The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 9 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Kelly helps her cousin Tom in his changed world.

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

Chapter 20

Tom went into the kitchen and found his mother working on dinner. He watched as she put down the knife she was using to cut up some potatoes, and leaned over the counter and started to sob.

Tom went to her and said, "Mom?"

Jessica jumped, "ohhh… Tom… I didn't realize you were there."

"What's wrong, Mom?"

Jessica hesitated and said, "Nothing."

"Mom?"

Just then the front door opened, slammed, and Bob Merrick shouted, "Jessica!"

He came into the kitchen, and said, "What the hell happened today? I got a call from Reverend Triphard; how dare you defy him. He told me that you, Tom and Billy had turned your back on God."

Jessica said, "Triphard assaulted Billy; he threatened him, told him he was going to burn in hell, and shook him and hit him. I'm not going to stand by and watch anyone hurt Tom or Billy, not even Triphard!"

"Reverend Triphard is the voice of God, if he told Billy he was going to hell, than it was to save him. You're a woman; don't interfere in men's business."

"No Bob. I've played the dutiful wife for 16 years, I've deferred to you since before we married and became a good wife as per Reverend Triphard's teaching, but no more. I will not let him harm my children!"

"Woman, I am the man of this house, and you will do as I say. Now tomorrow you will send a formal apology to the Reverend, begging for his forgiveness."

"No Bob, I will not," Jessica replied, her voice taking on an edge.

"Dad, I was there, he was out of control. Mom was right!"

"Don't you start with me Tom, I heard all about you too. You went off into the woods with that faggot cousin of yours and I don't know what kind of bullshit he pulled over you, but you are going to come back to God."

"I went in the woods to find my brother, and it was Kelly's skill that found Billy and Emily, not mine. She knew the woods; she knew how to find the tracks they left."

"His name is Jason; he is a faggot boy, not a 'she.' You know that he is an abomination to God, what is wrong with you!"

"Nothing is wrong with me, Dad. I've just seen the light. Reverend Triphard is wrong and so are you and so was I to follow him."

"Look what you've done, Woman. Our sons have rejected God and are going to burn in hell. This is all your fault!"

"Bob, neither Tom or I have rejected God, we have rejected Reverend Triphard. Believe it or not they are not one and the same, though having listened to his teachings for all of these years; I can understand why you seem to think they are!"

"Dad…"

"You stay out of this!" His father snapped at him in anger.

"Tom, go check on Billy," his mother said.

Tom shook his head and went upstairs to Billy's room. Billy was curled up on his bed. Tom went over to him and asked, "Are you ok, Billy?"

"Mom and Dad are fighting aren't they?"

"Yes, they are."

"Because of what I did today?"

"No. Because of what Reverend Triphard did today, it's not your fault Billy."

They sat in silence; the only sound was that of the rising argument coming from the kitchen. They could not make out what was being said, but it was clearly not going well.

They both jumped as a crash, followed by a door being slammed and then the sound of a car starting and rushing off. A few moments later the door opened, and their mother came into the room, with two duffle bags. She handed one to Tom and said, "Tom, please go pack some clothes for the next few days into this. Don't forget your toothbrush."

She then proceeded to start to pack the second bag with Billy's things.

"What's going on, Mom?" Tom asked.

"We are going to spend a few days at my parent's house, till your father and I can work out this situation," she said.

Tom's stomach turned at the thought, but he shook his head, and headed into his room to pack.

Chapter 21

Kelly's mother hung up the phone. She came back to the dinner table and said, "Jessica and the boys are at your parent's house. Bob blew a gasket when he came home; apparently he took Triphard's side."

Kelly and Meghan both looked at her with disbelief.

Kelly's father said, "That figures, I should have seen that coming. Are Jessica and the boys alright?"

"Yes. They are understandably upset of course, but overall they are ok. It's been quite a day for them. Mom said that she and Jessica had a long talk. When Triphard slapped Billy, it was like a veil being lifted from her. She can't believe she allowed herself to subjugate herself to Bob and Triphard all these years. She is feeling like an idiot."

"What about Tom? He stood up to Triphard today, but he has never known anything else."

"Mom said he has been pretty quiet. Dad tried to talk to him, but did not get much out of him, I suspect he is feeling pretty conflicted at the moment."

Kelly asked, "What about Billy?"

His mother smiled, and said, "He seems to be ok. A little concerned because he thinks he caused all of this, but both his mother and Tom have assured him that it was not his fault. He was pretty happy to see Grandma and Grandpa though."

Kelly exhaled a sigh of relief that Billy was ok. Meghan gave Kelly's hand a gentle squeeze.

His mother then went on, "We will see them tomorrow morning at church; they are going to meet with Minister Goodman again after the services, then we are invited to join them for a barbeque at Grandma's house. Sally and Emily will be there too; you can invite Julie if you want. Meghan, you're welcome to invite Cliff. We can pick him up after we pick you up from your church."

Kelly and Meghan both said they would make the calls after dinner.

"Hey Jules, what a day, huh?" Kelly asked, after Julie answered her phone.

"Excitement just follows you around Kelly. Is Emily ok?"

"Oh yeah, she's fine, just a bad sprain. Aunt Jessica, Tom and Billy are staying with my grandparents for a while though. My Uncle Bob was really upset about what happened and that they argued with Triphard."

"That's crazy. He was out of control."

"I know, but that is the way Uncle Bob is. Anyway, after church tomorrow we are going to a picnic at Grandma's house, you are invited as well. Can you come?"

"I don't see why not; let me check with Mom."

The phone was silent for a few moments as Julie went to check with her mother. When she came back she said, "No problem. I'll see you after church then?"

"Yup. We will pick you up."

"See you then."

The next day at church, Kelly sat in the pew with Tom on one side and Billy on the other side. She listened intently as Minister Goodman led the congregation through the services. The sermon focused on God's love for all of his children.

Kelly watched Tom carefully; at points she could see confusion and at times, pain in his expression. She reached out and gently touched his hand and asked, "Are you ok, Tom?"

Tom looked at her, and said, "I don't know, Kelly. This is so different from everything I have been taught and believed. How can it be so different, both of them are working from the same Bible? Yet, Minister Goodman's God is one of love and acceptance, and Reverend Triphard's God is hard, cold, demanding and vengeful? I don't understand. I don't know what to believe any more."

"I'm sorry, Tom. I wish I had answers for you, but you will have to look into your own heart and soul to find those answers. Give it time; I'm sure you will find what is right for you."

After the sermon, Jessica, Tom and Billy stayed to meet with Minister Goodman. Kelly and her family went to pick up Meghan, who went to a different church nearby, and then to get Julie and Cliff.

When Kelly, her family and friends arrived at her grandparent's house, Sally and Emily were already there. Kelly gave Emily a hug and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"It hurts a little bit, and walking with the crutch is a pain!"

"Tell me about it!" Kelly replied with sympathy.

Jessica, Tom and Billy returned from their meeting with Minister Goodman shortly thereafter. They went and got changed, and then joined the party in the back yard.

Billy and Emily started to play one of their multi-player DS games, so Kelly felt comfortable leaving them to their own devices and joined the teenage crowd.

Tom said, "Anyone want to toss a Frisbee or something? I need to do something active."

Cliff said, "Sure, I'm game… Girls?"

Kelly said, "I'm in."

Meghan and Julie quickly agreed. Tom went and grabbed one from his mother's car. At first they simply tossed it around, basically in a circle. Cliff and Tom got a bit bored with that eventually, they started to make each other have to run and make diving catches. Then they lined up next to each other and would jockey and fight for the Frisbee when it was sent toward either of them.

Then on one particularly tricky throw from Julie, Cliff and Tom were pushing and shoving around each other to get it, when Kelly shot on through the two of them jumped up, and grabbed it before either of them could get it. She tucked it under her arm, turned her back on the boys, and blew on her fingernails, than she tossed the Frisbee over to Meghan.

Cliff and Tom stood there with wide-open mouths, while Julie and Meghan broke out in laughter. It took a minute, but Cliff soon joined in the laughter, then Tom did too.

When they got their composure back, Tom said, "Ok… we get the point. Kelly, you always were good at Ultimate Frisbee."

A short while later, the game was interrupted so that they could help set out the food for the picnic. Jessica watched as the teens made themselves plates and joked to Kelly's mom, "I can see one major advantage you have now with Kelly, Kristine. You don't have to feed a teenage boy!"

Kristine laughed, "True enough Jessica, but I do have to clothe a teenage girl, I'm not sure that it quite works out."

"No, I suppose not," Jessica acknowledged.

The teens took their plates over to one of the tables her grandparents had set up in the back yard and sat together.

Cliff asked, "So Meghan, school is almost over for the summer, what are your plans?"

"Well, once school is out, I'm going to join up with my parents at my grandmother's for the summer. Daddy is doing whatever he can right now; Gram got him a job at the local supermarket, she is good friends with the owner's wife. Doesn't pay much, but it is more than unemployment."

"I guess I won't see you much over the summer then," Cliff said.

"It's not really that far away. I'm sure we can get together occasionally. Kelly and her family are heading up to their lake house right after school lets out, so I had to decide between going with them and joining up with my parents. As much as I would have enjoyed the lake house, I really miss my parents."

Tom looked down at his plate and said, "The lake house. It's hard to believe it's almost a year already. I'm sorry for what I put you through this year, Kelly."

Kelly reached over to Tom and grabbed his hand and said, "Tom, I can't deny that it hurt me deeply and in many ways this has been a tough year. But it has also been a good year, and frankly Tom, if you had not done what you did, I'd still be Jason as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Mom and Dad would never have allowed me to begin a full time transition at school had it not been public knowledge already. Things happen for a reason. As much as it hurt before, that you are accepting me now, just means so much more. So let's agree to put it behind us, and start fresh."

Tom gave Kelly's hand a quick squeeze and said, "Thanks…"

Chapter 22

Erika, the group leader, called for the girl's attention, "Ok, everyone settle down and let's get started."

It took a moment or two, but the girls quieted down and took their seats in the circle. Once she had their attention, she asked "Does anyone have anything bothering you that you need the group's help with?"

No one spoke up.

"Ok, great. Then let's start with a bit of housekeeping. Summer is coming up, how many of you know what your summer plans are? We need to determine if we will have enough of you to justify having sessions for the summer months?"

Most of the girls raised their hands. Erika called on them in turn.

Deb said, "We are going away in late August for a week, but will be here most of the summer."

Samantha replied, "My Dad is in construction, this is his busy time of the year, we never go away in the summer."

Joan said, "Mom and Dad are looking at planning a few day trips this summer, trying to keep costs down. The economy being what it is, they don't want to spend a lot of money on a trip this year."

Kelly said, "We will be away for the first couple of weeks of July. We always go up to our lake house. In fact, since you brought it up, we always celebrate my birthday up there, and Mom and Dad said I could invite you all to come up for the day. We have a boat; we swim in the lake, lots of stuff to do."

Deb said, "Sounds like your own little summer camp."

Kelly laughed, and said, "I guess, I never really thought of it that way."

Samantha sighed, "To bad it isn't summer camp. I used to love going to camp in the summer, but I can't go to one as Samantha, and I'm not going to spend the summer as a boy ever again."

Deb said, "Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey Erika, you should start a summer camp for Transgendered Teens. They have camps for all kinds of other special needs kids; not that I'm complaining, mind you, those camps are necessary! But it would be great to have a place that catered to us too."

Erika got a distant look on her face and smiled, "Yeah, I remember my own experiences at camp… as life changing as they were," then she shook her head with a smile and said, "Somehow, I doubt I could convince the board to invest in something like that. Not a terrible idea; though a TG Summer Camp sounds like a story you might read about on the web."

They all laughed at the thought.

Joan asked, "I don't have a bathing suit for Joan, I don't know that Mom would let me have one. Would it be ok if I came as Jimmy?"

Kelly said, "Of course it would."

Erika said, "Well, that sounds like fun for you all. I'm actually a bit envious, I guess the sleep over at Kelly's must have gone well. It was the weekend after our last meeting right? Three weeks ago, now?"

All of the girls chimed in with their agreement.

Erika said to Joan, "Joan, you clearly enjoyed it, how did your Mom handle it?"

Joan said, "Well at first she wasn't going to allow it, then she decided it was an extension of the group, so she did. She even had to buy me some girl's pajama's for the night. Then she was nervous when she found out that Kelly's friends, as Mom said, 'real girls' were also going to be there and spending the night. She spoke with Mrs. Anderson though and was assured that there was going to be heavy chaperonage to make sure nothing inappropriate occurred, and she gave in. I think she was in shock when she picked me up. We all had makeovers the night before, and with Kathy and Deb's help, we had recreated much of what Michele had done. So I looked a whole lot more like a girl then I had ever done before. She was a bit concerned at first, that I would not be able to hide what had been done, but once we took out the extensions, brushed out the changes and washed off the makeup, she calmed down about it."

Kelly said, "Mom told me that before she came downstairs to gather you, she had warned her that we had done the makeovers the night before, that while the changes looked amazing, she was going to find it hard to believe that nothing permanent had been done."

"Yeah, Mom told me that your Mom had warned her, and it was a good thing, or I think she would have gone ballistic right there. The ride home she kept looking me with a kind of sad look; I think it was a look of surrender to the inevitable. I think she finally saw the girl in me and realized this is not a phase. As I said, when we got home she made me change, shower etc. Even when she could see that no one was going to see what had been done, I don't think she can forget what she saw."

Erika asked, "How have things been between you and your Mom since?"

"Pretty good actually. In fact, the next weekend Dad was out of town for work, and Friday night she rented While You Were Sleeping. She let me wear my new pajamas. We ate ice cream from the container and I think we went through a whole box of tissues."

The girls chuckled at that.

"After the movie, she and I had a pretty good talk. She admitted that it was not easy for her to see me like this. She feels like her son is dying before her eyes, that she can't do anything to stop it and that is really hard. Yet she also sees this part of me growing before her, dying to come out. She said she overheard what I said to you Kelly, as I was leaving your sleepover. "That I had never felt so alive" and it just shook her to her core. Anyway it was a good talk; I think we went through another box of tissues…"

Deb said, "I think we are going to go through a box here as well," as she passed the tissues to Samantha, and they continued around the circle.

"The next day, Dad was still out of town. Since it was a Saturday and no school, she let me have Joan clothes, and I helped her out around the house. We pretty much spent the weekend together as Mother and daughter; it was nice. Monday I had to go to school of course, so I figured it was done. When I got home, imagine my surprise when I found my new pajamas and the few under things I own, neatly folded in my underwear drawer, and the couple of outfits I have for group meetings hanging up in my closet. Mom came in and told me she was not going to lock them up anymore, but that I had to be careful not to let my father see me, at least until we have told him. He has not met with my individual therapist yet, but we are going to arrange for him to come with us to a session, in the next couple of weeks, and tell him there."

Erika asked, "How do you think he is going to react?"

"I don't really know. Mom says that he loves me and I don't really doubt that, but as hard as it is for her, it will be even harder for him. He was so happy when I was born a boy and he loves doing the 'guy' things with me. I don't really want to disappoint him and I actually enjoy a lot of those things, so I am hoping that we won't lose that. But then I think about Carol…"

Samantha asked, "Speaking of Carol, has anyone spoken with her recently? I'm surprised she isn't here."

Deb's face clouded over and she said, "I spoke to her yesterday. She won't be coming back. The judge handed down his decision yesterday. He rejected the advice of Carol's doctors, in favor of the doctor's the father hired, those idiots that Firefly had on their show about you, Kelly. He accepted their testimony that said that the treatment of acceptance was harmful, and that negative reinforcement methodology was in her best interests. As such, he ordered that she be given into her father's custody, and that her mother was only allowed supervised visitation. Her participation in the TransTeen support group has been explicitly prohibited."

The others all gasped, and expressed their outrage. They looked at Erika and said, "Is that true?"

Erika said, "I normally can't comment on a patient, but since Carol gave that information to Deb and permission for her to pass it on, I will confirm that it is unfortunately true."

Kelly said, "How did she sound, Deb?"

"Despondent. She couldn't talk for long; she snuck a call to me from her cell phone while she was waiting to leave with her father and had to hang up when her dad came back into the room. They did not even let her go home with her mother last night."

Samantha asked, "What did he say about Carol's father's getting drunk and attacking him physically?"

Deb said, "He said there was no evidence that her father had ever done anything violent and that he believed that Carol and her mother made that up in order to slander the father. In fact he told them if he heard anything further on the subject he would have charges of slander drawn up on them."

Kelly said, "Unbelievable."

The rest of the session was somewhat subdued, as each of the girls thought about their friend. Deb had warned them that they should not call Carol. Carol would find a way to keep in touch, probably via I/M and chat, since her father was a complete computer neophyte.

As had become their nightly ritual, Kelly and Meghan were sitting together in their nightgowns and robes, recapping the events of the day.

Meghan said, "I'm going to miss my nightly gab session with my big 'sister' when I go meet up with my parents at my Grandma's house."

Kelly said, "Me too. You are going to come up to the lake house for my birthday aren't you? All the other girls will be there…" and then with a frown she added, "except Carol."

"I think so. I'm not sure about the transportation yet, but we will work something out. Mom may drop me off at Kathy's the night before, and then I can come up with Kathy and Sue. What that judge did is such a crime. Isn't there anything that they can do? Can't they appeal?"

"Mom told me that they talked about it in the parent's session too, because Deb's mom brought it up in there. A couple of the parents there are lawyers, and they said it is really hard to appeal a custody decision, not impossible, but it is not something that can be done easily."

Meghan just shook her head in disgust.

"I hope that it does not have a chilling effect on the progress Joan has made though. She was really quiet after Deb told us about Carol. She and her mom were planning on telling her father soon, and I hope that this doesn't postpone that."

They sat there quietly for a while.

Kelly shook it off and said, "So… how are things going with Cliff?"

Meghan blushed, "Very well, thank you. He had fun at your grandparent's the other night. He said he had really wanted to hate Tom for what he had done to you, but that Tom was contrite, and if you didn't hate him, how could he. They actually got on fairly well."

Meghan then looked thoughtful and said, "Did you know his older brother is gay?"

Kelly shook her head, no.

"It infuriated him what Tom's church was doing to you. That night what Randell and his mother said, well that pushed him to say something to you. He said he had always been too shy to speak to a girl. Of course, when you and I ganged up on him to get him to ask me out, he didn't stand a chance," Meghan added, with a conspiratorial grin.

Kelly gave her one right back.

"Anyway, thanks for your help, big sis."

"Hey what is a big sister for, if not to butt into their little sister's love life?"

Kelly's mother came in and said, "Alright girls, it’s a school night, time for bed."