Gloria puts down his vape. “Who wants to hear the story of how he got his name?”
“Me!” squeaks Archie.
I know this story well, so am able to relax a little. I open a second bottle of Prosecco and fetch Theo and Dom another beer.
“When his mum was pregnant,” Gloria begins, “she got sick of being stuck in the house so his dad took her out for a pub lunch. The baby wasn’t supposed to arrive for a couple of weeks so she was nice and relaxed, enjoying her Yorkshire pudding, when her waters broke. They called an ambulance but it all happened so quickly, Addy was born in the car park.”
“And who can guess the name of the pub?” tosses in Dom.
Theo and the kids look blank.
“The Adam and Eve,” I reveal.
The adults laugh. There’s even the hint of a smile on Mabel’s face.
“Ads, how do I not know that story?” asks Theo.
I think he may be smiling but I daren’t look at him.
“It sounds like you need to spend more time with his sisters,” says Ian.
“We could tell you a few other things he’s done in a pub car park,” quips Dom.
Gloria laughs so hard his earrings rattle. Callum looks appalled, while Mabel and Archie don’t seem to have understood the joke. Theo did and is chuckling. So why do I feel embarrassed? Would I feel the same if I were straight and being teased by my friends?
I look at Dom and widen my eyes. “Yeah, thanks, my sister.”
“Can I ask a question?” Mabel crows. “Why do you call each other sisters?”
“Because we are sisters, my angel,” says Gloria, rubbing his beard. “A sister isn’t just someone with the same parents. It can be anyone you’ve shared an important experience with. What matters is the bond.”
“Basically, queer people used to be rejected by their families,” explains Ian, taking off his glasses to clean them. “So we have a history of what’s known as ‘found family’, of creating our own families.”
“But you’re not even girls,” snipes Callum.
“No, but we also have a bond with women, because we too have been oppressed by the patriarchy,” Ian answers, pushing his glasses back up his nose.
“What does that mean?” asks Archie, screwing up his face.
“Before I was bullied for being gay,” Gloria explains, “I used to get called a girl and laughed at for not being masculine enough. But that’s just another expression of misogyny.”
“What’s mis. …?” asks Archie, struggling to pronounce the word.
“Misogyny,” supplies Theo. “It means hating women.”
“By calling each other girls, we’re reclaiming the insult,” Ian goes on. “And refusing to see being feminine as something negative. We’re also refusing to fit into any fixed understanding of gender, because that’s limiting.”
I can tell that, begrudgingly, Mabel at least is impressed. Callum is out of his depth. And Archie just looks bewildered.
“Speaking of feminine, your hydrangeas are gorge, my sister,” says Gloria, gesturing to a bush at the edge of the lawn.
“Thanks,” I reply. “I’ve been watering them every day since we arrived.”
“Gloria’s a florist,” Theo tells the kids.
Ian takes out his lip balm and runs it over his lips. “And what do you three want to be when you grow up?”
“I’m going to be a lawyer,” Mabel declares, determinedly.
