"	Gene's Story or How I Gained a Cousin A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright 2016

CHAPTER 34

I woke up first again, but this time, Ginny was as good as her word; no making a spoon. To tell the truth, I missed the closeness.

Gently I slid out of the bed not to wake her up. I took care of things in the bathroom; what I wouldn't give for a nice hot bath! Took care of dressing in jeans and Reboks. For a change I pulled on a sweatshirt. By this time, Ginny was awake and in the shower.

I made coffee and clicked on the TV to see the weather. We had a 113 mile drive ahead of us either today or tomorrow. The weather guess was for light snow on Thursday for our ride back to the airport in Colorado Springs.

I put on the Weather Channel for their forecast to see if the two agreed. I was assured that the snow would not intensify and they swore on a stack of snow shovels the amount would be light.

By this time Ginny was dressed, OMG! Jeans, boots, and a sweater. She still looked great.

“What do you want to do today Ellen? Our flight out isn't until tomorrow. We could check out early here, drive to Colorado Springs and sight- see a little. I'm sure we can find a hotel room there, that way we don't have to worry about snow.”

“Fantastic idea, lets check out, then have breakfast. I saw a rack of brochures listing things to see and hotels in the Colorado Springs area.”

We packed and headed down to the restaurant. Ginny went to the desk to pay our bill and check out while I found the brochures.

“Good news, there's a Holiday Inn there, the desk made a reservation for us for tonight. We don't have to worry about finding a room.”

I had a handful of colorful pamphlets, so we were set.

After eating, we loaded the car and headed down 113 towards the airport. The long ride was great for talking about what the clinic told us.

“If you're determined to go through with this, I would feel very comfortable coming here.” I said. “How do you feel, after all, it's your body?”

Ginny thought for awhile before answering, “They certainly put forward a friendly enough image. I liked how everyone was on a first name basis. Also how two of the staff and the Doctor herself had surgery there.”

“Well one thing's for sure Ginny, there's no hurry on this. If you decide on having surgery, it's a year away. You may change your mind too.”

At that she snorted, “Fat chance of that happening!”

The countryside flew past at 70mph, but it still was beautiful, so different than back home in Boston. As they say, “A nice place to visit, but...”

It seemed like no time had passed at all before the hotel appeared ahead.

We registered, brought our bags to our room, (two beds this time yeah!); washed, and decided to drive around and find a likely restaurant for lunch and head for a few of the attractions in the pamphlets.

We found a nice looking Tex-Mex restaurant, and we tucked into a large taco salad for me and a steak fajita for Ginny. I ordered a Tecate beer, and Ginny ordered a huge Margarita.

After we finished lunch, over coffee, we looked at the brochures and made our choice, Shepler's!

What do you expect, looking at dead bison or shopping? Dumb question.

We shopped, and shopped and shopped. What girl can't use some snap-front shirts or authentic western boots with a 3 inch heel?

We decided to sleep late and hang around the hotel until it was time to leave for our flight home.

Our flight left at 11am, this meant arriving at the airport no later than 9am to give us time to return the car and get our pat down by the TSA. Good thing we left yesterday, or it would have meant getting up at 4am!

Without incident, our flight took off at 9.10 for our eight hour flight to Logan Airport.

This included two time zone changes, so it really was a six hour flight.

We retrieved our roller bags and headed for the arrivals pick-up doors. Happily there was our Suburban limo waiting for us, right on time.

The driver loaded our bags into the back, an off we went, home to Swampscott.

After unpacking and hanging up our new purchases, we headed for the soft sofa cushions, and put our feet up on the coffee table.

“You know we have to go to work tomorrow, and you have an appointment with Doctor Singh on Friday?”

“Oh, I had forgotten about Doctor Singh, good thing you reminded me Ellen. I can't afford to get on her bad side.”

The next couple of days went by quietly, I let Ginny drive us to the doctor's office Friday afternoon. The nurse came for Ginny only 20 minutes late, which was actually pretty good.

After 15 minutes the nurse called me to come in. “Have a nice trip Ellen? I heard you went to Colorado this week.”

“It was enlightening, and the scenery was spectacular.”

“Hello Ellen,” Doctor Singh said. “Ginny and I have been discussing the clinic she went to. I'd like to have your thoughts on the matter. Did you like what you saw? Do you have any qualms, or questions?”

“Actually, no,” I said. “If I was going to have major surgery, that place looks as good as any I suppose, and it's in this country. They work with insurance companies with success. What more can you ask for?”

Doctor Singh smiled, sat back and said, “I did some digging on my own, and asked some surgeons I know about the clinic. Everyone said that this was the place to have that very complex surgery done. However, there are rumours that the practice was moving to San Francisco because of conflicts with the hospital in Trinidad.”

“I guess they would keep that out of the tour, I would.”

Ginny looked at me and shrugged, “Hey, it's a year away, a lot of changes may happen between now and then.”

I heard the doctor say, “Maybe not a year, guys. I could recommend the surgery in a few months, I see the presentation of a lovely young woman. She's comfortable, poised, and quite sure of what she wants to do with her life. But for now, I'll keep seeing her every two weeks to monitor the reaction hormones are having on her system, and to adjust the dosage as we go along. So, I'll see you in two weeks. Make the appointment at the desk before you leave.”

Ginny floated her way back to her car in the parking lot, All she kept saying was “A few months, did you hear that? A few months.”

Wanting to live to see it, I took the CRV's keys and drove us back to the condo. By now Ginny had returned to Earth, but still had a smile on her face.

“Hey, smiley, what are you making for supper tonight, I'm hungry.”

“I was planning on chicken pot pies and a salad. How's that grab you?”

It grabbed me pretty good.

Tomorrow was another day at the barn, running the gantlet between Vinny and Kevin for Ginny and a riding lesson for me.

To be continued

Many Thanks to Bronwen Welsh for her help in correcting typos and puncuation