Most often people talk about being in the right place at the right time. Maybe they achieved a beautiful photo of a sunrise, or the antics of children or animals. Maybe they found something someone lost and received a big reward when it was returned. But how often do they talk about being in the wrong place at the right time? If they do, it’s often about the death of someone or maybe witnessing a crime. And if this is the case, they are sad or horrified. Walter Williams often is in the wrong place at the right time, though his reaction to the incidents he encounters is much different than anyone would expect. And, life-changing.

Walter had his first weekly checkup with Marsha that Wednesday after he’d been released from the hospital. She could see that Walter was feeling better just by the way he walked into the exam room. She ran through a battery of general questions, how have you been feeling, are you sleeping okay, have you had any pains or other ailments, etc. With each question Walter answered either ‘no’ or ‘okay,’ or explained some things. Marsha then took a few blood samples, wanting them rushed so she’d know the results before Walter went home.

Two things had been happening since Walter was released from the hospital. Shelby had gone into the office each morning to continue working on the project for Tom Warmer. And Terry insisted Walter take a nap the moment he got home from school, hence the reason the students at school saw Walter improve each day.

Shelby had also called Tom to let him know how Walter was doing, and Tom again told Shelby to let him know when he felt he could return and he’d send his Lear for him. That night, when he got home, the day Walter had his first checkup, Shelby found out Walter’s checkup showed everything was as the doctor’s had hoped, the chemical levels in Walter’s blood were almost completely non-existent. There were still a few traces but even those, they felt, weren’t enough to cause any problems. After supper, Shelby conference called his partners and Tom Warmer, telling them the results of Walter’s checkup, and feeling he could catch a flight in the morning to continue the work with Tom.

Ever the blunt, straight forward person he was, Tom said, “Bullshit, Shelby. I told you to call me when you felt you could come back out and I’d have the Lear waiting for you at your airport. Now, while you may think you’re back to your old self, I’ve a feeling you’re still worried about Walter. And you don’t need the hassle of all the crap you’d have to put up with flying commercial. My Lear will be waiting for you at 8 a.m. at your airport, and the same folks will be onboard; they were as worried about your son as I was. And Shelby, thank you. Thank you for showing me that family is important.” Shelby hadn’t been able to get a word in the entire time Tom was speaking. It was quiet for a few moments until Lori, one of Shelby’s partners, asked, “Shelby, are you still there?” All four heard Shelby clear his throat a few times before saying, “Um, yeah, Lori, I’m still here. I’m just overwhelmed by Tom’s generosity.” Charging right ahead, Tom blurted out, “Right, then, Shelby I’ll see you about 10 tomorrow morning,” before his line went dead. The partners had worked with Tom Warmer on several projects, and still had trouble adjusting to his no nonsense style of business, and his bluntness. “So, Shelby,” David, another of the partners, started, “you’ll fly out tomorrow morning just after 8? You have everything you need from us?” It was quiet again until Marti, the third partner, asked, as had Lori, “Shelby, you still there? Are you alright?” Again they heard Shelby clear his throat several times before he told them, in a throaty voice, “Yeah, I have everything I need. I still have all of my family.”

That night over supper, Terry and Shelby discussed getting Walter to school and Shelby to the airport. Terry didn’t see the need to let Shelby take his car then leave it parked at the private terminal for however long he’d be gone. So they decided they’d take Shelby to the airport first, then take Walter to school, since it was only a fifteen minute drive to the airport, then another fifteen minute to the high school. They’d leave the house at 7:15 a.m. so they could allow for traffic both times.

The next morning they did make their departure time of 7:15, and arrived at the private terminal a little after 7:30; traffic wasn’t as bad as they feared. Walter started getting out of the car, following his parents, when they both told him at the same time, “You stay here. Save your strength for school.” Terry looked at Shelby, and he her, then at Walter, and the three laughed because of what they both had just said, at the same time. Shelby came around to the passenger side of the car, opened the back passenger door, knelt down, and took Walter into a hug, telling him, “You take care of yourself, you hear me? Do what your mom and Marsha ask. I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay? And son, I love you.” He then helped Walter out of the backseat, and into the front passenger seat. No sense making it look like he’s being chauffeured. Walter hugged his dad again, before getting into the front passenger seat, and watched as his mom and dad, arms around each other’s waist, walked to, and into, the private terminal. It was only a few minutes later when Terry came walking back to the car, wiping her eyes as she walked. And only a few minutes later they arrived at school and the start of another school day.

The days leading up to Walter’s second checkup were uneventful, thankfully. Walter would get up in the morning, hit the bathroom, and do everything he needed to do, before getting dressed and going down to breakfast. Terry would get up in the morning, do her bathroom routine, get dressed then get breakfast ready for her and Walter, before driving him to school. Some days after dropping Walter off at school, she’d go shopping, either for groceries or just for herself; she was still a bit wound up after what happened to her son, and needed to do just for herself once in a while. Shelby would call in the evenings to see how Walter was doing, before he and Terry had their own version of phone sex, both taking longer falling asleep when they did go to bed; Walter never heard any of those conversations since he was in his room doing homework. He was able to speak with Shelby, though, before the couple had their exciting conversations.

It was the second Wednesday since Walter had been released from the hospital, and the day for his second checkup. He’d stayed up late Tuesday night, studying for two tests and finishing his homework. Terry came running into his room and shouted, “WALTER! WAKEUP UP, WE’VE OVERSLEPT!” Terry’s shouting was the equivalent of someone banging a metal spoon on the bottom of a metal pan. Walter was instantly awake. He looked at his clock and saw it was already ten minutes to 8, and he had to be at school at 8:30. He jumped out of bed, Terry flew down to the kitchen, Walter threw on his underwear, socks and pants, then headed to the bathroom.

Because they both overslept, there wasn’t time to fix a hot breakfast. Instead, Terry got two bowels out of a cabinet, cereal out of another, and the milk from the fridge. She had just sat the milk on the table when she heard Walter scream, and a thud coming from upstairs. She ran from the kitchen and up the stairs, where she found Walter sitting on the floor hugging his chest, crying and saying through sobs, “Oh, GAWD it hurts,” over and over again as he cried. Terry got down on the floor with him, and gently moved his hands aside, and saw a faint pink line running down across Walter’s left nipple. When she asked what had happened Walter told her, “I was hurrying and turned into the bathroom too quickly and hit the door jamb with my chest. Oh gawd it hurts, mom.” Walter had moved his hands back as Terry had found him, so she again gently moved his hands out of the way.

The line down across his nipple was now a darker pink, and as Terry touched his nipple, Walter flinched and cried out. Terry thought she’d felt something, and much gentler now, felt around the nipple. Then she felt his right nipple and the surrounding area. “Come on, let’s get you into the bathroom so you can use the toilet.” Terry helped Walter up, and helped him to the toilet and with pulling his pants and underwear down; he was still hugging his chest. She had him sit down and pee, then reversed everything before flushing the toilet and walking him into his room. She had him sit on his bed and told him she was going to make some phone calls and would be back. Her first call was to Peter, telling him she was taking Walter to see Marsha and he wouldn’t be in school today. When Peter asked why, she simply told him, “I don’t know for sure, Peter, so I’d rather not say right now.” She didn’t wait for the pleasantries of goodbyes, and simply hung up and dialed Marsha’s number. When Marsha heard what had happened, and what Terry discovered, she told Terry she’d be waiting at the emergency room entrance for them.

Terry ran back upstairs and into Walter’s bedroom. He was still clutching his chest, and tears still running down his cheeks. Terry grabbed one of his button up shirts out of the closet and was about to help him put it on, when she stopped and thought, ‘If what I think is happening, is happening, then they’re going to be tender.” She laid the shirt on Walter’s bed then ran into her bedroom, opening a dresser drawer and taking out a white, satin, camisole. She ran back into Walter’s bedroom, and knelt down in front of him and said, “Walter, look at me.” When Walter brought his head up and was looking at Terry she went on with, “I think I know why your chest hurts so bad where you banged into the door jamb. No, don’t ask questions now, just let me put this camisole on you before putting on your shirt. It will feel better against your skin than just your shirt.” Walter just nodded his head, and after Terry had him raise his arms, his left arm went up slower than his right arm, she slipped the camisole over his head, pulled it down, then helped him put his shirt on. After it was buttoned, Walter again hugged his chest, and Terry helped him to his feet and back downstairs. She grabbed her purse, pulled out the car keys, and holding Walter by the waist, took him out to her car. She was careful opening the front passenger door, mindful of where Walter was standing. He slowly got into the car, Terry fastened the seatbelt for him, ran around to the driver’s side, got in, did her seatbelt, started the car, and left tracks as she backed out of the driveway. To say she exceeded the speed limit, or didn’t break a few traffic laws would be far below an understatement. But they were at the hospital ten minutes later; it’s normally a twenty minute drive. And she may have angered a few other drivers on their way to the hospital.

Terry received a lot of dirty looks, as she sped into the drive for the emergency room entrance. A security guard had started walking Terry’s way until he saw her jump out of her car, run around to the passenger side, and help a boy get out of the car before they went into the emergency room. He remembered back when he was about that age, and the times his parents had done the same for him. He hoped the boy would be alright.

Marsha was waiting for them as she had said, and told them to follow her as she led them back to an exam room. A lab tech was already waiting and was told to go ahead and get blood samples from Walter. After taking four vials, Marsha told the lab tech to put a rush on those samples. When he gave her a ‘look’ she told him it was very important. Then when he still looked at her funny, she told him, “This is the same boy we treated two weeks ago for that chemical contamination.” It was only then the tech’s light went on and he hurried out of the exam room.

Marsha had had Walter initially lie down on the exam table when he first entered the room, so she could look him over from head to foot. When saw nothing that caught her eye, she helped him sit up, then said more to herself than to him or Terry, “Let’s get this shirt off you and see why it hurts so bad.” After what Terry told her she wasn’t surprised when she saw the camisole, her own mother had done the same for her when she first started to develop breasts. She saw Walter winch as he raised his left arm so she could take off the camisole. Terry saw how much more pronounced that line had become, explaining to Marsha what she saw at first. “Walter,” and she gently cupped his chin and lifted his head until he was looking at her, “I’m going to be as gentle as I can, but it might hurt a bit. Understand. I need to feel around your nipples to see if what your mom suspects is really happening.” There was a knock on the door just as Marsha had started to palpate the left side of Walter’s chest. Marsha opened the door and saw Dr. Gale Stomer, the resident Ob-Gyn standing there. “Hi Gale, thank you for coming,” Marsha said to Gale as Gale walked into the room. Terry knew Gale, and the field of medicine she practiced, and the two exchanged pleasantries as Marsha returned to Walter.

“Okay, Walter, here we go. I’ll try to be as gentle as I can.” To show Walter she meant what she said, instead of starting on the left side of Walter’s chest she started on the right side, palpating the nipple then the surrounding area. Then, even more gentler, she started palpating his right side, eliciting a cry from Walter as she palpated near the top and bottom where the line from the doorjamb ran. When she was done, she used her head to have Gale come over, and after introducing her to Walter, she told him she just wanted another doctor to double check her findings. Even before Gale started her exam of Walter’s chest, Walter saw Gale’s ID badge and asked, “Um...why are you having an Ob-Gyn doctor look at me, Marsha? That field of medicine deals with women and pregnancies.” The look he gave Marsha and Gale, then his mom, let Terry know he was not a happy camper. She’d only seen that look one other time, and it didn’t turn out well for the boy who was bullying a small girl.

Marsha hadn’t been around Walter that much, but could spot steam coming from someone’s ears with ease. She actually pushed Gale back, got into Walter’s face and told him, in no uncertain terms, “Listen, young man. You will NOT get upset at me, Gale, or your mom because of what we may or may not find. You WILL keep that temper of yours in check so we can find out why you are in so much pain.” She then softened her approach by placing the palms of her hands against each of Walter’s cheeks before she told him, “Walter, I know you are scared, so is your mom. But you have to trust us to do what’s best for you. Don’t go all space cadet on us now.” She used the fingers of both hands to wipe tears from his cheeks, and he apologized and let Gale start examining his chest. As Marsha did, she started on the right side of his chest, then moved to the left side, again getting a cry of pain from Walter as she palpated the areas near the dark line running across Walter’s left nipple. Gale looked at Marsha and nodded, as did Marsha. Terry knew why they were nodding and tears started falling from her eyes.

Though Walter was still in pain, he was not blind, and caught the nods of Gale and Marsha. And the tears falling from his mother’s eyes. “Um...HELLO! Remember me, Walter? The one in pain? The one half dressed in a room with three beautiful women?” Walter’s antics cause all three women to chuckle before Gale replied, “Yes, Walter, we know you’re there. Keep your shorts on.” Terry actually laughed even as tears rolled down her cheeks. Walter just met another person able to give him his own medicine, figuratively and literally.

Gale was another doctor who wouldn’t pull punches when she talked with a patient. She pulled up a stool so she could sit directly in front of Walter, as Terry walked around behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. Gale looked him directly in the eyes as she spoke. “You asked why an Ob-Gyn doctor was checking you out, medically? Though if I were several years younger you’d be quite a catch. Walter, has your chest seemed...puffy to you recently? Have you felt like you’ve just eaten a lot at times but haven’t? Have you noticed anything different about your genitals lately?” Gale finished her questions and watched as Walter thought about her questions; Terry also tightened her grip on his shoulders.

Walter hadn’t really thought much of it, but he could answer ‘yes’ to all of Gale’s questions. And that’s how he answered. “Well, yeah, my chest has seemed kind of puffy, but I just thought it was because of the treatments I have been given. And now that you mention it, I have felt like I’ve just eaten something when it’s been several hours since I ate anything. And...um...my...genitals have seemed a bit different than I remembered. What’s all this mean? Am I turning into a girl or something?” Walter laughed as he said the last bit, but he was the only one who did. Gale took his left hand and told him, “Walter, I’m going to guide you hand and I want you to gently feel around your right nipple. Very gently now.” Gale controlled Walter’s hand as he gently felt in the areas she led him. When he gave her a questioning look, because he did feel something, she told him, “Walter, hold onto your hat. You are developing breasts.” Terry braced her son as he fainted and fell backward.

Walter scrunched his eyes and tried to swat the odor away, as the ammonia ampoule was broken under Walter’s nostrils. The ammonia smell made him start coughing, but brought him back around. Where he had been sitting on the exam table, he was now lying down, looking up at three worried faces. “Um...Hi? What happened?” Terry moved an errant bit of hair off his forehead and told him, “You fainted after Gale said you were developing breasts.” Walter looked from his mom, to Gale, to Marsha, and all three were nodding their heads. He was developing breasts, and what he had felt, what all three women had felt, were breast buds. “Um...and all the other things? They’re part of me developing breasts?” Marsha took Walter’s left hand in hers before telling him, “We think so, but we’re not sure. While you were sleeping, Gale and I decided to run you through a few machines to look at the inside of you, and do a few more ‘female’ tests. Walter mouthed ‘female tests’ before he asked, “What type of female tests?” Just then there was a knock on the exam room door. Gale opened it, spoke to the person there, took the pages she was handed, closed the door and walked back over to the exam table and their little group.

As Gale and Marsha are looking over the pages Gale was given, it dawned on Walter that something was missing. He looked down the length of his body and saw he was wearing a paper gown. When he lifted the collar of the gown, he saw he was in his birthday suit, as naked as he could be. “Um...I’ve another question for you three voyeurs. Why am I naked under this paper dress?” Terry clamped her hand over her mouth, as Marsha giggled

Marsha gently reached down and wiped the few tears that had escaped Walter’s eyes. “I’m sorry Walter, I was trying to help you get through this.” He just nodded as more tears rolled to his ears. “It’s okay, I’m just scared.” As Walter gathered himself, he noticed Gale was attaching two ‘things’ to the exam table. “Um...what are those,” and he pointed to the two metal stirrups Gale just attached to the table.

Terry chuckled and gently placed her left hand on Walter’s right shoulder. “Well, Walter,” Marsha began, “you remember I said we wanted to perform a few more ‘female’ tests on you? Well, putting your feet in those stirrups will allow Dr. Stromer to examine your genitals better.” Terry saw it coming, because of the smirk on Walter’s lips, but there was nothing she could do. “What, you want to play with my woo hoo?” It wasn’t so much what he said but how he said it, and the pantomime he added by just flicking his fingers back and forth, and the lilt in his voice. It got real quiet in the room for a moment, then all three women couldn’t help it, they cracked up. Marsha ended up leaning against one wall laughing. Terry against another, also laughing. And Gale simply dropped her head on the examination table, right between Walter’s legs, and was the worst of all. When the three had collected themselves, it was Gale, still chuckling, who told him, “Yes, Walter, I’m going to handle your woo hoo. And I’ll be as easy as I can. You ready?” Walter knew it was a rhetorical question, shook his head ‘no’ before ‘yes’ then following Gale’s instructions, lifted his legs, put them into the stirrups, scooted a bit towards Gale, laid back and tried to relax. A thought occurred to him and he laughed, but Terry told him, “Don’t you dare say it.” That caused both of them to laugh. “Okay, Walter, here we go. Please try and lay as still as you can. We don’t want anything to happen to your woo hoo.” Gale chuckled to herself just after she said that, glancing up to see Walter rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

There was no humor in Gale’s voice as she told Walter, “Okay, Walter, you may put your legs down and scoot back a bit. I’m through with the exam.” She picked up the pages she’d set down before examining Walter’s genitals, looked through them much slower this time, got up off the stool she’d been sitting on and pursed her lips before saying, “Walter, you can sit up now.” Gale walked over until she was directly in front of Walter, and speaking to him, and Terry, who was again standing behind her son, said, “I’m not sure how you’re going to take this, Walter, so brace yourself. Besides the breast development we discovered, your genitals are shrinking. Your testicals are about half the size they should be for a boy your age, as is your penis.” Terry had placed both hands on Walter’s shoulders, and could feel Walter shaking. “And your testosterone levels are dropping, being replaced would be a better choice of words.” Gale could see the question Walter was about to ask and told him before he could ask, “Being replaced with estrogen. Walter, I believe your DNA is being written, or parts of it are being switched on, and it will continue until you have become a full fledged girl. With all the parts natural born girls are born with. That’s why I want more tests run, beginning with several imaging ones.” She reached up and gently wiped off the tears running down Walter’s cheeks, telling him, “We’ll be here for you Walter, my word of honor.”

Walter suddenly spun around on the exam table, grabbed his mom and burst out in tears. Marsha and Gale felt it best to let his mom comfort him and stepped out of the room. Gale showed Marsha the pages she’d received, and got a whistle out of Marsha as she read through all of the results of the blood tests. “Oh, GAWD, that poor boy. First all of those accidents and now this. Did you read the report on his last accident, the one he had two weeks ago?” When Gale shook her head ‘no,’ Marsha pulled out her tablet, opened the file containing Walter’s last accident, and handed the tablet to Gale. “Whoa, shit,” was all Gale said as she handed the tablet back to Marsha. Gale got a questioning look on her face before asking, “You think all the chemicals he was exposed to are doing this, don’t you?” Marsha nodded her head and replied, “Yeah, I do. And maybe we would have seen this coming had we thought to look for it. But we were so worried about getting the chemicals out of his bloodstream we never considered something like this might happen.” The door to the exam room opened and Terry poked her head out, telling the two doctors, “You can come back in now. Walter and I had a nice talk.”

When the doctors again saw Walter, his eyes were red from crying, his face was tear streaked, and his nose was running; the trash can now had more tissues in it. Marsha picked up the box of tissues, offered them to Walter, who took one and wiped his eyes before wiping his nose. As he held the tissue in his hands, he asked in a quivering voice, “Um...what now? How long before I’m a full girl? Can it be stopped? Is it because of all those chemicals?”

Marsha had watched Walter go through all of the treatments to remove the accumulated chemicals he was exposed to from his bloodstream. Right now, though, his pleading face showed that he was a boy who had been beaten down by what he just learned. “Walter, you know I don’t pull punches when I tell my patients things they may not want to hear? Well, I’m not going to start now with you. Now, we’re going to run more tests on you, starting with imaging, as Gale said. I’m afraid we will need more of your red go juice, because I want more exhaustive tests run. As to how long, I don’t know, no one does. As far as I know, you’re the first person to have this happen to you. Can it be stopped? Walter, I’m sorry, but, I don’t know. No one does at this point.”

Marsha was close enough to Walter that he leaned forward, put his head on her chest, reached around her waist, pulled her closer to him, and began crying again. Marsha reached over and pulled him into her, looked up at the ceiling as tears ran down her cheeks. As she stood holding Walter, and Walter held her, Terry and Gale wrapped their arms around her from opposite sides, with Gale saying so all four could hear, “We’ll get through this, however it turns out.”

It was several minutes before the group hug broke up, and the trash can gained more tissues. Gale went to the phone on the wall, picked up the receiver before punching a few numbers, and when the phone at the other end was answered, asked, “Do you have anything scheduled right now?...That’s good. I have a patient I was a full workup done on, right now. ...That’s right, right now. ...Yes I consider it an emergency. And when you read the full report, so will you. ...Okay, good, we’re on our way.”

Gale hung up the receiver then turned to the other three. “Imaging doesn’t have anyone scheduled right now, so, Walter, we’re going to go and get a few pictures of your insides. Terry, this will take a while, so why don’t you go to the cafeteria and get something to eat or drink. And maybe you’d want to make a phone call of your own? We’ll come and get you when we’re done.” Gale picked up the receiver on the phone and punched in a few more numbers, asking for a gurney to be brought to exam room 3. Terry put her arms around her son and pulled him into her, stroking his hair as she did so. “Sweetheart, we will get through this, just like all the other times. You’ll see.” Marsha had been around Walter enough to know what a smirk on his lips meant, and she wasn’t disappointed as he said, “But mom, my woo hoo wasn’t at stake those other times.” Terry just shook her head, dropped her chin onto the top of Walter’s head and said, “Only you could make light of a situation like this.” About that time there was a knock on the door, before it opened and an orderly came in pulling the gurney Gale had ordered. Terry kissed Walter on the top of his forehead before telling him, “It will be okay, Walter. Do you understand?” Walter nodded his head before telling Terry, “I love you, mom.” The orderly and Terry helped Walter get onto the gurney, before Gale told him where they were going, and followed them out of the exam room.

Marsha saw the look on Terry’s face and grabbed her in a hug and let Terry cry on her shoulder. “He’s going to be okay, Terry. He may become a she, but he will get through this. I’ve seen that strength in him the short time I’ve been with him. All of us will get through this together.” The two women embraced a few moments longer until Marsha patted Terry’s back and told her, “Come on, let’s go fix our war paint. Then go to the cafeteria and get something to eat and drink. Gale doesn’t need me right now, she’s a big girl, she knows what she’s doing.” Despite how Terry was feeling at that moment, she had to laugh at Marsha’s flippant words. They walked out of the exam room arm in arm, stopping by Marsha’s office so she could grab her purse, before going to the women’s restroom then on to the cafeteria.