Right to Life: The Brain Donor
By Rosalie Redd.

Chapter 4 - Lawyers suck… ( at least some do)

A couple days had passed, and I was doing resistance training with Heidi. She placed her feet against mine, as we sat on the floor. She would push with hers, and expected me to push back. Over on the sofa, sat Becca. She had on some jeans with a hole in one knee, and a University of Minnesota hoodie.

“I’m thorry, I don’t underthtand”, I said in regards to the statement she had made.

“As I was saying, I tried to contact the staff responsible for your operation, but all I got was the run-around. They are bound by an NDA to not discuss the surgery or any aspects of your case. The contract stipulates that they can’t release any information until or unless the Mayo Clinic itself publicly announces the surgery. To violate that contract would cost the parties involved tens of thousands of dollars, each.”

Heidi sighed. “Yes, when I was brought in to take care of your rehabilitation, I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. But Thomas, you already know everything I do.”

Becca twirled a pencil in her fingers, absent-mindedly. “It’s clear that they have something to hide, the operation was a success… so it’s not likely anything concerning Thomas.”

Heidi looked at me, and then grew silent, then spoke. “I might be able to figure out what’s going on, but whether the person I need to talk to will help, that’s the uncertain part.”

With the somber discussion finished for now, we continued my workout, and then had a light meal.

The next day when Heidi returned home from work, She dashed to take a shower and then called Becca. There was a whispered conversation, and then Heidi hung up.

“I found out the situation, but I would prefer for us to wait for Becca to arrive.”, she told me plainly.

When my sultry lawyer arrived, she let herself in with her key. I smiled at the fact they were so oblivious to the fact I had noticed. Sometimes I think they forget I was a 26 year old college student, as it’s so easy to see the little girl. Hmm… maybe I should become a spy, nobody would suspect the little girl… I chuckled to myself at that joke.

Becca took off her trench coat and sat down, her long legs crossed in such a way that she seemed oblivious to the raw sexual image she appeared

I glanced at Heidi, who obviously noticed. Heidi blushed and then spoke. “I spoke to Dr. Thompkins today. He’s always had a lecherous eye towards me, and I… might have used some feminine charms to help get some information from him.”

Becca nodded and laughed. “These feminine charms wouldn’t happen to include that black mini-skirt and red v-neck shirt that I like, would they?”

I watched Heidi blush. “Maybe… anyhow, I found out something important. It seems that the panic is related to the donor girl’s parents. They had consented for her organs to be donated, but not her whole body. The lawyers are in a panic, because they realize that if they find out about Thomas, here… there will be all sorts of negative press and litigation that they cant afford.”

I sighed as I sat there on the floor. My continued existence was a legal oversight. “I feel thorry for that poor girth’s parenth. They were lied to! They were mithled… and I’m the rethult!”, I screamed.

I pulled my knees to my chest and broke down in tears. Heidi and Becca rushed over and hugged me as I sat there crying. Old me would have been in Heaven to have two hot women hug me into their chests, but new me was way too emotionally wrecked and hormonally lacking.

Heidi and Becca picked me up and carried me to bed, I felt their presences and I cried myself to sleep.

Dreams and nightmares didn’t come. I would have almost preferred nightmares to nothing. Anything to show I still could feel.

Waking up the next morning, I dragged myself out of bed. Stumbling to the shower, I slipped off my nightshirt and started the water. I had gotten strong enough that Heidi no longer worried about me bathing unsupervised. As the water cascaded down my body, I closed my eyes and felt it. I had been this girl for nearly a year now, and she was still so alien to me.

After I got out of the shower, I went into what was now ‘my room’ again. Heidi had filled the closets and dresser drawers with clothing that fit, but was as gender-neutral as possible. Obviously there was no escaping from the fact I needed panties, and tighty-whiteys were no longer an option, but the jeans, sweats, shirts, tees were all decidedly in gender neutral styles and colors.

Officially, with the hospital dis-avowing all information on my operation, Heidi was no longer getting paid to take care of me. Because of this, she returned to the general rehabilitation facilities, taking care of other patients. Knowing I had little to do during the day, she set up a regimen for me. I couldn’t go out alone. As a non-entity, if I disappeared, there were no records for me. Fingerprints and dental records would come back as belonging to a girl that had died last winter. That is, if those records still even existed. So I diligently kept up with the rehab tasks she left me, and when I finished those, I skimmed the internet, looking for information on the death of me and well, the her that was sort of me now.

Becca was working on the case unofficially, in her off-hours. She had to keep at her day job, after all. Not like I could afford to pay her. Still we dug and dug and dug, not hitting the proverbial oil. I went over my medical ‘history’, such as it were. Broken arm, age 6. Chicken Pox, age 3. every official illness was listed. Hmm… official, as in seen by a doctor. I wondered about this girl, the sprains, bumps, bruises. Things not considered important enough to see a doctor for. Was she hurt often? Was she an adventurous tomboy, or a careful princess? Had she had brothers? Sisters? A pet?

Just who was this person that I was inhabiting?

Spring came, and with it, the decisions mounted. I had finished rehab. It had taken over a year, but I was well enough to do all the things a girl my physical age could do. My lisp was largely gone, and I could walk and run and write and there was no hint anything had ever been wrong, save for the scar that circled my head, just under my hairline.
I sat in the park with Becca, Heidi was working overtime. We watched the children playing on the swings and running around. I sighed.

“Hey kiddo, you okay?”, Becca asked. I still hadn’t picked a name. Not after all this time. We had decided that officially my birthday would be March 1st. I don’t know if I was procrastinating on the name because it would be the final nail in the coffin of my identity, but I just couldn’t do it.

“Yeah, Becca, I’m okay. I just don’t know where to go from here. I have no records, so I can’t go back to college. I think I’d die inside if I had to go back to grade school. I just… I don’t know what to do.”

Becca hugged me. “You know, Heidi and I both love you. Regardless of who you were or are now. Can you keep a secret?”, She asked.

I nodded, and spoke. “Of course I can.”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a box. “Next week is our 2 year anniversary, hers and mine. I’m going to take her out and ask her to marry me.”

I hugged her. “I’m so happy for you both!”, I said with a smile.

Becca looked down at me. “You know, if we do get married, we could formally set up an identity for you and adopt you.” She smiled as she said that.

I hugged her tighter. “I think I’d like that.”, I chirped happily. We sat there for a while. I noticed as I looked around, that there was a woman that kept looking over at me. She was across the park from us, maybe 60-70 meters away. She stared and stared. I thought it was about Becca, as she was a definite hottie.

I leaned closer and whispered to Becca. “You see that woman over there? The one in the white coat, over by the jungle gym? She keeps looking over here.”

Becca stood up and looked directly at her. The woman dropped her gaze down to the ground.

“I think we better leave. Now.” She said with an urgency I shared.

Becca took my arm and started to run. I followed along as quickly as I could, my shorter legs being something of a hindrance. Getting to her car, we saw no sign of the woman following us. Still, we turned several times and took back alleys and backtracked over our path several times before heading to a destination. Instead of Heidi’s place, we headed to Becca’s loft.

We ducked into the building, and headed up to the loft. I had never been there before, so I looked around. In contrast to Heidi’s neat and tidy space, Becca’s place was a pigsty. There were several empty pizza boxes, a bra was hanging over the back of a chair. I shook my head and sat down on a section of couch that wasn’t covered in legal papers.

After a few hours watching some movie about a socialite who was brain transplanted into an average housewife.* We ended up laughing because of how campy and ridiculous it was. Eventually we decided it was safe to take me back.
We got no further than the lobby, when the woman ran up. She knocked Becca down and grabbed me.

“Cindy! It is you! They told me you were gone. They said your organs had been donated. I knew it wasn’t true!”, she said in a clearly manic way.

Becca got up and called over to the front desk. A couple security guards soon came.

“This woman has assaulted me, and is trying to forceably take my client here.”, she said as she indicated me. “I want her removed from the building and charged with trespassing. She is not to be allowed back in, and I will get a restraining order, if I have to!”

The woman was led off, still screaming back at me. “My baby! You can’t have my baby! She’s mine! You hear me? MINE!”

After the emotional turmoil, I felt tired. Becca ushered me into her car and drove me back to Heidi’s. I was asleep by then, and she carried me upstairs.

I stirred as she placed me gently on the couch. I listened to her pacing. Pretending to be asleep still, I eavesdropped as she called Heidi.

“Hello my love. I think today we had a breakthrough in the matter with Thomas, but I’m not so sure it’s positive. We were at the park, and I think we ran into the donor’s mother. She followed me from the park. No, I made sure to go to my place. No, she has no idea about you, or where Thomas is. Still, I fear this could go south very quickly. I had her barred from the building, but anyone could dig into who lives there and come up with my name. It might be best, if at least for a while, that you and I not see each other. I know. I hate the thought of it too, but if we are to protect her, we have to do this. I love you.” With that, she hung up.

I wanted to get up to comfort her. To tell her that she didn’t have to do that...but I was a coward. I sat there pretending to still be sleeping. I heard the door close as she left, and the tears started to stream down my face.

* ‘Who is Julia?’ - a 1986 TV movie, starring Mare Winningham.