Jon gasped. Dad looks like a butch woman, he thought. His wish had come true. His father had become "a bit more" like mom. Jim was female. Pretty much everything else about him was the same: his clothes and even his short hair.
"Joan," said Jon's ex-father in a deep, barely female voice, "Jon's like those gay guys who hang out with girls."
Joan wasn't getting anywhere trying to argue against her spouse, so she decided to try another strategy -- provisionally accepting a point and going on from there. "So are you saying Jon's gay?"
"No, but --"
Joan looked at her spouse in the eye. "Let's suppose he is. Would you have a problem with that?"
"Um ..."
"We're gay, Jamie."
"But we're women, and ..."
"So it's OK because we're lesbians, but not for Jon?"
Jon covered his face with his hand. He couldn't believe his parents were describing themselves as "lesbian" - and thinking he might be gay. Am I homophobic? he asked himself. All of this was getting to him. Unable to deal with his own discomfort, he hoped the stone could help. "I wish ..."
