Jason's Story

by Kristine Roland

Chapters 29 - 31. The continuing story of Jason, a young boy that is coming to terms with his transgendered nature, and his mostly supportive family.

"Gentlemen, is there a problem here?" Officer Dowling asked.

Authors Note: Thanks to Joni W for editing this section for me!

Chapter 29

The crowd erupted in anger. Everything seemed to happen at once. Coach Osborn rushed to Jason, while yelling at the umpire, Brad and the coach of the Tigers.

Brad tried to give an innocent look, putting both arms out in a questioning way, saying, "What, it slipped."

The Tiger's coach ran out to the mound shouting at Brad, "Not on my team!"

The umpire immediately pointed at Brad, and said, "You, you are out of here. That was deliberate."

Meanwhile, Jason was holding onto his head, his coach had reached him and said, "Jason, hold still. Are you ok?"

Brad was arguing with his coach and the umpire. The crowd, made up of families from both teams, was united in yelling at Brad. Brad finally walked off the field, into his dugout and kicked the helmets, dumped the box of practice balls, and threw the water cooler. He was completely out of control.

Brad's coach and one of his assistants, finally grabbed hold of Brad, and sat him forcibly down on the bench.

"Brad, you sit right there, and don't move. Don't say another word. Nobody on my team pulls the kind of stunt you just did. You sit there, and I don't want to hear another word from you. I have not seen your parents today, are they here?"

Brad shook his head no; his eyes glued on the scene at home plate.

Jason was now sitting up; he had taken his helmet off, and was sitting on the ground. His coach was kneeling in front of him. Kristine and Richard were close at hand as well.

"I'm ok, Coach, really." Jason said.

"Jason, that was a pretty good hit on the head, we have to make sure. Thank God you got your head turned at the last moment; it was headed right for your nose."

"Coach, it hit the helmet. It felt like a bell ringing around me, and knocked me over, but I'll be ok."

"Ok, stand up slowly, take it easy."

Jason got up slowly. Took a couple of good deep breaths, and closed his eyes. The umpire and the Tiger's coach came over, and asked, "Is he ok, Coach?"

"I think he will be. Jason, take your base, but I am going to put in a pinch runner. I think you need to sit out the rest of the game. You look pretty shaken."

Jason made the obligatory attempt to protest, but really did not push too hard.

Jason walked to first base, and the crowd clapped in acknowledgement. Once he touched first base, Coach Osborn sent out a pinch runner for him, and Jason walked into the dugout, to another round of applause.

The rest of the game was uneventful. Jason's team coasted the rest of the way to an easy win.. Jason and his parents spoke with Coach Osborn after the game.

"Ok, first off, you should know that the umpire, their coach and I signed a formal complaint to the league about Brad. Not only did he throw at you, which there is no doubt of, but the tantrum in the dugout shows he has no control of his temper. He will at the very least be suspended, but I expect he may even be kicked out of the league. We have also filed an injury report, so please have Jason checked out, and submit any out of pocket expenses to the league. That's what our insurance is for. Here are the forms."

Brad was still sitting on the Tiger's bench. His coach had called his father, and Brad was not allowed to leave until he had taken responsibility for him. Brad continued to stare at Jason with rage in his eyes.

As Jason finished packing up his equipment and was heading to the car with his parents, Brad's father pulled into the lot. He got out of the car, slammed the door and headed over to the Tiger's bench. As Jason and his parents were putting his equipment bag in the trunk, they heard Brad's father and coach getting into an argument.

"What do you mean suspended. For hitting a kid with a pitch! It's part of the game, you jack ass."

"Not deliberately throwing at the batter. No sir, it's not. Brad was upset because the kid made a great play on him, and got a hit off of him, the previous time he was up at bat. He threw at him twice, the second time right at his head. This is not acceptable. Then when he was ejected, he tore up the bench area. He needs to learn about anger management."

"That's bullshit. You wait, you will never coach in this league again you moron. Some wuss gets hit by a pitch and cries, then you kick the best kid you have off the team."

"Mr. Johnson, go ahead and try. I know the league rules, and they are not going to take this incident lightly. This complaint was signed off by the umpire, me and the other coach. As for the boy your son went after, he didn't do anything to deserve being thrown at, this is a rec league and it's about sportsmanship. Something you and Brad obviously don't get."

"I know about this kid, he has been giving Brad a hard time at school too. Almost got Brad expelled a few weeks ago. He is hardly innocent."

At that Richard lost it.

"Alright Johnson, enough of that nonsense. Your son is the one with the problem, not Jason. Brad objected because Julie Sanders was not interested in him, but was interested in my son. He went after Jason at the mall, and then at school. There are plenty of witnesses that saw it. I'll tell you right now, this has gone far enough. Brad could have killed him today. You had better get him into some counseling, and perhaps get some for yourself."

Brad's father turned toward Richard, and said, "Or what, gonna have your lawyers come after me. No wonder your son is a wuss."

"Well at least we know where your son gets it."

Mr. Johnson came up to him, Richard stood his ground.

"Gentlemen, is there a problem here?" Officer Dowling asked. "Johnson, I think it's time for you to cool down. Richard, go take care of Jason."

"Ok Tim."

"Johnson, I'm writing this up. If I find out that there are any other problems between you and Richard or Brad and Jason, it will be on record. Now take Brad and go home."

"Fine. Brad, come on." Brad and his father got into his car and left.

"Richard, I can't do too much, but if Brad keeps after Jason, let me know. Maybe we can work on building a harassment case. I'll talk to the D.A. about this and see what we need."

"Thanks Tim. I just don't want this to keep escalating like this. That boy needs to be reigned in, but the apple doesn’t fall short of the tree."

"No, it doesn't, does it."

Jason's Coach Osborn came over, "Tim thanks for getting over here quickly. I thought that was going to get ugly."

"No problem, thanks for calling me."

Richard said, "Thanks guys, we need to get Jason over to the clinic. I'll catch up with you later."

"See ya. Hey Jason, great game today. Get the all clear, we need you on Tuesday."

"Thanks Coach."

Chapter 30

They spent the better part of the afternoon at a local walk-in clinic, where Jason was checked for any signs of concussion. Fortunately, he was declared to be fine, but was told to take it easy, and to be very careful if he felt any dizziness, or got a headache.

Jason and his friends had intended to go skating that night, but his parents ruled that out. He called Julie and told her about what had happened and that he would not be able to go. Julie called back after speaking with the others and they decided to skip skating and asked if they could come over to Jason's house. His parents were fine with that.

They popped a movie in the player, in the family room, and paired off by couples. The conversation steered to discussing the events at the game.

"So what do you think is going to happen?" Kathy asked.

"I don't know. I think Brad will be suspended, probably kicked off the team. His coach wants him gone. Dad got a call from the D.A. tonight as well. They are looking at whether they can build a case for harassment. They want to get Brad in front of a juvie judge, if they can and get him ordered into some kind of anger management program. They agree that he seems to be out of control. The D.A. was not sure they could make a case of it though. They have started a file and will be speaking to the school on Monday."

The movie was awful, so they turned it off, and put on some CD's.

"Oh, I love this song!" Kathy said, "Come on." She pulled Steve off the couch to dance.

Steve said, "But I don't know how."

Kathy replied, "Then I'll teach you, silly. It's not hard. Just do what I do. Come on girls, drag them up here too!"

Julie and Sue laughed and pulled Jason and John up. They cleared some room by moving the coffee table to the side and the girls taught the guys how to dance. They were not about to win any contests, but the boys relaxed and started to have some fun.

Then a slow song came on. Kathy and Sue were going to take a break, but Julie took Jason by the hand and pulled him close. Jason was awkward, having never danced a slow dance before. Julie said, "Like this. Let me lead for now."

The other four watched for a few moments, and then Kathy took Steve's hand, and Sue took John's. Again they were awkward, as they moved with the music.

When it was over, Sue asked Julie, "Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"From my father," she replied. "He and Mom love to dance, and they started to teach Brian and me almost as soon as we could walk."

"Can you teach us?" Sue asked.

"Sure. If you would like?"

The others all nodded in agreement, so they queued up some more slow music, and Julie showed them the basics.

Kristine came down to check on them, and found a full-scale dance class going on.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Julie is teaching us all how to dance." John answered.

"So I see. You all seem to be getting the hang of it." Kristine said with a smile.

"I think so Mom. Would you care to dance?"

"I'd love too." Jason took his mother's arm and began a dance.

Richard came in, and with a smile, reached out to Julie. When the song was over, Kristine said, "Well, that was fun. Thank you Jason."

Richard said to Julie, "You are quite good. You have obviously danced a lot."

"Yes sir. Mom and Dad feel that everyone should know how to dance, and they made sure that Brian and I learned right from the start."

"Well as much as I hate to do it, it's just after 10, and I'm afraid we have to take you all home." Richard said.

They helped clean up, and then got into Richard's car. He dropped off everyone else before stopping at Julie's house. Jason walked her to the door, and asked, "Are you going to be able to come over tomorrow, Julie?"

"Yes, I'm looking forward to some time with my friend Kelly." She answered.

"She tells me she is looking forward to seeing you as well."

Chapter 31

The next day Julie came over early.

"My Aunt is coming over with one of her friends this afternoon. She is an expert with make-up." Jason told Julie.

"Cool! You think she will give me some help too?" Julie asked.

Jason laughed, "I can't see why not, but don't hold me to it."

"I won't. Too bad Kathy can't be here. She is really good, like I told you, but she always likes to learn more."

"You know, I wonder how Kathy and Sue would react if they were to know about Kelly. There are times when I really wish I could come out to them. I know I can't, especially since if they were to find out, Steve and John would have to know, and I am definitely not ready for that."

"You know, I think the girls would be fine with it. I don't know John and Steve well enough yet. It might be more of an affront to them and it would definitely be more difficult for them socially. Guilt by association."

"I know. Oh well, not going to happen. But it makes me appreciate you even more. I love our Sunday 'girl' time. Not that I don't enjoy our Saturday boy/girl time! Last night was certainly fun."

"I feel the same. You know, it really doesn’t matter much to me how you are dressed, your just you."

Jason just sat back and enjoyed that thought.

"So what are you doing for summer vacation? It's only another month away." He asked.

"I don't know. We will probably go someplace, but Mom and Dad haven't told us where or when. How about you?"

"We always go up to the lake house for a couple of weeks. Usually in early July."

"That sounds like fun."

"I wonder if Mom and Dad would let you come. John came one year, and Steve did another year. There are three bedrooms. We don't usually use the extra room. I'll have to ask."

"That would be really cool."

"Yeah, it's very secluded. I already talked to Mom; I'm planning on spending almost the entire time as Kelly. We are even gonna get me a girls bathing suit for swimming in the lake."

"Isn't that a bit risky? What about tan lines?"

"I burn really bad. So I use a very high SPF suntan lotion, so I rarely tan. We’re going to stick to a one-piece swimsuit. Mom said we would pick something that will look like a tank top, if I do tan."

"Ok… I guess that would work."

"Why don't we go ask her if you could come?"

"That sounds good to me. I might have to work on my parents to get them to say yes. They do like your Mom and Dad. I had to laugh, because they said, 'There kind of liberal, but not rabidly so.' I know your Mom told me that mine are 'kind of conservative, but not oppressively so.' She thinks my parents may not react as badly, as I think they will, if they find out about you and more importantly, about me."

They went and found Kristine, and Jason asked her if Julie could come with them.

"Maybe. We would have to get permission from your parents Julie. We certainly have the room. I guess the question is whether your parents would trust us to properly chaperone you two. Let me talk to Jason's father, and if he is ok with it, then I'll give your mother a call, Julie."

Later in the afternoon, Sally, Emily and Sally's friend Michele arrived.

They set up in the kitchen. Emily went into the family room to watch her cartoons.

"Ok Kelly, we’ll start with you. Don't worry Julie, I've got lots of time, we’ll make some time for you too."

"Thanks!"

"Now Kelly, we really need to do something about your hair first. Kristine, if you will let me, I will need to cut her hair. Trust me, I won't do anything to cause problems when he presents as Jason."

"Well ok.”

Michele clipped a wrap around Kelly's neck. She went to work, while Kristine looked on with trepidation. When she was almost done, she said, "Now, if we brush it like this, no one is going to think it is at all feminine."

"I will agree with that." Kristine answered.

Michele dug into her supplies, and pulled out a set of clip in extensions, selecting the ones that most closely matched Jason's hair. She went back to work, applying the extensions and then reshaping Jason's hair.

Kristine and Julie both looked on with major interest. Michele made sure that they could all see exactly what she was doing. When she was done, Kristine said, "Wow. I've never used extensions, but they look great. It totally changes her look."

"Ok, let's work on the face now. I'm going to clean up your eyebrows first. Again, not enough to cause you problems at school. But even guys brows don't need to be quite that bushy."

She then cleaned off the make-up that Jason had put on painstakingly that morning.

"This was not bad, but let me work with you here."

Michele got out her make-up kit. Julie looked on with great interest, and said, "I had to work with what I had."

Michele said, "Julie, it was actually very good. But I have some experience, particularly with girls like Kelly."

"You work a lot with transgendered people?" Julie asked.

Michele put her finger to her mouth and said, "shhh.. I'll let you in on a secret… I am a transgendered person."

"You are a man?" Julie said with surprise. Jason's eyes also went wide.

"Well, not anymore. But I was born male." Michele answered.

"So you’ve had the operation?" Jason asked, but then said, "Oh… I'm sorry that was rude."

"Yes. I have," She told Jason, "And it's ok for you to ask. That is one of the reasons that Sally asked me to come here today. We know that you have a long way to go before you will be making any kinds of decisions about such things, and you may find that you don't ever want to. If you find that you and Julie stay together, you may both decide that you don't want to lose that little bit of you that is all Jason. I know you are working with Dr. Daniels. He is really great; I worked with him too. He will definitely help you to figure out what is right for you. Now let me get started on showing you how to bring out your beauty."

Michele began to work on Jason's face. She showed her exactly what she was doing, both how and why. She explained why she was choosing each color and shade.

When she was done she brought out her mirror and showed Jason. Jason just looked on wide mouthed. "Oh my god, is that me?"

Kristine said, "That's amazing. I would never have guessed that she was really a boy, if I didn’t know her."

Julie looked at Jason and said, "Kelly, you look great."

Sally said, "Michele, I knew you were good, but that really is incredible."

"So Julie, would you like me to work on you next?"

"Oh, would I!" she replied.

"Have a seat."

Michele cleaned Julie's current makeup off, saying "Let's start with a clean slate."

Twenty minutes later, it was Julie's turn to stare in the mirror wide eyed.

Kristine said, "Michele that is just remarkable."

"They are both beautiful girls, all I did was help to bring out what was already there." She put together a package for each of the girls, with all of the make-up that she had used on each of them.

Kristine asked, "How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? You have to let me pay you for the supplies at least."

"No. I owe Sally my life. She was there for me when I needed a friend. This is just a down payment on what I owe her, and it was really my pleasure. This has been a lot of fun."

Michele packed up her things.

"Kelly, I mean it, if you have any questions, or ever need to talk to someone that has been through what you are going through, give me a call."

"Thank you, Michele, I will. I'm sure that I will take you up on that some time."

"Good, you do that. Sally, I'm going to have to go. I have to get back, or I'm going to be late. I'll see you next week?"

"Yes. Thanks for everything." Sally replied.