Emily's Easter Sunday
A “How I Spent my Summer Vacation: I Became a Girl” Gaiden
by
Rebecca Anna Coleman

-2-
A Basket of Joy

I hated being blindfolded. I hated the fact I was totally at the mercy of Aunt Flora. But I could feel her gentleness flowing through me. Like a small child I moved in a little closer so I could feel the warmth of her body beside me. After what seemed like forever and a day I heard Aunt Flora stop mid stride. She then let go of the palm of my hand. I could tell because I felt her warmth leaving me. At that moment I really did feel like a little girl because I did not want her warmth, that gave me a sense of safety to leave me.

Going on the sounds of her footsteps that echoed loudly in the room I could tell well that she was starting to walk from beside me to behind me. A moment later I took a deep breath as the blindfold came off. And much to my amazement there sitting upon the waxed surface of the perfectly square formal dining room table with four wooden chairs seated around it was a woven straw basket.

The bottom of the women basket was linned with thin, plastic strips of fake grass. I could tell it was fake grass because of the color, a crayon lime green. Nestled in the fake green, plastic grass was a box that held a large, chocolate rabbit that according to the package weighed close to a pound and was filled with Reese's brand peanut butter. Surrounding the large was about half a dozen fist size Reese's chocolate eggs.

Beside the rabbit, the eggs was a bag that was filled with Mar's famous M&M's. The M&M characters, the bright yellow one and the small red one, were wearing rabbit ear headbands and had small dots of pink in the center of their faces. Behind the candy was the first and second volume of 'Rain' a web-comic that followed the misadventures of a transgender girl.. I saw a lot of myself in 'Rain'.

And in front was a tall yellow bottle made of yellow plastic with a white screw on cap. I slowly picked up the bottle and my whole body started to tremble as I silently read the label that had been glued to the front.

“Estrogen?” I said blinking as I spun around and peered into Aunt Flora loving eyes. “Estrogen tablets?” I said, feeling my mouth opening a little I quickly closed it.

“Your doctor approved your script at the last moment. The Easter Bunny and I had to sit down and give him a firm talking too about how Easter was the perfect time of the year for you to start on Estrogen. Since it's the season of new beginnings and stuff. I mean everything is coming to life again after the harsh winter we've had.” Aunt Flora smiled. “Also I'm glad the Easter Bunny could get a hold of Santa Clause and have him threaten to put certain pharmacy workers on the 'Naughty' list if they did not hurry up and fill your script.”

“Does that mean?”

“You're going to be a real girl very soon, my sweet little Pinocchio.” Aunt Flora said as she gently poked me on the nose.

I felt the tears starting to build up in my eyes as I peered toward Aunt Flora. I took a deep breath and slowly I eased the bottle down, I then reached out and threw my arms around her. My arms are like bands of rope wrapped around her waist.

“Do you think mom would approve?” I said placing my face into her chest.

“Emily Hannah Anderson.” My Aunt Flora said as she reached up and placed her hands behind me back. She then pressed me into her chest a little. I was surrounded by her warmth and I could feel her love swirling around me. It made me feel safe, secure, loved, and best of all I felt like I could feel her heart beating.

“Your mother loved you, she never stopped loving you. She loved all of her children. She would approve of you striving to live as your true self. You started this journey. I just decided to tag along to see what kind of misadventures you'll get yourself into. Because my life is boring.” Aunt Flora said smiling.

“We're not going to tell Helen or George are we?”

“That's up to you, but my advice is to keep it off social media. Helen needs to come to terms that her younger brother is now her younger sister in her own time. She has your dad's hot temper. Your older brother George needs to stop drinking that MAGA kool-aid and get his head screwed on tight. But then again the priesthood is filled with nuts like him. So no, don't tell anybody.”

“Should I tell Andy?” I inquired.

“He's your boyfriend. I mean yes, I guess you can tell him. I mean he knows you're transgender and is fine with that. His sisters might want to know, they kind of think of you as a sister-in-law already. Seems you're the first girl Andy brought home that both his mother and father approve of. Thank God they overlook the fact that you go to a Catholic School.”

“Okay,” Aunt Flora said, smiling. “Get your pills and follow me back into the kitchen. I know you love chocolate and sweets, but you just cooked an amazing breakfast and I don't want you to spoil your appetite.”

I curled the small bottle of pills and folded them close to my chest. I blushed a little as I slowly walked behind Aunt Flora like a lost little puppy. Soon we reached the kitchen. Aunt Flora smiled and unscrewed the cap of the bottle and counted out on a large blue tablet.

“Now it is going to take time for these to work okay? I mean months. You're not going to see results overnight or in the blink of an eye. But by the start of summer you should see your chest starting to develop a little. Now, this part is important, you gotta follow the directions to the letter. Don't double up or anything okay?”

“Yes ma'am.” I said, nodding my head.

“Okay open your hand and give it to me.” Aunt Flora said in a firm, commanding tone of voice.
I nodded my head and opened the palm of my hand and slowly I thrusted it toward Aunt Flora.

Aunt Flora nodded her headhead and placed a big, blue pill into my trembling hand. She then reached into the fridge and pulled out a half gallon of chocolate milk, she unscrewed the top and poured a goo eight ounces of milk into a glass she then handed me the glass.

I took a deep breath and placed the pill into my mouth, I then took a sip of chocolate milk. A second passed and then I drained the whole glass of chocolate milk.

“An adventure of a thousand miles starts with one small step. You've taken that very important step this morning Emily.” Aunt Flora said as she nodded her head. “I just wish I could have gotten a picture of you swallowing your first estrogen pill.”

I blinked.

“Oh well, it's just spring. A lot of stuff is going to come up soon. I'm sure I'll have chances to get a lot of pictures. Yep, the hospital owes me a full three weeks of PTO, that stands for Paid Time Off. And I'm going to take it. Gotta look at condo's though. A friend of mine said 'The Palms' are good. You can pretty much walk or bike toward this cute little shopping center that is only about two and a half miles from the condo. Plus their dolphin cruises, old spanish forts to explore, there is a pool for you to hang out in.”

I blinked.

“Are you going to use the full three weeks of PTO?” I inquired.

“Girl about time we get around to taking this beach trip they're going to owe me five weeks of PTO. And no, I'm thinking about maybe using only ten days or so. I mean as much as I love the beach, after ten days you're going to start running out of things to do. And trust me, you're going to get bored of looking at the sand and gulf. But knowing you, when you leave Orange Beach, you'll have the local's talking about you till we come back around next year.”

“But hey! You gotta take that stuff with food, and so let's eat! I'm starving!”

The End of a very important chapter in my life.