A Rare and Beautiful Thing

By Emery C. Walters

Miranda isn’t sure if she is transgendered or a lesbian. When Cal, a gay boy her age comes to stay next door for the summer, they become close. Even though they are opposites, they are both outsiders, and their friendship blossoms over the summer. Could there be romance despite their differences?

Then twins Ada and Van move into the neighborhood, and Miranda finds herself torn between them. She can’t decide who she’s more attracted to -- Ada, who may be lesbian, or Van, who is transgendered. Will she find love with one of them instead?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Nov 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781611527865

Emery C. Walters

Emery C. Walters was born Carol Forde, a name he soon knew didn’t fit the boy he was inside. Transition was unknown back then, so he married and then bore and raised four children. When his youngest child, his gay son, left home, Emery told Carol that she had to step aside, and he fully transitioned from female to male in 2001.

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A Rare and Beautiful Thing

By Emery C. Walters

Published by Queerteen Press at Smashwords

An imprint of JMS Books LLC

Visit queerteen-press.com for more information.

Copyright 2015 Emery C. Walters

ISBN 9781611527865

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America. Queerteen Press is an imprint of JMS Books LLC.

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A Rare and Beautiful Thing

By Emery C. Walters

Chapter 1: Meeting Cal

You never know what innocent little thing will start something rolling downhill so fast that your whole life changes. For me, it was asking my mom if I could tell her something about myself, something important. I shouldn’t have. I should’ve known better. I know it didn’t start what happened to my neighbor’s family, but in ours, it wasn’t very pleasant after that either. It opened a rift in our family, between my mother and me that I never would’ve known could be there if I’d kept my mouth shut. But she was my mother, you know? I thought she’d be there for me. Her demeanor turned to ice as soon as I said the letters L-G-B-T and she asked me what they meant. The first thing she said, was, We will never talk of this again. I’m very disappointed in you.

Mom went on to say it wasn’t because I was a lesbian or whatever the hell transgender meant; it was because of the tattoo. I knew this was a lie. I only have the one small tattoo of a butterfly, a Richmond Birdwing butterfly to be exact, on my left breast. I never should have mentioned the topic of my sexual orientation or identity. I wasn’t even sure myself yet what or who I was. That had been the idea though, to discuss it with my mother, get her input, reason things out. Isn’t that what parents are for, to be there for you? To help you figure things out? It sure didn’t seem like that to me, though, for as soon as I brought up the subject, my confusion and fears, she sat back.

She set her coffee down carefully and went on, still calm, Miranda Rose, you’re a perfectly normal young woman with a growing interest in young men. You’re right on track. You should be out dating boys and going to movies, things like that, not spending your allowance mutilating your body with those ugly tattoos. What man will want you looking like that? How will you ever get a job? What will you tell your children? I don’t even want to be seen in public with you anymore. Here she stopped, sighed dramatically, and then her voice changed as it so often did, to a hiss. It’s such a shame. You’re such a beautiful young woman. Well, you were, she sniffed, delicately, as