Tamara's Début   Part Twenty   by Shiraz

 
 
Wednesday 10th December
 

The alarm went off at five o’clock, a time alien to most people — even those at private boarding schools. Tammy forced herself into the bathroom before going to wake Angela.

She found her friend curled up in the duvet, oblivious to the shape looming over her. Suddenly Tammy pulled the duvet off the bed, Angela stirred as soon as cold air reached her skin.

“You!”

“Get up, we’re leaving in twenty minutes.”

“Can’t I stay here?”

“NO!”

To prevent her friend from returning to her slumber, Tammy took the duvet with her, dropping it on her own bed as she headed for her wardrobe. Given the lack of time, Angela was being left to fend for herself, although her make-up could be done later, providing she had a close shave before they left.

Tammy dressed for comfort, not fashion, and pulled on a pair of soft jeans. She went for the many layers approach above her waist, knowing that most could be removed as she warmed up, however unlikely that would be on this December day.

Richard, in the meantime, had dressed and was now pouring orange juice for them. Tammy was the next one downstairs.

“No breakfast, Dad?”

“No, we’ll get some at the airport.”

“Right, I suppose I ought to check on Angela, how long do we have?”

“Ten minutes, no longer. Can you bring your cases down?”

“Sure.”

Tammy found Angela rushing everything and achieving next to nothing. She had nicked her chin with a razor so was trying to stem the blood. Tammy made a cold compress from a towelling flannel and a little of London’s finest tap water, then held this to Angela’s chin for a minute.

Of course, the sight of Angela’s lopsided, twisted, bra, mismatched knickers and a razor caused Tammy to snigger. That was the best she could do, she really wanted to laugh but knew it would hurt Angela.

“What’s funny?”

Tammy quickly said something that she hoped wouldn’t offend Angela, “Oh, I don’t remember the last time I had to shave.”

“Are you sure that’s what it was?”

“Yes, move! Now we've sorted out your legs, you can wear thinner tights today but put on the same skirt you wore yesterday, it’ll do for now. You’ve got five minutes.”

Somehow the two managed to make it to the car, but not quite in the ten minutes Richard had specified. They were, at least, on their way to Stansted just before half-past five in the morning, the plan was that Tanya would collect the car from the airport that afternoon. The head for Angela's wig was also too much for their journey so that would be left in the car ready to be sent to the McPherson's house.

Most of the traffic was heading into London but the North Circular was again awful, but as soon as they reached the M11 the traffic dissipated. Richard drove to a short term carpark and soon found a space, they only had to wait a few minutes for the next bus to the terminal.

At security Angela encountered a problem once again. Not only was there a female holding a male’s passport but this female was a brunette with plenty of hair versus the male with a standard schoolboy cut. An animated discussion took place with Angela having to suffer the discomfort of removing her wig for the purposes of identification. She was somewhat fraught by the time they made it into the departure lounge.

Richard worked out they had at least forty-five minutes before their seven thirty flight. “Breakfast?”

Of course, Richard had asked a stupid question, he and the girls had been up for ninety minutes so far without any chance of food. There are always at least six places to eat in any large airport departure lounge, Stansted is no different. They headed for one that wasn’t crowded.

By the time they finished they were well fed but it hadn’t been cheap; even Richard was surprised at the overall cost. Their flight was called shortly afterwards.

They were flying directly to Glasgow but had allowed for any delays plus an hour to get from Glasgow Airport to the hospital. Angela, however, was still trying to work out why she’d been forced out of bed at five for Tammy’s eleven o’clock appointment.

She decided the only way this would make sense would be if she ordered a coffee on the plane after take-off. She fell asleep well before the seatbelt sign went off, and without that coffee.

Tammy also wanted to doze for a short while but took the chance to check her make-up in the cramped WC before returning to her seat for forty winks.

Both girls awoke as the seatbelt sign went back on and the captain announced their imminent arrival at Glasgow, thankfully the flight had arrived on time and was trouble free. Just after they walked into the terminal, Tammy grabbed Angela and pushed her into the nearest loo.

“I don’t need to go!”

“You do need to sort out your face though.”

“Oh.”

“I suggest you have a wash, but be a good girl and have a wee, you might not get a chance for another hour.”

Angela did as she was told. The girls took a quarter of an hour in total before they rejoined Richard. He knew better than to ask questions, Tara had been just as bad. His face, however, showed impatience.

“Come on.”

They marched to the taxi rank, Richard having decided it was the easiest and quickest way for the three of them, plus cases, to get into the city. The journey wasn’t too difficult and placed them, at Queen St Station, half an hour later.

Richard made his way to the left luggage office and deposited their bags. Then they caught another taxi to the hospital. Tammy later noted that they could have walked the route without difficulty.

“Dad, why did we just leave the bags at the station?”

“There’s no direct flights to Wick from Glasgow today, so it’s easier to take the train, albeit more time consuming.”

Glasgow Royal Infirmary is an impressive building by any standards; they entered by means of the marbled steps and sought directions from the information desk. A few minutes later the three of them arrived in a small waiting area outside Professor Robert’s office just after ten thirty.

Richard wanted to go and find some coffee for the three of them but knew this was a bad idea. His fortitude paid off when Tammy was invited early into the Professor’s room, Richard started to rise but one look by Tammy kept him in his seat next to Angela.

“Good morning, Tammy.”

“’Morning, Professor.”

“How are you today?”

“Tired: just in from London.”

“I’ll keep this short then, if that’s alright with you?”

“I’ll bow to your better judgement.”

Julian Roberts guided Tammy to a coffee table and low comfortable chairs, his oak desk sat to one side, some papers were on the table. He poured both of them a glass of water before continuing.

“That makes me sound more important than you, Tammy you’re the most important person in this room right now—and don’t forget it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Enough of that, how are you finding life as a girl?”

“I’m doing fine, I’ve only had a couple of recent problems and the last one was my mother.”

“Do you want to discuss it?”

“No, it resolved itself.” Tammy felt she may have said that a little too abruptly.

Julian decided to leave that topic so asked Tammy first about progress at her school then the theatre and her personal life before returning to the earlier topic.

“So did you have any doubts after seeing her? After all, this was your own mother?”

“No, I just surprised her, it seems that she hadn’t known about me until that point, although I'd notified her in writing last week.”

Julian Roberts paused and made a few notes on a pad.

“Why hadn’t you told her on the phone?”

“I wasn’t sure how she’d react, in that respect I was proven right.”

“How did you handle it?”

“I threatened to put her in a taxi and send her away from the house.”

“Would you have done?”

“Yes.”

“What about your father?”

“He had no say in the matter; I own the house.”

“I see——” Julian Roberts paused again and wrote more notes, leaving his last words floating. He put down his pen after a minute and looked straight into Tammy’s eyes.

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“There is?”

“You’re protecting something, or someone. If it isn’t your mother, who is it?”

“I’m not sure if I have the right to say anything.”

“This will be in complete confidence, you know that.”

“Right, but she’s very insecure.”

“Who?”

“Angela.”

“Who is Angela?”

“She’s at my school—she’s like me.”

“And you’re helping her?”

“Yes, she’s been in London with me and is outside this room right now.”

“How long have you been helping her?”

“A week.”

“We’ll come back to her in a minute, if that’s okay? I have your last blood results here and Dr Yates’ report. She is transferring a decision to me that I’m not normally ready to make at this stage.”

“I understand.”

“I hope you do, because this is quite unusual. Your body is not producing enough hormones, male or female. Helen Yates believes you’ll start having real medical problems soon, building to serious issues within a few years, she recommends hormone treatment immediately.”

“So she said.”

“My problem is that under the usual protocol I’m not happy to prescribe hormones after only two consultations.”

“So you won’t do anything now?”

“I didn’t say that, Tammy.”

“Sorry.”

“I should think so. As I was saying, this is an unusual case. I have therefore spoken to a colleague in London, it turns out you have already met one of her team.”

“I have?”

“Yes, Sally Yates works for Tricia Jacobs at the London.”

“Oh.”

“Did you also know that Sally is Helen Yates’ sister-in-law?”

“No, that must be why she was in the area.”

“Perhaps she didn’t mention that for a reason?”

Tammy wondered back to her meeting with James, Sally and Becky a few days earlier. Had she said anything wrong? Julian Roberts must have seen her fear.

“Tammy, don’t worry. She was very impressed, especially the way you handled Angela.”

“You knew!”

“Yes, I suppose it’s now my turn to be sorry. Look, the whole point of this is that Dr Jacobs has looked over the same reports that I have seen, with the bonus that Sally has spent over an hour in your company. Sally Yates described you in her report as very confident, very natural.”

“She wrote a report on me? How could she?” Tammy was becoming upset, the Professor handed her a tissue and paused while she dabbed her eyes.

“Tammy, it was at my request, and helped making my decision a little easier.”

“So what was your decision?” Tammy had calmed but was still clenching the tissue.

“That I’ll recommend you commence oestrogen straight away. We’ll start with a low dose to satisfy Helen Yates’ request and increase the dosage after we’ve met a few more times.”

“Is that it?”

“No, you need something else.” He handed over an envelope. “There’s a letter in there you’ll want. Congratulations.”

Tammy carefully opened the unsealed envelope and pulled out three copies of the same letter, advising anyone that Tammy was transgendered and, as such, protected by the full extent of the law, he’d quoted both Scottish and English law as a precaution. She re-read the letter several times before she was satisfied she understood it. She noticed he had written that Dr Jacobs had reviewed the decision and concurred, that looked to Tammy like a little insurance on the Professor’s behalf, but decided not to mention it.

She shook the envelope and a prescription fell out, attached to a note to her GP. She put all of these back in the envelope.

“I thought you couldn’t do this yet? I mean I wanted this but I wasn’t expecting it.”

“Tammy, I had to weigh up the issues here so I could do my best for you. The concerns here are your physical health, followed by your mental health. As I said, I would not normally prescribe anything until we had met a few more times, even then I could not promise anything without very careful consideration. The issue is that after a while, perhaps six months, your body would not react kindly if we replaced those hormones with male ones because you have changed your mind. Are you likely to do that?"

“No, of course not.” Tammy began to cry, this time it was tears of happiness as she realised what the Professor had done for her..

“Tammy, why don’t you go and speak to your father, perhaps you could send Angela in here?”

Tammy stood up slowly. Julian Roberts rose at the same time and held out his hand. Tammy shook it before she left the room clutching the envelope.

Richard and Angela rose, ready to leave.

“No, Dad, he wants to see Angela now.”

“Me, why?”

There was a voice behind Tammy: “Because I’d like to get to know you better if you are going to be one of my patients.”

Angela was still unsure. “Angela, it’s fine—he’ll be gentle, at least more gentle than with me.” She spun round and fixed her eyes on the Professor.

“Of course I will. Now, dear, come in here.” He closed the door behind Angela.

“Tammy, did you arrange that?” Richard was unsure what to make of it.

“No, he already knew about Angela through Sally Yates. She works for a colleague of his at the London.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got the letter, and a prescription for the pills.”

Tammy sat down and started to sob again, her make-up was definitely ruined. Richard handed her a coffee, it wasn’t very hot but was welcome, regardless.

“When did you get these?”

“I didn’t, I asked Angela to go to the café for us. I’m sorry it’s cooled a little but we didn’t know how long you’d be.

Tammy sipped the coffee, it was still warm but wouldn’t be for long. She decided half way down the plastic cup that she’d had enough and excused herself to the nearest Ladies, taking her cold coffee and shoulder bag with her.

Tammy poured the cold coffee down the toilet before using it herself. Once done she disposed of the cup and washed her hands and face before re-applying her make-up. It only took her ten minutes—practice definitely helped.

Back in the small waiting area she saw Angela coming out of the Professor’s room, a broad smile on her face. Julian Roberts shook everyone’s hand before they headed out of the hospital at eleven thirty. Angela wasn’t saying much and Tammy decided not to ask yet.

A taxi took them back to Queen Street station where Richard bought tickets to Aberdeen, after retrieving their luggage.

“Dad, why Aberdeen?”

“Because we’ll not get back to Thurso in time for your rehearsal tonight if we take the train the whole way.”

“Oh, I’d forgotten about that.”

“It’s a good job I hadn’t.”

Tammy wanted to ask another question but they were alerted by a call for passengers to board the waiting train.

“You two, get some rest, I’ll wake you at Aberdeen.”

That simple statement brought no arguments from either girl, who were asleep within a few minutes. Angela had wondered how they would get from Aberdeen to Thurso but Tammy already knew the answer to that question so said nothing.

Richard had been sitting there for a few minutes when his mobile rang.

“Hello?”

“Richard, it’s Gerald. I have an update for you.”

“Good afternoon, Gerald, fire away.”

“Right, Tara was charged with money laundering and is out on bail. She was warned not to go back to the house and the magistrates court have put a temporary seizure notice on her assets.”

“Oh, how’s she going to manage?”

“I’m told she has access to a Swiss account, which wasn’t declared to the court.”

“I set up that account for us a couple of years ago.”

“So you could close it?”

“Yes, but let’s leave it for now, I can keep an eye on what’s being spent.”

“If you think that’s a good idea. Anyway, the charge relates to half a million euros found in the car along with a kilo of cocaine.”

“Coke?” Richard whispered the word so as not to attract unwanted attention from fellow travellers. “she’d never get involved in that.”

“The police would seem to agree with you, the driver has been charged with smuggling and intent to supply, as well as several other offences.”

“I take it he’s not been bailed?”

“That’s right, especially as the police don’t know for certain who he is. So far they believe he is Alban Berisha, an Albanian. He was travelling in a false Italian identity, Alfredo Giovanni.”

“Freddy?”

“Yes, it appears Tara knew him as an Italian and was quite taken by him and his cars.”

“That’s what I thought, he had been staying in the apartment, hadn’t he?”

“I don’t know for certain, but you may be correct.”

“So, what’s next?”

“Tara has to return to court on Monday and can’t leave the country. She’s booked into an hotel, a cheap one apparently, and has gone to Brent Cross to buy clothes and other bits, the police haven’t yet returned her case.”

“Thanks for the update, Gerald, of course you have my fax number in Thurso if you need to send anything.”

“I do, bye for now, Richard.”

Richard spent the next hour wondering what Tara had become involved in, and whether he would be questioned. The police who had collected Tara’s suitcase hadn’t asked for Richard’s mobile number but Tammy had given her details when Freddy had been caught. Richard’s other concern was whether he ought to be in London the following Monday? Despite the divorce, the apparent infidelity and everything that had happened over the past two days he still cared what happened to Tara.

They pulled into Aberdeen mid afternoon, Richard ushered the two girls, now fully awake, to a taxi and told the driver to take them to the airport. Once there they boarded the waiting helicopter for the 45 minute ride to Thurso, arriving just after five.

Elsie was waiting for them and insisted they headed for the dining room as soon as they’d washed. Angela stood in front of the large mirror in her bathroom, at least the one she’d used a few days earlier, and contemplated changing her clothes so Tim would reappear. Any thought disappeared when Tammy grabbed her.

“Come on, you’ll miss dinner, Miss.”

Not spotting the pun, Angela followed Tammy down the wide staircase and into the dining room where Elsie and Richard were waiting. They sat down to a wholesome plate of stew, exactly what was needed on this cold December evening. While they were waiting for the dessert Elsie spoke to Angela.

“Angela, you’ll be staying here for a few days. Unfortunately your mother has had to go south as your father had lodged divorce papers in an English court, she’ll be back at the weekend if all goes well.”

“I need to change Elsie, did mum leave me some clothes?”

“I’m afraid not, she left in a hurry. Because of the divorce she had the locks changed and hasn’t given anyone a spare key as far as I know.”

“What about the clothes I took off here?”

“She took them home with her.”

“Oh, what about school?” Angela was becoming fraught by now. She’d been growing comfortable as Angela away from Thurso but had expected to revert to being Tim on her return.

“I’m waiting for a call from Steven, I mean the headmaster. Don’t worry about it.”

“But I’m due at the theatre soon! I can’t appear like this!”

“I’d have to agree with you, you could really do with smartening yourself, you’re not acting are you.”

“No, I may have to climb into the gantry, that’s if I don’t get laughed out of the theatre.”

“How many there have met Tim?”

“Not many Elsie, why?”

“So if Angela was there we’d only have to speak to a few people.”

“But how do we explain this?” She tugged at her skirt.

Tammy answered that one, “How about you explain you’ve come from a party and didn’t have time to change? It isn’t that far from the truth.”

“Are you sure that will work, I mean what if John Hibbert recognises me? My name will be round the school like wildfire.”

“Leave John to me. Look, I agree on one thing though, you can’t climb up to the gantry in a skirt, however, I’ve got some trousers that’ll fit you.”

The dessert — apple pie with custard — arrived, concentration soon returned to the food and not Angela’s issues. Having eaten, Tammy persuaded Angela to head up to her room, as they arrived Leanne came out of the room Angela had used.

“Excuse me, Miss, I’ve emptied your case and hung the clothes that didn’t need cleaning, the rest are in the laundry room. Madame McPherson tells me that you’ll be staying with us for a few more days.”

Leanne then disappeared along the corridor and through an unmarked door. The girls continued to Tammy’s room to find the trousers, which Angela soon discovered to be bright pink.