Gotcha

TBB is back in port after a four week cruise, so she headed to the bar just off the base for some food, beverages and fun.

I could hear her buying drinks for a retired CPO as she told me the stories.  She told of her boss, of a bit of a power struggle she had had that morning, how people are seeing her as a mom, how the next cruise there will be a woman 1st, 2d and 3d engineer and the scheduler wants to send a picture to Maritime magazine.

It was company and chat she craved, so that’s what she pusued.

The second call I got from her, as she was on the way home, well, that was different.

Seems the CPO came back from the head white as a sheet saying “I need to go.”

TBB asked what was wrong.

“I can’t talk to you,” he stammered.  “You are a man.”

Someone in the resturant decided to save this veteran, to help him out of danger.

And the danger, you see, was TBB “fooling” some nice man.

TBB confronted the manager, then bicycled back to the ship, picking a fight with some anti-gay marriage protesters on the way.

The third gotcha, bang.

I have been watching the discussion about Beyonce’s new Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) video.  It the poop is that one of the women dancers is “Beyonce’s male choreographer.”  There is even discussion about if they stand up or sit down to pee, about man hands and no waist and all the rest of that crap.

I have seen the video.  Those are three women.  Was one of them born male?  Maybe.  But is one of them a man?  Nope.

TBB was out and just being social and chatting, needing company. She is just trying to be a woman in the world, a woman with a trans history, sure, but not first and foremost a tranny, a man in a dress.

But then, the third gotcha happened.

It’s always there, lurking.

And her phone cut out as we were talking about it; I haven’t heard from her in twelve hours now.

I pray that she is OK.  She is tenacious and resilant, that TBB.

But I know how dangerous this all can feel.