Erika looked glumly at the trail in front of her brightly painted toes. “I know. I just don’t want to go back to school, I really don’t want to go back to being Eric ‘The Plague’, especially now that I’ve experienced so much.” Camp Kumoni By Anistasia Allread Not edited, sorry

Camp Kumoni Ch. 52

Erika watched her mother as the others departed. The past few weeks had taught her a new respect for the woman who gave birth to her. She just wondered where her father was.

“Mom? Where’s dad?”

“He had to fly out of town on a business trip.”

“I thought he was done with business trips for a while.”

“He is, but his boss, who was supposed to go, was in a minor car accident and the company had to send your dad in his place.”

“Oh.” That was a small load off of her mind. Now that she didn’t have to worry about her father showing up suddenly and starting this whole scene over again, she could talk to her mother.

Her mother looked over at her and sighed. “So, what is this really about?” She inquired.

“It’s just as Samantha had said, Mom.” Erika defended. “And I WAS in love with her.”

“Was?”

“Well. . . after the near rape thing, we kind of had a fling, but the chemistry just wasn’t right.” Erika explained. “I love her as a sister now.”

“What exactly happened with this ‘rape’?” Mrs. Martin looked at her ‘son’. “Is this camp even safe?”

“It was one guy. He’s kind of a sleaze bag anyway, but Samantha has always been attracted to sleaze bags. Erika sighed. “She went on a date with him. He tried to go farther than she wanted and then tried to force the issue. I happened to be nearby and heard her, and went to investigate. Rachel and I pulled him off of Samantha and the next morning the cops hauled him off.” Erika left the humiliation that she and the others had inflicted out of it. Her mother really didn’t need to know about that.

“So he’s in jail, then?”

“As far as we know, he is.”

A silence fell between them.

“Mom would you like to take a walk around the lake? It is a pretty walk.” Erika offered.

“Shouldn’t you put on some sneakers?”

“I’ll be alright, besides, Samantha and Tricia say I need the practice.” Erika blushed.

Erika led her mother between two cabins and onto a trail that intersected with the trail that wrapped around the lake.

Mrs. Martin kept staring at her ‘son’. She was having a hard time believing that this was her ‘son’. She had to admit to herself, that he looked pretty amazing in this get-up. He was even walking really well on the trail in the wedged sandals.

“So.” Mrs. Martin began. “Where did you get those breasts? You didn’t grow them in a month.”

“The stylist who cut my hair, Sasha.” Erika stated. “He saw right through the charade and offered to help make me more ‘natural’.

“And he gave you breasts?”

“They’re forms. I have to take them off every couple of days, and re-glue them back on. They loo real don’t they?

“Very convincing.” Mrs. Martin almost smiled. “This Sasha, he didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

“Huh?”

“He didn’t make advances towards you; make you do anything - inappropriate?”

“Ewww, heck no!” Erika grimaced. “He used to work with cross dressers in Vegas, doing their hair and stuff. He just happened to have some of this stuff in a box in storage.”

Mrs. Martin’s lips tightened. She looked suspiciously at her ‘son’.

“Honest, Mom. Samantha was there the whole time. The girls in the cabin are very into not leaving anyone alone. Every one pairs up for everything.”

“And this, Sasha cut your hair?” Mrs. Martin inquired.

Erika smiled. “Samantha took me in to see him to get a more feminine cut. Does it look alright?”

“It looks very nice.” She complimented “And the nails?”

“These,” Erika wiggled her bright nails at her mom, “Were a gift from Katie and Dani. . . Well at least the set were. When we were in town doing laundry last week, Tricia insisted on paying for a fill and a pedicure. Oh my God! Pedicures are so incredible.”

Mrs. Maritn smiled. “I know. So where did you get the clothes?”

“Samantha is a really good shopper. She got most of them for me at the thrift store, I think a few were her sister Summer’s.”

Erika stopped next to the water’s edge; her mother joined her. “See that duck, there?” Erika pointed. “The black guy following the mother?”

“Mmhmm.”

“That is Liberty. Samantha and I rescued him. He fell into a deep hole hidden in the reeds. We bring him and his family bread in the morning on our daily jogs.”

“Sounds like you’ve been quite active.” Mrs. Martin stated matter of fact.

Erika turned to her mother and suddenly threw her arms around her mother’s neck. “Mom, please let me stay. I’ve got friends and am doing things other than on the computer. Please don’t take me back. Please.” Erika sobbed into her mother’s neck.

“But you’re dressed like a girl.” Mrs. Martin protested. “You’re living in a cabin of girls, and acting like a girl.”

“I don’t mind.” Erika stated honestly. She pulled away from her mother and looked at her. “I actually kind of like it.”

“Huh? What do you like about it?”

“Lots of things. The camaraderie for one. The girls in the cabin really like me —“

“I can tell.”

“They all stick up for one another. Even when Rachel and Victoria didn’t really like me, they still treated me better than if I had been at school.” Erika took her mother’s hand and led her back to the path. “I don’t have to worry about not being athletic, I don’t have to pretend to like cars, or know the latest sports stats. I can just be me.”

“That is just the point.” Mrs. Martin interrupted. “You aren’t being you. You are my son. Not my daughter, but my son.”

“Can’t I be both?”

“How?”

“Well, kind of be both?”

Erika’s mother looked at her with a disbelieving face.

“Leeza is both. Well, kind of.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, she was born a boy, but she decided that she was a girl and switched.”

“Leeza is a boy?”

“Not anymore. Tricia said that she had surgery making her a girl. She is going to Nursing school so that she can help others who want to change too.”

“No. I will not have you prancing around the house let alone town as a girl. Your father is going to be upset enough at it is.” Her mother’s voice took on an edge again.

“You don’t have to tell him.” Erika suggested.

“He is your father, my husband. I won’t lie to him.”

“You don’t have to lie.” Erika protested. “Just don’t tell him details.”

Mrs. Martin rolled her eyes at her ‘son’. “You know you can’t keep this up once you get home.”

Erika looked glumly at the trail in front of her brightly painted toes. “I know. I just don’t want to go back to school, I really don’t want to go back to being Eric ‘The Plague’, especially now that I’ve experienced so much.”

“Why didn’t you tell me or your father about what was going on at school?”

“What? And admit that I’m a failure in society? A disappointment when it came to interacting with my peers? an embarrassment to the family name?”

“You know, you have the power to change who you are.” Erika’s mother faced her. She looked her son up and down. “Of course, you pretty much have done that. - for the summer.” She added.

“I don’t know if I can overcome ‘The Plague’. Mom.” Erika’s eyes burned. “It’s pretty deeply imbedded in the school’s psyche.”

“You have several new friends who seem to be popular, and pretty, to help you in shedding that stigma.”

The two walked on in silence.

“The sky sure is yellow.” Erika’s mom commented.

“The forest fire.” Erika explained. “It was started just over that hill.” She indicated.

“Has it gotten any nearer to the camp?”

“No. Although last week, we took a horse on a trail ride up to the top of that mountain over there.” Erika pointed. “We could see the burned-out forest from there. Grizzly Adams, that’s what we call our nature/survival instructor, He did a whole class on how forests come back from the fires. It was pretty cool.”

“Oh?”

“Like did you know that in Sequoia National Park and the Redwoods, the Forest Service actually sets controlled fires in parts of the forest? Apparently the fire clears out the competition and the heat from the fire helps release the tree’s seeds from their cones, to grow more of the giant redwood trees.”

Mrs. Martin smiled at how animated her son had become as he spoke. She hadn’t seen him act this way in a very, very long time. He was actually looking around him as he walked and not constantly looking at the ground through a veil of hair. He was speaking to her rather than grumbling at the ground as he shuffled his feet. He also seemed to have a sparkle to his eyes, and it wasn’t from the make-up.

“- weren’t allowed to take the boats out into the middle of the lake, because of the helicopter, dropping this huge bucket into it to get water for putting out the fire. When we first noticed Liberty missing, we were afraid that the bucket might have swallowed him up. That is why Samantha and I went on a search for him. We found him over there in the reeds. We could only find him by his peeping, the poor little guy.”

Erika had fallen silent again as they made the turn around the end of the lake and began walking back towards the camp. She almost jumped when she felt her mother’s hand slide into hers as they walked. After a second or two, she relaxed and gave her mother’s hand a gentle squeeze which was returned.

“Know what is scary?” Erika’s mother broke the silence. Erika looked at her mother. “Dressed like this, you look an awful lot like I did when I was your age.”

For some reason this made Erika feel warm and fuzzy. “Really?”

Her mother nodded. “It’s almost like looking into a mirror.”

“So will you let me stay?” Erika dared.

“I haven’t made up my mind.” Mrs. Martin stated. “Part of me is screaming to yank you out of here and get you into counseling, another part is telling me to calm down and let you live your own life, and a third part wants to turn you over my knee and give you a beating, then take you home to your father.”

Erika shuddered at the last thought. She really didn’t think her father would appreciate or even put up with this ‘stunt’.

“Mom, there’s something I need to tell you.” Erika bit her lip.

“What more could you need to tell me?” Her mother sighed, rolling her eyes.

“I gave the Director some misinformation.” Erika tried to word it delicately.

“Other than the fact that you are really a boy?”

“You see, I had a small accident a couple of weeks ago on the Fourth of July.” Erika really didn’t want to explain this to her mother, but she just knew that Hobbs would be confronting her back at camp.

“What kind of accident?”

“I hit my head on the diving board and had to get some stitches.” Erika winced.

“What? Are you all right?”

Erika briefly told her mother of the accident, leaving the bloodier, more horrific, details out of the story.

“- so you see, Everyone is going to call you Mrs. Martinez and Hobbs’ going to want updated information.”

“You should have called me.” Mrs. Martin scolded. “What if it had been serious?”

“And have you come to the hospital and find out then, that your son has gone to summer camp as a girl? It would have been a nightmare. By the time Dad was done with me, I’d need to stay a month to recuperate.”

“I don’t think you give your father enough credit.”

Erika let the conversation die out. She knew her father, what he’s says, what he’d do. She had heard the snide comments he made towards gays. She put the thoughts out of her mind so that she could enjoy walking hand in hand with her mother through the forest around the lake.

“Mom?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you ever wish that you had had a girl?”

“Not like this, I didn’t.” her mother stated. “When I was pregnant, I was hoping for a boy. I think most mothers do. A boy to take after and to remind them of their husband, who can protect them, and help them later in life. A son who they can cheer from the sidelines and smile proudly when they accomplish a goal, whether in sports or academics.” She paused for a few moments. “If I could have had a second child, I’d like it to have been a girl.” She smiled. “A girl to dress up in sweet, frilly dresses. To spend time brushing her hair, and going shopping with. A girl to get excited with when going to the Spring Formal, and to fuss over for her wedding.”

Erika quietly listened and watched her mother. “Did you ever wish that I was a girl?”

“No, I want a son to get married and give me lots of grand babies to spoil. Not a son that chooses a way of life that alienates himself from a large portion of society. Who will have a difficult time finding someone to love him enough to create a family with.” She looked pointedly at Eric. “I love you, Eric. I love, you, the smart, caring, creative young man that you are. I love the Eric, who can draw the most wonderful things from his imagination, the Eric, who strives so hard to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences. The Eric who would rather bring harm upon himself, than to harm another person.” She paused in their walk and turned to Eric. She pulled a tissue out of her purse and dabbed at his eyes. “And I love the Eric, who isn’t too macho to cry in front of his mother. . . Even if he is wearing make-up.”

Eric, wearing make-up and a skirt, threw his arms around his mother. “I love you too, Mom.”

The two held each other for a long moment. When they parted, they wiped and dabbed at each other’s tears and smiled at one another.

“So, are you going to show me your cabin?” Mrs. Martin asked.