Camp Kumoni By Anistasia Allread Proofed and ever-so-slightly tweaked by Nick B “Can’t you walk that way as a boy?” Dr. Jackson asked. “It would be kind of hard not getting picked on walking down the hall as a guy wearing my heels,” said Erika with a dead straight face.

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Erika lay on the stretcher, her head propped up by soft pillows. The back of her head, felt like it was on fire again.

Dr. Jackson had ended up putting seven stitches in. She wanted to put her hand back there, but her head felt so raw and she was afraid she was going to do something stupid like accidentally pull out one of the stitches.

Dr. Jackson had given her the lecture about not using brushes and combs on her hair until the stitches came out. Erika was then given a pill, which the doctor said would make her start to feel better in about twenty minutes.

A knock sounded at the door. No one came in. The knock came at the door again, this time a bit louder.

“Come in.” Erika called “Everyone else does.”

“Well, I’m not everyone else. I’m your Uncle Sasha,” said the hairstylist, entering the room.

“Uncle Sasha!” Erika didn’t know if she was relieved or anxious upon seeing her hairstylist.

“So kiddo, what’s going on here?” he asked in earnest.

Erika explained to him about the girls in the cabin excepting her, a few with reservations. She told him about the near rape and how Rachel ultimately saved them both. She left out details on how they got even with Josh, but did tell him about the punishment. She enlightened him on her growing relationship with Samantha then told him all that she remembered about the afternoon diving accident, and how she couldn’t let her parents know and needed his help in covering for her.

“I don’t know if I can do that,” Sasha cautioned. “I’m sure it’s against the law, somehow. Your parents might even be able to sue me.”

“Only if they find out . . . If Director Hobbs finds out then I might be sent to jail,” Erika pleaded. “Please Sasha.”

Sasha just looked at her.

“I told them that you were a distant uncle. We don’t have to tell them how distant. Besides, you are like an Uncle to me.”

Sasha looked away. “Let me go talk with Markus. This involves him too.” Sasha left the ER room and closed the door behind him.

Doctor Jackson entered the room and closed the door. She then closed the curtain, and sat down on a stool next to the stretcher. “Help me understand what it is that you are doing at this camp.”

“What do you mean?” Erika asked.

“About attending camp as a girl; about keeping it from your parents and do the girls in your cabin even know.”

“Yes, they all know, well except our counsellor.” Erika nodded. “The girls have me change in the bathroom and shower before or after they do, but other than that, they have accepted me as one of them.”

“Start at the beginning and tell me everything.” Dr. Jackson instructed.

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

Erika began with ‘the plague’ and ended with her hitting her head on the diving board. She excluded key points, such as her running away and Sasha not being her real uncle.”

Dr. Jackson listened and questioned different things, asking for more details of certain areas. Finally, she sat and looked at Erika–really looked hard. Erika felt as if the ER doctor was dissecting her with her eyes, peeling away one layer at a time, looking for a grain of truth in a sack of wheat.

“So . . . Do you feel like you are a girl?”

Erika thought for a moment. “How do you mean?”

“Do you feel like you were born with the wrong body?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve found that I like being a girl.” Erika admitted with a slight blush.

“Liking and being are different things, Erika.”

“Well, I’ve only been a girl for a couple of weeks and a lot has happened. Good and bad. In the couple of weeks of being a girl, I’ve found that I can identify better with others. I have more friends, and I am more confident in myself. Does that help?”

“Why aren’t you able to do that as a boy?”

“I don’t know, it just feels weird, I guess.” Erika sighed. “Girls just seem to be easier to get along with than boys. Boys are always trying to out-tough one another. Girls don’t seem to be doing that.”

“Don’t they?”

“Not physically.” Erika insisted. “As the Plague . . . I mean as Eric, I couldn’t walk down the halls at school without someone–everyone trying to trip me, to see me fall on my face, to ridicule me. As a girl, everyone is watching me, admiring me, smiling at me and wanting to be my friend.”

“Can’t you walk that way as a boy?” Dr. Jackson asked.

“It would be kind of hard not getting picked on walking down the hall as a guy wearing my heels,” said Erika with a dead straight face.

“I’m trying to be serious here, Erika. What you’re doing here at this camp could be breaking a lot of rules and getting a lot of people into trouble, not just yourself. Director Hobbs and other staff members could lose their jobs if something happens or the wrong people find out.” Dr. Jackson gave Erika a stern look. “So let me ask you again . . . do you truly feel like a girl?”

Hundreds of replies raced through her mind.

How do I feel? Am I a boy or a girl?

“I don’t know how to answer that, Doctor. Part of me says that I’ve got a dick, so therefore I’m a guy, but there is another part of my brain telling me to stop listening with the lower head and to listen to my heart.” Erika lowered her gaze and shook her head slightly confused. “If you had asked me this question at the beginning of summer, or even the first day or two of camp, I’d have told you without a doubt that I was a guy.” She met the Dr.’s gaze again. “Asking me this, now, I have to say I’m not so sure.” A silence fell between them, bringing the sounds of the hospital to their awareness for a moment. “I think it is my job this summer, to figure out the answer to that question. I’m sorry Doctor.” Tears obscured her vision. “I really don’t know the answer. Really, I don’t.”

Dr. Jackson rose from her position and stood before the confused girl. “At least you’re honest.” She handed Erika a tissue and walked to the door. “Put a robe on, you must be cold in a damp bathing suit in this hospital.”

Erika was left alone again, sitting on the table, drying the tears from her eyes.

Would Dr. Jackson call her parents? Was she out there right now, informing Director Hobbs? Would she get a chance to say good bye to the girls of Columbine?

“How are you feeling?” Sasha inquired from the door.

“A bit jumbled up.”

“Did it hurt?”

“The stitches or the talk?”

“The stitches.” Sasha approached. “What did she talk to you about?”

“About my being a boy or a girl.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her that I didn’t know.” Erika looked up at Sasha and started crying all over again.

“There, there.” Sasha held her in his arms. “This isn’t an easy time in anyone’s life. Especially for one who has gone through as much crappy stuff as you.”

“I don’t know if I’m a boy or a girl, Sasha.” Erika sobbed. “Part of me says I’m being a sissy and to grow balls . . . while the other part is revolted by the idea of even having balls. When did you know?” she held Sasha tight. “When did you know that you were . . . you know–gay?”

“I’ve always known there was something different about me.” Sasha’s soft voice was a comfort that Erika didn’t know she had been missing. “When I was about thirteen or fourteen, I realized just how different I was.” Sasha sighed. “It was horrible and wonderful all at the same time.”

“Really?”

“Yep.” He pushed away from Erika and grinned. “It was horrible knowing that you were different. That you were not ‘normal’, but it was also a huge relief knowing what it was, and that there were others out there just like me. Yes, I was different, but I was still Sasha. It wasn’t like I was the Elephant Man or a monster. I was just attracted to men.”

“Did people treat you differently after? Did they tease you? Pick on you?”

“Most people didn’t know for a very long time.” Sasha stated. “I didn’t even tell my parents for a couple of years. I was afraid of what they would do or say.”

“What happened?”

“My father was upset. No . . . hurt. I was his son. I was supposed to be a ‘man’, follow in his footsteps and be a contractor like he was. Instead, he got a sissy boy who liked to style hair.”

“How about now?” Erika inquired.

“Now, we are good friends.” Sasha smiled. “But that is a long, struggling story, and today is Independence Day. Let’s say we free you from this place and get you back to your friends, huh?”

“Will Dr. Jackson let me go? Isn’t she calling my parents or telling Hobbs?”

“To tell you the truth, I don’t think she can.” Sasha grinned. “I think it falls under the guide lines of HIPAA.”

As if on cue, Susan the nurse walked into the room. “I have your discharge papers here, young lady.” She handed a stack of printed out pages to Erika. “No getting your head wet for the next couple of days. No swimming in the lake, no getting it wet during your showers. Okay?”

Erika nodded. She was getting out of here without her parents being contacted.

“The camp nurse will need to inspect them daily for the next few days and if everything looks alright, she can take the stitches out next week.”

“Okay.” Erika was elated.

“Tylenol for your head aches and pain if you have any.”

“Just a small headache. Nothing like when I came in.”

“If you feel dizzy, like you’re going to black out, confused or extra sleepy, you’ll need to see the nurse right away or have her give us a call.”

“Okay.”

“Good luck, Erika and don’t let me see you back here anytime soon.”

Sasha escorted the now robed Erika out of the ER and out to the anxious but relieved Director Hobbs.

“Thank you for coming, Sasha.” Hobbs shook his hand. “I just wish I could have gotten a hold of Erika’s mother. I’m sorry I had to call you here like this on the Fourth.”

“That is what family’s for.” Sasha smiled. “Do you have a way to get back to camp?”

“Yes. I drove. Thank you again Sasha.”

Erika wrapped her arms around the hairdresser. “Thank you, Uncle Sasha.” She squeezed him.

“You’re welcome, Erika. Find what you are looking for.”

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The drive back to Camp was agonizingly slow. Director Hobbs tried to talk to Erika on a couple of occasions, but Erika, a lot on her mind, exaggerated her headache and closed her eyes.

Director Hobbs just smiled a nervous smile and kept quiet as she drove back to Camp Kumoni.

“Feeling any better?” Director Hobbs asked as the red bug turned into the parking lot of the camp.

“A little, thanks for letting me nap.” Erika gave her a smile. “And thanks for coming along. I’m sorry that I ruined your Fourth.”

“Oh, you didn’t ruin it honey.” Hobbs rested a hand on Erika’s. “It’s my job to make sure that you all are safe. I just need to get a hold of your parents so that they are aware of what happened.”

“I’ll email them tonight. See if they respond to that.” Erika prayed that Director Hobbs wouldn’t try the contact number in her chart.

“It would be nice to have some kind of confirmation that they are aware of your being hurt.” The car came to a stop. “Don’t worry about cleaning the kitchen today, Erika. I’m sure you’re not up to doing a whole lot, but relaxing.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re not off the hook, though. Tomorrow, you’ll need to pick back up and continue.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The smoky smell of the forest fire affronted her as she opened the car door. “What’s going on with the fire?” Erika asked across the roof of the car.

“So far we’re safe. The fire is moving away and the last report I received, said that it was forty percent contained. As long as there isn’t a shift in the wind, we should be fine.”

“I wish the smoke would clear.”

“So do I.” Hobbs agreed. “Why don’t you go find your cabin mates, let them know that you’re okay, then take it easy.”

“Thank you, Ms. Hobbs.”

“You’re welcome, Erika.”

Erika, wearing a hospital robe over her bathing suit, headed to Columbine cabin. Not being able to swim anymore, she decided to change into something more appropriate.

“Erika’s back.” A voice called out.

Erika looked up to see a camper calling down to another, who then turned and called to another.

“Shit, this is worse than playing telegraph.” She swore to herself. She mounted the steps to the cabin and opened the door. Something soft hit her head and engulfed her in a cloud of white.

Erika’s head started to pound again, but not nearly as it had before going to the hospital. She coughed and swore as she brushed flour from her body.

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Stay tuned for the next thrilling episode . . .