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“What do you mean?” Prescott asked.
“I may not know the difference between a cow and a bull, but I do know the difference between a boy and a girl.”
Wade saw the boy’s face grow pale. He glanced at his sister confused. “What are you talking about?”
Kathleen’s bright smile dimmed once more and a puzzling frown creased her smooth brow. “You’re not serious?”
Wade kept the irritation he felt from showing on his face. “It’s far too early for riddles, Kathleen.”
Shock lit her eyes. “You are serious.”
“Kathleen,” he said in a low warning tone, barely keeping the disdain from his voice.
She sighed, but gave her oldest brother a warm, almost pitiful smile. “Wade, I’ve always felt you really have been living out here in the wilderness too long. You really ought to emerge yourself in more of a civilized culture. However, Prescott, I would have expected better.”
“What exactly are you going on about Kathleen?” Prescott’s frown accompanied his question.
She gestured toward the boy. “Your boy.”
“What about him?” Wade snapped, realizing his frustration was at a breaking point.
“Is a girl.”
Wade stared at his sister as if she had grown horns overnight, not clear if he even heard her correctly. It was Prescott that responded first. “Don’t be ridiculous, Kathleen. I think the boy knows whether he’s a boy or a girl.”
All three looked at the boy. His chin dropped and he stared at the floor. The first wave of numbness swept through Wade’s body. It felt like eternity, standing there waiting for a response from a mute boy. But none came forthwith.
A feeling of utter shock took hold of him. It felt as if he were dreaming and merely a spectator in a horrible performance. As the boy continued to remain completely still, his chin glued to his chest, his eyes downcast, Wade watched as his usually pale face grew even more ghastly white. A silent confirmation of his sister’s words.
A coldness swept over Wade.
“Oh my,” Kathleen said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Prescott shook his head in denial. “That can’t be true. Peter, tell her.”
But the boy continued to stare at the ground and did not reply.
“Peter?” A look of distress crossed his brother’s face as the realization of the truth finally sunk in. “Is it true? Are you a girl?”
Very slowly, the boy nodded. Prescott dropped down heavily in his chair. The visual admission was the trigger that snapped Wade out of his numb state. Anger flooded his veins as he thrust a hand through his neatly combed hair. “Why?”
But the girl who had been known up to that point as the boy, remained silent.
Kathleen observed her closely. “Perhaps she was frightened.”
“Of us?” Prescott sounded incredulous. “She came from far worse.”
“Prescott.” Kathleen sounded horrified at her brother’s implication.
Wade sighed heavily. “He’s not referring to the level of her class, but rather what happened in her village.”
His sister looked puzzled.
“We didn’t tell you the entire story.”
Her face turned serious. “Then I think you better.”
Wade looked at the girl. They hadn’t even told her what they had seen up on the mountain. He wondered if perhaps she knew and kept it a secret along with her identity.
