Tea and Transition by Nicola Chase

Author:Nicola Chase
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dating, lgbt, new york city, transgender, british tea, bruce jenner, laverne cox
Publisher: Nicola Chase

Chapter 27

Old Friends, New Me

ANOTHER REASON FOR this trip back to Blighty was to do the rounds and visit some old family friends. My past re-introductions had been in New York and Asia, and although they had all gone well, Brits are renowned as a more reserved bunch. Now it was time to start spreading the word on home turf. I would not be doing this alone as I had my special ally who would be holding my hand throughout: Mum.

For more years than I can remember, our family used to head up to the English Lake District for summer holidays. My mother was always a part, sometimes my sister, and occasionally extended family or close friends. It was a place of sanctuary that Mum, Sue and I found ourselves drawn to after my father died. It has never lost that touchstone significance, and in fact Sue now lives there. The holidays comprised a week, or two, or occasionally three, usually in June or July, back in the untroubled days of youth when all summers were long, hot, and forever sunny. This was the Lake District, however, so they were usually cold and wet—especially in the middle of summer. Right through my late 20s, a summer would never go by that didn’t involve some time up there. The valley we stayed in has always been a special place, the valley dwellers even more so. And now it was time that old friends there were brought into my new loop.

In the same way that she guided me from crawling to walking, from a baby to a boy, Mum would be there for me again. We were going to do this together. She had pre-warned people by email to say that we were coming for a visit and that I was now Nicky. So they knew what to anticipate, even if they didn’t know what to expect.

First there was the baker, then the engine driver’s wife. Just like I had told friends in New York, I stated that it was OK to stare at me for the first time; there was a lot to take in, after all. I noticed a few inquisitive glances from the baker as we sat around her kitchen table, but both seemed to accept me without much issue. Tea was also consumed in both homes, though one brew was definitely on the weak side.

“There’s actually a transgender person in the village,” the engine driver’s wife noted, “so it’s not so strange a concept, even here.”

Even here was a pertinent point. These are small rural communities where word travels fast, and gossip even faster. I had imagined that the jungle drums would be beating as soon as the latch on the first farm door dropped, but maybe my revelations weren’t as eye-opening as I had expected. It was remarkable to think that in these most traditional of farming villages, being transgendered wasn’t so strange after all.

Those first two meetings had gone well, but the couple that I was most nervous about re-meeting was the former garage owners.

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