Chapter 31: Sarah

It had been a couple of weeks since Bob had asked all of us to keep an eye on Dave, and I hadn't seen him since except in passing. The first weekend he was working, and then last weekend he said he had to go talk to one of his old professors. I guess that's good, it means that he spent all of that time as Dave, not Sissy.

Today, I was babysitting, real babies too. Mrs. Parks had set up several appointments she needed for one day and I had agreed to watch her twins while she was doing them. She dropped them off and after a tearful departure I set about entertaining them. Everything was fine, until Mrs. Simmons called, her mother had been in a car accident and she wanted to know if I could watch her daughter.

I hesitated, but agreed, then I called Dave for backup. He said he wasn't busy and would be over in few minutes. That would be a great help, watching two was okay. Three was more than I wanted to handle by myself. Dave arrived just as Mrs. Simmons was leaving.

Dave asked, "What was her hurry?"

"Her mother was in a car accident."

"Oh. Where are the twins? I haven't seen them in months."

I laughed and sent him into the living room. Something was odd, but little Becky started to cry, so I put it out of my mind. Once I had her calmed down I looked in on the three of them and Dave was suitably entertaining them.

I kept an eye on Becky which was easy enough at her age, while Dave watched the twins. Finally Dave called for me, and I walked down to where they were and realized why he called for me. "So what do you need?"

"This, one," he said pointing at one of the twins, "is in need of a clean diaper. I didn't check the other though."

"So why didn't you bring him down to me?"

"Picking up and carrying one of them while they are asleep is one thing. Picking one up while he is squirming around, is more than I want to try."

I grabbed the one with a dirty diaper and asked if he was Jacob. He nodded and I carried him off. I changed him and returned to where Dave and Jason were.

Dave looked up at me, "Here I'll trade you one dirty baby for one clean baby."

I sighed and we swapped. With both of them clean, Dave continued playing with them. It was their naptime by the time Mrs. Simmons returned. Dave answered the door.

"Hello Mrs. Simmons," I heard Dave say when he let her in.

"Hello honey, is Sarah watching you too?" I could almost see Dave rolling his eyes at that.

"No, she asked me to come over to give her a hand."

"Well that was certainly nice of you sweety, but shouldn't you be at school."

I was changing Becky's diaper and hoped to finish, before Dave got too upset. I hurried through the change and was just finished as I heard Dave say. "No, I'm older than I look."

"You can't have finished school already. You're what twelve, thirteen years old?"

I was coming down the hallway and called out before Dave could answer, "You haven't met Dave yet have you Barb?"

Her head swiveled from turning towards me to turning back to Dave. There was a pause, before she said, "I'm so sorry Dave. It's just that you look so much like a little girl. That I just assumed that... I'm sorry. It's nice to meet you."

Dave reached out to shake her hand and said. "It's nice to meet you too. Don't worry about that, it happens all of the time. I, ah, hope that your mother is okay."

I noticed that he said that last phrase a bit like he didn't know what he was saying. I wondered about that for a moment, before Barb spoke up, "She's fine. She was just shaken up. The doctors said she would be all right, she just needed to rest a bit. I took her home. There's my little girl."

I handed her Becky as she reached out for her. Becky gurgled a little and reached out for her mother. I looked over at Dave, he had went and sat down on the couch, and was looking a little depressed.

I helped her get Becky ready to go out in the cold, then said bye as she headed home. Then I turned to Dave, he was slumped on the couch. I went and sat next to him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He turned towards me, I could see his eyes glistening with tears. "No. I just wish..."

"What? What do you wish?"

"I wish that once, I could meet someone and have them realize that I am an adult. Oh well."

I put my hand on his back and rubbed it. I realized that was much more of a way that you would comfort a child than an adult, but I couldn't really figure out a way to stop. Finally he just lay down, I'm going to take a nap, wake me when the twins get up."

I patted him on the back one last time, and went to do some paperwork. I didn't get much done, I sat there thinking about Dave. I had no idea of how to get people to see him as an adult. Physically he looked like a preteen kid, and I doubt he'll ever be able to grow a mustache or beard.

I'm not sure how long I sat there, but eventually I heard one of the twins stirring. I went and woke up Dave first and then checked on Jacob and Jason. Their diapers were wet so I changed them and then led them back to Dave. He looked a bit happier with the twins, but I could still see he was a little upset.

Dave helped me feed them and even change them. By the time that Mrs. Parks returned to pick them up, Dave seemed back to normal. Again Dave answered the door, but this time the conversation went a little different.

"Hi Dave, what are you doing here?"

"Hi, I came over to help Sarah. Is everything okay?" That last part again sounded a bit wrong.

"Everything is fine. How were the boys?"

"They were fine. I played with them, so Sarah didn't have to watch them."

I walked up just then, with the twins toddling along behind me. They sped past me screaming 'Mommy.' I let them by and Susan knelt down and hugged them. "So why did you need help, are they getting to be too much for you?"

"No, I just had another one to watch. An emergency. So I called Dave for a little help." I reached over and patted him on the shoulder. "I just finished changing them into clean diapers, so they should be fine for a while."

Between the three of us, we got the twins bundled up and I helped her carry them out to her car. With them buckled into their car seats she said she wanted to thank Dave. I shrugged and we walked back to my door.

Dave was standing by the door, when she gave him a hug and patted his behind. "I think you've got one more diaper to change." She looked right at Dave and said, "I told you that I could spot someone in a diaper in my sleep."

Dave blushed, and she went back to her car. Dave and I went back into my house and I picked him up. "You should have said something, you'll get a rash."

He blushed even deeper and mumbled, "I thought it would be kind of funny. Then I didn't want to bother you."

"Don't worry about it." I set him down, took off his shoes and pulled off his pants. His diaper was soaked. I put him on the changing table and changed him into a clean diaper.

With him all clean and fresh, I carried him out into the living room. "Dave, we need to talk."

He looked up at me, "About what?" He seemed to be near tears.

"A couple things. First, when you asked Mrs. Simmons about her mother you sounded a little strange."

"I didn't say anything wrong, did I?" He exclaimed, sounding a bit distressed.

"No, but you sounded odd. Did you really mean what you said?"

He looked down at his feet and started dragging one foot in a circle. "Not really, I don't know her mother. And, well it doesn't really affect me. But isn't that what people say to each other?"

"Yes it is, but usually they mean it when they say it. Why did you say it?"

"Well, you said her mother had been in an accident, so I figured that I should at least look like I cared about what had happened. Did I do something wrong?" Again he looked like he was going to cry.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. You did something right, but have you ever asked anyone that before?"

"Once or twice, but it always felt kind of wrong." His looked back up at me. "I don't know why it feels that way though?"

"That I think I can help you with. I think that it feels wrong because in a way you are lying. It's not a bad lie, actually a lot of people lie that way. People express sympathy they don't really mean. They don't want bad things to happen, they just don't really care either."

We continued talking about why people express sympathy they don't mean, and why they lie. What kind of lies are considered okay, and what kind are wrong. I found out that Dave had lied quite a bit as a child, but it had been a defense mechanism. His father would hit him if he thought he was being a wimp, so Dave lied about running from bullies, being beaten up, or other things like that. That nearly brought me to tears.

Finally I got around to the second thing I wanted to talk to Dave about. "Dave, I wish I could help you look more like an adult. Maybe if you had a man's haircut."

He started laughing at that. "I tried that once. It was right when I started school. All women did was ask me why a pretty little girl like me had a boys haircut. I'll never be accepted right off as an adult. I'm used to it."

"Are you sure? You didn't look too happy about it this morning."

"I'll never be happy about it, but I am resigned to it. Just do one thing for me." He looked back up at me with his eyes wide.

"What Dave?"

"Be there to hug me when it gets to be too much." He had a look on his face that made me think that he would be broken if I said no, not that I was going to.

"Dave, I'll always be here to hug you, or to give you a shoulder to cry on. That's one of things I promised when I said I'd be your 'mommy.' But you can always ask Bob, or Joe, or Judy, or even Ashley. Probably Mrs. Parks too. The nurses at the hospital, even Steve Wildler. I think any of them would be willing to give you the support you need."

"Yeah, I guess they would." He paused for a moment. "Steve, that reminds me, I've got to get him back."

"What? Did he do something else to you?"

"No, er yes. I mean sort of. He was the one that left me those presents for Christmas. The game was from a bunch of the Sheriffs Deputies, sort of an apology for pulling me over all of the time. But he must of gotten me the book and the necklace."

"How did you figure this out?"

"One of them pulled me over the other day, and asked me if I liked the game. I asked him what he was talking about and he explained it. I told him what happened from my perspective minus the necklace and argument. He laughed a bit, then said he would take it up with Steve. I told him not to, that I would deal with it myself. Now I just need to figure out what to do."

I was laughing, I would never have thought that Steve would have done that, but I had an idea, or at least some information for Dave. "His birthday is coming up. You could get him something."

"Yeah, but I need to get it into his house. He didn't give you an emergency key or anything did he?"

Steve had given me an emergency key, most of the people here did. Some of them stopped by once a week to use them too. "Yes, I have one. I probably shouldn't let you use it, but I think that Steve needs to be humbled a little. Any idea of what you're going to get him?"

"No, not yet, I've only had a moment to think about it, but I'll come up with something. I really need to go though. One of my ex-professors wants me to proof a textbook for him. I'm doing it twice. Once just proofing what he wrote and once rewriting it so it makes more sense. I'll give him both copies and he can choose."

He got up, put his coat on and gave me one last hug, then he was out the door.

Chapter 32: Dave

It had been a few days since I helped Sarah baby sit, and I was still trying to come up with something to get Steve. I didn't know him very well, and I really had no idea what he liked. I knew he had a lot of books, but not what kind. He enjoyed sports, but wasn't a fanatic.

Watching the History Channel one night, there was a commercial for Teddy Bears. Teddy Bears in costumes. I made a little mental note, and when the show ended I went on a web search. It took a while, there were quite a few sites out there sold Teddy Bears. I never found exactly what I was looking for, but there was a couple that took specialty orders. A few e-mails and now to wait for answers. I looked up at the clock and saw that it was late and Thor would be here bright and early.

I woke to the sound of rain pouring on my roof. Looking out the window I saw that not only was it raining, but sleeting and there was ice everywhere. I definitely wasn't walking anywhere today.

I continued to lay in my bed thinking that Thor was smart enough to realize that I wasn't going for a walk, when I heard a distinctive bark. I shook my head and ran down to my door. Pulling it open I saw a soaking wet Thor standing in the rain. "Thor stay."

I shut the door and ran to get a couple of towels. I pulled the door back open and called Thor into my house. I covered him with the towel and herded him into the bathtub so I could dry him off. The whole time I was talking to him and asking why he was out in the rain. Oddly enough he didn't answer.

Once he was dry or at least mostly dry, I called Bob and got no answer. Great it looks like I have a house guest, at least he doesn't scare me anymore. He kept going up to the door, like he wanted to leave and I kept telling him that he wasn't going back out into the rain.

Eventually he gave up and wandered all over my house, finally stopping and resting at my feet. I worked for a while, taking time out to pet him occasionally. It was a bit distracting having him there. I gave up working and cleared out a space to play with Thor. We wrestled and played tug of war with some old socks of mine. I lost.

Later that afternoon I got a call from Bob, "Dave have you seen my dog?"

"Can you describe him?" I was in a good mood after playing with Thor all day.

"Come on Dave, I'm cold, wet, and not really in the mood. And I don't really want to wander around looking for him."

"Sorry, he's over here and has been all day. He showed up in the pouring rain wanting to go for a walk. I got him inside and kept him all day. He's warm and dry. Do you want to come and get him, or should I just let him out?"

"I'll come and get him. If you let him loose he's likely to get here soaked. I'm going to shower then I'll come over."

"Okay. I've got some leftover spaghetti, if you're hungry?"

"Um, that would be great. See you soon."

I hung up and started getting things ready for dinner. I pulled out some garlic bread, the spaghetti, and some corn. I began heating it all up, hoping that Bob didn't take too long. Thor looked up at me as I moved around the kitchen. With everything already prepared it didn't take long, and then I was just waiting for Bob.

He showed up about twenty minutes later, with food for Thor. He still looked a little harried. "Hey, you sure you’re okay?" I asked once he was inside.

"I'm fine, it was just my day to walk the parking lots, and it was either raining or drizzling all day. I'm just tired. Thanks for dinner, I wasn't really up to cooking tonight."

"It's no problem. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be eating canned ravioli."

He laughed and we sat down to eat. I told him about Steve giving me the Santa presents, and my plans to repay him. He liked my idea of a Cop Bear and a Robber Bear. After we'd cleaned up the kitchen, we turned on ESPN and began talking sports. Just pro and college basketball going on now, with the hockey lock out.

When the commercial for the Teddy Bears came on, that reminded me of the e-mails I had sent out. We went down to check for replies. A couple had come back, but one place wanted over four times the price of their regular bears. I liked Steve, but not that much. I still had a few more places that hadn't responded yet though.

Bob took Thor home and I finally got some work done.

By the end of the week I had responses from all of the companies and ordered the two bears I wanted. It cost more than I had hoped for, but less than some of them wanted. The other company's just didn't seem reputable enough. I was hoping that they delivered them before his birthday.

Time began passing quickly, I was writing articles, trying to proofread the textbook for my former Professor, and still tutor Ashley. I spent more time tutoring Ashley at Sarah's that way Sarah got to see both of us and we got to play a little.

I found out that Steve would be not be working the day of his Birthday, but his parents were throwing him a party. I found that kind of curious, what did adults do at a Birthday Party. At least that would let me put the presents in his house while he was gone.

The bears arrived a few days before his Birthday and they looked great. On his Birthday, I kept an eye out for him to leave. After he did, I waited a while to see if he returned, when he hadn't I got his key from Sarah and put the bears on his couch. In the robber bears arms I put a card signed from 'Your Fairy Godparents.' It took me a while to decide how to sign it. There is no Santa for Birthdays.

As I was leaving his house I stopped to look at his collection of books. Something struck me as being odd. Besides the popular fiction, textbooks, westerns, and a collection of books on muscle cars, there were also a few old books on aircraft. That explained why he had included it, but I wondered where he gotten them.

I locked up and returned the key to Sarah, she wanted to know what I had gotten for him. I wouldn't tell her. That way if he asked she would be surprised. My covert gift giving over, I returned to my proofreading. English was definitely not this Professors first language. Math maybe, but not English.

The next several days were spent in nervous anticipation. Steve had to know who left the bears, he is a cop. He finally showed up the morning that we were supposed to go see the basketball game. "Hey Dave, I need to talk to you."

"You're still going to the game tonight aren't you?"

"Yeah, today's my day off. There's something else."

"Oh, what would that be?" I tried to say nonchalantly, I don't think I succeeded.

"It seems that someone got into my house and left two teddy bears for me." He stood over me a bit ominously.

I shrunk back a bit, "Ummm, why would someone do that?"

He looked down at me, and visibly relaxed and shrunk a little. "It was my Birthday, and apparently my 'Fairy Godparents' left them for me."

"Damn, I wish I had 'Fairy Godparents.' Are yours anything like Wanda and Cosmo?" I tried to keep a straight face, but I started laughing.

Steve also started to laugh, "So, why did you get me the bears?"

I settled down and we sat down, he was very relaxed and no longer threatening. I explained that it was a bit of payback, a bit of an apology, and just to be friendly. I asked him why he had never told me that he got me the Christmas presents.

His face reddened and he explained that he was about to before I threw him out and after that it would have seemed like he was sucking up or something. We spent a couple hours of talking, about a whole lot of nothing.

That evening the seven of us went out to dinner before the game. I had dressed as masculine as possible and made sure that I wasn't wearing earrings or my necklace. The hostess still thought that I was Ashley's sister. Steve almost burst out laughing, his sudden jerk made me think that someone elbowed him. Ashley reached over and gave me a squeeze and affirmed her query. I sighed, and settled in for the meal.

After dinner Sarah and Ashley went back to her house, and the remaining five of us went to the game. We met up with my friend Steve, he had gotten the tickets and we were sitting with him. I made introductions and he commented on the differences in me. I explained that my friends had a lot to do with it. He looked at them, and at me then said that they had done a good job.

We went in and watched the game, it was great. We won again. After the game, my friend asked us to join him in celebrating the victory, we declined. For the most part we had to be at work in the morning and he didn't. As I walked ahead with Judy, I turned to ask Bob a question. He, Joe, and both Steves had dropped back and were talking. I wondered what it was about, but figured that someone would tell me if I needed to know.

Outside when we split up, I shook my friends hand, probably more aggressively than I ever had, and he reached over and tousled my hair, something that used to annoy me. As I turned to leave, he grabbed me and told me that he was glad that I was better. He tried to help me, but had no idea how to.

I grabbed his shoulder and looked at him straight in the eye and told him that I knew that and he had helped. I also told him to give me a call sometime.