From My Despair-2
"Yes, Momma! But what about him loving me after what happened?"

"I don't know about Grant, Honey. He and his family are still in Europe on vacation," she admitted, then looked up at Daddy.

"Princess, if he is the Knight that I think that he is, Grant will be there for you and not let his Uncle Leroy's bitterness sway him," assured Daddy as he hugged me.

I felt safe and assured in his presence. When I came out to my parents, Daddy started treating me as his Princess and the spare room became mine.

"But Daddy, that man is the mayor's best friend and owns Frank Henshaw Motors, providing the city with its fleet of cars and trucks."

"So?"'How sweet for my Princess to put my welfare ahead of her own needs. Before she told us about herself, I already knew and accepted. That's why I had the spare bedroom made ready for her and turned the basement into a guy’s dorm, the attic into a ladies dorm for visitors.'

"He also has connections in the business community and can easily blackball anybody who crosses him," I admitted in fright.

Daddy chuckled, "Don't I know it, Princess. But as much of a tyrant that he can be, he and the mayor have someone who is their equal," he admitted with a smirk.

"Who, Daddy?"'Hate to toot my own horn, but she needs to know that she has very strong support.'

He pointed to himself, “Me."

"WHAT?"

"Princess, as an Eagle Scout, Scoutmaster, and Head Coach, I know the people who really run the city, that includes the criminal element." You're not involved with the people who deal in drugs and prostitution, are you?"

"No, I work with the homeless and drifters to make sure that they have food and shelter."

Then I remembered all of the people selling stuff at the stadiums and the Bay City Civic Center, "You mean those guys who sell all of those wonderful knick knacks?"

"Exactly. They make them in local church basements from donated supplies, or from items bought in bulk from TV offers."

"And just how does that make you as powerful as the mayor?"

"Simple really, with all of the people that I have helped by getting my friends to hire them and their donating their skills to help refurbish old homes for resale, I know who to call to stop anything the mayor wants to do."

"Really?"

"Yes. Remember how the mayor wanted to have Superintendent Wayne Gosford for expelling his sons from Bay City High School for possession of weed?"

"Yeah! The mayor made a bigger fuss about it than he did. In fact, it was the mayor who actually blabbed it to the media," I giggled as I saw where Daddy was heading.

"Yes, And because of that, the local media supported Wayne, forcing the mayor to relent and hire a tutor for his boys. Best of all, it got me on good terms with the media and the Bay City Police."

"How is that?"

"Commissioner John Elliot called in the FBI to investigate the Bay City Police for corruption, leading to an ongoing investigation throughout the city."

"That's way cool, Daddy. Just how fr has the investigation gone?"

Daddy smiled, "The FBI began digging into their files and working with the local media, have been able to clear most of the City's employees of corruption. In fact, only District Attorney Maxwell King's department is left."

"The department that will be handling any evidence in my case against those attackers?"

"Yes, if you choose to file a suit against them."

"Have the police been here to gather evidence?"

"Yes, and now that you have made your choice, the FBI will be providing you with much needed protection."

"But why do I need protection?"

"Because the mayor will do his damndest to stop you from testifying against his kids! But I have a way to help you, Princess."

"How is that?"
[*][*][*]
"He will either hire thugs, or have certain cops that do his dirty work for him. Either way, he will try to stop you."

I began to laugh as madness overtook me. Here I was, a pre-operative transsexual woman who had been brutally raped by students infamous for their escalating acts of criminal mischief that culminated in my assault.

"Terri?" asked Momma as Daddy held my convulsing form.

I was laughing so hard that I looked as if I was having an epileptic seizure. My brother and I both have a genetic predisposition for Epilepsy because Momma and Daddy each have the dormant genetic tag for Epilepsy, but as long as neither of us suffers a trauma, we will not have any seizures.

"Sorry, Momma. But the very idea of that person: Mayor Anthony Thorpe actually caring enough for those vermin to put a price on my head struck me as a most bitter irony," I explained in a whisper.

Daddy shook his head slowly with a grim look on his face, "It's all for his benefit, not his sons who are not even his," he said.

"WHAT?"

"Mayor Anthony Thorpe contracted testicular cancer while in college. I should know, Doctor Anton Bell was the surgeon who operated on him," Daddy grinned.

"You mean that the very same surgeon who runs the Bay City Medical Center?" Momma asked.

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"Simple, he might have been rewarded for what he did for Mayor Thorpe by supposedly saving his sperm so that the Mayor could sire children, but his sperm was sterile."

"Then whose children are they?"

"Deputy Mayor Augustus Sebastian Reinaldo's"

"You mean to tell me that those boys are related to the Mayor's first cousin?" I asked in awe.

"Yes, but I seriously doubt that he knows for sure."
[*][*][*]
Then what Daddy said hit me like a ton of bricks. I began to shake from another seizure as the news overloaded my over stressed brain.

Augustus Sebastian Reinaldo was related because their grandfather Olsen Bartholomew Thorpe had a son, (the mayor) and a daughter: Cheryl Anne Thorpe who married Augustus Sebastian Reinaldo and died in childbirth. In order to continue the legacy and prevention of Olsen Bartholomew Thorpe from being liquidated and given to charity, Mayor Anthony Thorpe must sire a son according to the will of Olsen Bartholomew Thorpe.

How could any man not want to know if his children were his or not? Was Daddy unique in his love for us??

Daddy looked over at me and sighed, "I myself cannot fathom why Mayor Anthony Thorpe nor Deputy Mayor Augustus Sebastian Reinaldo continue with the charade, because there is evidence that they both know," he said as he left for work.

"You better go take a shower and wash up honey. You're father is livid, especially after hearing who attacked you. Please, go change after a good hot, soaking shower."

"OK, Momma, I do feel super yucky."

"Good, because your daddy doesn't want to see you like this."

"Why not?"

"Because he feels that he has failed you"

"WHAT?"

"He feels that he should have taught you how to defend yourself, or made sure that you had an escort to your car."

"What will he do now?"

"Teach you how to fight, I promise you that much."

"Didn't do any good for me, did it? I know Judo and Karate, but I couldn't defend myself when I needed to."

"True, but you were not taught to rely on yourself, which your daddy feels is his fault since he taught you and your brother."

"Well, I'm not changing, Mother. I've been raped; I have to deal with it! I refuse to stop being myself!"

Momma hugged me, "That's the spirit!"
[*][*][*]
I got into the shower and cleaned my body as best I could, but found that anything touching my backside caused extreme pain. I knew that it was psychological on my part because I'd been laying and sitting down. Pretty soon, I had overcome that hurdle by not giving in, but what other obstacles did I have to face?
[*][*][*]
My dad, as angry as he was, never touched me. I knew that he was saving his anger for those who deserved it, even himself. I couldn't let him condemn himself for what happened to me, nor to Momma. So, I hugged him, which surprised him enough so that he sat down. I got in his lap like I used to do when I was littler.

"Daddy, forgive yourself for me. OK?"

"But Punkin, I failed you."

"No, you didn't! Nor did you fail Momma!"

He looked at me as if I was a Life Guard and he was floundering in calm water, "She told you about it. I knew that she would," he sighed as he firmed his resolve.

"Daddy, you are our Knight in Shining Armor."

"Thank you, Punkin. Do you know what your mother went through? The humiliation?"

"Not really, no."

"After her rape, the police and ER did their job. But when she got home, her dad stood there looking like she was trash."

"MY God! What sort of person was he?"

"Terri, he was a dogmatic Baptist. He saw her as a whore because she wore those short skirts."

"WHAT! Momma's skirts are just above the knee!"

"Yes, and that's how she always dresses. But he was a very firm believer in Puritan ethics and mores."

"Meaning that because Momma didn't dress like she was back in yesteryear, he saw her as a slut."

"Yes, she still wearing the blood stained clothes, hair a mess, and makeup streaked, waiting for the first blow."

"Did he hit her?"

"No, but his words were just as bad. He called her a harlot, seductress, and accused her of wanting it rough."

"Did nobody defend her?"

"Yes, me and her mother. Once it became apparent that his god was more important than his daughter, her mother filed and was granted a divorce."

"DAMN! Now I know why we never have paid our respects in any fashion. But what about Grandma Morgan?"

"She still alive. But her mind went thanks to Alzheimer. Right now, she remembers nothing."

"When did it start?"

"Soon after you were born, as if she was keeping the disease at bay until she knew that you were alright."

I looked him in the eye, "No, Daddy, she finally gave up her memory so that she could forget the horrors that she'd seen and experienced."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because a beast, such as the person that sired children upon her would not show any remorse, only anger over divorce."

"Is there a way for her to return?"

"I don't know, Daddy. Perhaps if she was to find out that the mayor was behind bars that may be enough."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, except for his supporting those boys, he has a clean record. Right?"

"True. He has been a stalwart politician who has not been involved in any schemes to personally benefit himself, or others or defraud the city in any way. If he was, we'd have stopped him long ago."
[*][*][*]
Then I saw my brother enter in looking good in his scruffily jeans, sneakers, red sweat shirt with a Star Fleet Engineering logo and his Letterman Jacket.

"BRO!" I yelled as he caught me in a bear hug.

"Hiya, Squirt. I see that you're making sure that Momma has to use her Woolite on her blouses, again," he teased. I was always one to cry while watching a good movie.

"Tommy, have you taken care of things?" asked Daddy.

"What things?"

"Terri, your Daddy asked for your brother Tommy Todd to pick up your school assignments until the end of the semester for you," Momma told me as he handed me the first of many sheets of typed paper. In order to save funds, the Board Of Education had decide to purchase a limited number of books and have students use electronic books filled with the correct text books with an up sweep in student's grades.

So far, enough savings had been done to pay for a Student Center near City Hall with a Student Center being planned for each school.

"Thanks! I totally forgot about classes. Now I can keep up with my schoolwork."

"You do that Sissy. I can't have you dropping out on our contest to see which of us is the Valedictorian and which of us is the Salutatorian, this year.' challenged Tommy Todd.
[*][*][*]
End Of Part Three
To Be Continued In My Despair-4