Summer With Em - Chapter 26

By Julie D Cole

I understood the message but it stop me trying to call her back. No answer so I sent another text message to say I was worried and asking if she had had an accident.

The more I thought about it that could be the only reason why she couldn’t call or send me a message. Probably the A&E area or the ward had no Wi-fi signal and calls were blocked. I was panicking more by the minute. As if the day wasn’t bad enough.

I tried calling the hospital to see if she had been admitted but then I realised I didn’t even know her family name. Had she told me and I’d forgotten? Had I cared enough to even ask or was I too scared to become her friend and accept her advances towards me?

I called Em and updated her on what had happened with Bec’s and Helen but she already knew. I told her I was in a mess and that I’d wanted to go home but she said to ride it out and they’d help me. Also since mum was coming up and I had a doctors appointment at least give it a week. I agreed of course.
Then I told her my difficulty contacting Frankie and she told me I was panicking that was understandable and to wait and Frankie would respond.

‘But Em I think she might have seen the publicity and who know she might have been angry and crashed her car or something. She drives so fast. I seem to cause too many problems and also I think I am falling in love with her.’

‘Come on Kim be sensible. You’ve only known each other for 5 minutes and she could have been at hospital for anything. It might even be an employee or one of her parents. You can’t just fall in love at the drop of a hat.’

‘I can’t help it I am so confused and emotional these days. She is fun and she has accepted me as I am. I’m sure she knows my real identity and if anything she has encouraged me. But I can’t be sure. She may be angry and decided to avoid me.’

‘Well she does have a temper but if she was angry at you then you can be sure that she’d have also sounded off at me for introducing her to you.’

‘I guess so but I can’t get in touch. I don’t even know her address or anything. I only know her as Frankie. Is that short for Francesca or something?’

‘Yes you guessed right. She never liked Francesca because it was too girly so she insisted on Frankie right from first school. She preferred to hang out with the boys. Her family name is De Marco. Her father is Italian and her mother is English.’

‘That’s a nice name and I like Francesca too. I can see now why she has a nice skin tone and black hair. I wish we’d got Italian blood. No wonder she is feisty.’

‘Yes and you can see she likes designer label clothes and is always immaculate.’
‘So do they live in Manchester? Perhaps they know where she is.’

‘Be patient Kim please. They still live in Buxton but they sold their restaurant business so her father could go back to help with the family business when his father died. Frankie is not interested at all. She can’t even boil an egg. Her father gave up trying to marry her off or coax her to take over his restaurant.’

‘So she is not into boys then.’

‘Not really. She’s had a few close friendships but none lasted long.Don’t hold out any hopes about a relationship, she is a butterfly.’

‘I’m not I just want to be sure she doesn’t think I’ve misled her.I owe her an explanation.’

‘So what are you going to say exactly?’

‘I don’t know I’ll just have to play it by ear.’

‘Well take care and let me know when you’ve spoken to her please. I’ll see you later after work.’

Now I had a name I decided to call the A&E department to ask if there had been anyone called De Marco admitted. I didn’t get much luck over the phone so I decided to try the personal approach and took a taxi ride.

To be fair the staff on duty were helpful and they said nobody called De Marco had been recorded in their accident register. I was about to leave I thought I’d ask about George Wilkinson to see which ward he was in. At least I could check and see if he had recovered or not so I could let Bec’s know.

The duty administrator relented when I told her I was from the leisure centre and luckily I was still in uniform with my name badge. He was in the coronary care ward and out of intensive care that was a relief. Less paperwork for Bec’s who had enough on her plate with the bitch of an Area Manager.

I headed back to the front entrance to find a taxi and luckily there was no queue and one waiting on the rank. I was about to open the door when I heard a familiar voice call my name. I turned and in the doorway stood Frankie with her phone in her hand. Mine started ringing..

‘Kim here please I’ve just come down to call you. What are you doing here?’

‘I came looking for you. I was worried that I didn’t get a call or any messages. I came to find out if you’d been involved in an accident or something.’

‘You silly thing. How sweet but I told you I’d call. I’ve been here with my mum. She’s upstairs on the ward. I collected her from home and stayed with her to keep her company.’

‘Has she had an accident? Or has she been taken ill?’

‘No it’s my grandfather, he has been in intensive care. He had a heart failure yesterday and luckily the medics got him back here just in time.’

‘That’s weird a guy had a heart failure whilst swimming at the leisure centre yesterday. He almost drowned but we got him out and revived him before the medics arrived.’

‘Yes it was my grandfather. Somebody called mum so I had to drop everything to rush to her home to get her. We got here as fast as we could and I might have been caught speeding. But the police stopped me and were kind enough to escort me through the traffic for the last part.’

‘Oh I didn’t know your grandfather was still alive. All my grandparents are gone.’

‘To be honest my grandfather fell out with me and disowned me a long time ago. He even wrote me out of his will to try to get me to change. As if I care.’

‘ Oh I’m sorry. It must have been a bad time.’

‘Not really. Only for mum because she tried to be the peacemaker. He’s got other grandchildren who toe his line. I don’t. He expected me to be a sweet little girl and get married young and have 2.4 children like most of the population around here.’

‘But times have changed doesn’t he realise?’

‘Not in his world. He was too used to getting his way and influencing people. He has been a prominent local councilor for years.’

‘Was he a mayor?’

‘Yes how did you know.’

‘I saw something on the news and that’s why I was trying to contact you.’

‘I haven’t seen the news. I don’t take much notice of it since they don’t report true facts anymore. Too much political influence. My grandfather had a lot of contacts in the press and was regularly on local TV. At least I could switch him off.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that. So does he know you are here with your mum?’

‘No not unless she told him. I decided to keep a safe distance in case it upset him. I’ve had many an argument with him over gay rights and he doesn’t like my way of life. I say live and let live. If I want a girlfriend or a boyfriend that’s a matter for me. He said I was queer and needed treatment. It was him and his cronies who needed the treatment.‘

‘Sounds like there is no way back.’

‘I won’t let mum down if she needs me but at least my fathers side of the family were more accepting of change. Maybe you’ll meet them one day soon I hope. You’ll like my father. He didn’t get on with mums father either.’

‘It depends if you are still talking to me.’

‘Why? You haven’t done something stupid have you?’

‘No it’s just that there was a photo of me in the news and some lies put out.’

‘Oh well there’s a surprise. I’ve been front page on marches in the past when we were fighting for Gay Pride. Grandad hated it. What’s your crime? You might be escorted to the City boundary. Unfortunately they don’t have public stocks anymore to throw rotting vegetables and sticks and stones.’

‘I was involved in the incident at the centre with your grandfather and somebody made up some lies about me. I was worried you’d see it before I had chance to explain.’

‘What are you crying for come here. What’s wrong?’

‘I can’t take this anymore I wanted to tell you the truth face to face and then leave and go back to London.’

‘What are you running away from? Have you robbed a bank or murdered someone?’

‘No they said I’m transgender.’

‘Wow sensational. It’s a hanging offence. Ring the church bells. Aunclean. Unclean. Come here you fool give me a hug.’

‘But I’m not.’

‘I know you’re not unclean. I won’t catch anything by hugging you will I?’

‘No I need a hug. Especially from you.’

‘You can tell me about it later. Come and meet my mum. If you want you can meet my grandfather but keep your distance because he bites. Then you can come with us whilst I take her home and settle her down. I might stay there tonight if you want to stay over too. There is plenty of room at the Inn so to speak.’

‘OK I’m not going in to work tomorrow but I need a few things. I’m still in my ger from work.’

‘So I see you look quite fit. I like the style.’

‘Are you sure because I haven’t told you the truth yet?’

‘Oh so what’s the problem?’

‘This is not me in this gear. Before I came to Manchester I was never like this. I was a tweeb and nobody even noticed me. I’m not a girl. Underneath I’m a boy.’

‘Really? I think underneath you are a girl. On top you are a girl. When you speak you are a girl. Your eyes give you away. Do you mind there is something in the corner there. Oh it’s a tear.’

We did the best hug ever. Even better than mum gives and Frankie kissed me properly on the lips for the first time. It seemed to last ages even though it was probably seconds and then she took my hand to go to the ward.