Hi mom,” Loretta said opening the door.
Loretta had Rupert dress early sending him out in a pair of her shorts to cover the diaper. He wore it under his own tee shirt to walk around the neighborhood till he got her text message telling him it was okay to return. At first Rupert thought he was stepping into a skirt till he realized it was shorts under a front fold of fabric.
Loretta had chosen the skort on purpose pushing the boundaries a little to see how Rupert would react to the feminine side of women’s shorts covered with a fabric panel that resembled a skirt. She’d acted harried, as if panicked, appearing grab something without too much thought due to her mother’s imminent arrival. It was to see how quickly Rupert might accept his feminine attire. She was also hoping it would prove beneficial when she introduced Rupert to her mother.
“HI MOM? How about starting with ‘I can explain’,” Rosaline said moving pass Loretta into the house with her purse and overnight bag. From the curb a cab was pulling away. Not seeing a rental was disturbing for some unknown reason as Loretta turned back towards her mother.
“I’m going to make tea.”
“I’d like that.”
“Why didn’t you guys touch me. Right after I pushed? I felt you, grandma and great grandma in the parking lot so I knew that you knew something already, and it was kind of an emergency. I could have used you guys about then. Since then it’s been just me and the boy. Loretta said as she took her mother’s luggage and sat it out of the way to lead her mother into the kitchen.
“We needed to know what happened and there wasn’t enough information from watching you in the lot.”
“Well, just so you know, it was an accident.”
“Accident or not? We should have been your first call and we didn’t get one,” Rosaline said. “We did get a call from James Diamond, or at least my mother and your grandmother’s CIA contact called them. In fact, he called within five minutes of your push. Your grandmother had to tell him we were looking into it. He said he’d wait, but he’s not going to wait for very long you know.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” Loretta said. “Mom, it all happened so damn fast. I had a terrible migraine, the worse I’ve had in years. I was going in for aspirin. I wasn’t paying attention and this boy fell into me and I simply pushed on him. Pushed him hard. Too hard, and he wet himself.”
“Is he hurt,” Rosaline asked.
“No thank the stars. Mostly I just ended up releasing a lot of hormones, and he’s got about six more days of it. He’s in diapers. I got a package of them and brought him home so he could recover. I actually told him what had happened and why. I told him believing I was going to do a wipe, but then decided against it,” Loretta said.
“Why’d you decide against it,” Rosaline asked.
“First because it was my fault. He fell back against me and I pushed him. Secondly, because he’s a college student and he’d lose his entire first couple of years if we wipe him. Finally, I believe he’s smart enough to become useful to me, Loretta said. “As maybe a Familiar.”
“A Familiar,” Rosaline asked and then said, “am I missing something? Did you skip a couple of paragraphs?”
“I know what I said, and I know what you’re going to say,” Loretta said.
“You think,” Rosaline noted with a huge amount of sarcasm.
“Mom, it’s the second millennium,” Loretta noted before adding, “there is precedence for this sort of thing almost daily.”
“For this, not for us. We’re witches,” Rosaline said. “We don’t do ground breaking honey! We do tradition and there is a reason for that! We do things that have been handed down from mother to daughter for generations. And if that argument is not convincing enough might I remind you, if you’ve been away for too long a time, that our family is still part of America’s Intelligence Service! They don’t like do precedence either! They do established!”
“Mom, he’s got a good head on his shoulders and I actually think he can make it that way, and the bottom line is I like him.” Loretta said.
“You like him,” Rosaline repeated.
“I really like him.” Loretta said and then added, “and he’s damn cute and I haven’t been with a man in a long time and this one I could spend a little time with.”
“Well not if you’re going to go changing all that,” Rosaline said.
“But that’s the beauty of this mom,” Loretta said and then added, “I can declare him, but not tear him if you know what I mean?”
“Actually I don’t.”
“It’s in our own bi-laws. It goes back centuries. There are effeminate males born to us throughout our history. Our kind has dealt with this kind of man before. We’ve accepted that some men are born more feminine than masculine in spite of the obvious evidence that they are male. And we’ve accepted them as female without altering them. It’s not too unlike American Indian traditionalists.”
“I’ve heard the arguments,” Rosaline said. “And while it all sounds wonderful as you put lipstick on him while the rest of us sing kombywa and welcome him into our closets you’ve got CIA still insisting on a wipe?”
“But mother, the CIA can’t insist.”
“Really? And you know this how?”
“Mother, I’ve read the contract we’ve signed, the one you signed for me when I was a girl. Unless it’s changed, they can’t insist. You can, You’re my materfamilias! You and only you can.” Loretta says.
“No, that is still your great grandmother’s title. Only she can lay claim to female head of our family.” Rosaline said. “I can only claim to be your matriarch and only if you have a child. That has not happened yet.”
“Still mother, the CIA cannot insist unless you step aside and allow it, and since I’ve taken care of the problem already or can with your permission, there is no violation. Yes, granted, there was an incident, but no, there was no breach and our family is taking care of it.” Loretta said.
“When were WE taking care of it,” Rosaline asked.
“Mother, this conversation we are having at this very moment is US taking care of it,” Loretta said with a smirk.
“When did you get to be so damn smart,” Rosaline mumbled shaking her head.
“Mom, the real issue is, will you sanction my choice to having this young man become my familiar,” Loretta asked.
“Will he be willing to declare himself female gaining all the rights and privileges granted to him by doing so,” Rosaline said and added, “under oath.”
“Yes,” Loretta said. “Maybe?”
“So if I understand this, that’s a definite, kind of, and I hope so,” Rosaline asked.
“Yes! I mean God I hope so,” Loretta said.
“You don’t sound at all confident,” Rosaline said.
“Will you at least let me try,” Loretta asked.
“Yes,” Rosaline said.
“Thank you,” Loretta said moving the couple of feet it took to hug her.
“At the risk of being wiped yourself if he fails,” Rosaline warned.
“At the risk of being wiped myself if he fails,” Loretta said.
“So when do you think he will be ready to take the oath,” Rosaline asked.
“I have no idea,” Loretta said and then added, “he actually hasn’t been told about any of this yet.”
“So he’s got no clue what you’ve planned for him,” Rosaline asked.
“None,” Loretta said. “But he knows what happens if you or the CIA don’t like him. So aside from that other part, he knows the downside. Now all I’ve got to do is convince him that becoming a girl and having a relationship with me is actually the upside.”
“My work here is done,” Rosaline said.
“How long do I have?”
“Till the CIA tells us your time is up!”