure Dawn came back to her son. Even with regaining control of her emotions Ron knew what happened. The physical signs of his mom’s sadness and despair were still evident. No amount of makeup was going to cover up the swollenness and redness of Dawn’s eye. Ron was concerned and asked his mom if everything was alright.

Dawn was not going to lie but at the same time she was not going to pull at the strings of her son’s heart. This was not his burden to bear. She needed to make their relationship right. “It is nothing to concern you Ron.”

Ron was not going to let that non-answer be. “Mom, if it is about the weekend then it does concern me. Now instead of not listening to me tell me what is wrong.”

Dawn said “I will tell you when we get to the car. Let’s go now unless you want to get another game. I think you deserve more than two games for your Playstation.”

Ron would love to get another game, but went against going with that desire. Her offering was another peace offering from his mom. She was the only one who was making a strong effort in making amends and was not going to take advantage of it. Plus he hated to see anyone he cared for upset. Helping his mom feel better had more of a precedent than getting another game.

Once they were in the car Dawn was 100% truthful and honest. She owed that to her son. “Ron, I am afraid that I lost you as my son this weekend. That bad decision was the wrong thing to do. You were hurt by those you loved and yet you are finding it in yourself to be a good person. I don’t want to miss seeing how great of a person you are going to be.”

“Mom, yes I am still pissed at you. You fucked up this weekend. I will say this, you are letting me be mad. That helps. You are not trying to act like nothing major happened or worse like you did nothing wrong. Have my back during this and I know that we will both work on making our relationship strong again.”

Dawn let the tears flow. She knew that they would have no effect on her son’s treatment of her. Her actions were going to make their relationship what it will become. She had control of how her son saw her and was not going to mess that up. “I love you. I love you so much. Now if you are sure you don’t want another game we are going to get home so you can play. I saw you looking at that one game. The one with the knight holding a sword. Go get that if you want.”

“OK mom, but I am paying for it with my money.”

*****************

Kyle’s cell phone ringing annoyed him. Middle aged men do not get social calls in the early afternoon on Sunday. The most likely person on the other end of the call was the wife with what she would call important information. To him that important information would be bad news. Most likely she bought even another big ticket item for their son. He was not happy that he had to pay for the new Playstation after spending all that money to teach his son a lesson.

Getting that gaming system felt like they were bribing their son to forgive them over the little mistake they made. That was just wrong. Ron should forgive his family without extorting them. The father was more concerned about the health of his retirement fund than the relationship with his son. If he was more foresightful Kyle would have known keeping his word about his son’s birthday present was a sound investment in his future. What good is it to have an extremely comfortable retirement if you do not have your family to share it with you.

Kyle went from being annoyed to be feeling excited when he saw that his best friend Jim was calling him. Jim only called when he was free to do something. His friend having time meant golf on this sunny spring Sunday. 18 holes on the greens under the bright yellow sun in the clear blue sky also meant a nice stop at the golfcource’s watering hole.

This little unexpected outing was just what Kyle needed. He had enough of his son and wife treating him like he was wrong. They both are acting like the decision of believing their daughter over their son was some drastic mistake. There were two conflicting stories. Dresses do not magically disappear so Linda’s story made more sense. He should not be made out to be the bad guy for he went with what was more logical at the time. His daughter should not be punished for thinking what she thought.

The surprise retrieval from the situation never came to fruition. Jim was calling to get information about this past weekend. Kyle’s best friend had two conflicting stories about if Ron had a feminine side or not. The last thing Kyle wanted was to cause any friction between him and his best friend so he kept the fiction of Ron also being Rhoda being true to Jim. That Ron snuck into Linda room to wear the turquoise dress she wanted to wear for the banquet and ruin it. That his also had a crush on Linda’s boyfriend Sam.

Telling the harmless little lie was easy to justify for Kyle. The truth did him no good. Not being honest to Kyle was not him going back on his word. His wife forced him to agree to tell Jim what really happened. Anyways, Linda’s dress was borrowed by her sister Nancy was none of Jim’s business. What happens in Kyle’s home should stay in his home.

That harmless little lie was easy for Jim to believe. If Ron liked to wear a dress it did not affect him one way or another. Plus if the lie Kyle told was true then Jim would be right. People hate being wrong.

Another reason the lie was easy for Jim to believe was Kyle asking him to keep Ron’s sense of fashion a secret. The cover up came off as Kyle wanting to respect his son’s privacy.

Jim did bring up going on a golf outing so he could get out of the tense house, but sadly Kyle had to decline. His parents and in-laws were coming over for an afternoon cook out for a belated Mother’s Day celebration.

************

Dawn and Ron have been home for a couple of hours and the tension in the house was eased. The pressure which came from the so-called learning experience away from Ron has been in his room setting up his new Playstation and then playing some games on it. It is hard to have conflict when the protagonist is not interacting with any of the antagonists. This short period of peace was about to come to an end when a new adversary for Ron came home.

Nancy spent the entire ride home fuming about how immature she thought her brother was behaving. With Ron overreacting now her sister Linda has to miss out on so many rites of passages in her senior year and her brother was being rewarded with a new gaming system. She thought a better gift for him would have been a hammer and nails so the martyr could nail himself to the so-called cross of the past weekend.

Nancy got the normal greeting of a big smile and hug from her dad. Kyle was so proud of his daughter doing great at University. That pride in her GPA was nothing compared to how overjoyed he was with how Nancy was being proactive in making herself the best candidate she could be in the job field. His eldest girl was not going to be some introverted wall flower in the IT department, but a real go-getter who will be running it in a couple of years.

Her mom on the other hand was more worried about talking with Nancy about borrowing the dress than seeing her. Dawn told her daughter to sit because they need to talk. Nancy had better things to do right now than listen to her mom. Plus she was an adult and was not going to be told when those two were going to talk. The discussion was going to be when it was convenient for both of them. Right now Nancy had a bigger issue than to listen to whatever her mom was going to say. She had to set her brother straight so she said “I’ll be back down after I put my suitcase away.”

Kyle gave his daughter out of listening to her mom by saying “Go ahead Nancy, you do what you need to do then come down when you are ready.”

Dawn was about to correct her husband but changed her mind. She was sick of bickering with him. Also Nancy just got home so she does need to at least catch her breath from driving all the way back to Pittsburgh from Washington DC. Dawn might have not wanted to fight with her husband again but she needed to make sure Nancy knew the talk was important. “After you are done putting your stuff away, come right back down. We need to talk.”

Nancy wanted to show she the relationship between mother and daughter was one more of equals than child and parent said “I’ll be down when I am done doing what I want to do.”

After haphazardly putting her suitcase on her bed she went directly to Ron’s room. She did not want to waste a second of getting her brother to take a second chance of making what he did wrong was right. The first chance he had was when the misunderstanding came to light. Instead of acting like he had a huge grievance against his sister, he should have understood she made a mistake.

Even with the intent of going into her brother’s room and playing Ms Nice Girl, she messed up right away. The girl who was going to set what was wrong right barged right into the room. She should have knocked and asked to come in. She compounded the mistake by stating that they had to talk. When he told her not now he was in the middle of his game, she doubled down once again by making the bad decision of unplugging the power cord to his gaming console while saying “I did not ask, I said we needed to talk.”

Nancy trying to get her way made Ron feel like he was losing what little control he had in his life. His sister acting rude and controlling was like she was trying to take away any of the sense of agency over his life Ron has reagained since not being forced to be Ronda. As he was bolting up from edge of his bed he asked Nancy “What the fuck do you think you are doing?”

Nancy lost any of the minimal attempts of being nice by how her brother reacted to her. “Listen here I would not have had to turn off your game if you were being such a bitch,”

Out of all the pejorative terms Nancy could have used to cover her contempt and disapproval she chose the worst one. Using a derogatory word that was a generalized term of abuse and disparagement for a woman towards a teenage boy who was forced to act like a teenage girl was not smart. Of course when uttering that word she was not literally meaning Ron was bitch. Saying bitch was lazy unoriginal shorthand for Nacy to show she was mad at Ron. What Nancy meant did not matter, Ron took what she said at face value.

There was an important fact which Nancy did not give much credence to. Words have meaning. When using a derogatory word how the person at the receiving the belittling remark perceives it is what matters and not your intent. If they take it literal then how they will respond.

The thoughtless use of bitch in this situation was the worst choice Nancy could have made. Ron took her literally. That meant he felt his sister was making yet another attack on who he was. Ron’s voice raised as he was rising to the occasion of having to once again defend himself from yet another attack on who he was.”No you listen here. You will never call me a bitch again. I had a bad weekend because of you, so you do not come in here and order me around.”

“You need to quit being upset about this weekend. It is not fair that Linda is missing out on her prom because of your hurt feelings.”

“I agree it is not fair. I think more should be happening to Linda. She lied about me and I missed out on a huge track meet and the awards banquet because of her. If that was not enough, Chloe saw me in a dress and makeup. That could have ruined our friendship.”

Nancy did not like her brother treating her like what she was an equal. She came in here wanting to have authority over him and have him talk their parents out of Linda's punishment. To try to get her brother to cave she went on the attack. “You are right. It would have been if she knew how much you liked being cute.”

With a puckish look on his face Ron fired back “I did not look half as cute as you do on your Ohio driver's license.”

***********

The organ was playing the Let Go Bucs chant and for that moment Kyle was at the ballgame. There was nothing else in the world he much rather had than buying some snacks and never coming back. Munching on those peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jack while basking in the sun was a lot better than still having to deal with the backlash of this weekend. Then this seventh inning stretch came to a halt when he heard yelling from his youngest room.

Kyle was right behind his wife and they both were in the doorway when Nancy made the snide comment about Ron liking being in a dress. Before being able to tell both of them to stop it the parents made eye contact with Ron and he gave them a devilish grin as he made his reply of “I did not look half as cute as you do on your Ohio driver's license.”

Ron talking about state identification would have made no sense if they lived in Ohio or Nancy went to school there. The Collive’s household was in Pennsylvania and their daughter went to Penn State. Both the parents knew the statement was aimed at them to tell them about their daughter’s fake ID.

Dawn with authority said “Nancy what is this about a fake ID?”

The guilty party was not ready to confess. There was something more important to deal with than her having contraband which is against an arbitrary rule of when she can drink and have fun with other adults. “Ron has no idea what he is talking about. We need to talk about him overreacting to this weekend. It had to have done him good, He has a better understanding of what women go through in life.”

“Don’t lie to me Nancy! Hand over the ID right now.

Also do not say that we have to talk with Ron. You are not his parent, you are not raising him. You do not have a say in it.

Lastly, don’t say Ron is overreacting to this weekend. No one believed him when he was telling the truth and Linda was lying. Your sister threatened to cut his hair more feminine. We forced him to do something which was humiliating to him. We treated him like someone who he is not.”

Kyle was more concerned about being right than his daughter underage drinking. He had the numbers behind him so he was going to resist Dawn being in control of how to handle this weekend. “Dawn, Nancy is right. Ron is overreacting. Plus like she said he got an unique outlook on how the other half lives. He is going to be way more understanding towards women from now on. You always said that you wish men had to endure what women do.”

Ron piped in “If you think having that unique outlook is so good dad then you live like a woman for a couple of days, You should also hang out with your best friend Jim like you had me do with chloe.

Mom I can’t believe you would want what happened to me. No wonder you were on board with wanting to put me in a dress. You are a freak.”

Kyle “ Ron, we are taking back your Playstation. You never talk to your mom or me like that again. You are grounded until further notice.

Dawn exploded on Kyle. She had a gallon of anger towards her husband at this moment and only a pint glass to hold it. “Shut the fuck up Kyle. You are more worried about being right than doing the right thing and I am fucking sick of it. If you ever try to make it sound like we did the right thing by putting Ron in a dress you better be in one. I am done trying to show that we are working as a team on this for you are not.”

“We are not taking back Ron’s Playstation and he is not grounded. He has the right to talk to us like that. You are trying to make it sound like we did Ron a favor by how we treated him this weekend. You also made it sound like I want men to be forced to live like women. You know I only say that when you are not showing any empathy about the differences.”

“Ron, I hope you believe. I did not actually mean that when I would say it to your dad. It was a way to make him think of how long it takes to get dressed or how a woman can feel in certain situations.”

Kyle knowing his wife was pissed at him made him listen to her and shut the fuck up. Even with trying to defend himself deep down he knew he was wrong.

Ron was not more concerned about being right instead of doing the right thing. He was more prone to go on the attack to defend himself, but he also wanted to get his family back. “Sorry mom, I was wrong. I should have known better than to believe that you wanted me in a dress.”

“No Ron you were not wrong. We just made you live as Rhonda for a couple of days so it was easy to believe I want men to wear dresses.”

Nancy could not take how Ron was getting off the hook. “Mom, you are being sexist. If Linda or I ever talked back to you or dad like Ron we would be in big trouble.”

Trying to be right instead of doing the right thing was the wrong course of action for Linda. She brought the attention back onto her. “Nancy, we never made so many bad decisions in how we treated you and your sister. We never humiliated either of you two. We never treated you like a liar when you were telling the truth. We never acted like we knew you better than you knew yourself. That is why Ron is not in trouble for speaking his mind to us like that.

Anyway, right now I really do not care if you think I am sexist. I care about you coming into Ron's room and acting like you can force him to do anything. Like I said you are not his parent, you are his sister. I care about your fake ID and how we are going to handle it.”

To Klye his wife was overreacting to his daughter’s minor transgression. She forgot that they were young and snuck into a bar to drink underageage. Klye also had to make sure he came off as being on her side when making his suggestion of being lenient. “Dear we will take her ID and have a talk with her later about it when everyone calms down. We are all tense for how Ron acted towards Nancy trying to talk some sense into him.”

Ron was only dipping his bitter words in honey so the desired effect did not occur. Anyone paying any bit of attention to what he had to say knew he mindset was that of wanting to be right instead of doing the right thing. Dawn fought fake sweetness with fake sweetness

“Sweetie, you are right about talking to Nancy about the fake ID later. We made the huge mistake of having Linda involved with disciplining Ron.

You are wrong about trying to blame Ron for this. Nancy had no right to come into his room like she did. She had no right to try to talk to Ron about Linda’s punishment. If she has an issue with that she should have come to us. We are the one who are in charge

Nancy, get down to the dining room, we are going to talk.”

“I will mom after I put my things away.”

“No, you will go down there now.”

Nancy was not going to put up a fight. Her going into Ron’s room indicated that putting her stuff away was a low priority to her. Not wanting to get any more on her mom’s bad side made it so this was not a fight she wanted. She also knew that it was not a fight she could win. Her parents had too much power over her. Nancy was living under their roof and they were paying for university. Even with not being like Dido and putting up a white flag Nancy was still going to show her defiance. “Yes mother.”

***************

Linda was wallowing in her own self-pity. Feeling like this entire situation was unfair to her was the only way she could escape taking ownership of the fact that she was the cause of the bad situation she was in at the moment. She was more concerned about being right than doing the right thing to rectify her predicament.

There was a hidden cost of becoming entrenched in feeling victimized to the short-term feeling good, The price she was paying to feel good was significantly higher than the benefit of not having to face the results of her actions. All she was doing was compounding what she needed to pay off emotionally to get her relationships with her mom and brother back to normal.

Then she had a chance to upgrade feeling vindicated about her predicament when she got a call from her boyfriend on her cell phone. Adding the additional pleasure of getting a dopamine rush from telling anyone her unfair treatment by her family was just going to throw her deeper in defending her questionable actions. With the story coming from her biased outlook it was also going to make Sam’s opinion of her family worse.

Being the supportive boyfriend Sam listened to Linda’s words as if they were gospel. His biased outlook made him not notice the red flags in the tale which was being spun to wrap in frimley on the girl’s he loved side. The vague statements were not met with inquiries about any vital information. Sam automatically concluded that whatever his Lindz left out was trivial.

Sam acted like a mark after listening to a conman carney sales pitch and bought everything his girlfriend was selling him. He gave her the comfort and the verification she was looking for. He also was going to give her one thing Linda did not know she was pitching, the rectification of the situation. Sam was going to make Ron see how wrong he was about ruining his sister’s summer social calendar.

***********

Nancy sat at the dining room table coming up with plans for the night as she calmly waited to have a talk with her mom. To her there was nothing to be concerned about. Information is power so knowing this knowledge made her at ease. The facts were she borrowed a dress from her sister without telling her. That was normal and her mom will just stress getting permission from now on. Even if her mom thought it was wrong they both were adults. That meant it would be a talk amongst peers.

Now onto the added topic of her having a fake ID. Her mom cannot come down too hard on her about that. If she did then her mom would be a hypocrite. She knew her mom used to sneak into nightclubs and bars underage. Lastly, how that knowledge came to light was something her parents were against. Ron snitching on Nancy was done just to get her in trouble. They were raised that doing something out of spite was wrong.

Nancy forgot that for knowledge to have power, people have to take all the pertinent information into account and she did not. She treated the situation like she was the protagonist of the situation so any of her wrongdoing would be downplayed. She did not see that this was the effect of her borrowing the dress without permission. Lastly she forgot that she was also taught not to take things which are not yours with asking.

The cool breezy feeling of the room changed to stifling one as soon as Dawn walked in. The look of disappointment and dismay made Nancy mentally gulp. The lady who was now getting ready for a verbal bollocking understood the disappointment but not the dismay. This is for information is power and she did not have one bit of information. Her mom heard Nancy demean Ron about being in a dress.

Even with being a computer science major Nancy used all the knowledge she had about marketing from her business class to go into full PR Mode. The novice spin doctor said “Mom I know why you are mad. I was wrong to get a fake ID. I should have waited until I was of age to go to nightclubs to dance. I promise I will wait until I legally can to go again.”

These words had the opposite effect on Dawn. The reason was that PR is just a fancy way for talking heads to say they are blowing smoke up your ass and calling it sunshine. “Nancy I am disappointed in you for having that fake ID but that is not why I am pissed at you. I heard what you said to Ron.”

Nancy was dumbfounded. She had no idea what her mom was accusing her of. This was because the put-downs she said to Ron were said without her thinking. Feeling innocent Nancy strongly asserted “I did not say anything bad to Ron.”

“Don’t lie to me. I heard you saying that Ron likes to be cute and he told me you called him a bitch.”

Hearing bitch turned the switch on Nancy's memory. She had to defend saying those words and did so as strong as a newborn child cry by replying “Oh mom, you know I did not mean any of that. He is being too sensitive.”

“No, he is not. You were not here this weekend. You do not know what your brother went through. We did not believe him when he told the truth. Instead, we believe his sister who was lying about him. We made him try to be someone he is not.”

“Come on, Linda was not lying. She believed that he took her dress.”

“She also said he was taking her panties to wear. She admitted that was made up so we would believe her over Ron. That is lying.

Also you took the dress not him. You have been doing that taking without asking.

You know what I am done talking with you. You will listen to what I have to say.”

“Mom, you can’t treat me this way. I am an adult.”

“Then start acting like one. Don’t try to force your will on your brother and when he stands up to you don’t flippantly emasculate him.”

“I said I did not mean it that way.”

“It does not matter what you meant. It was how those words were taken. You know what you said was an attack on his manhood.”

“It wasn’t. I was just mad at him for ruining Linda’s senior year.”

“First get it straight. Ron did not ruin your sister’s senior year. She did. Linda lied about Ron so we would believe her story. She said he stole her panties. Linda threatened to cut Ron’s hair in a more feminine way.

Now that you got it straight, please explain how saying he likes to be in a dress was not an attack on his manhood, then please explain what it was.”

“For the last time mom I did not mean it that way.”

“Nancy, I am disappointed in you. You know what you said would be taken but will not own up to it.

I am done talking to you. You will not listen.”

Nancy was feeling uneasy about how abruptly her mom ended the discussion. She wanted to ease the tension between her mom and herself. The only way she knew how was by owning up to having a fake ID as being wrong. To show her mom she was listening but just not agreeing to everything Dawn was saying she admitted to what she could not deny by asking her mom to wait. Then when her mom turns around, reach out confidently to give the fake ID to her mom.

Dawn said “I told you I am done talking to you. I do not care about the fake ID anymore. You are an adult and will just go get yourself another one.”

“Mom, I know I messed up by having it. I am meeting you halfway. Listen to me then you will see that I did nothing wrong with how I talked to Ron.”

“Nancy, I don't trust you right now. You will not admit what you did to Ron. I just hope you do before there is more damage done to your relationship with him.”