Easy As Falling Off A Bike pt 2088

The Daily Dormouse. (Est. 2007.)
(aka Bike)
Part 2088
by Angharad

Copyright © 2013 Angharad
All Rights Reserved.
  
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I was sitting on the bed sniffing when Cindy knocked and entered my room. “I heard you were upset, I brought you up a cup of tea. My mum always says a cuppa cheers you up.

Part of me felt grateful, a cuppa would be nice just now; part of me felt this was verging on intrusion. She wasn’t one of my family, just a guest and I was having a very private moment.

“Who told you I was upset?” I asked trying not to sound as if it was an aggressive question.

“Jacquie, I think. She said Trish had hurt herself and it had worried you.”

“And you heard her yelling at me, as well, I suppose?”

“I heard her yelling but not what she said.”

I wiped my eyes with the backs of my hands and accepted the tea. “Trish has the power to heal as well.”

“I thought so.”

“She tried to use it to hurt something.”

“Oh no, she mustn’t do that,” Cindy sounded really concerned, “if she does, it will go away but it will repay her first.”

“You mean it will hurt her?”

“That’s what I understood.”

“Where did you learn that?”

“I dreamt it all. A lovely lady in a golden dress told me that I had been chosen for her to work through me. That she only chose female spirits to work with and that she would guide me.”

“And has she–guided you?”

“I suppose so. I got the place at St Claire’s when my mum accepted I really should be a girl.”

“How did you tell her?”

“I couldn’t, I was too scared of hurting her feelings, but I couldn’t eat. Everything I put in my mouth made me want to be sick.”

“That must have been very unpleasant.”

“It was,” she nodded for emphasis and tears appeared in her eyes. “I thought I would die if I didn’t eat, but it felt like everything was poisoned. If I swallowed it, I was sick.”

“Did you realise what was going on?”

“No, I knew I wanted to be a girl but I didn’t think that would stop me being able to eat.”

“It didn’t, I think your mind just said to your body, if we make her ill enough she’ll have to tell someone.”

“That’s what happened. Mum called the doctor who examined me, gave me some pills and told me it would get better.”

“But it didn’t, right?”

“No, it got worse. Then he had to come again and this time he asked to see me alone. He asked me what was bothering me?”

“And?”

“At first I wouldn’t tell him. He then told me if I didn’t tell him he would have to think it was sexual abuse by my mother and they’d take me away from her.”

“Ouch,” I felt for her, what an awful thing to say, but I suppose much of the time it’s true. “So you told him?”

“I had to too. He actually gave me a hug and asked what I called myself, I told him, Cindy. He said, ‘Right, Cindy, I’m going to talk with your mother, then I want you to go and see a doctor friend of mine to see if he can help you.’ I thought he meant to take the feelings of wanting to be a girl away and started to cry but he told me it was to help me become a girl. I cried even more then.”

“Don’t tell me, he left saying, ‘Women–I’ll never understand them.’”

“He did actually.”

“How do you know?”

“They all do it.”

“What, doctors?”

“No–men.”

She chuckled and I realised I was sitting with my arm round her. I rubbed her shoulder and withdrew my arm. “And you’ve been a girl ever since?”

“No, I had to go for all sorts of tests and interviews before they allowed me to wear girl’s clothes and finally gave me some pills to stop me becoming a boy. Since I started school as a girl, they’ve given me low dose hormones, I think I’ve got boobs starting to grow–d’you wanna see?”

“Uh no thanks, your mum can deal with any queries you’ve got with those.” I kept seeing nasty headlines and me being arrested for indecent assault. “C’mon, let’s go down and see where the others are.”

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. Tom came home and reported that the dormouse had been alive before when he’d fed them. He’d taken it over to one of the labs and he and Kieron, a post grad student, did an autopsy–they think the poor critter choked on a bit of hazelnut as there was some in its throat. I found that bizarre and wondered if Trish had done something and would there be a payback. For once I almost welcomed the idea of a visit from the goddess. Of course she didn’t come, they only do when they want to, usually to administer a rollocking or tell you how disappointed they are in you.

Trish was allowed up at dinner. She didn’t look very well but she ate some dinner. I had to pop to the loo when David produced the dessert, not that I felt very hungry anyway had he told me what it was, I think I’d have died on the spot. It was a praline with fresh cream. Praline is often made with hazelnuts.

When I got back to the kitchen, Trish was making awful noises and going very red–she was choking–and everyone was sitting there in horror but not doing anything. I charged across the kitchen, yanked her from the table and gave her some hard slaps between the shoulder blades. She gasped and a nut flew out of her mouth bouncing on the floor. She simply stood there for a few moments afterwards gasping with tears running down her face. I hugged her and she burst into tears. I walked her away into the dining room and we sat down together.

“Now this pure conjecture, but we think the dormouse that died choked on a piece of hazelnut. You very nearly did the same.”

“You saved my life, Mummy,” she cried, “I thought I was going to die.”

“I don’t think you were meant to die, this was a warning to you of what will happen if you use the healing energy for personal gain or to hurt someone else. D’you understand what I mean?”

“I think so, Mummy, I thought I was going to die.”

“No, if that had been intended, it would have happened away from anyone who could have helped. No this was stage managed to make me ensure you understood the consequences.”

“What does that mean, Mummy.”

“The energy was trying to make certain that you understood the warning and that I did too and made sure you understood it.”

“So next time I’ll die?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart, but I would suggest you’ve learned a very powerful lesson.”

“But I could have died, Mummy.” She was crying quite loudly and not listening to anything I was saying. I just sat with her and held her. When she calmed down I told her that I was told she wouldn’t have died. I hadn’t been, it was just my surmise but it felt about right. She is only a child, and I assume the goddess knows that and makes some allowances for her. Besides, if she thinks there was an attempt to kill her as punishment, she’ll either have bad dreams or not sleep.

It’s a wonderful life–if you don’t weaken.

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