"I’m not surprised," her Mom laughed.
"Anyhow, peeking through a crack in the door-which means I heard more than I saw-was scarier than it had to be. So, we didn’t leave Amber out there to get scared." I took a breath. "We invited her in."
"Ah," Mom said. "How was she?"
"Fine," I said.
"Probably too fine," Mike said with a chuckle. "I was actually afraid she was going to go try to lose her virginity more or less today. But we talked with her afterwards and she realizes she’s too young."
"Oh," Mom said. "So, you’re telling me she got turned on."
"I think she was more turned on than I was, and I was the one getting nailed," I laughed-to her credit, Mom broke up herself. "Look, we were trying to teach her what was natural, right, and I didn’t want her to get scared. So, when she came in, I told her that if what she was watching made her want to play with herself, she should go for it."
"I take it she did," Mom smiled.
"With a vengeance," Mike laughed.
"That’s fine, I expected this to happen after yesterday. But you didn’t scare her?" Mom asked.
"Nope, we warned her it might be scary. I told her that it might look and sound like I was being hurt, but that wasn’t the case. She didn’t seem scared at all. Dumbfounded, but not scared," I said.
Mom laughed and said, "I’ll have to talk with her, but that’s fine-I just want to make sure she realizes she’s too small for that right now."
"She does," I said. "Though she did express interest in trying Act One."
"Act one?" Mom asked.
"Oral," I admitted.
"Well, I think she’d have a little trouble getting one of those in her mouth right now, too." Mom smiled.
Oh, Jesus. All I could do was laugh and blush. "Uh, no, Mrs. Woodard, not that," Mike said. "Other way around."
Mom just looked at him, and burst out laughing. "Yeah, I can see that. If I had ever seen that demonstrated, I would’ve tried that one a lot earlier myself."
I couldn’t stop laughing and blushing. Mom really was cool. "Believe me, I would’ve tried it before Thursday if I had ever known."
"Lots of guys won’t do that," Mom said.
"Don’t I know it," I agreed.
"I’m a man of many talents," Mike said smugly.
Mom looked at him and grinned. "You don’t lack confidence, do you?"
Mike let out a snort of laughter. "If I lacked confidence, how long, exactly, do you think I’d last with your daughter before she ran me over like a steamroller?"
"Good point," Mom laughed. I just rolled my eyes at him.
Just then Amber came running downstairs. She saw us, and started grinning and blushing. Then saw Mom and tried to cover it.
"Don’t worry, Amber, they told me." Amber really blushed at that one. "It’s fine, though you shouldn’t be spying, you know that. But the rest of it was fine. We’ll talk about it later."
I got an idea, and whispered into Mike’s ear. He grinned and nodded, and said, "Hey, Amber. Were you going to the carnival at the high school tonight?"
"We were discussing whether or not I would take her," Mom said.
"You can go with us," Mike said.
"REALLY?" Amber lit up like a Christmas tree.
"Sure," I said. "Just be warned, though, it’s a school function and the week’s not over, so Mike and I have to go naked."
"I don’t mind," Amber blushed.
"Good, then," Mike said. "We have something else to do this afternoon, but we’ll be back to pick you up about four."
"OK," she grinned.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX MIKEAfter that very interesting beginning to the day, we headed over to my place.
Did I mind about Amber watching? No, actually, I didn’t. It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but I think Amber got a lot out of it. And she really was a good kid. Though, somehow, I had a strange feeling that the details of our performance were going to be all over the sixth grade in no time at all!
Anyhow, we headed over to my place. Mom and Marina were still setting up and cooking and stuff, so we pitched in and helped. Eddie arrived soon after we did.
"Well, as soon as Amanda and Jared show up, the entire token heterosexual contingent will be here, and we can get this show on the road," Ed teased my Mom.
"There might be a few more around." Mom teased back. "Maybe we can even find a girl for you."
"Ellie, your potato salad is enough of a miracle for one day," Ed said.
"Flatterer." She looked at Lily. "Have you figured out yet that Eddie was named correctly? His surname should be Haskell, not Bauer."
"And you sure are looking very nice today, Mrs. Cleaver," Ed deadpanned.
Lily turned to me, grinning, and said, "Ward, I’m worried about the Beaver."
"Yeah, I was worried about the beaver, too," Ed said. "Yesterday. When you slid into home." It took us a minute, but we howled-Lily most of all.
"Ed Bauer, you’re a reprobate," Mom said through giggles.
"All part of my wit and charm, Ellie, all part of my wit and charm." He kissed her on the cheek and reached for a plate of stuff. "This go on the picnic table?"
"Yes. Go. Quickly," Mom laughed. Mom and Ed, just in case you couldn’t tell, adore one another.
We helped Mom and Marina finish up, and then people started showing up. I introduced Lily around. We met up with Jared, Amanda, and Allie.
"I know more people here than I thought I did," Lily told me.
"Yeah. You know Lisa Sherrick?"
"Yeah," she answered, "but who is that girl standing next to her?"
"The tall blonde in the green dress?" She nodded. "That’s one of the people I want you to meet. Look closer."
"She looks like she could be Steven Dunn’s sister."
"Steve doesn’t have a sister."
She looked again, and her eyes got wide. "Wait a minute-is that Steve?"
"Yes," I chuckled. "Though sie prefers Stef, or Stephie, when sie’s dressed like that."
"’Sie’?" she asked.
"Sie. S-I-E. That, along with hir-H-I-R-are gender neutral pronouns. Often used in the transgender community."
"So Stev-I mean, Stef, is a transsexual?" Lily asked.
"No. Stef’s transgendered. There’s a difference." I grabbed her hand. "Come on, I’ll introduce you. Stef’s cool, and doesn’t mind being questioned about this. Only a few people know about Stef. "
I brought her over to introduce her. Allie-very interested-tagged along.
"Hey, gorgeous," I said, kissing hir on the cheek.
"Mikey!" Sie said. Stef had really done a great job on hir voice-sie had been working on that for some time.
I introduced Stef to Lily and Allie. "I think Lily is burning up with curiosity."
"Great," Stef said. We went and found a table to sit at. "Ask away."
"Well, Mikey said you’re transgendered but not transsexual. I don’t understand the difference," Lily began.
"OK. Transsexuals believe that their gender is the exact opposite of the one they were born into. A male to female TS considers hirself to be all female. A TG doesn’t necessarily believe that. I’m somewhere in the middle. Because of this, TSs take medical steps to completely change their physical sex. I’m not planning that."
"What kind of physical steps?"
"Well, the sex-change operation, for one. Also, hormones. Even if you don’t want to change your genitals, many TGs go on hormones. That will give you breast growth, a more feminine shape, and you’d lose your body hair. Unfortunately, it also makes what’s between your legs somewhat useless. I had laser hair removal to take off my body hair-and electrolysis on my face-and I’ve been wearing corsets since I was 13, which is why I have a reasonable facsimile of a waist and an ass. These," Stef waved at her bust, "are falsies. I could get implants, which I might at some point, but only when I’m ready to come completely out of the closet about this. But I have no intention of getting a sex change."