Encounters with animals! The monkeys srike back but help comes from an unexpected source - India! See for yourself....

Easy As ....you know the rest.
by: me again, couldn't sleep.
part: who's counting.

The next morning, I awoke from my troubled night with tired eyes, however, I wasn't quite as fragile as my two house mates. It was quite funny banging dishes and doors and seeing the response. Stella's was the more enjoyable, she actually chased me with a knife at one point, except running made her head ache even more.

At eight thirty I called Dr Thomas and was put through to her herself, much to my surprise. "Hello Dr Thomas."

"Hello, its's Cathy Watts, I'd like to make and appointment to see Dr Thomas. As soon as I can, please."

"Hello, Cathy, it's Dr Thomas."

"Hi, doctor, can I make an appointment to see you, I need your advice."

"It sounds urgent, is it?"

"Pretty urgent, I suppose."

"Let me see, I am absolutely solid today, how about tomorrow....can you come in early, say at eight?"

"Gosh, you start early," I gasped.

"Only when I need to, can you make it or not?"

"I'll be there doctor."

"Good, I'll have some coffee on."

"Thank you."

"Tomorrow then."

I counted myself lucky that such a busy person was prepared to put herself out for me. I decided to take her some flowers or a little thank you gift.

Breakfast was a slice of fresh bread with some jam and copious cups of tea. Stella was muttering and drinking water with soluble aspirins, and Simon was still prone in his bed.

I helped get him up and dressed and left the two hangover sufferers to go into uni and from there to my room. Simon wanted me to stay with them, but I told them I needed to do some work.

Once at the lab, I discovered I had three students who wanted to take part in my study project, two girls and a boy. I left messages for them to contact me. I cleared out my cupboard of the remains of the last night I did field work.

The book, my records, or what was left of them I dumped in the bin along with the remains of my rucksack and the image intensifier. I had no stomach to go out on my own to the woodland sites, unless it was in daylight and even then I felt scared.

I'd arranged a tutorial with Judy and we met as scheduled. I found us a small room that was free for a couple of hours. She brought me her work and I realised we had quite a lot to do to help her catch up. Amazingly, she was okay with the maths, the bit that always tripped me up, it was the biology that seemed to overwhelm her. Takes all sorts I suppose. She was a mathematician essentially from her A levels, she hadn't done any biology since her GCSE levels, and that was pretty scant.

"Why did you want to do zoology? It looks as if mathematics is your bag?" I asked her over a cuppa.

"Dunno, it all got a little too abstract and I wanted to help fight global warming. I saw something about Professor Agnew in the paper and decided I wanted to study under him."

"Well it's a good department, and I hope will have an impact on understanding climate change through its effects on habitats and those in turn of the mammals living there."

"Do you think it's too late to turn things around?"

"I don't know, it's not my job to decide that, only to feedback what I can from my own study. But the bigger the overall picture, the more understanding there will be. So it all helps."

"Yeah I guess," she sighed and we went through her difficulties. I felt they weren't insurmountable, just time consuming. We set up the next meeting and I set her some prpearation to do beforehand, rewriting an essay which had got poor marks. We were going to resubmit each of them after I'd helped her understand the processes each explored.

"I like working with you," she said, "you take your time to make sure I understand, like having a big sister."

"Don't you have any siblings?" I asked.

"No, Mum and Dad decided they only wanted one child and to give me all they could. Unfortunately no one asked me what I wanted, which was a sister, or even a brother."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

"Dad said your mum died recently."

"Yes, about a month ago."

"I'm sorry, it must be tough."

"Well, these things happen but my father having a stroke hasn't helped."

"Oh my goodness, that's awful."

"Yeah, for him it is, he was quite active before, at present he's still awaiting full assessment at Southmead."

"How often do you get to see him?"

"I try and get up weekly, make him some soup and bread. He won't eat hospital food if he can help it."

"Do you like cooking?"

"It's okay, my fiance seems to enjoy it."

"You're engaged?" She looked startled, then blushing said, "Is that like to a man or a woman?"

"I'm a woman, okay?" she nodded with open mouth. "So I'm engaged to a lovely man who wouldn't take no for an answer."

"Like wow! Have you got a ring yet?"

"Not yet, he only put the thumbscrews on yesterday. I wanted to wait until I'd got my doctorate, he wanted to go ahead. I weakened."

"So this like happened yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Oh wow, congratulations." She jumped up and hugged me, kissing me on the cheek.

"Yeah, can you keep this under your hat. I have enough to deal with at the moment."

"Yeah, course I will."

"Go on clear off, you'll be late for your lab work," I gently scolded her.

The rest of the day I spent working on my survey, playing with figures, it looked as if my colonies were increasing in size albeit slowly. That left me feeling happy as I drove back to my room. The mail box soon dissipated that feeling, I recognised another poison pen letter.

I'd pinched some latex gloves from the lab and put them on before opening the letter.

'Hello Sissyboy,
Still prancing about in girly clothes then? Not for much longer though. The day of reckoning is coming, and the count down has started.

An ill-wisher'

I placed it in a plastic sandwich bag to hand to the police tomorrow.

The other mail was boring bills or junk. I decided to pop to the shop to get some fresh milk and ironically some bread. Simon had consumed all of the loaf I'd baked helped by Stella and my own couple of slices.

I was wearing jeans, a polo necked jumper and a denim jacket along with my trainers, okay they were girly ones, Reeboks with pink trim. As I walked along my mind on going to the police after seeing Dr Thomas meant I was too self absorbed to notice Big mac and his sidekick Tiger approaching. Ha Tiger, Tigger would have been more appropriate, he was about as dangerous as Winnie the Pooh's friend.

"Oh look it's our own sissy." The words hit me like a bucket of water. I stopped in my tracks. "That's right isn't it Cathy, or is it really Charlie?"

I had nowhere to run, Bigmac was stood to one side and Tiger was at the other with a wall behind me. I had to stand and take their insults and hopefully talk my way out of a beating.

"To think you nearly fooled me, Charlie, I even half fancied you. But the uni is full of the rumours of our pretty sissy."

"Excuse me, I have things to do," I said trying to push past them.

Bigmac pushed me back against the wall. "I hear sissies like to give blow jobs, is that right?"

"I wouldn't know, I'm a woman," I said trying not to shake too much and show how frightened I was.

Big mac laughed. "I'm a woman," he repeated in a silly voice. "No you're not, you're a sissy, some prissed up little boy, who wants to be a girl. Well maybe we'll help you!" He grabbed at my crotch which hurt, but the expression on his face was shock. "He ain't got none."

"What!" his friend exclaimed, what no balls.

I pushed him away from me, slapping his hand from the crotch of my jeans. "I told you, I'm a woman."

"Are you having trouble?" said a voice from behind the two thugs, it was the shopkeeper.

"They were just going," I spat at the two would be assailants.

"Oh good, but I have telephoned the police just in case, they are on their way."

The two half-wits walked away back towards their rooms and mine. I was still shaking and tears were forming.

"Come into my shop and sit down for a moment," the shopkeeper assisted me down the road a few yards and into his shop. He took me through and into the backroom, where I plonked myself into a chair. "I will get us some tea, the cup that refreshes." I sat feeling shocked, yes shocked, and the shaking and the tears began in earnest.

"Here, drink this," he handed me a mug of hot,strong tea. Far stronger than I normally drank, and when I tasted it, it had several sugars. Oh God, I can't drink this.

He sat with me and watched as I forced it down. Somehow I managed it, without doing a reprise, all over his room. "Thank you."

"You don't have a brother do you?" he asked.

"No, I lied to you, I'm sorry." The tears flowed again.

"There is no need to apologise, you were protecting yourself. I understand."

"I'll stay away from your shop if you want me too," I offered feeling ashamed of myself.

"Don't do that, you are one of my favourite customers, I like to see your pretty, smiling face."

"Thank you."

"You are most welcome. How is your father?"

"I haven't seen him for a few days, but he was okay the last time I saw him, except he refuses to eat hospital food when he can get away with it."

"So what does he eat?"

"When I go home I make him soup and bake him bread."

"Like a true daughter would."

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Your father is a lucky man, to have such a beautiful and dutiful daughter."

"Hey that rhymes," I said laughing, although tears were still flowing.

"My goodness me, so it does. I am a poet, no?" He laughed back at me.

"I'd better go."

"Where were you going, when they accosted you?"

"I was coming here to get some milk and things."

"Well come on then, I can't turn down my favourite customer." I wiped my face, which thankfully had little or no make up on and followed him out to the shop, his wife was serving a customer and smiled at me.

"Are you better now?" she asked in a very Indian accent.

"Yes thank you."

"It is good, I am glad," she chirrupped.

I got my milk, some more tissues and toilet paper, and some rolls along with a box of six eggs. I was going to do some egg rolls for myself.

"Will you be alright with those boys or should I walk you back?"

"I think you should walk her back, Raj, you do not know what they might try again."

"I'll be alright honestly, they only stopped me because I was thinking about other things and didn't see them until it was too late."

"They could be waiting in the doorway of your building, Raj you must go with her."

Despite my protests, he walked me right up to my room. I thanked him and pecked him on the cheek, whereupon he did a little dance and smiled at me. Then he went back to his shop. I went into my room chuckling, he was such a nice man, compared to the two tossers along the corridor.

I shut the door and secured it with my patented device. It didn't make me feel any more secure really and I did wonder about moving elsewhere. I knew I could move in with Simon and Stella, but I didn't want to do that, not yet anyway, I needed somewhere I could come and think without distraction.

I made myself some tea, as I liked it, not too strong and no sugar. I then reflected on my eventful evening. The nasty letter and its envelope were before me in the plastic bag, and my run in with the clowns along the corridor. They had both used the word 'sissy' I suppose it's a common enough term of derision towards less than masculine men. So I should expect it, except my dangleless crotch had them confused.

I presumed that Bigmac had intended to injure my genitals, to help me achieve womanhood! Only he was surprised to discover no dangly bits. Now he may decide I had them tucked away with a gaff or whatever they call them, or he may just consider I don't have any. His Crocodile Dundee method of deciding sex, was very crude if not cruel, although I suppose I did grab Tiger there a week or two before, when pulling him out of my way. I giggled at that which meant I needed a wee. I had some bruising starting around my groin, but it was better than it would have been had I really had something to grab hold of.

Later, eating my egg rolls, I did wonder if the letters and the boys were connected and decided they weren't, they only seemed to realise about me when they learned from uni, the grapevine was working well. Oh well as long as the press didn't find out, I hoped I would cope with the innuendo or strange looks I was going to get for a few weeks. I knew that all I had to do was stick it out for a few more weeks and it would cease to be news. I just had to hold my nerve, and let's face it, I didn't have a choice. This was my bed and I had to lay in it.

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