Chapter 5 -- On Strike

Victor slept well. There was no snoring from the other side of the house as there had been for the last two weeks. He could even enjoy the sounds of the morning dove outside his window. He found the aura of peace enhanced by the fine dust particles filtering through the sunlight coming through a slit in the blinds. Now it truly was Sunday. He wondered if all that happened yesterday was really a dream. A quick feel of the nightie dispelled that notion. The clock said seven thirty. He stretched and stepped out of bed.

The need to go the bathroom felt urgent, so donning his slippers he headed off to the bathroom. Having to sit was becoming less of a conscious thought. And, for once, he understood why his mother's concern about keeping toilet paper in the ladies room. He never had to wipe after peeing before the accident. Taking a shower, he blushed as he felt his new equipment. He jumped when washing the new folds finding them sensitive in a pleasurable way. The soreness had dissipated over the last week. After the shower, he wrapped the towel around him like his grandmother had shown him the day before. He looked at his face in the mirror. There was a little bit of boy and a little bit of girl in the mirror. He stepped back and moved aside the towel. Looking down at himself in the mirror for the first time since the accident, except for a faded greenish bruise, he could see two folds of skin where his penis had been. That was too much to take in, so he dropped the towel back in place. A moment later, he pushed aside the towel again to look. 'It's pretty.' he thought. His maleness immediately responded, 'what am I thinking!'

Returning to his aunt's room, the morning sun was still filtering onto the carpet. A noticeable area of the carpet showed that it had been cooked by the sun over the years. Back to his task of getting dressed, he realized he didn't want to wear dirty clothes, so he pawed through the closet to find something to wear. He saw a white dress with roses all over it. It had thin straps to hold it up. He pulled it out and put it on the bed. Then, grabbing a fresh panty from the drawer, he search for the panty liner his grandmother had put on it the day before. He found a thin cardboard box in the adjacent drawer with elegant lettering had some pads in it wrapped in some sort of thin green translucent paper. He ripped it open and took out the panty liner. Examining it, he saw on the back a strip on shiney paper and pulled it. Flatting out the panty like the back of the package showed, he was able to afix the pad to the panty as the instructions on the box showed. He then slipped it on. Again, he was amazed at comfortable it felt. Although the pad wasn't as secure as what his grandmother had done for him the days before, it seemed secure. Grabbing the dress, he found no zipper. He mistook the buttons for the front of the dress though. But, reaching from beneath the dress, he found he could wiggle into it with the buttons undone.

He checked himself in the mirror on the back of his aunt's door. He put on his slippers and headed to the kitchen where he had a bowl of cereal and milk. He washed up his spoon, bowl, and glass. After putting them on the rack, he sat there wondering what to do. Part of him wanted to run across the street and see if Aurelia was home. Part of him wanted to hide. Part of him couldn't wait to go to school. All these warring factions kept him distracted until, around eight, his grandmother came into the kitchen.

"Morning Grandma." He went up to her and gave her a hug. He was liking the warm feelings he was getting from giving hugs. This was something he never did back home. Mostly because they were always dirty. His parent's were affectionate. Just not into dirt.

"Morning Victor. Boy, did I get a really good nights rest. I really needed that sleep." She looked at him and was shocked. "I dreamed you were Vicki." Looking at what he was wearing, she slowly exclaimed, "What happened yesterday?"

Victor stood there shocked. He didn't know what to say. "Umm ... Grandma, yesterday you said I was Vicki, put me in a dress, and threw out all my clothes before I woke up. We didn't realize until later that the garbage company took them away."

"Oh dear!" She put her hand to her mouth. "It's okay Grandma. Dr. Alvarez took good care of you. Can I make you breakfast please? Cindy showed me how last night." he said excitedly. She nodded yes and sat down stunned into silence by her Swiss cheese memories of the previous day.

Victor placed a breakfast sandwich from the freezer in the microwave and started it. He then got a glass and filled it with orange juice. Once things were done, he brought her breakfast."You know, Victor, you have that dress on backwards."

He sat down. "I do?"

"Why don't you take it off and get back into your regular clothes."

"I can't. Sorry. Remember, I just said you threw my clothes out yesterday."

Piercing through her hazy memory of the day before, it hit her that he was telling the truth. "I did! Oh my word! What else did I do?"

"Grandma, I have to make a quick call and then I'll be back to tell you."

"Hello, Dr. Alvarez, my Grandma woke up back in her right mind. Cindy said to call you with any updates." He listened to her response on the other end. Smiling, he said, "Okay, Thank you. See you soon."

Giggling when he came back into the kitchen, Victor stated, "Well, I guess it is best to start from the beginning." For the next few minutes, Victor related the whole story up to and including Cindy's visit and finding out his clothes were thrown away.

His grandmother shook her head. "I can't believe that I was that far out of it." She looked at the content child smiling at her. "I'd be furious if it were me. Why are you so cheerful?"

Victor was giddy. "It's okay Grandma. I got to make a new friend yesterday. Her name is Aurelia. She lives across the street."

"Aurelia. Is that her name? I've seen her coming home from school. Never talked to her. Is she nice?"

"Oh yes, very nice."

She gave him the searching eye, "Are you attracted to her?"

"No. I just enjoyed being with someone my own age. Nothing against you Grandma, but reading and sitting around here isn't much fun." She nodded in agreement. A knock came at the door.

"I'll get it Grandma." Victor scurried to the front door and greeted Dr. Alvarez. "Please come in."

Victor gave her a quick hug. "Good morning Vicki. I see you've got your dress on backwards." She smiled and came on in.

"Grandma's in the kitchen." Victor closed the door behind him.

Stepping into the kitchen, Dr. Alvarez greeted her patient cheerfully, "I hear you are feeling much better. So, I guess we need to talk about things."

"I'm so sorry. I have no idea what came over me. Thank you so much for intervening! How can I ever repay you?"

"It's my job. Anyway, Mrs. Martin, dementia is a problem for older adults. Add to that sleep deprivation, and you find yourself becoming another person, like yesterday. I think we need to do a sleep study on you. Recent research has indicated that lack of sleep accelerates dementia. Although it is just beginning in you, which isn't unexpected at the age of seventy-three. It does mean that if you don't correct your sleeping patterns soon, it will get worse faster."

"Lack of sleep did this to me?"

"More than likely. You have been fretting over the boy, haven't you?"

"Umm ...."

"Be honest."

"Well, yes. It's just so unnatural what’s been done to him. It just seems wrong. I've been sitting up at night trying to figure out what to do with him too."

They heard a knock at the door. His grandmother entreated Victor, "Go check to see who it is, please?"

Victor paused at the front door. Thinking fast, he pulled his dress up and, with a quick twist, reversed it just in case. After smoothing out his dress, he opened the door. Aurelia sweetly asked, "Hi Vicki, I see you're up, can I come in please?"

"Oh, just a moment, I need to see if the doctor is done examining my grandmother in the kitchen."

"Kitchen? Why not her bedroom?"

He shrugged, "I wish I knew. I'm not a doctor. Be right back."

"It's Aurelia Dr. Alvarez. She wants to come in." Something about the way he said that made her pause.

Turning to Mrs. Martin, "While she plays with Aurelia, would you mind calling Victor Vicki? It's important to him. I'll explain later."

"Oh, is this the girl he met?"

"Yes, Grandma. I really like her. I think she wants to play with me and ..."

"Okay, take her back to your room. In the closet are all of your aunt's old toys. I kept them there in case your cousin Olivia every visited. Sad thing is she is fifteen years old now. I don't think she'll ever play with them."

With a note of enthusiasm, he replied, "Yes Grandma, thank you." He raced up and gave her a hug. "Your the best!" As he left the kitchen, he announced, "It's like playing with Susan again." The doctor and Grandma looked at him at then at each other with a curious expression.

"Come on in, Aurelia." As they passed the kitchen, Victor guided Aurelia in briefly and introduced his grandmother to her.

"Run along ... Vicki. You have a couple of hours." Dr. Alvarez and she continued their conversation in hushed tones after they left.

"Oh my, what a nice room." Aurelia said as she looked around the room.

"Yes, my aunt had good taste." he said not knowing if his aunt really did or not. Victor headed to the closet and separated the clothes. He could see the box he was told about. "Here it is. My grandmother said it was here."

Sliding it out, he pulled it to in front of the bed. "She says all my aunt's old toys are here. Can you help me lift it onto the bed, please?"

Aurelia and Victor picked it up and put it on the bed. Victor thanked her and began sifting through it to see what toys were there. While, he was checking to see what was in the box, Aurelia headed to the closet. She started studying the dresses. Victor stopped what he was doing and watched her. She carefully studied each dress, blouse, and skirt. "What do you think?"

Aurelia put her hands on her hips and stated, "Your aunt had interesting taste, but these clothes are really hers. You should have your own style."

Victor chuckled and went back to looking through the box. He could tell she cared a great deal about fashion. He found a jig saw puzzle of a horse and pulled it out setting it aside. "I don't know what my style is. I don't think much about fashion."

Vicki came over to look into the box to see what else was there. "You should. You're a pretty girl."

Victor sighed heavily, "The only one here who is pretty is you. I'm ugly."

"You think I am pretty?" she asked innocently.

Victor's answer was just as innocent. "Yeah. You make a much better girl than I do."

She pouted and inquired, "Did they have to cut your hair when you had the accident?"

"It'll grow back." Victor asserted not wanting to say that it wasn't cut at all.

"It must hurt that they had to cut off something you must love."

Victor bit his lip to keep from laughing, he choked out, "More than you will ever know." He also appreciated her attempts at sympathy. She had a kind heart even if she was bossy when it came to fashion.

"We girls put so much effort in having beautiful hair. Boys will never know!" She continued dramatically. "It's hard to look pretty." Victor pulled up a set of Barbies and Kens. "But it must be especially difficult for you being so naturally pretty."

"I dunno about my hair. I kept it somewhat short because of all the chores I had to do in the barn. When you live out in the country, you never think of looking pretty. There's no one around to care how you look. Except the horses of course. And they only care if you are nice to them." He stopped searching and tried to take her attention off of him. "Of course, if I lived here all the time, I would want to look as pretty as you do."

She loved the compliment and grinned. "You are so lucky! I would love to have a horse. How tall is your horse?"

"Thirteen hands. He's a Morgan. That's a breed of horse. He has a luscious black coat. Thunder is a Quarter-Horse with three white socks and a blaze on his nose. She is twelve hands.” He said proudly, “But, Henry can pull a buggy too. And, before the end of summer, he pulls a carriage in a small parade celebrating the end of summer. I think Henry really likes me most of all. His ears follow me even when other people ride him or my dad is around."

Missing the importance of the ears following Victor, Aurelia asked, "That is an odd way to measure a horse. Hands? I bet you look pretty on your horse. Do you have any pictures?"

Victor turned and placed one hand on top of the other in parallel fashion stepping them up like they were part of a wall. "Like this, except they are a grown man's hand. There are no pictures. No phones either. I carry a walkie-talkie to communicate with my dad or mom. When I ride, I wear a cowboy hat, jeans, and a long sleeve shirt to keep the sun off of me. Luckily, because there isn't any chaparral up where we live, I don't have to wear chaps when I ride. They can get real hot. I know because I wear them for the parade at the end of summer."

"Why do you wear a cowboy hat instead of a cowgirl hat?"

Victor shrugged his shoulders. "That's all we have in the tack room. Nothing fancy. Not even my mom or Susan wears a cowgirl hat when they ride. Truthfully, I am supposed to wear one of the helmets, but I don't like them. I have to wear them during the summer though. All the kids do. Of course, I don't get much of a chance to ride in the summer. I am mostly working at the village store or the laundry room to help keep things swept and clean or I will help fold laundry. This summer I will be working at the new pool too."

"Do you play much with the kids when they are there?"

"Not as much as I like. They think I am beneath them because I am the help. I take their horses and wash them down after they ride them. They hate doing that, but I love it. Horses are great big teddy bears."

"Doesn't that bother you? They sound mean."

"A little, I guess. But, last summer, there was usually one or two kids that liked to play with me and Susan. Plus, there are the students they hire to help out during the summer too from the college in Silver City. They bunk in our house. During the most of the year, my grandmother can stay in one of those rooms. So, it all works out.” With a note of excitement, he added, “Of course, this year one of the rooms is being turned into a nursery for the new baby."

"How do you do you live like that?"

"Don't have much choice. And, it's not so bad. Really, I love living there. Would you like to do this jig saw puzzle? It is a jig saw of an Appaloosa. They are really handsome horses. They were bred by the Nez Perce Indians. They are kind horses too. That is what my dad says. He wants to buy several for our stables. So, in the fall, he and I are going up to the Dakotas to pick them up and bring them home."

Aurelia looked around,"Where can we do the puzzle?"

Victor suggested, "I guess on the floor."

Aurelia shook her head looking at the shag carpet, "I don't think so. The floor is too puffy."

"Let me go ask." Victor stole into the hallway and approached the kitchen. He could hear them talking.

Victor stood outside the door of the kitchen and listened for a moment. "After her dad died, Vicki became distant and depressed. She developed a fixation on going to Wisconsin. Her dad was a huge Green Bay Packers fan. She left the summer after he died. Came back only once and went back. I haven't seen her for years since her wedding. Alex gave her away. It was a backyard affair. We hardly talk and I don't know why. I send her kids Christmas and Birthday cards. Gifts too. I talk to them all on the phone on their special days. We're civil. I have offered to fly up, but they don't have any place for me to stay. Not like I do with Alex. I know she loves me. She tells me she loves me, but, she is still so distant."

"There's no telling with family sometimes why they don't get along, is there?"

"Well, I just wish I knew what I did wrong. I wish she would just tell me and get it over with. It's this not knowing."

Feeling the time was right, Victor poked his head into the doorway. "Grandma, I found a neat jig saw puzzle, but there isn't a good place to put it together."

"There is a big tray in the closet too. Your aunt used to put it on the bed and put puzzles together with her friends when she was your age."

On an impulse, Victor ran up to her and hugged her, "Thanks Grandma. I love you. You're the best. Maybe you could help us?"

She caressed his face and tweaked his nose in a gesture his dad had used on him a hundred times. "Thanks Sweetie. I love you too. I'll think about it." He answered with a giggle and another kiss on her cheek.

On the way back to his aunt's room, he realized that he really did love spending time with her. Her long visits at the village were magical. He hated to see her leave, but she was getting older and had doctor's visits. Still, this one was even more magical. In his aunt's room, he rummaged through the closet till he found the tray. Together, they took the box of toys off the bed and put the tray at foot of the bed, Victor was faced with a different problem. He had never sat on a bed in a dress before. He let Aurelia climb on to the bed in her dress first so he could see how she would handle it. She sat on the edge of the bed with her feet on the railing, crossed her legs with her crossed leg on top being the one closest to the tray, She then turned and leaned slightly into the center of the bed. Victor mimicked her. They turned the pieces onto the tray turning the cardboard puzzle pieces over to reveal the photo underneath.

"Here is a side piece."

"Here's another."

After a few minutes, they were giggling and working on the puzzle. In the hallway, Rosemary Martin listened to them play. It was music to her ears. It was why she enjoyed being at the village. She would go have coffee with Mrs. King and listen to Victor play with Susan. She was sad that she had to still work when Vicki had her kids. She couldn't afford to travel to Wisconsin and see them. And Vicki couldn't come down to see her. Victor and the new baby were the only grandchildren she could enjoy on her meager retirement income. But, there was something different in the sounds coming from the bedroom. Victor sounded happy.

"Hi girls."

"Come help us Grandma! Please?"

"Yes, Mrs. Martin, help us!" Pulling up Vicki's desk chair, she sat there enjoying helping finish the puzzle. She couldn't remember if her Vicki ever invited her to sit down and help.

After a while, Victor asked, "Has Dr. Alvarez left?"

She found a piece of the horse's tail and found a place for it. "Yes. She said she would see you later at her office to get your ears pierced."

"Oh, I wish I could get my ears pierced. My Mom says I have to wait unitl I am nine."

With the three of them working the puzzle, it was nearly done when Victor heard a knock at the door. "Is Cindy here?"

Glancing at the clock, she said, "She's not due for another half-hour. Let me go check." Rosemary got up out of her chair and went to her door. "Hello, are you Vicki's grandmother."

"You must be Aurelia's mother. She is such a nice girl. Please, come on in. Hi, I'm Rosemary."

"Maria. I hope she's not intruding or being a nuisance?"

"Oh no. They are having fun putting together a jig saw puzzle. Come on." Rosemary waived to her to come follow her.

Seeing her mother in the door to Victor's room, she jumped at the chance. "Hi Mom! Can I get my ears pierced too? Please?"

"What brought all this on?" her mom said.

"Vicki is getting her ears pierced. Her hair is so short that we want to make sure she doesn't get teased at school tomorrow."

Her mom gave Rosemary a blank stare. Aurelia saved the day. "She lost her hair in the accident Mom."

Victor didn't care. He sat there and watched the women wage war on ear piercing and hair length. It was no big deal to him. He was told that in short order, after he returned to the village, his ears would heal over and no one would be the wiser. He just wanted to make sure he was treated as a girl and no one found out he was really a boy.

"How sad. So, you are taking him to Walmart to get them pierced?"

"No, Dr. Alvarez does ear piercing. She told me she paid for her college degree in the beginning by doing all sorts of piercing." Rosemary said. She winked and added with a whisper in Maria's ear, "Including intimate ones too it seems." Maria smirked.

"Please Mom, can I?"

Mrs. Gonzalez admonished her daughter once again, "You know how often I have said you had to wait until you turned nine."

It was clear to Aurelia that long ago that she wasn't going to win this argument. "Oh, okay."

Rosemary looked at Maria and winked. In unspoken looks and furtive eyebrow movements, a plan was hatched.

"Really?" Maria asked. Rosemary nodded yes. With a sly grin on her face, she turned to her daughter and announced, "But, I think we can make an exception today if you want to get them pierced with Vicki." Aurelia couldn't believe her ears. "We can do your shopping next week, can't we?"

Aurelia jumped off the bed and went to hug her mother shouting, "Yippie!" In the dance that followed, she got Victor to join much to the amusement of the ladies.

Rosemary said, "Just let me make a quick phone call to let Dr. Alvarez know. Would it be possible for Aurelia to help Vicki pick out some clothes too at Walmart? Vicki really doesn't know that much about clothes. And I am too old to know what girls want to wear these days."

Victor watched with amazement as the excitement in the room increased. It made him feel good somehow to know that he was the cause of all of this. Aurelia exclaimed, "I would love to help you! Can I?" Victor just smiled and nodded yes. The two hugged.

Victor soon found himself in the backseat of a car with Aurelia holding his hand and talking his ear off. She shared her knowledge of clothes as if she had been a designer of haute couture in Paris. In the front of the car sat her mom and his grandmother chatting away too. At Dr. Alvarez's office, Cindy placed the clamp on his ear lobe. He quietly endured the pain of the piercings by Dr. Alvarez. She chose simple loops to go in his ears. As he looked in the mirror, Aurelia went on about how pretty they will both look.

He nodded in agreement and then watched her get her own. Afterward the two friends headed over to the Salon. Cindy had arranged for a private session with a friend of hers. Because of the uniqueness of their relationship, it was decided that Aurelia would receive a makeover too. It seemed to Victor that Calista, the hairdresser, talked to Aurelia for ages. It was decided that she would get blunt bangs over her eyes and to leave her long flowing hair alone. But, in a twist, she would get colored a rusty color.

The result was stunning. Her bangs highlighted her face and drew attention to her delicate features. The color was lively. Not a flat shade like she had done it herself. It was rich with eddies of color that softened her face too while looking like it was her natural color. And, best of all, it meant that her favorite pink lip gloss stood out. The over all effect was so pretty that Victor giggled and said she should be in the fashion magazines on the table.

Calista studied Victor's brown hair. She pulled up a Celine Dion video with her having very short blond hair on her laptop. She froze the frame on Celine and carefully noted that she could do his hair in her style. She would dye his hair blond and then carefully pluck his eyebrows into a soft feminine shape. He thought about it for a moment about the blonde hair and then said, trying to sound like a girl, "There is this poster of the Backstreet Boys in my aunt's room. One of the guys has a really cute hairstyle."

"Aaron or Nick?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. It's parted down the middle of his head and looks long, but stops at his ears."

"That's Nick. Yes, that could work very well for you too. Let's see. I'll have to give you a perm so your hair is fuller and dye it blond. But, yes, that is a great choice."

The effect was magically by the time she was done. Victor was shown that if he combed it one way, he looked more like a boy. And if he did it like Nick did, he actually looked like a girl. "So, don't comb it like you're a boy." Calista winked at him. The unspoken observation was pregnant with meaning. She had been told who he really was. She then showed him how to comb it without needing a mirror so it looked more feminine.

Next, she set about plucking his eyebrows. By the time she was done, they had a soft curve and looked quite girly. About that time, a woman entered the salon and introduced herself to the girls as Allison. She was there to do their nails. It didn't take long, but she had their nails done too. She gave them each some lip gloss to go home with.

As Victor looked in the mirror, with his nails done a soft shell pink, the lip gloss they put on him a soft shell pink, his hooped ear studs, and his blond hair, he looked all girl in his aunt's dress. The only problem was that his shoes didn't match. They were the shoes of a cowgirl or a cowboy at the village. Simply ugly.

By the time the girls were done, it was lunch time and everyone was hungry. It was decided they all should go to a little Italian eatery around the corner.

Aurelia and Victor had kid plates of spaghetti and meatballs. His grandmother, Cindy, and Maria had small salads and bowls of minestrone soup.

Victor could tell his grandmother was tiring. Cindy saw it too. "I can run her home and be right back. One of the advantages of living in a small town." So, while they finished some gelato, Cindy ran his grandmother back home.

When Cindy got back, she followed the girls and Mrs. Gonzalez to the Walmart in her car. It wasn’t far either. At the Walmart, Cindy pulled out a Visa debit card and told the girls they have a $700 budget for shopping for Vicki. "Okay Aurelia, we have to be practical. She needs panties, socks, shoes, shorts, skirts, blouses, and dresses. A purse. One rain coat."

The women set to work. Mrs. Gonzalez grabbed a cart. The first stop was the shoe aisle. They found Vicki a pair of sport sandals with a rainbow on top of pink straps. Then they got her a dressier sandal with flowers on the straps. Then they found a pair of tennis shoes with stars on them that she could wear to school daily. To top it all off, they found on sale a pair of white patent summer dress shoes with a little heel.

Sixty dollars in, they found the underwear aisle. Victor found himself blushing. Aurelia pick up a bra and put it up against him. "You and me will be wearing one of these soon. Mercedes already is." She whispered, "She's got big boobs. She just started to wear C cups."

"Aurelia!" Her mom tore the bra from her hands and issued a strong retort. "This is not the time or the place to discuss this."

"Sorry, Mommy." She turned and winked at Victor who once again blushed.

One hundred and thirty dollars in, loaded up with underwear, socks, and shoes, they came to the girls section of the Walmart. Victor looked longingly at the boys section across the wide aisle. For him, it was a world away. And a simpler one at that. Over there, the only adventure in fashion choice was what Marvel hero or DC character he wanted to grace his t-shirt. Everything else was a miniature version of what his dad wore everyday. A polo shirt or a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a belt. A jacket to keep him warm.

The world on the side he now found himself on was an alien world filled with wonderful color, style, and other things that made little sense to his eight year old mind. For example, The jeans they were looking at were orange, or green, or a soft blue. They could flair at the bottom or have the knees look already worn out. He watched them fumbled through something called leggings to find him something to wear when it got cold at night or he just needed to wear them under shorts. It seemed obvious to him that if it is cold, you wear jeans. If the sun shines and it is warm, you wear jeans. If it is raining, you wear jeans. If it is Sunday, you wear slacks to church, which are nothing more than a nice pair of jeans.

He was thrown in and out of the changing room so often that he concluded that he could tack a nap in there and let them just hand him clothes. But, no, he was to give his opinion. What did he like and didn't like. Aurelia prodded him more than once to venture an opinion.

For about the first half, of the journey in this foreign land, his non-committal responses were aggravating to the threesome of feminine guides. But, soon, as his mind began to comprehend that his lack of interest would keep him there all day, he began to exert a form of choice verbally.

"I like that color. I've always liked blue."

"It's a boy color." said Aurelia.

"Still. I like it. This one too. I think it goes with my blond hair."

Walking around a circular rack, he pulled out a blue smock with flecks of grey. "I like this." he smiled and said. "Is it my size?" While the girls found one in his size, he found a similar top. It was a smocked bodice blouse that had nice long sleeves with sheer fabric wrapped around the sleeve. "Do they have it in my size too?" he asked putting the girls to work.

Looking elsewhere, he found a tye-dye blouse with straps and with a kind of shoulder wrap that traversed his front and back. It was a melange of yellow, pink, and blue.

Soon, everyone was following him. At the end of his shopping, he pulled out a navy blue dress and a lighter version with unicorns on it. Cindy was very impressed and said that they had only spent $550.

They headed over to the jewlery section. They got a few trinkets he could wear and a purse to carry stuff at school. Next to the aisle was some backpacks. In the moments that they were looking at the backpacks, Victor spots a rather nice necklace at the end of the jewlery aisle.

He had an idea. He picked up two that were the same. "Cindy, can I buy one for me and one for Aurelia as friendship necklaces, please?" Aurelia smiled and hugged him. He then suggested they get a dress in common for Tuesday. Aurelia and her mom raced over and got a copy of one of the dresses he had chosen.

Cindy said, "You know, Maria, we are just going to get him some school supplies now. If you girls want to head home, I am sure that we won't be much longer. So, the girls can still play if they want later."

"I like that idea. Aurelia has to clean her room."

"Can I help Vicki put her clothes away?"

As they walked away, Victor heard, "Only if you finish cleaning your room."

After they arrived back at his grandma's, Cindy said to Victor, "I have time to dilate you. I will be doing it twice a day for you. One other thing, Dr. Alvarez has scheduled a follow up on Friday with Dr. Smith. He says he has a surprise for you. So, don't plan anything for the weekend. You may not need to dilate ever again. Then I will help you put it all away."

He hugged her and said, "Thank you."

On the way to his room, Victor realized that all the photos of his family hadn't been updated in years. He wondered why. His grandmother was resting according to doctor's orders. After being dilated, they arranged his backpack with school supplies. They then unpacked all the clothes and began putting them away. All in all, shopping wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. After Cindy left, he pulled out a calendar they purchased and marked the day after Memorial Day as 'Oh Baby!' And then he marked 'Oh Boy! on the day after the last day of school.' The day he would be a boy again and the day he could go home again. While hanging the calendar up, he flipped up the month of April and stared at the dates he had highlighted. He couldn't understand why, but the last day of school gave him the sniffles.

He knew from the way Aurelia's mother spoke, he wouldn't see her for a while. With his grandmother asleep, he went to the phone and called his mother. It was a hard call. He could only tell her so much. He kept it simple. He had met a new friend. He also let on that dad's lawyer had worked it out so he could attend school, but wouldn't be graded. "It's okay Mom. I am bored. And, I will be able to spend time with kids my own age. Dr. Alvarez says it will give Grandma a much needed break. Plus, it will help you stay in bed, right? Dr. Alvarez says that is what a man does for his family."

He called home and got his dad, "Hi dad! I love you.

"Hey son, I hear your going to school tomorrow?"

"Then you have heard everything?"

"Sure have, I think it is a great idea. Keeps you out of trouble ahd gives your grandmother a break. Do you want to talk to your mom?"

"Hello my sweet little Victor. I guess you're dad is right having you stay there. I just miss you something awful."

"I've counted the days on the calendar I put up in my room. It will be only fifty-five days until I'll be back, Mom."

"You put up a calendar for that?"

"Yup, we went shopping today for school supplies and I got one."

"You sure about going to school? You've already passed third grade. Still, I think they could be right. You only have Susan to play with here." He heard his dad in the background say that she shouldn't worry so. "Just try and find a boy your age you can play with too."

"I will. I love you Mom."

"I love you too." He hung up. When he turned around, he saw his grandmother smiling at him.

"You don't like lying to her, do you?" He shook his head no.

"You know, when I had your dad, and it was about two months before he was born, your grandfather had to explain to me over and over again how a thermostat worked. I knew how one worked before I was pregnant, but, when your pregnant, all the blood in your body rushes to your baby first and then to your head. That is where your mom is right now. She won't be able to understand what happened to you fully because she is getting ready to have a baby. Your dad knows this, I know this, Dr. Alvarez knows this, and Cindy knows this. And we are counting on you to know this."

"So, I did the right thing?"

"Yes, Victor. You did the right thing. I am not going to tell you lying is a good thing. But, your mother is a bad place right now. Anything could tip it so she loses the baby. So, you are doing the right thing now being Vicki here and just Victor for her. Just so you know, Dr. Alvarez called and told your dad what happened. He is going to help you keep being Vicki a secret."

Victor gave his grandmother a hug. "Thank you Grandma. That makes me feel better." She patted him on the head.

Victor walked back into his aunt's room and closed the door. He looked long and hard at himself in her full length mirror. He looked like a girl. He was certain that if his mother walked by him right now, she wouldn't know who he was. Then his heart skipped a beat wondering if his mom would want to keep him now. Would she accept him being a girl? Is this why those dates on his calendar caused his tears? Maybe those dates were because he knew he was saying goodbye to Aurelia and would have to tell Aurelia who he really was? Or was it, as he thought more about it, the day he would have to say goodbye to Vicki, the girl in the mirror?

"I'm really a boy. So, why," he thought, "do I like being the person in the mirror?"

Copyright © 2020 by AuP reviner