I took the girls to the park yesterday. I was sitting on a bench reading a book when two boys about 11 years old rode up on their bikes. The first one said, “We can’t find our mom. Have you seen her?”
I said, “What does she look like?”
The very white skinned, blond haired boy said, “She’s wearing a black and white striped shirt, and she has black hair, and she’s black.”
In my mind: ‘What ….?! How …. ?! Doesn’t matter.’
Outloud: “Sorry, I haven’t seen her.”
Boy: “You haven’t seen her? She was climbing a tree, and she fell out. We rode our bikes to go get help. When we came back we couldn’t find her. You didn’t see anybody fall out of a tree?”
In my mind: ‘Curiouser and curiouser …’
Outloud: “No, you should probably ask someone who has been here longer. I just got here.”
Boy: “We just can’t find him. Well, he’s really our dad. We just say mom because he looks like a woman. He’s transgender.”
In my mind: ‘Two very white boys can’t find their black transgender dad who fell out of a tree at the park… where are my children? Is this some kind of distraction tactic so some nutball can steal my children?’
Scanning and finding my children playing…
Outloud: “No- I haven’t seen anything like that.”
Boy: “Okay, we’ll keep looking.”
