Benny simply lay there in bed for a while, reassuring himself that it was only a dream. Still, he couldn't stop shuddering for quite a while. Finally, his eyes drifted shut and he went back to sleep.
He opened his eyes, groggily, and looked at the clock. 9:30!? He was going to be late for school! Scratch that, he was late! Nearly panicking, he raced downstairs, still in his pajamas. His mother was in the kitchen, scrambling some eggs for Jenny, who was sitting at the table, reading a book.
"Good morning, dear," his mom said. "Sleep well?"
"Mom!" Benny yelped, "it's nine-thirty! I'm late for school!"
"Oh, no, dear," his mother replied. "Remember? You're not going back to school until we get this resolved. I delivered our letter of intent to homeschool to the school district this morning. I still have to buy curricula, though, so it'll be a few days before you and Jenny start doing schoolwork again, so you'll have some time to just adjust to the ways things are for now. How do you want your eggs?"
"Over-easy," Benny replied. "So...we get to just stay home now? Seriously?"
His mom nodded, dumping Jenny's eggs onto a plate and cracking a couple into the pan for Benny. "We're just fortunate your father makes enough for us to live off one income, or God knows what we'd have to do to keep this under wraps."
They had a nice quiet breakfast, after which Jenny went off to her room to play.
"Benny," his mom said, "I know this has been hard for you to accept, and that's perfectly understandable. But your outburst last night made it clear that a lot of your problems come from looking at boys and girls in a very stereotyped way. That's understandable for your age, but it's going to make things a lot more stressful for you if you keep looking at things that way. So I'd like to clear some things up for you. Men and women aren't really as different, inherently, as kids your age think they are. Not all girls dress or act in a stereotypically 'girly' fashion, and nobody's going to expect you to. If you find that wearing girls' clothes is something you like, that's fine, but we're not going to make you. And your worries about getting married are pretty ill-founded, too. Not everybody has a need to be in a romantic relationship; there are men and women out there who stay single their entire lives, and they do just fine. The differences in your body are going to take some adjusting, especially if you do begin to develop like a girl, but that doesn't mean you have to try to change who you are because of it. Your father and I love you for who you are, not what you are, and that's the way you should see yourself, too." She embraced her son, who was sniffling again as he pressed himself into her shoulder.
