Chapter 3 -- Rain Delay

As a late winter storm howled through the state bringing much needed rain and snow, Victor looked out the hospital window as his dad explained to him all that had happened. It all seemed so strange, just like the storm that raged outside. "No Dad, I really don't remember anything. I just remember waking up a few hours ago and they told me you needed to tell me something."

Alex struggled with the words as he held his son's hand. "Maybe that is a blessing. Anyway, the doctor and I have explained it to you as best we can. I know at eight this doesn't make sense, but giving you a girl's anatomy was the only option we had. You're still a boy. Got it?"

"Yes, Dad. I am still a boy."

"Just keep repeating that to yourself. And when you are fourteen, we can make it right, okay?" Victor saw his dad was very choked up. With all the stuff stuck in him keeping him in the hospital bed at the moment, he had yet to see what his dad was talking about..

"Okay dad, I am still a boy." Victor smiled at his dad. A few minutes later, Victor fell asleep. Alex went downstairs to where they were finishing up with Sally's blood panels.

"He's asleep Honey. And we need to get going before the roads turn too bad."

Dr. Alvarez came in the waiting room. "I know you all have to head out back home. There's no way around it, Sally, I am prescribing bed rest for you until the baby is born. Alex, here are the medications I want her to take daily. I am counting on you. I want a twice daily text with her blood pressure taken with the automatic device I gave you. I have taught you how to use it. Next, Victor can stay with his grandmother while he recovers, which means I can visit him and check his progress as he heals from the accident. Sally, you'll be back down here towards the third week in May. I plan to induce you just after Memorial Day. How does May 28th sound to you?"

"The 28th will be fine. Will it be strange for you to have a male patient for a while?" Sally chuckled.

"No, not at all. I did a rotation in neurology as well as general practice. Since the MRI was non-conclusive, I want him here so you can give birth to a healthy baby. The moment he has a headache, will get him right back in here ASAP. Your mother-in-law is just minutes from my office and the hospital. I want you to rest easy, so I am going to be a mother hen to him, okay."

Sally hugged her and said thanks. Soon after they got back to the village, Alex settled her into bed, gave her a sleeping pill, and sneaked into the barn. He climbed up to the hay loft. He swung open the doors and looked at his cell phone. Maybe it was the puddles of water that helped, but he was pleased to find the bars on his phone went from one to three. "Hello Sis! I need to talk to someone. Got a moment?"

"Sure Alex." On the other end of the line, she could hear his tone of voice and knew something was up. As cold as it was outside, she knew she needed to endure it for him. He heard her door close on his end. "Okay, it's just us now. What's wrong?"

Alex began to unload on her the horror of the last week. "I feel like a total skank. I've ruined Victor's life by turning him into a girl, sent him off to grandma's abandoning him when he needs us the most, and I feel very guilty for putting the baby ahead of his needs which ought to be just as important. On top of that, I haven't told Sally the whole truth about him."

"Tell me all about it. I'm here to listen to my favorite brother."

He chuckled. "Your only brother."

Their conversation lasted until Vicki couldn't take the cold anymore, but both felt the warmth of sibling love.

In Deming, after a visit to the lawyer, Mr. Jenson, to sign documents that Alex and Sally arranged, Grandma Martin wheeled Victor out of the hospital to her car. When they got to her place, she helped him walk into what was his aunt's old room.

"Thank you Grandma." Victor looked over his aunt's old room. He had only been here once before years ago. He never explored the house. It was weird. He had spent loads of time with her. Grandma liked to come up and stay with them in Silver City or at the village. He wondered if it was because he wanted to keep his aunt's room the same. Little had changed since she left, got married, and moved away. Had he been older, he might have seen there was some unfinished business here. To eight year old eyes, posters on the wall, a makeup table, a bed with stuffed toys on it, a small bookcase with romance novels, and a tambourine hanging from her bed's headboard post didn't seem out of place for a girl's room. Maybe if he saw there wasn't any dust anywhere in the room, it might have caused him to ask questions instead.

"Sorry Victor, I haven't gotten around to changing the room. I turned your dad's into a sewing room since he was the oldest and left first." She picked up a photo of her late husband on Vicki's desk. "I'll have to tell Alex that he looking more and more like his dad every day." She put the photo back down and examined the cheese hat that Vicki brought back from her first visit to Wisconsin.

"Who do I look like, Grandma?"

She studied his face for a moment. A smile came over her face. "Hard to say. I see a little of your mother, but a lot of your aunt Vicki. Of course, so did your dad when he was your age. But, you lean more towards Vicki." Her voice trailed off as she said, Yes, come to think of it, you really do have Vicki's features."

She stared at the photo of her late husband again. Victor could see a tear in her eye. "When did grandpa die, Grandma?"

Startled out of her reflection, she replied, "Oh, the day after your aunt's senior prom. Back in ..." She looked perplexed. "Anyway, it was a sudden heart attack at work. He was a security guard. Thankfully, he left a small life insurance policy for me. It paid off the house and the car."

"Grandma, could you help me do one more thing?"

"Sure, Victor, what is it?"

"I need to pee and ..." Victor blushed. He was still unsure how to do things in the bathroom.

She patted him on the shoulder. "You were a bit shy to ask back at the hospital. I've been there too."

"How Grandma?"

"When you have had an episiotomy twice, it's nice to have a little help avoiding tender areas."`

The following morning found Victor sleeping in till eight. This time, thanks to his grandmother's instructions the night before, he was able to go to the bathroom and then shower all by himself. He still avoided looking at his sex. It hurt too much. The trauma that his body felt, even though he was young, was profound. He ached something fierce between his legs at times. The bruises on his face, arms, shoulders, and the rest of the body persisted. One might think he had been in one hell of a fight. The doctor had prescribed pain medication. But, it was up to his grandmother to give it to him and make sure he wasn't given too much.

"Grandma, can I have a pain pill please." he asked as he came into the kitchen.

"Sure, Vicki." At first he didn't hear her slip of the tongue. After all, he was named after his aunt who was his mom's bridesmaid. And, it wasn't that uncommon for his grandmother to mistakenly call him by her name before. She usually corrected herself. What he hadn't noticed was that she was correcting herself less and less.

She reached up to a cupboard and brought down a pill bottle. "What is your pain level. One to ten?"

"Six." he answered sliding into a kitchen chair carefully. He started swinging his feet to distract himself from the pain in his crotch. Why that helped was beyond him.

"I think you are supposed to take this with something to eat. Would my little Vicki like some scrambled eggs?" This time, he couldn't help but notice that she called him by a girl's name.

Not sure how to address this faux pas, Victor politely responded, "Yes, please. But my name is Victor not Vicki."

She grimaced and didn't even seem to hear what he said. "These child proof lids will be the death of me." After finally getting the pill bottle open, she took out a pill. She poured a glass of water and handed him a pill and the water. "Here you go Victor." she said with a smile. Victor smiled back thinking she heard his complaint.

After breakfast, he enjoyed helping his grandmother clear the table and do the dishes. Doing chores was something familiar. Although her counters were the same height back home in the Village, she didn't have a stool. "Oh Honey, you're getting your blouse wet. Here, let me get you an apron." She reached for one and dropped it over his head and then reached the cords around him tying a nice little bow. It was an ordinary apron, which was okay. But, as he took it off later, he saw that he had it on backwards. It said 'Daddy's Princess.' His grandmother mentioned while they were doing dishies that it was a gift to his aunt Vicki as a little girl from her late father. She had pulled it out of storage when she heard he would be living with her.

True to her word, Dr. Alvarez stopped by to see him almost every other day. After the first week, she cleaned out the neovagina. From that point on, he would have to have a dilation three times a day for the next several months. After his birthday, he could start doing it himself she said. The next morning, as he sat on the bed with a sheet draped over his naked bottom, his grandmother said, "Her instructions say three times daily. She showed me how yesterday. Let's get started."

"But Grandma ..." he said turning a bright red.

"Stop it. It's not like I going to see I haven't seen as a mom over the years." she giggled. He shifted in the bed studying a boy band poster that his aunt had up on the wall. The Backstreet Boys was a band he had never heard of before. It kept his mind off of what his grandmother was doing.

Victor slowly began to cry again as he felt the insertion begin. It still hurt. His dignity at being invaded by his grandmother once again hurt more. It was nice that she didn't seem to like it either. And knowing that during the ensuing days and weeks, she would be doing this three times a day was an even worse punishment. He found himself concentrating on what the doctor said. 'It's like blowing up a balloon, except it is inside of you. To get you back close to where you were before, you are going to have to do some things you don't like at all. Promise me that you will do it, no matter how much it disgusts you.' All this so he could have his penis back. Oh why did he wrap his legs around that water pump. He was just being helpful. He concluded that the doctor was being helpful too.

After the first two weeks, things seemed to go smoothly. Things changed on a Saturday, "Come on Vicki, time to go to church." he heard her shout through the bathroom door. Victor came out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself. He was still afraid to look at himself in the mirror. He came into his room to be greeted with, "Morning Vicki, I laid out your clothes. Here is a panty and a panty liner the doctor says you are going to need and a pretty dress. Hurry up, we have to be at church in an hour."

"Grandma, please, It's only Saturday. There is no church today. Remember, you had me take out the garbage last night."

She yawned and said, "Oh, it is? Anyway, you still need to get dressed."

"But Grandma, I am not a girl. This is a dress!"

"Vicki, stop lying. I've seen you naked. You're a girl. You were a girl when I gave birth to you." Beep! The smoke alarm's piercing tone filled the home with an urgent call to action. Racing to the kitchen, they saw eggs on the stove top burning. "Oh how did I let this happen!" While she turned off the burner. Having seen this happen at Thanksgiving at their place, Victor sprang into action and opened the back door to let fresh air in. He then went into the living room and opened the front door for cross ventilation. The call of the alarm was unrelenting. It took a few minutes of chaos, but soon the alarm quieted yielding to the occasional chirp.

The crisis over, Victor looked up to his grandma who was staring at him. "Honey, girls wrap a towel around themselves hiding their breasts." She tore the towel from him leaving him naked and redid it around him tucking in the towel just next to his armpit. "There, that's better, Vicki. You are such a sweet girl. I am glad you are home. Do you know what happened to your brother?"

The confusion in his grandmother's face was evident as she looked down the hallway towards the bedroom doors. "Grandma, I am not Vicki!"

Her mood changed instantly. She slapped his face. "Stop lying Vicki! Now you go get dressed and no more boy clothes for you! I put them away and brought back in yours. You will start dressing like a girl again. Do you hear me young lady!" Victor was stunned. His grandmother's voice was stern. He had never heard her like this before. She followed him to his room. Slowly, he slipped on the panties. Of course, they fit him like a glove. They did feel nice. The dress, now that was a different matter. With her arms folded and stern look, it was evident that he had to put on the dress. He examined the dress. It had a zipper in the back. He zipped it down. Now, he had to figure out how to put it on. The dress suddenly went out of his hands. "Arms up young lady." He closed his eyes and lifted his arms. She dropped the dress over him. He felt it slip down over his body and then she zipped him up.

Her mood changed once again as if a dime had been flipped. "Now, isn't that better. You are such a pretty girl. Now get your shoes on." She handed him black shiny shoes that were open like the Crocs he wore around the house. He sat down and slipped them on. His feet swam a bit in them."Buckle them up young lady." Came her next instruction. He found the tongue of a strap and threaded it through the buckle until it as a tight as it would allow him to make it. He poked the prong into the hole and finished buckling. It helped him that the gear he put on horses had taught him how to buckle things.

"Come with me." He followed her into the living room. She took a hair brush and said, "Sit down please." He did and she shook her head. "You forgot to smooth out your dress before you sat down." She began to brush his hair. "How ever did you get it this short?" As tears filled his eyes, he quietly sat there wondering why she was acting this way. It was scary.

"Hello. Hello. Mrs. Martin?" Alex turned to look at the front door. He could see Dr. Alvarez at the door looking at him through the screen door.

"Yes, who is it?" his grandmother asked.

A kind voice came through the screen door. "It's Dr. Alveraz. I just wanted to stop by and see how our patient is doing."

"Please come in. Vicki is doing just fine. I got her to stop wearing those stupid jeans you said might be uncomfortable on her. Why she borrowed them from her brother, I will never know." Dr. Alvarez came in and looked as stunned as did Victor. They stared at each other each not really knowing what to say.

She nodded as if to say something to Victor, "May I exam Vicki alone, please?"

"Okay. I have to go clean up the kitchen anyway." She got up and handed Victor the brush. "You keep brushing. Oh dear, I'll get us something to drink. What would you girls like?"

"Waters please." Dr. Alvarez waited until she entered the kitchen and then quietly turned to Victor and asked, "What's going on? And why are you in a dress?"

"She thinks I'm Aunt Vicki. She's been mistaking me for her for the last two weeks. And today, she thinks I really am her. She wants to take me to church too." Both of them heard coughing from the kitchen. Dr. Alvarez and Victor went to the kitchen.

"Are you not feeling well, Mrs. Martin?" She saw her hunched over holding onto a chair with one hand. She held a napkin to her mouth with the other.

"No, I feel like I am burning up." Dr. Alvarez pulled out a thermometer out of her purse and scanned her forehead.

"99.5 degrees. I think you could have a cold or maybe just bad allergies. Why don't you go lie down. I'll bring you something. Vicki, would you please help her?" Dr. Alvarez then leaned down and whispered into Victor's ear. "I'm humoring your grandmother. I know you are Victor. Just play along." Victor winced. "Trust me." With that, Victor led his grandmother to her bedroom where she climbed into bed.

A few minutes later, Dr. Alvarez came into the room with a fresh cup of hot tea and lemon. "Mrs. Martin, here this will help with the sniffles. Vicki and I are going to check things in the house. You just sleep, okay?"

Out in the living room, Victor said, "What's the matter with Grandma? And why does she think I am Vicki?"

"I think she's suffering from dementia, Victor. She's seventy-three years old. The cold could be making it worse. I gave her a sedative so she'll sleep." She didn't want to tell Victor that the stress of taking care of him may be the prime reason for it to get worse. The bags under her eyes showed she had gotten little sleep over the last two weeks as well as the hypnic jerks she exhibited over Dr. Alvarez's visits to see Victor. Probably from worry about taking care of Victor.

"Can I just go home? I'm really scared." He kicked at the floor.

"Not now. Your mom is in danger of going hypertensive. And you will likely give your mom the same cold if that is what your grandmother has. No, it's best you stay here. I'll get the staff to help out. They're good eggs."

Victor tugged at the dress. "I'm a boy you know. I shouldn't be in a dress. Should I?" He didn't want to say, but with his injury, the dress actually felt way better than wearing his jeans. It was the first time in weeks he had felt comfortable. Wearing it almost made the pain tolerable.

"I know you are a boy." she laughed. "I delivered you, remember?" Victor shook his head no. "Oh dear, you don't remember. They never do." She put her hands on her hips and said, "Just because you were a baby back then is no excuse, now is it?." Now he giggled. Her voice tender, she added, "I'm sorry. Your dad made a difficult choice. But, he wants the best outcome for you in the future. So, in the meantime ..."

"I've got girl like bits and have to see a doctor that takes care of real girl bits. I know. You and Dad told me all about it before he left."

"Do you mind? That's not so bad, is it? I mean, I don't get to see many boys in my line of work. Maybe I get tired of seeing only girls."

"So, you still think I'm a boy even with these girl bits wearing a dress, right?"

"Of course I do. Those girl bits don't define who you are. And you had no choice when it came to the dress."

Victor shook his head in disgust. "Still, I wish I could go home. I miss my mom and dad. I miss playing with Susan."

"I wish you could too. I want to explain to you why you have to stay here. Something I couldn't say with your dad in the room. Your mom had trouble when she was pregnant with you. Her blood pressure went too high at the end. I just barely got it under control for a ..." She stopped short of saying vaginal. " ... normal birth without having to induce her. The problem is that once that happens for some patients, like your mom, it happens earlier in the next pregnancy. That is what has happened to your mom."

"Is she going to be okay?" She could see the worry in his eyes.

"We're going to do everything possible so she is okay. In the meantime, I think we need to figure out how to deal with your grandmother's dementia. I am sticking around to help make things safe for you. Just be patient." She then pulled out her cell phone and went just outside the front door to make some phone calls.`

After about fifteen minutes, she came back in from the front door and called to him, "Victor?"

He came out from the kitchen and looked up at her anxiously. "Victor, I'll be back in a couple of hours. I think you will be fine until then. I'll see what I can arrange for you, okay? In the meantime, don't change your clothes. Right now, we need to keep your grandmother calm. If she wakes up and finds you in boy clothes, she might punish you and do something stupid. Yes, I know it's wrong. Just fetch her what she needs and don't argue with her. Promise me no matter what, until I come back, you are a girl named Vicki, okay?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, you do."

"Promise?"

"Okay, that means cross your heart and hope to die. You are a girl named Vicki no matter what happens. Even if the mailman shows up at the front door."

He frowned. "Okay. I am a girl named Vicki no matter what happens or who shows up."

From the front door, Victor watched her get in car and leave. Across the street, he saw a girl about his age wave at him. Instinctively, he smiled and waved back. Embarrassed by his response, he stole back into the house and closed the door. As he sat in the living room waiting for something to happen, he heard a knock on the door. Cautiously, he opened it and said, "Hello."

"Hola, I saw you wave to me. Are you new here? My name's Aurelia." Outside the door stood a smiling girl with beautiful olive skin and a pretty face. Unlike his Basque ancestry where he had dark brown eyes, brown hair, and light skin, she was clearly Hispanic. Not knowing who she was or if she knew his grandmother, he remembered Dr. Alvarez's clear instruction to him. He was a girl until she got back. He thought he could play it safe though. "I'm sorry. My name is Vicki. I am not supposed to come out and play. I was in an accident a couple of weeks ago and ..."

He saw her hand go to her mouth. "Oh my, I can see the bruises on your neck and face. Did they have to cut your nice hair too. We can sit and just talk if you like. All my friends aren't home and I just want something to do. And making a new friend would be lovely." She stared at me for a moment with pleading eyes. "Please?" It brought back the memory of Susan on his doorstep two and a half years earlier asking him to play with him on their weekend trips to the village. Back then, when his dad was working there part time as a construction worker, he didn't feel any shame in rebuffing her. But, later, when they moved there after the end of his first year at school, it didn't take him long to realize what a jerk he had been to Susan.

He opened the door further and came through the screen door leaving the door wide open so he could hear if his grandmother called out. "As long as we don't play, I don't see anything wrong with my just sitting out front with you. My grandmother isn't feeling well and the doctor is coming back soon. We'll have to talk quietly." There were a couple of white metal chairs next to the living room window seated around a small white metal table with an ashtray that hadn't seen use for ages. He motioned to them, "We can sit here if you want?"

Remembering his grandmother's comment about smoothing of his dress, he carefully smoothed out his dress with both hands before sitting down. Aurelia jumped the gun and asked, "I'm in the third grade, how about you?" She moved her chair to be in front of his and sat down facing him.

He realized that during the last two weeks, he had no one to talk to or play with. His heart ached for Susan. He didn't know yet that she was sent to see her cousin in Las Cruces and stay with her until he got well enough to return. It was a lonely vacuum for him though. Even if she was a girl, it was so refreshing to be with her. With a little excitement in his voice, he responded, "Me too. Although I finished my school year already." She looked baffled, so he added. "I'm home schooled along with my next door neighbor, Susan. We live far out in the country near Buckhorn. This is a big city for me these days. My dad grew up here in this house. We used to live in Silver City and my grandma visited us there all the time because our car is no good. My mom is having baby and I may have to stay here until the baby is born. That's in June. So, they are trying to figure out what to do with me because my mom can't take care of me."

"What do you like to play with your neighbor Susan?" She assumed they were good friends and played often.

Victor's body became very expressive with his hand gestures as he talked, "We play all the time. I miss her. She is a good friend. We even go horseback riding together. It's my favorite time with Susan. I love it. My horse is named Henry. Hers is named Thunder. My horse is nice and gentle. He likes to eat carrots from my hand. My dad says I have to be careful what I feed him or his hooves could become 'de animated' or something bad. So, I can only feed him a carrot or an apple once a day. My dad's real good with horses and knows a lot about them." He giggled. "Then we also like to do things like bake stuff together, or do coloring books, or even do puzzles. It's just us, so we like to do pretend games too."

Victor caught himself and realized that he was talking too much about himself, so he quickly added, "How about you?" As if to silence himself, he pressed his legs together and grabbed hold of the front edge of the chair's seat.

Aurelia giggled and said, "Oh, I have lots of friends. They all live around here. Usually, on a Saturday, I am over playing at their house or they are playing at mine. But, today they are all at a birthday party for a stupid girl I don't like and she doesn't like me."

"Is she, like, you know, mean?" Victor posed a question the way Susan would ask.

"Yea, well, she is new to our school and everyone thinks she is great." Aurelia rolled her eyes and shook her head. "On her first day, she dumped my food tray and everyone laughed at me while she acted all innocent. She got away with it too." Victor could see tears in her eyes. Susan would cry too sometimes. He found if he reached out his hand and put it on hers, she felt better. He wondered if that would work on Aurelia too. So, he began to reach out, but instead of his putting his hand on hers, he found himself tilting forward in the chair. Then the curved legs rolled which thrust him forward and, instead of falling, he found he was embracing her with a hug.

Aurelia was delighted and hugged back. Victor felt strangely warm. Aurelia grinned then said, "Thank you! I really needed that. I like you Vicki. Your sweet."

Fishing for something to say, Victor stammered, "I llike youu tooo. you remind me a lot of Susan."

Aurelia asked, "Do you think Susan would like me?"

"Oh, I know she would. Maybe when my mom has her baby, you could come visit us." He released her from the hug. "We also play Crazy 8s. Do you know how to play?"

"Sure do, I play it all the time with my friends at school." Victor noticed a far away look in her eye when she said that.

"Wait here, I'll get a deck of cards. Would you like a soda?"

"Yes, please. Thank you."

While getting a few root beers from the fridge and a deck of cards, Victor remembered how jealous he was that the girls at his old school would hug each other. 'Well,' he thought, 'this is at least something he could enjoy if he had to be a girl.' They scooted around the table out front and began to play cards.

The two chatted away about their short lives as though they had lived a hundred years and needed to catch up on everything. "How you ever played dress up with Susan?"

"Susan only has the one dress. We wear jeans all the time because we do chores around the village. So, no, we haven't yet."

"And this is your only dress?"

"Well, yes and no. My grandmother pulled out a whole bunch of my aunt Vickie's old stuff because all I showed up with was jeans. She wanted me to have something nice for church."

"So, you said you were in an accident?"

"Yes. I don't remember much. I was knocked out much of the time and I was put in a coma for a few days because I had some sort of cushion with my head. Most of what the doctor's said went in one ear and out the other. I thought if your brain was swell, then they would want to keep you awake." Aurelia threw down an eight changing suits to hearts and the game proceeded on.

Both of them heard a call, "Aurelia!" They looked over to the other side of the street and a woman was standing in her doorway was looking around. Then she saw them waving back. She waved and came on over to the short wall in front of the sidewalk. "There you are. I see you found a new friend. Hi, my name is Mrs. Gonzalez. What's yours?"

"Hi Mrs. Gonzalez, my name is Vicki." Victor blushed. He had to play this role and it looked like he was getting in deeper.

"Mommy, can I please, please, please stay here a little longer. Pretty please? Vicki is real nice." Aurelia whinned. Victor found himself smiling at that compliment.

"No, honey. You have that science project for school due on Monday. And you promised you would work on it today so tomorrow we could do something fun."

Aurelia turned to Victor and asked, "Would you like to come with us tomorrow?"

He knew this was going to go too far. "Frankly, I don't know anything until the doctor comes back. I'll let you know. I may have to leave and go home since my grandmother isn't feeling well." That, he hoped, bought him a temporary out.

He waved goodbye to them as he gathered up the cards and the soda cans. He took them into the kitchen and noticed he had left the door open from after the eggs burning.

Closing the back door, he softly pounded the kitchen counter, whisper yelling, "I am not a girl! So why am I acting like one?" Then he caught his reflection in the kitchen mirror. He began to cry because he could see that he looked like the old photo of aunt Vickie next to the mirror.

No wonder his grandmother was confused. He was too.

Copyright © 2020 by AuP reviner