How old were you. When you knew, I mean.
Oh very young. Four or five. It’s one of my earliest memories, in fact. I might not have known the word for it then. But I knew what I was, even at that age.
Your parents. How did they feel about it.
Well I don’t think they knew what to do with me, really. They’re classic suburban types, you know. Middle class. Picket fence. Church on Sunday. Their answer to most things they find upsetting is to close their eyes. Hope it all goes away.
It doesn’t of course.
No. It doesn’t.
No siblings?
No. I’m an only child.
What about school? Did you get along well with the other girls?
On the surface, at least. In high school, there were a few girls who gave me a hard time. I figured most likely they were that way themselves.
And how about the boys. What were they like.
Oh, the boys knew, of course. Some found it intriguing. Saw it as sort of a challenge, I think.
Alright, now I have to ask.
I expected you would.
You were married once?
Mickey and I met at a bar in midtown. The Changing Room, real hole-in-the-wall. I was twenty-three.
In your bio, I read it wasn’t long—
We met in the summer. Six months later, me and Mickey got married.
But you said before that you…you knew…from early childhood…
Yes. And I did. But sometimes you look around, you see other people…the way they appear, at least…and you think, I can do that. I can be like they are. Want what they want. Like what they like.
But it didn’t work.
No. It didn’t. It never does. Mickey and I, we’re still friends, though. He understands that it isn’t a choice. And it really isn’t. You’re born that way. I don’t know why one is and another is not, but I know for a fact, you’re born that way.
You seem so…I would never have guessed. Just going by outward appearances.
Sorry?
I said, I would never…
I heard you, your voice carries.
Oh. I thought you meant…
I meant, what are you saying. It would seem you don’t know.
…no I do…I think…
Glib, aren’t you.
Look, there’s really no need…
It would seem that there is.
…ohhh…now I get it.
Took long enough.
Well now I can tell. You really are—
A bitch? Yes. I was born that way.
So I guess you’re out.
Nothing gets by you, does it.