In eighteen seventy-six a group of leading Yazoo County businessmen and planters came together to talk about the recovery of Yazoo County. The war between the states had ended with the southern armies being defeated in the field and the south ravaged and burned by Union forces. Yazoo County was a shell of its former self. The varies plantations sat in ruins, weeds grew where cotton once thrived. The levees, that held back the floodwaters had been broken by attaching union forces.

What cotton that year had been planted was destroyed by fifteen feet of floodwater. Over shots of corn whiskey and through a thick fog of cigar smoke the men talked and talked till at last the idea to form a bank came to be. The Bank would lend the planters much needed cash on credit and once the harvest was collected and field-hands paid the planters would pay back there loans with a little interest. Thus the merchant class with there shops and business came to rescue of the once powerful planter class. And that’s how the Bank of Yazoo City was formed.

One of those men president at the meeting was Hershey Alex Brewer. A former Confederate soldier who had returned to the find his hometown of Benton ravaged by war. I know little about his life, I do know he opened a hardware store in the area that is now downtown and was one of seventeen merchants to put up starting capital. He later brought two hundred acres of land in North Benton and started a small farm.

There one more bit of information on him. He was a long time supporter of the Episcopal Church since it has always been the church of the elite of the Yazoo Delta, with members always being prospered merchants, wealthy planters and leading citizens. The one or two lawyers or elected official was always added to the mix and members liked to do business with each other and keep business within the church if you will.

And so being a prospers merchant and now a minor shareholder in the newly formed Bank of Yazoo, it was only right that he also helped to establish a mission of the Episcopal church, then called the “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States” that mission would later become “St. Mary’s Episcopal Church”. It was in that church I was confirmed in by Bishop Sheen this past summer.

Despite all these family connections, I still felt like a total stranger as I walked into the lobby of the Benton Branch of the “Bank of Yazoo City.” The lobby was small with one main desk as you first walk in. Behind the desk there sat a woman who had her grey hair piled high and she reeked of hairspray. Her eyes were glued to a dated issue of “Southern Living”. Behind her, I could see three teller stales where open but only one was open for business. A loan officer to the right held another desk, a gray-haired fellow set behind the desk, He had the office phone glued to his ear and through the paper thin walls I could hear him boasting about how his son scored the winning touch down for Benton Academy in there last game.

Clearing my throat I walked up to the desk and took a deep breath.

“Hello,” I said knocking on the wooden surface. “I’m Madeline Brewer and I’m here to open up a checking account with you.” I said trying to smile. Once more cursing my sister for adding this task to my “Chore List”.. this was one fetched a bounty of one hundred dollars. And that was the bare minimum on, needed to open up a checking account... So pretty much she was opening this account for me, but leaving the paperwork and hassle to me.

Finally, after a few minutes, the women looked up and offered me a small smile. Her gray eyes glittered in the dim light of the lobby. Then it hit me, she was sizing me up. After a few tense minutes of sizing me up, she spoke and when she spoke it was like the hissing of a timber rattler and the rattling of a rattling snake. Her words chilled the blood in my veins.

“Hello, Madeline.” She said setting her magazine down and pushing it to the side. “I’ve heard so much about you.” She paused. “If you could just take a seat. One of our clerks would be right with you. I trust you have all the proper paperwork with you?” She weaving her fingers together as she gave me a dead level stare.

“Paperwork?” I said tilting my head to the side, utterly confused by what she could possibly mean by that.

“Yes, in order to open a checking or savings account with us. One need to supply the proper credentials. So we know its really you who’s going to open and use the account and not mob boss in the slums of Boston or New York or heck even Atlanta.” She said in an off-hand manner as she returned her magazine.

“Okay... Like what would I need?” I asked. I felt my temper rising as the women seemed to swat me off. Kind of reminded me how one would swat at a buzzing fruit fly.

“Normally, we’ll require. Two forms of identification. Say a drivers permit and a government-issued ID. Backing that up, we’ll need a Mississippi birth certificate and a Social Security Card. And since your in school, we’ll need a school-issued ID too.” She said in a flat tone of voice as she returned to her reading.

I nodded, it all made sense now. You see for the last two or three day’s, Kayla has been rushing me back and forth between one county office to another. I had sighed my name to a dozen or so sheets, answered a dozen or so questions. Had my photo taken a dozen or so times. And for what? To get these forms. At first, I thought my sister was just hard headed, making me fill out all the paperwork myself. But then it hit me.. She was trying to help me.

You see, with each piece of identification I acquired, being Madeline became a bit more real to me. Part of me still thought myself as a boy named Mark who was just passing as a girl named Madeline. But every time I showed my School ID for either breakfast or lunch. Or showed my issued ID down at the local movie palace... Yes this being Mississippi your required to show ID if you wish to see a PG 13 movie. Dumb I know, but hey small southern town and all.

But my point still stands. Each time I flashed those things, I felt more like Madeline, like Madeline was a real person... And, yes this is going to sound creepy, but more like Madeline was me and I was Madeline.

All these thoughts raised through my head as I waited for the clerk, a few painful minutes passed before a blonde haired woman with deep blue eyes rounded the corner. She wore a pink turtleneck sweater and a black pencil skirt. The heel of her leatherette’s clicked on the stone title that paved the floor.

She looked at me and then motioned toward one of the offices. The same office that man in a suit was using. Still bragging about how his son, big double D, demolished the guy holding the ball in the last game.
The women took a deep breath and eased past the man, still going over all the details of the play to the voice on the other. She pulled out a chair and then eased her bottom down. She then motioned for me take a seat... The seat being offered to me was a hard wooden chair. Grinning, I took the chair and fixed my skirt as I eased my bottom down.

The man at this point noticed some business was about to take place and cut short his conversation with and I’m going out a branch here, either his drinking or hunting buddy and left the room. Leaving me and Blondie along to talk business.

“So, Janet has informed me... That you wish to open a new checking account with us?” She asked as she peered toward me. “Is that corrected young lady?” She added in a tone that made the whole thing seem like a joke.

“That is correct,” I said closing my eyes and folding my hand's ladylike in my center. I opened my eyes. “My name is Madeline D. Brewer, and I would like to open up a checking account with you. Please, ma’am.” I added the last part to safeguard from any rebuke that might come. See in the deep south where taught from birth to be polite to everybody, even those who disliked or even hated us. We called it ‘Killing them with kindness’ or something like that.

“Okay..” She said taking a deep breath as she turned to the computer sitting at the corner of her desk. The computer looked like something straight from the stone age. It was a large, square, gray plastic looking thing that made a grinding sound as start button was pushed. The plastic blades on the cooling fans made a loud, ear piercing whishing sound.

And soon the sounds of tiny gears grinding to life, followed by the odd, smell of plastic burning and smoking filled the air around us as the old IBM computer came online. For a brief minute, the mental image of a cosmic creation awaking from eons passed came to mind. It was soul-crushing, to say the least.

“So..” The women said hitting the gray keyboard. “What the name on the account?” She said shifting her attention away from me to the green and black screen.

“Madeline D. Brewer,” I told the clerk.

The women entered the information. Once I think that information had been entered, she turned around and peered at me. For a good long minute, she peered toward me, the kind of gaze that made me wish the ground would open up and swallow me.

“Madeline..” The women muttered as she pushed down upon the keys, causing them to rattle. “Brewer..” She muttered again as she punched this information in. She then turned around and peered at me.

“You that girl?” She said blushing as she peered away from the glowing green and black screen and peered directly into my eyes. “You know, the girl with the boy part?” Her tone of voice suggests somebody, somebody who was having to confront something.. Something totally strange to them.

“Yes... The Android and body snatcher.” I said smirking a little. The rumor that I was a government-sponsored android or creature from plant X still makes me smirk. Its better than some rumors going around school.
“What?” The women said taking a deep breath and tilting her head to the side. “Never mind... So I need some ID... And the proof of enrollment or residents. Whatever comes first.” She said returning her gaze back to the glowing screen.

I took a deep breath and finished out my student ID. Peered down at the picture, I handed the photo ID toward the women sitting behind the desk. The women took the ID from my hands and nodded her head.

“I mean. There a rumor going around that one of the girls at Benton AG High school is really not a girl you know. Mrs. Arnold, the head of the Benton PTA is trying to get the poor darling some help. Or so I’ve heard.”

I took a deep breath and once more started to count backward from ten to one. Good God, where people painting that witch as a saint now? With a glowing halo to I bet.

“Tell me about it,” I said through my teeth as checked over the I.D. Finally she handed both back to me and I placed them back into my purse.

“Okay Ms. Brewer, everything seems to be in place. Now to start your account, you need to deposit one hundred dollars. And then I’ll run you off a Bank Card and hand you a copy of your new bank account. And on behalf of everybody here at the Bank of Yazoo family, I would like to congregate on making your new account with us.” She said as she watched me place the five twenty dollars down on the table. She gathered up the money and smiled the sweetest smile I’ve ever seen.

After a few painful minutes of silence. Then as if she was trying to break the silence, the women looked over at me and offered a little smile.

“Oh, I remember now. You’re the girl who’s going to get slimed for charity.” She said snapping her fingers together. “Madeline Brewer..” She said grinning as she stood up. She smoothed out her skirt and offered me a little smile, “I’ll be right back.”

I nodded as I watched her skirt out of the office. She returned a few minutes later holding two plastic cards. She held the cards out to me and offered me a small smile.

“Here you go Ms. Brewer, your new bank card and your account number. We look forward to doing business with you in the future.”Her voice was very pleasant

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said as I took the cards from her and slipped them into my purse. We made some more small talk and then I left. As I stepped onto the concrete sidewalk that ran beside the bank, I reached down and pulled out my new bank card. I smiled softly as the name on the card was MADELINE D. BREWER, my name. I was indeed Madeline now.