18. Origin Story
When he turned 4, Young Tony — still Brighton at the time — had a Little Mermaid-themed birthday party.
Young Brighton’s parents were artists. When his mother, born to a couple of socialist philosophy professors in Mexico City, took British citizenship, both of his parents voted Labour. They cultivated and encouraged their son’s feminine sensibility. They took long walks and discussed his feelings on all sorts of topics, including his gender identity. He was a very masculine feminine being, they decided, after years of discussions.
His parents made mistakes, as young people do. Take for instance Young Tony’s Little Mermaid birthday. It was an extravagance of the most absurd kind. A paid actress was stranded in a chair at their local park, flapping her sequinned costume
