Just Like Yesterday (part 5)

Now that all the sweet niceness is out of the way, let's get down to the real story. - Tina wasn't born into the crim way of life, but it was around her as she grew up in a working-class suburb of Christchurch. Her mother's first husband had been a criminal. A friend's father was a barrister. One day he told her a joke his Dad had shared with him: while walking down the halls of the courthouse, the prosecutor made a crack: 'I saw your client on the Maori news last night!' 'Oh yeah, which news is that?' 'Police Ten-7.' That's the tone of humour that permeated Christchurch, a city that prided itself on being more English than the English. A town of haves and have-nots separated by geography: a long, flat strip of former swamp. - The gambler husband remarried, then him and his wife were both incarcerated, meaning that Tina's mother whangaied their twin daughters [that's for real .. yes, I had sisters 👋] - Tina's older siblings, half-brothers, were both reckless and wild. Driving at almost 200kph to Mt. Hutt one year, then bootleg movies and TV shows, boy racing in that Subaru Impreza ... and they were both stoners. - She spent high school in the fancy part of town; music ran in her family. Lots of jerks. Lots of wasted lunchtimes playing poker or chess or PSP. Lots of music. Lots of uncomfortable feelings. - After uni, Tim decided that he'd had enough of his male life, and Tina was born. It wasn't all smooth sailing. Tina found it hard to get a job, and fell into the drug scene as a way of making ends meet. Sean had introduced her to some people, and that got her through a few years. It's a hard life, though. Tina had befriended a couple that were also experienced in illicit markets and they'd gone in on a flat together. Three months later, they were at each other's throats; the couple turned on Tina, abusing and assaulting her. There wasn't anywhere she could go. One night, she ran across town in her pyjamas, fearing for her life. Tina had paid all the bills, but they wound up with the place. - After that, she'd thought of sex work, which was probably safer as it was decriminalised. That's not her natural inclination, though; Tina's more of a glamour queen. - Private teaching was easiest. Tina found that the stigma around young men as teachers was intense enough, but as a trannie it was spooky. She never had job security, and it felt like each lesson was do or die. However, this was Wellington: a gay city with lots of gay kids. She survived from those parents, and some random people that wanted her high-level knowledge. Sean had opened up a room in his place, which he'd inherited from an old auntie, and Kāpiti had been a refreshing change of pace. - Romantically, Tina's life was a nightmare. Jade might be the girl that this story is all about, but Tina had several women that were interested, and several that they were pursuing. Even a few men. But after the way she was sexualised when she came out, Tina wasn't ready for any of those things to become real, creating an avoidant pattern that had won her a lot of enemies. Her former flatties had told her to get used to being objectified, but she thought that was some regressive thinking from the paranoid fringe of the drug world. Her own mother had told her that femininity had to do with being dominated by men (her mum was butch). She thought that was internalised misogyny. And the internalised transphobia meant that few people could see Tina as a mature, sophisticated person; all they saw was a freak. And, sometimes, that's all she saw too...