Written to clare_dragonfly‘s Prompt to my gender-funk call. More gender than funk, but still fun

“Excuse me, Miss, you can’t – Oh. Oh, excuse me.” He wasn’t really recognizing her; he wasn’t even reading the name on her pass. He was just looking at the green bar across the top of it that meant “money.”

“No worries. Here.” Andy fit the hard hat – custom-made and screaming of “money” as much as her pass did – over her ringlets. “The boots are steel-toed and, yes, I can climb in these jeans.”

“I’m sorry, Miss, Ma’am, it’s just…”

“I know.” She air-patted near the man’s shoulder. It wasn’t kind, she supposed, but she’d run into this enough times that it had gone from amusing to just tiresome and back again. “Look, I’m Andonia Carter, and this is my building. I just need to get up to the third row of balconies, all right?”

He looked flummoxed. They always did. She’d found if she was going to do this job, it was the only way to get what she wanted without sacrificing anything she didn’t want to lose.

“Ma’am, Miz Carter, you can go right up. I’m sorry, it’s just…”

“It’s always just.” She patted her ringlets, just to hammer home the point, and swung into the construction elevator. She’d have to go through it again tomorrow, probably – but eventually, word would get around.

It would have been easier to just dress like they did… but then she’d never make an impression at all.

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