Their parents had met their freshman year at Berkley, when the slightly uptight, pre-med Paula got assigned to a double room with the beautiful dark-haired Christine.  Paula had grown up in small town Iowa, the sixth child of eight, the sheer size of her family testament to their staunch Catholic mores.  Christine’s background was less religified, but they got along well, Paula eventually meeting cute Arthur Carlin through Christine’s boyfriend, Raife, an aspiring guitarist and Arthur’s roomate.  Arthur was a psych major, hoping to place into the 3-2 social work program.  He had been inspired to go into social work by his father, who until recently had been the model of straight manhood, but had shocked the family by coming out as a gay man.  Their family continued strong and his mother remarried, but Art was touched by his father’s courage and honesty in coming out.  Unfortunately, a few years later, he was a victim of the emerging AIDS epidemic.   

The four remained friends, and when they started graduate school at UCLA, Paula in medicine, Christine in law, and Art finishing his MSW, they moved in to apartments across the way from each other in the crappy grad student housing, sharing techniques for squashing the ferocious cockroaches that seemed to inhabit every crevice of the building.  For fun, they’d watch Raife’s band when they had a booking at a local club.  All in all, they were dirt poor and living with roaches the size of a small child, but they were having fun.  After having Glen, then getting pregnant with Spencer, Paula decided to defy the pope and go on birth control, her first step in a gradual shift towards Arthur’s more liberal point of view.  

Glen, Spence, and Ash would stay home with Raife while the others were at class, Glen mostly occupying himself with pulling the girls’ hair and Spence and Ashley generally wreaking havoc throughout the apartment, their wild, tangled locks close to those of an 80′s hair band.   One of their favorite games (once Glen was on time out for pulling their hair) was house…  

Ashley:  Ok, ‘wency, I’ll be the dad and you be the mom.

Spencer:  But Ashy, how come we can’t both be the mom?

Glen (from the corner):  Because you can’t have two moms! Spencer:  Yes we can, can’t we Ashy?  (batting her eyelashes at the toddler).

Ashley:  Ok.  But I get to be the boss mom, and I get the easy bake oven.

Spencer:  Ok.  Wait, isn’t the mom supposed to kiss the other mom and make noises like mummy and daddy do?  

Spencer leans over to place a kiss on Ashley’s lips.  

Both:  Oooh…Ahhh…Oh, yes, Oh…ah!!!  Giggles.   The moment was ruined when in all of her excitement, Ashley wet her diaper.

 **************************************************************************************************

Ashley:  Guess what?  My cousins are coming to visit today!

Spencer:  Really?  Cool.  

*Ring* *Ring* heralded the arrival of Raife’s sister and her kids.  The fraternal twins both had dark features, one dressed in a frilly white dress with a floral pattern woven in, the other in blue overalls and a red big bird t-shirt.  Aiden nervously adjusted the white bow in his hair, shifting nervously in his equally white dress as he observed his more outgoing twin Kyla bound over to the other three children in the room, knocking Ashley over in the process.   

Spencer:  Hi, I’m ‘wencer.

Kyla:  I’m kya.  (pointing at Aiden, still grasping his mother’s leg and hiding behind it) that’s my brother Aid.  (lowering her voice and whispering conspiratorily to Spencer/Ashley).  My mom says he might be gay. Spencer:  Cool.  My grandpa is gay.

Ashley:  What does that mean anyway?

Spencer:  I think that he’s really happy.  

Glancing over at Aiden, now happily combing the flourescent pink and yellow hair belonging to one of his my little ponies, "well he definitely looks happy" stated Spencer.