Chapter 25

"If you had a blood transfusion or kidney transplant from a man would that make you 'not quite all girl'? How about Mohammed Ali's daughter, Laila , the one who boxes. Is she 'not quite all girl'? I can only be me and I'm still finding out who that is Serena!"

Serena's comment, 'not quite all girl' had got to me. As much as anyone I had grown up with the idea that the world was split into men and women yet Mr Pitt had found my body, at least, to be both and neither. What about my mind? Was my mind a jigsaw too?

Getting to know who I was might parallel this coach trip? The first part, getting out of London, was tortuous and slow until we hit the motorway where the speed picked up rapidly and there could be no easy turning back until later today when we reached Cardiff. Next week it would hopefully be Bilbao and in a couple of years Tahiti!

It was 10 pm before we got home, Dad having picked us up from the coach stop. I waved Serena goodnight then headed indoors where mum was waiting in the kitchen with a hot chocolate drink, some sandwiches and the Spanish Inquisition. I'd grown up with that phrase but tonight was even tougher than 'the broken greenhouse window trial' of 1988.

Fortunately I had two more copies of the doctor's report, Litara already having received one for insurance purposes, so I handed one over while doing my best to explain as much as I understood.

"So you're a girl with some boy bits." concluded mum. That wasn't quite accurate physically but felt right so I agreed. Mum handed my post to me and I in return showed her my new passport. The Samoan passport was not the surprise that I had expected because Dad with a flourish presented his own new Samoan passport - it seemed that Grandma Tina and Litara shared, as well as a name, a love of wheeling and dealing.

Naturally mum picked up on the lack of gender on the passport so I explained what Mr Davis had told me about birth certificates and the House of Lords.

"Well its not right." she stated. "The law will have to be changed!" From being my greatest critic she had transformed into a crusader on my behalf so I next needed to explain about the need for confidentiality in case I became fertile, just to stop her camping out on the front lawn of our local member of parliament! Which in turn started her off about Litara not getting any younger and that she wanted grandchildren before she was to old to enjoy them and maybe I ought to… . She was still going on when I headed up to bed.

"It's absolutely ridiculous!" I'd stopped at the paper shop on my way to Dad's yard and was picking up his Boat magazine when Mrs Llewellyn came in. "I know it's not politically correct but first we let the coloureds in and now here you are Dai Williams, dressed like a fairy!"

"I blame it on the Americans" I sympathised

"How do you mean… 'the Americans?"

"It's in the burgers. Hadn't you noticed we had none of these problems in the days before the Americans brought their hamburgers here!" With that I paid Mr Patel for the magazine and left to continue my ride to the yard when…

"Are you all right lass?" I was looking up at Bill's concerned face from my position at the bottom of a roadside ditch.

"What is it with you Bill? Wasn't it enough to mess up my family; do you now feel the need to kill me!" In fairness my present position wasn't his fault as to avoid hitting a car which shot out of a side road he'd slammed on his bakes having just overtaken me and I'd swerved into the ditch to avoid hitting his truck. I wasn't feeling fair though and with the real villain of the piece long gone, Bill was a natural focus to vent my anger on.

"Don't you dare laugh at me Bill!"

"If you could stand in my shoes looking at you all red in the face under your bike you'd be laughing too!" With that he picked my bicycle off me, observing that its front wheel was history, put it in the back of his truck and insisted on driving me wherever I was going, which was Dad's yard. "What do you mean, 'I messed up your family'?"

" Well first you told Alistair Dougan I was your grandaughter then you turn up at Grandpa Joe's funeral with my Grandma Tina… What do you expect me to think?"

By this time we had pulled up at the yard, but he asked me stay a few minutes to hear his story. "I met your grandmother Litara, who you call Grandma Tina, at Queen Elizabeth's Coronation. She was part of the entourage of Queen Salote of Tonga and I was there through the Royal Navy. We fell in love and would have married but she wanted children and after my ship was hit in the war I couldn't have them.

We did talk about marrying and letting someone else father our children but I didn't think that would be fair on her so we split on the best of terms and she married my best friend Malcolm Williams who was definitely Isaac's father and your grandfather. We kept in touch and were both friends of your grandpa Joe but after I married - my wife didn't want children - we saw less of each other. I did however think of her marriage and Isaac's birth being partly my doing which is why I suppose I got involved in Isaac's business and we became friends despite the age gap. My own wife died a year ago which brings us up to date."

It all made sense and even sounded romantic - I wondered how many men would be brave enough in those days to tell the woman they loved that they couldn't father children so sacrificing their own happiness for that of the woman's. Maybe that is why my own story came tumbling out including the doctors, my sister's project and my confusion.

I had to apologise to my Da for being late when I finally got into the workshop but explained about Bill and the crash while pushing on hard to get enough circuits built to tide him over for the time I would be away.

It was well past 5 pm when I finished the last of the work just as Bill's truck returned to the car park. He'd said he was going into town and would get my bike's wheel fixed or replaced and sure enough he swung the bicycle off the truck and wheeled it over to meet us..

"Isaac! A word if you've time. I want to talk about your mother, your daughter Venus here and I want you to build our boat!"