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.

As Walter walked to his first period class, he was careful not to bump into anyone or anything, his chest was still sore from when he hit the door jamb. Plus, he discovered, tender because of the developing breasts. He also had another reason not to bump into anyone or let anyone touch him, Terry made him wear a bra to school so his developing breasts wouldn’t be bothered by his shirt rubbing against them. The last thing he wanted was to be found wearing a bra and having to try and explain why. But what he wanted and what was about to occur weren’t sympatico.

Walter ended up being the last student to walk into his first period science class, walking from the office to class through the throng of students did take time. He sat in his usual seat just as the second bell rang. Brigette closed the classroom door and before taking roll, told the class, “Walter, it’s good to have you back. How are you doing?” Walter’s hands were folded on top of his desk as he had leaned forward and told Brigette that he was doing better, now. Jeffery Stoneman sat to Walter’s right, and in his zeal to welcome Walter back, slapped Walter on the back. He just happened to slap Walter where the bands of the bra fastened together in the back, and when he felt something under Walter’s shirt, reached over and rubbed up and down on Walter’s back. Walter immediately sat up, looked at Jeffery just as he asked, “Dude, are you wearing a bra?” Walter went from pink all the way to red, since Jeffery had asked his question out loud. Every face turned to look at Walter and Jeffery continued with, “Dude, you are wearing a bra,” and he began to laugh, as did the other boys in the class.

Marge Stillman, the girl who’d had a crush on Walter since grade school, wiped tears out of her eyes, as she watched the boys making fun of Walter. She wanted to go over and slap Jeffery’s face off, but knew she’d likely get suspended and besides, it wasn’t the right thing to do. Instead, she got up out of her chair and walked over to Walter, seeing tears sliding down his cheeks, took his hand and told him, “It’ll be alright, I’ll stand with you, Walter.” Walter leaned his head into her side, as she then put her arm around him and glared at the rest of the class. “So, you boys think it’s funny because he is wearing a bra. After what he’s been through, did you morons ever stop to think why he has to? Did any of you see him after he was cut by all that broken glass? No, it looks like none of you did.” She reached up and wiped tears off her cheeks, as she bent down and kissed Walter on the top of the head before telling him again, “It will be alright, Walter. I’m here for you.” Many of the boys had tried to go out with Marge over the years, or tried to get her interested in them, but she always refused them. Now they understood why, she wanted to be with Walter. After kissing him on the top of his head, Marge returned to her seat, where she received looks of admiration from the other girls.

Peter had met with all the school staff, coaches included, and had told them everything about Walter’s physical condition, with Terry’s and Shelby’s permission. Brigette came and stood by Walter, looked down at him and asked him, “Might be the right time to be honest with everyone Walter, including yourself. Would you feel up to being honest with everyone today?” She saw Walter start to shake, and put her hand on his shoulder to reassure him she was there for him. Walter looked up at Brigette and told her, “I’ve been hoping they were wrong, that maybe they’d find a way to stop it all. But I guess I’ve been fooling myself, huh?” Brigette nodded her head, and answered with, “Only you can answer that question Walter. It’s up to you, but it will get around about you wearing a bra today,” and she looked at Jeffery Stoneman as she told him, “And you, mister, I’ll see after class.” Walter hung his head, laughed then said more to himself than anyone, “Yeah, I’ve been fooling myself into thinking something more can be done.” He looked up to Brigette before saying, “Yes, Mrs. Stokes, it’s time I’m honest with everyone.” He got up from his seat and walked up to stand in front of Brigette’s lab desk.

Since it had been discovered he was wearing a bra he decided to start there then tell the rest of what happened. Walter took a deep breath, looked at the faces watching him, Marge especially, who was nodding her head, then said, “Jeffery’s right, I am wearing a bra. Because I’m starting to develop breasts. This was discovered last Wednesday at my checkup. I overslept and was rushing into the bathroom and hit the door jamb with my chest.” Walter saw all of the girls cringe, and some even putting their arms across their own breasts, just as though they’d been there and done that. “I thought at the time I’d just hit one of the deep cuts that had to be sewn closed, but when my mom felt around where I’d hit my chest, she called my doctor and was told to get me to the emergency room right away. Two doctors looked at my chest, Dr. Taylor, my doctor, and Dr. Gale Stomer, an Ob-Gyn doctor. After they looked me over they then took me to the Imaging Department and took a bunch of pictures of my insides, and determined I was indeed developing breasts. Right now I have breasts buds, what girls develop when they start puberty. Their best guess, right now, and they won’t know for sure until the in-depth blood test results are back, but they think all of the chemicals absorbed through my skin combined to start affecting my DNA. They don’t know, yet, whether it’s only a few parts of my DNA or all of my DNA. And unless they can find something to reverse all of this, sometime soon I’ll be a full girl. And yes, I said, full girl. Because some of those pictures showed the development of internal structures in my groin region.” After he finished speaking he hung his head, as tears flowed from his eyes. Marge again got up from her chair, walked up to Walter, put her arms around him and pulled him into her. Where he laid his head on her shoulder and cried. Chuckling could be heard in the back of the class, and then there was a loud, smack, as the girl sitting in front of Jeffery and turned around and put everything behind the slap she gave to his face. Jeffery picked himself off the floor, as Brigetter told him, “You best rethink your attitude right now, mister. It will be interesting to see what your parents have to say about your conduct in this class this morning.” Jeffery suddenly went white. Brigette had walked over to Jeffery’s desk, as she said it. And as she started walking to the front of the class, she patted the girl who’d slapped Jeffery on the back.

Jeffery received two weeks detention, and was grounded, by his parents, for the rest of that semester, and was volunteered by his mom to work two hours after school at the shelter where she worked during the day. Where she was one of four psychologists counselling abuse and battered spouses. The girl who slapped Jeffery? She received accolades from the other girls and some of the boys. And admiration for Walter grew even more, after he had the courage to stand up in front of his science class and tell them everything. Those who had grown up with Walter, and seen his other encounters, knew this time things were going to be different. But they did wonder what name he would eventually go by.

As with all schools, word of Walter becoming a girl, because of the accident, spread like wildfire. Most felt sorry for him, for him having to go through all this. Some thought it was a play for sympathy, saying, “He just wants you to feel sorry for him.” More than one of those received a very stern talking to by those who knew Walter and had witnessed some of his encounters. And some hated the idea of Walter becoming a girl, accident or not. And it was three of those who hated the idea who were going to show Walter how much they hated the idea this very day after school. But a mother bear protects her cubs with a ferocity like no one can believe. And those three boys would see it in action for themselves.

Terry had arrived early to pick up Walter, and had parked in the ‘loading/unloading’ zone at the curb in front of the main doors. As she watched school let out, she spotted Walter walk out of the main doors and start towards her car. Suddenly, she saw three boys grab Walter and take him around the corner of one of the classroom wings. Terry had had a scare a little over a year ago, and when talking to a detective about it, she asked how she could protect herself if something like that happened again. The detective told her she might think of enrolling in a self defence class, or, “And you didn’t hear it from me,” and told her about carrying a collapsible baton, like the officers carried. She researched the baton and ended up buying one for her purse and one for the glove box in her car.

Terry opened the glove box, grabbed the baton, and fired out of the car, running across the lawn towards where those three took Walter. Peter had just come out of the office and spotted Terry running across the lawn, snapping her hand as she did so. He recognized what she was now carrying and started running to follow her.

When Terry rounded the corner of that wing, she saw two of the boys holding Walter by the shoulders against the building, while the other boy was punching Walter in the abdomen. She never let up on her speed, as she reached the boy punching Walter and swung the baton and caught the boy behind his left knee. She continued her swing and caught the boy holding Walter by his left shoulder on his knee cap. The third boy got a shot in the groin. Peter had come around the building in time to watch the first boy fall, then the second one as he was hit hard on his right knee cap. Then the third boy go down as Terry hit him in the groin. He watched as Terry caught a falling Walter before he fell forward onto the ground. He was out of breath when he reached Terry and Walter, and felt the wrath of her eyes as she yelled at him, “SO THIS IS HOW YOU PROTECT MY SON?” Peter called Robert and his men, then called the police and school nurse. Then he called Margot and told her to call the parents of each boy’s name he gave her. All of the noise had caused students to see what was going on, and Peter had to forcefully tell them to go home.

Because of Walter’s condition, the nurse looked at him first. He had a bruise forming on his left cheek where he was first hit, and bruising starting on his abdomen where he’d been repeatedly punched. The nurse told Terry the bruise on his face didn’t look too bad, but she couldn’t say about the punches, and best get him to the hospital to be examined. Peter called Marsha and told her to stand by, Walter had been beat up and was going to be heading to the emergency room. Walter was finally able to breathe better, and after Terry helped him up, helped him to her car. She started the car and ended up breaking more than one traffic law as she sped to the hospital.

Robert and his men arrived and handcuffed the three boys. When the police arrived they took Peter’s statement, and after asking about the victim, were told the boy’s mother had already taken him to the emergency room; he gave the police Terry’s information so they could contact her. The police also radioed to have another unit go to the hospital to get a statement from the boy and his mom. EMTs arrived to examine the three boys, saying all three needed to go to the hospital. The parents of the three boys arrived shortly after the police, and Peter took them to his office to explain what they had done. Robert saw the look on one of the fathers and had sent two of his men with Peter. It was wise of him to do so as one of the fathers said, after Peter told what happened, “Serves that faggot right. Any boy wanting to be a girl should get the same treatment.” The man turned white when a deep voice, from one of the men Robert sent with Peter, said right next to his ear, “Sir, that boy didn’t choose to be a girl. He was involved in an accident in his science class and exposed to a lot of chemicals. Sir, NO ONE deserves to be treated like your son treated that boy. But it’s now clear where he got his attitude from.” Peter went on to explain that the police had arrested their sons, and were taking them to the hospital to be examined. He also told the parents, as of now all three were suspended, pending a formal hearing by the school, and pending a hearing in Court. When they asked what would happen to the woman who hit their sons, Peter looked at the woman who asked the question and asked her, “What should happen to a mother protecting her son from a beating by three thugs?” The woman dropped her head and said, “Nothing, she was doing the right thing.”

When Terry got Walter to the hospital, Marsha and Gale, along with an orderly with a gurney, were waiting for them. They helped Walter out of the car and onto the gurney, where they rushed him inside to one of the exam rooms. Terry left her car where it was and ran in behind them, going into the exam room with her son. As Marsha and Gale were examining Walter, the police, and EMTs were bringing the three boys into the emergency room. A short time later six parents came into the emergency room and asked about their sons. The receptionist, and the police officer by reception, told the parents their sons were being examined at the moment. And if they could be released from the hospital, they would be taken to the police station and booked for assault and a hate crime. And a short time after the Parents arrived, Peter arrived, asking about Walter.

It wasn’t long after Peter’s arrival Marsha was bringing Terry out to the waiting room, while Glae and the orderly took Walter to the Imaging Department. After Marsha sat Terry down, she went to get bottled water from the staff lounge. Peter had just sat down next to Terry, put his arm around her, when an officer asked if she was Terry Williams. She said she was and the officer asked if she could give him a statement about what happened at the high school. Marsha had returned with the bottled water, gave one to Terry, and sat down on Terry’s other side, as Terry told the officer everything she saw and did to protect her son. When the parents heard Terry give the officer her statement, all six came over where she was sitting and started giving her a hard time for hurting their sons. Terry knew of these parents, and figured out which son was with which set of parents.

Peter saw Terry was about to get out of her chair and put his hand on her shoulder, getting a dirty look from Terry. With fire in her eyes she asked the six, “So, you consider your boys’ actions appropriate?” Pointing to the parents of the two boys who held Walter against the building she asked those four, “You consider it appropriate for your sons to hold MY son against a building,” and here she pointed to the other parents, “so your son could repeatedly punch MY son in the abdomen?” Marsha now put a hand on Terry’s other shoulder because she was trying to shrug off Peter’s hand. “And you’re angry with ME because I protected my son from the beating he was getting by YOUR sons? “HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF ANY WRONG DOING. HOW DARE YOU THINK MY SON DESERVED WHAT THOSE ANIMALS DID TO HIM BECAUSE OF SOMETHING HE HAD NO CONTROL OVER!” This time it took Peter and Marsh the use of both hands to keep Terry seated. Still seething, Terry told the six parents, “It will be a pleasure to take all six of you to court because of your sons!” Hospital security had to move the parents away from a still seething Terry, just as Marsha got a text on her phone. “Come on, they’re through taking pictures,” and took Terry’s arm, pulling her out of the chair and forcing her to walk down the hall to the Imaging Department; Peter had taken Terry’s other arm.

With Marsha leading, the three found Gale and Walter, he still lying down on a gurney, in a side room in the Imaging Department. Terry rushed to Walter’s side, asking how he was feeling. Typical of Walter, he asked, “Did anyone get the license of the truck that hit me?” Then laughed, then winced, and told his mom, “Except for a sore cheek and stomach, I feel okay.” Terry then looked at Gale and asked her how he was doing. Gale said they’re still waiting on the pictures, but from what she saw, none of his internal organs had been damaged by the repeated blows. And when the pictures did come back, and Gale could study them more closely, she again told Terry nothing had been damaged. Walter would be sore for several days, and the bruising would eventually fade, but otherwise, he was okay.

Peter, Gale, and Marsha stepped outside the room while Terry helped Walter get dressed. Once he was dressed, the five walked back to reception, where an officer asked to speak with Walter. As Gale and Marsha were signing Walter out, Terry and Peter sat with Walter as he gave the officer his statement. The officer thanked him, gave Terry his card, and said if they had any more information they could reach him at the number on the card. He also told Terry they’d be in touch if they needed any further information. He then quietly told Terry, “I wouldn’t worry about any charges being brought against you, after what those boys were doing to your son. But just in case, you should contact your own attorney and let them know what happened. Terry’s seething look returned as she told the officer, “Oh I plan on doing just that. They are going to pay for hurting my son!” Seeing Terry’s eyes, the office was glad it wasn’t his son who was mixed up in this mess.

Gale told Terry Walter was checked out so they could leave when they wanted. Peter excused himself as he needed to get back to the school and make some phone calls. When Terry got Walter home, the phone was ringing. When she answered it she told Walter, “There’s a Marge Stillman on the phone and walks to talk with you.” Walter took the phone from his mom who then went into the kitchen and had a quiet cry while Walter was talking to Marge.

The next day at school, Tuesday, when Jeffery walked into Brigette’s science class he seemed different. He wasn’t goofing around with the other boys, or being loud as he often did. He simply walked into the class and sat at his usual seat. After the second bell rang, and Brigette took roll, Jeffery raised his hand and asked if he could say something. Brigette expected him to have some snide remark about Walter again, but wasn’t prepared for what he actually said.

“Um...I owe all of you an apology for my behavior yesterday, you most of all, Walter. Um...my mom volunteered me at the shelter she works at during the day, a shelter for abused and battered spouses. Um...she...um...picked me up after school and took me there to sit in on one of her group meetings. I...um...never knew men could be abused or battered as well as women. Um...there...um...there...was one man who lost his job due to downsizing and he and he decided to stay home to take care of their seven month old daughter and keep house, and do the cooking. Um...his wife came home angry, and when he told her what he’d fixed for dinner, she became enraged because she didn’t want that for dinner. She picked up a fry pan and hit him with the bottom of the pan on the right side of his head.” Everyone could see tears sliding down Jeffery’s cheeks, and the girl who slapped him, got up, stood next to him, put her arm around him and told him, “It’s okay, go on.” Jeffery nodded his head, told her thanks, and continued with his story. “She...um...hit him so hard it knocked it to the floor and dazed him. When he finally regained some sense of things, he heard their daughter screaming. When he went into their daughter’s room, his wife had picked up their daughter and was shaking her. He got his wife’s attention by calling her a ‘bitch’ and after she roughly put their daughter down, she came at him and he punched her in the jaw, knocking her out. He then picked up their daughter, wrapped her in a blanket, called 911, explained what had just happened, and told them the police would find him and his daughter with the next door neighbors. Um...the little girl was okay, according to the EMTs who looked at her, but the guy had to go to the hospital. When his wife hit him with that fry pan, the bottom of that pan hit him squarely on the right side of his head, right on his right ear. He’s just now getting his hearing back in that ear.” Jeffery wiped tears off his face before he continued.

“Um...I...um...there...a woman told her story and it...um...her husband...he...a...he...a...came home drunk and she confronted him about it. He punched her in the face with his fist, knocking her out. And while she was unconscious...he...he...um...um...he took a knife...and um…he...um...a...took a knife...and he...um...cut off one of her breasts.” Jeffrey was sobbing now, and the girl holding him pulled him into a hug and let him cry on her shoulder. Several in the class were wiping their eyes after hearing what Jeffrey told them. With a catch in his voice, after lifting his head off the girl’s shoulder, Jeffrey told the class, “Um...I’m really sorry for the way I acted yesterday,” before putting his head back on the girl’s shoulder. It was a few minutes before Jeffrey sat down, as did the girl, and Brigette could try and salvage class time. Jeffrey was calming down, but wouldn’t be concentrating on science today, so Brigette decided to skip her lesson and do something different.

When Tanya Stoneman, Jeffrey’s mother, heard what he had done in his first period science class after Walter had told the class everything, she wasn’t really surprised. He had been acting differently ever since her husband had been killed in a botched bank robbery. Her husband had been talking to a teller as he was making a deposit, when two men came into the bank, ordering everyone to get down on the floor and not to move. The teller her husband had been talking with, while she did the necessary transaction to add the deposit to their account, moved a little to her left and pressed the alarm button. One of the gunmen saw her move just as the alarm sounded, and became so angry he pointed his hand gun at the woman. Steve stepped into the man’s line of fire, he was shot once in the chest, killing him instantly. With the alarm sounding, the two men ran out of the bank and into the line of fire of four police officers. The four had been next door in a cafe on their scheduled break, when they heard the alarm and received the call over their radios. One of the bank robbers gave up immediately, the other thought he was Rambo and started shooting at the officers. For his bravado, he received six shots to his chest. He died before he ever fell to the ground.

Something changed in Jeffrey when he learned his dad had been killed in that botched bank robbery, and it had really worried Tanya. As a psychologist, with her doctorate, she could see all the signs of grief in her son, and how that grief was being bottled up inside Jeffrey. He and his father had been close, they’d done a lot of things together, and her husband had been even handed when it was necessary to discipline Jeffrey. She even scheduled Jeffrey to meet with a grief counselor, but he never really opened up to that counselor.

Tanya worked as a counselor, during the day, at a shelter for abused and battered spouses and their children. It didn’t matter to those who ran the shelter if they were men or women, if they’d been abused or battered, they were welcome. After hearing what her son had done in class on Monday, Tanya decided a good dose of reality was needed to show Jeffrey what others had gone through at the hands of someone else; he would spend two hours a day there after school helping out as part of his being grounded.

Tanya had taken the time to come from the shelter to pick up Jeffrey after school that very day, Monday. They arrived at the shelter just about the time her afternoon group meeting was about to start. She introduced him to those attending the group meeting, it was open to anyone at the shelter who wanted to attend, and then had him sit back from the circle and listen. When the session was over, Tanya couldn’t find him in the room and started looking for him. When she finally found him, he was sitting on the porch steps, his arms across his knees and his head resting on his arms. And he was crying hard. She went out onto the porch, sat beside him, put her arm around him and pulled him into her in an effort to try and comfort him as he cried.

His crying finally eases and with tears in his eyes, he looked up at his mom and asked, “How can people do such things to others?” Tanya didn’t immediately answer his question, as she reached up to wipe the tears off his face. Instead she asked him, “Didn’t you do the same thing to Walter, after he told all of you what he’s going through? Oh, you didn’t beat him or do anything physical to him, but laughing at him hurts just as bad.” Jeffrey looked down as his mom still held him and after a few moments told his mom, “Yeah, I guess I did, didn’t I?” He looked up to his mom and saw she was nodding her head. She then asked, “So, what do you plan to do about it?” Tanya saw the little smile, then heard the chuckle, and heard her son say, “I’m gonna have to apologize. To Walter and the whole class.” He looked up at his mom and again saw she was nodding her head.

Tanya was looking into Jeffrey’s face and saw the tears start to fall again as he asked her, “Mom, why did dad have to die?” In eight months, Jeffrey had never acknowledged his dad’s death. And now he wanted her to answer a question she didn’t know how to answer. Steve had always been one to stand up for the other guy, when the other guy was getting the short end of the stick. Tanya felt it best to emphasize this part of his character as she told Jeffrey, “He died protecting another person. It’s who he was as a person. While I know you and I miss him, be proud of his actions so that another person could live.” The two sat on the porch steps until another of the counselors came and got Tanya. She then took Jeffrey inside and showed where he could help for the rest of his time there.

“Jeffrey, thank you for having the courage to tell us what you did. And for apologizing for yesterday. It was evident it wasn’t easy for you. So, class, we’re going to do something different for the rest of class. It will be about what Walter told us yesterday, and what happened to him after school, and what Jeffrey just told us.” And Brigette went on to start talking about treating everyone how they themselves wanted to be treated. And no one sat quietly during the entire time.

When the first bell sounded, Jeffrey stood up and started walking out of the classroom. It was a bit of a shock when someone took his right hand in theirs. Jeffrey looked to his right and found the girl who slapped him, and held him, walking next to him and holding his hand. “We have second period class together, and I thought we could walk together.” Jeffrey smiled, the girl gave him a peck on the cheek, and together they walked to their second period class. What occurred wasn’t lost on Brigette, as she thought about how different relationships had started.

As a side note, Jeffrey and the girl, Paula Garber, stayed together the rest of their time at that high school. They attended the same University, Jeffrey following his mother and going into psychology, eventually getting his Doctorate. And Paula went into medicine, eventually specializing in psychiatry. They both had their own clinic where they helped those who’d been abused and/or battered.