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House Arrest?
"Open up, it's the Gender Police. We know you're in there, come out peacefully and nobody will get hurt!"
Yeah, I've heard that before. Right before they tore the door down on old Mr Franklin's two bed condo as they caught him, his wife, and an undisclosed third party in the living room in a "compromising" situation. Our block of flats hasn't seen that much action in a decade so it's no wonder it stuck in my mind. It scared the beejezus out of me and so I've never forgotten it. The look of fear in those eyes as they led them away handcuffed and covered over with cheap blankets. The harsh words of condemnation and the "sickos", "deviants", and "perverts" that were uttered by the neighbours as they came out to see what all the fuss was about. As they witnessed them being led away all I homed in on was the beguiling six foot creature in high heels and a wig. Turns out it was their only son. They'd been estranged for the longest time, but he was desperate and needed money to complete his transformation. He'd come back home hoping his parents would take pity on their only child. One of the neighbours spotted some guy with a deep pink aura and reported it on the "anonymous" helpline. They'd not only turned him in, but his parents too for harbouring a known non-typ genconist (non typical gender non-conformist or NT-GNC for short). Police were always on the lookout for those, and keen to make a bust and bang them up in genhab (gender Rahabilitation) for as long as they could.
I didn't rush to comply. I had my aura under control in the confines of my own home. I lived alone so it was easy to keep it blue, masculinity at its most primal. Of course there were swirls of purples and reds within it too, and the odd tiny flecks of pink, but that was within their acceptance parameters. Most men have auras that are muted and dull, so it's not only the colours themselves but their vibrancy too. I mean, they've made a whole job out of the aura interpretation of humans. They say lots of things can play a factor in the equation, like social background, education and gene hereditary characteristics. The Gender Police monitor the environment at large, checking cams and live feeds for clues as to deviancy. Boys should be blue, girls should be pink, or as near as damn it. You could have an excuse for your aura changing from those hues assigned to your "typical standard index", but it had to be a good one, like bereavement, confusion after trauma, depression etc. Anything that might excuse legitimately why you're gender attraction was deviating from the assigned norm.
Of course as I let them in my heart was beating wildly. It has not been unknown for my aura to do a flip and turn a raging cyclone of lusty reds and soft pinks in the presence of a sexy guy in a uniform. But generally, when one is fearful, such emotion is pushed down deep. All emotion plays its part in determining the look of the aura, but it's always there, lingering like a fog outside the skin for all to clearly see. You'd have to be blind not to tell the grey's and muted yellows of these two are that of an authoritarian. Both men are young middle aged, menacing looking, intimidating. I bet their auras have never changed since they were in kindergarden.
"Mitchel Stanford?"
"Yes," I say flatly."What can I do for you officers?" They look at me as if I'm guilty of something but they just can't pin anything on me...yet!
"We want to ask you where you were last Friday night?"
"Why? Am I being accused of something?" The smaller of the two raises his eyebrow in a don't give me that tone kinda look.
"No. We just wish to ascertain your whereabouts to clear you as a suspect."
"A suspect to what?" I ask in all suspicion, my heart pounding even louder.
"Just answer the question," says the other.
I lie of course. I don't agree with what the Gender Police stand for. There shouldn't be a morality placed on one's definition of sexuality purely based on the aura. Pink for girls, blue for boys and never the twain shall meet! Bullshit. They monitor kids at school, I've seen the footage on Panorama, and they allow certain "parameters in infancy", but into early teens most suspected NT-GNC's have case files fat as your wrist. They send kids to juvi-hab for "straightening up" and the frightening thing is parents let them go. They don't let them out till their auras are acceptable and deemed a non menace to future decent society. I hear there's a drug the kids are taking now that messes with your sexual drives, helps mute the pinks or blues of the you within. Keeps you more what you want them to see, less of who you really are. They call it "Traffic Light", pop a red it'll keep you more male, pop a green it'll keep you more feminine...pop an amber and you're up for exploring anything! In the underground clubs the amber one's go for fifty bucks a strip. They do a roaring trade in them wherever people just wanna party and have an excuse for letting go. You often hear the term,
"I was Ambered." Most get bail or a fine, few do time if the toxicology report shows they were telling the truth. I guess most NT-GNC adults would pop it all the time if it didn't cost a packet ( and wasn't rumoured to cause cancer and other fatal diseases).
Meanwhile this cop is looking at me waiting for my explanation.
"I was round my friends researching for a work assignment."
"This friend have a name?"
"Jo Fithe. They work at my firm in my department. We're on a new project together."
"Is it Jo as in a boy or a girl?"
"Does that matter?"
"Just answer wise guy, it might." The tall one wore a nasty scowl and kept pissing me off.
"Address?"
I reeled off the address and fixed them again with a stern question looking them in the eyes showing no cowardice.
"What's the crime I'm accused of?"
"No crime Sir," said the smaller," we're just following up on a lead someone looking like you was seen in the vicinity of the Starlight Club on 54th Street at 2am yesterday morning."
I hadn't noticed up to then what pretty green eyes he had. Light like grass on a Summers day. I noticed his lips were full and ... I quickly reined it in, I couldn't risk my aura changing in front of these guys.
I knew Jo is a great gal. She's got me out of many a fix, as I had her on that one occasion she had a fling in university with her room mate Jennifer. It only lasted a week but her aura was a mess during that time. Jenny's had just gone more crimson and carnation, while Jo's was all aquas and lilac more than her usual pale pinks and cream. I went round with her on campus that whole week in an effort to disguise her new found love interest. We were practically glued at the hip and I had to pretend I spent the night with her indiscreetly to my professor in English Lit (cos he was hers too in the class Jenny and Jo shared). It was all very intense, but it was a favour it seemed she was always paying me back on. She'd lie and back me up, so I didn't get all nervous over that.
"Starlight Club? Never heard of it. Is that some sort of a Dance Club? " I ask all innocently. I watch them both scanning my face for recognition. Damn I had learnt to be good in a crises.
"Not in the slightest!" said the mean one.
"No Sir," chimed in the other."It's a bar of less savoury taste frequented by NT-GNC's."
"All sorts goes on in there. It's a known pick-up spot," said my tormentor.
"Oh? you don't say...what was that address again? Well I can assure you I'm back home by midnight most nights. My job keeps me too tired to stay up late, and I start at 7am every day."
I wasn't sure if they bought it.
"Mind if we look about?" said the cute one, and I noticed how muscled he was under that shiny police badge. Maybe I shouldn't have been checking him out quite as long as I did, but I was getting defiant.
"Sure," I said, " knock yourself out." Yeah, like literally I wish the macho idiot one with the sneering attitude would!
Look, my flat is clean, and there isn't much in the way of lifestyle choices to tip them off as to my sexuality. Most people have dubious taste in music and certain risque artwork. They can do and choose as they damn well like in their own home...but not out of it. I watched as they both go from room to room, sometimes softly meeting and whispering under their breath in the hallway. I checked the mirror and the muted tones of my aura still held firm.
That's when I spied last night's trick had left their name and number stuck to a post it note on my fridge...in bright pink neon. Shit. Don't look, don't make eye contact, don't go red or give the game away. Shit. Shit. Shit.
"You okay?" said cutie.
"Yes."
"You're not looking so hot. You want me to get you a cold drink or something?"
Not the fridge. Not the fridge. Hell no.
"You hiding something? " says meanie.
"Well if I was you didn't find it," I joke. What!!? My sense of panic was starting to get me into hot water. The nice cop smiled but hid it well whilst his partner walked up to me and looked me straight in the eye.
"Oh believe me.. Sir...we always find what we're after, eventually."
I gulped audibly.
"You want that drink now?" said the cop searching my face for hidden clues I guess.
"No thanks," I blurt out. "I'm quite alright officer, no need to go to any trouble."
I was in hot water...and it was about to get boiling ..I fidgeted uncomfortably under their scrutiny. But my aura held, and the colours remained swirling and moving in unison. But they didn't change shade, and gave nothing away. Maybe I could pull this off.....
© .Garry Saunders
Yeah, I've heard that before. Right before they tore the door down on old Mr Franklin's two bed condo as they caught him, his wife, and an undisclosed third party in the living room in a "compromising" situation. Our block of flats hasn't seen that much action in a decade so it's no wonder it stuck in my mind. It scared the beejezus out of me and so I've never forgotten it. The look of fear in those eyes as they led them away handcuffed and covered over with cheap blankets. The harsh words of condemnation and the "sickos", "deviants", and "perverts" that were uttered by the neighbours as they came out to see what all the fuss was about. As they witnessed them being led away all I homed in on was the beguiling six foot creature in high heels and a wig. Turns out it was their only son. They'd been estranged for the longest time, but he was desperate and needed money to complete his transformation. He'd come back home hoping his parents would take pity on their only child. One of the neighbours spotted some guy with a deep pink aura and reported it on the "anonymous" helpline. They'd not only turned him in, but his parents too for harbouring a known non-typ genconist (non typical gender non-conformist or NT-GNC for short). Police were always on the lookout for those, and keen to make a bust and bang them up in genhab (gender Rahabilitation) for as long as they could.
I didn't rush to comply. I had my aura under control in the confines of my own home. I lived alone so it was easy to keep it blue, masculinity at its most primal. Of course there were swirls of purples and reds within it too, and the odd tiny flecks of pink, but that was within their acceptance parameters. Most men have auras that are muted and dull, so it's not only the colours themselves but their vibrancy too. I mean, they've made a whole job out of the aura interpretation of humans. They say lots of things can play a factor in the equation, like social background, education and gene hereditary characteristics. The Gender Police monitor the environment at large, checking cams and live feeds for clues as to deviancy. Boys should be blue, girls should be pink, or as near as damn it. You could have an excuse for your aura changing from those hues assigned to your "typical standard index", but it had to be a good one, like bereavement, confusion after trauma, depression etc. Anything that might excuse legitimately why you're gender attraction was deviating from the assigned norm.
Of course as I let them in my heart was beating wildly. It has not been unknown for my aura to do a flip and turn a raging cyclone of lusty reds and soft pinks in the presence of a sexy guy in a uniform. But generally, when one is fearful, such emotion is pushed down deep. All emotion plays its part in determining the look of the aura, but it's always there, lingering like a fog outside the skin for all to clearly see. You'd have to be blind not to tell the grey's and muted yellows of these two are that of an authoritarian. Both men are young middle aged, menacing looking, intimidating. I bet their auras have never changed since they were in kindergarden.
"Mitchel Stanford?"
"Yes," I say flatly."What can I do for you officers?" They look at me as if I'm guilty of something but they just can't pin anything on me...yet!
"We want to ask you where you were last Friday night?"
"Why? Am I being accused of something?" The smaller of the two raises his eyebrow in a don't give me that tone kinda look.
"No. We just wish to ascertain your whereabouts to clear you as a suspect."
"A suspect to what?" I ask in all suspicion, my heart pounding even louder.
"Just answer the question," says the other.
I lie of course. I don't agree with what the Gender Police stand for. There shouldn't be a morality placed on one's definition of sexuality purely based on the aura. Pink for girls, blue for boys and never the twain shall meet! Bullshit. They monitor kids at school, I've seen the footage on Panorama, and they allow certain "parameters in infancy", but into early teens most suspected NT-GNC's have case files fat as your wrist. They send kids to juvi-hab for "straightening up" and the frightening thing is parents let them go. They don't let them out till their auras are acceptable and deemed a non menace to future decent society. I hear there's a drug the kids are taking now that messes with your sexual drives, helps mute the pinks or blues of the you within. Keeps you more what you want them to see, less of who you really are. They call it "Traffic Light", pop a red it'll keep you more male, pop a green it'll keep you more feminine...pop an amber and you're up for exploring anything! In the underground clubs the amber one's go for fifty bucks a strip. They do a roaring trade in them wherever people just wanna party and have an excuse for letting go. You often hear the term,
"I was Ambered." Most get bail or a fine, few do time if the toxicology report shows they were telling the truth. I guess most NT-GNC adults would pop it all the time if it didn't cost a packet ( and wasn't rumoured to cause cancer and other fatal diseases).
Meanwhile this cop is looking at me waiting for my explanation.
"I was round my friends researching for a work assignment."
"This friend have a name?"
"Jo Fithe. They work at my firm in my department. We're on a new project together."
"Is it Jo as in a boy or a girl?"
"Does that matter?"
"Just answer wise guy, it might." The tall one wore a nasty scowl and kept pissing me off.
"Address?"
I reeled off the address and fixed them again with a stern question looking them in the eyes showing no cowardice.
"What's the crime I'm accused of?"
"No crime Sir," said the smaller," we're just following up on a lead someone looking like you was seen in the vicinity of the Starlight Club on 54th Street at 2am yesterday morning."
I hadn't noticed up to then what pretty green eyes he had. Light like grass on a Summers day. I noticed his lips were full and ... I quickly reined it in, I couldn't risk my aura changing in front of these guys.
I knew Jo is a great gal. She's got me out of many a fix, as I had her on that one occasion she had a fling in university with her room mate Jennifer. It only lasted a week but her aura was a mess during that time. Jenny's had just gone more crimson and carnation, while Jo's was all aquas and lilac more than her usual pale pinks and cream. I went round with her on campus that whole week in an effort to disguise her new found love interest. We were practically glued at the hip and I had to pretend I spent the night with her indiscreetly to my professor in English Lit (cos he was hers too in the class Jenny and Jo shared). It was all very intense, but it was a favour it seemed she was always paying me back on. She'd lie and back me up, so I didn't get all nervous over that.
"Starlight Club? Never heard of it. Is that some sort of a Dance Club? " I ask all innocently. I watch them both scanning my face for recognition. Damn I had learnt to be good in a crises.
"Not in the slightest!" said the mean one.
"No Sir," chimed in the other."It's a bar of less savoury taste frequented by NT-GNC's."
"All sorts goes on in there. It's a known pick-up spot," said my tormentor.
"Oh? you don't say...what was that address again? Well I can assure you I'm back home by midnight most nights. My job keeps me too tired to stay up late, and I start at 7am every day."
I wasn't sure if they bought it.
"Mind if we look about?" said the cute one, and I noticed how muscled he was under that shiny police badge. Maybe I shouldn't have been checking him out quite as long as I did, but I was getting defiant.
"Sure," I said, " knock yourself out." Yeah, like literally I wish the macho idiot one with the sneering attitude would!
Look, my flat is clean, and there isn't much in the way of lifestyle choices to tip them off as to my sexuality. Most people have dubious taste in music and certain risque artwork. They can do and choose as they damn well like in their own home...but not out of it. I watched as they both go from room to room, sometimes softly meeting and whispering under their breath in the hallway. I checked the mirror and the muted tones of my aura still held firm.
That's when I spied last night's trick had left their name and number stuck to a post it note on my fridge...in bright pink neon. Shit. Don't look, don't make eye contact, don't go red or give the game away. Shit. Shit. Shit.
"You okay?" said cutie.
"Yes."
"You're not looking so hot. You want me to get you a cold drink or something?"
Not the fridge. Not the fridge. Hell no.
"You hiding something? " says meanie.
"Well if I was you didn't find it," I joke. What!!? My sense of panic was starting to get me into hot water. The nice cop smiled but hid it well whilst his partner walked up to me and looked me straight in the eye.
"Oh believe me.. Sir...we always find what we're after, eventually."
I gulped audibly.
"You want that drink now?" said the cop searching my face for hidden clues I guess.
"No thanks," I blurt out. "I'm quite alright officer, no need to go to any trouble."
I was in hot water...and it was about to get boiling ..I fidgeted uncomfortably under their scrutiny. But my aura held, and the colours remained swirling and moving in unison. But they didn't change shade, and gave nothing away. Maybe I could pull this off.....
© .Garry Saunders
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