Crossing The Line Chapter 28 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 Angharad

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(title picture Andrea Piacquadio)

Friday dawned after another night of weird dreams for our hero. He’d got fairly used to noisy nights at the hospital, so Jules’ snoring didn’t worry him too much as long as he got to sleep before she hit Mach 4. Thursday night, Drew just managed to do this, so by the time Jules began her impressions of a jet engine in reverse thrust, he was well into the land of nod; not the one associated with Enoch in the Old Testament.

In his dream, Drew was cycling. Nothing strange about that, even if he was in full Gaby mode. What was strange was he was cycling on the tandem with Jules...

“How much further we gonna go?” asked Jules, puffing and panting from the rear of the tandem.

“We’ve only just started,” quipped Gaby, even though it wasn’t entirely true; they’d been riding for some time.

“You sure it’s a good idea to cycle when you’re on?” asked Jules.

“Yeah, course it is. I’ve got a big pad on anyway,” retorted the tandem ‘captain’.

“Didn’t mean that, I meant, what about stomach cramps an’ things?”

Moments after the words were out of Jules’ mouth, Drew felt pains begin in his abdomen. Being a generally hardy individual, he didn’t want to give in to them, so he continued. But two minutes later, he had to stop. The pain was intense and he almost wanted to roll about on the floor. “Geez Jules, this is awful. God, I can’t cope with this.”

“ ‘fraid you’ll have to, now you’re a real girl. It’s what we have to live with, so why shouldn’t you?”

“But I don’t want to, it hurts too much. How can I stop it?”

“You can’t, the pills only ease it, they don’t stop it.”

“Jules, I can’t cope, it’s awful. God it hurts.” Drew found himself bursting into tears.

“Whassamatter?” he said as he felt someone shaking his arm.

“You, yer big girl’s blouse,” said Jules yawning.

“What?” asked Drew, rubbing his eyes and finding his face all wet.

“You called out in your sleep. Saying you were in pain or something. You were crying I think. Are you in pain? Want me to get Mum?”

“No, I’ll be alright.” Drew shook his head trying to work out what had happened. “It was just a dream.”

“Just a dream, what were you dreaming about that made you cry?”

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

“Try me,” said Jules, yawning again.

“We were out on a tandem…”

“You were right, I won’t believe you…”

“If you’re gonna be like that, I won’t bother…” pouted Drew.

“No, go on; I’m listening.”

“You’re gonna take the piss, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m listening.”

“It was like well weird, it really was.”

“Can I be the judge of that?”

“See, you’re taking the urine.”

“No I’m not, but if you don’t tell me in twenty seconds, I’m like, back to bed. So get talking.”

“It’s embarrassing…” Drew felt himself blush as he spoke.

“Fifteen seconds..”

“Alright, alright; I’ll tell you. We were on the tandem…”

“We got that far before.”

“I know; anyway, we were out on the tandem and I started my period.”

Jules looked at Drew in the low light of the bedroom, shrieked and then fell back on the bed laughing. “You were like, having a period? Ha bloody ha.” She suddenly recognised her own unconscious pun and began to laugh even more.
Drew, feeling very embarrassed began to feel tears forming in his eyes once again.

“See, I told you it was embarrassing,” he said; beginning to sob.

“Embarrassing?” she rolled on the bed giggling, “it’s painful, I’m laughing so hard.”

“You pig, you said you wouldn’t take the piss.” Drew felt tears running down his face as he spoke.

“Well, you gotta laugh, a boy having a period; it’s like poetic justice,” said Jules chuckling.

“I don’t think it’s funny,” pouted Drew once more.

“Periods aren’t funny, but maybe if you had one you wouldn’t want to spend so much time playing at being a girl.”

“Is that what you think I’m like, doing?” Drew felt this last remark went below the belt.

“Isn’t it?”

“You know why I’m in girl mode,” sniffed Drew.

“I know what you told me, but that doesn’t explain the ten thousand other occasions. Now you’re dreaming about having period pains. Is there something else you should tell me? Next thing, you’ll be wearing bras and knickers to school, and joining the cheer leaders.”

“I thought you understood..” Drew began to cry in earnest.

Jules, realising she’d gone too far; sat on the bed and put her arm around her sobbing sibling. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she cooed as she squeezed him. “I do understand, sorta, but it’s hard to believe my kid brother looks better as my sister, and is prettier than me.”

“Don’t be silly, “ said Drew, hiccupping as he said it.

“Have it your way, I’m goin’ back to bed.”

“How could I be prettier than my sister, that’s silly; I’m a boy.”

“That’s what it says on the forms but it isn’t what your body says.”

“What d’ya mean?”

“You know what I mean, if you don’t, then you’re dumber than I thought. At least you got the right coloured hair.”

“What?” gasped Drew.

“Gabs, close your mouth before you get birds nesting in it, and go to back to bed. Oh, and if you do start a period, my pads are in the drawer over there. Help yourself, just don’t wake me up. G’night.”

Drew sat on his bed watching his sister get back into bed and turn on her side with her back to him. He felt rejected, he thought she cared about him, but it looked as if he was wrong. He wondered about the hair thing. Then it dawned on him, maybe he was a dumb blonde. But then, Jules was blonde, so was Maddy and his mum, not to mention Karen at the hospital; she was blonde too and far from dumb!

He sat turning things over in his mind for several minutes, he postulated that Jules must also be dumb if she didn’t notice she was blonde too. Or was that a joke? He was so confused and felt alone and sad. There was madman out there, looking to get him, or his alter ego; and here was his sister rejecting him perhaps because she was jealous of his looks as a girl. His head was spinning as Jules began her impression of a tractor with exhaust problems.

Over the years, he had loads of funny dreams; mostly, he didn’t remember them. Recently, he had begun to do so and it confused him a little; especially as the ones he seemed to remember all involved Gaby or being a girl. He shuddered as this thought struck him, just then Jules’ tractor changed gear and the snort made him jump. He lay down again and tried to sleep. It was in vain, the combination of Jules snoring and his niggling thoughts kept him tossing and turning. If he was at home, he’d have gone for a ride or used the turbo in the garage; here, he couldn’t do that.

Finally sleep came and he awoke on the Friday morning feeling tired and grumpy. He wanted to sleep on but Jenny was asking him to rise, grumbling he staggered into the bathroom and then downstairs, still clad in his nightgown.

“Hello Little Miss Grumpy,” said Jenny beaming at Drew.

“Bah humbug!” scowled the wunderkind imitating one of his father’s favourite expressions.

“I can see you woke with a great sense of joy and happiness this lovely morning.”

“What’s lovely about it?”

“Well you’re home for one thing, and we’re all together as a family. Isn’t that good?”

“Yeah, I s’pose so,” admitted Drew yawning.

“Tired are we?”

“I didn’t sleep too well.”

“Any particular reason?” asked a concerned mother.

“Nah, just Jules doing impressions of a sick lawnmower.” Drew felt silly about his dream in the full light of day, so he gave a secondary answer. As everyone knew Jules snored, it was a plausible one.

“Yes, we did hear her too, thought I heard something else as well…,” said Jenny offering an opening, which was ignored.

“I couldn’t hear anything for the noise of the goth moth.”

“Gabs, there is no need to be so insulting about your sister,” chided Jenny.

“You feel the same if she kept you awake half the night.”

“Are you sure that’s all that disturbed you?” asked Jenny.

“Course, what’s for breakfast?”

“Toast and cereal, I’ll put the kettle on. Matt’s brought a bike around wondered if you wanted to go for a ride?”

“Oh brill! You bet,” Drew’s mood lifted about ten floors.

“Are you up to it, I mean your chest was pretty bad a day or two ago?”

“I’ll be fine, let me get some brekkies and we can get off.” He gulped down his corn flakes and toast, then ran upstairs and practically jumped into his cycle kit and shoes, then it was a rush down the stairs and into the kitchen where Carol was talking to Jenny.

Jenny looked at Drew and said, “Why don’t you pop some lippy on, then we’ll be ready.” He sighed, then rushed upstairs again, put on the pink lip gloss and some eye makeup. Checked himself in the mirror and rushed back down the stairs. Jenny gave him a quick check over, “You look lovely sweetheart, let’s go.”

“Where’s Dad and the girls?” asked Drew as they cycled through the village.

“He went into Dorchester, there was something about Maiden Castle in one of the archaeology magazines he reads, so he went to get it, Maddy and Jules went for the ride and he told them they could have two hours to look at the shops. He was going to the reference section of the library. So I thought, we could get in a quick ride.”

Drew never felt happier than when he was riding with his mother. She had the Bianchi again though she was riding very slowly for her usual training runs. “I love riding with you Mum,” said Drew.

“That’s a lovely thing to say Gaby, I love riding with you too; I just wish we had more opportunity. Still once you get back to full fitness, I’m going to have to watch my step or you’re going to pinch my crown.”

This statement both excited and confused Drew. He’d love to race against his mother, but he was a boy and would eventually be a man. There was no way he could race in women’s races, especially at a pro level. In a way he wished he was a girl, because it would make things easier but then life wasn’t easy, and he was a boy.

Jenny noticed his unusually quietness; “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothin’,” he said looking a bit guilty.

“Say when you feel you’ve had enough, won’t you?”

He coughed, then said, “Yeah, I will.” While his mother heard his words she knew he wouldn’t do it, he’d push himself to the limit, so she would have to watch him carefully and not over tire him.

They cycled for another couple of miles at the easy pace, Jenny was quite enjoying herself, it felt like leisure cycling, no pressure just pedalling because they liked doing it. She was able to look at the countryside as she rode, although as well she watched for any potential threat; Meadows was still at large and on bikes they were vulnerable.

She kept an eye on Drew, who was breathing harder than he usually did, but that didn’t surprise her. He kept telling her he was okay, but she felt another couple of miles and they’d head back. He was still very quiet compared to his normal self, and it concerned her. She wondered if it was the exercise, perhaps he didn’t have enough breath to talk as well as ride; perhaps he had things on his mind or was worried about something. She had asked several times and he didn’t seem to want to talk about it and she felt to ask again, was verging on intrusion. Teenagers need their privacy and he knew she was happy to talk if he wanted to. She spotted a pub up ahead and pulled into the car park. “How about a drink?” she asked Drew, who nodded, and she left him holding the bikes while she went to get the drinks.

When she emerged, he was sat down on a picnic bench in the pub garden, he looked pretty tired. “You alright kiddo?” asked Jenny.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he smiled back at her and his face lit up.

She looked at him in wonder, here she was riding with one of the prettiest girls she had ever seen and it happened to be her son; somehow life was crazy. She handed him the bottle of cola, which he gratefully accepted; then she sat alongside him. “I’ve booked us all into a salon first thing tomorrow.”

“Yeah, okay,” his reply surprised her. Then a moment later he said, “What?”

“I’ve booked us girls into a salon, get our hair tidied up, that sort of thing.”

“Why, we’ll be wearing helmets won’t we?” he looked a little concerned.

“Not really, we can arrive on bikes but we’re not going to ride very far. The skins are more for effect than reality. So as we’re going to be in the public eye, I’d like us all to look as nice as we can. Don’t you want to look tidy for Harry?”

“What?” he replied looking very concerned, then his expression softened as he remembered part of an earlier dream. He didn’t have the yellow dress anyway but it did make him smirk just a little.

“Gaby Bond, what are you thinking about, smirking like a cat who just got the cream?”

“Oh nothing,” he said, the sparkle returning to his eye.

“So the salon’s alright then?” asked his mother.

“I s’pose so,” he sighed, thinking that it couldn’t be any worse than his trips to Sylvie’s.

The ride back was uneventful and they arrived moments before Dave and the girls pulled up behind them. “Good ride?” called Dave.

“Yes love, we took it easy and I saw a bit of the countryside. I think Gaby enjoyed it too.”

Drew nodded, and then said, “It’s always nice to ride with Mum.” Dave smiled at him and ruffled his hair. “Did you get your magazine, Daddy?”

“Oh yes, and what’s more there’s a walk around Maiden Castle led by someone from the Dorset Archaeological and Natural History Society.”

“When’s that?” asked Jenny, wondering if they’d still be there.

“This evening, seven o clock, meet in the car park. Any one fancy a walk tonight?” he called to the others.

Drew scuttled off into the house, closely followed by the other teens, giggling as they went.

“Was it something I said?” asked Dave smiling.

“Not necessarily, Gaby is still recovering and has probably had enough exercise for the day, and the other two have very little interest in old things, including you and I,” said Jenny chuckling.

“Gee thanks, get past twenty five and you’re ready for the knacker’s yard.”

“That’s about it, “ and then she snuggled in close to him and whispered, “Our kids might think we’re past it, but my approach is a bit more evidence based. You can come and play with your trowel anytime.” She winked at him, and he blushed and coughed.

“I wonder if we could nip off for an hour or two this afters, I’ve still got the travel rugs in the car,” he replied his eyes sparkling.

“Well, we can but try,” said Jenny, squeezing his arm as they went into the house.

“Oh this came for Gaby,” said Carol handing a small package to Jenny. Jenny looked at it. It was a cardboard box sealed with tape, It was about ten inches long and about two inches wide and deep. She wondered who’d sent it, the post mark was rather blurred but it looked like ‘Dorset’, so it was local. Could it be Harry, or had Gaby ordered something? It puzzled her.

“Gaby,” she called, then when Drew arrived, she said, “This came for you, were you expecting it?”

He took the box and examined it. “Dunno,” he said, “Nothing I know about. Shall I open it?”

Jenny had a funny feeling in her stomach about the package. It wasn’t right, or something about it wasn’t right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “I suppose you better had, try and do it carefully.”

“Eh?” he replied.

“Wotcha got Gabs?” asked Maddy realising something novel was occurring.

“Somebody’s sent me a parcel,” said Drew.

“Ooh, it’s a surprise, is it?” said Maddy. Drew nodded. “It’s not a bomb, is it?”

At this Drew started to laugh, then his hand began to shake, “You’re joking, aren’t you?” he said trying to laugh at Maddy.

“No I’m not. There’s a loony out there who’s threatened to kill you and you get a strange package. It could be a bomb.”

“What should I do?” asked Drew, almost wetting his pants and visibly shaking.

“What’s going on?” asked Dave, coming back from the loo. They showed him the package and revealed their fears. “Well I don’t think we can call out the bomb squad on the off chance, so I suppose I’d better take a look, assuming Gaby doesn’t mind me opening her mail.” Drew stepped back from Dave and the package.

Dave walked out the still open front door and went to the middle of the drive, they all crowded into the doorway to watch. He slowly put the package on the garden wall and reached into his pocket for his key ring. The audience was agog, following his every move. He then selected his small penknife and slit the tape around the box.

There were mutters and sighs from the doorway and Jenny called, “Please be careful darling.”

He continued his examination, he lifted the lid very gingerly, put it down and stepped back. The audience squealed in restless anxiety. Then he stepped forwards and undid the tissue paper he could see inside. Then after a pause, he made a groaning noise and called to Jenny, “Call the police.”

“What for?” she asked running out to see what was in the box. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, “That is sick.”

“What is it?” asked Drew walking towards them.

“Nothing sweetheart. Least not for you to see until the police get here,” she went back into the house and called them.

Dave stood guard over the mysterious box and the curiosity of the teens was nearly killing them. “What is it Daddy?” asked Drew approaching again.

“Please keep away until the police have seen it, there’s a good girl. Once they’ve dealt with it, we can have a little chat.”

“Why can’t you tell me what’s in it. Is it something dead?” persisted Drew.

“No love, it’s nothing dead, it’s only a damaged toy.”

“So why can’t I see it?”

“The police forensic people will want to have it as pristine as they can, DNA stuff and all that. They’ll need to finger print us too. Once they’ve taken it, I’ll tell you what’s in it, okay?”

Drew shrugged his shoulders, it made little sense to him, but he implicitly knew his father’s judgement was good and was prepared, albeit reluctantly, to accept it.

Within half an hour two police cars arrived and the mysterious package was sealed in plastic bags and whipped off for laboratory analysis. The detective who came in the first car however stayed. He asked many questions and then after thanking them, left.

Drew was beside himself with curiosity and he; his sister and cousin sat on the lounge carpet as the three adults drank their tea. “Thanks for being patient kids,” said Dave; “I can only tell you what I saw in the box, there may be other things too, but that’s for the police to find out.” He paused to sip his tea, Jenny was sat beside him on the sofa, drinking her tea but looking unusually pale. “It was a broken toy, a doll to be exact.”

“That all?” asked Drew, feeling his tension lessen, “What was the point of that?”
“It was a Barbie doll, and it had been cut into pieces,” said Dave.

“Oh that is gross!” said Jules, Maddy echoing similar sentiments.

“What’s it mean, Daddy?” said Drew feeling he was missing something that everyone else was seeing.

“What does that maniac call you?” said Maddy.

“Barbie…oh, that’s horrible,” said Drew suddenly as the penny dropped. He ran over to his father and threw himself into Dave’s arms. “That’s horrible,” he repeated as Dave held him snugly and protectively.

“Should we call off the hospital fete opening?” asked Jenny.

“Then he’s won,” said Dave grimly.

“No,” said Drew firmly, despite his shaking legs, “Lots of people will get a chance to learn about cycling as a sport who wouldn’t normally come. Besides, I won’t let him scare me like that.” He continued to shake and tears were rolling down his cheeks.

Dave hugged him tightly and said quietly, “Gabs, you are the bravest girl I know. I wish I was half as brave.”

Jenny, who had now joined in the hug said, “Look, Gaby, if you don’t feel up to this, we don’t have to do it.”

“I know Mum, but it gives the police a chance to catch him, doesn’t it?”

“It certainly might,” she said, while thinking, “but only if they up their game dramatically.”