A Pleasant Afternoon Walk

The afternoon with your grandfolks was a pleasant one. The pair of them simply had to get outside so the three of you headed out for a long walk around the neighborhood. You walked arm in arm in arm with grandpa in the middle leading his two ladies about town.

You are noticing everything seemed different now, even more so than during your first phase of transformation. As a beautiful young woman you were noticing a lot of stolen little glances, jealous glares, and even overt ogling. Men, women, children, everyone just looked at you different now. The others had to live with this every day of their lives, it was still new to you.

You walk and talk breezily as you make your trek together. They knew the city as well as you though were interested in all the new changes that had happened since they moved abroad. At one point your grandparents actually run into another old couple they knew from the old days.

"Harold! Patty! Oh my goodness we haven't seen you in an age!" A couple roughly the same age who had just been getting out of their car approach. Unlike your healthy hippy beach bum grandparents these two looked much more like your stereotypical old people, the type of elders who had just completely given up on looking even remotely fashionable. They say hello to you briefly but their focus was catching up with your grandparents, they were nosy in that way old folks are. Wanting to hear all the little details.

The four of them begin to chat. You soon discover your grandpa and this man used to work together. Your eyes start to glaze as the inane senior talk really gets going. Elsie...I miss you! You send out to the aether, knowing it was pointless.

You could tell by their fake plastered smiles and overly friendly tones that this couple didn't really approve of how your grandparents were spending their golden years. They'd say things like. "Oh, isn't that interesting." and "That must be so interesting." and "Oh my, how interesting." They said 'interesting' a lot, their judgmental eyes betraying their real feelings through their fake plastered smiles.

The man finally says emphatically. "I could never live like that. Nope, U. S. of A for me. Best god damn country in the world."

"Have you done much travelling?" Your grandfather asks.

The man nods proudly. "Yep, we go to Hawaii every winter." Your grandparents make no comment.

Inevitably talk turns to family. The couple update your grandparents on all the births and deaths and news in their circle. You stand bored out of your skull listening to news about people you'd never meet. Soon the script is flipped and they begin asking about the Bailey family.

"So this beautiful young woman must be your granddaughter. Fiona right?" The woman asked. Your grandmother shakes her head and goes to answer.

The man interrupts her. "How's your grandson doing Harry? What was his name...?"

"Jesse." His wife offers.

"Yeah, Jesse." The man laughs and explains to his wife. "Harry was so proud of that boy, used to talk about him all the time. Only boy in the whole damn family!" He laughs again.

A blush rushes to your face. He used to talk about you? You feel a steady arm reach round your shoulder and squeeze. You look over to see the pale blue proud eyes of your grandfather looking at you.

He says without a moments hesitation or an ounce of shame. "Actually, Jesse is a girl now. A brave beautiful wonderful granddaughter. And I'm still just as proud of her. More than ever."

You smile back at him, you understood completely why your grandmother was so in love with this man. He had a truly good soul...you wonder if that's where Elsie got her shining pure spirit from.

The other two just gawk. "That's your boy Jesse!?" They say almost in unison. Their incredulous eyes really look at you hard now, you didn't like it. Your grandfather keeps you in his firm grip.

This was just too much for these two. The woman was just muttering. "Oh...uh...oh my..." She was at a loss, having trouble processing.

The man, not so much. "What is the world coming too? Jesus Christ. I told you your hippy lefty shit would catch up with you. The poor boy needed a real man around. God damn. How could you let this happen Harry!?"

Zero fucks were given by your grandpa and grandma. Your grandpa looks him square in the eye and says. "I supported her all the way." A little white lie. "I'd never stand in the way of her happiness."

"But... It's not right! It's...not natural! You've let the poor kid become a freak while you're off in some god forsaken third world country." The man can't help but blurt out. The woman was even worse, the way she was looking at you. Those frightened judging eyes. As if you posed some sort of threat to her, as if you were some demon spawn just crawled up from the depths of hell.

There is a moment of silence as an awkwardness settles in, this conversation was obviously over. "Well, it's been nice to see you two." Your grandma says in a cheery tone. "Now if you two could kindly go fuck yourselves we have a walk with our granddaughter to continue."

Your grandfather and you both burst into laughter, you bury your face into his shoulder. The three of you continue your walk, leaving the pair sputtering and huffing at the offense in your wake.

You chuckle. "Oh my god Grandma, you're savage!"

She snuggles into her man, holding his arm tight on the other side from you. She was just smiling, obviously quite pleased with what she had done. You continue the walk in an even better mood than before.