Trains Gender and Nonbinary Expression

Alexis and Geoff

by Ellen Marie Dash

For most of Alexis' life, everyone around them assumed they were a boy. As if they could determine that based on a paint job — the paint job was arbitrarily decided upon by a lone worker, with no input from Alexis! How could they possibly know Alexis' gender?!

They never felt like a boy. But they never felt like a girl, either. They assumed they'd always just be a freak, looked down upon by those around them. But it seemed like everybody around them fit neatly into being a boy or a girl, and the vast majority of them agreed with their paint job. What gives?

Why is everything so hard?

Why can't I just be normal?

Then came along Geoff. Geoff didn't feel... exactly the same. But what they said made sense to Alexis. Where Alexis felt like a different gender entirely, Geoff felt like a mixture of both a boy and a girl. Where Alexis didn't fit in with either the boys or the girls, Geoff seemed to fit in with the girls. Although they were quick to point out they weren't one.

But most importantly to Alexis: Geoff asked everyone to use singular they when referring to them, too.

This blew Alexis' mind. Alexis had always assumed they were weird because of this. They always got uppity remarks about how singular they "doesn't make sense for one person," despite so many trains before them using it.

Bah!

Geoff made Alexis feel normal.

And for that they were grateful.