In The Closet

8. It's Their Fault For Creating Her That Way

She came out of the closet today. Karren wasn't so happy. Neither was Charlotte, but she didn't explode in the same way. I was horrified; not about Natalie being gay, but at my mothers' reactions. What's wrong if she likes the opposite sex? She can't exactly help it. I know they're pretty heterophobic and all but... It's not her fault. It's their fault for creating her that way.

I slam the book shut, struggling to breathe. In this place, I'm straight, that's fairly clear, but I won't have to act any differently because of that. Girls like girls, and boys like boys. However my sister must not follow this rule, and is a girl who likes boys. It's an alien concept. How could that work? How the hell do they reproduce? "It's their fault for creating her that way"? What's that supposed to mean?

I hear footsteps from outside the door, and quickly but the diary on the table next to the bed. A different woman opens the door, who's basically the opposite of the one who I saw earlier in appearance.

"The food should be ready. This place is kind of a maze when you aren't used to it," she states.

"Oh, um, okay!" I say, brightly, getting up to leave the room.

"I hope the kids haven't been harassing you too much! You know how much Devin likes you," she says.

"I haven't really seen..." Why does this kid have to have a gender neutral name?! "Them."

The woman doesn't seem to notice anything wrong, perhaps assuming that I'm on about all of these kids.

"Oh, good! Though don't get used to it; you'll likely not get a moment's peace until you go back home. Still, they haven't seen you since last Christmas and they've grown quite a bit, the twins especially. Hopefully they won't recognise you. Then again, Bailey and Morgan will just see someone over the age of about thirteen, latch on and not let go."

I've noticed the pattern by now: all their kids have gender neutral names. Parents who give their kids gender neutral names are great; whatever happens over the course of their life, their name will fit them fine.

"How old are they by now?" I ask the woman, hoping to the god I don't believe in that this question doesn't seem too out of the ordinary.

"Well, Hayden's eleven, Harper is nine, the twins are seven – and a half, they'll insist on adding – Bailey is six and Corey is three." Why are there so many children?! "Corey appears to have taken a shine to Natalie; he won't stop following her around! Anyway, the family dining room is just through here," She gestures to a door on the right of the corridor we're walking down. It's been left ajar; I push it a little so it's open properly.

The room is quite small and modest in comparison to the rest of the house. There's a carpet similar to the one in the black and white room, only in brown. There's a large window on the back wall, looking out over a massive garden full of little kids' toys. There's a wooden cabinet to the left of me, and a large wooden table in front. Sat at the table are two boys with dark hair and dark eyes of about nine and ten, two girls of around seven who look identical with the exception of their colouring, a slightly younger girl with white blonde hair, a pale freckled face and bright blue eyes, and a toddler with jet black hair, but blue eyes. The short woman from earlier is attempting to talk the toddler into eating some sweetcorn, and a girl of around fourteen who looks like Nathan is talking to the younger of the two boys.

There are two spare chairs. I take the one across from the Nathan look-alike. She looks at me and grins.

The boy she was talking to looks at me. "Hi Cath! I don't really remember how you look because I only see you every other Christmas, but you're probably Cath because I was told you and Natalie were coming and this is Natalie." He says it all in one breath. It's endearing; I think I like it here already. "Natalie was just telling me all about how your mums aren't happy with her being attracted to boys, and that's why you've both come here. I told my best friend that my lesbian cousin was coming to live here for a bit, and I got really angry because she said it was unnatural. We aren't friends anymore."

A grin is stretched over my face by the end of it. His parents are obviously good educators about this kind of thing.

The taller woman comes back in carrying steaming plates of... chicken curry or something. She sets one down in front of me and the older boy, leaving and coming back with two more for herself and the other woman. For the younger boy and the girls, she brings in plates with pies and vegetables on.

"But I don't like beef pie!" the dark-haired girl whines.

"You don't like chicken korma either," the woman says. "Every time I make it for you, you complain, so eat your pie."

The girl makes a face, but her mother ignores it. She huffs, and haphazardly picks up her cutlery to eat the beef pie.

"I forgot how good of a cook you are, Lauren," Natalie tells the taller woman. "This is really good!"

Thank god I've been given names to work with.

"Well, thank you! Perhaps it's a good job you were sent here, since Christmas is... dead," Lauren says.

The other woman sighs and rolls her eyes. "My sister's been heterophobic from the word go. We weren't even raised that way. She says the bisexuals are the worst because, I quote, 'they can trick you into thinking they're normal'. Which is why I waited so long to tell my immediate family. It's probably a good job I found Lauren quite young."

If she's bisexual, it must explain all the gender neutral names. The older boy must read my facial expression – to a point – because he decides to speak next.

"The kids at school say my name is too girly," he says, still chewing his food. "And they say that I can't do the acting club because I'm a boy. But apparently that explains my name."

"You aren't really the sort to care about that, Hayden," Lauren says. "Do you? If you do, we can sort things out."

"Not really," Hayden says. "I just thought I ought to tell you."

Lauren nods. They must be one of those families who are really open about everything. I wouldn't be able to stand being in one of those.

The rest of the meal is spent in pretty much silence. The chicken korma is good, delicious. Why can't I have an aunt who can cook like this in my timeline?

"Cath, the family at the end of the road have loads of pets, and the oldest boy is about my age and so attractive. And you're quite good at telling if people are queer or not," Natalie tells me. She must want me to go with her.

"They're all rather beautiful," the other woman says. "Go, Cath. You like horses, right? They have plenty of those. Be back here by nine. You only got here today, we don't want you getting lost."

I hold back a sarcastic response. These women seem nice enough, and I don't want to get on their bad sides.

"Alright. See you later then," I reply with a smile.