In which we find out about the accident, and Bill learns some disturbing information.
Who Was I
By: Annette MacGregor
"I see. Well, good luck on your hunt there. As we're approaching our time, is there anything else you want to bring up?"

"No, I think that's it and quite enough too." I saw her smile at that. "It's almost as if someone made that Chinese curse on me. You know the one about living in interesting times?"

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Part 20   Thursday afternoon (9-Nov-06)

In the last episode:
I left, and got my stuff put away, and headed for home, thinking about all I'd seen and heard. This was just amazing. Suddenly, a care came out of nowhere. I slammed on my brakes and...

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Whoa. That was close, I thought to myself as I pulled to the side of the road. I looked over my shoulder to see if the other car was okay, and saw it had plowed into a telephone pole across from the road where he must have run the stop sign. I don't know how I avoided him; someone must be looking over me. I climbed out of my car, and pulled my phone out and called emergency services as I jogged over to the other car.

"Emergency services."

"Yes, I'd like to report a single car automobile accident on county route 219."

"Are there any injuries?"

"I don't know yet. I wasn't in the accident. But the car plowed pretty hard into this telephone pole, and it's half broken. Okay, I'm at the car now; the driver appears slumped over the steering wheel. I can't tell any more right now, the window's up and the door's locked."

"All right sir, can you give me a better location than that so I can mobilize Sheriff and Ambulance services?"

"I was heading westbound out the Breezwood area. Let me go check my GPS and I'll give you a better location."

"Thank you sir. I've already dispatched services and will update them with your information. Please stay on the scene until emergency services get there."

I acknowledged this and got him my GPS info. "Ahh, we're in luck, there's an ambulance less than 3 minutes from your location."

"Do you want me to try to get into the car to check on the driver? I can probably break the window."

"If they ambulance were further away I would, but they will probably be there before you can determine much and have tools to deal with this."

"Okay. Do I stay on the line? Or just hang around?"

"Just wait there and follow the directions of the emergency personnel when they arrive."

"Okay I'll be here."

I gave the house a quick call, and wonder of wonders Craig was there and answered.

"Yo dad, what's up?"

"Hey son. I'm going to be a while getting home this afternoon. Can you stick around until your mom or I get there so someone's there when Ginny gets home?"

"Dad, I was gunna go over to Rodgers to play on his console."

"How about you have him over? I don't know how long I'll be."

"Awww Dad. Okay. What happened anyway?"

As I was about to answer when I heard the siren and Craig said "What's going on?"

"I was almost in an accident and stopped to help. It'll keep me a while. I'll give you the gory details when I see you. Gotta run now."

"Okay dad. We'll do it here."

We signed off and I went over to the car. They directed me to stay back and wait for the Sheriff. As I'd never been on an accident scene like this, I was fascinated by how they did things. They had this too that cut through the door like it was butter. Then one of them was checking the driver out. He called for a board and then they did something I couldn't see very well, but the steering wheel was tossed aside. They then did some more stuff with the guy in the car that I couldn't see, but when they had him out, there was something holding his neck stationary and the two paramedics, or I assume that's what they were, were very careful to not move him much.

"Excuse me sir, were you the witness who called this accident in?" I turned. I'd been so fascinated by watching the paramedics; I'd not noticed the Sheriff's car pull up.

"What? Oh yes. I called it in." He went on to ask me questions about what had happened, and when I showed him where I'd slammed on my breaks to avoid the other car, he commented about how lucky I must have been.

Part way through the conversation he had to break off and talk to the paramedics, before they took off. I suspect to get any details they may have been able to on his ID and such. While he was doing this, one of the paramedics came over to check how I was and make sure I'd not gotten hurt. I assured him I was fine.

"Well Sir, sometimes you pull a muscle when maneuvering to avoid an accident. If you start hurting tomorrow, you might check with your doctor to make sure." I thanked him for this, and he rejoined his partner and off they went.

The deputy returned and took the rest of my information. "Well Mr. Wyman. From what I can see, you've had a very close call. If you'd be just a little slower swerving or been just a little further along, he'd have hit your door pretty hard."

"I figured some of that out, while I was watching the paramedics. Is there anything else you need from me?"

"No sir, thanks for staying to call this in. This road doesn't normally get a lot of traffic. If you'd have just kept going, who knows how long that guy would have sat there. They said there might be some internal bleeding. Again, thanks again for calling this in."

I said good bye, and headed off for home.

# - # - # - # - #

After arriving at home

I was able to satiate Craig by describing the accident, and showing him the picture I'd taken with my phone.

"Wow dad, that's some smash up! I guess you couldn't leave the guy."

"I'm glad you approve Craig."

"Daaad. That's not what I meant."

"I know. Go off now, and do your thing."

# - # - # - # - #

Later that evening

"Bill, did I hear you'd observed an accident on the way home from your teacher's place?"

I nodded at that. "It was a close one actually. I just missed being part of the accident." I then told her the story and explained that I was okay.

"Speaking of your chat with your teacher how did that go?"

"Actually pretty well. She remembered me after all. Apparently my two companions and I had made quite an impression on the school up to her grade."

"You're kidding? Three kids that are still remembered this many years later?"

"Well, it was the enrichment class that reminded her. Would you believe we were nicknamed the three musketeers?"

Becky laughed at that. "Okay, so did you find anything else out?"

I pulled out prints of the pictures I'd scanned this afternoon and described what Val had said about us, and mentioned the girls’ names.

"Bill, maybe you should look in your high school yearbooks, to see if they were still in classes in the area then. If they were maybe we could find them, and see what they remember from back then. I'm not sure if I hope they have the same block or not." she said, with her voice trailing off at the end. Hearing that, I understood her concern, I thought. If they didn't remember, they wouldn't be able to help with the quest much. The idea to check my year books would be quick to follow up in the morning.

I gave Becky a hug before lying down to go to sleep. I didn't notice the look of concern on her face.

# - # - # - # - #

The next morning

Hmmm. Let's see if I can find either picture. Hmmm. That is interesting. We graduated 1-2-3 together and I didn't remember them. Curioser and curioser. Well, I'm going to grab these pictures, to put with the rest. We seem to be compiling quite a bit, but not necessarily getting any closer, or not very. Then, it occurred to me I might find their names in the phone book, but a quick check turned up nothing. Well, we can look later.

# - # - # - # - #

That afternoon

"Well Mr. Wyman, how has your week been?"

"Doc, you won't believe it!" I started, and then went on to describe the dream session and the trip to the Board of Ed. She was pretty quiet, letting me talk and just asking a question or two to keep me on track. When I got to the dream I'd had, she asked to read my journal about it. I watched her reading, and saw her eyebrows raise a time or two. I guess she found it a tad on the unusual side.

"Is that the dress you mentioned in your list of memories earlier?"

"Yes, or I think so anyway."

"Have you tried to confirm any of the rest of this?"

"Not really. Yesterday I was talking to my third grade teacher and I've been trying to get through my work too. That's why I've only read a bit of the material I got from the Board of Ed."

"I see. Well, does this Aunt Rachel really exist?"

"Maybe. What I remembered from the dream looks like her, and she's living in the home over in Merchantsville." I said, hoping she wouldn't recall that this was the aunt that referred to my sister.

"Is this the same Aunt Rachel that would sometimes mention a sister?" Danged she got it.

I nodded "Um Yea. She looked like the pictures in mom's photo album and from visiting in my teens. I guess she sounded a bunch like what she sounds today."

"You don't sound like you're happy with this." I could recognize a leading comment when I heard it and signed before continuing.

"Well, I mean, how many guys are happy dressing up in dresses? Really now."

"More than you apparently think. But the question is more do you think it happened?"

"I really don't know. Is it possible I'm a gay and didn't know it?"

"Mr. Wyman, it's not unusual for young boys to wear a woman's clothing a time or two. Most never do again. As to being gay, the one has nothing to do with the other. What made you ask me that?

"Well, I've heard of these female impersonators and figured they were gay."

"No Mr. Wyman, some may actually be, but the vast majority of genetic males that wear women's clothing are not professional 'female impersonators'." I guess my skepticism showed.

She went on to say that there were several classifications of adults that would wear the clothing of the opposite sex from that which they were born into. "Rather than go into a lot of detail in the session, I can give you some web sites that describe this in layman’s terms, and we can go back to my question as to whether you think this event really happened."

I was still uncomfortable with answering this, and told her so, but I also said that it certainly felt real when I was waking up from it. "I mean, I don't normally remember that kind of details about things I dream of."

"I see. It may be possible that this was triggered by your session on Monday, but it may be something else entirely. Seeing as this seems to disturb you so much, you might ask your aunt about it. If she confirms it, you have something to think about. But if she says it didn't happen, you can ignore it as any other dream."

I told her I'd think about it, but I realized this had disturbed me more than I'd thought, and that maybe I wasn't as open minded as I thought. This latter was the most disturbing bit.

"Mr. Wyman, you still with me?"

"Wha... Oh, sorry. I was thinking over what you said and realized that the dream had bothered me more than I'd let my self realize."

"Do you want to talk about your feelings on that?"

"No, not right now. Now that I realize it, I'd like to think about it some. I may come back talk to you some more next week though."

"Of course, then why don't we go on? Is there anything else to add to this already eventful week?"

"Actually, yes." She looked up, I guess a little bit surprised. "I met my third grade teacher yesterday. And found that she even remembered me."

"Really? That's unusual as well; you must have done something to be so memorable."

"It was partially that. Actually, what triggered the memory was my mentioning the special enrichment class I was in. She remembered the class, and that helped her recall the three of us. Some bits of the stuff she told me sounded a little disturbing. But she even had some pictures of the three of us. Apparently the two girls and I were referred to as the three musketeers by the teachers because we were never apart. But I don't recall them, and I found out this morning in my year book that the three of us ended up 1-2-3 in our class in high school, and I'd completely forgotten their names or that we'd done that."

"Interesting. Are you going to take that further?"

"I think so. It's a little disturbing to me that some people I was that close to in my class, they must have been in most of my classes in High School; I'd have no memory of. When I came to see you, I thought my memory hole was just when I was a kid. Now it seems there's bits missing later that I had no clue about."

"I see. Well, good luck on your hunt there. As we're approaching our time, is there anything else you want to bring up?"

"No, I think that's it and quite enough too." I saw her smile at that. "It's almost as if someone made that Chinese curse on me. You know the one about living in interesting times?"

"Yes, Mr. Wyman. And with this week, it does sound like you are living in interesting times. I'll see you again next week. Oh, and let me get you that list of web sites. Wait right here." With that, she left the room, but was back in less than three minutes with a piece of paper. "This lists a number of websites that have useful information on gender issues. Browsing a few might give you a better understanding of what the various differences that you seemed to be confused on earlier."

I looked at the title on the page Transgender Information Resources. Okaaaay. Well, I've always thought I was open minded. My reaction earlier surprised me a bit. Maybe this bit of research might not be all bad. "Thanks. My reaction earlier surprised me a bit."

"You're quite welcome Mr. Wyman. I hope you find the information enlightening."

I nodded, as I walked out thinking some troubling thoughts. Today hadn't been as easy as I'd expected it to be. Now, I'm not sure how tonight will go with Becky.

# - # - # - # - #

That evening

"Well Bill, I hope today was less exciting as the rest of the week."

"It was, and in a way it wasn't Becky."

"That sounds ominous Bill. What's up?"

"It was my session with Dr. Flynn."

"What happened there?"

"Becky, do you think I'm a bigot?"

"No Bill, you're one of the most open minded people I know. What's going on?"

"Becky, after talking about my dream with the doctor, she asked me if I thought it had happened." At her nod, I continued. "I reacted strongly Beck. I said I hoped not, and asked if it mean I was gay or something." I could see the shock on her face.

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To Be Continued… Why the shock? What's going on? Does Bill find his classmates? Should he try to find them? What will happen on Monday? Is there anything but more questions?
 
Author’s Note: Thanks for all of your comments! They really help me, and encourage me to keep going on this story.