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(aka Bike) Part 579 by Angharad |
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“Are we going to see baby Puddin’?” asked Trish as I hurried her along towards outpatients.
“That was the plan,” I was hoping that Stella had got fed up with feeding the baby and I could give her her bottle, or maybe even Trish. We arrived at outpatients with a few minutes to spare and Dr Rose was running late anyway.
“Hello, this is Patricia Watts to see Dr Rose,” I said to the receptionist.
“Patrick Watts, okay, please take a seat.”
“No, Patricia, does she look like a boy?” I asked calmly, although I felt very angry.
“It says, Patrick on the computer, and I do recall a Patrick who liked to wear girl’s clothes.”
“I think there is a mistake here, I shall speak with Dr Rose about it.”
“Please do, I only know what it says on the computer.”
Thankfully, I’d sent Trish to find something to read while I checked us in. She came back with a book for her and a National Geographic for me, one that featured something on the TdF. Had she noticed that or was it pure accident? This child was a total conundrum.
We sat and read for about fifteen minutes, at least I managed to read all the article, which was on about Lance Armstrong winning it for a seventh time, so it shows how old the magazine was. At least it was interesting. Trish was concentrating hard on her book. There wasn’t very much text but she was reading it out aloud to herself. I corrected one or two words which she mispronounced, but it was very good for someone who wasn’t yet five years old, and I told her so. She put her arm around mine and told me, that I, “was the best Mummy ever.”
“Lady Cameron and Patricia,” called Sam Rose from his surgery. I saw the receptionist’s eyebrows rise as she also heard the consultant. I shook hands with Dr Rose and Trish gave him a hug. “My goodness, two lovely ladies to brighten my room.”
He nodded to his nurse who went to Trish and led her off. As soon as she was out of earshot, I mentioned the situation with the name on her records. He nodded his understanding, “I’ll get that sorted for her. Now, regarding Fliss Edwards, I’ve spoken to her and explained that you are a scientist, and that you’d helped another patient of mine to mobilise when we were beginning to think she might not walk again. I then sang your praises because you’d repeated the miracle with Patricia. She said she was looking forward to meeting my miracle worker.”
“I took her to task about her use of pronouns concerning my lovely foster daughter.”
“You told Fliss off? Ha, I wish I’d been a fly on the wall.” His smirk nearly split his face in half and his eyes sparkled. “I’ll bet that doesn’t happen too often.”
“I used to think it was surgeons who were insufferable, I know some are, but you’d think psychiatrists would know better.”
“I dunno, some are madder than their patients,” he smirked again.
“I thought doctors closed ranks when criticism is levelled at them.”
“That’s the bad old days, I try to see where the truth lies and who I can trust, then make my decisions. I know I can trust you, hence my farming Trish out on you.”
“Where is she?” I asked, wondering how he’d managed to keep her out of earshot this long.
“I told the nurse to do every test in the book…”
“Trish is probably reading it then.”
“She is a bright spark, isn’t she.”
“Too clever by half some times.”
“Takes after her foster mum.”
“Was that a back-handed compliment?”
“It wasn’t meant as such, but I could do with your help again.”
“I can’t cope with another child, our bed isn’t big enough for one thing.”
“Eh?”
“The two girls come into us every morning as soon as they wake up. I think their favourite game is sardines.”
He laughed, then said, “No, you won’t need a bigger bed, but I have another transgendered child.”
“Surely, I’m the worst person to pass them on to?”
“Why? Have you told Trish yet?”
“No, but I suspect she’ll work it out one day.”
“Not from your appearance or voice or gesture.”
I blushed, “What about this other kid?”
“Oh yes, another boy who wants to be a girl, aged nine. The parents are supportive and encourage her to be herself, although she’s very shy of transitioning.”
“Why is she seeing you and not Fliss wotsit?”
“Dr Edwards referred her to me. She wasn’t gaining weight as she should.”
“Eating disorder?”
“Yes, I nominally manage the physical side of things, but sometimes end up doing a bit of trick cycling too. I’ve given the mother a thing on Mermaids, but they don’t have anyone local. You’re local, she’d love to talk to you as a parent of a GID child.”
“This is all getting a bit convoluted, Sam. Am I the right person to speak with?”
“You were for Trish. She looks healthier now than ever. I saw her before the head injury, she wasn’t eating and the home wondered about an eating disorder, but I had to do a physical check first. Her eyes were dull and I suspected it was environmental. Then she suffered the accident, and I had the chance to take her out of the environment, and get you to look after her. Since then she’s done so well.”
“Yeah, she’s no problem at all, but that might all change when she goes to school. You know what they say about convent girls.”
“What do they say?”
“If I told you Anne Robinson was one.”
“The Weakest Link Robinson?”
“The same.”
“Oh. Still you’re well balanced, so she’ll be okay.”
“Yeah, I’m so well balanced that I dumped a dishful of cornflakes down Simon’s trousers at breakfast.”
“What down the inside?”
“Yes,” I said sniggering, “there was no milk on them, but the look on his face was priceless.”
“Remind me not to come for a meal at your house.” He was chuckling and his eyes danced.
“Anyway,” I said snorting and giggled again for a moment, “how will I know if what I say to this other mother isn’t my stuff?”
“What like counter-transference?”
“Yeah, that sort of thing.”
“I think you’ll know.”
“Gee, that’s so helpful.” I scowled at him.
“Sorry, I’m not a psychologist, I’m sure you’ll find something on the net.”
“Okay, I’ll have a look.”
“Can I pass your number on to this other mum?”
“I suppose so, if you think it’ll help, but I’m not setting up a support group.”
“I wasn’t asking you to, maybe the others can, you could always be their patron.”
“What others? You said one.”
“I’m sure there are probably others hoping for some one they could talk to about their kids.”
“Isn’t that what Mermaids is for?”
“Yes, but someone local is so much better.”
The nurse brought Trish back. “I’m nearly half a kilo heavier and a centimetre taller,” beamed Trish.
“Must be all that fruit you put away. No wonder I’ve got no money.”
“Can I get a job, Dr Rose, to help my mummy pay my school fees?”
“I suspect, your Grampa Henry is going to interfere with that,” I added.
“What does interfere, mean, Mummy?”
“It means he’s going to help me whether I want him to or not.”
“Lucky you,” said Dr Rose, “Couldn’t point him my way, could you?”
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Comments
It takes a . . .
I never bought into this whole "it takes a village to raise a child" BS, but it does help to have a strong family structure to support the effort. If Henry Cameron is indeed "Grandpa Henry" then it is his responsibility to see to it that his grandchildren get everything they need to grow up properly. Cathy isn't the only one with a strong sense of duty. Remember how "GPH" got hurt, rushing to his daughter's bedside. Family matters to him.
Yuri!
Yuri!
There's a FINE line...
between Grandparents HELPING, and interfering. As long as the parents are doing their "jobs" raising the kids, grandparents really need to NOT interfere. The parents WILL make what they (parents & grandparents for that matter) consider mistakes... The kids will do fine, if the parents are generally doing an "okay" job, and are there for them. I've seen cases where Grandparents overstepped the line, and the parents effectively LOST control over their kids. So much easier, when the kids have EXTRA person (or two) to go to for a different answer. (i.e. Mom & Dad say no, so go to Gramps for a yes...)
So far, it appears that Henry is letting Cathy take care of the kids... This insisting on paying the tuition is the first major (child rearing) thing he's poked into...
Just my opinion though.
Annette
No interference
I'd say that ensuring a grandchild's education is paid for is within proper grand-parental behavior. He didn't try to tell Cathy where to take Trish, or how she should be educated, he is making sure that the education that Cathy decided on can be paid for without hardship on Cathy's part.
So far, except for a little grand-parental spoiling, candy and such by Monica, Henry has adopted a sensible policy. Cathy makes the decisions on what is best for the kids, he just wants to see to it that those decisions can be implemented.
Cathy needs to back down on her stubborn pride and accept help from her "family" when she needs it.
They know they can survive
I believe ...
that's what I said. That paying the tuition was the first time Henry had "butted in". That said, I think that it would have been better for Henry to have let Simon and Cathy work out funding initially. But, that's my opinion. Apparently you disagree. Your privilege.
So you know where I'm comming from, here's my rationalle. Each time a grandparent steps in with their resources to provide something, to some extent, they are telling their children that they are inadequate. Intentional? I don't think so. I've seen the effect... Is it WRONG for Henry (& Monica) to want the best for their grandchildren? No. But, that's just it, they are GRAND CHILDREN - not CHILDREN.
Even with Children, parents can push them in directions that are not good, from the child's point of view. I can't count the number of kids I've known that majored in "Pre Med", cause mom & dad insisted they go to Med School, but HATED the major. My dad had a friend that was pushed this way... He did that, got his MD even, and went into practice with his father. After (my dad said about 8 years) a while, he finally got sick of being a doctor, and had a fight (verbal, I'm sure) with his dad, quit the practice, and went to Dental school - where he wanted to go in the first place... And after 20 years as a dentist was still happy.
Perhaps, this is just a weakness in my personality. I had a schollarship to a fairly exclusive school - just for the asking, as long as I met the minimum requirements for the Uni... Not on my merrits, but because my grandfather went to school and was a friend of the right person. I ran the other way. As I think back, I think it was the right thing for ME to have done, though it ended up costing my parents a good bit for my education. Was I selfish? Maybe. But, I couldn't do that. Had I been "pushed" that way, I don't know what the outcome would have been... Today, there's no way to know. I suspect this colors my perception of Henry's "pushing in" and not waiting to be asked.
Annette
I hope Cathy doesn't get so addled that
she forgets to go see Stella and Puddin', esp Puddin.
But with Trish around, I'm not too worried.
It’s not given to anyone to have no regrets; only to decide, through the choices we make, which regrets we’ll have,
David Weber – In Fury Born
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
Somehow, I doubt she will
forget to visit Stella and the little one because Trish won't let her!
It was nice to see a chapter with only one minor crisis (the computer having the wrong name); and I'm sure Dr. Rose will do as promised and see that the computer record is amended to read "Patricia" in the future.
Jenny
Ok Angharad, I See What You're Doing ;-)
Maddy Bell supports Mermaids and now you are touting them in your story. I hope that your readers will see fit to help them.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
I don't think that Cathy
I don't think that Cathy should refuse any sort of help from Henry, as he seems to have his "head on straight" about certain issues. He does appear to be very family oriented, when it necessary and required. I do believe he will do everything in his power to support Cathy and Simon and any children they have regardless of if they were from a natural birth, fostered and then adopted. J-Lynn
Grandpa Henry...
can help me too... Please. (See, I said, Please! Dr. Rose forgot.)
Interesting how you've got things going. I still think Simon & Cathy NEED to get things sorted between themselves. If not for their own sakes, for the kids. If they don't, I'm convinced these two kids will be SURE it's their fault. *sighs*
People that only believe what the computer tells them. *sighs*
Looking forward to seeing the face-to-face with Fliss... Oh, to be a little fly on the wall... :-) You will help us, won't you?
Thanks,
Annette
Henry
I agree that Cathy should let Henry should pay tuition. The money she is spending could be used for other priorities, raising kids is expensive. And this once, it is isn't her kid yet, so outside help from family should be acceptable (especially considering to Henry it is a pittance).
Never saw a deerhound wid, or a wolfhound either
That receptionist doesn't know how close she came to being turned into a pillar of salt.
That makes sense, Cathy does have a GID child, and therefor is experienced with the condition. (wink, wink)
Cefin