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.

Sunday was a happy time for the Williams’ family, since Tom Warmer’s project was complete he was having Shelby flown home in the morning. The family was going to spend some much needed family time together, and Terry was going to spend a lot of time hiding little Johnny.

When Kathy got out of the car Monday morning at school, Terry watched as the two eager girls rushed together, not sure which one bowled over the other. In her mind, Terry could imagine the sonic boom that resulted from their meeting. Their hug was long, their kiss short, they were at school and kisses lasting more than the blink of an eye was grounds for a lot of throat clearing. And a possible reminder about the school code of conduct.

The two walked hand in hand to their lockers then onto their first period science class. As they walked, Kathy noticed everyone was looking at them as they passed by. Just like the first day Walter came to school as Kathy. “Um, Marge. Why is everyone looking at us? They’ve seen us walking like this before, so it shouldn’t be anything new to them.” Marge knew why, but tried to sound as though she knew nothing; she’d been asked not to say anything to Kathy. Peter had called Thomas and explained what he thought had led up to Robert being hoisted up the flagpole naked, and wanted to warn Thomas in case someone had their sights on Marge. And of course, Thomas had to tell Marge, so she’d be on the lookout for anything strange coming her way.

Kathy had been with Marge too long and knew something was up as Marge told her, in a very unconvincing, nonchalant voice, “Um..I don’t know.” Kathy stopped walking, turned and faced Marge, who couldn’t look into Kathy’s eyes. “Okay, give. I can tell you know more than you’re telling. So what’s really going on?” With tears in her eyes, and in a meek voice, Marge said, “I promised not to say anything.” Kathy saw how upset Marge was because of the promise she made. She put her arms around Marge, pulled her close and whispered, “Then don’t break your promise. That wouldn’t be right.” And Marge whispered back, “Thank you for that.” Kathy searched and found one of the several clocks hanging on the wall around school. They had twenty minutes until the first bell, plenty of time for Kathy to find out what the hell was going on. She took Marge’s hand and turned them around and headed for the school office and her Uncle Peter.

When the door to the school office opened, Margot had looked up and started smiling as she saw who had come into the building. But that smile faded when she saw the determined look on Kathy’s face. She was actually shocked into silence when Kathy growled at her, “I want to see Uncle Peter, now!” Margot knew from past dealings with Walter/Kathy this was not normal behavior for her, so immediately got up out of her chair and took the girls back to Peter’s office. Margot knocked on Peter’s office door, opened and before she could say anything, Kathy, pulling Marge along with her, barged past Margot and almost shouted, “I want to know what the hell is going on, Uncle Peter!”

Peter looked past his angry niece, nodded his head to Margot, who closed the office door and headed back to her desk. “Well, hello to you too, Kathy. And do you think just barging into my office is the right thing to do?” He could see Kathy wasn’t going to reasoned with so he told the girls to, “Please, sit down.” When Kathy failed to comply he told her, “SIT...DOWN!” In a huff, Kathy finally sat down, Marge then did the same. “Now, young lady. Please be so kind as to tell me what you’re talking about, and why you’re being very rude this morning.” Peter waited for a response from Kathy, but wasn’t expecting one from Marge. “Um, Principal, Stepel, you called my step-dad, and he talked to me. And I promised not to say anything, and well, Kathy noticed everyone looking at her, and, well, I promised not to say anything.”

Peter’s head fell back onto his shoulders, his eyes closed, and shook his head. So the kids had heard about Friday night, and were doing what kids do when they hear something about someone else, they stare at that person like they’ve got two heads. He brought his head back down so he was looking at the still seething Kathy. She was a bit more civil this time, as she asked, “Well, are you going to tell me Uncle? Or do I have to ask Marge’s dad?” Peter shook his head again, as he told her, “It wouldn’t do you any good asking him, he won’t tell you either. You’ve put me in a very awkward position, here, Kathy. I shouldn’t tell you anything because there’s no proof of anything. Just a lot of guesses and suspicions. But as it appears the story has already spread, given the school student drums, it can’t hurt to tell you what we think.” Peter reached for the phone on his desk, picked up the receiver and dialed a two digit number. It wasn’t long before the girls heard him say, “Brigette, Marge and Kathy will be a bit late to class. They’re with me about you know what.”

Peter pursed his lips, forcefully breathed out through his nose, shook his head again, before telling Kathy, “Last Friday night, after the dance, in the early hours of the morning, Robert Bakes was found naked and suspended up high on the flagpole by two police officers. Apparently, a group of people grabbed him after the dance was over, stripped him naked, put a harness on him, duct taped his mouth closed and his hands behind his back, before hoisting him up the flagpole. We don’t have any proof but we think he was going after you at the dance. We don’t know if the people who did this attend school here or are from one of the other schools he attended. And the reason no one told you was because we didn’t want to upset you,” and he held up his hand to forestall Kathy’s comment, “which I can see now was a big mistake. And if I were to guess why the other students are looking at you, they know all about it, or have heard all about it. And you don’t have to worry about Robert Bakes any more, he’s been taken to a boarding school, which I understand isn’t going to tolerate his attitude or behavior.” Peter sat back in his chair and watched as Kathy processed everything he just told her. And when she did speak, she was a bit calmer than she had been coming into the office.

“So, I wasn’t told because you thought I’d be upset? Is that it, Uncle Peter? Do I look not upset now, just finding out about all this, NOW?” Peter held up his hand to silence Kathy, then told her, “How long have you been a girl, a full girl? What? A few months now? How would you have felt if we’d sat you down and told you, ‘we just wanted to let you know a bunch of people stopped a boy from grabbing you and possibly raping you the night of the dance.?’ Do you have any idea what that thought even does to a girl? Do you even understand how brutal rape is, or that you might have even been beaten before you were raped? Kathy, when you transformed into a girl, you entered a whole different world. Where guys start thinking differently about girls, especially pretty ones like you and Marge. And you humiliated him in the hallway, didn’t you? Boys like Robert don’t take kindly to girls who humiliate them. Especially when others are watching. And let me guess, he was about to hit you, wasn’t he?” Peter was seething at the moment, trying to make his niece look at things not from Walter’s perspective, but from Kathy’s perspective, a girl’s perspective. He held up his hand again to stop Kathy from saying what she was about to say, then told her, “You, Marge, Terry, Dorothy, Marsha, and Gale need to sit down and have a serious girl talk about the world of women. And not some flitter talk either. They need to give it to you straight, the dangers girls face every day from boys like Robert and men with the same attitudes. Kathy, sweetheart, I don’t mean to sound gruff towards you, but life as a girl is filled with dangers you know nothing about. And you need to learn about them before they actually happen to you. Because I can tell you from dealing with a girl who was raped, it drastically changes your life.” Peter held up his hand again, saying, “ No, don’t say anything else. You two need to get to class. Margot will give you both a pass.” Peter saw the stunned look on Kathy’s face. This had been the first time Peter had spoken to his niece as he just did. And he was upset that it had to be done.

After the door to his office closed behind the two girls, Peter put his elbows on his desk, closed his eyes and dropped his head into his hands. “Terry is going to rip me a new one when she hears I had to tell Kathy everything,” he said out loud to himself. He sighed deeply then just sat there, thinking, wondering if he could have handled this whole mess in a different way.

The girls hadn’t been gone long when Peter heard a soft knock on his door, but chose to ignore it. He heard his office door open then close, the cushion in one of the chairs creak, then, “Are you alright, Peter?” Peter never lifted his head as he replied, “Margot, Terry is going to kill me when she finds out I had to tell Kathy everything we believed happened. She wanted to be the one who told her, but Kathy came in here with a full head of steam, what else could I do to calm her down? She was not going to let it go until she found out what was going on. Maybe we should have included her from the beginning. I just don’t know.”

Peter did look up at the terrible sound of the chair Margot was dragging across the floor until she was sitting next to him. “Peter, Terry is her mother. And almost all mothers protect their children, it’s built into them. Kathy has been Kathy just a few months now, right? So Terry is trying to help Kathy get comfortable being a girl by not telling her some of the nastier sides of being a girl. Like this one. Yes, she’ll likely eat you for lunch, but when she calms down she’ll see you had no choice, unless she wanted to be called to come and pick up her unruly daughter.”

Then Margot stopped speaking, looking down at the floor. Peter saw the expression on Margot’s face, knowing it was the expression she used when she was trying to make a decision. “Margot, what is it?” Peter asked her, placing his hand gently on her arm. Margot took a deep breath, nodded her head, then looked at Peter.

“I was raped when I was sixteen, by a boy much like Robert Bakes. He thought he was a catch for any girl in school, and could have any girl he wanted. But after he raped two girls and they became pregnant, word got around and none of the girls would give him the time of day.” Peter gave Margot a questioning look, which she answered by saying, “The girls he got pregnant were of legal age back then, so it turned into his word against their word with no witnesses to prove she hadn’t consented.”

“I was standing at my hall locker getting some things when he came up behind me and reached up under my skirt and felt me between my legs. I screamed, turned around and saw his smug face inches from mine. I hauled off and put all my weight behind the slap I gave him, knocking him down, before yelling at him to never touch me again. Everyone in the hall saw what he did and what I did so you can imagine how angry he got because I just humiliated him in front of a lot of other students.”

“I thought everything had been settled when I slapped him, but I was wrong. Three days later, Friday, we had a dance after the football game. I needed to use the girl’s room and as I was walking to the restroom, he grabbed me, covered my mouth with his hand, and dragged me into the mechanical room just down the hall. He pushed me into the room, closed the door then started slapping me before he punched me, causing me to fall. Then he undid his pants, pulled them down, along with his underwear, got down on me and pulled my panties off, and started raping me. Peter, I tried to push him off me, get him out of me but he grabbed my arms and pinned them to the floor when I started hitting him.”

“I must have screamed at some point, because the next thing I saw was the surprised look on that bastard’s face as he suddenly shot backwards and pulled out of me. When I started to get some of my senses back, I saw a man slamming that bastard repeatedly against the wall. It was my father, I’d forgotten he was coming to pick me up early from the dance. I called out to him, several times, to stop before he killed the boy. When I finally got through to him, he let the boy go and watched as that boy just dropped to the floor in a heap. He came over to me, helped me to stand, helped me put my panties back on and told me to follow him, after finding out if I could walk. Peter, my pappa was a huge man. When he picked up a basketball, his fingers met on the opposite of the ball. When he found out I was okay, he grabbed that bastard by both ankles with one hand, threw the mechanical door open, and started dragging that pig down the hall; his pants and underwear were still down at his ankles.”

“Pappa drug that boy right into the gym and out to the middle of the floor. Then he turned and found where the Principal was standing, and I’ll never forget what he said then. He yelled at the Principal, ‘THIS PIECE OF SHIT WAS IN THE PROCESS OF RAPING MY DAUGHTER. WHERE THE FUCK WERE ALL OF YOU WHEN IT WAS HAPPENING? YOU FUCKERS BETTER CALL THE POLICE, AND HOLD THIS PIECE OF SHIT UNTIL THEY GET HERE. I’M TAKING MY DAUGHTER TO THE HOSPITAL TO HAVE A RAPE KIT PERFORMED. SOME SAFE SCHOOL YOU BASTARDS RUN HERE’”

“I’d been standing at the door to the gym, and pappa walked back to me and saw I was having trouble standing. He picked me up and carried me out to the car before he broke every traffic law getting me to the hospital. I guess I forgot to say that he was a retired detective from the police department of the city we came from, so he knew the ins and outs of getting a rape victim examined. I had to caution him several times when he took me into the emergence room and told them I’d just been raped. They wanted him to wait, wanted him to fill out a bunch of papers, said they needed to wait on the police. Peter, if I hadn’t helped keep him focused he would have torn that receptionist apart. Finally a level headed doctor heard the ruckus and when he found out the reason, told the receptionist to get his head out of his ass and call the police. Then he led us back to an exam room, called a nurse and told her to get a rape kit, asked pappa to wait in the hallway so he wouldn’t contaminate their findings, and proceeded to have me put on a gown and started the exam.”

“To say I wasn’t scared was an understatement, Peter. But the doctor and nurse helped put me at ease and the exam, while embarrassing, it wasn’t all that bad. The police had showed up by that time and were questioning pappa, I know, I heard how he responded to the officer’s questions. And how the officer tried to calm down my pappa. When they finished the exam, they let pappa and the officer into the room, and while pappa held my hand the officer asked me a lot of questions. Did I do anything to make the boy think I wanted to have sex with him; how was I dressed--which got pappa riled up because as pappa told the officer, all the girls were dressed in similar dresses. Had I had trouble with that boy before, and I told the officer about the incident earlier in the week. Did I know if he’d done this kind of thing before, and told him he had, but there were no witnesses to prove it. Pappa had to remind the officer that I was only sixteen, and under the State Law, any sex I had was considered rape due to my age. And when the officer made the mistake of questioning how pappa knew so much about rape laws, pappa gave him chapter and verse of his previous job.” Margot laughed as she said, “You should have seen the look on that officer’s face when pappa told him he was a retired police detective of twenty years. The whole atmosphere in the room changed when that fact came out.” Margot got quiet, her decision making expression playing across her face, before she told Peter, “Peter, I’ve never told anyone here at this school about what happened to me back then, very few of my friends even know. So I’d appreciate it if this stays between you and I. Okay.”

Peter nodded his head in reply, as he reached over and gently wiped the tears off Margot’s face. “Yeah, Margot. Your story goes no further.” He then pulled her into a hug and held her until she stopped crying. Maybe they should have included Kathy in their circle of knowledge after all.

When Margot stopped crying, as she was wiping her eyes, Peter asked, “What happened to that boy, and your pappa for slamming that kid against the wall?” Margot blew her nose then told Peter, “Because he was seventeen and I was sixteen he was charged with statutory rape. I was a witness against him and so was pappa, and thankfully the two other girls he raped came forward and testified against him; they had their toddlers with them in the courtroom. Other girls came forward to tell what he’d done to them, short of raping them. It went really bad for him in court. He ended up being charged as an adult and sentenced to ten years in prison. And when he got out he had to register as a sex offender. He really screwed up his life. I heard he died several years ago from AIDS he acquired while in prison. And pappa, they ruled what he did was in the course of protecting me and filed no charges against him. The boys’ parents, real winners they were, tried to take us to court, but no lawyer would take their case. They eventually moved out of town.”

Peter looked at Margot’s tear stained face and asked, “Will you be alright? You can take an early break as long as you need, go somewhere, get something to eat.” Margot smiled, gently rubbed Peter’s cheek before telling him, “No, I’ll be okay. You’re going to make Tina a wonderful husband, Peter. You care about others before thinking about yourself. That seems to be less prevalent in men these days. No, I’ll be okay. But if you’ll excuse me, I really gotta pee.” Peter laughed as he watched Margot quickly leave his office, even leaving the office door open. Peter muttered to himself, “She must have really had to go.”

Peter got up from his chair and walked over and closed his office door. He walked back to his desk, sat down in his chair, picked up the phone and made a phone call. He hoped she’d eventually forgive him for what he had to do. “Hi, Terry, got a minute?”

Marge kept giving Kathy sideways glances as the two walked to their first period science class. Marge could see how angry Kathy still was that she hadn’t been told about Robert’s attempt to attack her. “I’m sorry, Kathy. I did make a promise not to say anything, or I would have told you what I was told. Please don’t be mad at me.” Marge let go of Kathy’s hand, after what she said to Kathy, and stopped walking, causing Kathy to stop, and turn to face Marge. Kathy saw the tears running down Marge’s cheeks, and suddenly felt bad that Marge thought she was mad at her. “Oh, gawd, Marge,” Kathy said before walking up to Marge, pulling her into a hug and saying, “I’m not mad at you, but at Uncle Peter and everyone else who knew about it all. I actually admire your ability to keep your promises, something that can be hard to do.” She held Marge until Marge told her, “Guess we better get to class, we’re late enough as it is.” Kathy kept her arm around Marge as the two continued to their science class, breaking apart as they entered the classroom. And when Brigette saw them enter, the entire class turned and watched as the two walked to their seats and sat down. And the buzzing started.

Kathy was catching snips of conversations going around the room, and had had enough. She stood up and asked, “Okay! Would anyone care to tell me what’s going on that’s got everyone talking about me? I’m rather fed up being talked about without being included. Anyone? Anyone at all?” It wasn’t heard for everyone to see that Kathy was mad, seething mad, just by the expression on her face.

Tonya Springer had yet to learn when it was okay to say something and when it wasn’t, or how to say what someone might not like to hear in a way that didn’t shock them. She jumped up out of her seat and eagerly said, “We heard you got raped after the dance last Friday. And that you’re pregnant.” After she said that, all eyes turned to Kathy, still standing with a shocked look on her face. Brigette closed her eyes, shook her head because of the erroneous statement Tonya just made. “Tonya, is that what the whole school thinks or just what you heard?” In response to Brigette’s question, more than just Tonya answered, “Yes.” It was Jeffrey who looked at the stunned Kathy and said, “It’s what we heard, Kathy. It was Robert Bakes who raped you.” Kathy slowly turned her head, looked at Jeffrey, started shaking her head, ‘no,’ then looked back at those again looking at her and continued shaking her head, ‘no.’

As Kathy continued shaking her head, ‘no,’ she then told everyone, “I don’t know where you got your information, but whoever told you that told you a bold face lie. I wasn’t raped by Robert Bakes or any other boy. No one laid a hand on me at the dance or afterwards. Mrs. Stokes, what the hell is going on?” The minute Kathy told them everything they’d heard was a lie, and asked Brigette what was going on, the room erupted in a buzz again. It wasn’t until a girl sitting near the front of the class broke through the buzz with, “Kathy, it’s not healthy to try and deny not being raped. You need to get help.”

Two things happened almost at the same time. Brigette closed her eyes, shook her head, then looked up at the ceiling as she said, “Oh, my gawd.” Kathy stared at the girl who accused Kathy of trying to deny she was raped, and pointedly said to her, “Are you fucking brain dead? Didn’t you just hear me tell you I was NOT raped, by Robert Bakes or any other boy. I have not had sex with any boy since that accident turned me into a girl. Gawd, what a bunch of fucking, brain dead, bastards.” Kathy picked up her backpack and stormed out of class, going where, she didn’t know. She just had to get out of there. Marge got up, picked up her backpack and followed, neither girl knowing once Brigette regained control of her class, she told them the entire story. “Kathy had not been raped. Robert Bakes had tried to assault Kathy but some people grabbed him before he could do anything. He was stripped naked and hoisted up the flagpole outside the school offices, and wasn’t found until around 12:30 a.m. with tape over his mouth and his hands taped behind his back. And Kathy had known nothing about any of it until ‘you all’ caused a stir which made her go talk with the Principal. So, all knowing, all wise, fools. Tell THAT to everyone who thinks Kathy was raped, because, and listen closely fools, IT...NEVER...HAPPENED!” And if someone had dropped a pin, everyone would have heard it hit the floor.

Brigette angrily told the students which chapters to read, and to start reading, now. She then picked up the phone and called Peter, telling him what just occurred in her class and about Kathy storming out of class. And no, she didn’t know where she was headed, she had to straighten out a pack of lies the students had been fed, and bit on. Yes, she told them everything. Once she hung up the phone, she just stared out at the students sitting in her class, wondering if students were ever going to grow up and stop believing everything they heard without proof. She made another call, one that was going to light a fire under a woman who would lay waste to the school unless Kathy was found.

Margot heard it first, “Aw, shit,” coming from Peter’s office. It was followed by a very loud conversation with Robert, the head of security. She heard Peter’s phone ring again, then heard, “Look, Terry, we’re trying to find her right now. Look, it was your idea not to tell her the truth, which I pointed out was a bad idea, given her ability to deal with situations as she does. Oh, no. Don’t point that finger to me. We had no idea what that little prick was up to that night. Well, dear, sister, if you would have sat down with my niece and stopped sugar coating what it’s like to be a woman, and told her everything, none of this would have happened because she would have known never to go anywhere alone at night.” She also heard as Peter slammed down the phone before storming out of his office, passing her without saying a word. His hand was on the door to the school office, before he turned around and told Margot, “Send an email to everyone, assembly in the gym, 1:30 this afternoon. This shit is going to stop right now.” He turned around and stormed out of the school office, on his way to do his own search.

Terry had arrived as Peter was searching the parking lot and the front of the school, and she lit into him the minute he was close enough to her. “Just what in the hell did you tell her this morning? I told you I didn’t want her to know about any of this. Which part didn’t you understand?” Terry stood there glaring at Peter, but wasn’t expecting him to give her what he did. “You know, sometimes you’re as stupid as the students in this school. You think you know what’s best for everyone and haven’t a clue how it will affect them once they finally find out. I told you it was a bad idea to withhold this from Kathy. I told you she’d be able to handle it just as she did as Walter. But no, you knew better. You didn’t want your precious baby to know the reality of being female. You didn’t want to spoil the illusion of how nice it is to be a woman. I also told you she needed to be seeing a counselor so she could be helped come to terms with her change. Oh, but nooo, you could handle it, you told me. Nooo, she didn’t need a counselor, you could help her cope with everything. Well, dear, sister, you’re so full of shit it’s leaking out of your ears. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to find a missing student.” Peter stormed off, leaving a stunned Terry standing there with her mouth open.

Peter had just started to go into one of the classroom wings, when he heard Robert’s voice over the two-way he was carrying. “Peter, we found them. They’re sitting in the bleachers at the football field. And they’re both okay.” Peter said a soft, “Thank God,” before telling Robert, “That’s good news, Robert. Bring them up to my office.” He turned around to find Terry and saw her still standing where they had their argument. He walked back over to her and told her, “Robert found Kathy and Marge sitting in the bleachers at the football field. He’s bringing them to my office. Care to come along?”

Terry gave her brother a seething stare, before roughly pushing past him and hurrying to the school office. They hadn’t been in Peter’s office but for a few minutes when there was a knock on his office door, it opened and Kathy and Marge were standing there in front of Robert. “Here they are, Peter,” Robert said before gently pushing both girls into Peter’s office. When the door closed, Terry pounced. “What the hell do you think you were…,” but she never finished the sentence. Peter grabbed her arm, drugged her over to a chair, pushed her down into it and told her, “Sit there and shut up. This is my ballfield, my rules, my students. You sit there and keep your mouth shut. You’ve caused enough problems for one day.” Peter then turned to Kathy and Marge and unceremoniously told them to sit down and keep their mouths shut.

Peter looked at the three sitting in his office. Marge looked frightened. Terry and Kathy looked as though they each could chew through bar steel. Peter turned and walked over to the window in his office, looked outside, took several deep breaths before saying, “This is one hell of a mess.” He turned back to face the three and continued. “One hell of a mess, the two of you,” and he pointed first to Kathy then Terry, “have caused. You,” and he pointed to Kathy, “through no fault of your own, other than storming out of class when an idiot accused you of trying to deny being raped. Apparently you didn’t learn much as Walter. How Walter reacted to these type situations. How Walter used to laugh them off. But no, not Kathy. Kathy had to blow her top and cuss out the entire class, including the girl who accused you. And you,” and he pointed at Terry, “had to have things your way and keep all this from your own daughter.”

Peter saw the frown appear on Kathy’s face as she turned to look at her mother before asking, “You knew about this and didn’t tell me? Or want me to know about it? Why in the hell shouldn’t I know? It’s about me, after all. I had to hear it from Uncle Peter, and then was accused of trying to deny being raped, because that’s what those assholes had been spreading around school. Thanks, mother, thanks for nothing.” When she said that, she got up from her chair and started for the door. She got her hand on the door knob before she heard, “GET BACK HERE AND SET YOU ASS BACK IN THAT CHAIR!” Kathy’s head snapped around to look at her Uncle, and saw a very ugly, serious look on his face. But she didn’t care, she’d had enough of all the bullshit, and opened the door, took one step and heard, “ONE MORE STEP AND YOU’LL HAVE FOUR WEEKS SUSPENSION. AND YOU’LL RECEIVE AN ‘F’ FOR EACH DAY YOUR ABSENT!”

Kathy’s head again snapped around to glare at her Uncle, her face past the red she was seeing through her eyes. “FINE! JUST FUCKING FINE!” Kathy stepped back into the office, slammed the door, causing the glass panel to rattle, stomped back to the chair she’d been sitting in, flopped into the seat, crossed her left leg over her right knee, started rapidly swinging the lower portion of her left leg, crossed her arms over her chest and sat there, glaring at nothing.