“Hi, Kit.  What’s up?”

“Nothin’.  What’s going on with you?”

“Haven’t heard from you in a while and thought I’d stop by, see how you’re doing?”

Kit opened the door fully and invited her sister inside.  She closed the door behind her and then stared at her sister, summing up her state of mind.  “I’m good.  Real good, Bette.  I can’t think of a time I’ve been happier in my life.”

Bette glanced around the room and craned her head to see into the kitchen.

“You won’t find any booze.  I’m close to 90 days sober now.”  Kit walked into the living room and Bette followed her.   In the middle of the room, she turned to look at her younger sister.  “All my life I was searching for something and didn’t have a clue.  Melvin hated that I wasn’t the perfect daughter like you.  The one thing I could do right was be a straight girl. I thought that at least came naturally to me.   Now, I know like you, that isn’t who I am.”

“You’ve given up over thirty years of being an active heterosexual to play with a woman who wants to be a man?  That’s ridiculous, Kit.”

Angry, Kit responded, “First off, Ivan is all woman and I feel more like a woman than I ever did with any man.  Ivan is exactly the person I’ve been looking for all of my life.  You should be happy that Ivan treats me so well.  But as usual, you can only look for the negative.”

Bette shook her head.  “I’m not looking for anything negative.  It’s just a little hard to wrap my mind around.  Until a few weeks ago, did you ever, even for one moment think, hey, I’m *****?”

Kit frowned uncomfortably.  “I’m not saying I’m *****. What I do know is I’m very happy with Ivan.”

“I worry about you, Kit.  You’re doing great with your sobriety.  Your music career is taking off.  Let’s say things really get hot for you–how is it going to look that you’re associating with this big ole stone butch *****, drag king?  Why would you jeopardize your dreams that way, just when they’re reaching fruition?”  Bette’s arms were folded across her *****, staring at Kit while shaking her head like the mother of a mischievous five-year-old.