The XX Club: a memoir

The XX Club meets in the basement of Christ's Church in downtown Hartford, every second and fourth Saturday of the month. It's where you tell your deepest, darkest secret to someone you just met, learn all you can about becoming a woman, and if you are lucky your membership will expire in a year. If not, you could be there a long time, waiting for salvation, sitting around in an imperfect circle of folding-metal chairs, staring up at four rectangular windows that line the ceiling and watch the boots of the world throw mud up against the sordid panes. As one of the shadow people, you knew venturing out into the light would be dangerous. The odds were against you. Only one in six would make it out alive. The 1990's was a dangerous time to go against your Maker's design. A few of us made it out of the shadows, blended in, and became the woman she was meant to be.