The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2834 by Angharad Copyright© 2015 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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Suddenly it was Monday morning, New Year had come and gone and Julie and Phoebe were back though exhausted from having been out on the piste. I woke them as I did the girls who were back to school and now had the extra seats in the boot of my estate car—or shooting brakes as they call them if they’re Jaguars—as Cate was going to school for the first time. She had done nursery which Jacquie took her to most days and was now in the infants at the convent. At least she’d come from Catholic parents and I had tried to tell her about all this as she grew up.

She was so excited and Danielle was very good with her getting her into the child seat in the back. I began to think I needed to make some other arrangement for them going to school and home again. On the one hand it was nice being allowed to finish at three at work, although I often worked at home after that, sometimes up until bedtime—not good practice as we all need some rest and relaxation and separating squabbling ten year olds is not the best way to relax. Last night Hannah and Livvie were at it, accusing each other of taking the other’s pencil case. When I checked Cate’s backpack, she had three pencil cases.

Trish had collected her notes on Mithras again and was taking them to show Sister Vagina—I must stop calling her that or one day it’s going to slip out in front of someone who won’t find it very funny. Stella nearly wet herself when she heard the girls’ nickname for the blighted nun, she laughed so hard.

It struck me as strange that with all mine going to the convent that Stella refused to send hers there, she took them to a school near the hospital, which I suspect was a pain if she wasn’t working. She said she wouldn’t send hers to a religious school. However, her school only took them until they were eleven, so she’d have to find another by then. For all my misgivings about the religious element, the general education they received was good and better than many schools, plus of course, I supplemented Trish’s maths and physics by using a private tutor who just happens to be a senior lecturer in physics at our university.

At half-past eight, or just before, we all marched into the convent, Danielle with sports bag in one hand and Cate holding her other, Trish and Livvie, Hannah and Meems in a bunch laughing and joking, and me walking behind feeling very anxious for little Cate. Danielle had volunteered if there was a problem with her younger sister she would try and deal with it before they contacted me. Cate was also happy with this arrangement or to send for Meems if Danielle wasn't easily available.

Despite Danni saying that she sometimes wished she was a boy again, she seemed to fill the role of big sister with the others, really well. Even Trish admitted it was nice having a big sister in the school even if they rarely had contact on the premises, Danni having got several more friends in recent months, whereas Trish, Livvie, Hannah and Meems had each other so didn’t need many friends. That worried me at times.

The nice thing about Danni, was she managed to include Cindy in her group, so Cindy had more friends now as well, Danni suspecting that one or two knew of Cindy’s little anomaly, hoping that they didn’t know of her previous one.

I was never sure what the current take on being transgender was, in that some people were very supportive and others seemed to think it was being in league with the devil that caused it. The school's official policy was that of supporting all pupils regardless of age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion or race, offering a nurturing environment for the girls to grow and explore who they were. So far my experience was positive under the regime of Sister Maria, so apart from huge school fees, and we got discount for bulk purchase, I was largely happy with their schooling and so were they, despite Trish always whining about something or other, usually the religious stuff.

I also had personal links with the school through the fundraising and other things I’d done for them, I also knew that if I said I was available to stand as a school governor that I’d be grabbed before I could change my mind; so my own standing was very good with them. I’m aware that could be a two-edged sword in that my presence carries a lot of weight for the reasons I just mentioned and also because of the title and being a professor at the local university, not to mention the influence of the Cameron family as bankers, aristocrats and being very wealthy, plus the contacts they have, or Henry does.

It could be seen as two-edged because if my children were outted as transgender and it was then applied to me, it could backfire in a big way in a personal sense. I’m fireproof in work because they know and support me, but socially and the effect it would have on my children could be devastating as they’re all about to move into or are in, adolescence and all the vulnerability that brings with it.

Sometimes I wonder how I sleep at night, but mostly I do with no bigger problem than Simon’s snoring, when he’s at home. But then, so far none of the girls have had problems in being accepted as female because they all look the part having transitioned relatively young.

I left the school with a heavy heart having handed Cate over to the Inquisition, I mean reception class, and she went along quite happily. Trish, Livvie, Hannah and Meems have been teaching her to read and to write a little, so she should be off to a flying start. All the same, I found it distracted me all morning, thinking about how she’d cope in a classroom not a nursery. I was really glad to go and collect them at three and drove hurriedly to the school only to find she was tired but had enjoyed herself immensely. So much for all that wasted emotion.

I was exhausted but did some records for the mammal survey on either side of dinner when Sammi came down. When Sammi comes into my study it’s usually for more reason than a social call. She’s busy and lives her life at a zillion miles an hour. I hoped she didn’t have a problem that needed a shoulder to cry on or advice from an older woman or other crisis because I felt emotionally sucked dry.

She had a CD or DVD in her hand so possibly she wanted to update my software in some way or other—that I was fine with. “Hello, darling,” I greeted her, “what can I do for you?”

“Apart from Ben Wishaw’s home phone number, you mean?”

“Ha ha, besides with your skills on the internet, I’m sure you could find it without too much trouble.”

“Yeah, probably—take a look at this.” She handed me the DVD disc.

“What is it?”

“Look and see.”

“Will it play on this?” I meant my laptop.

“Should do.”

I popped open the DVD drive tray and placed the disc in it and pushed it closed. “What is it?”

“Wait and see.”