Mom picked up the phone. “Hello?” she looked at me and smiled. “Hi Abby, hang on, here she is.” Mom handed the phone to me. “It’s Abby, and she wants to talk to you. I took the phone from mom.

“Hi Abby.” I said into the phone. I was surprised that Abby was calling me while on vacation.

“Hey Emma. I’m just calling to see how your appointment with Dr. Williams went.” Abby was calling me to find out how my doctors appointment went…

“It went ok, I guess. I’ve never been through this before, so I have nothing to compare it to…” Abby giggled.

“I understand that.” Abby said. “Did she tell you anything that you can tell me?”

“I might have something called Gender Dysporia.” I replied. Mom smiled, and Abby giggled again.

“You mean Gender Identity Disorder? They changed the name on it in the last few years. It’s going to take some time to actually get a diagnoses, but you’ll get there.”

“Yeah, that’s what mom said. I just know that I’m happier in skirts than I ever was in pants. I’m not sure I want to wear pants again.” Mom shook her head.

“Wait until it gets cold outside… You’ll probably change that tune. I know I did. When it’s warm out I’m skirts and dresses all the time, but once it gets cold out, I’m in pants…”

“Yeah, well, Rachel wears skirts about never, so I’m the girl here, and someone needs to be girly…” Abby chuckled.

“Nicole is in skirts as often as I am, but then again she has always seen me this way… She is also very modest. The shortest skirts that she wears are knee length. Now me, I have legs and I want to show them off.” Now it was my turn to giggle.

“That is something I’ve always thought about you. You do have nice legs.” There was silence on the phone for a few seconds, and I noticed mom giving me a strange look.

“Thanks.” Abby said. I could almost hear her blushing. In the background I heard her dad say ‘Abby, we are going to go to the beach.’ “Emma, we’re going to go to the beach, but I do want to say that when you get older, your mom is going to be helping you fight off boyfriends. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Now it was my turn to blush.

“Ok, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.” We both hung up the phone and mom looked at me quizzically.

“Why are you blushing?” Mom asked.

“Because Abby just told me that when I get older that you are going to be helping me fight off boyfriends.”

“Or maybe potential girl friends…” Mom said, letting a grin fill her face. I stared at her. Mom didn’t respond to my staring, but rather picked my hand up and started putting a coat of teal nail polish on my fingers. She finished with both of my hands before I spoke again.

“Girlfriends?” I asked, my voice shaky.

“Yes, girlfriends. You’re unique, and you are going to be able to tell what a woman wants, and you know how a boy should treat a woman… That will make you desirable to either gender. Personally, I see you with a girl.” I blushed again…

Three days later I had just walked down stairs after slipping on a white sundress when someone knocked on the door. Since I was standing there, I opened it to reveal Abby.

“Come in.” I said. Abby smiled and stepped trough the door. Her pink and white striped dress swished around her ankles. Her smile was radiant as usual. She hugged me.

“How are you, sweetie?” she asked. She was still taller than me, even with the two inch wedges I was wearing.

“I’m good. What brings you by?” I asked hugging her.

“Well, I thought that if it was alright with your mom, we could go to the park and have a little picnic and talk.”

“Let’s go find out.” I said, leading the way toward the kitchen.

“Emma, I was getting ready to make lunch, what did you…” Mom looked up from her magazine. “Oh, Hi Abby.”

“Mrs. Fisher, I was thinking that Emma and I could go and have a picnic and talk.”

“That’s fine with me, Do you have a watch, Abby?”

“No, but I do have my cell phone.” Mom’s eyebrows went up.

“You have a cell phone?” Mom asked.

“Yeah. Mom and dad thought I should have one after I transitioned. I’ve never needed it, but it’s always there. Dad always knows where I am.” Mom’s face turned to a look of confusion

“How does he do that?” In a way I was curious, but at the same time I was afraid that I would end up on the end of this type of leash…

“He enabled the parental controls features on the phone, it won’t call anyone but him or the police after ten pm. He can track the location of my phone, and it sends him a text message at certain times when something happens like I arrive or leave school, arrive or leave home. Nicole doesn’t have this yet, but she will. Dad’s extremely protective of his daughters.”

“I would say…” Mom’s eyes flicked to me, and I knew what was going through her head. “Not half a bad idea. You girls go have your picnic, Emma, be home by 7.” Abby and I smiled at each other.

“Yes, Mommy.” I said.

“Emma, I’m going to run some errands, so if you guys come home and I’m not here, I want you to stay with Abby, Ok?”

“Ok.” I smiled at her, but she had me wondering what she was up to…