Icing on the Cake

~129~

I had to wait a few days for a flight to Sydney from Johannesburg, but that was fine. I just hung out in a hotel room. I was very thankful that I had the money to do this. I was also thankful I was no longer in a country that would kill people for being gay.

I was a foreigner in the United Arab Emirates when I was in Dubai. That’s why I wasn’t imprisoned. I later found out that because I was a foreigner, I was simply deported. I also found out that if I had left the airport and stepped foot on Dubai soil, I could’ve been arrested.

How can places actually treat people this way because of who they love?

After spending two days in Johannesburg and a long flight back to Australia mourning this reality, I decided that I was ready to celebrate Christmas with my family.

We had our reunited hug when I got home, and I vowed to never leave the country again. (But let’s be real, that’s not going to happen.) Later that night, Julia blind sided us by coming to us with a weird question.

“Are we go to church on Christmas?” She asked us.

Calum and I looked at each other. It had been a while since either of us had been in church. We were in one for Mali’s wedding that we sabatoged on purpose, but it had been a while since we had been there for a service. We went to a Christian school, and I can’t speak for Calum, but I still did have a Chrstian faith.

But Conservative Chrsitanity had left a bad taste in our mouths.

“We can.” I said.

Calum just nodded along.

“Look,” I said to Calum once we were alone. “My parents want me to come to church all the time. They also want to meet the twins. What if…we had them over for Christmas?”

“You want them to come over for Christmas?” Calum asked, shocked.

“Why not?” I said, figuring maybe I could try to pick up the pieces of my shattered family, and my shattered childhood.

"Okay." Calum said. "And I'll see if my family wants to come over too."

"That would be awesome!"

Notes