Confession

"Taking her to the ice-cream parlour?" Kathy looked at her husband doubtfully. "That may have worked when she was three and we wanted to talk to her about shoving peas up her nose, but it's hardly the place to talk to a 16 year old about her sexual orientation! I think we should do it here, at home."

Elliot had thought long and hard about the best time and place for "The Conversation" with Maureen. For days, he had weighed the pros and cons against each other. "If we do it at home, she could think we want to avoid having eye-witnesses when we kill her or that I want to lock her up in the basement until menopause..."

Kathy had to smile. "You worry too much."

The front door opened and seconds later, Maureen flopped down onto the couch. "Hi, Dad. You're home pretty early."

"Ahem... uh... yes..." Elliot drew a deep breath, squared his shoulders and prepared to earn the PFLAG-award for 'most supportive father of the year'. Suddenly, the words seemed to be missing from his brain and he wished he had prepared a speech like he wanted to before Kathy and Olivia talked him out of it.

"Maureen, you know we love you and you can talk to us about anything, don't you?" Kathy said, gently laying a hand on her daughter's knee.

"Sure." Maureen didn't miss a second. "Funny you should say that, Mum, because there's something I have to tell you..."

Kathy nodded supportively. "Okay."

"You have to promise me not to become upset!" Maureen fixed her glance on Elliot.

"Me?" Elliot pointed at his chest in a gesture of innocence. "Why should I become upset?" He had had a week to deal with the sight of his daughter kissing another girl and after a few sleepless nights, long conversations with Olivia and the purchase of half a dozen books about 'The Fine Art of Being Come Out To' he wasn't upset any more. Having a lesbian daughter, he decided, had its advantages: Seeing another pretty face across the table at family dinners instead of some unshaven mug; no teen pregnancies and no ugly divorce because of turned-up toilet seats.

Maureen only rolled her eyes.

Kathy smiled. "Would you feel better if we cuffed him to the coffee table, so he can't go berserk no matter what you tell us?"

"No, thanks." Maureen eyed her father. "I don't think the coffee table would hold him."

<Hey! Your sexual orientation is the topic here, not my temperament!> "You wanted to tell us something," reminded Elliot.

"Uh, yes..." Maureen bit her lip. "You know this movie I went to last week with some friends?"

Her parents nodded.

"Well... it wasn't really 'some friends' I went with. Actually, it was just one..."

"It was a date," said Elliot. His chest swelled, proud of his calmness.

Maureen shrugged. "I really didn't plan it... it just happened."

Elliot nodded knowingly. That was chapter two in the book he was just reading: No one chose to be gay. "That's okay," he assured.

Maureen looked at him as if he had just grown horns. "Let's see if you still say that when you meet..."

"I already have," said Elliot. "Well... kind of. I saw the two of you in the driveway friday night."

Maureen's eyes widened.

"It's okay," Elliot said once again, "we can't choose who we love."

"Oh, Daddy!" Maureen flung her arms around his neck. "Thank you for understanding! He's really not like he seems at first glance, really! He's so sweat and it wasn't his fault he was arrested at that demo!"

Elliot's practised smile wobbled. "Wait a moment... *he*?!?" He hadn't reached chapter 12, the part about transsexuals, yet. He wasn't prepared! Panic rose.

Maureen nodded proudly. "Tommy. Thomas Woodstock Buchanan. His parents were hippies."

Finally, Elliot understood: What he had seen was Maureen being kissed by a boy with long hair. He closed his eyes and counted to ten. Then to twenty. <God, some long-haired hippie! I want my pretty, basketball-playing daughter-in-law back!>

Kathy leaned her head against his shoulder and whispered in his ear: "I think, you need some new reading material, sweetheart."

END.