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the problem you are sharing with us Andrea?’ queried the moderator. “Is it your problem or Cindi’s problem?”
    “Well it certainly isn’t my problem and I don’t want to talk about it,” answered Andrea.
    “Anyone want to comment?” asked the moderator. Jane was the first to speak up.
    “This is really weird Andrea. I don’t get it. Cindi is a real decent person. She is not the devil in sheep’s clothing,” she said.
    “Yes she is. She’s the devil,” Andrea retorted.
    “You used the pronoun she Andrea.” Jim chimed in. “You already have made the first step to accepting Cindi for who she is.”
    Andrea pulled her hands away from her face and glowered at Jim. “How dare you!” she screamed. “I do not acknowledge her, she is evil!”
    “There you go again.” Jane said .
    “You know you are right.” Another woman added. “How many of us know Cindi as a man? Or who among us think of her as a man?”
    I realized that none of them had really noticed me when I first arrived. They had never seen “David”. They knew only Cindi. This was indeed an interesting turn of events.
    “Andrea,” Jane started, “do you see Cindi as a man or as a woman?” “She looks like a woman to me but she said that she was a man this morning.”
    “ So when you look at her, what do you see?” interrupted the moderator.
    Andrea turned her glowering face in my direction and looked at my chin. “I guess she looks like a woman.” Andrea stated coldly.
    Another member of the group asked “Well Andrea, you do see her as a woman. What is evil in that?” “I don’t know,” she said.
    I could take it no longer. “Andrea, I know that we have known each other for only a short period of time. We had a wonderful time last night. Believe me, I am the same person. I am not evil incarnate. I will not tempt you with any sinful act. Remember what Jesus said when the Pharisees asked him what was the most important commandment? He said that the most important laws were to love god and then thy neighbor. He also implied that all of the othe r commandments were based on tho se two. It seems to me if we all were to obey these two commandments, the others would not be necessary.” I went on , “believe me. I have had to deal with this same problem of “being evil” with myself. For years, with every waking moment, I thought myself to be a horrible sinner. An authority of the church told me my sin was second only to murder. Can you imagine how I have felt facing this awesome thing every single moment of my life? I want to be your friend Andrea. I know you have tried to commit suicide. So have I. None of you know this yet but I have tried twice. On the second attempt I actually hung myself and kicked away the stool.”
    Andrea lifted her eyes and looked at me, not my chin, but me. Understanding washed over her. “You tried to kill yourself too?” she asked.
    “Yes, I did. And at this most difficult time in my life, I think that I can honestly say that I’m glad that both attempts failed. After all, I was able to meet you and share a few hours of joy last night with you. I’m glad that I had those moments.”
    Andrea burst into tears and immediately left the room.
    The moderator looked to the ceiling as if she were saying “here we go again.” Please hold on and I’ll be right back. She was gone for a bit longer than in our earlier session. She returned with Andrea hanging on her arm. In her left hand, Andrea, held crumpled tissue. With her swollen eyes she apologetically acknowledged me.
    “Andrea, do you have something that you’d like to tell the group?” asked the moderator.
    “Yes,” she said and then followed an uncomfortable pause as she wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “I’m sorry for blowing up like that. I will try to be nicer. I don’t understand all of this but that is why I am here. Please do not try to change my religious beliefs.”
    “Thank you Andrea,” said the moderator. Would anyone like to