Mother gave the matron a glare which could have melted steel before she turned back to me once again asking gently, ‘What is your name, child?’

I drew myself up in as defiant a little pile of cloth, tears and hope as a six year old could be and answered, ‘My name is Cynthia, ma’am.’

I knew we had found our new parents when Mother turned to the matron and said, ‘If Cynthia will have us as her parents then we would like to have her as our daughter.’

Just as I was about to argue with her and say that I wouldn’t leave my brother, she moved to him and asked for his name.

He very shyly answered, ‘Richard — oh — ma’am.’ As I prompted him.

Mother again turned to the matron and said ‘we will take him also.’

She never blinked, never stuttered. To her I was the girl and Richard was the boy. Our Father and our Mother treated us that way the rest of their lives.

Five years later they brought home our younger sister and brother.

We were raised as we needed to be, Father and Mother provided us with the love we badly needed, which others had not.”

“Not exactly the story I expected, but still not what I can print without some careful editing.”

“Then I suppose you must print that which everyone else has printed.”

“I was hoping for something different.”

“Our mother and father were loving parents. Neither of them could have children and we, my brother, myself and our two younger siblings were very fortunate to have had them as our parents. You must remember that at the time when we were adopted, there still remained a great social stigma concerning children who had deformities such as ours. No one wanted, nor cared about us. We were too controversial. Mother and Father were probably amoung the first who saw it as an opportunity rather than a detriment. We could not have had a more loving home.”

“Then why did your father kill himself?”

“It is rather difficult to kill oneself by shooting yourself in the back and then twice in the back of the head to be certain you accomplished the task, isn’t it? Especially when you have been partially incapacitated by a heart attack years before. I mean, father was an exceptional spy, as was mother, but even he had certain limits being only human.”

“Are you saying the coroner’s report was wrong?”

“No. Just modified to fit certain needs. The family has photos which were taken by the coroner during the autopsy showing the wounds. We have never disputed the claims since it would have damaged both our National and our International Relations at the time.”

“And now it won’t?”

“Now it no longer matters.”

“Then the six months that everyone reported your mother had gone into seclusion...”

“She went hunting.”

“I see.”

“Do you?”

“She went after his killers.”

“Oh, she did that all right. He was her first and only love. Killing him was like taking a stick and prodding a mother bear after beating her cub.”

“She found the one responsible.”

“All of them.”

“All?”

“There were six. The actual killer, the two traitors in our own government and the two from the other governments.”

“You said six. That’s only five.”

“Did I? I suppose I could have misspoken.”

“You could have, but I doubt you did. The last one wasn’t in government was he?”

“Let’s just say there was one individual who never could let go of something he wanted even when he could never have it.”

A light dawns and the reporter adds quietly, “So that yacht explosion was not a fueling accident.”

“Do you know how difficult it is for a diesel powered yacht to blow up due to a fueling accident? And to do so quite so completely that the largest piece remaining is smaller than the size of a baseball? Out at sea no less.”

“So cover ups are still happening.”

“It would seem so.”

“But your mother came back.”

“She had to. She had two teenage children to finish raising and two very young adults to guide through University.”

The reporter nods, “And it would seem she did an excellent job of it.”

“She did her best.”

“How long did she live after...”

“After father died? She died almost immediately. Her body lived for another ten years so she could care for us and make us into the successes we are.”

“So she finally gave up?”

“Yes and no. Mother still lives with us. Part of the year she spends here with me and part of the year with my brother in Paris. She always liked Paris.”

“But I thought you said her body gave up?”

“I did.”

“So how could she still live?”

“Her mind has never given up. She is one of the first human- computer transplants. She should be calling me soon. It’s almost four and she always calls at four. Ever since father died she has been quite punctual. They tried to kill her last year you know.”

“Really? That would seem to be so easy to accomplish. Just unplug her computer.”

Cynthia’s laughter chimes through the sitting room, “If she were in just one computer, I suppose. Mother has ever been quite practical. She is in the computers of the three governments which were involved in killing her husband. She is also in a number of secluded backups so she will go on. It’s a bit ironic isn’t it?”

“How’s that?”

“They attempted to eliminate her, so she eliminated them.”

“She killed those who would have killed her.”

“Oh, nothing so mundane. She eliminated the governments themselves and thus the jobs of those who tried. Now she controls those countries and she sees to it that those who plotted against her and who killed her husband receive just enough assistance to live, but not comfortably, and not in any capacity to accomplish anything except brood over their fate. She has not yet completed her vengeance. Besides, she has too many children out there now to just give up. A little thing like physical death isn’t going to stop her from helping those she cares about.

After all... She was born ‘male’, so to speak, at a time when intersexed and transgendered children like many others were considered to be either a plague or an affront to God. She went through years of hell right here on Earth as she became a woman, and a very good one I might add. Once she embraced being a woman, she married her love and raised a family as she set out to right the wrongs others had placed upon her. She did so in a way that not only righted those wrongs that she had encountered but which others were also encountering...”

“She became an outspoken advocate for all the transgendered.”

“Oh yes. And much more. She forced changes. By the time she and father had finished their years as spies, they knew where all the skeletons were buried in most of the countries of the world and had proof. Killing father was the biggest mistake those in power ever made.”

“So her vengeance is complete?”

“Almost.”

“Almost? Who else is left?”

“Not who... What. The one biggest affront to God the world has ever known...”

Poster’s Note: