The Girl Most Likely To ... - Part 40
by Barbara Lynn Terry

Chapter 1 - Just a little talk at Naomi's place.

As they were sitting there, enjoying their repast, Ms. Wells, the Home's superintendent came in the house.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have received a notice. Rachel, you and your mother are being subpoenaed to court in Alameda County for the trial of Scott Derrick Watkins. You are to be there Monday morning, at nine o'clock. I'm sure your mother has received her notice, too."

"But, tomorrow is New Year's Eve."

"Yes, I know Rachel. Monday is the first business day of the new year. A person accused of a crime in this country is entitled to a fair, impartial and speedy trial by a jury of his or her peers. Is this your father?"

"Yes, Grandma Wells. This is his trial for almost killing my mother."

"Oh, my dear, I am so sorry to hear that. I hope everything works out." She went over and gave Rachel a hug, and Melanie too. "I have to go back to my office. You have a happy new year."

"You too, Grandma Wells." Ms. Wells left.

"Rach, I can take you and your mother. I just have to tell my supervisor that I have legal business in Alameda County."

"Thank you, sister Naomi. I don't know what I would have done, if I hadn't met you."

"We will talk more about that later, sister Rachel. Right now, let's finish our cake and drink our cocoa. Okay, now what is the matter? I don't hear any singing."

No sooner had Naomi said that, than Melanie started singing Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) made famous by Harry Belafonte. They sang it through once, and Rachel picked up on it, and started singing it the second time. When they finished the song, everybody shooed the imaginary black tarantula away from them. Then they all decided that since it was new year's, they would sing more carols. That was until Rachel started singing Boyfriend by Justin Bieber. Except she started it this way:

"If you were my boyfriend
I'd let you take me places
That I have never been..."

When she was through singing from the girl's point of view, everybody clapped.

"Thank you, thank you, I am here all week." Everybody giggled.

"Sis, where did you learn to sing like that?"

"From listening to my radio. My dad, he only likes country music, but I had a transistor, so I would listen to the rock station in Forest City. I practiced and practiced, until I had my voice just right."

"Rach, you have a wonderful singing voice."

"Thank you, Mel. That means a lot to me coming from one of my sisters." Both girls hugged. "If my dad would have heard me sing, he would have beat me until I bled. He doesn't understand why my voice is so high."

"Have you talked to Dr. Nita about it? Maybe you're what they call intersexed."

"Maybe. We will see."

"So, you're not a born female, I mean, body wise?"

"No, Mrs. Roberts, I was born a male, but I have had this inner feeling that my entire body was wrong somehow. I didn't quite understand it, until I was sent here."

"So, why didn't they send you to a boys home, instead?"

"Mrs. Roberts, I am five foot, four inches tall. I weigh one hundred and fourteen pounds soaking wet. My body is starting to get a girl's figure, my voice is high, my face is oval, and my hips swivel when I walk. How do you think the boys at a boys school would treat me?"

"I see your point. But what about showering. You don't take showers with the girls. Do you?"

"Yes, ma'am, every morning."

"And they are all right with you in the shower room with them?"

"Yes. They treat me just like any other girl. I am a girl, Mrs. Roberts, but I need to have a small birth defect removed, so I can be a whole girl."

"Mel, honey, what is going on here?"

"Mom, Rachel was sent here by the court as punishment for being a bully. We were expecting a foul tempered boy who thought he owned the world. But who we got was Rachel. Rachel is not a bully. She has been accepted as one of the girls by the whole house, and we even have become her friends. Since she has been here, she has shown us just how much of a girl she really is. This is no put on, mom. You just heard her sing. Can a boy have a singing voice that high?"

"Well, no, not that I know of."

"So, see, she couldn't go to a boys home. They would beat her up and abuse her. She has been through enough. Now she needs time to heal and time to work out her problems. We will be there to help her with that, too."

"Mom, even though Rachel will be home with her mother, I will be home with you and Janice will be with her mother, we are still residents of the Pine Meadows Home For Adolescent Girls. We are one for all and all for one. We follow one simple rule. Always be a lady. Rachel has shown us how much of a lady she really is."

"Well, I have never heard of things like this, until just now. It is really sweet of you girls to take Rachel in and be her friends. Rachel, talk to the doctor and let her know what is going on. Maybe you need to see what they call a geneticist. That is a biologist that specializes in the study of genes and can determine just how much of your genes are actually on the female side of the chart."

"I will talk to Dr. Nita about it right after the holidays are over. We will see what Dr. Nita says on Monday. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I am not going to let anything spoil that. My new year promises to be a good one. A few of us have our families back, and that has been the most wonderful Christmas present of all. Now, all we need to do, is live like families should."

"How old did you say you are, Rachel?"

"I'm thriteen, Mrs. Roberts. When I am old enough to leave here for good, I am going to make sure that I behave the way a lady is supposed to behave. I won't be refined, like from finishing school, and I won't be stuck up. But, I will be a lady."

"Thirteen, hey. Yes, thirteen, going on forty. You think like a grown up."

"Well, I never had any friends I could call true friends, until I came here. My sisters accepted me as I am. I can never repay that kindness, except to be a lady the way they have shown me I can be. Mrs. Roberts, when the judge asked my mother if she could change my name right there in court, I was steaming mad that my mother would turn on me like that.

"But then, I was driven up here by a nice lady who just happens to wear a badge. If it weren't for Naomi, I don't want to think of how my life would have turned out. See, Mrs. Roberts, the reason I was sent here is because I had bullied a trangender friend at the mall. I actually hit her. This girl here," she nodded toward Melanie, "said it was poetic justice to have a big tough boy in a girl's dress. Then Sharon got me inside because all I had on was a thin summer dress. From then on, my sisters accepted me in to their hearts. I have only been here nine days from the time I got here, to the time my mother wanted me back, and I was permitted on an extended home visit.

"There are a lot of things I need help with, and with my family, Renée's family, you and Melanie and Naomi, I will be able to work through my problems. I do need help Mrs. Roberts, and I accept that. So, what I need to do now, is concentrate on what I need help with, and get through it. Like this transition. Maybe the Fates were looking out for me, when Judge Reynolds sent me here to live as a girl."

"Destiny is a very strange thing, Rachel. We can leave our house in the morning, and end up in a lot of trouble in the evening. There are not set guarantees in life, Rachel, but we can make things work in our favor if we only give it a chance."

"Give what a chance, Mrs. Roberts?"

"Life, sweetie, life. All we have to do is be ourselves. Rachel, I am actually glad to have met you. You have given me another outlook on life. In fact, every now and then, we have to go back to the home to give them a report on how we thought we did, since we had been on our home visit. These constant trips back and forth will be until we are formally discharged from the home."

"Well, you certainly have impressed me. When I met you, I thought you were born a girl. I can see that you actually were. You are pretty as a girl."

"Thank you, Mrs. Roberts."

Rachel started to scratch on her chest. "Rachel, don't scratch, honey. It is impolite for one thing, and for another, the breast tissue is pushing out the skin and muscles underneath. Also, ladies don't scratch in public. When we are out, and we have an itch in a place that is private, then we make an excuse and go in the ladies room. We don't run, and we don't walk funny, either. We just take our time and go. I am so sorry that I had my doubts a bit ago, when I found out your were not born a girl in body. You are starting to develop breasts, and only girls can develop like that.

"I have heard of male breasts, but they don't last too long. Do you have any training bras, Rachel?"

"No, ma'am."

"Well, you need to get a few, because from now on, you will need a bra all the time, except at night. There are even bras you can wear at night too. But, our breasts need time to breathe, so we give them a break at night." Melanie and Rachel giggled.

There was a knock on the door. Melanie went to answer it.

"Hi Tom. What brings you here?"

"My car. I came to see Rachel."

"Rachel, it's for you sis. It's a boooooy." Rachel stuck her tongue out at Melanie.

"OMG! Tom! What are you doing here?"

"I went by the home, and they said you were here. I just wanted to stop in to tell you, that we are having a New Year's day celebration at my house. My dad says I can invite a few friends over. I thought about you and the girls at the home right away. Will you allow me the pleasure of picking you up, say around eleven in the morning on New Year's day?"

"Can my BGFF come, too?"

"Yes, Rachel, she can."

"Then, Mr. Thomas Bradley, it's a date." Tom Bradley gave Rachel a brotherly hug and a kiss on her cheek. Rachel blushed.

"It is a casual get together, so wear something comfortable."

"Never say that to a girl, Tom, we just might do that."

"Oh, yeah, I get it. My mom always says she is slipping in to something comfortable, and gets in to her nightgown and robe, with her bunny slippers."

"I will wear something appropriate, Tom. Would you like a cup of hot cocoa, and I think we still a couple of
pieces of cake left."

"I will be more than honored, ma'am, to accept your gacious invitation." Rachel giggled and went to get Tom Bradley's refreshments.

When she got in the kitchen she told her mother, Naomi and Ruth that Tom Bradley had just invited her and Renée to a New Year's get together at his house.

"So, I accepted. Mom, will you please help me take the cake and hot cocoa out for Tom?"

"Yes, dear." There was a wide smile across Ruth Watkins face, when she heard that her daughter had accepted an invitation from a boy for a date.

Rachel made the hot cocoa, and Ruth place a nice big chunk of cake on a saucer, with ice cream.

"There, that should fill your boyfriend up for about an hour." There were giggles from everyone in the kitchen.

"Mom, he is not my boyfriend. He is just a boy taking me out for a New Year's party at his house. His parents are chaperoning so there won't be any funny business. What I hear about Tom Bradley, is that he has dated many of the girls from the home, and everyone said he treats us with respect. I wouldn't mind him being my boyfriend though. You should see his muscles."

"Well, if I know my daughter, she could make him her boyfriend, without hardly trying."

"I know mom, but one step at a time. I just met him, and we have a formal date on Saturday. He is taking me the drive in, and then a late dinner at an all night burger place."

"You kids and your burgers and fries. You know dear, when I was your age, that is what we had when we hung out at White Tower. Sometimes we would invade George Webb's."

They took the cake and hot cocoa out to Tom. He sat there looking at Rachel.

"Tom, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well, I talked to Sharon the other day and I had asked her about you, but she said it wasn't her place. She said I had to talk to you. So I have to ask you. When I saw you at our trailer place, I noticed something. Is there, uhm, someplace we can talk private?"

Thomas Bradley, these are my sisters and I trust them with my life. If I excused myself to talk to you privately, then they would think I don't trust them. So, whatever it is, you can talk about it right here."

"Well, alright, I suppose. Are you a guy?"

"Tom, girls come in many sizes, ages, weights and even packages. If you think I am a guy, then why am I living at the home, when the home is for girls. I think you should rephrase your question."

"Alright, are you a male?"

"No, Tom. My body is male, but I am all female."

"I don't unerstand."

"It is simple Tom. Ever since I was very little I always wanted to be female. NO! WAIT! I needed to be female. I was born a female in this body for a reason, and I think I know why, now."

"Well, that that doesn't mean anything. I mean, are you going to have the surgery and everything to become female?"

"I am already female, Tom, it is just that this body needs a little correction."

"Somehow I get the feeling I am being hornsnookered. Well, anyway, is Rachel your real name?"

"Yes, Tom Bradley, it is."

"Well, I can see that you do live at the home, and that is for girls, so, I guess you are a girl."

"Thank you, Thomas Bradley," Rachel said as demure as she could, with a sly smile."

"You're welcome, Rachel."

As they all sat around talking, and Tom Bradley was still nibbling on his cake, Naomi came in and asked it anybody wanted lunch.

"Naomi," Melanie started, "I'm full from having the cake and hot cocoa. Thank you."

"You know, girls, the thing is that cake is good, but it is not really nutritious, even though there are eggs and milk in it. You have to have something more, to keep up your strength."

"You know, Naomi," Rachel added, "That we look up to you and Evie, because you are always there to make sure we are cared for. The best part about that is, you don't even have to be."

"Hold it right there, little sister! I do this because I care what happens to all of my sisters at the home. Rachel if I hadn't met you, I would still be a caring person. It is how I was raised, and there were those that looked after me, when I was a teen. I can't do any less, but look out for my sisters. My supervisors and the sheriff here understands that I am doing this.

"The sheriff even told me that it was about time someone was in the girls corner and cared enough about their welfare. He said part of my job is to be a big sister to all the girls at the home, when I told him you all made me an honorary sister. He said that was the best compliment the girls at the home could give.

"So, Melanie Marie Roberts and Rachel Eileen Watkins, it is lunch time. In fact, everybody can join us for lunch. Tom have you had enough?"

"My mom calls me her living garbage disposal." Everybody giggled. Carl Richards came in just then and heard what Tom Bradley had said.

"My wife calls me that, too, young man." The girls all giggled while Tom laughed. "Lunch sounds good, Naomi. What are we having?"

"Tomato soup, with unsalted top crackers, A luch meat sandwich if anybody wants one. Then we will have milk, hot cocoa for whoever wants some, and coffee. But girls, Tom, You have to have at least one glass of mik or hot cocoa before you can have a cup of coffee."

Everybody got up and went in the dining room. Since they were not at the home, but at Naomi's house, the gathering was small, and everybody just sat where they wanted. Renée said that she was fasting from lunch meat, but the soup sounded good. Naomi and Ruth put the soup in a large serving then in the middle of the table with the crackers on a plate under the serving bowl and around the bowl. Like you would see in a fancy restaurant.

Everybody just sat there, eating slowly, and talking.

"So, after lunch what does everybody want to do?"

"We could go in to town, and do a little shopping. I would have to stop at the home to get a little money from my account."

"Melanie, that won't be necessary," Naomi interjected. "I will take you all in to town, and we will do a little shopping. My treat. This way, Mel, your money will be for things you may want later. I understand the home pays you girls a healthy allowance."

"Yes, Naomi," Melanie answered back. "We have to do our chores, and we have to keep our rooms neat, and we help, but we don't have to, but we help the pre-teen girls with things, like their school work if they get stuck, and maybe take them in to town now and then, too. Our time off from school is actually filled with things we have to do."

"Melanie, Rachel and Janice will still be going to the school on the Home grounds, until summer break. Then next semester, all three are going to Pine Meadows Senior High School." Naomi stated. But for right now, they get to stay with their birth parent or parents. Renée can be sort of our liason between the Home and us. Mel, who would you trust more, Renée or the adults?"

"Naomi, I trust you, Evie, Jan, daddy, mom, Hazel, my mom, all my sisters, Tom here, Tommy Barker, and of course some of the people in town. I haven't met all the people in town, but the ones I have met, I trust."

"Well, I can see that being at the Home has taught you something."

"Naomi, every girl at the Home needs help with something. It is why I suggested that we move here to Pine Meadows County, so we could be near the Home, and help our sisters still there, with whatever they need help with, even if it is to talk, or listen, or both. The Home has taught us a very valuable lesson. They taught us patience, trust, love, friendship, sisterhood, good study habits. They taught us how to be ladies in every way. Naomi, the Pine Meadows Home For Adolescent Girls is the place I would want my daughter or transgendered child to be, if she needed help.

"It is like Rachel here. When we were told a boy was being sent to our house, and we were told why, we were ready to give to the poor schlub the business. But then, we got the surprise of a a lifetime. We didn't get that poor schlub of a bratty boy, who we got was Rachel. We took her in to our home and our hearts. She has been a girl for a very long time and she is only thirteen. When she got here, she let her hair down and hasn't put it up since. She has shown us just how much of a lady she is, and how much more she needs to go, yet.

"Rach, we will be there for whatever you need to learn about being a girl. So far, though, I see the only we need to help you with is makeup. But, until you are sixteen, they won't let you wear eye shadow. Eye liner is only used for special functions, and then the smokey eyed look is not permitted. We will teach you, sis, because that is what sisters are for."

"Thank you, Mel. Uhm, are you going to print your thesis out, or write it in long hand. I ask one simple question, and I get a history of the Home. That's great, Mel, thank you." It was then that Naomi's police radio sounded.

"Squad 364."

"Squad 364, go."

"Squad 364, a 417 at the truck stop. I'm sorry Naomi, but your special talents are needed. The state police are on scene, but they don't want to discharge their firearms with all of the patrons in the restaurant, and the man seems troubled by something according to state trooper James O'Donnell."

"Squad 364, en route."

"Ten four, Squad 364."

"Sorry Tom, ladies, I have to go. I may be late in getting back." The girls, their moms, and even Tom gave Naomi a hug and told her to be safe. Naomi then left for the truck stop.