Previously

Jenny said “When will you be coming to our school Carla? Can't wait to have my special friend in the same class with me.”

I replied “Mummy is sorting that out in the next couple of days.”

Tomorrow we would be going to the Lutheran church and so would Daddy with Father Brian’s blessing.

Sunday 21/6/59
~~~~~~~~~~

Daddy, Mummy, Rita and I all went to the Lutheran church service that morning so we would be used to the way things were done before Mummy and Daddy's wedding on September the fifth. It was surprising how much the people of that church made us feel so welcome. I was asked to join the church choir which is what I did because I can actually sing. Just ask Ginger and Goldie, they sing along with me!

There were six girls and three boys in the choir and they all went to the state school that I would be going to. So I had already made some friends at church before I even went to school. I didn't expect too many problems with going to the girls' toilets because girls sit to pee and the toilets all have doors on the cubicles, but to make sure till I settled in, I would ask Jenny to be with me when I had to go to the loo. Jenny knew all about my little medical problem and she had seen what I looked like down there.

Last time she stayed overnight for a sleep-over, she asked if she could see what all the fuss was about and we both got in the shower together. She said that I didn't look a lot different to her apart from having a larger clitoris than she had and we both stood in front of a full length mirror to see if I could get away with being in a girls dressing room. She said as long as I didn't go prancing around no-one will take any notice because I didn’t have any testicles so there was nothing hanging down between my legs. Doc Rose said I was inter-sexed and would be able to have surgery to make everything look right when I stopped growing.

Jenny wasn't at church that day but she is Lutheran and would be going the next Sunday, so I would have my best friend there as well. It was a pity that Ricky went to the Catholic church but at least he was going to the state school. I didn't know what I would do if I was in the same class as him because I didn't think I'd be able to concentrate on any school work with him being so close.

I was asked to stay back after the service to see if I could sing well enough to be in the choir and Shelly, the minister's wife would drive me home after we were done.

I was definitely going to be in the choir so I thought I must ring Samantha that night and do a bit of bragging because she was also in her school choir. Anyway Shelly drove me home just in time for lunch and Mummy invited her to have lunch with us. She said she might as well because Jeff was out at some meeting or other and wouldn't be home anyway. I liked Shelly, she always seemed to be laughing.

The man had built the tower for the antenna and Daddy somehow got the television to be delivered on a Sunday. It worked out that the guy had his car in for repairs at Daddy's garage so Daddy talked him into setting everything up as well. Daddy gave Uncle Tony a call and he was there in a few minutes. He must have run all the way but than it was only a few houses away from us. The television was working within an hour and they sat there the rest of the day watching silly replays of football.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon when Barry Smith, Ricky's Dad turned up and wanted to talk to me. I thought I was in trouble for kissing Ricky and said, “I'm sorry I wont do it any more Mr Smith. I didn't mean to get Ricky into trouble by kissing him.”

“Oh Carla, you and Ricky aren’t in any trouble, but you shouldn't be kissing at your age. No, I am here to have a bit of a chat with you about going to school on Tuesday. Because it is a student-free day I thought I would get you and your Mum to come in and meet with your teacher before you start. What do you say to that?”

I replied, “Wow I like that! I have been doing extra school work so I was not behind in anything, but I am no good at maths.”

He replied, “What's new? Ricky needs help with that as well.” I sang out to Mummy and said we had a visitor. She was still in the kitchen talking with Shelly, and she came out and said, “Is Carla in trouble? What have her and Ricky been up to?”

Barry laughed and said “Donna, they are not in any trouble. They are both good kids.”

Barry then explain what was going on and asked Mummy to come down to the school with me the next day and see if my level was what the School of the Air said was correct. So I would have to do a bit of a test to see how I went and if I could be put in grade five.

Mummy said, “I can guarantee that she is well and truly good enough to be in grade five. I have made sure she has kept well in front with all her school work Barry. What time do you want us there in the morning?”

Barry said, “Nine o”clock will be fine. Her teacher is a man by the name of Peter Taylor and yes he has been informed about Carla's medical problem and is fine with that. He has a gay son so he will not tolerate any nonsense from his pupils.”

After he finished talking to me and Mummy he went into the lounge and watched the football with the rest of the men. Aunty Bella, Mummy and Rita started to sort out the Sunday night dinner, and seeing Barry was already here he was asked to give Helen a call and tell them to come over as well.

Helen Ricky and Peter all turned up fifteen minutes later and all walked into the lounge to have a look at the new television set working. Ricky gave me a quick hug and and then sat down with his eyes glued to the football game that was on the television. So much for coming to see me, his girlfriend ''sigh.''

Rita had the same happen to her with Peter and looked at me and said “Men! All they think about is their tummy and football.” and we both went into the kitchen to help with getting the dinner prepared.

Mummy and Rita were spending more time at home those days because Alice, her Mum Jenny, and Linda were coping pretty well on their own most days, so Mummy and Rita could have more of a home life.

The dinner was a roast lamb with baked potatoes and vegetables and a special gravy that Aunty Bella made, but was keeping the recipe a secret or so she said. Of course Mummy was watching her pretty closely while she was making it and said to Aunty Bella, “I'm not watching! Honest!” with a grin on her face. I called out to Ricky to help me set the table but got no response and had to stand in front of the television set to get his attention and when I did that there was a lot of “Hoy!! Get out of the way Carla. We can't see the ball play in the scrum.”

I didn't move till Ricky said, “Ok ok, I'm coming.”

I replied, “I should think so. What is more important, helping me or that silly football game?“

Ricky replied, “Um Carla, can I answer that later?” He got a slap on the arm for that and told to get to work or he wouldn't be able to go back in to the lounge to finish watching the game.

Aunty Belle said, “At least the men don't get under our feet when there is a game to watch on the telly,” with a grin on her face. The table was set and Mummy went in and without warning turned the television off and said “Alright, dinner is ready. This is your captain speaking! To the table now!”

All the men said “Yes ma’am, sir.'' and came to the table to have dinner. Before I went to bed I rang Samantha and talked to her till Mummy said, “Ok Carla, say 'bye to Sam, it's bed time”

I ended the call and told Sam I would call her in a couple of days to let her know how I was getting on at school.

Monday.
~~~~

Rita and Daddy went off to work and left me and Mummy go to the school to get me sorted out with the the man that was going to teach me. I was to join the fifth grade so I would have to do a written test to see if I could cope with the work . We arrived at the school and because it was a student free day all was quiet.

I said, “Mummy, I feel a bit nervous about this and I just hope Jean is going to help me out with the test.

Jean was in my mind and said, “Carla I am here! Stop worrying we will be fine.”

I said out loud, ''We!!” I could hear her have a giggle and then she was quiet. “Grrrrr.”

We walked to the main administration office and Barry was talking to a middle aged man with a pleasant face and said, “Come in Donna and Carla. This is Peter Taylor. He will be your teacher Carla, as long as you pass the test we are giving you this morning, and I am sure that you will do well because I know that you have helped Ricky out with his social studies project a couple of times.”

I kept quiet and Mummy said, “Carla's maths need to improve but she is well ahead in everything else.”

Barry then said, “Carla, the students address the men teachers as 'sir' and the lady teachers as 'Miss' or 'Mrs' if they are married, and I know you are a very respectful nine year old, so you shouldn't have any problems fitting in to a normal school environment.”

Mr Taylor said “Donna, it's nice to see such a well behaved little girl as part of our school, and by the way I have been informed about Carla's medical problem. You can rest assured that there will be no problem while I am at this school. All the kids know that if there is any kind of bulling or bad behaviour they will be in big trouble.”

“So,” Mr Taylor continued, “Donna, if you want to leave Carla with me you can come back in a couple of hours to take her home.”

Barry then said, “Hang on Donna. Before you take off, there are some papers to be signed and then you can be on your way.”

I gave Mummy a hug and a kiss and went to a classroom to sit for the test.

I said, “Sir, will I be able to sit next to my friend Jenny tomorrow because I am really nervous about being at school with so many other kids?”

He replied, “Carla that has already been arranged, and Brenda and June will be allowed to be next to you as well. I know it will be strange for you after all these years of home and School of the Air teaching, but you will be fine ok?”

I said, “Yes sir.” and then he gave me some papers and a pencil and rubber and said, “Carla take your time. This is not a time trial. I am just trying to gauge how far advanced you are in this school year. If you have any questions I’m right here at my desk as though I have a full class.”

I got down to do the test. Most of it was pretty easy but I was sure there was some spelling mistakes in there somewhere. The maths wasn’t too bad either, I think Mummy must have been giving me harder sums on purpose the last couple of months, because the ones in my test were easy to do.

I finished in one and a half hours and did not have to ask for any help with anything in the test so I said at the end, “Sir, I have finished now. What do I do?”

He looked up from the papers he was correcting and said “Well Carla you did that in good time so lets see what you have done shall we?” He said if I wanted I could go to the toilet and have a look around the rest of the school and also say Gday to some of the other teachers, and to give him half an hour to look at what I have done and come down to Mr Smith's office and we would discuss my test there. I had a walk around the rest of the school and said “Hello” to a couple of teachers and went back to the main office and Mummy was there as well,

I knocked on the door and waited to be asked to come in.

Barry said, “Carla, it looks like you will be able to start tomorrow. You have passed the test with flying colours.”

I was speechless, and Mummy said, “Congratulations, sweetheart it looks like I did a good job with home schooling you.”

I replied, “Thank you sir and sir.”

They both laughed when they heard me say the double sir, and Mr Taylor said, “That's a new one. You are welcome Carla. I think I’m going to enjoy having you in my class.” He then said, “Donna you have a very well behaved little girl and she has been through a lot. We will make sure she fits in. She already has some good friends who I’m sure will look after her so, Carla I will see you in class tomorrow morning.”

I said, “Thank you sir.” and shook his hand. He smiled at me and gave me a wink.

I then had to have a school uniform and school text books which were a little bit different from the home books that I was used to.

So Barry said to Mummy, “Donna, you and Carla can come with me down to the store room and we can sort the book situation out with second hand books because it is getting close to the end of the school year and it would be a waste of money buying a full set of new books.”

I said, “What about the uniform?”

Barry replied “Carla, one of the lady teachers has a selection of hand me downs but I think I know you well enough that you wont be happy wearing someone else’s clothes, or am I wrong?”

Mummy answered before I could and she said, “Barry, I think we can splash out for our little Carla this time don't you?”

He replied, “Of course! Sorry young lady.” and gave me a smile and a wink. I just blushed red and was tongue tied for once in my life.

We went with Barry to the school stores room and got my necessary books and left to get my uniform at Mary's dress shop. Mummy must have rung her or been there while I was doing the test because there were uniforms all laid out on a table next to the change room.

Mummy said, “Right young lady, down to your undies and lets get this over with so I can get back to work.” I did as I was told and was given the uniform to try on and to my surprise it fit me perfectly.

Mary said, “Darling, I keep all the measurements from my customers in a book so I knew what to layout before you came in.”

Mummy said “Don’t you look smart Carla?” and I went to a full length mirror and did a twirl and. I said, “I look just like Jenny in her uniform.” and as I said that Jean was in my head saying, “We look cute don't we?” I don’t know what Mary thought but I started talking to Jean out loud as if she was there with me in the shop.

Mary looked at Mummy and said, “It's alright Donna, I know all about our twin soul girl, I think most of the town is fascinated by your little Carla.” Mummy bought me two uniforms complete with shoes, school jumpers, and the school colour ribbons to use for my hair.

When we got home, Jenny and her Mum Jan was there waiting for us and because it was close to lunch time Mummy said, “Come on Jan, while these two have their mutual admiration society we can get in the kitchen and get us some lunch.” Jenny was jumping up and down and could hardly contain herself as she gave me a hand to carry all my school stuff into my bedroom, the only thing that I did not have was a school bag but Jenny ran back out to the car and came back with one of her old ones and said, “That is why I talked Mummy into coming around to see what you looked liked in the school uniform.” so I striped of and put the uniform on and did all the twirls and curtseys to show Jenny how I looked.

She said that most of the girls including herself wore their hair in a high ponytail so I put my long blond hair up and put the blue and white ribbons in to hold it and had a look in the mirror with Mummy and Jan standing at the bedroom door looking amazed at how much older I looked in the school attire. We had lunch and Mummy went off to work, Jenny stayed and her Mum said she would pick her up later when she was sick of trying on clothes all afternoon .She gave us both a hug and said “Have fun girls” and left.

Tuesday, 23/6/59
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My first day at a normal school, I rode my bike like most of the kids did in Quilpie and was greeted by Jenny, Brenda, June, and also Ricky which made me feel at ease because there were at least two hundred and fifty students going to this school and quite a lot of them came in by bus from the surrounding district.

It all felt a bit strange and I was quite nervous as the parade ground assembly was held every morning and was addressed by Barry who was the Principal of the school. Once he had the business of the day discussed he said, “We have a new girl starting in grade five today please make her feel welcome.” Then we all marched to our classrooms with music over a loud speaker.

There are thirty kids in my class and most of them gave me a smile but there were some boys who gave me a funny look but I just ignored them and went on to sit next to my friends in the class.

To be continued.

Next time: First day nerves; some bullying from a boy, and tears.

Please leave a comment.