Everybody Knows by Giselle Renarde

Author:Giselle Renarde
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: love, anthology, dating, relationships, lgbt, short stories, genderqueer, transgender, gay and lesbian, gender identity
Publisher: Giselle Renarde

-9-

Bertie and the Vamp

“Fuckin’ trannies.”

Sophie was looking straight at the girls when they said it, but that obviously didn’t dissuade them. In fact, amidst their collective giggles, they said it again. “Look at those fuckin’ trannies!”

“Did you hear that?” Neil asked, far too loudly. “Did you hear those black girls?”

Sophie smacked his leg. “Don’t say black girls!”

“Did you hear what they said?”

“I heard it,” she hissed. “Just shut up.”

Neil wouldn’t let anything pass peacefully. He rose from his subway seat, gave his white skirt a ruffle, and tramped toward the snickering black girls. Damn it! Now Sophie was thinking like him. She gave her head a shake as her husband approached the group.

“Did you call my wife and I trannies?”

Their expressions fell, and the chubby girl let out a solitary cackle. A skinny girl looked him up and down, and sucked her teeth. “Man, if you don’t want people calling you out, why’re you wearing a dress?”

“Freak!” coughed the one with the designer handbag.

The chubby girl said, “Halloween ain’t til October. What’s Beanstalk over there doin’ in a vampire get-up?”

“I’ll Beanstalk you, you fat fuck,” Sophie muttered.

I’ll Beanstalk you? What does that even mean?

“For your information…” Neil unzipped his purse and struggled with the Xeroxed event flyers. “My wife and I are on our way to the GNUGAWA championships.”

“We’re big fans,” Sophie added, though she didn’t want to get involved.

“What the heck is a GNU…GA…WA?”

“We pronounce the acronym NUGAWA,” Neil said. “The first G is silent. It stands for Gender Nonconforming UnderGround Arm Wrestling Association.”

The girls appeared dazed but unimpressed.

“You’re arm wrestlers?” the chubby one asked.

Sophie laughed. “No, no, no. Not us. It’s really more a spectator sport. When it comes to the championships, we always dress up like our favourite arm wrestler as a show of support.”

The skinny girl looked at Neil’s hairy legs and grimaced. “Who the hell are you supposed to be?”

He adjusted the purse strap on his shoulder. “This year I’m rooting for Bertie Lass, self-proclaimed gender-bender, and a vision in white lace. I tried to grow the beard in for tonight, but…” Neil scratched his blond stubble. “It’ll never be as full as Bertie’s.”

The girls furrowed their brows and looked at the event flyers. They didn’t seem to know what to say. Who could blame then?

“I’m dressed as The Vamp,” Sophie said, to fill the silence. She ran her hands across her red velvet gown. “I like her because she’s mysterious. She’s not forthcoming about her past or…well, anything, really. She wears white face paint and thick black eye makeup. My husband thinks she really is a vampire.”

“She could be,” he said. “More things in heaven and earth, Horatio…”

Sophie rolled her eyes, but smiled. “Yes, dear.”

As the subway pulled into the next station stop, the group of girls popped up from their seats one by one, like plastic puppets in a whack-a-mole game. In zombified silence, they wandered to the doors. They were obviously weirded out by Sophie and Neil. But, then, who wouldn’t be?

When Sophie glanced around the car, she noticed other people staring at them.

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