Member-only story
A Transgender Christmas Story: It’s Better Than a Dog’s Life
(A transgender homage to Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life)
Thomas stood on the railing of the pedestrian bridge. It was dark. No one was around. It was quiet except for the gurgling sound of the churning, frigid water below.
Thomas continued to stare into the darkness of the water below. He felt outer edge as he slowly pushed his feet further off the rail. Moments earlier he desperately prayed that someone, anyone would stop him.
No one answered his prayer.
Earlier that day he had finally admitted to his wife and to himself that he needed to transition. It was impossible for his wife to accept. He couldn’t blame her, he had difficulty accepting it himself. His heart tore itself apart as he watched the unbearable pain he had just inflicted on his wife etch across her face.
They had exchanged words, angry, pain-infused words, unfiltered and totally selfish as they both felt their shared world exploded.
Thomas could no longer stay enveloped in their mutual agony. He was being shredded by their silence. He got in their car and just drove away. In his aimless confusion he found himself in the lot of the local park next to the pedestrian bridge over a small stream.
