‘We’re just here to give you this.’
Jenny the influencer handed Quinn a basket with two bottles of wine, a box of candles, some books tied with green and red bows, and biscuits, all sitting on a bed of fake snow. As Quinn took it, he felt tears roll down his face. Wow! He needed to get his emotions in check.
‘You didn’t have to.’
‘We wanted to,’ Jenny said. ‘A few of us got together and tried to think of what we could do to help.’
‘You’ve done enough,’ Quinn said. ‘All of you. Honestly, I don’t know where I’d be right now without you.’
‘We’ve got our outfits ready,’ one queen said, then held out their hand. ‘It’s Penny Farthing, by the way.’
Quinn shook Penny’s hand.
‘Oh, we’re introducing with our drag names, are we?’ Another queen laughed.
‘Well, I didn’t think George would be as impressive,’ Penny said.
‘Well, in that case, I’m Ebeneezer Screwed, not John.’ Quinn shook the hand of Ebeneezer, who had a bald head and wore a trans flag pin on his denim jacket.
‘And I’m Santa Whores,’ the third queen said. ‘Hay’s very own gender bender. A pleasure to meet you.’
‘Again, thank you all so much.’
‘Will there be alcohol at the party?’ Ebeneezer asked.
‘Of course.’
‘And the protest?’ Penny questioned.
‘If you want there to be.’ Quinn shrugged. ‘Show up and fight for this shop. That’s all I care about.’
‘Oh, don’t you worry, we’ll all be there,’ Jenny said.
‘It’s going to be jolly and gay!’ Ebeneezer said.
With that, the three queens and Jenny headed away, promising to be the life and soul of both the protest and the party. Quinn turned to Ivy and Blair, who were leaning against Ivy’s car bonnet, talking. Ivy dusted fresh snow off Blair’s Hermes scarf. Too close for people who were just friends.
Quinn left them to … whatever they were doing and entered the shop. He was glad to be back in the warm and headed to the kettle to make himself a coffee.
‘Hi, Dan.’
‘Yo.’
He unwrapped the hamper, imagining the first sips of wine at the party. The stack of books was perfect: a couple of classics mixed with modern day romances. It surprised him to see they were books he didn’t own. It was hard to believe considering helovedto add more books to his ‘to be read’ pile.
At the bottom of the hamper, he found an envelope, sealed with a wax stamped seal. He touched it and…
Was that a penis?Quinn laughed. Snapping the waxed penis, he took out the letter, unfolded it, and felt the thick paper at his fingertips.
He gasped.
It couldn’t be.
ten thousand pound donationit said.
He continued to read the letter, amazed at the fundraising efforts by the three drag queens. In addition to the ten-thousand-pound donation, there was also a separate donation of five thousand, which had been raised by Jenny through her Instagram.
Quinn sank into his armchair, his legs unable to support him. He hadn’t kept up to date with his online donations. With shaking hands, he brought up the website on his phone, and saw that there was now a whopping 30,000. Scrolling through the donations, he saw people had donated from as far as Canada. Strangers who’d never been to the shop but wanted to see it survive.
