Read WEBCAM for Free Online

hermaphrodite,” Tom said.
    “True hermaphrodites are really rare. But Tanya could have any number of conditions.”
    “And you know so much about this because…?”
    “Trish is intersex.”
    Tom blinked. “Your girlfriend?”
    “She was born with CAIS. Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome.”
    Tom wasn’t sure what to say. “But she looks…”
    “Like a woman. I know. She looks completely like a woman. But Trish has a Y chromosome, and no ovaries. She has testes inside her.”
    “So… she has balls?”
    “Don’t be ignorant, Tom.”
    Tom spread his hands. “I’m not trying to be. I just don’t understand.”
    “Externally, she’s a woman. Got all the parts a woman does, except she can’t grow body hair. Internally, no ovaries. So she doesn’t have periods, can’t have children.”
    “Instead, she has testes.”
    Roy nodded. “Underdeveloped. They don’t make sperm.”
    “And you knew this all along?”
    “She told me on the first date.”
    It was a lot to absorb. “Roy, don’t take this the wrong way, but I never expected you to be so… progressive.”
    “Love is blind,” Roy said. “And the sex is incredible. Would you feel any different about Joan if she told you she was intersex?”
    Tom didn’t have to consider the question. “No. In fact, I’ll be honest; no periods would be nice.”
    “See,” Roy said, “you got to be a sexist dick. Here we’re having a high level conversation about gender, and you go for the cheap PMS joke.”
    “It’s not a joke. She’s like Lon Chaney Jr. during a full moon.”
    Roy didn’t crack a smile. “Why do I tell you these things when you just act like a fool?”
    “It’s not like I’m saying anything behind Joan’s back. She’d admit the same thing. Just because it’s a stereotype doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
    “So what stereotypes do you believe about black men?” Roy asked.
    “That you’re good basketball players, care too much about sneakers, and have big dicks.”
    “I find that offensive. In my case, all three happen to be correct. But I am offended for my smaller dick brothers who can’t hit the fadeaway jumper.”
    Tom laughed, and Roy stopped pretending to be irritated and laughed along.
    “Okay, you want the apartment or the M.E.?”
    “I’ll take the apartment. Meet you in two hours?”
    Tom nodded, they did a fist bump, and Roy walked off. For a moment, Tom thought about Trish. How she probably felt when all of her adolescent friends were getting their periods, and she didn’t. He could imagine her going to a doctor, getting the news that genetically she was partly male. Or all male. Tom still didn’t understand how that worked. But he did understand what it felt like to be told you were different from others .
    Being different didn’t feel good. But, to loosely paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, happiness was based on the choices we make, not the conditions we were born with.
    He considered all of Jefferson’s vast accomplishments, considered his own minimal contribution to humanity, and then got back to work.

CHAPTER 8
    1251… 1252.
    Kendal stood in front of her house, key in hand. She touched the doorknob three times, then unlocked it, let herself in, and blew out a stiff breath.
    Class had been uneventful, but Kendal hadn’t absorbed much of it because she’d been unable to stop thinking about the van that had followed her earlier. Walking back from the quad, she’d looked behind her so many times that her neck had begun hurting. Kendal hadn’t seen it again.
    Which made her wonder if she’d actually seen it in the first place. Which made her wonder if the hallucinations were back.
    She checked the mail bin next to the front door, took out two envelopes addressed to her, and walked past the den. Linda and Hildy were stretched out on the sofa, watching one of those movies where the heroine was in love with a hot, angsty teenage vampire who took his shirt off a lot.
    “Hey, slut, how was class?” Linda