"	Gene's Story or How I Gained a Cousin A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright 2016

CHAPTER 17

With the sobering thought of the dirty cops digging into Ginny and my backgrounds, any light- hearted thoughts went out the window.

“Boy, are you a damp blanket,” Ginny said. “Why can't we relax, and have fun once in a while?”

“We can, but keep in the back of your mind that we've been lucky so far. All good things must come to an end, you know. Now let's make believe we actually work here, and do some work.”

With that we made for our offices at opposite ends of the trailer, Soon I could hear angry typing coming from Ginny's end. Oh well, she'll find out I'm right, hopefully with no blood being spilled. Then the whistle in my head blew, signifying the end of the day.

I locked my desk drawers, cut the lights, and called to Ginny to come on, time to go home. In the car we went, heading north on Route 1A, the coastal route to Swampscott.

“Why this way?” she asked ”It's longer.”

“I'm making supper tonight,” I said. “I'm picking stuff up.”

“Oh sure, 'making supper'; what is it that you need at KFC?”

“Supper,” I said. “What kind of wine goes with chicken?”

“Gees, you are a heathen, aren't you? Look, I'll go into the liquor store over there, you pick me up when you have our dinner.”

I went inside, ordered the ten piece family meal, and the chocolate cake for desert. It came up fast, I paid and put it on the floor in the back of the Explorer, and headed over to pick up Ginny.

She came out of the liqueur store pushing a small cart that looked full.

“Open the tailgate so I can empty this cart,” Ginny yelled. “I got us a case of Australian beer, Fosters. Hope you like it.”

I laughed at that. “I grew up drinking those 26oz cans,” I said. ”You could build things with them, they weren't flimsy like domestic beer cans. What else did you buy?”

”I got three bottles of wine, two white, one red, a bottle of sour mash bourbon, and the beer.”

“I hope it was Gentleman Jack,” I said. “Those others don't taste as good, to me anyway.”

Ginny waved the bottle in my direction and I nodded. “Good choice.”

Dinner was served promptly at six, after slaving in the kitchen opening a couple of bags, and getting two wine glasses. Phew, I'm exhausted.

After we ate, I headed for the couch with a book from Amazon written by Tanya Allen, about a woman who was found almost naked, with no memory at all. I was far enough into it that her memory was starting to come back . Good read! Ginny had her nose buried into my laptop. I can't wait for hers to arrive.

A new tv show, 'Supergirl' was coming on at eight. The star was a cute blond, you can figure out the rest of the story' flying, lifting heavy stuff, x-ray vision, etc., a good show to read a book to.

After a while, Ginny came over and sat on the arm of the couch. “I was watching an SRS surgery on their web site. Scary. I'm having thoughts.“

“Ginny, even if you wanted to have the surgery, You'd need to live as a woman for a year or two, before two doctors would write a letter recommending surgery. Lets go slow, Ok? Besides, never watch a surgery you may have, you'll chicken out.”

The night and all of Tuesday went by with nothing unusual happening. We were heading to bed Tuesday after getting my weekly dose of Leroy Gibbs on NCIS, when I remembered Ginny's doctor's appointment at eleven the following morning with Dr Singh. I knocked on Ginny's door, then stuck my head in, “Hey, you have an appointment tomorrow morning.”

“I know, eleven o'clock , Doctor Singh. I have it tattooed on my arm, I've been ticking off the minutes until the appointment,” she grumbled. “Now let me sleep.”

Boy, if I didn't know better, I'd have thought her 'friend' was visiting.

Wednesday dawned blue skied, and warm, a perfect day for anything. We showered, dressed and ate. Ginny spent extra time on her appearance, wanting to look her best for the doctor. I have to admit, it was pretty good. I was feeling a little jealous, to tell the truth.

We worked on reports for most of the morning. Then at ten o'clock, I said “Let's go. We don't want to be late to see Doctor Singh.”

Her office was in the professional building attached to Salem Hospital on Route 107. Easy to get to, hard to find parking though. We parked out front and took the elevator to the second floor. After asking two people, we finally found her office, and sat down, Ginny and I were the only ones there except for the receptionist.

Ginny was handed a clipboard with a hundred questions, and a request for a $20 co-pay. We filled out the paperwork as best we could, and gave it back to the woman at the desk. It wasn't ten minutes before Ginny was called into the exam room by the doctor's nurse. She said 'hello' to me and asked how I was. I laughed and said, “Isn't that for you to find out and tell me?”

I sat down and started reading a six month old People magazine, did you know Bruce Jenner was thinking of becoming a woman? It's on the cover, It therefore must be true.

After fifteen minutes, Doctor Singh stuck her head into the waiting room and said, “Ellen, come in and join us.”

I put the magazine down and walked in, getting a hug from the Doctor.

“Ginny here confused me. I thought she was already a woman. I told her it would be no problem giving her a prescription for hormones. These are very powerful, and every one reacts differently, so I'll need to see her in a week. If everything is ok, then we'll be on a monthly schedule.” She looked at me. “Ellen I've called two prescriptions in to the CVS in Vinnen Square, is that alright?“ I nodded yes.

“Good, we'll get your 'cousin' a set of hips in no time,” she teased. “After a while, we can talk about a more permanent treatment.”

We made our goodbyes, Ginny stopped on the way out to make an appointment for next week at the same time. I found our way back to the elevator, then out to the car.

“Are you happy now?” I teased Ginny. “You've got your hormones, what next?”

“Oh, be quiet, and drive to the CVS,” she ordered. “And don't spare the horses.”

“Where did you ever hear that? This isn't a corny western.”

I asked ”Which way, Willson Rd or the Danvers road?”

“Danvers Road, less traffic lights,” Ginny said, “I used my insurance card for the first time, I'm officially Virginia Hanson.”

I headed for the drive through window, hoping the meds would be ready. A shock! They were ready for us. I handed the pharmacist's assistant my CVS card and Ginny's Silver-script card along with a $20 co-pay.

In no time we were turning into my condo, when we saw blue flashing lights.

To be continued

Many thanks to Bronwen Welsh for correcting typos and punctuation