Chapter 14 - The Birthday Party

Have you ever gotten so busy that you forget some important stuff? By the middle of February I was settling in to my new school and new friends and identity. If I wasn't doing homework or thinking about school I was thinking about the upcoming play, learning the songs and dialog and wondering who was going to be playing Colin and Dickon.

I was on the new computer looking for information for my history homework and jumped about a mile when Mom touched my shoulder to get my attention. I hadn't even heard her come into the room.

"Someone's really deep into her research, unless she's reading online comics."

"Ha-ha-ha!"

Take a break and think about something else for a minute."

"What?"

"How about who you want to invite to your birthday party."

It took me a few seconds to get the history out of my head and return to current events.

"Wow! I guess it's almost my birthday, isn't it?"

"And this year you get to have an actual birthday."

Being born on February 29th means you only get to celebrate on your actual birthday every fourth year.

"Cool!"

"Except the 29th is a Tuesday so your party will probably have to be on the 26th. Sometimes you can't win."

"Darn!"

Since I was at the computer, I asked it for the next time my actual birthday would be on a Saturday.

"Hey - I have to wait until 2020 before my real birthday is on a Saturday. That means I'm going to be thirty-two. That's old!"

"Watch it, kiddo! Your mother is thirty-three and I am not old!"

"Oh."

Since I am presently thirty-three years old as I'm writing this I have to agree with Mom. I had a big mouth as a kid, but I have to say my birthday party in 2020 was a complete bust. It shouldn't have meant that much that the first time in my life that my actual birthday happened on a Saturday was in 2020, but I had kind of been looking forward to throwing a big party that year. Who would have thought we would be in quarantine and hoping not to get that damned virus?

But back to birthday number twelve. Mom and dad imposed a limit of six kids, probably to preserve their sanity. Naturally, Aileen and Janine came to mind first, and I thought it would be nice to invite my cousin Linda. But then I got stuck.

That's when it hit me - in my excitement in going to Ursuline and learning to be a girl I had pretty much abandoned my old friends. In taking the time to figure out who I wanted to come to my birthday party I realized that I was missing the people I went to school with before I switched to Ursuline, and that brought back memories of New Year's Eve. Bobby, Charlie and even Jake, who made it clear I wasn't his favorite person.

Should I invite them? Well anyway Charlie and Bobby - I didn't think Jake would be the life of the party, so to speak. If I did, then it was inevitable that Aileen and Janine would find out I was trans - not something I wanted to publicize. I had read of some of the nasty things that had happened to trans kids on line, I sure wasn't interested in having that happen to me.

But they were all my friends…

Only one thing to do - wait until Mom and Dad got home and talk to them. A great idea, but exactly at that moment Kate came wandering in to the room.

"Whatcha staring at, sis?" she asked.

"Uh, just pondering."

I had recently learned the word and that seemed like a great time to use it.

"You do know that you have to be twenty-one to legally ponder in this state?"

"I don't see any cops or flashing blue lights, so I'm safe."

"You might think so, but when the blue lights start flashing you're about to be abducted by aliens."

"Then I wouldn't have to worry about the cops."

"Yeah, and the poor little green buggers would get awfully confused when they tried to impregnate you with a little space baby."

"You're sick!"

"This from a guy who thinks he's a girl?"

"Not any worse than a sister who thinks she's a comic."

"Har-har."

"Uh, Kate? You're supposed to make the audience laugh, not yourself."

"Now she's a critic!"

"Seriously, Kate. I'm trying to decide who to invite to my birthday party."

"What's so hard about… Oh, I getcha! Danny's friends or Annie's friends."

"Or both."

"And Annie's friends don't really know about Danny."

"Yeah."

"I don't know, Annie. It's gonna happen sometime."

"But is my birthday party a good place for it?"

"Well, Mom and Dad already bought you your presents so you got that covered."

"Someone could still squash a cake in my face."

"I'd do with whipped cream frosting and electric candles as a precaution."

"Thanks a lot! You've been a big help, sis."

"Think nothing of it. Seriously, if they are really friends, maybe you should tell them before the party."

"I know, but…"

"You talked to Doctor Phil?"

"No, not yet."

"Then like maybe you should. Pick up the phone and leave a message."

So that's what I did, then waited until he called back. In the end, Doctor Phil agreed with Kate - I should tell everybody when I invited them to my party.

 

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to tell my Ursuline friends about who I was so I could invite them to my birthday party. I had constructed all kinds of outlandish scenarios in my head - hey, I was an actor, remember? I had finally gotten some time alone in one of the study nooks with Janine and Aileen to spring my question when Janine beat me to it, inviting both me and Aileen to a slumber party at her house.

Ah, another stereotypical dilemma for these kind of stories.

"Janine, I need to tell you something before I answer about the slumber party. Well, two things, actually"

"What?"

"Well, having me there might get your parents excited."

"So what? I'm excited to have you come to my house."

"Not that kind of excited, girlfriend. Unhappy excited."

"I don't believe a word of it!"

"You've kinda mentioned that your folks are pretty religious."

"Sure. So am I, I guess. I know you aren't but that doesn't make any difference to me. If there's one thing my folks believe it's that everybody has to find their own path to God."

"Did God make your path ADA accessible?"

I had learned a lot from Janine about accessibility, like how hard it was to remodel her house when she had to use a wheelchair after the accident. Janine could talk you ear off about how people never thought about someone in a wheelchair when they were designing a building even after decades of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"You're bad!"

"Sorry, couldn't help it.

"You certainly need help, Annie."

"Don't I know it. Janine, do your or your folks have problems with LGBT types?"

"Huh? Where did that come from?"

"Unless you're talking to a ghost it came from me." She stuck out her tongue and made a rude noise. "Seriously, girlfriend."

"I don't know. Not something we've talked about much. I know they've laughed at some of the pictures of the floats in the Pride Parade."

"Nice laugh or nasty laugh?"

"Sorta 'that's weird' laugh. What's this all about?"

"Janine, I'm trans. I don't want to get you into trouble."

"Huh? What's trans?"

Now that was the last thing I was expecting. I suppose most people go through life without ever knowing they've met anyone trans, but to not even know what the word means? Weird!

So I had to tell her what it was, all the time wondering where her head had been during our inclusiveness lectures. I guess with some people if it doesn't affect them personally they just sort of gloss over it. Just like I had heard Janine complain about people who ignored the ADA until something happened to them.

After a while I noticed Aileen was looking at me with her mouth open.

"Close your mouth or you'll catch flies, Aileen."

"So that's it!"

"Yeah?"

"Your genetic condition!"

"Yeah. That's it."

"And why you never changed with the rest of us at dance class."

"Yup."

"And you didn't tell me!"

"I just did."

"Not now, you doofus - like all those months in dance class."

"What, I should just blurt out that I was born a boy in front of everybody?"

"No, you doofus! You could have told me, your BFF!"

"She just did, Aileen," snarked Janine. But I don't get it. You want to be a girl?"

"Duh! I just said that."

"But why? How?"

So I talked to them about how this all happened. I was glad for the time I spent with Doctor Phil so I could put things in some kind of coherent order.

"...so that's why I'm a little hesitant about going to a sleepover," I finished.

"Holy crap! I think we missed the school bus!"

I had gone on quite a while and the normal bus was long gone.

"I guess we take the late bus, then. Anyway, I'd love to come to the slumber party if your folks don't get upset. But that wasn't why I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh joy! You gonna drop another bomb?"

"Nah, I just want to invite you to my birthday party."

"Wow! Party Central! I'm in!" said Aileen.

"Me too," chorused Janine. "That is if we can get me in your house."

"We'll figure it out. Maybe one of my guy friends can carry you over the threshold."

"Now wait a minute!"

"You don't have to say 'I do' before he picks you up, you know."

"Smartass. Is he cute?"

"Don't ask me, I'm more into girls. I think."

"You must be if you want to be one."

"Stop right there! We start talking about that we'll miss the late bus."

"I'm thinking what my parents don't know won't hurt me, Annie," Janine said.

"But it might hurt me if they figure it out at the wrong time. You gotta tell them, OK?"

"OK. I'll let you know."

Chapter 15 - Inviting An Old Friend

Screwing up my courage, I knocked on the front door of a house I knew well.

"Hi Mrs Ellis. Is Craig home?"

"He's in the family room. Come in and I'll show you where to find him."

Naturally I knew where the family room was, but Mrs Ellis obviously didn't recognize the girl in the Ursuline school uniform, bedecked with hair ribbons and earrings, as her son's friend Danny.

"Craig, you have a friend to see you," she said as we came to the family room.

"Cool." A pause. "Danny?'

"Just 'Annie' these days. It's been a while, Craig. I'm sorry I sort of ignored you since I changed schools."

"Holy sh…"

With his mother standing there he quickly squelched his first reaction.

"See - you were right after all. I was turning into a girl."

His poor mother was looking confused.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Ellis. I used to be known as Danny, but I'm transgendered. Now my name is Annie. I used to go to school with Craig but now I'm at the Ursuline academy.

"So that's why I thought you looked familiar. You certainly have some interesting friends, Craig."

"Aww, he… she's not bad once you get used to her. 'Course she dumped her old friends once she got into the fancy rich girl's school."

"I didn't mean to but I've been kinda busy with homework and dance and chorus and the play and such."

"So you're still taking dance classes?"

"Yeah. Irish step dancing these days."

"What the heck is that?"

"Stuff like this." I did a short sequence of steps. "It's really cool when I'm wearing the embroidered dresses that go with it."

"And you like wearing dresses?" he said in amazement.

"I'm getting confused here, children."

"Mom, you remember Dan Loesser, right? From the family that were all crazy actors?"

"Crazy actor may be redundant, though," I said.

"In your case, crazy is descriptive."

"Craig!" His mother had a look that warned him against further comment.

"I am unusual, though, Mrs Ellis. I started out life as a boy but I've come to realize I'm happier as a girl. A lot of people can't understand that, so don't worry if you're confused. It used to confuse me, too."

"This may take some getting used to…"

I was seized with an almost uncontrollable urge to burst into song. Tomorrow! The sun'll come out tomorrow…"

Occupational hazard when you perform in musicals.

"Anyway, I came over to invite Craig to my birthday party. I'd like my old friends to meet some of my new friends."

"Are you serious?" goggled Craig.

"Of course. You get to met some of the other Ursuline girls, dude."

"Well, in that case - sure!"

You might get the impression that Craig was further along the path to puberty than I was. Anyway, I gave them all the details and then hung out with Craig. Playing video games, of course.

Yeah, sure… In the old days Craig wasn't sneaking peeks at my breasts. He may have been an old friend, but I wasn't going to tell him how those bumps got there. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer.

"Dude, you're going to lose if you keep trying to watch my tits. Give it a break, OK?"

"Uh…"

"It's OK, dude. They're kinda new for me, too."

"Uh…"

"It's a little different speculating about someone's tits with the guys in the locker room than with me in your rec room, isn't it?"

"Uh…"

"Did anyone ever compliment you on your sparkling conversation?"

"Cut that out!"

"Oh goodie! I was beginning to think you only knew one word for a minute."

"Don't worry too much, the girls at school speculate about their breasts all the time. Not quite like you guys do, though."

"They do?"

"Sure. Mostly they want bigger boobs to impress the guys."

"Damn!"

"Sort of the girl's version of comparing dicks."

"Uh…"

"Get over it, Craig. I used to be a boy and I haven't forgotten what it was like. I still want to be friends, so get used to the way I am and concentrate on the game, dude."

So we played the video game just like the old days. Just like the old days he beat the skirt off me since I don't play video games much.

That's a metaphorical skirt, don't be crude.

 

So I went on to invite Bobby and Charlie to the party, too. It was a close-run thing with Charlie, his mother wasn't too sure she wanted her son hanging around with a boy-turned-girl, but his Dad wasn't buying it. Funny thing, that - in the stories it's usually the man who's the heavy, but I guess in this liberated age that women can be touchy on the subject as well. In any case, I had my six guests lined up, now all I had to do is hope that the new friends got along with the old friends.

They were all my friends, right? I hoped all of my friends were the type of people who would like each other.