Crossing The Line Chapter 13 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 Angharad

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(title picture Andrea Piacquadio)

“Crikey!” exclaimed Dave as he saw the number of packages and bags the girls had accumulated. “Is there anything left to buy in this town?” he asked jocularly.

“Nothing worth having,” answered Maddy.

“I can believe that,” said Dave, knowing his niece of old.

“We got this for you,” said Jules, passing a bag to Dave. His eyes lit up when he saw it.

“Wow,” he said, “I’ve been looking for one of these for ages.” He showed Drew the ‘bum bag’. “Look it’s got two or three pockets plus a place for a drink bottle.”

“Erm…..yeah, it’s like, erm….lovely,” said Drew, “but you don’t ride a bike much.”

“They might have been invented for cyclists, but in my case, I can use it for carrying a few things and have my hands free to catch you falling off your bike.” Dave said this very seriously to Drew, who looked completely at sea.

“But I don’t fall off…that often, do I?” He scanned the other faces and they all seemed very serious, then he looked at Jules again, and her mouth creased a little at the corner. This became a snigger, then a half successful attempt to stop a giggle. The infection spread to Maddy, who began to giggle despite her best attempts to suppress it.

In moments everyone was laughing, including Drew. “You horrible lot,” he said, pretending to slap his father on the shoulder.

Dave pretended it had hurt and winced, rubbing his shoulder. “Hey watch it girl, you don’t know your own strength.” He continued rubbing his shoulder.

Drew stood open mouthed. “But I only tapped….” Once again, Dave began to chuckle. “You…you…big….” said Drew, almost speechless with laughter himself.

“Is this man annoying you?” said a very masculine voice, Drew nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun around to see PC Martin behind him. There were more laughs. When it calmed down again, Ben said, “Bat girl, we tried the bat phone and the bat radio, but we couldn’t get hold of you.”

Drew just laughed, he pulled out his mobile, “No one has tried to call me.”

“Ah,” said Ben, “we must have forgotten the bat mobile. Batmobile? Get it?” Oh well!” Only Dave was old enough to recall the description of Batman’s car as the batmobile. It washed straight over Drew’s head. “Never mind. We have been trying to get hold of you. They’d like you to call by the station again, there’s been a development in the case.”

A stunned silence fell upon the extended family. Then after a pause, Dave said, “Look, I have to collect my car, I’ll bring her down in about an hour. Is that okay.”

“I’m sure that’s fine,” said Ben.

“How did you find me?” asked Drew.

“We traced the garage doing the repairs, we also saw Mrs Peter’s car enter Dorchester on CCTV. So we knew you were somewhere in town. There’s three of us looking for you.”

“So what’s happened?” asked Dave, can’t you give us a clue?”

“Sorry, you’ll have to call by the station. I’ll let ‘em know you’re coming,” Ben said his goodbyes and left.

“Oh that’s just great!” said Dave. “We just find it’s safe to walk about again and then they want us at the station for something.”

“It could have been worse dear,” offered Jenny. “At least it was the police who found us, not that horrible Meadows man.”

“Okay!” conceded Dave. “Right, I’ll go and get the car and take Gaby to the cop shop. What are the rest of you going to do?”

“If you think I’m not coming as well David Bond, then you have another think coming,” said Jenny. “Gaby is my child too.”

“I was trying to save you the bother, that’s all,” said Dave apologetically.

“What about Jules?” asked Drew, “You coming with us Ju, or you going with Mad and Auntie Carol?”

“Dunno. I like, feel I’d like to come with you lot, but I guess, I’d like, be in the way.”

“Nonsense luvvy, you come with us if you want,” said Jenny.

“Alright then,” said Jules, and held her mother’s arm.

“Right, well we’ll go back to the cottage and start the evening meal. I’m only doing cottage pie, so no rush. Phone if you’re going to be late,” said Carol, being very practical. With that, Maddy and her mother set off for their car and the others went off to collect the repaired VW.

“What do you reckon has happened?” asked Jenny to Dave as they walked down the Grove, past County Hall, towards the VW garage.

“I don’t know. I really don’t.” Dave paused and looking at Drew, asked, “Is there anything you haven’t told us?”

Drew, who was a bundle of nerves in case the crossbow had been mentioned, blushed profusely, and shook his head. He knew he was lying, and so did all the others.

“Are you sure?” asked Dave, knowing he was holding back something. They stopped and Dave stood face to face with Drew. He placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Are you sure?” he asked again. Drew couldn’t look him in the face, and began to cry. Dave, pulled him close and hugging him said, “There is something isn’t there?” He spoke very quietly, so quietly that Jenny and Jules could only just hear him. “Look Gaby, if you aren’t completely straight with me, how can I help you?”

At this, Drew dissolved into tears. It was some minutes before he could calm himself enough to speak. “We…..” he sobbed, “we… had a ccc…crossbow.”

“I see,” said Dave matter of factly, “anything else?” he was still hugging Drew, and speaking very quietly.

“I hit the gunman with it,” sobbed Drew.

“What you shot him with it, or physically hit him with the bow itself?” asked Dave trying to be absolutely sure of the story, so he could help his child as best he might, if that was what the police wanted to talk about.

“I bashed him with the bow,” sobbed Drew, “I thought they were going to hurt us.” He sobbed some more, “What, will they do to me?”

“Hey, I thought you were a regular super hero…ine.” said Dave, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Drew laughed for a moment, then began to cry again. “Okay kiddo, I don’t know what they want, so I don’t know what they are going to say. All I do know, is that we are all here for you, and while I’m here, no one is going to do anything to you. I’m sure your mother feels the same.”

“Of course, I do,” said Jenny supportively.

“And me, too,” piped Jules.

“Here, stay with your mum, I’ll go and get the car and collect you on the way back.” Dave relinquished his hug and handed Drew to Jenny and Jules, who immediately began a group hug. Dave trotted off to the garage, wiping his eyes as he ran, not sure what he felt about anything anymore. Life was just too complicated, despite his attempts to maintain a semblance of order, the universe seemed intent on creating chaos.

Some ten or fifteen minutes later, he was stopping the car to collect the rest of his family, and twenty five after that, he was parking the car at the police headquarters.

A little while later, they were all sat in an interview room with the big detective sergeant and a police woman. Drew was terrified, and was squeezing his father’s hand tightly. “I’m not sure how to put this,” said the detective, “but it appears you haven’t been entirely honest with us.” As he said this, Drew nearly fainted.

“What do you mean?” asked Dave, trying to buffer the oncoming attack, as he saw it.

“Who is Gaby Bond, because officially, Mr and Mrs Bond, we understand you have a daughter Juliette and a son Andrew. So who is Gaby?”

There was total silence in the room, as Dave and Jenny looked at each other. Drew felt stunned and looked at Jules.

“I’m waiting, Mr and Mrs Bond.” said the sergeant.

Drew however, seized the initiative. “You’re right, I’m a boy.” He looked at the floor as he spoke. Realising how his parents could look in the eyes of the police, he continued, “I’m a girl inside really, and the others allow me to be myself.”

“You’re transgendered, or whatever they call it?” said the sergeant.

“Yes. Please don’t tell anyone,” said Drew, and began to sob on his father’s shoulder.

The sergeant shook his head. “I don’t care what your records say, as far as I’m concerned, you’re a girl. A pretty one too.”

“Does this affect anything?” asked Jenny, her heart beating noisily in her chest.

“Not really,” said the sergeant, “But it was an anomaly which needed sorting. It’s sorted. The court won’t worry about it and might never need to know.”

“I hope this will remain confidential,” said Jenny, as Dave hugged the still distraught Drew.

“Of course,” the sergeant held open the door for them, as Drew went to leave, the sergeant held out his hand, “Well young lady, you’re even braver than I previously thought. I think you made the right decision, good luck.” Drew shook his hand gently and thanked him. Jenny and Dave did the same.

They all went back to the car without talking, each trying to take on board what this now meant to each of them and to Drew in particular. “I’ve blown it, now,” thought Drew to himself, “It’s official now. What am I going to do when I get home? They’ll crucify me!”

Apart from the obvious questions which he’d been working through, Dave wondered what would happen if the defence team got hold of this information? It could cause real problems, especially if it became public. Jenny was thinking something similar, and how they could best protect Gaby? The drive back to the cottage was very subdued.

Dave stopped the car suddenly, after pulling into a lay by. “I’m sorry, but I think we need to talk some things over.”

“Alright,” said Jenny, “But why can’t it wait until we get back to the cottage?”

“Because, I’d like to do it now, with just the four of us,” replied Dave to her question. Drew sat looking out the window, watching the traffic going past, feeling detached from the rest of the world. He knew what was coming, after all, he’d created the situation. He could have said, he was Drew’s cousin, but that would have been making the deceit greater and the consequences also larger and more serious. It was an honest thing he’d done, dumb maybe, brave – unquestionably, but dumb. The problem was, which dumb thing did they want to talk about? He was pretty sure he knew.

Jules who was sitting in the back of the car with Drew, clasped his hand and squeezed. At times there was the usual sibling rivalry, but at this moment her brother or sister, was in a spot and she’d do all she could to help. She might want to kill him later, but for now he needed her support. Drew felt his hand grasped gently and felt the fingers of his sisters hand slowly and tenderly compress his own. The emotion rose within him, and he continued to gaze out through the car window, but with eyes that were now blurred with tears.

“Gaby,” said Dave, “I’d like to ask you a question, a simple yes or no, is all I require as an answer. Is that okay with you?”

Drew nodded rather than spoke. Dave watched him in his rear view mirror, while Jenny was turned around within the car, looking through the space between the backs of the front seats. It wasn’t, in her mind, the best place to talk, especially about such serious things.

“That, wasn’t the question, by the way,” said Dave, his voice smiling in tone, heavily disguising his real feelings, but perhaps showing his slight embarrassment. “It’s this. Were you serious? What you said to the police, was it the truth? Do you really want to be a girl?”

“That’s several questions!” said Jenny, in an accusatorial tone to her husband. “You’re confusing the poor girl.”

Drew was now sitting slumped against the window, avoiding eye contact with anyone while tears ran freely down his cheeks, the rivulets causing a wet patch to form on his skirt. He didn’t know what to say, correction, he did know, but he didn’t know if he could actually say it. The answer was…he sobbed, loudly and Jenny got out of the car, opened the rear door and switched places with Jules. She cuddled Drew, who seemed very upset again. She fired a look full of daggers at Dave, who shrugged his shoulders and said, “I needed to know.” Then muttered something inaudible under his breath.

“Take us back to the cottage please,” said Jenny, coldly.

“I only wanted to… Damn! Why do I bloody bother?” said Dave starting up the engine again. “I only...”

“Cottage, now Dave,” instructed Jenny again, while she cuddled Drew on the back seat. Drew felt glad to have his mother with him again. He wasn’t sure what he thought about his father, but he didn’t want them to quarrel. He needed both of them, he loved both of them. He also knew that they loved him. That was the problem, their love was what was upsetting him. They had missed what he felt they should have known about him, or they appeared to have. His father should never have needed to ask that question. The posing of it, had upset him.

They drove the rest of the way without any conversation at all. Jules thought once or twice to say something to her dad, but decided that holding her tongue was the wisest course. They pulled into the drive, and as soon as Dave had stopped the car, Jenny got out, ran around the car and helped Drew out. She placed her arm around him and marched him onto the house. He disengaged himself from her and went up to his bedroom.

Carol and Maddy came to enquire how things had gone, when they saw Drew fly up the stairs and the door shut noisily. Carol looked questioningly at Jenny. “I’ll tell you in a bit. Can I cadge a cuppa and I think Dave might want one more than I do.” Maddy, puzzled by the situation she had witnessed, went back into the kitchen and switched on the kettle. Five minutes later, she had made a pot of strong tea.

She took two cups to Carol and Jenny, who were sat in the dining room. She poured two more cups and took one to Jules in the lounge, and the other to Dave who was still sat in his car. He seemed to be talking to himself and occasionally pounding his fist on the edge of the steering wheel. Maddy felt a little perturbed by his behaviour. Normally, he was the quietest, gentlest man she knew. So calm, and sensitive to other people, she knew that Drew had inherited this quality from his dad.

Maddy walked along the car until she could be seen by Dave. He looked as if he’d been crying. He accepted the cup with a mumbled thanks. Maddy quickly walked back to the kitchen and poured herself a cup then she poured one for Drew. She wanted to know what had happened. She could have asked Jules, but she preferred to get it from Gaby. Why speak to the monkey, when you know the organ grinder?

She walked carefully up the stairs, bearing the two mugs of tea. Stopping outside Drew’s room, she tapped the door with her foot, then manoeuvred her elbow against the brass handle and pushed it down, trying to maintain the balance of the two mugs as she did so. The door catch clicked and she pushed with her foot, and the door opened. “I’ve brought you a cup of tea, Gabs. Thought you might need one.”

Drew was lying face down on the bed, his face pushed deep into the pillow. He grunted something back to her, then went back to his crying. She didn’t hear what he said, but she assumed it was neither welcoming nor complimentary. “That’s a nice way to greet your favourite cousin,” she exclaimed, trying to make a joke of it. Drew mumbled something which sounded as if it had two words, the second sounded remarkably like, ‘off’. But if nothing else, Maddy was blessed with a strong streak of persistence. No matter what he said or did, she was more determined than he was. He could beat her on a bike, but all other ways, she was stronger. It was simply a matter of time. He would tell her eventually, what she wanted to know. Of that she had no doubt, it was more a question of was it quicker to talk to him or Jules. The latter would be more expedient.

She placed his tea near his bed and went downstairs again. “What happened at the police station?” Maddy asked Jules.

“Not a lot. The cops knew about Gaby.”

“Knew what?” asked Maddy, wondering a dozen things at once.

“Knew that Mum and Dad had a girl and a boy.”

“Oh!” said Maddy. “How did they find that out?”

“Dunno, ‘spose they checked records ‘n things.”

“Oh yeah, course. What happened then?”

“Gabs said, “I’m a girl in a boy’s body.” Or something like that.”

“Oh!” said Maddy, “that’s interesting. Did she mean it?”

“How should I know? Dad asked her on the way home, and she wouldn’t answer. Mum went for him, and it’s been happy families ever since.”

“Interesting,” said Maddy.