Orphan Petal
September 2023 - Part 1
Shirley gets some help or maybe its not the help he needs
Doctor Mary:
Welcome back to another part of Orphan Petal. Shirley continues to convince himself that he is transgender and a baby. He wears diapers all the time and lives like a toddler. Yet, he is not ready to show the world that he is transgender The others at the orphanage already know that he is an 11-year-old baby, but they do not know that he thinks he should have been born a girl. The good thing is that Aunty has finally promised to get Shirley some help, so he gets help with his identity confusion. Something tells me that Shirley's identity is not the worst of his problems. Austin now knows that it was Shirley who told Jason that he is gay. Will this create problems for Austin or the friendship that he was building up with Shirley?
Austin:
I protected Shirley! I considered him like a brother! I tried to understand that he wanted to be more like a girl. I was in doubt if I wanted to be adopted because I felt like Shirley and Susan were already my family. Then I found out that it was Shirley who told Jason that I was gay. This meant that I was bullied. Shirley does not know if I am gay or not. We never talked about it, so why does he assume that I am gay and tell my enemies? I am so mad at Shirley. I do not think that I could ever forgive him. How would he like it if I told everyone that when no one was looking, he played dress-up games where he dressed like a girl? I will not tell others as I am not mean. However, I have agreed to be adopted as I want to be as far away from Shirley as possible.
Jason:
I was always a bit jealous of Shirley and Austin's friendship. I do not have many friends and maybe that is a reason why I can be so mean to people at times. In the last few days, I have seen Austin get mad at Shirley and shout that they were no longer friends. This is because I told Austin that it was Shirley who told me that he was gay. I do not know why I told Austin this. Maybe a part of me wanted them to no longer be friends. Maybe a part of me wanted to show Austin that I was not the bad guy. A part of me wished that I never have said it.
Shirley:
Austin left the orphanage and now is Logan's brother. He does not want anything to do with me anymore. He found out that it was me that started the rumour that he was gay. In my defence, this was when I was not a good person. I should never have said it. However, I did. I should have told him long ago that all the bullying he experienced was my fault. That is easy to say now but the fact is that I was too afraid to tell him. Now I have to suffer the consequences. It means that Austin may never like me again.
Aunty:
Hawthorne is gone and I did not get her job. I was told that after a lot of consideration, they had decided to give the job to a man who was more qualified than me. I had enough to do anyhow. I promised that Shirley would see a psychiatrist. Hawthorne wanted me to send him to Doctor Mary, but I did not want to do that. I wanted the doctor who examined my nephew when he was in doubt if he was transgender or not. She no longer can practice as she used some methods on my nephew that everyone thought were unconventional. So I looked around and found a psychiatrist who had experience with feminine boys. She agreed that she would see Shirley. I did ask her not to brainwash him or screw with his mind. I just wanted her to help him understand himself.
Mr. Dickens:
I am now in charge of this orphanage. When I toured the place, I was shocked. The building was so old and had been neglected from any sort of repairs. The children looked as if they were cared for and they even seemed happy. There seemed to be very few activities or toys. This place was also understaffed. It seems as if a woman they call Aunty is the most active staff member and seems to be involved in everything and knows everything. From her file, it seems that she had a shady past so it's a mystery as to how she got a job here. I also noticed a boy who I was told was 11 years old in a girl's baby nursery. This made me raise my eyebrows. I had a lot of work to do.
Doctor Philomena:
I am a psychiatrist who was asked to speak with Shirley who thinks that he is transgender. This is becoming more and more common, where children think that they should have been born in another body than the one that they were given, In other words, they think that they were born with a body that does not reflect the gender that they think they are. I will help Shirley understand who he is, and that it's not wrong to be transgender. I am sure that he is transgender, otherwise why come and see me? Boys who feel like they are girls need to be supported and helped them live the life of a girl that will make them happy. I am sure that this will be the case with Shirley!
Aunty:
So Mr Dickens is now the boss here. He is a middle-aged man that looks like he visited the gym. He was bald but not in an ugly way. He looked like a gentleman. At first glance, he looked like an intelligent man who had a good sense of style and spoke with a firm distinguished and eloquent voice. He asked me to tell him about the bullying at the school and wanted to know why an 11-year-old was sleeping in a nursery room. I gave him a quick update on what was happening especially with Shirley. I also mentioned that Shirley is getting some psychiatric help so we understand him better and he can understand himself better. Mr Dickens said that maybe the crib and nursery should have come after Shirley got help. I was told that the orphanage was under new leadership and this would mean change. He expected his staff to have compassion for the children as well as be strict. He wanted us to be professional.
Jason;
I was called into the main office today. I was never called into the office when Hawthorne was here. The new boss told me that he heard that I have been bullying some other children. Then he warned me that my reign of terror was over. If I teased or bullied anyone, there would be consequences. I wanted to tell him that I did not bully anyone for a week or so. However when Mr. Dickens said that we are like one big family and I should think if anyone here like me or are they afraid of me, I couldn’t say a word. It seemed as if he was trying to be mean to me. Did he think that I had no friends here? I wondered if he also spoke with Susan and Shirley about how weird they are. Maybe Mr. Dickens wanted us all to be weirdos. I did not answer him. I just let him believe that he won.
Doctor Philomena:
I like to be prepared for when children start here with me. So I read some files that the orphanage sent me. A boy who had parents who taught him intolerance and how to judge people. A boy who wants to impress Aunty and starts regressing and becoming more girly after he reads the story of Aunty's nephew, who she feminized. And then there is a diaper girl that he started dreaming about. All this showed me that this would be an interesting case. Is Shirley transgender, or trying to impress someone, or was this all a reaction to his life being turned upside down since his parents died? He should have gotten some help much sooner, but I have a feeling that Shirley will be a fun experience.
Aunty;
The school has started again and this is probably good for the children. Life as a child sometimes is funny. They wait all year for summer holidays and then after a few weeks of holidays, they get bored. School will keep their minds busy and after a few weeks, they will count down days to the next holidays. It's a local school that they go to. This can be hard at times, as they will be with children that have parents. There is a school uniform, so that helps them know they are the same as the children who have parents. I have spoken with the school and told them that Shirley is having bladder problems. An agreement was made with the school that Shirley could wear pull-ups so he could deal with changing himself. I just hope that he will be accepted and his classmates do not give him a hard time. I know that if Shirley is teased, he will cry. He cries so easily now over the smallest things. If he cries at school, it will make things much worse.
Jason:
Austin is no longer here and Shirley has seemed to be sad. I can understand why they are sad, they became nearly enemies when I told Austin that it was Shirley who told me that he was gay. Shirley lost a good friend and he only has Susan left. On top of that, I heard rumours that Shirley was going to see a shrink. It's about time he gets his head checked. He is getting stranger and stranger every day. Lately, I have noticed that he is starting to wear a lot of pink clothes. Today he even had a princess t-shirt on. I have not teased him in a long time and this was especially after I spoke with Mr, Dickens. He was right when he told me that I had no friends. No one likes me. Maybe it's me that needs to go and see a shrink. There must be a reason why I bullied others. Did I just want them to be afraid of me?
Susan:
Shirley told me about what he told others about Austin and now that Austin hates him. Shirley scared me a bit when he said that in a way, things were much easier when he did not have friends. Now it hurts him so much that Austin is so mad at him. I told Shirley that he made a mistake… we all make mistakes. He told Jason when he first came to the orphanage. Let's face it, Shirley was a jerk when he came here. Now he has changed. He should be proud of this. Austin would calm down and forgive Shirley. Some people say that time heals. To cheer Shirley up, we played dress-up games, where he tried on some dresses that I had that he never tried before.
Logan:
Austin is a great brother. I am so happy that we adopted him. He accepts that I was born as a boy and now live as a girl. He treats me like his sister and never calls me names or teases me. Life is good now!
Mr. Dickens:
I am a conservative man who believes in traditional social values. I have been observing Shirley for a few days and that boy confuses me. He is 11 years old and has no problem sleeping in a crib and having a girl's baby room, His clothes are very girlish and I know that he dresses like a girl when he thinks no one watches him. So what was I to do? I know that children should be able to decide themselves about their identity. The liberals who think this does not look at the big picture. The media, music, films and TV have been brainwashing people for decades that it is ok to be transgender, gay or other things that were frowned upon before. Children who are not even old enough to start at school can decide they should have been born the opposite gender. So boys start living as girls and girls start living as boys. It's becoming a huge industry, where hormones or puberty blockers are given. I even heard that some hospitals can give children sex changes. I think that children need an adult to tell them when they are going astray and when something is wrong. They need an adult who will put their foot down. Is this what Shirley needs?
