He could hear his mother downstairs, just like always. Thanksgiving, pie and family, it made him nauseous.
Horace knew the time had come; even dressed in bulky jackets change was obvious.
It was time to drop the bomb.
He texted John:
“If I don’t call u later, I’ll be dead”
He tiptoed down the stairs. Sneaked into the living room.
He was an apparition, a stranger, not in drag but fully woman.
He was finally out of the closet.
“Happy Thanksgiving — I’m your daughter now.”
His father ceased to carve the turkey. in his hand a carving knife.
© Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
I immediately thought of coming out of the closet when I saw the picture. This week I wanted to leave the end open. What do you think happened next?
Rochelle gives us a picture.
We write 100 word stories and read each other’s stories.
That’s Friday Fictioneers. Join us.
November 22, 2017
I’d like to think that after the initial shock his family would be at first curious and asking questions and then accepting.
I hope so too… but I fear the worst.
Dad smiles and said, what took you so long, daughter.
That would be perfect….
I’m with Michael. I hope that’s what happened.
Hmm, well that depends on the father’s personality doesn’t it? Hopefully he recovers from the shock and they sit down to eat and talk things over.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
I think they will actually… but I can be quite a shock… “what will the neighbors say?”
I’m not sure they’ve chosen the best time to announce it, but I hope the family react well after the initial shock!
Is there ever a good time?
A fair point 🙂
That might not have been the greatest time to “drop the big one,” so to speak, and to answer a previous question, there are no great times, but there are better and worse ones. This would be worse.
Or a good one… after all everybody is in a good mood and there is food to be served.
Dad had a knife. That sounded particularly ominous.
Ooo dramatic 😃
Yes.. and anything can happen after this.
Oh my days!😂😂. I reckon mum grabbed the knife away from dad really quickly. …and then the drama unfolded!
Maybe, or dad just dropped the knife and hugged his daughter.
Ah! A more open-minded family😊
Dear Björn,
Sounds like he did more than just come out of the closet. Happy Thanksgiving across the sea. .
Shalom,
Rochelle
There were many doors on this closet.
Nothing like drama in life.
Especially Thanksgiving.
I’d say keep an eye on the knife.
Randy
A knife can easily slip the wrong way.
Well, we can hope for the best when dad sits that knife down.
It is hard enough with some families to really be yourself.
Can’t imagine doing it at the holidays. They are hard enough
at times. But we can hope. And if not she can surely find some
friends to support her.
Maybe it’s my Swedish way of thinking, we don’t have Thanksgiving, but Christmas is one time to get out of the closet…. I also read your story of the rose. A fantastic story/poem that made me read it over and over again. Love the way it ends were it started… reminds me of a magic Christmas tale with a dark twist.
Particularly worried for him/ her.
Really liked your reading of the picture prompt.
I think it will be fine…
I’m thinking this may be the Thanksgiving dinner to end all Thanksgiving dinners. For your main character, anyway.
I think they will never be quite the same anyway
That makes a dramatic story, Bjorn, but it would be a dreadful way to tell your family, even if they were likely to be supportive. You need to go gradually, one or two people at a time, telling first those most likely to be sympathetic. In Horace’s case, he should probably have started with his Mum and had a heart to heart talk with her. But however hard you try, however careful you are, success is not guaranteed. Before starting, you have to be aware that you might lose friends and family.
Isn’t this a bit a bit like ripping off band-aid. Take it slowly in small steps of agony or do it at once and suffer the pain. Maybe it depends on the reaction you expect.
Forgive me, Bjorn, but it’s nothing like ripping off Band-Aid. Gender dysphoria – the condition that leads people to undergo gender reassignment – is a condition that often leads to suicide. This is because our gender role is so significant. And it’s not just significant to the trans person – it’s equally significant to those around them, although they’re mostly unaware of its significance until they confront it.
If you do transition right, it usually leads to a happy life; if you do it wrong and lose family and friends, then there is all that pain and loss to set against the benefits.
I can assure you from my personal experience as a transwoman that how you transition really matters, and that often the people who are most against it are those closest to you, for the justifiable reason that it affects them more than relative strangers.
Maybe he should have waited until after the meal, when everyone would be too full up to run very fast.
Ha.. that would be an option…
What a reveal…yikes~
She should have waited until he had finished carving…
Perhaps the father said, “So you’ll be having breast tonight?”
he he…
Lol! 😀
Hopefully what happens next is, “We were wondering when you would tell us, dear.”
Yes I thought that would be a likely end.
Haha, I wondered who might take the closet in this direction. Nicely done, Bjorn. I love the focus around the carving knife as if it might be used, imminently.
I’d love to know how old this now woman is… and how much her family suspected in the first place (they usually have some kind of clue). I shall choose the positive route. “Sit down,Daughter – what do we call you now? – and enjoy the feast!” OK… I might be living in fantasy-land but why not?
I love that you choose the positive route, Dale. I think most transwomen have daydreams about parents calling them ‘daughter’, and using their new name, and getting pronouns right every time. When you’re struggling to live as your authentic self, acceptance by family is so important…which is one reason why the way you break the news to those close to you is so important!
Having a niece who just recently declared herself gay and seeing how my sister and brother-in-law reacted moat positively, I felt there have to be some parents out there who, though probably not an easy thing, would do their best to support their child. I do, sadly, know some who totally turned their back on their son.
You’re right, Dale. There are some parents who accept and love from the very beginning. But there are some who never accept. And how you tell people makes such a difference, which is why I’m making a bit of a fuss about it – just in case there is anybody reading who might be facing that decision of how to tell.
As I say, I love your positive take!
Best wishes
Penny
😘
I liked how you started and gradually built up the story. Stories like this always leave you wondering ‘what happened next?’ and each reader will have their own version playing in their head. Nice one.
I like stories with ambiguous endings. So many variables. Thanksgiving tends to have a fair amount of alcohol going on, so anything could happen.
I trust this isn’t autobiographical sweety pie!
Click to read my FriFic!
And why should it not be, honeybunch?
It’s not … but I have “met” a few transgender women in the poetry circles.
Oh dear, I hope no one got carved up! Such an astonishing thing for anyone to announce, especially to an unsuspecting family–perhaps a little warning time would have been in order. I had a client who wanted to make the change from female to male, but she included her family in the process from the very beginning. Still a hard concept for everyone to adjust to.
I think the way she chose to do it reflects back on the expectations that she had. But I recon her parents already had an inkling…
I’m hoping that if dad lunged for his daughter she had the strength to fight him off. The father might equally have fainted, had a heart attack. There are so many possibilities to tease and tempt us with. But she will be okay and I reckon she meets up with John later.
As long as he doesn’t say, ‘Ok, woman, now carve the turkey’ all other scenarios might just be better. Anger is better than ridicule.
I think Horace could have found a gentler way to break the news! The poor man had to be himself though and I hope his parents are understanding enough to see beyond the gender reassignment – she is still their child after all. Well written tale, Bjorn
I think that he had tried many times before… and in the end he just had to bring it out in the open.
Let’s hope they can work through it together
Great take on this prompt. I may be a bit jaded for the ending since I hear too many youths and young adults at my work sharing their stories. I think his father dropped the sharp knife and it landed on his big fat toe. Chaos ensued and all attention turned to the patriarch. John arrived with paramedics just in time but was relieved to see it was not for his lover.
The hospital trip allowed the new woman to pack her belongings and bring all her savings to start a new life, with her mother’s help, of course, for she always wanted a daughter 🙂
Haha. You had me going for a minute. Great response to the prompt. I had expected a somewhat different bomb. Outcome – well Dad does have the meat cleaver in his hand.
I think most parents suspect, but choose to live in denial. When our daughter broke the news that she was gay, neither Connie nor I were too surprised. It didn’t change her as a person, or our love for her. Her sexuality is just part of who she is. Let’s hope these parents see it the same way.
Whoa scary moment for her. I hope they’ll be accepting.
I’m little worried about the ominous end–with the dad holding a knife. But otherwise I’m cheering her on. I have two LBGTQ kids myself. Nicely done.
I hope their was acceptance, but I fear there wasn’t.
Hopefully, it continued to be a happy story. We need more happy stories.
It would probably take the father some moments to get over the shock. He’d then probably continue carving. The meal would probably continue in silence for a time. The mother probably had figured it out and excepted it long before. She’d try to break the silence. Good writing and use of the prompt, Bjorn. 🙂 — Suzanne
Hmmmmmm …..
Not sure how this ends honestly.
A gripping tale, I can just imagine the scene at the meal table. What do you want to happen next ?
Hy