Mason Myles, age forty-two, was doing well in his field of art photography. He’d had some pretty important one-man shows, and in some prestigious galleries. His work sold well, and he was well thought of in the circles where it counted, after twenty-two years in the field.

Mason lived in a nice loft in Lower Manhattan. He was alone and single, and the main reason for this was that he was a cross-dresser. He knew it was an important stress reliever for him, and that stopping it wasn’t an option. He did not want to take the risk to let his girlfriends know about this side of him, so the relationships failed to gain any ground.

Whenever he visited his mother she would ask if he had a girlfriend yet. After the eight thousandth time his mother asked why he hadn’t gotten married yet, he got frustrated, threw caution to the winds and told her exactly why.

“You want to know why? I’ll tell you why, Ma. I’m a cross-dresser, and what woman would be interested in someone like that?”

She sat there, shocked to the bone. Her son? Put on women’s clothes? How could he!

She looked at him and coldly said, “It would be better if you were dead.”

Now Mason was shocked. His own mother. He was simply stunned she could be so cruel.

He stood up and looked at her for a few moments. He knew she didn’t like “perverts,” but he never had considered cross-dressing a perversion. Well, now that he knew where he stood with her, he had to leave with dignity, be the better person. He said, “May God bless you,” and walked out of her apartment, with no intention of ever returning. How could his mother say such a thing to him, her own flesh and blood? What an incredibly hurtful thing to say to anyone, let alone a family member. Would she say the same thing if he was a murderer?? Or would that be more understandable? Gah!!

Once home he sat down and for the first time in years he cried.

-o0o-

The next day he thought about changing his phone number, in the unlikely event she realized her mistake. It was hard to contemplate speaking to her again. Changing the phone probably wasn’t necessary, because what she said, so disdainfully, indicated she really considered this horribly perverted. She tended to be stubborn. She was not going to be changing her mind. No, sadly, this would be the end of their relationship.

-o0o-

Mason continued on his path, and remained successful. He tried not to think of his mother. He was a grown man. Many people his age had parents who were already dead. That wasn’t unusual. But sometimes he just missed her. Yes, she had kept on harping to him about a relationship, but they had been close for many years, which made her pronouncement all the more hurtful.

-o0o-

His mother, Betty, had been seeing a therapist for years, not because she had any intolerable problems, but this was New York, and everybody who was anybody (or considered themselves anybody—and could afford it) had a therapist.

On her next visit, a month later, she brought up this awful development, though she could barely bring herself to say it out loud.

“How did you respond to him?” asked the therapist, Margaret.

“I said, ‘it would be better if you were dead.’”

“That seems rather harsh, for simply wearing different clothes,” said Margaret.

“You think that’s all he’s doing? He must be homosexual. It explains why he’s never had a long-term relationship with a woman!”

“Well there, Betty, I believe you’re jumping to conclusions.”

Margaret then quoted statistics about the percentages of cross-dressers who were homosexual as opposed to the normal male population.

“Is being homosexual your main objection then?”

“Well, no, but it’s a close second. Men should not dress as women. It’s in the bible.”

“There are many things in the bible, and many of them are frequently used as weapons to prove some point or other. And for each of those points there is always another one people conveniently choose to forget, such as stoning an adulterer to death, or the one about not wearing clothing woven of two kinds of material. They seem to be able to forget that women wearing men’s clothing goes against the same passage in Deuteronomy as men wearing women’s clothing.”

She hadn’t thought about that.

“If you’re going to use the bible as the cornerstone for your judgments, you’re going to find yourself in hot water pretty quickly. And the fact that you are wearing slacks today could invite your son to say it would be better if you were dead.”

“No, there’s no comparison between a woman wearing pants and a man wearing a skirt.”

“So you’re now picking and choosing what passage of the bible you choose to acknowledge, as well as condemning all Scotsmen who wear kilts. What would your grandmother have said about a woman wearing pants? Okay, have it your own way, but you may have done irreparable harm to your relationship with your son.”

She harrumphed, but not very confidently.

-o0o-

A few months later Betty had her sister-in-law, Pamela—her late husband’s sister—over for coffee.

Pamela asked how Mason was doing.

“We don’t speak anymore,” said Betty.

“Whyever not? What happened?”

Betty was not keen to tell Pamela the nature of the problem, but she thought maybe she’d get some sympathy from her.

“The fact is that he’s queer.”

“What exactly do you mean, Betty?”

“He told me he’s a cross-dresser!”

“Is that all! That’s nothing to fuss over!”

“Nothing to fuss over?! It’s depraved! It’s in the bible!”

“There’s plenty of claptrap and contradictions in the bible, Betty, even you should realize that.”

Betty had a lot of respect for Pamela, and she was surprised to hear this from her.

“My therapist tried to say the same thing, but I just know that no man would wear women’s clothes unless he was homosexual!”

“Well then, my dear sister-in-law, it may surprise you to learn your late, sainted husband was also a cross-dresser.”

Betty was so shocked she almost choked on her coffee.

“No! That’s not possible!”

“It’s true. I did grow up with him, you know, and many were the doll’s tea parties we had together, with us both wearing dresses. He loved doing that. I know he had to restrict his dressing after he met you, but he told me the desire for it never left him.”

Betty was still in shock, hearing this about the man she loved.

“Yes, he was a very good brother, and I’m sure exploring his feminine side made him a better husband,” said Pamela thoughtfully.

“In any case, you needn’t worry about Mason. Cross-dressing just isn’t a big deal nowadays. What did you say to him when he told you?”

Looking slightly ashamed, Betty told her.

“My god, Betty! How cruel! You have made an extreme error in judgment. I wonder if Mason can ever forgive you.”

This really shook Betty. Pamela wouldn’t say something like that lightly.

Looking thoughtful, Pamela said, “I suppose this must explain why he’s still single. He’s terribly afraid some woman will find this out about him and reject him or try to humiliate him.”

Clearing her throat, Betty said, “Yes, you’re right. This all happened because I asked him again why he was still single. He gave cross-dressing as the reason why, and said what woman would be interested in him knowing that.”

“I know for a fact that there are women who aren’t bothered by cross-dressing at all. The trick is finding one. Poor Mason. He must be so lonely.”

Now Betty was beginning to see this issue from a different perspective.

“But then why doesn’t he just stop doing it?” she asked.

“It’s not really a choice, Betty. A man who cross-dresses does it for a variety of reasons. Some would like to be women, but for many it just relaxes them… stress relief. When they don’t get that relief, they tend to get very unhappy.”

Betty suddenly felt very old.

“I had no idea about any of this. And you say Robert did it too… I hardly know what to think.”

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” quoted Pamela. “I think you owe Mason a huge apology.”

-o0o-

Betty left a phone message for Mason asking him to call her, but it was not returned. She tried again with the same result. The more she thought of it, the more she realized that an apology over the phone was not quite the way to go about things. So she took a cab to Mason’s loft, only to find his name was no longer on the mailbox.

-o0o-

Mason had gotten on with his life, taking pictures, having exhibitions. It happened that an apartment on the Upper East Side which he had always admired became available, and he snapped it up and moved there. There was no reason to inform his mother. He did note that she had left phone messages asking him to call, but what was there to say?

-o0o-

Betty contacted Mason’s agent to ask when and where his next show was, and that evening she made sure she attended the opening. It was at a gallery in Chelsea and she took a cab.

Entering, she located Mason fairly quickly and approached him.

“Excuse me. May I speak with you a moment?”

“I wouldn’t think there was anything for us to speak about, Mrs. Myles,” he said stiffly.”

Betty closed her eyes with a pained expression, knowing she deserved that. But she was made of stern stuff.

“Nevertheless, there is something I would like to tell you.”

Sighing, Mason led her to the gallery owner’s office, closed the door and turned to her.

“Well?”

“I owe you an extreme apology, and I’m not sure how I can make it up to you.”

This was actually the last thing Mason expected to hear from her, and he dialed down his attitude several notches.

“What changed your mind about this, if I may ask.”

“I recently learned that your father had the same inclinations that you do. He was a good man.”

Mason’s eyes popped open, and he started to laugh.

“What’s so funny about that?” she asked.

“Nothing. I was just thinking about that old phrase, ‘like father, like son.’ I had no idea Pop liked dressing.”

“Nor did I, and I doubt he had much opportunity to gratify his urges, for which I am sad.”

“What? You wanted to see him dressed up?”

“No, but from what I understand it can be a stress reliever, and maybe he would have lived longer if he had been able to indulge.”

Mason looked thoughtful at that.

“I do see your point.”

“Can you forgive me, Mason?”

He looked at her. He did miss her.

“Yes, Ma, I can,” and he reached over and gave her a hug.

“I do love you, son, even if I may sometimes have a hard time showing it.”

“Thanks, Ma. I love you too.”

“I’m going to go home now, Mason. You should go back to your admirers.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

“I’m not used to being out this late anymore. I had gone to your loft and saw you had moved out, so this was the only way to find you to apologize in person.”

“Well, I appreciate it. I will call you.”

He walked her to the door and saw her into a cab.

Wow! Talk about unexpected!

-o0o-

Back at home Betty wondered how she could possibly help Mason find a lasting relationship. It wasn’t as if she could advertise for a woman who was fond of cross-dressers. She couldn’t interview younger women for him. She’d just have to keep her eyes and ears open. Her boy deserved some nice young woman!

She and Mason were back in touch now, and he would visit her as before. She hadn’t forgotten her mission to find him a nice woman.

After doing a bit of research, she discovered there was a nearby CD club, or maybe it was an informal group. She telephoned the leader of the group and asked if they ever had women asking if they could meet a crossdresser.

“Heavens no!” he laughed. “This is more of a support group. A chance for people to come dressed up without fear of judgment. Some bring their spouses, but I don’t recall anyone ever asking to use us as a dating service.”

“Would it be possible to ask if any of them know of a woman who might be interested? I’m trying to do my son a favor, so he doesn’t have to be lonely all his life.”

“Well, it’s a little unusual, but I can bring it up at our meeting. Tell me something about your son.”

She told him Mason’s age, height, that he was in the arts, and in good shape, had a sense of humor and was a pretty nice guy.

“I will let this be known, and call you back after the meeting.”

“Thank you so much!” she said.

-o0o-

In a few weeks she did receive a call back from the leader of the support group.

“Believe it or not, when I announced your message there were three women who had friends who they thought might be open to dating a cross-dresser. I was very surprised. They have been given your contact details and you should be hearing from them.”

“Thank you so much for helping me,” Betty said.

When each of the women contacted her she invited them for lunch, to see if she approved of them. The second of these three impressed her as being perfect for Mason, and she hoped he would agree. Her idea was to get to know the young lady, and then innocently have Mason over with the two of them.

She had this second woman, Patty, over several times, getting to know her. The more time she spent with Patty the more she thought her idea could work, and that Mason would really like her.

Patty was made aware of the reasons behind all this, and that it was important that Mason didn’t know. Who wants their mother orchestrating their love life? Patty was just a few years younger than Mason, and had grown up with a younger brother she used to dress up, and she missed him. He had passed away ten years before. But she was wondering how the subject could be broached between her and Mason. She finally decided that if she and Mason hit it off, once they got cozy enough to visit each other’s houses she would have him over and bring out some pictures of her with her “sister.” Then she could naturally explain how much she loved her brother who had started dressing as a child.

-o0o-

Betty had the two of them over for brunch one sunny Sunday.

Mason was not exactly ambushed by this, because trying to set him on blind dates was never something his mother had subjected him to, so the idea she would set him up had never occurred to him.

“Mason, I’d like you to meet my friend, Patty. She’s in my book club. Patty, Mason.”

They shook hands, and Patty looked him over, trying to imagine what sort of woman Mason would make. She could see possibilities.

Betty could tell instantly that there was an attraction between the two. They just seemed to click, and had the same kind of humor, and that really made her happy. It was all up to Patty and Mason now.

-o0o-

They got along so well that Patty was able to put her plan into effect on their fifth date, when she invited Mason to her apartment for a dinner she prepared. Afterward, when they were talking on the sofa, she pulled over the photo album that just happened to be on the coffee table, and started showing him pictures of herself as a little girl. Some were with her brother, and some with her ‘sister.’

“Who’s the other little girl?” Mason asked. “I thought you said you only had a brother.”

“She is my brother! He loved dressing up, and we would play together. I really miss that.”

Mason’s brain froze. Could this really be happening? After all these years a woman who would be good with this side of him? Is this the point where he should say, ‘Oh really? By the way I like to dress up too.’? That didn’t seem quite right. Instead, he said, “I think it’s great that he was allowed to express himself like that.”

“Really? It doesn’t bother you, seeing a boy in girls clothing?”

“No, I can honestly say it doesn’t. Who knows? If I had had a sister maybe the same thing would have happened to me.”

“Well Mason, I’m glad you’re not against the idea. Ever since those days I’ve always had an empathy for males who like to dress up.”

Okay, she had made the best opening she could.

Mason really wanted to admit his dressing to her right then and there. But, come on, it was only their fifth date. Yes, they were getting along very well, but… it would be really hard to say it to her… out loud.

Patty could tell he was in a sort of turmoil. She put her arm around him, and she whispered, “You like to do it too, don’t you. I think I can tell.”

His face went pale, looking straight ahead. It was hard, but he forced himself to nod yes.

“I have no problem at all with that, Mason. I think it’s sad that men have to get so twisted up about something so simple.”

He finally found his voice. “You don’t know how long I’ve wished to meet someone like you.”

She smiled. “Here I am.”

She would never tell him the reason they had ended up meeting. Betty had sworn her to secrecy, and she was happy to keep that secret.

The End.

.
This was inspired by a story Nathan Lane told about his mother. I was stunned any mother could say such a thing to their child. So it was surprising when he added that she later became his biggest supporter.