The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 5 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Kelly meets other TG Teens and the recession comes to town.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Also, thanks to JenniferBrock and Scott Ramsey for some plot advice!

Chapter 12

Kelly looked out the window of the car, as she and her mother made the drive to the transgendered teen support group meeting. Kelly was somewhat anxious about meeting others, like herself. What would they think of her, what would she think of them?

Her mother had given up trying to draw her into a conversation soon after they got on the highway. The two of them rode in silence, looking on the barren trees in their stark winter coats of ice and snow.

When they arrived, Kelly let out a nervous sigh, quietly collected herself and got out of the car. She looked at the building. The facility was in a new corporate park, which catered to the medical community. There were five buildings; the one they needed was right in the center.

As they entered the building, Kelly was impressed by the lobby; it was full of lush, live vegetation, had a waterfall with a large Koi pond. They stopped and looked at the building index and found that they needed to go to the third floor. As they stepped into the elevator, another mother and daughter walked up, Kelly held the door open to let them on.

Once the door closed and Kelly looked at the girl, she soon realized that this was a person headed to the group meeting. She was dressed very nicely, but she could see the boy under the clothing and the makeup. Kelly wondered if it was that easy for others to read her.

The girl looked at Kelly, and said, "Oh… I know you! You're Kelly Anderson. I saw you on TV. Are you joining our group? That must have been awful to have that man from Firefly berating you, but the BNN story was wonderful!"

Kelly blushed and answered, "Yes, I am Kelly. I thought I was going to just die when that jerk said those things about me. Beth Ann Williams, the lady from BNN was really nice though. What is your name? You're a member of the TransTeen group? What's it like?"

"I'm Carol, or at least I am when I can be. I only get to be Carol outside when I meet with my psychologist and when I come here. I'd be too scared to go to school like this. You are really brave."

"Well, I did not have much of a choice. My cousin made sure everyone knew about me."

"I saw that. Mom is the only one who knows about me," Carol said, as she looked sad for a moment and then shook it off. "This is my mother Cindy."

Kelly said, "Hello. This is my mother Kristine."

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened onto the third floor.

Carol said, "Here we go. Come on in and meet everyone."

Kelly and her mother followed Carol and her mother into the office. They stopped at the reception desk. Kelly and her mother found name badges prepared for them and headed into the room where the meeting was being held. They found a number of other people in the room already. The parents were gathered together and the teens were split into boys and girls. Kelly discovered that the group was made up of both male to female and female to male transgendered teens. Kelly joined Carol and headed over to the girls.

"Hey everyone, say hi to Kelly Anderson," Carol said.

The girls all stopped their conversation and looked at Kelly. Kelly gave them her best smile, as she tried to ignore the feeling that she was being put under a microscope and on the table to be dissected. She said "Hello everyone."

"Hi Kelly, I'm Deb, this is Joan, and this is Samantha." Kelly nodded to each of them and now that she was close by, she got a good look at them. She could not see anything about Deb or Samantha that would have told her that they were physically boys. Joan on the other hand, was not as fortunate. Kelly tried to figure out what it was that made Joan look so clearly like a boy in a dress, but it was hard to put a finger on it.

Deb said, "Welcome to TransTeen. That was quite a roller coaster they put you through last month."

"So much for anonymity," Kelly said. "I guess everyone here saw the news special."

Joan laughed and said, "oh yeah, definitely. Most of us saw it the original night, but we all watched it again together in our last meeting. It gave us plenty to talk about. You seem to be doing well though. Sure, Ben O'Dale was an idiot, but you expect that from someone like him. Overall you are fairly well accepted. You certainly aren't in hiding from anyone. I wish I could say that for the rest of us."

Deb said, "That's true. Joan, I know that things have not been as easy for you, but your mother is at least trying. You are here and you keep coming back. I know of others that have come once and were pulled out halfway through because their parents were looking for a group to help 'cure' them. One girl was from my hometown. She killed herself a couple of months later. I wish we could have helped her."

Joan said, "I know Deb. Mom doesn't approve at all, but she got the message. I was lucky I guess, in that our pediatrician scared her with several horror stories like that. He told her point blank to stay away from the doctor's that claimed cures and gave her a recommendation to a good doctor. My therapist has reinforced it to her, but she is really having a hard time of it. I'm not allowed to be Joan anywhere but here. These clothes are locked in her room and are all that I have."

Deb gave her a hug and said, "I know hon. Just hang in there. She does love you, she does come here, and she talks. I think she is making progress."

Joan smiled and said, "Thanks, I know she is. She even joked last week; we picked up My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Notebook. She laughed and said, 'well one good thing is at least, I have someone to watch my chick flicks with.'"

They all laughed and Deb said, "See that's progress."

"Too bad she wouldn't let me be Joan while we watched them though."

"All in good time," Deb said.

The group leaders called everyone into the room to begin the meeting. After getting everyone quieted down, Kelly and her mother were introduced. Kelly learned that the meeting would be split into two parts, the first part the whole group got together and discussed issues that related to all them. This particular meeting they were continuing on some of the discussion of what they could learn from the media battle over Kelly. With Kelly and her mother able to add their very personal perspective to further the conversation from the prior month.

The second part of the meeting, everyone was split into three groups; parents, male to females and female to males all met separately to discuss things that were more targeted towards their needs. Each of these sessions were led by one of the psychologists that ran the group.

Kelly went with the other girls into a private room. After a few moments of chatter, an attractive woman, wearing a staff name badge, spoke up and quieted down the group. "Ok ladies, let's settle down. Kelly, I'm Erika and I'd like to welcome you to the TransTeen support group. "

Kelly said, "Thank you. I'm glad to be here."

Erika said, "We are happy to have you. Let me start by explaining a bit about how this portion of the group works. In here, we get into some fairly personal discussions. What is discussed in this room stays in this room. We are here to support one another, to help each other through the tough times and hopefully, to also share in the joyous times as well."

Kelly nodded her understanding.

"Since this is a support group, I always begin by asking if anyone has anything that is bothering them that they need the groups help with."

None of the girls spoke up.

"Ok, that's good. No crisis this time, always a good thing." Erika smiled and then said, “So Kelly, as someone new, we all want to get to know you. Now in your case we know more about you than usual, because of the news coverage, but we don't really know you. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, especially the parts that they would not have covered in the news story?"

Kelly blushed, but she said, "Ok, I guess. What kinds of things do you mean? Like my favorite sports, video games that kind of thing?"

"Sure, we know you are in chorus, you sing very well by the way and you looked quite lovely in your gown. What other activities do you enjoy?"

"Um… Well, I enjoy playing baseball and soccer. I like to watch hockey, but I can't skate well enough to think about playing it. I like video games, but I don't go crazy about them, lately I've been more into chatting with my girlfriends, then spending time on the games."

"You are accepted by the girls at your school, then?"

"Well, not all of them. But most of the girls have accepted me. There are several that are really good friends of mine. There's Julie, of course, she is my girlfriend; we are dating, so she is special. Kathy, Sue and Meghan have become like sisters to me."

"Others have given you a problem though?"

"A few have. Most of the other girls are fine, like Kirsten, the girl that wrote the school article that started the whole media thing; she is very nice to me. There are a few though; Courtney and her gang can be pretty mean. They have to be careful, because Courtney came close to getting expelled when she broke my leg. So even though I know what they think of me, as they make sure to let me know daily, I don't really worry about them much."

Samantha asked, "You are dating a girl, have you ever thought about dating boys?"

"No, I'm not interested in boys," Kelly blushed, as the other girls in the group laughed.

Deb said, "Oh, don't mind all of them. It's kind of a running thing, some of the girls are into boys; others aren't. You just changed the dynamic of the group again. The lesbian TG's just retook the majority."

Samantha stuck her tongue out at Deb, but said, "Oh well, can't blame a girl for trying. Still you might want to give it a try sometime…"

Kelly said, "I'm quite happy with Julie, thanks."

Joan said, "Some people get all the luck. Your parents accept you, you have a girlfriend that knows and accepts you. To top it off, you look perfect; no one would ever question you just from looking at you. I'd kill to be you!"

"I'm sorry Joan. I…"

"Don't you pity me! I don't need your God damned pity. Just know how damned lucky you are. Some of us aren't that lucky. My mother would do anything if she thought it would cure me and there is no damned way she would ever let me live full time. Hell, I can't even get away with any Joan time at home. She checks on me several times a night, she doesn't leave me home alone, and she won't tell my dad, which she is probably right about. Carol over there lost her father over it. He left them when her mother threatened to report him for child abuse if he hit her again."

Carol said, "Joan!"

Deb said, "Joan! That's Carol's business, not yours and should have been hers to share if she chose to. Look we all know that you have had a particularly rough time. Though as I told you before, at least you are here and you know your mother does care about you. There have been plenty of people like us even worse off then you, that would have 'killed' to be you, too."

"Joan, I don't pity you, but I do feel for you. You are right, I have been very lucky, and I am thankful for it. I have not had to worry about being beaten by my parents and most of my family has been accepting. But I do understand the betrayal; believe me having my cousin send that picture out to my classmates hurt more then I can even put into words. Having my Aunt threaten to file molestation charges if I came anywhere near my cousin Billy again… oh and getting death threats from people that I never met, that wasn't fun either."

Joan ignored Kelly and said, "Carol…"

Kelly looked over at Carol and saw that she had curled up and was holding herself tightly in her chair. Dr. Erika was kneeling before her, rubbing her back.

All of the anger had gone out of Joan, and she went over and said, "Carol… damn, I'm sorry."

Kelly stood back and looked on, along with the other girls. Deb said, "Come on everybody, give them some space. Erika will bring us in if she needs us."

Deb said, "Carol has had a really rough time. She does not handle confrontation well; her dad really did a job on her. Nothing that could be proven as physical child abuse, but … he did leave, and now he is fighting for custody. He says that her mother is committing child abuse against her by allowing her to be Carol at home and bringing her here."

Dr. Erika came over, "Deb, can you please go get Carol's mother. And I'm going to have to ask the rest of you all to wait in the lobby."

The girls filed out of the room, and Deb knocked on the room the parents were in. She whispered to the staff member that opened the door, and Carol's mom came out and rushed into the other room.

Deb grabbed Joan and took her off to a private corner, for a private conversation. When they came back, Joan said, "Kelly, I'm sorry. You certainly are not responsible for my problems, and I guess I was just a bit jealous of you."

Kelly reached out and took Joan's hand and said, "It's ok. I'm sorry too. I can't imagine what it would have been like if my parents had not accepted me."

The girls sat and talked quietly, all eyes on the door to the room they had been in, worrying about Carol. A short time later, the door opened, Dr. Erika, Carol and her mother came out. Carol looked over to the girls, looking embarrassed. Deb went over to her and said, "Come on, let's go take care of your makeup." She took her arm and led her off to the ladies room.

Dr. Erika said, "Ok everyone, please come on back in."

The girls went back in the room. A few moments later Carol and Deb came back in. Carol, still looking embarrassed said, "I'm sorry, guys."

Everyone assured her it was ok. Joan said, "Carol, I'm sorry. That was stupid of me and I was wrong, on so many levels. I certainly had no right to talk about your personal information without your permission, and I also was letting my own frustration at my situation out as jealousy at Kelly. That isn't fair, because it is not her fault that my parents don't accept me as well as her parents do. In fact," as Joan looked at Deb, "As Deb reminded me, her parent's example may ultimately help me with mine."

Carol said, "it's ok Joan. I shouldn't be so sensitive. I just… I know you guys know some of what happened, but… look, towards the end, before my dad left, he and mom had these huge arguments, especially when he had been drinking. He would get out of control. He never actually hit either of us, but he broke things, and I was so afraid he was going to hurt one of us. The last night before he left, he was angrier then I had ever seen him. He had found some books that mom was reading about transgender, and he just lost it. He was in her face and I really think he was about to hit her. I jumped on him from behind and grabbed his arm. He threw me aside and called me a pansy. He told me he would make a man out of me and he came at me. Mom stopped him somehow. I honestly don't remember anything more. Next thing I knew he was gone."

Carol wiped the tears from her face and looking at Deb said, "Damn… I'm sorry Deb; there I go messing up all your work again."

Deb smiled and said, "No problem, we can always go fix it again. I think most of us are going to need to after that."

Carol smiled, "Yeah. Anyway, now the bastard has filed for custody. He says that because my mother allows me to be Carol at home, that it is a form of child abuse and that she is unfit to be a parent."

Kelly said, "Surely the courts won't let him get away with that?"

Deb said, "Unfortunately, it depends on the judge. Some of them are very conservative and could very well rule against her mother."

The conversation shifted to less intense subjects. When the time was up, they went out and found their parents.

Deb came over to Kelly and said, "I just wanted to say welcome again. I promise it is not always like this. I do hope you will be coming back."

Kelly looked at her mother and said, "I hope so, too. I learned a lot today."

Deb smiled and said, "Good."

Kelly said, "Deb… How long have you been coming here? You seem to be the unofficial leader of the girls. They all look up to you, I noticed, and you took charge when it was needed. I have to say, I was impressed by you today."

Deb blushed, "I… Thanks. I've been coming for about four or five years. So yeah, I think some of the girls look at me as being a big sister, not that I'm any older than them. I have to say though; I think you are doing remarkably well; especially considering how recently you came out to your parents. Mrs. Anderson, I would say that has a lot to do with you and Mr. Anderson. Kelly is very lucky."

Kelly's mother said, "Thank you, we try."

Deb turning back to Kelly, took a pen and a small notepad out of her purse. "Here, let me give you my e-mail."

Kelly said, "Thanks, here let me give you mine as well."

As Kelly and her mother got to the car, she looked at her mother and said, "Mom… Thank you." Kelly held her mother tight.

"For what?"

"For accepting me. For loving me, no matter what. For giving me a chance to grow and to never, ever giving me a reason to doubt that you are there for me."

"That's what parents are supposed to do, honey."

"I know, mom. But too many don't."

Chapter 13

On the way home they chatted about the group meeting. When pressed, Kelly refused to say what had happened to cause the commotion in the session, telling her mother, it was a private matter for one of the girls and she did not feel it was her place to say.

They were listening to her mother's favorite local oldies rock station. When the song they were listening to ended, the local news update came on. Neither of them were paying much attention until the announcer said, "And a breaking story that has major consequences for the area. Jones Industries announced today that it was closing down all operations as a result of the current economic downturn. All 900 employees were given their final paychecks this afternoon. Jones Industries is a high-end manufacturer of luxury bath spas, and bathtub shells. According to a spokesman, the company had an exclusive agreement with hardware giant HardwareCentral, but as a result of the credit crunch, and drops in home construction, HardwareCentral cancelled its contract. Jones Industries had overleveraged itself in ramping up production capabilities based on the estimated volume to fill the contract. With the contract now voided, and no new markets, Jones has been forced to close its doors."

Kelly's mother said, "oh my god. Half the community worked there."

"What is that going to mean?"

"I don't know honey. It will mean some tough times for a lot of people in town. We already had a number of people having trouble, and adding 900 more people looking for work… It just is not a good situation. Unemployment will help for a while, but eventually it will run out. I suspect people are going to have to look elsewhere for work."

"John's father works for Jones, so does Meghan's."

"I know. John's Mom has a good job though, so they may be ok. Meghan's mom hasn't found a job since they moved here over the summer. Now her dad is going to be out of work, that's not good."

They pulled into the driveway, and headed into the house.

Later that evening, Kelly was sitting in the family room with her friends.

Meghan said, "I don't know what we are going to do. Dad was out of work for quite a while before he got the job with Jones. We had to live with my grandparents. Unemployment will help for a little while, but it only goes so far. There just aren't any jobs around here, Mom has been looking and hasn't even been able to get an interview."

John said, "Thank God that mom is doing ok, at least for now."

Sue gave John a hug and said, "I'm sure it will work out."

Kathy said, "All of those people. You know you hear about it, how many people are losing their jobs around the country, but it is hard to really get your head around. I can't even imagine what it is going to be like around here."

Meghan said, "Mom and dad are already talking about moving back in with my grandparents again. Dad says that paying the rent on the house, just doesn't make sense when he could be out for a very long time."

Kelly said, "But that would mean you would move away. What about school?"

"I guess I would have to transfer. I don't want to, I really like Jefferson. It's a much better school system here." Meghan shook her head, but then she said, "Look, can we not talk about it anymore. Let's put the movie on and have a good time. Ok?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. They turned down the lights and put on the movie. Julie and Kelly snuggled next to each other and settled in to watch the movie.

The next morning, Kelly and her mother were sitting in the kitchen having breakfast. Kelly said, "Mom, Meghan says that her parents are talking about moving back in with her grandparents."

"I think there is going to be a lot of that kind of thing."

"She is going to have to transfer out of our school."

"They would move before the school year ended?"

"Probably. Her mom hasn't even been able to get an interview the whole time they have been here. They don't think that they are going to be able to get work and they don't think it makes sense to keep paying rent, they are going to need every penny."

"That's too bad. Meghan is really nice and she seems to be doing so well at Jefferson."

"She is. You know she is in the advanced program here. She says they don't have anything like it at the school back where her grandparents live. She is really disappointed about it."

"I didn’t know that, but it doesn't surprise me. What a waste, for her to have to give that up."

"I was thinking the same thing. Mom, couldn't she stay with us? Is there any way that we could have her live here and at least finish out this year?"

"I doubt that her parents would want to leave her here."

"We could ask."

"Kelly, 900 people lost their jobs yesterday, we can't take all of them in."

"I know mom, I just… Meghan has been such a good friend to me and she works so hard. I…"

"Let me discuss it with your dad."

Chapter 14

At school the next day, Kelly pulled Meghan aside and said, "Can I talk to you, in private?"

"Sure."

"I spoke with my parents last night."

"Yeah?"

"I know how hard you have been working and that you are pretty upset that you might have to transfer schools."

Meghan frowned, "I don't think I have a whole lot of choice. They are pretty much resigned to needing to do it. They are going to lose the security deposit, but we just don't have much in savings. We need to keep our expenses down to a minimum."

"Would you be interested in staying with us?"

Meghan said, "What do you mean? We may not have everything your family has, but we are a family and we stick together!" She started to turn away.

Kelly said, "Meghan, please wait. I don't think you understand. Your family is great. I love your parents, they have been very nice to me and they clearly love you and take very good care of you. It is certainly not their fault that the economy is where it is; it is just unfortunate that they have gotten caught up in it. People everywhere are struggling. But I also know that you are doing so well in the advanced program and that it is just plain not fair for you to have to give it up. You have worked so hard at it and are doing so well. It just isn't fair!"

Meghan turned back and said, "You're angry."

"Damn right I'm angry. You are one of my best friends! It's really not fair. Look, we aren't trying to replace your family; we could never do that. I'm not suggesting that you abandon your family or anything like that. If it was just a matter of switching schools and you were going to go to a similar program there, I would miss you, but understand. But I know how important it was to you to get into this program and this is the only way I can think of that can let you stay in the program. At least think about it. Talk to your parents and see what they think. It might make it easier for them, because they won't have to worry about having to pull you out of the program."

"That was really bothering them. Ok, I'll think about it and talk about it with them. Thanks, I'm sorry for getting angry at you; I should have realized you were just being a good friend."

Kelly reached over and gave her a quick hug, and said, "It’s ok. I probably could have phrased it better from the start."