The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 1 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story. A few months have passed, and Kelly is celebrating Thanksgiving.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Chapter 1

It was Thanksgiving Day, a fine autumn morning in late November. Kelly Anderson woke up and lay in bed thinking about all that she had to be thankful for. Her leg was finally healed and out of the cast. She had to wear the cast since the first day of her freshman year in high school, when Courtney had slashed her leg with a field hockey stick during girl’s gym class, just in spite.

That incident, combined with Brad Johnson and his father throwing a brick through the picture window, in her living room, had shocked the town that Kelly lived in and although there were still those that disapproved of her, it did seem to put an end to the violent expression of that disapproval.

Brad Johnson had been ordered by the juvenile judge to undergo a complete physical and psychiatric evaluation. It was during the physical evaluation, that they had discovered that Brad had been beaten regularly by his father. Brad had bruises and burn marks all over his body in areas that would normally be covered. He had been removed from his father's care and placed in a program for older victims of child abuse, that were themselves violent.

Brad's father had been charged with child abuse, as well as contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a number of other charges; his trial is still pending. He had a strict restraining order and if he came anywhere near Kelly, his bail would be revoked.

Kelly felt bad about Brad. On the one hand, she was glad she no longer had to worry about being targeted by Brad; but she could not help feeling sorry for him. What would Brad have been like if he had parents that treated him with love and respect, like Kelly's parents did her?

So yes, Kelly knew that she had plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.

She had been going to Jefferson Regional High School for almost three months now, and the awkwardness from those first days had mostly passed. The other students were used to her now and for the most part treated her like one of the girls. The guys knew she was still physically male and they tended to keep their distance, like she might be contagious, but they did not harass her. Courtney and her crowd were still fairly cold, but Courtney had come very close to being expelled. Although her parents were quite upset that the school allowed Kelly to attend, Courtney's parents expected her to be top of the class. They expected her to go to an Ivy League school and records of expulsion were not conducive to that.

So Courtney was never going to ask Kelly to a slumber party, but she also did not go out of her way to attack her either.

Then there was Julie. Kelly still could not believe her luck with finding Julie. She thought back to that day when she and her mother went to the local mall. She was still Jason then and they had been so careless when they stopped at the shoe store. Julie had overhead them talking and she saw him trying on girls shoes.

The next day, Julie had confronted him about it. Next thing he knew, she was coming over for dinner and then they were dating. It had only been through the sheerest of luck that Julie had been the one to see him and that she had not only kept the secret but had quickly become Kelly's best friend and girlfriend.

Even after Kelly's cousin Tom had initiated the e-mail wave that had made Kelly's existence public knowledge, Julie had stood by her, even standing up to her own parents. When Kelly had finally accepted herself as Kelly and put Jason into her past, Julie applauded her and gave her full support.

Julie had turned fifteen in October and their families had celebrated together. After the initial shock Julie's parents had, when confronted with the fact that the boy their daughter was dating was transgendered, and that Julie was in fact probably a lesbian, they had accepted their daughter and in so doing found that they had accepted Kelly as well.

Julie and Kelly had gone to the Halloween dance at the high school together; Julie went as Will Turner and Kelly as Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean. They had won an award for most outrageous costume.

So yes, Kelly knew that she had plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.

In a little while, the guests would be starting to arrive at Kelly's house. All four of her grandparents, her Aunt Sally and Emily, Julie, Julie's mother, father and brother, would all be coming together for Thanksgiving.

Kelly knew that she had plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day, but it hurt, deep in her heart, that she would not be seeing her Aunt Jessica and Uncle Bob, her cousins, Tom and especially Billy.

They still refused to acknowledge that she even exists. In fact, the church that they belonged to, was the one really worrisome part of her life now, as they regularly protested at the school. They had been there the night of the dance, outside protesting, first that they even had a celebration of what they called a pagan holiday and that they allowed Kelly to attend.

She had seen transcripts of Reverend Tripard's sermons. He had exalted Tom's actions as exemplifying exactly what God wanted his children to do to expose sin, and he railed against the state for allowing this perversion into the schools.

He had a small but rabid group of followers. It was bad enough that these strangers were thinking of her this way, but to have her own family, especially Billy, be part of it, well that was almost more then she could stand.

And yet, Kelly knew that she had plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day, so she scolded herself for her feelings of melancholy and got up to get ready for the day.

Chapter 2

Kelly was in the living room with Julie, as the rest of the guests started to arrive. Emily came running in and Kelly said, "Emily, don't you look pretty today. I love your dress!"

Emily replied, "Thank you!"

Aunt Sally followed behind and said, "Happy Thanksgiving, Kelly, you too Julie."

They both replied, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Soon all of the guests had arrived. The men headed down to the family room and put the game on. Kelly for the first time was welcomed in with the ladies of the clan. His two grandmothers came over and Grandma Lizzie said, "So Kelly, how does it feel to be up here, instead of hanging out with the guys watching football?"

"It feels good. I was never big on football anyway and I don't mind helping out up here."

"Well, we have lots of help so it is not so bad and we get to chatter away and complain about the men!" said grandmother Lizzie.

Kelly and Julie helped with setting up the table and they brought trays of snacks into the family room. They had too many people to try to sit at one table, so they were eating buffet style. The turkey was out of the oven and waiting to be carved. Kelly's father would take care of that task as soon as they called him.

They had set out a large platter of cocktail shrimp and sauce, pickles, olives, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, the china plates and the silverware. They put out a glass pitcher with Apple Cider and a bottle of White Wine for those so inclined.

The potatoes were done boiling; the water was being poured into the pan with the drippings and the water from the boiled giblets, to stretch the gravy. The extra pan of sausage stuffing, which did not fit in the turkey, was in the oven.

"Kelly, please call your father and tell him to come carve the bird." Her mother asked.

"Ok mom."

Kelly went and got her father, who came up to the kitchen.

"Alright, looks like everything is just about ready. Give me some room here." He said. He took a big bowl and spooned the stuffing from the turkey into the bowl. "Kristine, it smells delicious!"

Kelly's mother was busy at the stove making the gravy, while his Aunt Sally was working on mashing the potatoes. Kelly and Julie stood and watched the gravy being made. "You girl's want to learn the trick to making gravy?"

"Sure, Mom."

"Well, I cheat a little, I use Wondra." She whispered, like this was a huge secret.

"Why is that cheating?" Kelly asked.

"I'm teasing. Wondra is a kind of instant flour; basically it is designed to dissolve quickly in hot or cold liquids and is used to thicken sauces and gravies. You can do the same thing with regular all-purpose flour, but it tends to lump. It's much simpler with Wondra. Anyway, what we do is, we take the drippings from the turkey pan, add the starchy water from the potatoes and the water from boiling the giblets. This gives us a nice base to build on. Put that over medium heat, we want it to simmer, then we add the Wondra, a little bit at a time, and whisk it in. See. Then we let it sit a little and then we’ll repeat the process until we get it as thick as we want. I will add just a little bit of Gravy Master, which adds a little bit of seasoning and adds a brownish color to the gravy. Here, you try."

Both Kelly and Julie took turns adding the Wondra and whisking the gravy, while Kelly's mom looked on. Julie's mom came by and said, "Not bad girls. You are getting the hang of it."

Within no time, the gravy was done, the bird carved, the potatoes mashed, and everything was brought out to the tables.

The guys were called for dinner and everyone took their turn in line to grab a plate. Soon enough, everyone found a place to grab a seat, some in the living room; others were in the family room. Kelly and Julie sat with Emily to keep her company, at the table in the kitchen.

In all too short a time, everyone was completely stuffed. The men headed back to watching the game and the ladies started to clean up. Aunt Sally said, "What is that chemical in the turkey?"

"What chemical?" Kelly asked.

Her mother replied, "The one that makes men watch football and women clean!"

All of the women laughed.

"Ok, it's officially Thanksgiving now, thanks Sally for getting that mandatory cliché done and over with," said Grandma Lizzie.

With all of the women helping, they made short work of cleaning up. They put on a pot of coffee and Kelly's mom said, "I think we should wait a while before we start thinking about dessert. I know I need to let some of dinner digest."

There was much mutual agreement. Kelly and Julie grabbed Emily and went into Kelly's room. Kelly's room had been recently painted; it was now a light pink. The bedspread was now a white with a touch of lace, and an embroidered flower in the center. The curtains were also white with a touch of lace. Gone were the sports team posters, but nothing had really replaced them yet.

"Your room sure has changed, Kelly!" Emily said.

"Yes, it has Emily. I hope you like the changes as much as I do." Kelly said.

"Oh yes. I sometimes miss Jason a little bit though." Emily said.

"I know Emily. But believe me, I'm still me, even though I'm Kelly now. And believe me, I love you the same as I always did." Kelly said.

"I love you too." Emily said.

They played with Emily until Aunt Sally came in to tell them that it was time for dessert. When they came out they found the buffet table had been reset and there were Apple Pies, Pumpkin Pies, Mince Meat Pies, as well as a big bowl of fresh home-made whip cream. There were cookies and brownies, ice cream and other pastries.

After everyone had eaten dessert and it was all cleaned up, people started to depart for home. Julie gave Kelly a quick kiss, as she and her family left.

As Kelly got ready for bed that night, she thought about the day. She had been treated no differently than any of the other women in the family. Yes, Kelly knew that she had plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.

Chapter 3

As Julie lay in bed that evening, she smiled as she thought about Kelly playing with her cousin. This was one of the things she had liked about Kelly right away, even when she was still hanging on to being Jason. She thought back to that first time that she had seen Jason playing with his cousin. It was right after that first altercation with Brad. She remembered how she had been upset about Jason's macho behavior, and how she had come to realize that it was the life that Jason had to deal with, as long as he was Jason. Watching Jason playing with Emily had really solidified her feelings for him.

They had both come a long way since that day. Kelly had burst out and had no intention of being put away. Julie had come to realize that Kelly was almost certainly going to need to go the whole way and have surgery when she was old enough. Julie had mixed emotions about this, not that she had said anything to Kelly about it. But she wondered if she would be able to bring herself to really truly be in a lesbian relationship. She was not attracted to boys, she knew that, and she was only mildly attracted to girls. She was turned on thinking about Kelly though, a girl with boy parts. She wasn't sure about how she would react when Kelly did not have any boy parts left.

While Julie had finally discovered masturbation, while thinking about Kelly with boy parts, she had decided that she needed to try to focus on Kelly with girl parts, because if that was not going to work, she had better figure that out sooner, rather than later.

She started to think about Kelly being in her bed with her and she thought about kissing her hard. Then she imagined starting to play with Kelly's breasts; that was definitely something she would enjoy. She touched her own as she thought about it. Now for the moment of truth, she imagined working her way down Kelly's belly and to the vee of her crotch. She thought about her hand finding its way to Kelly's vagina, while she envisioned looking into Kelly's eyes, her hand felt her own vagina. While she had always disliked touching herself there, as she thought about touching Kelly there and making her feel the pleasure that she knew could be had, she found she wanted to touch Kelly that way. She wanted to make Kelly squirm with pleasure, as she pretended that what she was feeling was Kelly, she had the most powerful orgasm she had ever had.

When she finally stopped convulsing, she smiled, licked her lips and said, "Ok, I think that answers that question."

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 2 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Chapter 4

"Mommy, when are we going to see Grandma and Grandpa Anderson again," Billy asked.

"I don't know, Billy."

"I miss them. I miss Emily and Aunt Sarah too. I miss playing with Jason," Billy said.

"Jason is a sinner, Billy. Until Jason comes back to God, you can't see him."

"What has he done, Momma?"

"He mocks the gifts our Lord has given him. He was made male, in God's image, and he spurns that, to pretend to be a woman.'

"Why, Momma."

"I don't know, Billy. I cannot fathom what could possibly drive him to want this."

"Are you sure Jason is a boy, Mommy? Maybe he is really a girl and no one knew it."

"Billy, Jason is definitely a boy. Boys and girls are different, and when he was a baby I changed his diapers and I could see that he was a boy. Just as you are a boy and Emily is a girl."

"How are boys and girls different?"

Jessica started to get annoyed. "Billy! They just are Billy. Look, you are a boy because you have a boy's pee pee. Emily is a girl, because she has a girl's pee pee. Jason has a boy pee pee, so he is a boy. Enough already. Jason is a boy, and his pretending to be a woman is a sin. He should be thankful to God, for making him the way he is."

"Oh…" Billy walked away, with a thoughtful look on his face.

Jessica, now really annoyed, "Just great, my pervert nephew is contaminating Billy, even without having contact. Something has to be done!" Jessica picks up the phone, "May I speak with Reverend Triphard?”

***

At the Jefferson Regional High School, Kelly and her friends sat eating lunch. Kathy was paired off with Steve, Sue with John, Kelly and Julie. Meghan also joined them.

Steve said, "Kelly, I wish we could have you on the boy's soccer team, we could really use you on defense."

"Heck with that, I wish we could have had her on the girl's team," Kathy replied.

"I know, I miss it, but it did not feel right for me to be on either squad, and besides, I was in a cast when tryouts started. Besides, I'm having fun in the choir, and that would have interfered," Kelly said.

"Are you going to try out for cheerleaders next spring?" Kathy said, with a glint in her eye.

"Oh, yeah right. I'd want to subject myself to having to deal with Courtney on a daily basis," Kelly said.

"Maybe you could knock her off the team," Kathy replied.

Kelly answered, "Fat chance of that ever happening."

Meghan, said, "I don't know… I think we should start working on campaigning for you, to be ready to make a run at Homecoming Queen, by the time we are seniors. That would really be something.

"Homecoming Queen? Julie would be a much better choice." Kelly replied.

"Oh, sure. That's all I need, run for a title of Queen. I'm already considered to be the token lesbian for the freshman class." Julie said.

"Well, if you're a lesbian, then so am I. I would think that definition of Queen, would be more directed at me then you. Besides, we have three more years to get through, before we have to worry about any of that."

Meghan, "I know, but I can dream can't I? I would love to turn the establishment upside down on this sort of thing. You know how much I love Courtney's crowd."

"Believe me, I understand. It didn't take her long to overcome the initial cold shoulder, that she and Brad got, after their attacks on me. Her old crowd took right to her again." Kelly said.

Sue answered, "True, but that really wasn't that surprising. They were cold only while they waited to see what was going to happen. Face it, with them, it's all about status, they don't even know what it means to be a real friend."

"Still, it can't hurt to work on getting Kelly into a position where she could run. Face it, to have a chance you have to be pretty and popular. Pretty is not a problem, and for all the initial problems you faced, most people have accepted you. Especially the girls." Meghan said.

Kirsten Conklin stopped over, "Hey gang, mind if I join you for a few minutes?"

"No, not at all." Julie said, "Have a seat."

Kirsten took a seat and said, "Thanks, Julie. Everyone have a nice Thanksgiving?"

They all nodded and told her yes.

"Good. Anyway, as you know, I'm on the school newspaper." Kirsten said.

They all nodded in agreement.

Kirsten hesitated and then said, "Kelly, you know that I think that you are very brave to be doing what you are doing, and completely support you."

Kelly nodded, "Kirsten you have been a big help to me, I consider you to be a friend."

Kirsten's smile brightened, "Thank you Kelly. I think of you that way too." She reached over and touched Kelly's hand.

"So what is it you are trying to ask me, Kirsten," Kelly asked?

"I want to do an article on you and on the issue of Transgendered Teens. I've done a lot of reading since I found out about you and I think that it is an issue that needs to be talked about. I promise that it will be a positive article and that I will let you read what I write about you and let you have the right to require adjustments."

"I don't know Kirsten… things have settled down, I don't know if I want to rile them up again," Kelly said.

"I understand that, Kelly. I just think that it is an important topic. So many of the students have questions and I think that educating them can only help. I'm not asking you to make a quick answer, sleep on it. Kelly, you know me, I wouldn't do this if I thought it was going to hurt you."

"Kirsten, I know that. Really I do, I trust you; that is not the issue. As I said, you have been a big help to me, and I know you would not knowingly hurt me. Let me think about it. I need to talk it over with my parents as well."

Kirsten said, "Fair enough, Kelly. If you do decide to let me, I'm going to want to interview all of you as well, so please think about that as well."

With that, Kirsten got up and went back over to the table with her friends.

"Hmm… That was interesting," Sue said.

"I'm kind of surprised the school paper would even consider such an article. They usually stay away from anything controversial," Steve added.

John asked, "Do you think she has already approached Mr. Griphon, isn't he the faculty advisor for the paper?"

Kelly said, "Interesting point. What do you know about Mr. Griphon?"

"Not much. He teaches twelfth grade Literature," Kathy replied.

Kelly said, "I'll talk it over with my parents tonight. See what they think."

Chapter 5

Later that night, Kelly and her mother worked together to make dinner. "Mom, Kirsten Conklin wants to write an article on transgendered teens for the school newspaper. She is one of my big supporters at school and she would like to interview me."
"Oh, I'm not sure that is such a good idea. It might stir the pot. Things have improved quite a bit since September; that might just bring it back to the center of attention again."

"I know, I had the same concern. You know, even last month at the Halloween dance, we were still getting picketed by Aunt Jessica's crazy church. Do you really think this would be any worse?"

"Well, most people think that Reverend Triphard is a lunatic, and that his followers are off the wall lunatics as well, so I don't think too many people put too much stock in them. But if the school newspaper were to print a positive article about you and provide real information on Transgendered children, well, there are those that would be pretty upset about it."

"So you don't want me to do it?"

"I did not say that. I can't really make the decision for you; on the one hand, of course, what I want is for you to be safe. On the other hand, it is an issue that people need to be educated on. You and I both know that there have to be other kids in the school that are just too afraid to tell anyone.

"So you want me to do it?"

"I did not say that either. I don't know. It's a risk. Is it as big a risk as going to school as Kelly in the first place? Probably not. You are sure that you trust Kirsten to treat you fairly and to put a positive spin on things? Who is the faculty advisor for the paper, I'd want to check on them as well."

"Yes, I trust Kirsten. She has been a vocal supporter since the first day of school. I think of her as a friend. Not a best friend, but a friend. She has her own circle of friends, just as I do. You know how that goes. I don't have problems with any of the people she is close to; she doesn't hang out with the jerks. The faculty advisor is Mr. Griphon. I don't know him."

"I'll do some checking on him, it is important."

"Ok."

"How was choir practice tonight?"

"It was good. We are working on the songs for our first performance. We got the details finally. We are going to do a tour of the area nursing homes, the senior center, and the local hospital, late in December. We're performing a selection of the Christmas and Hanukah music, from what we will be performing at the concert, at the school on December 22. I need you to sign the permission slip to let me go on the field trip. I'll miss some classes."

"That's not a problem. I'm glad to hear that, I know that those concerts mean a lot to the seniors. I think it is a great tradition for the choir. I'm proud of you for being part of it."

"I like it. It's one of those things, were it really doesn't matter if I'm a girl or not, my voice just is what it is and belongs in the right section. There are both girls and boys in my section."

"Did they measure you for your gown finally?"

"Yes, we finally got measured tonight. That was a bit awkward. They had us split up into different rooms, because they needed to do that privately, they had to do me separately."

"Oh… Yes, I guess they would have."

"Yeah, the lady that was doing the measuring for the gowns, was not the nicest of people."

"No?"

"No, she was kind of short, and definitely was not happy about it." Kelly said

"Did you get the measurements?"

"Yes. I wrote them down."

"Good, because we are going to have them checked. I don't want you to get a gown that doesn't fit, because some bigot did not like you."

"I thought the same thing." Kelly told her.

Chapter 6

After dinner that night, Kelly and her mother drove to the local mall.

"You know, it's almost nine months since that day I brought you here, and got you your first clothes of your own. Hard to believe isn't it."

"Yes. Things sure have changed since then. I just wanted to make sure I didn't wake up and find out I had been dreaming. I couldn't believe it when I came home that day and you told me where we were going and what we were going to be buying. You thought I would be disappointed, because it wasn't a 'complete' wardrobe. I was ecstatic."

"I remember. By the way, I meant to ask you this summer. Remember when we had that conversation, right after we met with Dr. Adams? The first time you dressed in front of me, that morning you helped me around the house, with socks for breasts?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"You came out and said, that it was just comfortable, and I said, tell me that it's comfortable on a one hundred degree day to be wearing a bra."

"Hey, I told you that I knew it wouldn't be! That it wasn't what I meant. You think it's bad for you, try wearing these breast forms. They hold and reflect the heat!"

Her mother laughed, and said, "Ok. Ok… That's right, you did say that."

They walked into the mall and headed to a store that carried formal wear.

"Mrs. Berkley works here; she is a good friend of mine. We will get her to check your measurements for the gown."

Mrs. Berkley looks up and says, "Kristine, Hi! Hello Kelly. What brings you here?"

"Joan, Kelly is in the choir, and they had their measurements taken today. The lady that did it though, was apparently not happy about Kelly, so we want to make sure that she did it right."

"Well, I can help you with that. Come on back into the measuring room. Jennifer, I will be back out in a moment." Mrs. Berkley said to the other sales assistant.

Kelly and her mother followed Mrs. Berkley into the back room.

"There is no one in their now, so don't worry. Kelly please go in there, and take off your outer clothes, and then come back here." She locked the outer door.

When Kelly had stripped down to her underwear, she came out to the measuring room. Mrs. Berkley quickly took Kelly's measurements.

Mrs. Berkley asked, "So how do they compare?"

"Damn, I knew it. Look at this, these are the measurements that they took, and these are yours." Kelly's mother showed Mrs. Berkley.

"Oh, my. Kelly would never be able to wear a gown with those measurements. It's too small in the bust and too big in the hips, it would look horrible on her. She would have to remove the breast forms to get it on at all, and even then it would look ridiculous."

"Thanks Joan. I'll be calling the choir leader in the morning."

After a few more minutes of chit chat, they left the mall and went on home.

The next morning, Mrs. Anderson called the school and asked to speak to the choir director. She was in class at the moment so she left a message asking her to please call back immediately.

Around lunchtime she got a call from Mrs. Dixon.

"Thank you for calling Mrs. Dixon. We have a problem. Kelly showed me the measurements that were taken for her gown last evening. I did not think they looked right, so I went and had her professionally measured last night, and they are clearly wrong. They are too tight in the bust, and way too loose in the hip area. If the gown is delivered as they measured, it will not work. Kelly mentioned that the woman taking the measurements, was not pleasant to her, and this comes off as intentional. I certainly hope that she did not make similar mistakes for the rest of the choir!"

"Mrs. Anderson, I am shocked to hear this. I have been working with this company for many years. Mrs. Drysdale has never made a mistake like this before. Let me call the company and get it corrected, and see what I can find out."

A little while later, she got another phone call from Mrs. Dixon.

"Mrs. Anderson, I am so sorry. I just spoke with the owner of the company that supplies our gowns. He was shocked when he learned what had happened. He would like to confirm the measurements for himself. Can he come to your home tonight? He said that if the measurements are confirmed as being off, as you have said, he will provide Kelly's gown for free. I told him that I was deeply disappointed that Mrs. Drysdale would deliberately attempt to do something like this, no matter how she felt about Kelly."

"Mrs. Dixon that will be fine. We will be home this evening, please give him the information, and have him call me to confirm the time."

"Thank you Mrs. Anderson. I will. Please let me know if there are any further issues."

"Thank you Mrs. Dixon, I will."

That night, right at seven o'clock, the front doorbell rang. Mrs. Anderson opened the door, and a middle aged, dark haired man, wearing a meticulous suit, was waiting on the stoop.

"Mrs. Anderson? I am Stanley Winthrop; we spoke on the phone earlier today." The man handed her his card.

"Yes, Mr. Winthrop, please come in."

Mr. Winthrop followed her into living room.

"Kelly is in her room, shall we do this in there? It is a bit more private."

"That will be fine."

They went into Kelly's room, and found Kelly working on her homework, at her desk.

"Kelly, this is Mr. Winthrop. He will need to take your measurements again. What do you need her to do?"

"Please stand up, Kelly."

Kelly stood up and came to the middle of the room.

"That is sufficient. Mrs. Anderson, I do not need to measure Kelly. There is no way that Mrs. Drysdales measurements could be correct. They are over an inch off in the bust area alone, and I can see that the hip measurement is completely wrong. Just to be clear, my dear, you were wearing those breast forms and were not wearing any kind of hip enhancement yesterday were you?"

"Yes sir, I was wearing these forms, and don't have anything for the hips."

"I assumed as much, but needed to be certain. Thank you my dear. I am very sorry that your experience with our company has been less than stellar. We pride ourselves on customer service, and quality. Mrs. Anderson, here is your check, it has not been cashed. Kelly's gown is on the house and it will be made to the correct sizes. Mrs. Drysdale will be disciplined accordingly. We do not condone such behavior and she has sullied our name."

"Mr. Winthrop, I appreciate your integrity, and your personal attention to this matter." Kelly's mother told him.

"Mrs. Anderson, my great grandfather started this business, over one hundred years ago. I could do no less. I must be going, thank you for allowing me to address this situation."

Mrs. Anderson walked Mr. Winthrop to the front door.

Kelly came up to her and said, "thank you, Mom. I love you."

Kelly gave her mother a huge hug, and then went back to her homework.

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 3 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Chapter 7

Kirsten came over to the lunch table where Kelly and her friends were sitting. She was carrying a stack of papers.

"Kelly, here you go, hot off the press, the new edition of the Jefferson Weekly," Kirsten said. She handed a copy to each of them and gave a handful to Kelly.

Kelly took them from Kirsten and said, "Thanks Kirsten."

Kirsten headed over to her own table, and Kelly opened up the paper and found the article she was looking for.

Transgendered Kids
By Kirsten Carlin

Gender — Male, or Female. From the moment we are born, the world begins to treat us differently based on the outward signs of our physical gender. Little boys are dressed in blue, little girls in pink. Our rooms are painted in colors that denote our gender. The toys that we are presented with are dictated by our gender.

You are a boy, or you are a girl. These messages are constant.

For most people the minds image and the body's image are in synch. For some though, they are not, and the painful realization begins early on; as the messages are a constant reminder that something is terribly wrong.

Gender identity begins as early as 8 to 10 months in children and is usually set by the time they are four years old.

Why do some children develop a gender identity that is the opposite of their body's gender? No one really knows. There are a number of theories. One of the most prevalent theories today is that the hormonal 'washes' that occur at various times during the development of the fetus, that pushes the fetus to be male, or leave it female, may misfire and cause the brain to develop along a different path from the physical gender.

Regardless, studies show that forcing a child into the role that they do not identify with reinforces hatred for their bodies. This in turn leads into depression and self esteem issues, often leading to drug addiction, alcohol, and a high risk of suicide.

However, those who are allowed to follow the gender they identify with as a whole, are happier, more self confident, better able to resist the influence of drugs and alcohol, and are at a much lower risk of suicide. Most of the problems these children face are from outside forces, due to society's inability to accept them in the role their minds identify with.

In the past, transgendered children have been forced to live their lives trying to be what society expected them to be. Around the country however, the plight of these students are beginning to be recognized and new opportunities are opening up to allow them to express their gender as they feel is appropriate.

Kelly Anderson, a freshman at Jefferson Regional High School was born and lived the first fourteen years of her life as Jason Anderson. Over the summer between her final year in middle school, and the start of high school, the secret that only Kelly and a few of her closest friends and family knew, became suddenly all too public.

An e-mail sent by Kelly's cousin Tom Merrick, including a picture taken over the summer of Kelly and her friend Julie Sanders in swimsuits, was sent to a few students and spread through the shocked community in a matter of minutes. With the support of her family, and friends, Kelly decided that it was time to begin full time transition to Kelly.

When word of Kelly's decision to attend JRHS this year became public knowledge, a meeting of the Board of Education became a contentious affair, as the divided community made their arguments for and against allowing Kelly to attend. The issue was never truly in doubt, because recent changes in the state law makes it quite clear that Kelly must be allowed to attend, and that the recommendation of her doctors must be honored.

Kelly's first day of high school, was certainly one for her to remember. She was attacked in gym class during a game of field hockey, and received a hairline fracture. Later on that evening, a brick was thrown through the picture window in her family's living room. It was an inauspicious start to her high school career.

Since then, things have quieted down as the community, while still somewhat split on her attending as a whole, was appalled by the violence.

Kelly says, "My earliest memories of feeling that something was wrong go back to when I was maybe 4 or 5. I don't know if I realized what it was then. I just felt wrong. I wanted to play with the girls and I wanted to dress like them. It hurt, because I was always told, ‘you’re a boy.’"

Kelly is under the care of Doctor William Daniels, a well known expert in the Gender community. Doctor Daniels would not comment on Kelly's case specifically, but said, "While we are still learning a lot about what causes gender identity disorders; what we do know is that the vast majority of the problems associated with it, are societal. Particularly in children, what we have seen is that allowing the expression of the preferred gender, instead of insisting on squelching such expression, leads to healthier, happier, and content individuals. There have been a few well publicized cases lately of even very young children being allowed to attend school as their preferred gender. For more information on this, check out Transkids Purple Rainbow at http://www.transkidspurplerainbow.com/. They were featured in a Barbara Walters special, on 20/20, in April 2007."

One of the problems that young transgendered children face is the betrayal they feel as they enter puberty, and their bodies begin to change in ways that are distasteful for them. A controversial new treatment option exists, where the child takes medication designed to postpone puberty. One such drug is Lupron Depot. This procedure is completely reversible, simply by discontinuing taking the medicine. This option is being used to give transgendered children more time to make a decision, and to prevent the changes that are difficult, costly and often painful to reverse, once they have occurred.

Kelly hid herself so well from her family and friends that she almost waited too long. Kelly is fifteen years old, and puberty had already begun. However, she was lucky in that she was a late bloomer and as Jason had not yet needed to shave. Her voice had not dropped and most of the typical male pattern changes of puberty had not taken hold. She began taking Lupron Depot this past summer and her puberty has been arrested, in fact it has reversed a few of the changes that had begun.

In another year or so, Kelly along with her doctor's and her parents, will decide whether to move into the next phase, or to continue on with this treatment. Phase 2, should she decide to move forward, will be to start taking estrogen. Entering phase 2, after having been on Lupron Depot, will begin her puberty, but as a female. Phase 2, if she chooses to move forward with it, is irreversible. Soon after beginning phase 2, the patient becomes sterile.

Unlike in some European countries that have recognized the medical necessity of treating transgendered youth, in the United States, these procedures and medications are not covered by insurance. Lupron Depot is expensive, it can cost between $500 and $700 a month.

Kelly says, "I'm very lucky to have my parents support. We are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, and I know that Mom and Dad have made some pretty big sacrifices in order to be able to pay for my treatments."

Kristine Anderson, Kelly's mother, says, "It is expensive, and we have had to be creative in finding ways to pay for the treatments, but you do what you have to do."

Asked about what her first reactions were when she found out that her son was hiding his need to be her daughter, Mrs. Anderson said, "I was shocked. Jason, while not the most macho of boys, did not appear to be effeminate. We talked to his pediatrician and began to see Dr. Daniels and we did a lot of research. I never really realized how unhappy Jason had been, until we got to see him as Kelly. I was pretty luke warm to it, to be honest, I wanted Jason to resist his needs. I could see how much that was hurting him, and when Dr. Daniels recommended giving him some time to explore the inner girl, I did not fight it. Kelly was just so happy when she got that chance and it was a happy in a way I had never seen in Jason. I could not really fight it once I understood that."

Kelly has a group of close friends. When the picture of Kelly and her girlfriend Julie was made public, she stood by her friend. "I was the first person to meet Kelly after her parents. To be honest, I had caught Jason and his mother shopping for clothes for Kelly and I wanted to help Jason, so I knew when we started dating. To be honest, it has been fun watching her grow. When she first started she was so tentative and needed to learn everything that we all learn when we are younger. She was a quick study though!"

Kathy and Sue, friends of Julie, first got to know Jason and then learned about Kelly. Kathy said, "Jason was a nice guy, and it was clear that he was good for Julie. When we figured out that he was also Kelly, it was a bit of a shock, but since Julie obviously knew and was so happy, we could not help but be happy for her. We had all kinds of questions for Kelly when we finally met her and made a nuisance of ourselves, but we saw very quickly she was really just one of the girls and we think she is great."

Kelly had two best friends when she was Jason. Neither John, nor Steve, had any clue about their friends suppressed alter ego. They first learned about it when the swimsuit picture became public.

John said, "At first I was furious at Jason. I felt betrayed and it’s like this person I had known, had been lying to me my whole life. Kathy and Sue made me see it from Kelly's perspective, though. How hard it had been for her, to have to face every day pretending to be the boy that everyone thought she was, afraid of how people would react. Once I gave her a chance and got to know her as Kelly, I could see how much more at ease she was. I really could not begrudge her that. Then when school started and she was attacked like that, I saw why she had chosen to hide so long."

Asked about her immediate and future plans, Kelly said, "Right now I'm just trying to enjoy every moment. A year ago, I could not have dreamed that I would actually be attending school and being accepted by most people as Kelly. I wake up every morning, get dressed, and am thankful for the support of my family and my friends. And so many, like you, that have reached out to me and offered their support. I hope that in time, my cousin and my Aunt and her husband will be able to accept me as well. I miss them, and it hurts, but even though they have rejected me, I forgive them, I know that they actually are doing what they think is right. As for the future, I don't know yet. I have a lot of decisions to make, but I'll make them when it seems right, with a little help from my friends." Kelly smiled as her friends all began singing the classic Beatle's song behind her.

As the interview came to an end, Kelly asked to make one final point. She said, "I am very fortunate to have all the support that I have. I am not the first transgendered person to come to this school. As many of us learned at the Board of Education meeting, Chris Fienberg attended this school, just a few years ago. Chris did not have any support, and ultimately he took his own life when he simply could not face it any more. I would not be here today, if it were not for all those that came before me and fought for the changes in the laws, and have given me this chance, I will not forget them."

It has been a little over three months now since Kelly's first inauspicious day at JRHS. Despite all of the hand wringing and warnings expressed by concerned parents, The world as we know it, did not end, the school is still standing and going strong, and the students are learning. It begs the question, "What was all the fuss about anyway."

---

Reverend Triphard put down his copy of the Jefferson Weekly. "Let's see how they like national attention." He picked up the phone and called a friend of his that worked for Firefly News Network. "Charlie. Hi it's Joe Triphard here. Yeah, how is your wife? Good, good. The kids? Really, good for Simon. Look, we have one of those crazy situations I know your boss just loves to gripe about, going on here. Yeah, 15 year old boy is going to the local High School, prancing around dressed as a freakin' girl, and the school board isn't doing anything to stop it. Yeah, they say the laws here have their hands tied. Yeah, they even published an article in their school newspaper about it. I'll fax it to you right away. Thanks, Charlie."

Authors Note:
I'm sorry for the delay and the relatively short update. The holidays and general real life obligations have made it tough to find the time or energy to write, and this section was hard as I tried to write this as an article. I researched a lot about Lupron Depot and the treatment as well, and that took some time. I hope to have more time, and with getting past this hurdle, be able to get back to posting more regularly. With Christmas and family obligations however, it still may be a bit behind where I would like to be. Thanks for reading, and your patience.

Kristine Roland

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 4 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Kelly deals with the fallout from the school article.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

I am very sorry that this took so long to post. I got good and sick over the holidays, and as a result really had trouble concentrating on writing, or much of anything else. So things got backed up (heck we still have not gotten our Christmas tree down, if that gives you any idea.) I hope to be more regular going forward, now. Thanks for your patience, and I hope this part will have been worth the wait.

Kristy

Chapter 8

The first few days after the publication of Kirsten's article in the school newspaper, brought heightened focus on Kelly again. For the most part, the students that she spoke to were curious and politely asked her follow up questions.

There were a few students though, that took whatever opportunities they could to get a dig in, "Hey Jason, I hear your choo choo is stuck at Lupron Depot."

Kelly simply ignored such taunts when they occurred.

The choir suits and gowns were delivered later that week while she was attending choir practice after school. Mr. Winthrop personally oversaw the delivery. Nothing was said about the absence of Mrs. Drysdale. The choir split up into boys and girls groups, in order to try on their costumes.

While the rest of the girls changed in the girl's locker room, Kelly went into the nurse's office and changed in the restroom. When she came out in her choir gown, Mrs. Hammond looked over and said, "Very nice Kelly."

Kelly blushed and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Hammond."

She headed back over to the gym, and waited for the rest of the girls to come out of the locker room, to wait for Mr. Winthrop to finish with the boys.

When he came in he had them line up, and he examined the fit of each gown one at a time. A few needed some minor adjustments, but for the most part they were all perfect. When he came to Kelly he said, "Ah… Miss Anderson, let us have a look at you. Yes… yes, that is perfect, my dear."

Kelly said, "Thank you Mr. Winthrop, it is a beautiful gown, and it fits wonderfully."

Later that night, the phone rang at the Anderson residence. Kelly's mother answered it and Kelly could see her mother's face get a concerned look as she said, "What? Firefly News Network? Why would Kelly be on there?"

Her mother came into the family room and turned on the television and changed the channel to Firefly News.

The host of the show was saying:

Earlier this year we brought you a story about a school in Colorado allowing a young male student to attend dressed as a girl. As we told you at the time, we thought that this was a ridiculous approach for the school system to take, and that it was unfair to the other students to be subjected to this child's mental problem. We have now learned that yet another school system has been infected by the inability to say no. Up until the end of last year, Kelly Anderson was known to her fellow students at Jefferson Regional High School as Jason Anderson. Over this past summer, Jason decided that he wanted to be known as Kelly Anderson and taking advantage of poorly worded legislation, forced the school system to accept him as a "transitioning" female student.

The school has violated the civil rights of other students by strongly restricting the free speech rights of those students, that object to having to be subjected to this mockery. The school newspaper on the other hand, was recently used to promote a biased view, claiming that there really was no controversy. This 15 year old student, according to the school article, is even taking drugs to block puberty.

How a 15 year old can be considered to have enough experience to decide to make such a change in their life, is a travesty. You have heard me time and time again say that we are too quick to treat children with mind and body altering medicines. We give drugs to children in record numbers today for so called ADHD; can't control your kids give them a pill. Now we are using drugs to prevent kid's bodies from changing as they are supposed to change, only to force their bodies in an unnatural direction. When are parents going to learn to say 'NO' to their children? This child will regret this someday; mark my words. Where will he be as an adult that was not allowed to go through puberty?

To make matters worse, this mockery is part of the choir, and will soon be touring senior centers dressed in an evening gown. Did anyone ask the other choir members how they feel about being forced to act as evangelists for the transgender / homosexual agenda? Wherever this choir goes, they can be sure that protests will follow.

If you don't believe this is part of the gay agenda, then you only have to look at the fact that Jason Anderson has a girlfriend! Julie Sanders is apparently quite pleased that this confused boy Jason is going to become a lesbian like herself.

After the break, we will bring in several experts. We have Dr. Justin Jergins noted psychiatrist and his colleague, Dr. Allison Andrews, a respected expert on endocrinology. Dr. Jergins and Dr. Andrews authored the book The myth of transgenderism, how mutilation became standard practice. Taking the opposite point of view, we have Tony Caufield, a representative from the local Gay and Lesbian Task force.

Kelly's mother slammed the control and turned off the television. Kelly had turned white while listening to the host of the Firefly News Network show The Left Watch. Her mother came over to her and caught Kelly as she staggered backward toward the couch, one hand to her mouth, shaking.

"Mom… Why? How?" Kelly was in shock.

"I don't know, Kelly. Obviously someone forwarded the article from the school paper to them. We knew that letting Kirsten write it was taking a risk. Now the school is being targeted for national attention and people that were prepared to just ignore it, will start coming out of the woodworks. Damn!"

The phone rang, Mrs. Anderson answered it. "Hello…" She quickly hung up the phone. "Kelly, don't answer the phone, if it rings again. Let it go to the machine."

Calls came in all night, many of them quite nasty. Officer Dowling stopped in at Mr. and Mrs. Anderson's request and listened to some of the calls. He said, "Don't erase any of these. I'll have the detective stop by tomorrow. He is going to want to keep a record of these in case we need them. We will step up the watch on the street again. Kelly, I'm sorry."

Kelly shook her head and said, "It's not your fault officer. I guess I should not have let Kirsten write that article. "

Officer Dowling said, "I read that article, Kelly. Kirsten did a great job, and I think it was important that it be said. We will do everything we can to keep you safe."

Kelly thanked the officer, and Mrs. Anderson saw him out.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Kelly's mother went to the door, and let Kirsten in. "Mrs. Anderson, I am so sorry. I never would have believed that my article could have caused this."

"It's ok Kirsten; it is not your fault."

Kirsten asked, "Is Kelly ok?"

Kelly came out to the front hall and said, "I'm a bit in shock, but I will be ok, I guess."

Kirsten seeing Kelly came over to her and said, "I'm so sorry Kelly! Can you forgive me?"

"It's ok Kirsten, you didn't do anything wrong. We knew we were taking a chance by letting you write the article, we all knew the risk."

"I got a call from Bradford News Network, Firefly's main competitor. They want to do a positive rebuttal to the story, like they did in the Colorado case. I told them it was not my decision. They said they had tried to reach you, but that your phone was going straight to voice mail. They would like to talk to you and your parents about how they can help."

"I don't know Kirsten. I can't believe this is national news. Why should anyone care about this? I just want it all to go away."

"I'm so sorry, Kelly," Kirsten said.

"I think you should do it," Kelly's mother said quietly.

"Mom," Kelly looked at her mother in shocked surprise?

"Honey, this is not going to just blow away. Someone in this town has to have sent that off to FNN. The positive article Kirsten published did not set off a firestorm, like this. It took this… Oh!... Son of a bitch! This ignorant bastard at FNN to pontificate and set it off. If we can get a positive rebuttal out there, it might help those that are on the fence. Not to mention that someone is out there and is going to treat their own child badly and use this … piece of garbage… to justify it."

Kelly's mother was clearly upset and doing her best to control her anger. Kelly was not used to seeing her mother this animated. She was clenching her fists, and looked like she was ready to chew nails.

"I'm sorry, Mom. This is my fault." Kelly said.

Her mother grabbed Kelly and pulled her to her.

"No, Kelly, don't you dare. This is not your fault. You have made great progress in accepting yourself over the past few months; I am not mad or disappointed with you. I'm furious that people are so damned judgmental and can't let people be."

She let Kelly go, turned to Kirsten and said, "Kirsten do you have the contact information with you for Bradford?"
"Yes, I do." Kirsten gave Mrs. Anderson a slip of paper.

Chapter 9

The next couple of days at school Kelly was once again the main topic of the moment. Just about everyone had seen the broadcast, or its repeated showing later in the night.

Her mother had contacted the producer from Bradford News Network, and they had sent a film crew. Kelly tried to ignore them as they followed her around to get the footage they needed.

At the Anderson's request, the school co-operated with the news team. The school board officials were happy to have a national news organization producing a positive rebuttal story, and several members consented to being interviewed.

The news truck followed the choir's school bus tour of the area nursing homes, senior centers and local hospital.

At the first stop of the day, they found Reverend Triphard and his followers outside, protesting. The choir was escorted past the protesters by security. In the lobby, the head of the facility waited for them.

"Mrs. Dixon?"

"I'm Mrs. Dixon, you are Mr. Peters?"

"Yes, I am. I'm afraid we were not expecting this to be a controversial visit! I wish you had let us know what to expect. I'm not sure I should let this go on," said Mr. Peters, clearly annoyed.

"Mr. Peters, we certainly do not see why a visit to a nursing home for the choir to perform should be considered controversial," Mrs. Dixon replied, trying to keep her calm.

"You did not think that performing here with a boy dressed in a gown would be controversial? We have a very conservative cliental. The families of our residents are going to be quite concerned."

A well dressed and immaculately groomed woman spoke up and said, "Excuse me. Are you saying that you are not going to allow the choir to perform?"

"Who are you?" Mr. Peters asked confused.

"I'm Beth Ann Williams, Bradford News Network." She said as she held out her hand.

"Bradford News Network?" Mr. Peters said, clearly put off guard.

"Yes. I am a correspondent for BNN, and I am trying to understand what you are saying. I want to be certain that we don't misrepresent your actions in our story on the choir, and its members."

Mr. Peters then noticed the man behind Ms. Williams holding a television camera. He stuttered and said, "No, of course not. I simply was saying that we would have appreciated some warning so that we could properly prepare should anyone have any objections. I'm sure it will be fine, though. Follow me, please."

Mr. Peters waived them through and brought them to a common room where the residents were waiting.

Mrs. Dixon stopped and quietly said to Ms. Williams, "Thank you. That had all the makings of an ugly scene."

"You are welcome. It was my pleasure, but I would have very much enjoyed ripping Mr. Peters apart on air if he had kept the choir from performing. It would just be wrong."

Kelly had been appalled as she realized that they were going to be turned away. She heard some of the members of the choir getting upset, and some of them were angry at her for putting them in this position. She heard several different people saying quietly that if she had any decency she would quit. When they started to move into the room, she initially was frozen in place. Brenda, the girl next to her said, "Kelly… Come on. Don't let them get to you; this is not your fault. Let's go in there and prove you belong in this choir. Come on girl, let's go."

As they went through their set, Kelly looked out at the seniors. Most were having a good time. There were a few that were pointing at her and making faces. It unnerved her, but she pushed it out of her mind and lost herself in the music. She concentrated on hitting the right notes, and kept her eyes on the lyric book.

When they were complete, they got a loud ovation. Afterwards they formed a receiving line and welcomed the residents to come and say hello. Most of them shook her hand and accepted her Happy Holidays and New Year wishes in the spirit taken. No one confronted her.

When they got on the bus, Mrs. Dixon came and sat by her. "Are you ok, Kelly? I'm sorry about that, it never occurred to me there could be a problem."

"I guess, I am sorry though that the others had to deal with it. Do you want me to quit? I really don't know that this is fair to the choir."

"No Kelly, I don't want you to quit. And if there is anyone in this choir who thinks you should, well the door is that away for them. You have as much right as anyone to be here. You sing very well, and so obviously love it, that it would be tragic for you to feel the need to quit."

The protestors were set up at each of their stops, but there were no further incidents. Kelly was not sure if that was because the managers at the other facilities did not care, or if it was because they had heard that they had a reporter from BNN with them. In either case, Kelly was just happy that there had not been any further incidents.

Ms. Williams interviewed her, her parents, Julie and the gang. She interviewed Kirsten as the author of the school article. She also managed to interview Kelly's Aunt Jessica and cousin Tom as they were at one of the protesters. She interviewed Reverend Triphard, but he cut it short as he realized she was not sympathetic to him.

The story was to air on Friday night. Kelly was very nervous about how she would be portrayed, despite the assurances of the BNN people that it would be a positive story. Part of her wanted to just ignore it, but she knew she had to see it. Initially she was going to watch it with just her parents and Julie. However, her other family and friends had other ideas. They ended up at a local restaurant that had a private room with a television.

When the segment on her came on, they all gathered around to watch.

The news anchor began by saying, "Our next story is about Kelly, a young transgendered woman attending Jefferson Regional High School. Last week, Kelly and the school officials at Jefferson Regional High School became the focus of national scrutiny when Firefly News Network host, Ben O'Dale made them the subject of his nightly show The Left Watch. We sent our correspondent, Beth Ann Williams to meet the young woman that had Ben so annoyed."

The scene changed to show Kelly, walking into school, with her friends. The voice of Beth Ann Williams narrating over the images began, "Kelly Anderson is a freshman student at Jefferson Regional High School. Like most girls her age, Kelly gets up in the morning, deliberates over what to wear, puts on her makeup and gets ready to go to school. But unlike most girls her age, Kelly was born male. Up until the start of this year, her classmates all knew Kelly as Jason."

The scene cut to Beth and Kelly sitting facing each other in her bedroom. Kelly is neatly dressed, and is meticulously made up.

"Kelly, when did you decide that you would attend high school this year as Kelly instead of Jason?"

"It was something I thought about most of last year, after I talked to my parents about how I felt. My parents were concerned about the risks of coming out to the school, and I was scared about it myself. So while I certainly dreamt about it, I did not really seriously consider it until this summer."

"What happened over the summer to make this something that you felt you needed to do?"

"My cousin found out about Kelly and he took a picture of me in a bathing suit from his cell phone. He sent that to some friends of his that live in our town, and they turned around and sent it on, and within maybe thirty minutes the whole town knew about me. So that changed things. I needed to be Kelly, but my parents would have wanted to take it slow to protect me, since everyone already knew, there wasn't any more risk. In fact they saw it as the best chance to protect me. I was going to be hassled about it anyway, but if people could see me as Kelly, they might be able to accept it better. For the most part that is how it worked out."

The scene shifted again, and the photograph of Kelly and Julie in their swimsuits, along with a copy of the e-mail text was shown on the screen. The narrator read the e-mail, and then the scene shifted back to Kelly in her bedroom.

Beth asked, "Why did your cousin do this? He must have known the potential trouble this would cause for you?"

"You would have to ask him. From his perspective, this is all a big sin. My Aunt Jessica, Tom's mother slapped me when she realized that she was seeing me. She said a bunch of nasty things, and then left. I guess he felt that if people were to find out, it would force me to quit. They don't understand that quitting is really not an option. I can't stop being who I am. I am Kelly," she said with a smile.

"So you must be pretty upset with them?"

"I was, but I have forgiven them. They know not what they do." Kelly said, with a slight smile. "Seriously, they are my family, and I love them. I have lots of support from the rest of my family and this has hurt them terribly. They have completely shut themselves off from the family over this. I feel bad for them. Most especially, I feel bad for my cousin Billy. I know how disappointed he had to have been that day. My grandparents are no longer able to spend time with him either and that is really tragic."

"How did you feel when you heard the commentary from Ben O'Dale?"

"Appalled. I could not believe I was on national news to begin with, and then to hear him go off like that. I felt like, who the heck are you, what gives you the right to judge me? He had never spoken to me much less met me. I'm sure that someone in town, sent him a copy of the school newspaper article on me."

Kelly was asked a few more questions, before the scene switched to Beth sitting with her parents in the family room.

"Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, I have spent the day following Kelly around and I have to say she is really wonderful. She is remarkably upbeat and she handles herself so well. She keeps her head up high and faces it with a strength that can only be because she so clearly has the support of you both."

Kelly's parents both say, "Thank you."

"What would you say to those that say, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are you insane? How can you let your 15 year old child do this?"

"I'd say to them, if you had seen the difference in Kelly from when she had been Jason, she is much happier and content with life now. Jason was a good boy and I did not really realize how unhappy he was until I got to see him as Kelly. We truly believe that we are doing what is right for Kelly."

"What about the medicine, Lupron Depot. Mr. O'Dale's commentary echoes what many people think, about treating young children with puberty blocking drugs."

"Mr. O'Dale does not understand. Lupron Depot is buying Kelly time to make decisions about her life. She may still decide to be Jason, although I suspect that is highly unlikely. If she does, she can simply stop taking the Lupon Depot and she will go through puberty as normal. If however, she decides to stay as Kelly, it will prevent her from having to have many expensive and invasive procedures. Kelly was extremely distressed by the changes that were occurring to her body and this put her mind at ease."

After a few more questions with Kelly's parents and then some more with Mr. Lewis, the president of the board of education, Mr. West, the school superintendant and Mr. Martin, the school principal, the scene changed to the first nursing home.

Beth Williams narrating over the images of the protestors outside said "We were fortunate to meet Kelly on the day that the Jefferson Regional High School choir was making the rounds of the local nursing homes and senior centers, an annual holiday tradition. As we approached the first center of the day, we found a small group of protestors, led by the Reverend Triphard, had set up just outside the center. They carried signs indicating that Kelly was an abomination and that the choir members would all be going to hell for performing with Kelly. Amongst the protestors, we found Kelly's Aunt Jessica and Cousin Tom."

The scene changed to show Jessica and Tom bundled up in their coats, standing near the protestors. Beth Williams was standing by them with her microphone.

"I'm Beth Ann Williams and this is Jessica and Tom Merrick."

Jessica and Tom nodded in agreement.

"They are here today to protest the Jefferson Regional High School Choir's performance. You are also Kelly Anderson's aunt and cousin, is that correct?"

Jessica looking disgusted said, "His name is Jason! Jason is a boy, not a girl. It is a sin for him to be parading around in a dress and on top of that, to be part of a choir and performing Christmas songs is totally offensive to those of the true faith."

"But Kelly is legally recognized as a transitioning woman, so her name is now Kelly."

"That's legal nonsense. He was baptized as Jason, so that is his real name. You can't change the name you were baptized with, not in the eyes of the Lord."

"So your name is not really Jessica Merrick then, it's really Jessica Anderson?" Beth asked, with a well practiced smile.

"That's totally different and you know it," Jessica replied.

"These things always are." Beth said, keeping her smile on her face. "Tom, you are the cousin that sent the e-mail that exposed your cousin's transgenderism to the community?"

"Yes, I did. I would do it again too. Jason has put his soul in jeopardy, as well as the rest of our family that has supported him. As Reverend Triphard teaches, you must shine the light on the sinner, to get them to change."

"It does not seem to be working as you would have thought. In fact, your e-mail freed Kelly to be able to come to school. She would have continued to keep Kelly a secret for now, had you not made it public knowledge already."

"I told you his name is Jason." Jessica snapped.

"Yes, I know, but Kelly has asked us to refer to her as Kelly and we will honor her request. You should know that Kelly has said that she forgives you and that you know not what you do."

Jessica says, "Typical, he blasphemes the words of our Lord."

"How is what she says blasphemous? She seems to be emulating his teaching."

"He is mocking the Lord's words."

"You don't believe that she has forgiven you and Tom then?" Beth asked. "Is that because you don't believe that what you did is forgivable?"

"I don't know what HE feels. I know that what we did is right and that there is no need for HIS forgiveness. Someday, he will thank us for what we did."

"From what I understand, you have not spoken with Kelly since that day at the cabin, is that correct?"

Tom answered, "I have not. I get sick just thinking about the image of Jason in that bathing suit."

Jessica agreed, "I do not want my children exposed to his perversion."

"Did you see the O'Dale commentary on Firefly News Network?"

"Yes we did. It was good to see the news media putting attention on the situation here. It is absurd that our state legislature has forced the community here to accept my nephew in the school as a girl."

"How do you think that FNN learned about the situation?"

Tom answered, "Oh Reverend Triphard contacted a friend of his that works there."

Jessica said, "Tom! That is not something for you to share."

As she was saying this, Reverend Triphard came over. "Jessica, what do we have here? We need you and Tom in the protest lines."

"Reverend Triphard, I'm Beth Ann Williams, with Bradford News Network."

Reverend Triphard said, "I know who you are, little lady."

"Reverend, Tom here just told us that you were responsible for bringing this situation to Mr. O'Dale, is that correct?"

Reverend Triphard's face showed annoyance, but he quickly recovered and said, "Yes. After the school newspaper published an extremely biased piece, that completely ignored the protests of those of us that find the attendance of Jason Anderson at the Jefferson High School completely unacceptable, I felt it was necessary to respond. Since the school will not publish our response, I got in touch with Mr. O'Dale."

"Reverend Triphard, from what we have been able to tell, after the violence that occurred during Kelly's first day at school, the town pretty much did decide to accept Kelly. That is, with the exception of your church, which, correct me if I'm wrong, is not even located in a town served by Jefferson Regional High School."

"There are many that live in the community here that are silent, but are strongly opposed to Jason's attending the school. Those that have children in the school, are afraid that vocal opposition will result in retaliation against their children in the school. The trumped up charges against Courtney, for an accident during gym class, has them afraid to speak out."

"You are referring to the girl that broke Kelly's leg on the first day of school, by taking a two handed, full swing, at her leg, with a field hockey stick? My understanding is, that she only received detention, she was not expelled and she was not charged with assault. She was warned strongly against further attacks. Do you condone violence against Kelly?"

"Don't put words in my mouth, little lady. There is no evidence that Courtney intentionally hurt Jason. If there were, they would have pressed charges. As I said, it was an accident."

"The gym teacher did not believe it to be an accident."

"The school has done everything it can to suppress the free speech rights of those that object to Jason's attendance. Now if you will excuse me, I must return to exercise my freedom of speech." With that Reverend Triphard, Jessica and Tom went back to the protestors.

The scene shifts to the office of the school principal.

"Mr. West, we ran into Reverend Triphard this morning. He was leading the protests at the various stops the choir made today. He charged that the school is interfering with the free speech rights of your students and their parents. He says that there are many that oppose Kelly's attendance, but won't speak, as they are afraid of retaliation against their children, by the school."

"People are entitled to their opinion. We have a strict policy against hateful speech, harassment, or bullying on campus. We cannot control and do not try to control, what they say at home. There are of course, laws against threatening speech and the local police department has responded to calls to the Anderson's home, that were threatening. We do not have any intention of punishing a student for the views of their parents; there were a number of parents that objected quite strongly at the board of education meeting, when this was discussed. Their children have not been treated any differently. We did try to keep those that objected most strongly, in classes that were different from Kelly's, for everyone's benefit."

"He also charged that the school newspaper printed a highly biased piece and would not allow a rebuttal."

"We have not had one submitted by a student. All of our school newspaper articles are written by students. The article was well written and the facts presented, were verified by the faculty advisor. It is true that the interview portion focused on those close to Kelly. If a student wants to submit an article that is verifiable and respectful, we will publish it."

The scene changes to the choir singing at the senior center. The choir is singing "Silent Night" and the camera zooms in on Kelly.

The scene changes to Kelly, Julie, Kathy, Sue and Meghan walking out of the school together. Beth narrates over the images, "Kelly Anderson is beautiful young woman. Considering the trials that she has already been through, she remains remarkably grounded, upbeat, and aware that she has been very lucky to receive a tremendous amount of support."

The segment ended and returned to the live image of the network studio. Beth Ann Williams was now sitting next to the news anchor. The host asked, "Kelly seems to be a remarkable person, Beth."

Beth, looking at the camera, said, "Well Judy, I found that Kelly is much like any other 15 year girl, looking to find her own path through high school and life. The support she has gotten from most of her family and friends gives her the strength to deal with those that are not supportive. The same day that she had her leg broken, their home was actually attacked and a brick thrown through the living room window. The people responsible for that have been charged and the cases are pending. Although she truly has forgiven her Aunt Jessica and Cousin Tom, it still hurts her that they will not accept her. It is unfortunate that our own profession has been used to cause her more pain. Mr. O'Dale did not do any research into the situation, but basically parroted Reverend Triphard's rhetoric. There are some people in the community that are not comfortable about the situation, but most that we spoke to felt that Reverend Triphard was over the top. Even the protests that we found at the various nursing homes and the senior center, were really very small, and the same people were moving from one event to the next, making it look like there were more protestors then there really were."

"Thank you, Beth. After the break we will be speaking with a panel of leading psychologists that are expert in gender issues. We invited the experts that Mr. O'Dale spoke with on his show, but when they learned they would be part of a full panel, they declined to take part."

With that, the Television was turned off. Kelly sat back and listened to her family and friends commenting on the report.

Grandma Anderson was saying, "I swear to God, I don't understand where she gets that from. I know we did not raise her that way!"

Kelly's father said, "Mom, you can't blame yourself. It's all Bob's influence; you know that."

"I know that Richard, but I thought I did a better job raising you all."

"Lizzie, you did a great job raising our children, look at Richard and Sally." Grandpa Ira said.

"Oh, I know that. You two are so wonderful and you know I'm proud of you. I just get so mad at your sister."

"Well, Mom, she made an ass out of herself in that interview. I doubt too many people will be overly sympathetic to her point of view, unless they are already so far that way themselves. She and Reverent Triphard came off as vindictive and small." Kelly's father said.

"Kelly on the other hand, you looked great, and I am very proud of the way you handled yourself. I know it was difficult. Your mother and I love you so much." Her father came over and pulled her out of her chair and gave her a big hug.

The conversation continued, as they sat down and had coffee and dessert. Kelly just sat back, quietly thinking to herself.

Chapter 10

That night in her room, Kelly continued to think about everything. "What the heck am I doing? How did this ever get so out of control? I've lost my Aunt Jessica, Tom and Billy. They will never accept me, and worse, I have driven this wedge between them and the rest of the family. That is never going to heal."

Kelly curled up and began to cry. "I should have just kept it all to myself. Was being Jason so horrible that I needed to cause all of this? Not only the family division, but the town divided too. In a sense they are right, there are a lot of people that just don't say what they really feel. Why? Am I really so awful? Oh, God, what should I do?"

Kelly cried herself to sleep.

The next morning, she woke up. She took her breast forms off before she went into the shower, and she stored them in their pink box. When she came back, she grabbed a t-shirt with a band logo, grabbed a pair of sweats, and the plainest panties she had, a pair of white high cut cotton briefs. She did not put on makeup, her breast forms or a bra.

When she came out into the kitchen her mother looked up and did a double take. "Kelly, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Mom." Kelly grabbed a bowl and the cereal.

"You don't look ok. Are you feeling alright? You aren't wearing your forms, or a bra."

"I feel fine, Mom."

Her mother reached over and touched Kelly's forehead, "Well, no fever. Something must be bothering you. Has it anything to do with the broadcast last night?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Mom, Ok!" Kelly slammed the spoon down in the bowl, started to cry and ran back to her room.

She slammed the door behind her and threw herself on her bed, curling up into the fetal position. Her mother gave her a few minutes and then came in and sat next to her. She sat there with her, just rubbing Kelly's back and waiting for Kelly to talk.

"Why me? Why did this have to be me? I have the whole town divided against itself. Aunt Jessica and Tom and Billy are never going to accept me; they have cut themselves and Billy off from all of you; and it's all my fault! Why couldn't I just keep this to myself? Being Jason was not that horrible, I could have been happy as Jason too; I'm sure I could have, if I just tried harder. Especially with someone like Julie; that could let Kelly out occasionally. Why did I have to push this hard? I was just too selfish and look what that has lead too."

Kristine let Kelly wind down and then said, "Kelly, do you think that Jessica and Tom are right about this being a sin?"

Kelly sat up and held onto her mother.

"Mom, I don't know what to think anymore. I don't want it to be a sin; but is that just self justification, or is it really not a sin? I don't know. I just know that I've driven the family apart and I hate it!"

"Kelly, you did not cause Jessica to split off from the family. This has been coming for years; this was just the final push over the line. Your father was ready to break off all ties with them long before we knew about your needs. If it hadn't been this, it would have been something else. Believe me."

"Fine, but I am still responsible for the division in the town and now it's not just the town, but the damn news media is using me to fight over as well. I just want to be me, why is that so awful? Maybe I should give it all up and go back to being Jason."

"Kelly, that is not going to change anything in the town and the news will be on to something new in the next day or two. Besides, it was just the two cable news programs looking for ratings. O'Dale was used by Triphard to further his agenda and Beth Ann's show is always trading barbs with O'Dale's show, so they were quite happy to take an opposing view, a fact which frankly, we used to our advantage. But I doubt it will be on their radar going forward."

They held on to each other tightly and just sat quietly.

"Kelly, I love you. I love you, no matter whether you decide to be; Kelly or Jason. If you ever decide you need to be Jason again, your father and I will surely back you up. But I don't want you to give up being Kelly, because you are worried about the family or the town, or the whole damn country. You don't have to give up being who you are; you don't owe anyone that. Do you want me to call Dr. Daniels and see if he can see you today?"

"I guess."

"Ok, wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes." Mrs. Anderson gave Kelly another squeeze and then went into the other room. A few minutes later, she came back. "I spoke with Dr. Daniels; he said he would meet us at his office in an hour. Do you want to get changed, or go like that?"

"I suppose I should get changed, or at least get cleaned up a bit. I don't really want to be seen like this, it will just add to the problems."

"It's up to you, Kelly."

"I'll at least put on my breast forms and bra. I already get teased enough by Courtney and her crowd, about not having real breasts."

A little while later, Kelly was sitting in Dr. Daniels office.

"So what's going on Kelly," Dr. Daniels asked her.

"I was pretty upset this morning. I'm feeling really guilty about all of the stuff that is going on in town and in the family. Watching the report last night, all I could see was all of this stuff that is happening because of me and I just hate it."

"What stuff in particular?"

"My Aunt and her family are completely ostracized from the rest of the family, for one. Particularly, Billy."

"Do you believe that you have to live your life based on your Aunt's religious beliefs? There are many things she disapproves of. Your parents totally disagree with her on lots of things; you don't have the same religious restrictions. You can't live your life trying to please everyone Kelly. Really, you can't. It is your Aunt's failing not yours."

"That doesn't help Billy."

"No, but again it is your Aunt's decisions that are keeping you apart. Billy is young and he may someday reject his mother on this, or he may be just like Tom when he grows up, that will be a choice he will make. Billy has been exposed to you and he knows that you were a good cousin to him; what he takes from this will be his choice and is not your responsibility."

"But it feels like it is."

"Kelly, I know it does, because you are a kind and gentle person. You care about everyone else, almost more than you do about yourself, but you have to start by liking yourself. If you can't do that, then you will eventually be unhappy and bitter about it. Then you won't be able to help any of the people you care about either."

"It's so hard. I just… want…. to be... normal." Tears began to well up in her eyes. "Why could I not be happy as Jason? Why couldn't I have been born Kelly, if this is truly who I was meant to be? Why? Why would God do this to me? Am I such a horrible person? Am I paying for some mistake I made in a past life? Why!"

"Kelly, I'm not qualified to answer for God. All I can tell you is that sometimes these things happen and it has nothing to do with being a good or a bad person, in this or any other life. It may feel like you are the only person that has these feelings, but you aren't. I think it might be time for you to get involved with one of the local support groups, for transgendered teens. I think it will help. There is one that meets monthly; it is not too far away, maybe an hour drive. It will be good for you and your parents too."

"I guess. I've talked a lot to Michele about things, but it would be nice to talk to others my age. My friends have been great, but they just don't understand. Even, Julie, as much as she loves me, doesn't understand it."

"I'll talk to your mother about it."

"Thanks, Dr. Daniels. I'm sorry to pull you in here on your day off."

"It's ok, Kelly. I would be in the wrong business if I wasn't prepared to listen when you need to talk."

They continued to talk about things for a little while; then Kelly went into the waiting room and sent her mother in to speak with Dr. Daniels. While she was waiting for her, she went into the ladies room and washed her face. She took a deep breath, pulled out her makeup kit and decided to make a fresh start on the day.

In the car on the way home, Kelly said, "Thank you, Mom. I'm sorry about this morning."

"Oh Kelly, there is nothing for you to be sorry about. It's overwhelming sometimes, isn't it? Dr. Daniels gave me the information on the Teen Support group. We will call and find out what we need to do to get you to the next meeting, and when it is. Also, I'm going to talk to Minister Goodman about talking to you. You know that he has been supportive of you. You have to remember, Reverend Triphard does not speak for God."

"Ok, Mom."

Chapter 11

Over the next few days, Kelly started to feel better about herself again. On Sunday, after church, she had met with Minister Goodman. It had been a good talk and one that she probably should have had sooner. Minister Goodman had told her that the Bible was really not very specific on either gay or transgender issues. And that most of the passages that were quoted to condemn those things, were in the Old Testament and were part of the laws for the Jewish people at the time. Many of those things are completely ignored in today's world, because the situations have changed.

He had told Kelly that the thing to remember, was how Jesus actually treated people. Minister Goodman could not see how anyone who had truly read the Bible and studied how Jesus behaved toward people, could advocate the hate and condemnation that some supposed Christian leaders did.

The night of the choir holiday concert at the school came. Kelly dressed in her choir dress, hair and makeup by Michele, was looking radiant, as she walked into the school. She ignored the scraggily crowd of protestors from Reverend Triphard's church. The auditorium was full and the choir performed well. During the intermission, as she drank some bottled water and looked at the crowd buying baked goods, to support the choir, she was approached by many of the parents who smiled and congratulated her and the other choir members. She got several complements on how nice she looked and a few of them even mentioned having seen the special report on BNN and offered her encouragement.

She did notice of course, some others avoided her, and saw some small blocks of parents looking over and pointing at her. But she just tried to put those things aside for the night.

The second set went off without a hitch. All of the girls, including Kelly, received a bouquet of red roses from the town florist, that sponsored the event. It was a wonderful night for Kelly.

Finally, Christmas break had come and on Christmas morning, Kelly woke up for her first Christmas. She put on her bathrobe, and headed out to the kitchen.

She found her mother making coffee. She grabbed some orange juice for herself, and then headed out into the living room to start the morning festivities. As with their tradition, the house had been decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving. The tree, was covered in multi-colored lights and a combination of store bought and homemade ornaments. Many of the store bought ornaments were commemorating some special moment, like the ones that were for her parents first Christmas, then there was one with a pregnant Momma bear and another with a baby bear. One for when they had moved into this house. Her mother was a huge Norman Rockwell fan, so there were a number of ornaments of that nature as well. Most of the homemade ornaments were from when she was little. Made in school or kindergarten, they had traced her growing up as Jason. There was a new ornament there this morning though. It was one that she had not made and when Kelly saw it, she almost started crying. There, prominently displayed at eye level, was a star, with a picture of her in her choir dress. It said, "Kelly's first Christmas, 2008."

Her parents were standing behind her, she turned around, with the tears welling in her eyes and said, "Oh... Thank you!" Kelly gave her parents each a long, tight hug, wishing them each a "Merry Christmas!"

They sat down and Kelly's father handed out the presents. This year was very different, in the past she would have gotten mostly video games, books, and maybe a couple of outfits. This year, she got lots of clothes, and only one video game; but her parents also bought her a locket. Inside it was engraved with, "To Kelly, our lovely daughter. Love, Mom and Dad."

After the presents were opened, they cleaned up, and got ready for the guests to arrive.

The rest of the day was spent with Aunt Sally, Emily and her grandparents. Julie's family had gone to visit her mother's family, but stopped by on their way home and had some dessert with them.

As Kelly got ready for bed that night, wearing a new nightgown, she felt good, really good. She knew that she would have more tough days, days were she would wonder "why me" but she thought to herself, I will also have days like today and I just have to try to remember them, on those hard days.

With that she fell asleep.

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 5 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Kelly meets other TG Teens and the recession comes to town.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Also, thanks to JenniferBrock and Scott Ramsey for some plot advice!

Chapter 12

Kelly looked out the window of the car, as she and her mother made the drive to the transgendered teen support group meeting. Kelly was somewhat anxious about meeting others, like herself. What would they think of her, what would she think of them?

Her mother had given up trying to draw her into a conversation soon after they got on the highway. The two of them rode in silence, looking on the barren trees in their stark winter coats of ice and snow.

When they arrived, Kelly let out a nervous sigh, quietly collected herself and got out of the car. She looked at the building. The facility was in a new corporate park, which catered to the medical community. There were five buildings; the one they needed was right in the center.

As they entered the building, Kelly was impressed by the lobby; it was full of lush, live vegetation, had a waterfall with a large Koi pond. They stopped and looked at the building index and found that they needed to go to the third floor. As they stepped into the elevator, another mother and daughter walked up, Kelly held the door open to let them on.

Once the door closed and Kelly looked at the girl, she soon realized that this was a person headed to the group meeting. She was dressed very nicely, but she could see the boy under the clothing and the makeup. Kelly wondered if it was that easy for others to read her.

The girl looked at Kelly, and said, "Oh… I know you! You're Kelly Anderson. I saw you on TV. Are you joining our group? That must have been awful to have that man from Firefly berating you, but the BNN story was wonderful!"

Kelly blushed and answered, "Yes, I am Kelly. I thought I was going to just die when that jerk said those things about me. Beth Ann Williams, the lady from BNN was really nice though. What is your name? You're a member of the TransTeen group? What's it like?"

"I'm Carol, or at least I am when I can be. I only get to be Carol outside when I meet with my psychologist and when I come here. I'd be too scared to go to school like this. You are really brave."

"Well, I did not have much of a choice. My cousin made sure everyone knew about me."

"I saw that. Mom is the only one who knows about me," Carol said, as she looked sad for a moment and then shook it off. "This is my mother Cindy."

Kelly said, "Hello. This is my mother Kristine."

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened onto the third floor.

Carol said, "Here we go. Come on in and meet everyone."

Kelly and her mother followed Carol and her mother into the office. They stopped at the reception desk. Kelly and her mother found name badges prepared for them and headed into the room where the meeting was being held. They found a number of other people in the room already. The parents were gathered together and the teens were split into boys and girls. Kelly discovered that the group was made up of both male to female and female to male transgendered teens. Kelly joined Carol and headed over to the girls.

"Hey everyone, say hi to Kelly Anderson," Carol said.

The girls all stopped their conversation and looked at Kelly. Kelly gave them her best smile, as she tried to ignore the feeling that she was being put under a microscope and on the table to be dissected. She said "Hello everyone."

"Hi Kelly, I'm Deb, this is Joan, and this is Samantha." Kelly nodded to each of them and now that she was close by, she got a good look at them. She could not see anything about Deb or Samantha that would have told her that they were physically boys. Joan on the other hand, was not as fortunate. Kelly tried to figure out what it was that made Joan look so clearly like a boy in a dress, but it was hard to put a finger on it.

Deb said, "Welcome to TransTeen. That was quite a roller coaster they put you through last month."

"So much for anonymity," Kelly said. "I guess everyone here saw the news special."

Joan laughed and said, "oh yeah, definitely. Most of us saw it the original night, but we all watched it again together in our last meeting. It gave us plenty to talk about. You seem to be doing well though. Sure, Ben O'Dale was an idiot, but you expect that from someone like him. Overall you are fairly well accepted. You certainly aren't in hiding from anyone. I wish I could say that for the rest of us."

Deb said, "That's true. Joan, I know that things have not been as easy for you, but your mother is at least trying. You are here and you keep coming back. I know of others that have come once and were pulled out halfway through because their parents were looking for a group to help 'cure' them. One girl was from my hometown. She killed herself a couple of months later. I wish we could have helped her."

Joan said, "I know Deb. Mom doesn't approve at all, but she got the message. I was lucky I guess, in that our pediatrician scared her with several horror stories like that. He told her point blank to stay away from the doctor's that claimed cures and gave her a recommendation to a good doctor. My therapist has reinforced it to her, but she is really having a hard time of it. I'm not allowed to be Joan anywhere but here. These clothes are locked in her room and are all that I have."

Deb gave her a hug and said, "I know hon. Just hang in there. She does love you, she does come here, and she talks. I think she is making progress."

Joan smiled and said, "Thanks, I know she is. She even joked last week; we picked up My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Notebook. She laughed and said, 'well one good thing is at least, I have someone to watch my chick flicks with.'"

They all laughed and Deb said, "See that's progress."

"Too bad she wouldn't let me be Joan while we watched them though."

"All in good time," Deb said.

The group leaders called everyone into the room to begin the meeting. After getting everyone quieted down, Kelly and her mother were introduced. Kelly learned that the meeting would be split into two parts, the first part the whole group got together and discussed issues that related to all them. This particular meeting they were continuing on some of the discussion of what they could learn from the media battle over Kelly. With Kelly and her mother able to add their very personal perspective to further the conversation from the prior month.

The second part of the meeting, everyone was split into three groups; parents, male to females and female to males all met separately to discuss things that were more targeted towards their needs. Each of these sessions were led by one of the psychologists that ran the group.

Kelly went with the other girls into a private room. After a few moments of chatter, an attractive woman, wearing a staff name badge, spoke up and quieted down the group. "Ok ladies, let's settle down. Kelly, I'm Erika and I'd like to welcome you to the TransTeen support group. "

Kelly said, "Thank you. I'm glad to be here."

Erika said, "We are happy to have you. Let me start by explaining a bit about how this portion of the group works. In here, we get into some fairly personal discussions. What is discussed in this room stays in this room. We are here to support one another, to help each other through the tough times and hopefully, to also share in the joyous times as well."

Kelly nodded her understanding.

"Since this is a support group, I always begin by asking if anyone has anything that is bothering them that they need the groups help with."

None of the girls spoke up.

"Ok, that's good. No crisis this time, always a good thing." Erika smiled and then said, “So Kelly, as someone new, we all want to get to know you. Now in your case we know more about you than usual, because of the news coverage, but we don't really know you. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, especially the parts that they would not have covered in the news story?"

Kelly blushed, but she said, "Ok, I guess. What kinds of things do you mean? Like my favorite sports, video games that kind of thing?"

"Sure, we know you are in chorus, you sing very well by the way and you looked quite lovely in your gown. What other activities do you enjoy?"

"Um… Well, I enjoy playing baseball and soccer. I like to watch hockey, but I can't skate well enough to think about playing it. I like video games, but I don't go crazy about them, lately I've been more into chatting with my girlfriends, then spending time on the games."

"You are accepted by the girls at your school, then?"

"Well, not all of them. But most of the girls have accepted me. There are several that are really good friends of mine. There's Julie, of course, she is my girlfriend; we are dating, so she is special. Kathy, Sue and Meghan have become like sisters to me."

"Others have given you a problem though?"

"A few have. Most of the other girls are fine, like Kirsten, the girl that wrote the school article that started the whole media thing; she is very nice to me. There are a few though; Courtney and her gang can be pretty mean. They have to be careful, because Courtney came close to getting expelled when she broke my leg. So even though I know what they think of me, as they make sure to let me know daily, I don't really worry about them much."

Samantha asked, "You are dating a girl, have you ever thought about dating boys?"

"No, I'm not interested in boys," Kelly blushed, as the other girls in the group laughed.

Deb said, "Oh, don't mind all of them. It's kind of a running thing, some of the girls are into boys; others aren't. You just changed the dynamic of the group again. The lesbian TG's just retook the majority."

Samantha stuck her tongue out at Deb, but said, "Oh well, can't blame a girl for trying. Still you might want to give it a try sometime…"

Kelly said, "I'm quite happy with Julie, thanks."

Joan said, "Some people get all the luck. Your parents accept you, you have a girlfriend that knows and accepts you. To top it off, you look perfect; no one would ever question you just from looking at you. I'd kill to be you!"

"I'm sorry Joan. I…"

"Don't you pity me! I don't need your God damned pity. Just know how damned lucky you are. Some of us aren't that lucky. My mother would do anything if she thought it would cure me and there is no damned way she would ever let me live full time. Hell, I can't even get away with any Joan time at home. She checks on me several times a night, she doesn't leave me home alone, and she won't tell my dad, which she is probably right about. Carol over there lost her father over it. He left them when her mother threatened to report him for child abuse if he hit her again."

Carol said, "Joan!"

Deb said, "Joan! That's Carol's business, not yours and should have been hers to share if she chose to. Look we all know that you have had a particularly rough time. Though as I told you before, at least you are here and you know your mother does care about you. There have been plenty of people like us even worse off then you, that would have 'killed' to be you, too."

"Joan, I don't pity you, but I do feel for you. You are right, I have been very lucky, and I am thankful for it. I have not had to worry about being beaten by my parents and most of my family has been accepting. But I do understand the betrayal; believe me having my cousin send that picture out to my classmates hurt more then I can even put into words. Having my Aunt threaten to file molestation charges if I came anywhere near my cousin Billy again… oh and getting death threats from people that I never met, that wasn't fun either."

Joan ignored Kelly and said, "Carol…"

Kelly looked over at Carol and saw that she had curled up and was holding herself tightly in her chair. Dr. Erika was kneeling before her, rubbing her back.

All of the anger had gone out of Joan, and she went over and said, "Carol… damn, I'm sorry."

Kelly stood back and looked on, along with the other girls. Deb said, "Come on everybody, give them some space. Erika will bring us in if she needs us."

Deb said, "Carol has had a really rough time. She does not handle confrontation well; her dad really did a job on her. Nothing that could be proven as physical child abuse, but … he did leave, and now he is fighting for custody. He says that her mother is committing child abuse against her by allowing her to be Carol at home and bringing her here."

Dr. Erika came over, "Deb, can you please go get Carol's mother. And I'm going to have to ask the rest of you all to wait in the lobby."

The girls filed out of the room, and Deb knocked on the room the parents were in. She whispered to the staff member that opened the door, and Carol's mom came out and rushed into the other room.

Deb grabbed Joan and took her off to a private corner, for a private conversation. When they came back, Joan said, "Kelly, I'm sorry. You certainly are not responsible for my problems, and I guess I was just a bit jealous of you."

Kelly reached out and took Joan's hand and said, "It's ok. I'm sorry too. I can't imagine what it would have been like if my parents had not accepted me."

The girls sat and talked quietly, all eyes on the door to the room they had been in, worrying about Carol. A short time later, the door opened, Dr. Erika, Carol and her mother came out. Carol looked over to the girls, looking embarrassed. Deb went over to her and said, "Come on, let's go take care of your makeup." She took her arm and led her off to the ladies room.

Dr. Erika said, "Ok everyone, please come on back in."

The girls went back in the room. A few moments later Carol and Deb came back in. Carol, still looking embarrassed said, "I'm sorry, guys."

Everyone assured her it was ok. Joan said, "Carol, I'm sorry. That was stupid of me and I was wrong, on so many levels. I certainly had no right to talk about your personal information without your permission, and I also was letting my own frustration at my situation out as jealousy at Kelly. That isn't fair, because it is not her fault that my parents don't accept me as well as her parents do. In fact," as Joan looked at Deb, "As Deb reminded me, her parent's example may ultimately help me with mine."

Carol said, "it's ok Joan. I shouldn't be so sensitive. I just… I know you guys know some of what happened, but… look, towards the end, before my dad left, he and mom had these huge arguments, especially when he had been drinking. He would get out of control. He never actually hit either of us, but he broke things, and I was so afraid he was going to hurt one of us. The last night before he left, he was angrier then I had ever seen him. He had found some books that mom was reading about transgender, and he just lost it. He was in her face and I really think he was about to hit her. I jumped on him from behind and grabbed his arm. He threw me aside and called me a pansy. He told me he would make a man out of me and he came at me. Mom stopped him somehow. I honestly don't remember anything more. Next thing I knew he was gone."

Carol wiped the tears from her face and looking at Deb said, "Damn… I'm sorry Deb; there I go messing up all your work again."

Deb smiled and said, "No problem, we can always go fix it again. I think most of us are going to need to after that."

Carol smiled, "Yeah. Anyway, now the bastard has filed for custody. He says that because my mother allows me to be Carol at home, that it is a form of child abuse and that she is unfit to be a parent."

Kelly said, "Surely the courts won't let him get away with that?"

Deb said, "Unfortunately, it depends on the judge. Some of them are very conservative and could very well rule against her mother."

The conversation shifted to less intense subjects. When the time was up, they went out and found their parents.

Deb came over to Kelly and said, "I just wanted to say welcome again. I promise it is not always like this. I do hope you will be coming back."

Kelly looked at her mother and said, "I hope so, too. I learned a lot today."

Deb smiled and said, "Good."

Kelly said, "Deb… How long have you been coming here? You seem to be the unofficial leader of the girls. They all look up to you, I noticed, and you took charge when it was needed. I have to say, I was impressed by you today."

Deb blushed, "I… Thanks. I've been coming for about four or five years. So yeah, I think some of the girls look at me as being a big sister, not that I'm any older than them. I have to say though; I think you are doing remarkably well; especially considering how recently you came out to your parents. Mrs. Anderson, I would say that has a lot to do with you and Mr. Anderson. Kelly is very lucky."

Kelly's mother said, "Thank you, we try."

Deb turning back to Kelly, took a pen and a small notepad out of her purse. "Here, let me give you my e-mail."

Kelly said, "Thanks, here let me give you mine as well."

As Kelly and her mother got to the car, she looked at her mother and said, "Mom… Thank you." Kelly held her mother tight.

"For what?"

"For accepting me. For loving me, no matter what. For giving me a chance to grow and to never, ever giving me a reason to doubt that you are there for me."

"That's what parents are supposed to do, honey."

"I know, mom. But too many don't."

Chapter 13

On the way home they chatted about the group meeting. When pressed, Kelly refused to say what had happened to cause the commotion in the session, telling her mother, it was a private matter for one of the girls and she did not feel it was her place to say.

They were listening to her mother's favorite local oldies rock station. When the song they were listening to ended, the local news update came on. Neither of them were paying much attention until the announcer said, "And a breaking story that has major consequences for the area. Jones Industries announced today that it was closing down all operations as a result of the current economic downturn. All 900 employees were given their final paychecks this afternoon. Jones Industries is a high-end manufacturer of luxury bath spas, and bathtub shells. According to a spokesman, the company had an exclusive agreement with hardware giant HardwareCentral, but as a result of the credit crunch, and drops in home construction, HardwareCentral cancelled its contract. Jones Industries had overleveraged itself in ramping up production capabilities based on the estimated volume to fill the contract. With the contract now voided, and no new markets, Jones has been forced to close its doors."

Kelly's mother said, "oh my god. Half the community worked there."

"What is that going to mean?"

"I don't know honey. It will mean some tough times for a lot of people in town. We already had a number of people having trouble, and adding 900 more people looking for work… It just is not a good situation. Unemployment will help for a while, but eventually it will run out. I suspect people are going to have to look elsewhere for work."

"John's father works for Jones, so does Meghan's."

"I know. John's Mom has a good job though, so they may be ok. Meghan's mom hasn't found a job since they moved here over the summer. Now her dad is going to be out of work, that's not good."

They pulled into the driveway, and headed into the house.

Later that evening, Kelly was sitting in the family room with her friends.

Meghan said, "I don't know what we are going to do. Dad was out of work for quite a while before he got the job with Jones. We had to live with my grandparents. Unemployment will help for a little while, but it only goes so far. There just aren't any jobs around here, Mom has been looking and hasn't even been able to get an interview."

John said, "Thank God that mom is doing ok, at least for now."

Sue gave John a hug and said, "I'm sure it will work out."

Kathy said, "All of those people. You know you hear about it, how many people are losing their jobs around the country, but it is hard to really get your head around. I can't even imagine what it is going to be like around here."

Meghan said, "Mom and dad are already talking about moving back in with my grandparents again. Dad says that paying the rent on the house, just doesn't make sense when he could be out for a very long time."

Kelly said, "But that would mean you would move away. What about school?"

"I guess I would have to transfer. I don't want to, I really like Jefferson. It's a much better school system here." Meghan shook her head, but then she said, "Look, can we not talk about it anymore. Let's put the movie on and have a good time. Ok?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. They turned down the lights and put on the movie. Julie and Kelly snuggled next to each other and settled in to watch the movie.

The next morning, Kelly and her mother were sitting in the kitchen having breakfast. Kelly said, "Mom, Meghan says that her parents are talking about moving back in with her grandparents."

"I think there is going to be a lot of that kind of thing."

"She is going to have to transfer out of our school."

"They would move before the school year ended?"

"Probably. Her mom hasn't even been able to get an interview the whole time they have been here. They don't think that they are going to be able to get work and they don't think it makes sense to keep paying rent, they are going to need every penny."

"That's too bad. Meghan is really nice and she seems to be doing so well at Jefferson."

"She is. You know she is in the advanced program here. She says they don't have anything like it at the school back where her grandparents live. She is really disappointed about it."

"I didn’t know that, but it doesn't surprise me. What a waste, for her to have to give that up."

"I was thinking the same thing. Mom, couldn't she stay with us? Is there any way that we could have her live here and at least finish out this year?"

"I doubt that her parents would want to leave her here."

"We could ask."

"Kelly, 900 people lost their jobs yesterday, we can't take all of them in."

"I know mom, I just… Meghan has been such a good friend to me and she works so hard. I…"

"Let me discuss it with your dad."

Chapter 14

At school the next day, Kelly pulled Meghan aside and said, "Can I talk to you, in private?"

"Sure."

"I spoke with my parents last night."

"Yeah?"

"I know how hard you have been working and that you are pretty upset that you might have to transfer schools."

Meghan frowned, "I don't think I have a whole lot of choice. They are pretty much resigned to needing to do it. They are going to lose the security deposit, but we just don't have much in savings. We need to keep our expenses down to a minimum."

"Would you be interested in staying with us?"

Meghan said, "What do you mean? We may not have everything your family has, but we are a family and we stick together!" She started to turn away.

Kelly said, "Meghan, please wait. I don't think you understand. Your family is great. I love your parents, they have been very nice to me and they clearly love you and take very good care of you. It is certainly not their fault that the economy is where it is; it is just unfortunate that they have gotten caught up in it. People everywhere are struggling. But I also know that you are doing so well in the advanced program and that it is just plain not fair for you to have to give it up. You have worked so hard at it and are doing so well. It just isn't fair!"

Meghan turned back and said, "You're angry."

"Damn right I'm angry. You are one of my best friends! It's really not fair. Look, we aren't trying to replace your family; we could never do that. I'm not suggesting that you abandon your family or anything like that. If it was just a matter of switching schools and you were going to go to a similar program there, I would miss you, but understand. But I know how important it was to you to get into this program and this is the only way I can think of that can let you stay in the program. At least think about it. Talk to your parents and see what they think. It might make it easier for them, because they won't have to worry about having to pull you out of the program."

"That was really bothering them. Ok, I'll think about it and talk about it with them. Thanks, I'm sorry for getting angry at you; I should have realized you were just being a good friend."

Kelly reached over and gave her a quick hug, and said, "It’s ok. I probably could have phrased it better from the start."

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 6 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Meghan moves in and Kelly and her friends help out at a "soup" kitchen.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Chapter 15

Kelly handed a box up to John, who was in the moving truck with Meghan's father. She looked back at the house and her friends all here to help Meghan's family on moving day. It was now late April, what would be a pleasant spring day, if not for the task at hand.

A lot of discussion between Meghan, her parents and the Andersons, had taken place in the past couple of months. The job situation in the area had just continued to deteriorate and Meghan's family had to make the tough decisions about moving back in with her grandparents. In the end, her parents decided that it was in Meghan's best interest to stay with the Anderson's, to take advantage of the opportunities at Jefferson.

Kelly thought wryly about how the biggest sticking point came to Meghan's parent's insistence, that they would have to pay for her room and board. Her own parents said that, that was silly, the room was empty, and how much could Meghan eat. In the end, they had compromised and it was decided that they would send fifty dollars a week to the Andersons towards the groceries bill.

Once that was settled, it was just a matter of getting proper release forms signed and notarized, so that in case of an emergency the Anderson's could get Meghan medical treatment. Meghan was now covered by the states Family Care, health care program.

Kelly looked up and down the street, she shook her head at all of the real estate signs. Many of them, like Meghan's house, had "For Rent" signs; several had signs indicating the homes were in foreclosure. She just shook her head and said a silent prayer that things would turn around soon. She knew that there were huge debates going on at the federal level, on how to best stabilize the economy, but it was just more then she could grasp. Listening to the news and hearing arguments from both parties, she sometimes wondered if anyone really put the face of families, like Meghan's, to the problem. It seemed too overwhelming to her at that scale.

She shook her head, and got back to work.

Later that evening, Kelly sat with Meghan in the former guest bedroom, which was now Meghan's room. They were both in their nightgowns and bathrobes; they left the door wide open.

"You ok, Meghan? I know it was hard to say goodbye today."

"I'll be fine. It's not the first time I've been away from them. I went to a sleep away camp, one summer. I think the problem is that we really don't know how long this will be. Certainly till the end of the school year, but if nothing has changed, I'll be back here next year too."

"That is too much to worry about right now. They are not so far away that you can't see them if you need too. It's just a couple of hours drive. They will be coming to see you at least once a month. And your grandmother has Internet, so you can Skype them with the webcam or telephone every night."

"Oh, I know that, Kelly. I'm just sad that this had to happen. Dad was so excited when he got that job at Jones, and we could finally start to get back on our feet. He is really depressed right now. I'm worried about him."

Kelly put her arm around Meghan's shoulder and pulled her close, letting her just cry on her shoulder. Kelly's mom walked by and Kelly made eye contact with her and mouthed, "Please, not now."

Kelly saw in her mother's eyes and face, the look of concern and empathy for Meghan, but she nodded her head in acknowledgement then backed away. Kelly turned her attention back to Meghan and just continued to hold her tight.

When she finally began to quiet down, Kelly said, "Shh… It's going to be fine. Your dad is going to be ok."

Meghan sniffled and said, "I know and Lord knows, there are people that are worse off, that don't have family they can fall back on, I just… it just isn't fair. Daddy works so hard."

"Yes, he does. This thing is going to turn around; you wait and see. In the meantime, you and I are going to do everything we can to help those that are struggling. Minister Goodman mentioned last week, that they need help; he is going to use the fellowship hall and the kitchens, to provide hot meals to the needy. He asked for volunteers to work with serving, cleaning, and collecting donations of food. I already volunteered and you would be very welcome."

"But I don't go to your church?"

"You don't have to. Minister Goodman won't care and he won't proselytize to you, believe me. He will appreciate your help. Julie has already agreed to help too. I plan on asking the whole gang."

"Ok… I think that is a great idea. Thanks Kelly."

They sat together neither one saying anything for a long time. Meghan broke the silence first, "Kelly, how do you do it?"

"What?"

"You are so… I don't know, supportive. I never knew you as … well, as you were before. I've only known you as Kelly. But from the day I met you, you have been subject to some pretty intense stuff, from Courtney to Brad, to the nonsense with the news. That doesn't even bring up your blasted Aunt and cousin, and their minister. Yet, you never seem to let any of that faze you, you don't even hate them for it. Some of the people you will be helping are the same people that called and left hate messages on your answering machine and you don't care. And here I am, why, because you cared enough to make it happen. I don't think that I could be that forgiving."

"Meghan, believe me, it fazes me. You did not see what I was like the night that we first heard that I was being trounced on national TV. I was really even more upset after the BNN response; I had to have an emergency visit with my doctor that day. But for all of those things, I have been blessed to have parents that have stood by me, as well as my grandparents and my other relatives. I have Julie and all of you as friends. That is what gives me the strength to get through every day. I know that some of the people, that I will be helping, will not approve of me, and will probably resent that I am there. I can't help that, but maybe a few of them will look differently upon me as a result. I can only hope. As for you, you’re my friend. You stood up for me the first day of school, when you had no reason to, other than that you saw someone being mean. You could have kept quiet and not said anything; no one would have thought less of you for it, but you didn't. How could I sit back and not help any way I could."

Meghan said, "I know you told me you weren't trying to replace my family and you were right, because no-one is going to replace my parents. But I don't have any brothers or sisters, or at least I didn't, I do now. So what are you, five days older then I am? How's it feel to be a big sister?"

Kelly laughed and said, "It feels good. Come on little sis, let's go watch a movie, cause I won't get any sleep now."

"That sounds good to me."

Chapter 16

Kelly looked out at the tables set up in the fellowship hall. She and her friends were all helping out several nights a week and as word had gotten around, the number of people showing up for dinner every night was growing.

Several of the other area religious institutions had come together and decided it was better to work together then to have separate efforts. Minister Goodman, having started the project and also having the building with the largest capacity, continued to host the meals, but was more than happy to accept the help from the other area churches, synagogues and mosques.

The area grocery stores all had donation boxes setup for people, to drop non-perishable foods into. Many of the local business had canisters out for loose change to help and the local restaurants were donating the food that was not sold each night that was perfectly edible, but could not be sold the next night. Kelly was proud of how her community was coming together to help.

"Miss… May I have some of those potatoes?" An older gentleman said to Kelly.

"Oh, certainly sir, I'm sorry." Kelly spooned a portion of mashed potatoes unto the man's plate. "Gravy?" The man nodded, and Kelly took the ladle and poured brown gravy on the potatoes. "There you go."

"Thank you, Miss."

"You're welcome sir."

"Oh… Missy. Can I have some potatoes, Missy… Miss, my ass," a boy about Kelly's age said.

"Randell Moran," Kelly said, with a frown, but she served him his potatoes.

"Don't forget the gravy, missy."

"Here." Kelly poured the gravy on his potatoes.

"Excuse me, Mr. Moran. I believe you owe Miss Anderson an apology." Minister Goodman said from behind Randell.

"No way, I won't say sorry to it," Randell said.

"Mr. Moran, this is a church building. Miss Anderson is here helping in our mission and I will not have her spoken to in such a way, now you will apologize, or you may take your meal and leave. I won't withhold food from you, but you will not be welcome here, if you cannot be civil."

"Randell, tell him you're sorry," Randell's mother said, pointing at Kelly.

"That's enough. Mrs. Moran, I will not permit such behavior in our church. Meghan, please bring out some containers for the Moran's dinner, they will be taking them with them. Mrs. Moran, when you and your family are prepared to be civil you may return. In the meantime, here is the location of an alternative program."

"Minister… that isn't necessary. I'm sorry that they feel that way about me, but I'm not here to be a distraction. They need the church's help, or they would not be here. Whether you want it or not Randell, or you too Mrs. Moran, I forgive you, and I will pray for you."

Minister Goodman started to say something, but looking into Kelly's eyes, he saw her pleading him to back down.

The Moran's, took their plates and went to sit down, but Kelly saw Mrs. Moran look back at her, with a puzzled expression. When she saw that Kelly was looking at her she quickly turned away.

"Meghan, please take over for Kelly. Kelly, come with me please."

Meghan took the spoon from Kelly, and Kelly followed Minister Goodman to his office.

"I'm sorry sir. I came here to help, not to be a distraction."

"Kelly, I'm not mad at you, heaven's no! I just want to make sure you are alright. You should not have to put up with that kind of thing here."

"No sir, but they need the help. It's hard enough for some people to admit they need the help, but then to have to accept it from someone that they thoroughly disapprove of, can make it even harder. That is not why I'm here."

"Maybe not, but I for one hope that you will open some minds as a side result. But you are right to point out that we have a mission to help and that has to come first. Just don't be surprised if you become the focal point of one of my sermons, about tolerance, love and acceptance." He laughed at the look of horror on Kelly's face. "Don't worry, I won't embarrass you that way," he laughed even harder at the look of relief. "Go on, back to work with you."

Kelly went on back, to help out. The doors had closed, and they were starting to clean up the serving line. Kelly chipped in and helped with the cleaning. After the last of the guests had left, she helped with cleaning the tables and folding them up to be put away; so that the hall could be used in the morning as a gymnasium for the preschool.

Once the tables were folded up and put away; the floors needed to be mopped. Kelly lifted a bucket into the sink in the kitchen to fill with water. As she struggled to lift the now full bucket out of the sink, Cliff Mccullough came over and said, "Here, Kelly. Let me get that for you."

Cliff reached around Kelly and grabbed the bucket, brushing up against her as he did so. "Uh, thanks." Kelly said, as she moved out of his way. Cliff easily lifted the heavy bucket and Kelly noticed for the first time how handsome and strong he was.

Cliff put the bucket down into its wheeled base and made sure it locked in tight and then he turned to Kelly and said, "There you go."

"Thanks."

"Kelly…" Cliff blushed.

"Yes, Cliff."

"I just wanted to say… Look, I'm sorry for what Randell said to you earlier. He can be a bit of a jerk sometimes."

"It's hardly your fault, Cliff. You have never been anything but polite to me."

"um… yeah, I know… Look Kelly, I know that you and Julie are together, so please don't take this the wrong way, but… I just wanted to tell you that I think you are… well one of the prettiest girls at Jefferson. I think Julie is awful lucky to have you as a girlfriend."

Kelly felt her stomach do a summersault, and said, "Oh… well, um… Thanks."

Cliff blushed and went off to finish what he was working on.

Later that night at home, Meghan cornered Kelly. "So what was all that with Cliff?"

"It was nothing," Kelly said.

"Was nothing… it sure looked like something to me."

"We just talked for a minute." Kelly said.

"Uh huh… I saw the expression on your face. I'm glad Julie wasn't there."

"Oh… it was nothing. I'm in love with Julie. I was just startled."

"Was that when he reached around you, or when he told you that you were the prettiest girl at Jefferson?"

"Come on Meghan. Ok, I was startled, because I was surprised when I realized I was actually seeing him as handsome. I've never felt that way about a guy before. But it does not change how I feel about Julie. I'm sure she has seen some guys and thought they were handsome."

"Sure, she has and I'm sure she did even before you met her, but this is new for you. What do you think it means?"

"Nothing, I'm a girl; there is nothing wrong with me noticing a boy is cute."

"Oh, now he is cute…"

"Well, isn't he?" Kelly said with exasperation.

"Ok, yes he is."

"So, what's the problem? I didn't kiss him or anything."

"Did you think about it?"

"No… well… only for a second. Look I told you I love Julie. Cliff is a nice guy, and he is cute. And he knows who I am and I guess he is interested, but he knows I'm with Julie. Nothing happened, and it's not going too!"

"Good."

"Good," Kelly asked?

"Well first of all, I would have to be mad at you if you were going to cheat on Julie, and second of all, he is cute, and if you aren't going to do anything with him, he is fair game for me." Meghan smiled.

"Oh…" Kelly fought the feeling of jealousy and said, "Of course… go for it."

Meghan, "Oh, do you have some thinking to do, Sis. I saw that look."

"Meghan… It's fine. I just wasn't really expecting this to ever come up. I am very happy with Julie, and if you can get Cliff to open his eyes and see that you are far prettier then I am, I'll applaud and be happy for you both. I promise. I'll even help if I can."

"Well… if you are sure?"

"I'm sure."

The two of them spent the rest of the evening plotting out Meghan's assault on Cliff, and by the end of it, Kelly was feeling much better about things and was hoping that Meghan would succeed.

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 7 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Kelly hosts a slumber party then goes to the town Memorial Day picnic.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Special thanks to Jennifer Brock for assistance with some plot points.

Chapter 17

Kelly answered the door as the first of her slumber party guests arrived. Deb from the TransTeen Group was standing on the front steps holding onto a small duffle bag. Her mother was standing next to her. "Hello Deb, I'm so glad you could come."

Deb and her mother came in, Kelly's mother greeted them and she and Deb's Mom headed into the living room.

Deb said, "My pleasure, this was a great idea. You have a very nice house."

"Thank you. Come on, we’re going to be downstairs. Let me introduce you to Meghan."

Kelly led Deb down to the family room. "Meghan, this is Deb. Deb, this is Meghan."

"Hi Meghan, it's a pleasure to meet you. Kelly has told me a lot about you. How are things working out staying here?"

"Hi Deb, Kelly has told me quite a bit about you too. She looks up to you, thinks you really have it together. I miss my folks, but the Anderson's have really been great. It’s kind of cool having a big sister," Meghan said and gave Kelly a smile.

"I'm having fun too, lil sis." Kelly returned the smile.

The doorbell rang again, and Kelly said, "Let me go get the door. Deb help yourself, Meghan will show you what we have."

Kelly went and answered the door and let Julie, Kathy and Sue in, then following right behind, came Carol and her mother. Kelly asked Julie to take Carol and the others down to the family room. She brought Carol's mother to the living room.

It was not too long before Joan and Samantha also showed up; they went downstairs; dropped their duffle bags in the corner with the other girl's things and the party was able to get started.

Each of the TransTeen girl's mom's had stopped in and met with Kelly's mom before heading out. Joan's mom in particular was hesitant about leaving Joan; especially with the presence of Kelly's local girlfriends, but in the end she relented and told Joan to have fun.

Kelly said, "Alright gang, I'm so glad you could all make it. I hope we are all going to have a lot of fun tonight. I have a treat in store for you, my Aunt's friend Michele, who runs a salon, is coming to give us all makeovers. "

Kathy immediately said, "Cool! She's great!"

Julie, Meghan and Sue agreed and Kelly's group of friends smiled in anticipation.

Kelly smiled, "Yes she is. We also have a bunch of movies to pick from. We have pizza coming a little bit later on. Mom did lay down some ground rules, so let's get that out of the way. Most of them are pretty obvious, like the standard no drinking, no drugs and no smoking. In light of our special circumstances, there will be two rooms for changing, later and as you were instructed, she is insisting that we wear pajama's, no sexy nightgowns. We are going to be leaving a light on; we need to sleep in our sleeping bags; and expect random spot checks during the night. I think frankly, that was aimed at Julie and me, as much as anyone."

Julie blushed, and said, "We can still cuddle up next to each other, safely ensconced in our sleeping bags."

It was Kelly's turn to blush and say, "Yes, I suppose we can. Any questions? … Good that is done with then."

While Kelly's mother was paying the pizza delivery guy for the pizzas, Michele came in with her makeover kit. They set the pizzas in the dining room and they each grabbed a slice; then looked on as Michele set up in the kitchen. She placed a business card holder on the table that had a little placard that read, "Makeover's by Michele."

"Ok, who wants to go first?" Michele asked.

Kathy raised her hand and practically jumped out of her chair.

Michele laughed and said, "Ok, Kathy. I have some new products you might like, assuming you are tired of the old ones already!"

Kathy blushed, "Oh you know me Michele, I'm always looking for a new look."

Kathy sat in the chair and Michele wrapped a cape around her to protect her clothes. The girls all looked on and watched with fascination as Michele cleaned away Kathy's current makeup and then began building a new look. When she was done, Kathy looked on and said, "Michele, you really are incredible. Too bad Steve isn't here tonight." Michele wrote down the names of what she had used and gave it to Kathy.

"Who's next?"

One by one they all took their turns with Michele. When it was Carol's turn, Carol blushed and said, "I don't know. I know you know that I'm not really a girl Michele and since I'm sure you know about Kelly that probably doesn't bother you, but I know that I just look like a boy in a dress. Not much to work with."

Kelly spoke up, "Carol, before I had Michele help me the first time, I looked like a boy in a dress. Michele has lots of practice with girls like us. And yes, Julie, Kathy, Meghan and Sue might be easier for her to work with, but believe me, she knows what she is doing."

Michele added, "We all had to start somewhere, Carol. Years ago, I was just like you, but I didn't have a support group like you do. I can't tell you how much it pleases me to see you girls and know that things have begun to change; that groups like yours exist and that a party like this could be happening."

Carol, Samantha and Joan both looked at Michele with a wide open mouth. "You are … "

Michele smiled, "Yes, I am. You are all so brave and lucky to have each other. These friends of Kelly's are so special as well. Now, would you like to see what we can do for you?"

Carol bolted into the chair.

Michele took her time and first worked on her face, explaining what she was doing and why, for each step of the way. When she finished with her face she said, “Ok, now we need to do something with the hair.” As she had done for Kelly, she made little cuts here and there, making sure that Carol would not have a problem when she was in her boy mode. She used hair extensions to add length and give her more to work from. When she was finished, Carol was in awe.

"Where is the boy in a dress? I don't see him at all."

Joan was next and hopped eagerly into the hot seat. Once again, Michele took her time and when she was done with Joan, she was just amazed.

When they all had their turn, they enthusiastically thanked her. Michele gave them each a small kit made up of the things she had used on them. For Carol and Joan she also told them the hair extensions were theirs to keep.

After Michele left, the girls headed down into the family room, and they decided to watch When Harry Met Sally.

Kathy said, "Ok, I hope I won't offend any of you, but I have to ask. Are you all attracted to girls like Kelly is, or are some of you attracted to boys?"

Deb answered, "It's a mix, just as it is with born girls. I am attracted to girls."

Samantha said, "Not me. I like boys."

Carol said, "I kinda think boys are cute."

Joan said, "Well… I am definitely attracted to girls, but I am also jealous of them. I rarely get to be Joan; tonight was a big exception, normally I’m only allowed to dress at the group meetings. Mom only allowed it this time, because she was considering this to be an extension of the group."

Sue asked, "Have any of you dated a boy and did they know about you?"

Samantha said, "I have dated a few. Some knew; some didn't. I don't go around telling people about that. I wouldn't let anything get serious with a guy without him knowing, but a simple date is not a reason for me to go into major confession mode. I'm not ready for anything serious enough now, where it would put me in a position where I needed to tell him."

Kathy asked, "Have any of the boys you dated ever found out later?"

"I don't think so. Those were all summer vacation kind of dates, you know, spend some time, but you know once the vacation is over you aren't going to see them again."

"Well you know my preferences," Kelly said, as she smiled at Julie and held her hand.

Meghan coughed.

Samantha caught the look and said, "Oh … sounds like someone is not being entirely forthcoming … spill girl!"

Julie gave Meghan the evil eye.

Kelly blushed, "Well … recently, I had a guy tell me that I was one of the prettiest girls at school, even though he knew about me. He said that Julie was really lucky to have me, and well, I noticed how strong he was and that he was cute. I was pretty surprised, because it was the first time I ever noticed a boy that way."

Julie said, "Meghan's just jealous, because it’s a boy that she is interested in." Julie stuck her tongue out at Meghan, but then she laughed.

Kelly said, "Well he is cute, I can't deny it, but really I am very happy with Julie and have no desire to switch teams."

Julie said, "Seriously though, Meghan how is 'the plan' coming along. Haven't you got Cliff wrapped around your finger yet?"

Meghan smiled, "It's a work in progress, but I think I'm getting there. He asked me to the movies tomorrow night."

"You go girl," Julie said with a smile.

Carol said, "Mom would never allow it. I'm in a similar situation to Joan, except that since my Dad left, I have been able to be Carol at home. At least I will, unless the court gives him custody."

Kelly said, "What is happening with that?"

Carol said, "It's not going well. We had a number of experts telling him why I should be allowed time as Carol, but my Dad's lawyers got those two doctors that Firefly had on, to rebut their testimony. It looked to me like the judge was agreeing with them. Mom is really worried, and so am I."

Sue asked, "What will happen if he rules with your father?"

Carol said, "Then I will have to go live with him. He will put me into a program with those two doctors to try to 'cure' me. I'm not as worried about that as what he will do; I know that there is no way they are going to cure me. I AM a girl and nothing they can do will change that!"

Kathy said, "What will he do?"

"Depends on how drunk he is. He tried to beat my mother and me, the night he left."

Sue said, "Surely they won't put you back with him if he would hurt you?"

Deb answered, "Unfortunately, they might. There was no evidence of physical harm and they may convince the judge that it was a false accusation, designed to keep custody away from her father."

Julie, "Carol is old enough that she should have some say in where she goes."

Deb shook her head with a sad smile, "Except if the judge rules that the treatment that is allowing Carol to be Carol, is harmful to her and that the proper treatment is with the other doctors, then he will discount Carol's wishes."

They all sat quietly for a little while, until Carol finally said, "Look… no sense worrying about it tonight. I came to have a good time and to just relax and be Carol. So, I know one other thing that is supposed to happen at a slumber party…" Carol grabbed a pillow and hit Samantha over the head with it shouting, "Pillow fight!"

The girls all squealed and dove for their own pillows. Soon all out pillow warfare was commencing as they would temporarily team up together, only to betray each other with a pillow in the back. Finally they all fell down exhausted, but laughing.

Mrs. Anderson came down and said, "Well … nobody seems to be too badly injured… and the basement is still in one piece … I don't suppose anyone wants some late night ice cream?"

All the girls jumped up and said, "I'll have some!"

They all gathered round the table and Mrs. Anderson had put out several different kinds of ice cream, as well as different kinds of Sundae fixins. They each made their own and then settled down together in front of the movie.

The rest of the evening they spent laughing, crying and just being a group of girls letting their hair down.

When they were settling down for the night, Kathy said, "You know, when Kelly invited me to come tonight I was a little unsure as to what to expect. I want you all to know this was great and I think you are a great group of girls. I hope we can do this again soon."

The next morning Joan's mother had come to pick her up, Joan pulled Kelly aside and said, "Thanks for inviting me, Kelly. I have never in my life felt more alive than I did last night. It was great to just be myself for an evening and have everyone just accept me. Your friends from school … it was wonderful."

Joan gave Kelly a hug and then left with her mother.

One by one, the group girl's mothers came to pick them up. Each of them thanked Kelly and her parents, for a great evening. When they had all left, Kathy and Sue also said their goodbyes, leaving Julie and Meghan to stay and help Kelly to clean the disaster area that was known as the family room.

Meghan said, "What do you think is going to happen to Carol?"

Kelly said, "I don't know. I'm worried for her though. Whatever happens, I'll just have to be there for her."

Meghan and Julie smiled, "You mean we will all have to be there for her."

Kelly smiled back at them and said, "Thanks."

Chapter 18

Memorial Day weekend, the county had always had a big joint picnic. It was usually a big fund raising event and the proceeds paid for a number of things throughout the year. This year there was some discussion about cancelling the picnic due to the economic situation.

Once again the community pulled together and this year, instead of being a fundraiser, everything was free. Local businesses supplied the hot dogs, soda and beer. Those that could afford it, were asked to donate other food items, or money to the picnic.

There were races, ball games and the evening dance planned. There was usually a big fireworks display and that had been expected to be skipped this year, except an anonymous donor had arranged for a shipment of fireworks to be delivered to the fire house, fully paid the week before. So the fireworks were back on the schedule.

Kelly was there as part of the school choir. They would be singing the National Anthem to start the festivities. As always, they were dogged by the ever present stragglers from her Aunt's church, protesting her presence. The local police kept them back however and did not allow them to disrupt the proceedings.

Kelly sat up on the raised platform, with the choir, after they had finished singing. The mayor of her town spoke briefly and then invited a representative from the VFW to speak, to honor those that had given their lives in service to the country.

After the speeches the choir sang America the Beautiful and the picnic was officially open.

---

Kelly's cousin, Billy, was with his mother and his brother, with the other protestors from their church. They had stood, waved signs and made a lot of noise, until the choir began singing, but Reverend Triphard had told them, that even with his cousin singing, they should show their respect for the flag and country. So they had stopped to face the flag and salute it during the song.

Billy still did not understand what the big deal was. So Jason was dressed like a girl, it was silly, but Jason always liked to be silly. It was fun. He missed playing with Jason.

Billy saw his Cousin Emily standing by his Aunt Sally. He missed her too. She looked over at him and waved. He waved back. His mom and brother were not paying attention to him, so he decided to go stand with Emily. He saw that his Aunt Sally was busy talking to another lady and had said something sharp to Emily when she tried to interrupt.

He started towards Emily and Emily started towards him, they met in the middle.

Billy said, "Hi Emily. I've missed you."

Emily said, "I've missed you too, Billy."

"Do you know why my Mom is so upset with Jason?"

"She is not called Jason anymore, her name is Kelly now."

"Why? Mom says that Jason is a boy and that he should stay a boy."

"I'm not sure. I miss Jason sometimes, but Kelly is great too. My mom says that Aunt Jessica doesn't understand and that this was something Kelly had to do. She says that until Aunt Jessica changes her mind, we won't be able to see you."

Billy said, "I know. Look, let's hide from them, so we can play for a while."

Emily got a smile, "Ok."

They took each other's hand and ran over towards the woods.

---

After the speeches were over and the choir finished singing, Jessica turned to Tom and noticed that he was not holding Billy's hand. "Where's Billy?"

Tom said, "He was right here a minute ago …"

They looked around and called out, "Billy!"

No one answered.

Jessica started to get worried, shouted, "Billy!"

Again no one answered.

Tom said, "Mom, there is Aunt Sally. Maybe Billy saw her and went to her. You know he has been upset about not getting to play with Emily."

"I'll tan his hide if he went over to them," Jessica said, as she marched over to Sally and said, "What have you done with Billy."

Sally looked at her and said, "What do you mean. I haven't seen Billy. Emily, have you seen Billy?" She turned behind her and realized that Emily was not sitting on the bench behind her. "Emily … EMILY where are you?"

The little girl that Emily had been playing with said, "Ma'am. Emily said she had to say hi to her cousin. She tried to tell you, but you were busy talking to my Mom. She went over there and then they went that way into the woods."

"What?" Sally and Jessica said at once, and they both ran over to where the girl had pointed.

"Emily!"

"Billy!"

"Come on you two, this isn't funny. Come here now!"

They searched but did not see any sign of them.

Sally said, "Jessica … we are going to need help. They could have gone anywhere in here, or they could have been followed in. Tom, go find your Uncle Richard or Aunt Kristine, tell them what has happened, that we need to get a search party together. They will get Officer Dowling."

Jessica said, "Not them!"

"Damn it, Jessica! It’s time to put this stupid feud behind us, at least for now. Tom --- go!"

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 8 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Kelly and Tom go searching for Emily and Billy, lost in the woods.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Special thanks to Jennifer Brock and Pippa K for assistance with some plot points.

Chapter 19

Billy chased after Emily who was shouting, "Run, run, fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Emily made sure to not get too far ahead and when Billy would get close she would move on again laughing. As Billy got closer, Emily turned to run on again and her foot caught on a branch and she went down in a crash, crying out, first in surprise then in pain.

Billy caught up to her and said, "Emily, you ok?"

Emily was holding her ankle, crying. She had scraped her hands, and elbows, but her ankle was badly sprained.

"Emily?" Billy sat next to her, not sure of what to do. "Want me to get your Mom?"

Emily said, "Yes!"

Billy got up and looked around and said, "Which way do I go?"

Emily looked around and said through her tears, "I don't know."

Emily stopped crying as she tried to remember which way they had come. She tried to stand, but quickly cried out in pain, and fell down again. "Ow!"

Billy started to cry.

Emily wincing said, "Billy, we'll be ok. Come on don't cry."

"I want my mommy. I wanna go back!"

"I do too, Billy. But I can't walk and we don't know how to get back. We need to wait here for someone to find us."

"No, I wanna go back now!"

"Billy, do you remember my daddy?"

"Kind of."

"I used to go hiking with him and mommy and we even went camping once."

"So?"

"He used to tell me if I ever got lost in the woods that I should hug a tree and wait. That if I kept wandering, I would make it harder for them to find me. So we need to hug this tree and wait. So come sit down and we will play some games right here."

When Billy had sat down next to her, Emily used a twig to draw a Tic-Tac-Toe board in the dirt. She said, "You go first."

---

Tom ran out of the woods and went looking for his Aunt Kristine or Uncle Richard. It took him a few minutes, but then he saw them. He ran over to them and said, "Aunt Kristine!"

Kelly's mother said coolly, "What do you want, Tom?"

Out of breath Tom said, "Billy and Emily snuck off together into the woods, and we can't find them. Aunt Sally sent me to find you or Uncle Richard to ask you to get your friend Officer Dowling."

Richard said, "How long have they been gone?"

Tom said, "Not sure. Sometime during the Mayor's speech."

Richard looked at his watch and said, "That's at least forty five minutes, maybe longer. Shit they could be pretty deep in the woods at this point. I'll call Tim."

Richard got out his cell phone and dialed, "Hi Tim… Richard Anderson here... No, Kelly is fine. But my niece and nephew are missing. They supposedly went into the woods and my sisters can't find them. We think it's been about forty five minutes. Thanks."

Kelly, his mother and Tom looked at him, and he said, "Ok… Tim is calling it in. He said he would meet us in about half an hour. Tom, show us where they went in."

Tom lead them to the spot in the woods where Billy and Emily had been seen entering. They could hear Sally and Jessica calling out the children's names just inside the woods.

Kelly said, "Mom, Dad… Let me go try to find them. I know these woods, I've been camping in them a bunch of times."

Kelly's mother said, "I don't know if that is a great idea, what if you get lost too."

"Kristine, Kelly has been in these woods plenty of times. She knows them, and the sooner we find them the better. The camping gear is in the trunk of the car; grab the first aid kit, the walkie-talkies, compass and the water bottle. And grab a buddy to go in with you."

Tom said, "I'll go with him."

Kelly's mom and dad both started to correct him, but Kelly beat them to it saying "Tom, do I look like a him anymore? I am a girl, my name is Kelly. If you want to come with me, fine, I know you are just as worried about Billy and Emily as I am. But you will treat me with respect, or you can wait here."

Kelly's parents glared at Tom, who quietly said, "Ok. Kelly."

Kelly ran and got the supplies, filled the water bottles, handing one to Tom and said, "Ready, Tom?"

Tom said, "Yeah I'm ready. Let's go."

They headed into the woods, Kelly said, "I think they would have followed this trail to start, it opens up a little ways in and that is where we will have to see what we find and try to decide which way to go."

They walked along the trail in silence. Kelly kept her eyes on the path in front of her, looking to see if she could make out any sign that her young cousins had passed this way. As she came to a muddy area, she put out her hand to stop Tom, and said, "Look… there, on that rock. That's a fairly small sneaker print. I can't tell for sure that it's them, but the mud is still wet, so it can't be too long ago."

Tom looked at Kelly and just said, "Who are you, Tonto?"

Kelly said, "No, I wish we had a real tracker, but we need to keep our eyes out, there are places where we will have to decide which way to go."

They continued to follow along the path. Every once in a while one of them would point out another small footprint. They soon came to an area where there was a bit of a clearing, and several different ways the kids could have gone. Unfortunately, it was very dry, so no obvious footprints to go by.

Tom said, "Ok, Kemo Sabe, what do we do now?"

Kelly stopped and looked around. She said, "Well, they came from there, if we assume they weren't really paying much attention to where they were going, they would probably have kept walking that way. They don't know where any of these go; I'd say they went that way."

Tom said, "Maybe we should split up… We could cover more ground."

Kelly said, "No… We need to stay together. We only have the one walkie-talkie; we would have no way to let the other know if we found them."

"I suppose you're right. Alright let's get going."

They followed the path that Kelly had picked, looking for any sign that they were on the right path. Kelly was the first to see a match-box car lying just off the side of the path. She picked it up, and saw in writing on the back, it said "Billy."

She said, "It certainly looks like we are on the right track. Here save this for Billy."

Tom said, "You found it, you should give it to him."

"I wouldn't want to be accused of trying to molest him," Kelly said, with a touch of anger in her voice.

Tom looked away and said, "Mom was wrong to say that."

"She was wrong… what about what you did? How could you do that to me, Tom?"

"I was trying to save you."

Kelly looked at him in disbelief. "Save me? How, by getting me killed?"

"No, it was supposed to make you renounce your sin and realize that you needed to accept what God has given you."

"Has it ever occurred to you that I have accepted what God has given me? God has given me this challenge and I accept it and will make the best of it."

"God doesn't make mistakes; you are a boy, because you are supposed to be a boy."

"I never said that God makes mistakes. He made me physically a boy, but he wired my brain as a girl. He gave me loving parents and family, that could help me to cope with that challenge. I have accepted the challenge and will take advantage of the other gifts that God has given me, such as the medicines that prevent my body becoming more masculine and some day to physically match my body up with my brain."

"Cross-dressing is a sin."

"Oh… on whose authority?"

"The Bible tells us so."

"Where?"

"Deuteronomy 22:5"

"Oh, yes, that's right… Of course Deuteronomy 22:11 prohibits the wearing of mixed fabrics… Isn't that a poly blend you are wearing right now? Oh, and Deuteronomy 22:12, where are your fringes? Last time I was at your house, I didn't see a railing around your roof. Deuteronomy is Mosaic Law, it is not moral law. Jesus fulfilled the law."

"Those things are different."

"Why, Tom? Because you do them? Because 'Everyone' does them? Maybe it's because gender and sex are intertwined? If God was so determined on it, why would he bury the only comment on cross-dressing in the whole Bible within a bunch of ceremonial laws? Face it Tom, you and your church are picking and choosing which things to condemn from a long laundry list? Why, because people like your Reverend Triphard need to focus hate on someone, and it is an easy target."

"What do you mean by that?"

"How's the collection plate been going since he started his crusade against me?"

"You take that back. Reverend Triphard is a representative of God; he isn't interested in money. Collections keep the church running!"

"I understand that collections are necessary for a church. You know I do, look at what our church is doing with the meal kitchen. Funny though, your church is the only one in the county that isn't taking part, either in our program or one of the others."

"How do you know that?"

"I heard Minister Goodman discussing it with one of the other church leaders."

"I'm sure there is a good reason."

"Sure there is. Look you know what; I didn't mean to get into an argument with you. I know what your beliefs are; I accept that. I was hurt more then you will ever know by what you and your Mom did to me, but I have forgiven you, whether you want me to or not. I know that in your way you were trying to do what was right, but I can't be what you want me to be, Tom. That is not going to happen, I AM Kelly, and Kelly is me."

"Why? What was so bad about being Jason? Why would you choose to…"

"Choose to what? Give up being male? Choose to be 'the weaker' sex, to get paid less for the same work, to be treated with less respect, to have people stare at my chest instead of talking to my face? It's not a choice Tom; this is who I am. It's who I have always been. Jason was the lie; I couldn't take another day of it. I guess in one way I owe you a thank you, if you had not sent that damned e-mail out, I would still be going to school as Jason."

"You say that you were always Kelly, but you were never effeminate. Ok, you didn't like football, which is questionable, but you were good at other sports. Baseball, soccer and you like hockey. Hell, you’re a better fisherman than I am. Until Emily came around, I never saw you playing with girl things. You're dating a girl, so you aren't even a fag. Bottom line is you are still male, under all of the makeup and clothes, you have a dick."

"Tom, do you have to be so crude? You don't know any girls that are good at sports or that like them, Tom? What century do you live in? Hell, my dad tells me your mother even liked to fish when she was younger. I know you will never understand this, hell it's hard for me to understand at times. Yes, I have a penis. Yes, I am attracted to girls as well, then again so are lots of other girls. Sexual attraction and gender identification are not the same; they are controlled by different parts of the brain. Growing up though, I knew what society wanted me to be and I tried, really tried, to be a boy, Tom. I can't say I absolutely hated being Jason, I didn't. I just never felt comfortable and I could not help but feel jealous and sometimes even bitter that I couldn't be a girl. When I finally got up the nerve to talk to my parents and actually got to be myself, well there was no going back."

"So you're going to have it cut off then? Self-mutilation?"

"I don't know yet what I'm going to do. I admit that having it surgically removed is scary. But if I do it, it won't be mutilation; it will be correcting an anatomical anomaly, like if I had an extra finger or something like that."

"An extra finger? It's hardly the same thing."

"Why, let's say I had an extra finger and it was perfectly functional, it might even be advantageous in some ways, would you have a problem with me having it removed?"

"No."

"Why, God doesn't make mistakes, I would have been meant to have that extra finger. It was useful at times, why would you think it was ok to have it removed?

"Because people would always look at you funny. You would have a heck of a time getting gloves for the winter, and you would just be trying to correct something that happened in the womb."

"Well Tom, that is what I am doing. Something happened in the womb, my brain got the signal to be wired as a girl, but my body didn't get the same message, so here I am with a deformity that makes it difficult for me to get the proper clothes and makes people look at me funny."

"You have a justification for everything, but you are deluding yourself."

"I could say the same to you. Look, we aren't going to agree on this Tom. If I'm wrong about it, then someday I may have to face God and be told that I was wrong. If so, I'm prepared to take responsibility for my actions, are you? Think about how Jesus treated people Tom, and ask yourself if your Reverend Triphard is emulating Jesus. I don't want to fight anymore Tom. I hate that you and your family have withdrawn from the family over this. It is especially unfair to Billy."

Tom started to respond, held back and looked thoughtful. Eventually he said, "I have to give that some thought, Kelly. Come on, let's go find them, and you give Billy his car."

"Fair enough."

---

Officer Dowling and several other officers met up with Kelly's parents, and her two Aunts. They had brought one of the K9 dogs, and asked if they had anything that Emily or Billy had worn recently. Sally gave them a sweater that Emily had worn earlier in the day, when the temperature had been cooler.

The officer let the dog smell the sweater until he got the scent, and began sniffing the ground and the bushes near the entrance to the woods. A few moments later he let out a yip, and began following the scent.

They followed after. Kelly's father took out his walkie-talkie and pressing the send button, "Kelly, come in?"

A few moments of static later, they heard Kelly respond, "Kelly here, we are still looking Dad, but we are on the right trail. Just found one of Billy's matchbox cars."

"Good, hopefully you will find them soon, but we are following along, the police have brought one of their tracking dogs."

"That's good, because we already had one spot where we were really not sure which way to go, and got a little lucky."

"Let us know if you find them."

"Will do. Kelly out."

Officer Dowling said, "We will find them. They clearly have a pretty good lead though, so lets keep moving."

With that they picked up the pace and headed on, following the dog.

---

Billy was crying. Emily was holding on to him, trying to keep from crying herself. Her ankle had swollen up and was throbbing in pain.

Through his tears, Billy said, "I'm thirsty! And I'm hungry. I wanna go home! I want my mommy!"

"Me too, Billy."

They sat there holding each other, Billy sobbing. Emily thought she heard something and said, "Did you hear that?"

Billy said, "No. I didn't hear nothin. I want my mommy!"

"Shhh… keep quiet a minute and listen."

Billy stopped and tried to listen, as did Emily. He was just about to start up again, when very faintly he heard someone shouting, "Billy! Emily!"

They both looked at each other and shouted, "We’re HERE!"

They both heard the response, a bit louder now, "Stay put, we are coming to you! It's Kelly and Tom."
Ten minutes later, they saw first Kelly then Tom come through one of the paths that led into the clearing they were in.

As soon as he saw them, Billy ran to them and said, "Jason! Tom!" Kelly kneeled down and grabbed him into a hug.

Kelly said, "Whoa Billy, it's going to be ok now. We have you." Kelly stood up and handed Billy over to Tom, then looking over at Emily she said, "Do you both know how scared your Mothers are? Emily, you know better than to go running off into the woods alone!"

Tom had also kneeled down to hug Billy, but now stood up and said sternly, "And so do you, Billy."

As they walked over to where Emily was still sitting by the tree, Emily said, "I know. We just wanted some time together. We haven't seen each other since his birthday last year."

Tom and Kelly both looked guilty about that.

Kelly saw Emily wince. "Emily, are you ok? What did you do?"

Emily started to cry, "I hurt my ankle." Now that she did not have to be strong and brave for Billy, she broke down and cried.

Kelly came over and looked at her ankle, "oh yeah… Tom, she is not going to be able to walk. Here is the walkie-talkie, let them know that we found them and that they’re ok. Emily either has a really bad sprain, or she may have broken her ankle."

Tom took the walkie-talkie.

Kelly got her water bottle and said, "Emily… here, you’re a bit dehydrated, have a little bit of water. Not too fast. Tom, Billy needs some water too." Tom handed her his water bottle, and she gave it to Billy.

Billy grabbed the bottle, took a drink and said, "I'm hungry."

Kelly said, "Billy, take small sips, you don't want to get sick." Kelly took a couple of candy bars out of her back pack and said, "Here, one for each of you. Next time you run off make sure you eat first."

They both took the candy and quickly ate it. Billy said, "Thank you, Jason. Can I have some more?"

Tom said, "Billy, you should call her Kelly now."

Kelly turned her head toward Tom in surprise and said, "Thank you, Tom." She then looked at Billy and said, "Billy, I am Kelly now. I'm sorry that things happened the way they did at the lake and we didn't get to go swimming together. Maybe someday your Mom will let us all get back together, but I have to respect her wishes. Just know that I have missed you very much."

Billy said, "I know that, Kelly. Mommy really was mad at you. She said you were sick. That we had to stay away from you. But you don't look sick to me, Jas.. I mean Kelly. I think you look nice."

Kelly smiled, gave Billy another hug and said, "Thank you Billy, now let me see what I can do about Emily's ankle." She turned to Emily and said, "Emily, I'm going to take your shoe off, we need to get that wrapped up." She took Emily's leg and carefully removed her shoe from the injured foot. She got out the first aid kit, found an ace bandage and an ice pack. "Emily, I know that this has got to hurt. While running off into the woods was definitely wrong, I am proud of you for keeping strong for Billy, you are getting to be a big girl." Kelly wrapped the ace bandage around Emily's ankle and then squeezed the ice pack to activate it. "Here, hold this on your ankle, it will help."

She then used some medical tape to secure it, making sure that it was not touching directly on her skin.

Tom said, "Ok… I let them know we found them. Is she going to be able to walk?"

Kelly said, "No, I don't think so."

Tom said, "Alright, I'll have to carry her then. At least until we meet up with the search crew. Help her onto my back. Emily, you are going to have to hold on, please." Kelly helped Emily unto Tom's back. Tom held her legs while Emily wrapped her arms around Tom's shoulders.

Kelly took Billy's hand and said, "Ok, come on, follow me. We will take it slow. Tom, let me know if you need a break."

Kelly led them back along the way they came. They stopped every now and then to give Tom a break. They soon met up with the searchers.

Emily and Billy both shouted, "Mommy!"

Tom knelt down and eased Emily down to the ground. Kelly walked Billy over to his Aunt Jessica and put Billy's hand into hers.

"Emily! You gave me such a scare!" Sally said.

Jessica said, "Billy, you too! What were you thinking?"

Then both mothers grabbed a hold of their children and hugged them tight. Sally said, "Kelly, Tom, thank you for finding them."

Tom, looking squarely at his mother said, "Kelly is the one that found them, I couldn't have done that on my own."

Jessica looked like she was eating worms, but she looked over at Kelly and said, "Thank you… Kelly."

Kelly said, "You're welcome."

One of the police officers knelt besides Emily and said, "This is a pretty bad sprain; it might even be broken. You did a good job on it, but we need to get this x-rayed as soon as we can."

Kelly's father picked up Emily and they all headed back towards the fair grounds. With the men taking turns carrying Emily, they were soon back. An ambulance was waiting and Emily was soon on the stretcher. Kelly, Tom and Billy gathered around the gurney, with their parents right behind.

Billy said, "Thank you Emily for taking care of me out there."

Kelly said, "You will be fine, Emily. If you need a cast, I can sign yours this time."

Emily smiled and said, "Thanks for finding us, Kelly. Thanks for carrying me out, Tom."

Tom said, "No problem, Em. I hope you feel better."

With that, the gurney with Emily was put into the ambulance, her mother was allowed to go along with them, and they were soon on their way to the hospital.

Kelly's parents told her Aunt Sally not to worry about the car, that they would take care of it and meet them at the hospital in a little while.

After the police had finished taking statements, they left; leaving Kelly and her parents standing there with her Aunt Jessica, Tom and Billy. They stood together, in an awkward silence.

Billy grabbed Kelly's hand and turned to his mother saying, "Mommy, You are wrong about Kelly. She is not sick and she IS a girl."

Reverend Triphard came over and shouted, "Get your hands off that child, you pervert! He is under the protection of God and he will strike you down if you don't let him go this instant."

Kelly glared at Reverend Triphard then turned to Billy and said, "Thank you Billy, but I don't want to cause you a problem with your Mother. You need to listen to her, she loves you and is just trying to do what she thinks is best for you."

Billy said, "No. She said you were a sinner and that you had spurned God, and that you are not a girl. That is why she won't let me see you, or Grandma and Grandpa, or Emily. It's not fair!"

Jessica said, "Billy, come here."

Billy said, "No!"

Kelly said, "Billy, you must do what your mother says." Kelly walked Billy to his Aunt Jessica, looked her directly in the eye and placed Billy's hand into hers.

Jessica said quietly, "Thank you, Kelly."

Reverend Triphard exploded, "THANK YOU, KELLY? Jessica, have you lost your mind. This abomination is not Kelly, its name is Jason and it is an abomination in the eyes of God. Billy is now on the path to hell, because of his exposure to this tool of Satan and now you are on the slopes as well. You must purge yourself and your family of these sins."

He closed in on Billy and grabbed him from Jessica and grabbed him by the shoulders, "You will Burn in the fiery depths of Hell, if you don't ask God for forgiveness. God hates sinners and he especially hates those that spurn his gifts. Do you want to burn boy?!"

Billy trembling shouted, "No! Let me go."

Reverend Triphard shook him harder, "Then beg for forgiveness! Renounce this creature, or you WILL Burn!"

Billy, crying said, "No, No… Let me go! No I don't want to burn." Triphard slapped Billy and Billy collapsed into hysterics as his bladder cuts loose from fear.

Kelly, her parents, Tom and Jessica had all been frozen in shock at the Reverends outburst. When she saw him slap Billy, something snapped in Jessica. She turned on Reverend Triphard, grabbed him and hit him hard across his face. "You bastard, leave my son alone! He is only five years old!"

Tom grabbed Reverend Triphard and spun him around, "keep your hands off of my brother!"

Kristine said, "What kind of monster are you? You are sick! It’s bad enough you have targeted Kelly for your hate preaching, but that was child abuse!"

Kelly went straight to Billy, and pulled him into her arms. "Shh… Billy, it will be ok, you will be fine."

Reverend Triphard said, "Tom, you understand? You have to understand."

Tom said, "I understand alright. I understand that you have lost it. I can't believe that I ever listened to you. Now get away from here, before I do something you will regret."

Tom shoved him away and then turned towards Billy. Billy was in Kelly's arms, his Aunt, Uncle and mother all trying to comfort him.

Jessica was holding Billy saying, "Billy, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. He is wrong, baby. God loves you, he would not treat his children that way."

Kelly mouthed to her mother, "Can you get Minister Goodman?"

Kristine said, "Jessica, come with us. Kelly, bring Billy."

Jessica nodded and followed along, Kelly got up and holding Billy in her arms, they went to where Minister Goodman had set up the church's food station for the picnic.

When they got there, Julie and Meghan who were helping, looked up and said, "What's going on?"

"Where is Minister Goodman?" Kristine asked.

"Here I am," he replied, "what is going on?"

When Richard told the Minister what had happened, he said angrily, "That is inexcusable. Kelly, can you bring him over here, where it is a little private. Jessica, Tom, I'm Minister Goodman, please come with me as well."

Kelly, Jessica and Tom followed along and they found a table in a quiet area. Kelly handed Billy to his mother, and then the Minister said, "Kelly, please let me talk to them now. Thank you for your help."

Kelly backed away and went back over to her parents.

It was quite a while later, when Jessica, Tom, Billy and Minister Goodman came back to them. Jessica said, looking straight at Kelly, "Kelly, thank you. I um… I was wrong and I'm sorry for the pain we have caused you."

"It's ok, Aunt Jessica. I understand. Is Billy going to be ok?"

"I think so. Minister Goodman spoke to him and told him that God is not the vengeful being that Reverend Triphard makes him out to be. We are going to meet with him again tomorrow and see how things go. Richard, Kristine, I'm sorry. Can you forgive us?"

Kristine gave Jessica a hug and said, "Of course. We have missed you."

Richard nodded and gave her a hug as well, then said, "We really need to get over to the hospital now, we got a call from Sally, Emily's ankle is just a sprain, but we need to go pick them up."

Jessica said, "You go ahead, I'm going to take the boys home, we have a lot of thinking to do. Please tell Sally I will call her later and to let me know if she or Emily need any help."

As they said goodbye, they all gave each other hugs. When Tom and Kelly came together, Tom said, "Kelly, I'm sorry too."

Kelly said, "It's ok Tom." She reached out to hug him; Tom hesitated at first, but then returned it fully.

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 9 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Kelly helps her cousin Tom in his changed world.

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Chapter 20

Tom went into the kitchen and found his mother working on dinner. He watched as she put down the knife she was using to cut up some potatoes, and leaned over the counter and started to sob.

Tom went to her and said, "Mom?"

Jessica jumped, "ohhh… Tom… I didn't realize you were there."

"What's wrong, Mom?"

Jessica hesitated and said, "Nothing."

"Mom?"

Just then the front door opened, slammed, and Bob Merrick shouted, "Jessica!"

He came into the kitchen, and said, "What the hell happened today? I got a call from Reverend Triphard; how dare you defy him. He told me that you, Tom and Billy had turned your back on God."

Jessica said, "Triphard assaulted Billy; he threatened him, told him he was going to burn in hell, and shook him and hit him. I'm not going to stand by and watch anyone hurt Tom or Billy, not even Triphard!"

"Reverend Triphard is the voice of God, if he told Billy he was going to hell, than it was to save him. You're a woman; don't interfere in men's business."

"No Bob. I've played the dutiful wife for 16 years, I've deferred to you since before we married and became a good wife as per Reverend Triphard's teaching, but no more. I will not let him harm my children!"

"Woman, I am the man of this house, and you will do as I say. Now tomorrow you will send a formal apology to the Reverend, begging for his forgiveness."

"No Bob, I will not," Jessica replied, her voice taking on an edge.

"Dad, I was there, he was out of control. Mom was right!"

"Don't you start with me Tom, I heard all about you too. You went off into the woods with that faggot cousin of yours and I don't know what kind of bullshit he pulled over you, but you are going to come back to God."

"I went in the woods to find my brother, and it was Kelly's skill that found Billy and Emily, not mine. She knew the woods; she knew how to find the tracks they left."

"His name is Jason; he is a faggot boy, not a 'she.' You know that he is an abomination to God, what is wrong with you!"

"Nothing is wrong with me, Dad. I've just seen the light. Reverend Triphard is wrong and so are you and so was I to follow him."

"Look what you've done, Woman. Our sons have rejected God and are going to burn in hell. This is all your fault!"

"Bob, neither Tom or I have rejected God, we have rejected Reverend Triphard. Believe it or not they are not one and the same, though having listened to his teachings for all of these years; I can understand why you seem to think they are!"

"Dad…"

"You stay out of this!" His father snapped at him in anger.

"Tom, go check on Billy," his mother said.

Tom shook his head and went upstairs to Billy's room. Billy was curled up on his bed. Tom went over to him and asked, "Are you ok, Billy?"

"Mom and Dad are fighting aren't they?"

"Yes, they are."

"Because of what I did today?"

"No. Because of what Reverend Triphard did today, it's not your fault Billy."

They sat in silence; the only sound was that of the rising argument coming from the kitchen. They could not make out what was being said, but it was clearly not going well.

They both jumped as a crash, followed by a door being slammed and then the sound of a car starting and rushing off. A few moments later the door opened, and their mother came into the room, with two duffle bags. She handed one to Tom and said, "Tom, please go pack some clothes for the next few days into this. Don't forget your toothbrush."

She then proceeded to start to pack the second bag with Billy's things.

"What's going on, Mom?" Tom asked.

"We are going to spend a few days at my parent's house, till your father and I can work out this situation," she said.

Tom's stomach turned at the thought, but he shook his head, and headed into his room to pack.

Chapter 21

Kelly's mother hung up the phone. She came back to the dinner table and said, "Jessica and the boys are at your parent's house. Bob blew a gasket when he came home; apparently he took Triphard's side."

Kelly and Meghan both looked at her with disbelief.

Kelly's father said, "That figures, I should have seen that coming. Are Jessica and the boys alright?"

"Yes. They are understandably upset of course, but overall they are ok. It's been quite a day for them. Mom said that she and Jessica had a long talk. When Triphard slapped Billy, it was like a veil being lifted from her. She can't believe she allowed herself to subjugate herself to Bob and Triphard all these years. She is feeling like an idiot."

"What about Tom? He stood up to Triphard today, but he has never known anything else."

"Mom said he has been pretty quiet. Dad tried to talk to him, but did not get much out of him, I suspect he is feeling pretty conflicted at the moment."

Kelly asked, "What about Billy?"

His mother smiled, and said, "He seems to be ok. A little concerned because he thinks he caused all of this, but both his mother and Tom have assured him that it was not his fault. He was pretty happy to see Grandma and Grandpa though."

Kelly exhaled a sigh of relief that Billy was ok. Meghan gave Kelly's hand a gentle squeeze.

His mother then went on, "We will see them tomorrow morning at church; they are going to meet with Minister Goodman again after the services, then we are invited to join them for a barbeque at Grandma's house. Sally and Emily will be there too; you can invite Julie if you want. Meghan, you're welcome to invite Cliff. We can pick him up after we pick you up from your church."

Kelly and Meghan both said they would make the calls after dinner.

"Hey Jules, what a day, huh?" Kelly asked, after Julie answered her phone.

"Excitement just follows you around Kelly. Is Emily ok?"

"Oh yeah, she's fine, just a bad sprain. Aunt Jessica, Tom and Billy are staying with my grandparents for a while though. My Uncle Bob was really upset about what happened and that they argued with Triphard."

"That's crazy. He was out of control."

"I know, but that is the way Uncle Bob is. Anyway, after church tomorrow we are going to a picnic at Grandma's house, you are invited as well. Can you come?"

"I don't see why not; let me check with Mom."

The phone was silent for a few moments as Julie went to check with her mother. When she came back she said, "No problem. I'll see you after church then?"

"Yup. We will pick you up."

"See you then."

The next day at church, Kelly sat in the pew with Tom on one side and Billy on the other side. She listened intently as Minister Goodman led the congregation through the services. The sermon focused on God's love for all of his children.

Kelly watched Tom carefully; at points she could see confusion and at times, pain in his expression. She reached out and gently touched his hand and asked, "Are you ok, Tom?"

Tom looked at her, and said, "I don't know, Kelly. This is so different from everything I have been taught and believed. How can it be so different, both of them are working from the same Bible? Yet, Minister Goodman's God is one of love and acceptance, and Reverend Triphard's God is hard, cold, demanding and vengeful? I don't understand. I don't know what to believe any more."

"I'm sorry, Tom. I wish I had answers for you, but you will have to look into your own heart and soul to find those answers. Give it time; I'm sure you will find what is right for you."

After the sermon, Jessica, Tom and Billy stayed to meet with Minister Goodman. Kelly and her family went to pick up Meghan, who went to a different church nearby, and then to get Julie and Cliff.

When Kelly, her family and friends arrived at her grandparent's house, Sally and Emily were already there. Kelly gave Emily a hug and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"It hurts a little bit, and walking with the crutch is a pain!"

"Tell me about it!" Kelly replied with sympathy.

Jessica, Tom and Billy returned from their meeting with Minister Goodman shortly thereafter. They went and got changed, and then joined the party in the back yard.

Billy and Emily started to play one of their multi-player DS games, so Kelly felt comfortable leaving them to their own devices and joined the teenage crowd.

Tom said, "Anyone want to toss a Frisbee or something? I need to do something active."

Cliff said, "Sure, I'm game… Girls?"

Kelly said, "I'm in."

Meghan and Julie quickly agreed. Tom went and grabbed one from his mother's car. At first they simply tossed it around, basically in a circle. Cliff and Tom got a bit bored with that eventually, they started to make each other have to run and make diving catches. Then they lined up next to each other and would jockey and fight for the Frisbee when it was sent toward either of them.

Then on one particularly tricky throw from Julie, Cliff and Tom were pushing and shoving around each other to get it, when Kelly shot on through the two of them jumped up, and grabbed it before either of them could get it. She tucked it under her arm, turned her back on the boys, and blew on her fingernails, than she tossed the Frisbee over to Meghan.

Cliff and Tom stood there with wide-open mouths, while Julie and Meghan broke out in laughter. It took a minute, but Cliff soon joined in the laughter, then Tom did too.

When they got their composure back, Tom said, "Ok… we get the point. Kelly, you always were good at Ultimate Frisbee."

A short while later, the game was interrupted so that they could help set out the food for the picnic. Jessica watched as the teens made themselves plates and joked to Kelly's mom, "I can see one major advantage you have now with Kelly, Kristine. You don't have to feed a teenage boy!"

Kristine laughed, "True enough Jessica, but I do have to clothe a teenage girl, I'm not sure that it quite works out."

"No, I suppose not," Jessica acknowledged.

The teens took their plates over to one of the tables her grandparents had set up in the back yard and sat together.

Cliff asked, "So Meghan, school is almost over for the summer, what are your plans?"

"Well, once school is out, I'm going to join up with my parents at my grandmother's for the summer. Daddy is doing whatever he can right now; Gram got him a job at the local supermarket, she is good friends with the owner's wife. Doesn't pay much, but it is more than unemployment."

"I guess I won't see you much over the summer then," Cliff said.

"It's not really that far away. I'm sure we can get together occasionally. Kelly and her family are heading up to their lake house right after school lets out, so I had to decide between going with them and joining up with my parents. As much as I would have enjoyed the lake house, I really miss my parents."

Tom looked down at his plate and said, "The lake house. It's hard to believe it's almost a year already. I'm sorry for what I put you through this year, Kelly."

Kelly reached over to Tom and grabbed his hand and said, "Tom, I can't deny that it hurt me deeply and in many ways this has been a tough year. But it has also been a good year, and frankly Tom, if you had not done what you did, I'd still be Jason as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Mom and Dad would never have allowed me to begin a full time transition at school had it not been public knowledge already. Things happen for a reason. As much as it hurt before, that you are accepting me now, just means so much more. So let's agree to put it behind us, and start fresh."

Tom gave Kelly's hand a quick squeeze and said, "Thanks…"

Chapter 22

Erika, the group leader, called for the girl's attention, "Ok, everyone settle down and let's get started."

It took a moment or two, but the girls quieted down and took their seats in the circle. Once she had their attention, she asked "Does anyone have anything bothering you that you need the group's help with?"

No one spoke up.

"Ok, great. Then let's start with a bit of housekeeping. Summer is coming up, how many of you know what your summer plans are? We need to determine if we will have enough of you to justify having sessions for the summer months?"

Most of the girls raised their hands. Erika called on them in turn.

Deb said, "We are going away in late August for a week, but will be here most of the summer."

Samantha replied, "My Dad is in construction, this is his busy time of the year, we never go away in the summer."

Joan said, "Mom and Dad are looking at planning a few day trips this summer, trying to keep costs down. The economy being what it is, they don't want to spend a lot of money on a trip this year."

Kelly said, "We will be away for the first couple of weeks of July. We always go up to our lake house. In fact, since you brought it up, we always celebrate my birthday up there, and Mom and Dad said I could invite you all to come up for the day. We have a boat; we swim in the lake, lots of stuff to do."

Deb said, "Sounds like your own little summer camp."

Kelly laughed, and said, "I guess, I never really thought of it that way."

Samantha sighed, "To bad it isn't summer camp. I used to love going to camp in the summer, but I can't go to one as Samantha, and I'm not going to spend the summer as a boy ever again."

Deb said, "Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey Erika, you should start a summer camp for Transgendered Teens. They have camps for all kinds of other special needs kids; not that I'm complaining, mind you, those camps are necessary! But it would be great to have a place that catered to us too."

Erika got a distant look on her face and smiled, "Yeah, I remember my own experiences at camp… as life changing as they were," then she shook her head with a smile and said, "Somehow, I doubt I could convince the board to invest in something like that. Not a terrible idea; though a TG Summer Camp sounds like a story you might read about on the web."

They all laughed at the thought.

Joan asked, "I don't have a bathing suit for Joan, I don't know that Mom would let me have one. Would it be ok if I came as Jimmy?"

Kelly said, "Of course it would."

Erika said, "Well, that sounds like fun for you all. I'm actually a bit envious, I guess the sleep over at Kelly's must have gone well. It was the weekend after our last meeting right? Three weeks ago, now?"

All of the girls chimed in with their agreement.

Erika said to Joan, "Joan, you clearly enjoyed it, how did your Mom handle it?"

Joan said, "Well at first she wasn't going to allow it, then she decided it was an extension of the group, so she did. She even had to buy me some girl's pajama's for the night. Then she was nervous when she found out that Kelly's friends, as Mom said, 'real girls' were also going to be there and spending the night. She spoke with Mrs. Anderson though and was assured that there was going to be heavy chaperonage to make sure nothing inappropriate occurred, and she gave in. I think she was in shock when she picked me up. We all had makeovers the night before, and with Kathy and Deb's help, we had recreated much of what Michele had done. So I looked a whole lot more like a girl then I had ever done before. She was a bit concerned at first, that I would not be able to hide what had been done, but once we took out the extensions, brushed out the changes and washed off the makeup, she calmed down about it."

Kelly said, "Mom told me that before she came downstairs to gather you, she had warned her that we had done the makeovers the night before, that while the changes looked amazing, she was going to find it hard to believe that nothing permanent had been done."

"Yeah, Mom told me that your Mom had warned her, and it was a good thing, or I think she would have gone ballistic right there. The ride home she kept looking me with a kind of sad look; I think it was a look of surrender to the inevitable. I think she finally saw the girl in me and realized this is not a phase. As I said, when we got home she made me change, shower etc. Even when she could see that no one was going to see what had been done, I don't think she can forget what she saw."

Erika asked, "How have things been between you and your Mom since?"

"Pretty good actually. In fact, the next weekend Dad was out of town for work, and Friday night she rented While You Were Sleeping. She let me wear my new pajamas. We ate ice cream from the container and I think we went through a whole box of tissues."

The girls chuckled at that.

"After the movie, she and I had a pretty good talk. She admitted that it was not easy for her to see me like this. She feels like her son is dying before her eyes, that she can't do anything to stop it and that is really hard. Yet she also sees this part of me growing before her, dying to come out. She said she overheard what I said to you Kelly, as I was leaving your sleepover. "That I had never felt so alive" and it just shook her to her core. Anyway it was a good talk; I think we went through another box of tissues…"

Deb said, "I think we are going to go through a box here as well," as she passed the tissues to Samantha, and they continued around the circle.

"The next day, Dad was still out of town. Since it was a Saturday and no school, she let me have Joan clothes, and I helped her out around the house. We pretty much spent the weekend together as Mother and daughter; it was nice. Monday I had to go to school of course, so I figured it was done. When I got home, imagine my surprise when I found my new pajamas and the few under things I own, neatly folded in my underwear drawer, and the couple of outfits I have for group meetings hanging up in my closet. Mom came in and told me she was not going to lock them up anymore, but that I had to be careful not to let my father see me, at least until we have told him. He has not met with my individual therapist yet, but we are going to arrange for him to come with us to a session, in the next couple of weeks, and tell him there."

Erika asked, "How do you think he is going to react?"

"I don't really know. Mom says that he loves me and I don't really doubt that, but as hard as it is for her, it will be even harder for him. He was so happy when I was born a boy and he loves doing the 'guy' things with me. I don't really want to disappoint him and I actually enjoy a lot of those things, so I am hoping that we won't lose that. But then I think about Carol…"

Samantha asked, "Speaking of Carol, has anyone spoken with her recently? I'm surprised she isn't here."

Deb's face clouded over and she said, "I spoke to her yesterday. She won't be coming back. The judge handed down his decision yesterday. He rejected the advice of Carol's doctors, in favor of the doctor's the father hired, those idiots that Firefly had on their show about you, Kelly. He accepted their testimony that said that the treatment of acceptance was harmful, and that negative reinforcement methodology was in her best interests. As such, he ordered that she be given into her father's custody, and that her mother was only allowed supervised visitation. Her participation in the TransTeen support group has been explicitly prohibited."

The others all gasped, and expressed their outrage. They looked at Erika and said, "Is that true?"

Erika said, "I normally can't comment on a patient, but since Carol gave that information to Deb and permission for her to pass it on, I will confirm that it is unfortunately true."

Kelly said, "How did she sound, Deb?"

"Despondent. She couldn't talk for long; she snuck a call to me from her cell phone while she was waiting to leave with her father and had to hang up when her dad came back into the room. They did not even let her go home with her mother last night."

Samantha asked, "What did he say about Carol's father's getting drunk and attacking him physically?"

Deb said, "He said there was no evidence that her father had ever done anything violent and that he believed that Carol and her mother made that up in order to slander the father. In fact he told them if he heard anything further on the subject he would have charges of slander drawn up on them."

Kelly said, "Unbelievable."

The rest of the session was somewhat subdued, as each of the girls thought about their friend. Deb had warned them that they should not call Carol. Carol would find a way to keep in touch, probably via I/M and chat, since her father was a complete computer neophyte.

As had become their nightly ritual, Kelly and Meghan were sitting together in their nightgowns and robes, recapping the events of the day.

Meghan said, "I'm going to miss my nightly gab session with my big 'sister' when I go meet up with my parents at my Grandma's house."

Kelly said, "Me too. You are going to come up to the lake house for my birthday aren't you? All the other girls will be there…" and then with a frown she added, "except Carol."

"I think so. I'm not sure about the transportation yet, but we will work something out. Mom may drop me off at Kathy's the night before, and then I can come up with Kathy and Sue. What that judge did is such a crime. Isn't there anything that they can do? Can't they appeal?"

"Mom told me that they talked about it in the parent's session too, because Deb's mom brought it up in there. A couple of the parents there are lawyers, and they said it is really hard to appeal a custody decision, not impossible, but it is not something that can be done easily."

Meghan just shook her head in disgust.

"I hope that it does not have a chilling effect on the progress Joan has made though. She was really quiet after Deb told us about Carol. She and her mom were planning on telling her father soon, and I hope that this doesn't postpone that."

They sat there quietly for a while.

Kelly shook it off and said, "So… how are things going with Cliff?"

Meghan blushed, "Very well, thank you. He had fun at your grandparent's the other night. He said he had really wanted to hate Tom for what he had done to you, but that Tom was contrite, and if you didn't hate him, how could he. They actually got on fairly well."

Meghan then looked thoughtful and said, "Did you know his older brother is gay?"

Kelly shook her head, no.

"It infuriated him what Tom's church was doing to you. That night what Randell and his mother said, well that pushed him to say something to you. He said he had always been too shy to speak to a girl. Of course, when you and I ganged up on him to get him to ask me out, he didn't stand a chance," Meghan added, with a conspiratorial grin.

Kelly gave her one right back.

"Anyway, thanks for your help, big sis."

"Hey what is a big sister for, if not to butt into their little sister's love life?"

Kelly's mother came in and said, "Alright girls, it’s a school night, time for bed."

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Edited by Joni W

Part 10 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Kelly and her friends celebrate her birthday at the lake, as her friends enjoy their day at 'Camp Kelly.' How is Carol dealing with being back with her father?

Author's Note: My sincere thanks to Joni W for all her efforts!

Chapter 23

"Last one in is a rotten egg!" Joan shouted, as she ran off of the end of the dock and jumped in the lake. The rest of Kelly’s friends followed her rapidly. As they all surfaced they came up laughing, splashing at each other and generally having a good time.

Kelly climbed out of the water and sat on the dock looking out at her friends. She smiled as she looked at Joan in her one-piece suit, and thought about the final acceptance it represented from Joan's mother. She looked over to where the adults were sitting. Over by the fire pit, plenty of chairs and tables had been set up, where they would be eating dinner later. Right now there were various snacks and coolers with drinks, soda, juices and flavored waters for the teens, and one cooler was filled with beer for the adults.

Sitting with her own parents, she saw Joan's mother and father, as well as Deb's parents. Samantha's mother and both Julie's Mom and Dad were there. Kathy's mom had brought Sue and Meghan, so their parents were not here.

Samantha climbed out of the water and sat next to her. "Kelly this is great. Thanks for inviting me."

"You're welcome. Believe me, I was thrilled when my folks said it was ok. I know it’s a bit of a drive to get here, I hope your Mom didn't mind too much."

"Not at all, she was looking forward to it too. She would love to have a place like this."

"We love it. We spend a couple weeks up here at the start of the summer and then we will come up for a few weekends throughout the summer, till we have to close it up for the winter. Last year we didn't get much time up here after the beginning, because of everything else that was going on with me."

Julie and Sue climbed out and Julie said, "I'm gonna get some sun." She grabbed a beach chair and lay down with a towel over her eyes. Sue grabbed a beach ball and threw it towards Joan. Joan laughed and hit it towards Kathy, and Sue dove back in the water.

Kelly looked at Joan and said, "It's great to see Joan so happy. I can't wait to hear about her talk with her dad. It obviously went well."

Samantha smiled and said, "Yeah, me too. It's nice when it happens that way."

Kelly said, "I just wish Carol could be here."

Samantha said, "Me too. I'm worried about her. I got an I/M from her last night and she seems really depressed. Her father is really pushing her to 'be a man.' I just hope she doesn't get hurt."

"Me too. It's frustrating, I just wish there was something we could do to help her. But there really isn't anything other than being there for her when she needs us."

They sat silently for a few minutes, just watching the girls batting the beach ball around as they thought about Carol.

Samantha broke the silence by saying, "Oh… by the way, I loved the sign you put up to greet us as we came up the drive. Camp Kelly, huh. I almost peed myself, I laughed so hard."

"Well you said you missed going to camp, so I thought we would make that the theme of the party."

"Mom didn't understand what was so funny and even when I explained it, she just looked at me like I was crazy. Oh well, nothing new in that… So we need to come up with a camp song."

"A camp song?"

Samantha said, "Yeah, a camp song… Gotta have one to sing at the camp fire."

"I'll leave that to you."

"Ok, let me get some paper and a pencil from my purse." Samantha ran into the house and came back with a notepad and a pencil. She sat at the table on the dock and went to work.

Kelly got up to go grab something to drink. As she came closer to where the adults were sitting and talking, she could hear her father talking to Joan's dad, "No, it's not easy. I do miss my son at times, but I love my daughter just as much. And really, Jason's not really gone, he was always Kelly, I just didn't realize it. The important thing to me is, that she is happy and safe. That's really my biggest worry. There are really crazy people out there and some of them can be pretty violent. When Kelly was outed last year, we got death threats and a lot of nasty messages left on our answering machine. So yeah, I worry about her safety."

Joan's father said, "What kind of life can they have? They are always going to have to worry about being found out, even if they have the operation and don't have to be afraid of being 'caught' that way, there will still be records of the past that can come back and haunt them. I love my son and I accept what the doctor's are telling us about the dangers of suppressing this in them. I recognize that those idiots that were on that Firefly show are quacks, but I can't help mourn the loss of my son."

Joan's mother squeezed her father's hand and shook her head in agreement. "It is hard, I fought against it, as you know. I started taking him… I mean her, oh… damn you know what I mean… to the TransTeen group meetings, hoping to get support and find a way to get him over this. I almost pulled out when I realized that the group wasn't going to do that. Sharon, it was your story about the other child from your town that was pulled out and then killed himself, that kept me from doing it."

Deb's mother, Sharon said, "I know Betty, and believe me we all understand. None of us wished for our kids to be transgendered."

"When I picked up Ji… I mean Joan from Kelly's slumber party… that is when I really saw the girl in her and I realized she wasn't going to go away. She was just so alive that day, and I had never seen that in my son." Joan's mother started to cry, and her father put his arm around her.

"I'm sorry that you did not come to me sooner, honey. You shouldn't have had to deal with this on your own for so long."

"I know, I should have told you as soon as I found out, but you were so proud when Jimmy was born. You loved having a son, and I was hoping that you wouldn't have to face losing him."

Kelly spoke up, "Excuse me… I'm sorry, I did not mean to eavesdrop on your conversation, I was just coming for some soda. But if you'll forgive me, I'd like to say something about that. Jimmy isn't going to go away, even if he becomes Joan full time at some point. It took me a while to figure this one out for myself too, in fact I really had a hard time giving up my name to truly become Kelly. I eventually figured out that the only real difference was how I wanted to be perceived, and that is I am a girl. But I still like everything I liked as Jason, I love fishing with my dad, playing ball. Going for hikes and camping, all those supposed guy things. Has my relationship with my mom and dad changed as a result? Yes, I guess it has in some ways. I can share things with my mother that I always wanted to, but couldn't as Jason. There are some differences in the way fathers and daughters interact, versus fathers and sons, but I still enjoy doing the things with my dad that we always did. I haven't given up any of them and frankly when we go fishing, or camping, or whatever, I don't really notice much of a change."

Her father said, "I agree. Oh, when we are camping, we do take turns getting changed in the tent now, which we wouldn't have done before, but for the most part, Kelly is right. Once I got over it, it ceased to be different." He then added with a grin, "Although Kelly, I do miss the opportunity to tease my son about girls… It's not quite the same, since you are one now."

Julie's father in mock anger said, "Hey, that's my daughter you would be talking about… hmmm… hadn't thought about that, I'll have to take advantage of that, since I can tease my daughter about girls."

Julie's mother smacked him playfully and said, "Ken!"

Kelly laughed and said, "Dad… If you really are feeling cheated, I suspect I can handle it. I can let that part of Jason out occasionally for you. Just keep it in good taste," she added with a wink.

She then turned back to Joan's parents and said, "Joan has told us that she really enjoys doing the 'guy' things with you, and she is really hoping not to lose that as well. She loves you both; believe me, it's not easy on us either. We worry about being a disappointment and fear of rejection. She expected that she was going to have to come today as Jimmy and I can see how happy she is to be here as Joan. The best thing you can do for her is to continue to love her, and make her feel that she is accepted for who she is. That's what she needs right now and I think you are both doing a very good job of that."

With that she grabbed a diet soda and excused herself, as she headed back to the lake.

In keeping with the camp theme, they had various activities planned through the day. Mr. Anderson fired up The Kristine and took the girls out on a tour of the lake, then he let those that wanted to try water-skiing, to try it. After the girls had enough, he then took the parents out. The girls watched from the dock as their parents tried water-skiing.

Samantha said, "Oh my God, I didn't know my mother could water ski? Look at her go!"

A little bit later, it was Deb's father's turn, he got up for a second and then went head over heals quickly. Deb said, "Ouch… that had to hurt." She let out a sigh of relief when she saw him grab the rope for another try. "I guess he couldn't be too badly hurt… except maybe his pride."

It took him a couple of tries, but he did finally get up and stay up. He raised one arm in triumph.

Joan's father was next; he got it on his second try.

When they came back to the dock, they got off laughing and thanked Kelly's father for the lessons.

Samantha said to her Mom, "When did you learn to water ski, Mom?"

"Oh, years ago, I used to go up to a lake like this when I was your age. Some friends had a place, and they had a boat too."

"Cool, I didn't know that."

After everyone had a snack and a drink, the girls challenged the parents to a volleyball game. Deb and Kathy turned out to be the best spikers on the girl’s team So, as they played, the girls worked hard to set up one of them. On the parent’s side, Julie and Joan's fathers were the best.

The game was fairly even, going back and forth, but in the end the girls pulled it out and won on a fake, as Deb pretended to go for it, but Kathy actually took it and spiked it in the opposite direction, at the last moment.

After the volleyball game, everyone helped with the barbeque dinner. There were hot dogs, hamburgers and Italian sausage. There were some pork ribs, chicken and shrimp. There was also fresh bass, that Kelly and her father had caught and cleaned that morning. There was fruit salad, a couple of different kinds of potato salad, and all the toppings and fixings you could want.

The fresh air and activity had everyone hungry and they made a good dent in the pile of food that had been prepared.

Deb's mom, said, "Oh, I don't think I've eaten like that since I was a kid. Everything was wonderful, especially the bass."

While cleaning up, Kelly had a chance to ask Meghan, "How are things going at home with your parents?"

Meghan said, "Good. Dad is doing ok at his job, not what he wants to do, but at least its money. Mom is still looking, but is helping out my Gram and Grampa that best she can. Everyone is glad to have me home. I missed them. I can't tell you how much I appreciate being given the opportunity to stay with you and your family and they are great, but I do wish I could stay with my own parents."

Kelly said, "I know. And you are definitely welcome as long as you need. I have to tell you, I enjoyed having a little sister, and I miss our nightly chat sessions."

Meghan gave her a quick hug and they got back to cleaning.

As it was starting to get dark, Kelly's father lit the campfire and the citronella candles around the fire pit. Everyone sat around the fire and Kathy's mother got out her guitar. She played and everyone sang along. Songs like Country Roads and Yesterday.

While she was taking a break, Kelly asked Samantha if she had written her camp song. Samantha blushed and said, "Yeah, though it's not very good."

Kelly, "Come on, we have to hear it, then."

Samantha said, "Alright. I couldn't get that song from the movie Meatballs out of my head. Have you ever seen that one? It's an old movie, but my Dad loves it. Anyway, I ended up taking it and reworking the words."

The adults all chuckled, as they knew the movie. Some of the kids nodded as they had seen it on a DVD, somewhere along the line.

Kelly said, "Ok… I've seen the movie, so I know the song, so let's hear your version of it."

Samantha blushed and sang:

We are the girls of TG Camp Kelly
Where Genetic Girls mix with girl Wanna-be's
We're gonna laugh and sing and fool around,
We're estrogen bound
We are the Camp Kelly girls

Everyone laughed, and Kelly said, "Ok, so that's the Camp Kelly song, we all have to sing."

They started slowly; even the fathers got into it, and sang it through, each time speeding it up, over and over a dozen times, till everyone just broke out in laughter.

Julie laughed, and said, "Well top 20 it's not, but that was fun."

Kathy's mom picked up the guitar and played another round of songs.

Then she started in on Happy Birthday and Kelly saw that her mother had slipped away and was coming out to the table with a cake with the candles lit. After they finished the song, she went over to the cake, and made her wish. She knew exactly what to wish for, and to herself she thought, let Carol be able to join us here next year.

They all had some birthday cake. Her mother had also brought out marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate bars. The girls settled down to making Smore's.

Not much longer after that, the party came to an end. It was a long drive back home for Kelly's guests and she and her parents thanked them all for coming, as they were packing up. Julie gave her parents an especially big hug, as they got into their car leaving Julie to stay with Kelly for the next week.

When everyone had left, Kelly thanked her parents for the party, and they finished cleaning up, what little was left, and went in to bed.

Chapter 24

Kelly glanced at the caller id on her cell phone, as she answered it and said, "Hi Deb, what's up?"

"Carol is in the hospital." Deb told her.

"What happened, is she going to be ok," Kelly asked?

"Her bastard father beat the crap out of her. Last night, her father got drunk and caught her on the computer logged in as Carol to her I/M service. She was chatting with a couple of people from the TransTeen group. He apparently completely lost it. She has a couple of broken ribs, a broken arm and her face is one big bruise."

"Oh my god. Is she going to be alright? Can we go see her?"

"Her mom told my mother that she will be ok, no organ damage, thank God. Her father has been arrested; it will be on the news tonight. In fact, Beth Ann from BNN is doing a story on it. Right now it's a bit muddy; her mother still does not have custody, she is currently a ward of the state. Her mom's lawyers are filing all kinds of motions to have the court re-appoint her as guardian. She asked us not to go to the hospital yet, but of course she said it was fine to send a note or flowers to make sure Carol knows we are here for her."

"Of course we are!"

Kelly wrote down the information on where Carol was being treated, and then said, "Thanks for letting me know Deb. I'll see you next week at the group."

Kelly went into the kitchen and said, "Mom. I just got a call from Deb. Carol, from the group, is in the hospital. Her father beat her up."

"Damn. Her mother was really afraid of that, is Carol going to be ok?"

"She apparently has a couple of broken ribs, a broken arm and a bunch of bruises on her face, but her mother says she is going to be ok, there was no organ damage. Can we send some flowers or something to her room? Deb says we can't go visit her yet."

"Yes of course we can. Do you have the information on where to send them?"

"Right here," Kelly said and handed the slip of paper to her mother.

"I'll take care of it. Anything specific you want the card to say?"

"Um... How about, Get well soon, umm.. I don't know Mom… what should I say. I want to tell her I'm here for her, that I wanted to come see her, but how do you say that in a few words?"

"Don't try. Send her a letter or an e-mail if she has access, and tell her those things."

"Ok, then just say 'Get well soon, love Kelly.' I will send her a note too."

Chapter 25

Kelly spent most of the rest of the day worrying about Carol. She had to try to put it out of her mind while she was working in the serving line that evening, serving dinner at the church soup kitchen. She had to try to keep a positive mindset and a smile on her face. She could not help herself though, as she looked out at the people sitting at the tables and saw Mrs. Moran and her son, to get angry at the kind of bigotry, which led to a father hurting his child.

She had to wipe tears from her eyes, and said, "Kathy… please can you take over here for me."

"Sure Kelly... go ahead." Kathy took the spoon from her and gave her a smile.

Kelly went into the back room and found a quiet out of the way corner to sit down and try to get a handle on her emotions. "Damn!" She said as she pounded her clenched fist into a box of baked beans. Then she simply could not hold it back any more, she hugged herself tightly and began to sob.

A few minutes later, Julie came looking for her, finding her crying she rushed over, put her arms around her and said, "Kelly, what's wrong?"

"How could he do that to her? His own child? I just don't understand, Julie. Why was I so lucky? How can people be so hurtful? He beat the hell out of her! She is lucky to be alive. How many of those people out there would like to do that to me? Brad and his father would have. Hell, Brad's father abused him. Why, damn it, why?"

Julie held onto her and said, "I don't know Kelly. I don't know what to tell you."

Kelly laughed, "Hell, I wished that Carol would be able to join us next year at my party, maybe I caused it. Maybe that's my wish being granted."

Julie looked at her and said, "Ok, now you are being a bit egocentric, don't you think? You know as well as I do that birthday wishes are just for fun, you did not make this happen."

"I know Julie… I'm kidding."

Minister Goodman came in and said, "You alright, Kelly? I heard about your friend, I'm sorry. It's horrible. Thank God she will be ok, but she is going to need lots of support. Being attacked like that is bad enough, but when it comes from your own father… well…"

"She should never have been put back into his care. That Judge should be removed from the bench. He ignored all of the evidence, because he is prejudiced against transgendered people."

"Well Julie, there will probably be a call for just that, as this comes out. It will certainly be reviewed, I wish I could say that it was likely, but the judicial review system tends to watch out for their own. They may have no choice on this one though. They are susceptible to political pressure at times," Minister Goodman said.

"I hope so, Minister. I'll be alright, I just had to get away and let this out, but I'll be back in a minute. I just need to clean up, I'm sure I look horrible, and I need to be cheerful when I'm on the line."

"Well… take the time you need, it's slowing down out there now any way. If you don't need me though, I'll go back and keep things moving."

"Go ahead, I'll be fine."

Minister Goodman left them alone. Julie and Kelly went to the ladies room to wash up.

While they were in there, Courtney came into the ladies room. "Oh damn, the dyke and it. What are you doing in here? This is a ladies room. Aren't you supposed to use the 'it' room? I should call the police."

Julie turned on her and said, "Not tonight Courtney. Let it be."

Courtney said, "Why should I? This isn't school property; you can't get me expelled for what happens here. I still owe you for that suspension, you bitch."

Kelly said, "Why thank you, Courtney, you just acknowledged I'm female at least. We may be making progress with you after all."

"You are not female, you aren't male either, you’re an 'it,' and that is all you will ever be."

Julie stepped in front of her, and said, "Courtney, this may be a restroom, but it's in a church. I know that I was raised better then to fight in church, so do what you have to do, we will finish up in here, and let it go. We at least have respect for our host. Minister Goodman takes a dim view of intolerance as you know."

Courtney was about to say something, when the door opened and some other ladies from the church came in, so she said, "Fine." She went into a stall and shut the door.

Julie and Kelly finished cleaning up and went back to the serving line.

Chapter 26

Kelly, her mother and Julie stood outside the door to Carol's hospital room. They had received the all clear from Carol's mom that it was ok for them to come and visit. She nodded at the uniformed police officer, that was sitting beside the door. He asked their names, checked a list and waved them in.

Kelly reached for the doorknob and hesitated.

Her mom said, "Go ahead Kelly, it's going to be alright."

She turned the knob and opened the door and went on in. She held back a gasp as she saw her friend Carol. Her face was blotched with dark purplish blue bruises. She had a cast on one of her arms, and her chest was bandaged tightly.

Kelly forced a smile onto her face as she walked in. Carol looked over and when she saw who it was she got a smile, and said, "Kelly! Thanks for coming. Hi Julie and Mrs. Anderson, thank you too. The flowers were beautiful by the way. And I really appreciated the notes that all three of you sent to me."

Kelly said, "Carol, there was no question of our coming, as soon as we were told it was ok. We'd have been here sooner if it were allowed."

"I know, Kelly. Grab a seat; it's good to see you."

They all found seats around Carol's bed. Kelly asked, "So what is going on? You're mother did not have time to fill us in when she called to let us know we could come and visit. Are you going back into her care or is that still up in the air?"

"Well, the judge that had our case, and put me back with my father, is on leave pending an investigation by the judicial review board. A new judge has been put on the case for now, and he has awarded temporary custody to my mother. He has not overturned any of the decisions regarding the treatment of my transgendered needs at this point, but he did authorize visits from my friends, including those of you from the group. He said, regardless of the ultimate outcome of that decision, right now I needed the support of my friends, whoever they are."

Julie said, "Well, we are glad of that."

Kelly and her mother agreed.

Carol replied, "So am I. I thought I might never see any of you again, especially that night." She shuddered.

Kelly said, "I'm so sorry, hon. You don't have to talk about it unless you want to."

Carol said, "No, its ok. I was on the computer, chatting with Samantha and Joan. My father came in and was drunk, and I didn't get it closed down fast enough. He saw that I was logged in as Carol, and he went ballistic. He started shouting at me, 'I told you that was over. I'm going to make a man of you if it’s the last thing I do.' I tried to get away, and he grabbed my arm and spun me around. I think that's when he broke it, because I was trying to twist to get away and heard it pop. I started to cry and he hit me saying that 'boys don't cry' when I didn't stop he hit me a few more times in the face, then he threw me aside and I hit the side of the desk."

Kelly, Mrs. Anderson and Julie all listened in horror.

Carol said, "He went into the kitchen mumbling about something, and I heard him fall down. He apparently passed out from what I've been told. I crawled over to the phone and dialed 911, before I passed out from the pain. When I woke up the paramedics were rushing me to the hospital. After I got out of the emergency room, the police were there and asked me what had happened. I told them, and they said my father had been arrested, and that I should try to get some sleep. Someone from family services would come see me in the morning. I told them that I wanted to see my mother, and they said that she was still under a court order to visit only with supervision and that they were working on getting that arranged. That she would be coming to see me soon. When she did get here the next morning she was ready to chew nails, because she had not been allowed in before."

Carol smiled wryly, "I prayed to God that he get me out of my father's care, this isn't quite what I had in mind though."

Kelly asked, "Oh my God, Carol, I am so sorry this happened to you? Are you ok? I mean I know you aren't, but are you going to be?"

Carol said, "It hurts like hell, fortunately I'm not up to laughing much, because that is really painful, because of the broken ribs, but it's my face that really hurts. I don't think even Michele could do much with it right now."

Mrs. Anderson said, "It will heal though, Carol. And once we get the legal stuff cleared up, I'm sure that Michele would love to work with you again."

Carol said, "I hope so, Mrs. Anderson. It seems like a long way away. The lawyers are more optimistic about it now, but they can't guarantee anything. I half expect my dad to pull another damn rabbit out of his hat and find a way to explain this and get me back in his custody."

Mrs. Anderson said, "God forbid."

With that they changed the subject. Carol said, "I hear you had a great birthday party at your summer house on the lake, Kelly. Wish I could have been there. Deb stopped by and was telling me all about it."

Kelly choked up a bit, but said, "Yes, it was great. I hope you can be with us next year."

Carol said, "Me too, that would be great."

They continued to talk for a while about various things, until the nurse came in and told them that visiting hours were over and that they were going to have to let Carol get some rest.

Kelly raised her eyebrows when the nurse said "Carol," and the nurse noticing said, "I call people what they want to be called."

Kelly smiled, shook her head yes and said, "Good for you."

They said their goodbyes to Carol, and promised to come back again, as soon as they could.

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Not Edited

Part 11 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

The justice system takes another look at Carol's custody.

Chapter 27

Kelly and Julie sat in the family room with Kelly's parents as they watched the news. Facing strong backlash, the judge in Carol's case had called for a press conference.

"Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming today. I'm Justice Douglas Juarez, I am the supervisor for the family court system. Before Justice Gilbert speaks to you, I want to take this opportunity to review what is happening with this case.

As you know, the minor involved in this case was involved in a custody hearing between his parents. As has been made quite public already, the child is transgendered, and how that should be treated was the key factor of the case. Ultimately Judge Gilbert decided that putting the child into his father's custody was in the best interest of the child. Unfortunately as we have learned, the child was severely beaten, and is currently in the hospital as a ward of the state. The case has been assigned to a new judge to review, and determine what is now in the child's best interest.

Since this is an ongoing case, involving a minor, I will not comment further on this at this time, other than to say that it has been pushed to the top of the calendar, and the new judge has already arranged for a hearing next week, to determine if the mother's restrictions need to be kept in place, and the child continue to be a ward of the state, in foster care, or if he can be put back into his mother's care.

Now, let me bring Judge Gilbert to the podium."

"Good morning. I'm Judge Norman Gilbert. I presided over the custody hearing for the child involved in this unfortunate incident. As most of you know, I have been a family court justice for almost 30 years. I've made some decisions over the years that I have later regretted, but none so much as this decision. Before coming here this morning, I stopped at the hospital to meet with the child and hi.. no… her mother.

They are understandably angry with me, and I cannot say that I blame them. This case was difficult for me and in reviewing the decisions I made over the past few days, I believe that I allowed my own biases to affect my decision. I have always tried to avoid doing that, but in this case I am afraid that I failed to spot my own biases, and that fact put this child into a risky situation, that could have been even more tragic. I am truly sorry.

In order to spare the taxpayers the expense of a review, I have tendered my resignation, I had been considering retiring at the end of this term in any case, and this has given me the clarity that it is time. It is my intention to learn everything I can about the issue of transgenderism and in time to become an advocate for the rights of children like this one.

I apologize to the community, our great state and most importantly to this child and mother.

Thank you."

With that Judge Gilbert left the podium ignoring the barrage of questions from the press.

Kelly said, "Wow, I never expected that!"

Her mother replied, "I did some checking and Judge Gilbert is well respected. One of my friends is a lawyer and she knows him pretty well. She said that over the years he has done a lot to protect the best interests of children in custody battles. He made a mistake, and she told me that he was likely to regret this decision for the rest of his life. Thank God Carol is going to be alright, and according to my friend, there is no one that is more grateful for that then Judge Gilbert."

Chapter 28

Kelly visited Carol as often as she could over the next few weeks, and was pleased to see that she gradually did heal. The bruises on her face eventually faded, and the pain in her rib area began to lessen. The doctor's told her it would take another 3-5 weeks before it would be completely healed. Her arm was still in a cast for another 3 weeks as well.

Carol had spent another two nights in the hospital after the press conference, and then was released to a foster home as a ward of the state, while the Judge that took over the case reviewed the prior proceedings.

One week after the night Carol went to the hospital, the Judge held a hearing and subpoenaed Carol's doctors as well as the specialists that her father's legal team had used.

Kelly was part of a contingent of friends that attended the hearing to give Carol support.

When the Judge entered the courtroom, he sat at his desk, and said, "Well, thank you all for coming on such short notice. I know that several of you had to re-arrange your very busy schedules to make this occur, so we are going to try to get this done as quickly as possible, while making sure that Charles is well taken care of."

Kelly cringed at the use of Carol's masculine name.

"Charles, I believe from the records that you prefer the name Carol, is that correct?"

Carol's father's attorney started to object, but the Judge looked at him and said, "Sit down Mr. Dernhelm. This is an informal hearing to determine the custody of a child that is currently the ward of the state. Your client has proven to be unfit, and your presence here on his behalf, is a courtesy. I am going to do the questioning here for now. I'll give you a chance to bring up anything I might not be aware of, before I'm done. Is that clear?"

"Yes your honor."

"Now, Charles, is it true you would prefer to be called Carol?"

"Yes, your honor. I would."

"Fair enough, however, at the moment, that is not your legal name, is it?"

"No, your honor. It's not."

"So, there will be times in this court, where you will have to be addressed, and supply your legal name. Like right now, when I am establishing that this hearing is about you. There are other times, when it's ok that we use… well let's call it a nickname for now. So, please state your legal name for the record, and then you may add, for the record what your preferred nickname is, and we can use it from this point forward. Is that okay?"

"Yes your honor. My legal name is Charles Edward Winston, but my friends call me Carol."

"Thank you, Carol."

Kelly squeezed Julie's hand.

"Alright, now from what I can tell the entire basis of the ruling to restrict Carol's mother, Cynthia Winston, custody of Carol is the argument that the treatment of Carol's transgenderism with acceptance is tantamount to child abuse. That other then following the advice of the professionals that they were working with, Mrs. Winston was in no other way unfit. Is that correct, counselors?"

The attorney representing Cindy Winston replied, "Yes your honor. We would agree with that statement."

"And what about you, Mr. Dernhelm?"

"Your honor, that was the principle concern our client had, but I don't know if I would say it was the sole complaint."

"Then speak up, what other issues did you have about Mrs. Winston?"

"I'm not prepared to answer that question your honor."

"No? The custody hearing that led to Mrs. Winston being stripped of custody lasted 6 months. Surely you must remember the gist of your arguments. You knew you were coming to a custody hearing today, I would have assumed you would have reviewed your notes as to why Mrs. Winston was not a fit mother."

"Yes your honor."

"Well perhaps it has something to do with the charges of libel and slander that were applied to her? Although I'm afraid that your clients acts since lead credence to the claims that Mrs. Winston and Carol lodged against her father."

Mr. Dernhelm visibly winced at the use of the word "her."

"Your honor I would not wish to prejudice the case against … her … father."

"Probably wise of you. Never mind. So since I have not heard of any other credible argument, let us focus on the claims regarding Carol's transgenderism and how to best treat it. First of all, I have some questions for you Carol. Oh, we should do this under oath, Carol you swear to tell the truth?"

"Yes your honor."

"Very well. What led to the incident the night you were hospitalized?"

"My father came home drunk."

"Yes, most unfortunate. Did something set him off that night?"

"Yes. I was talking to some friends in a chat room."

"Friends from your TransTeen group?"

"Yes. Samantha and Joan. He came in, saw me online, and saw that I was in the chat room as Carol. He went ballistic on me."

"You knew your Father had forbidden you to speak with them. You also knew he had forbidden you to have anything to do with being Carol anymore?"

"Yes."

"You knew he would be pretty upset?

"Yes, he almost hit me the last time, before my parents separated."

"And yet you persisted, knowing full well if he caught you how angry he would be? Why?"

"Because I can't help being me! I am Carol, and will always be Carol. He can't take that away from me. I needed my friends, and I needed to hold on to that little bit of me."

Next the Judge questioned Carol's doctors about how long they had been seeing Carol. What they had recommended, how Carol had been doing up until she had been removed from the program by court order.

Then he moved onto Dr. Jergins and Andrews.

"How many times did you see Carol as a patient?"

Dr. Jergins said, "We never saw Charles as a patient."

"Her name is Carol. So let me get this straight, you testified in the previous court case about a patient you have never met? You know nothing about?"

Dr. Andrews answered, "We testified on the practice of psychological abuse that is recommended by some in the psychiatric community, such as our colleagues on the other side. Our studies show that the practice of treating transgenderism with acceptance simply is an enabler, which does nothing to cure the subject, and leads to a lifelong struggle with society. Intervening at this young age, with strict redirection towards gender appropriate behavior leads to a healthy future."

"Yet my research shows that your findings are largely considered to be discredited amongst the scientific community. In fact the general opinion is that your research has been faulty."

"That is not true your honor. Our research has been meticulously documented."

A cough and almost choking noise came from one of Carol's doctors.

The Judge smiled, and said, "It would seem some of your esteemed colleagues disagree with you. While I appreciate the sentiment, please control yourselves in the future."

"Yes, your honor."

"Now, Dr. Andrews, so you testified about your research generically on the subject of treating transgendered teens. What do you and Dr. Jergins recommend as the best practice treatment plan?"

Dr. Jergins answered, "We recommend strict redirection to the appropriate gender. Immediate removal of any non-gender appropriate items, clothing, toys, etc. Positive re-enforcement of gender appropriate behavior and negative re-enforcement for gender inappropriate behavior."

"Did you have any meetings with Carol's father?"

"No we did not."

"It would seem he went a bit overboard on the 'negative reinforcement' would you say?"

"Yes, your honor. We do not condone violence."

"I'm very glad to hear that. Having just read your latest book on the subject, I must say I was not quite clear on that. I suggest your next edition, might be edited to spell that out a little better."

"Yes, your honor. We will look into it."

"Very well. For the record, prior to last week, I knew very little about the subject of transgendered children. Seems that it is more prevalent than I would have suspected. In anycase, here is what I have learned in my research. First is that the general consensus, in the community has been moving to treating with acceptance. That being transgendered in and of itself is not harmful, that societies position on it tends to be the problem. By all accounts, Carol was doing quite well in the care of her doctor's and as part of the TransTeen support group.

More importantly, there is no evidence whatsoever that Carol's mother in any way was doing anything other then following the advice of medical counsel, including several additional opinions. Carol was content and happy with the way things were going.

In addition, I find it fascinating that this issue was even an issue in this case, as in this state we have laws protecting Gay, Lesbian and transgendered teens. In fact, as I'm sure many in this room are aware, there was a recent controversy at a local high school because of the attendance of a transgender teen. State law protected her, and it should have protected Carol as well.

So, my ruling is that the custody restrictions are hereby removed from Carol's mother. In addition, Carol is free to follow the advice of her doctor's."

"Your honor!"

"Mr. Dernhelm?"

"Um…"

"Do you have an objection?"

"Ummm…"

"let me save some time, your client has lost custody, and should be worried more about his freedom then interfering with his daughters life."

"Ummm… Yes your honor."

"Allright, case closed. Carol and Mrs. Winston, you are free to go home. Good luck to you."

Copyright (c) 2010. All Rights Reserved.

Author's Note: It has been entirely too long since I posted part 10, and this is a small update. Life has gotten in the way of writing of late, but I really did not want to leave Carol sitting in the hospital without her mother having legal custody. This was unedited, as I really wanted to get this posted, and did not wish to wait.

I will be working some more on this as soon as I can. I'm also working on another completely unrelated story, which I won't publish until it is complete.

Hope that you enjoyed this little continuation.

Kristy

The Life and Times of Kelly Anderson

Written by Kristine Roland
Not Edited

Part 12 - This is the Sequel to Jason's Story.

Kelly looks back over the past year, at all the changes in her life.

Chapter 29

Kelly sat at her desk and opened up her diary. She read thru the first entries, which had taken place soon after her friend Carol had been reunited with her mother.

Had it really been almost a year ago already?

September 5 — Meghan returned from spending the summer with her parents. Her father is still looking for a better position, but hasn't been able to find anything. He is working long hours at the supermarket, taking every opportunity he can for hours. Meghan did not see a lot of him, as a result, and when he was home he was pretty tired.

September 8 — Talked to Carol today. It was her first day going to school as Carol. She had a much smoother start to her first day, than I did. No broken legs, or bricks thru her window, but then I suppose she has had enough of that kind of thing to last a lifetime! She told me while there were certainly some that made no bones about being offended by her, that most of her class had made her feel welcome.

Kelly smiled as she thought about Carol, she had been thru so much, and had come so far from that tentative girl who didn't believe that Michele could do anything with her, that first makeover at her sleepover. It seemed like yesterday. Now she was just about to wrap up her first year of school, full time as Carol, and her confidence had grown, and grown. She even had a boyfriend now!

She skimmed thru the entries, looking at some of the highlights for the year.

October 10th — Tonight was Julie's birthday, she turned 16 today. Her party was a much more formal affair for her sweet 16, then my "Camp Kelly" day. They actually had rented a room at her father's club. Her whole extended family and all of her best friends. All of us girls wore beautiful gowns, and the guys were in suits. There was music and dancing, and really good food as well. Julie looked wonderful! There was a bit of an incident, when one of Julie's uncles, I think it was on her father's side, said something nasty about Julie and I. Julie's father told him that if he felt that strongly about it to take his comments and get the heck out. It looked like it was going to get pretty ugly, when Julie's Grandmother, all 4 foot 5 inches of her, pointed at them both, made them lower their heads then walloped them both right on the ears. She then waggled her finger at them, as they held their heads in shame, and said, "Now don't you to imbeciles go ruining Julie's Day, you hear!" I almost peed myself laughing.

Kelly laughed again, remembering the sight of Julie's father and his brother, being taken down a peg by her grandmother.

November 15th — Aunt Jessica filed for divorce today. "Irreconcilable Differences." That was the polite way of saying that Uncle Bob is a Grade A Asshole! Jessica told him point blank, and I quote, "I'm not going back to being a subservient, mindless automaton." I feel for Tom, he is so conflicted. His dad was his idol, but refuses to speak with him, or Billy, as they are in 'Satan's sway.' Yet, Tom has told me that his meetings with Minister Goodman have made him look at the teachings he grew up with, thru a different perspective. He says he feels reborn in his relationship with God, and that it is an affirming relationship, as opposed to the hate filled one that Reverend Tripard preached. He can never be content with that again, so he just prays that his father will someday break free, and find his own way."

Kelly felt somewhat responsible for the breakup of their family, but she knew that in the end there was nothing she could have done differently. She believed with all her heart that Tom, Billy and Aunt Jessica were now in a happier and healthier place then they would have been otherwise. Though she was sure she would not want to run across Uncle Bob in a dark alley.

December 15th — The annual chorus trip to the senior centers, was once again accompanied by Reverend Tripard and his minions, and their regular protest. But at least there were no tense greetings from the administrators. They knew what was coming in advance, and they had decided that the chorus event tradition was more important to their seniors, then worrying about what I was wearing. The reception the chorus gets from the seniors is overwhelming.

January 11th — Got my driving permit today!

March 3rd — It was two years ago today, that I first told my Mom about Kelly. I didn't even have a name for myself yet. I just knew that I needed something else. Mom and Dad have been really great. I've been on the puberty blockers for about 20 months. We are starting to talk about next steps. I'll be 17 in July, and will have been full time as Kelly for two years. There is no going back to being Jason, but am I ready to move on to hormone replacement therapy yet? I sure think I am, I want to start to grow my own breasts! Julie, Meghan, Kathy and Sue are all so beautiful. They are practically adults, already, and me, I still look like a little kid. Sometimes Julie gets frustrated with me… I know what she wants, and I remember before I started taking the blockers, what it felt like to be … well aroused. But I haven't felt like that since the first couple of months after I started taking them. I love her, but I'm not ready for … Julie is though. She says she understands… I guess that's another reason for me to start.

But Mom and Dad aren't so sure, and I need their approval to move forward. Dr. Daniels, won't approve it until I have completed two years anyway, though, he doesn't really believe there will be any change in my attitude between now and then. Mom and Dad don't either, but they know that once I start taking female hormones, there is no going back. My only real concern for me, is the one that I started with two years ago, I still want to be a parent someday. If I stop taking the blocker, I'll start to go back into male puberty, and will produce sperm. If I commit to going thru puberty as Kelly, I will never be able to do that again.

I just don't know…

Kelly read the entry again, and thought back to two weeks ago, when she had turned 17. She did have another party at the lake, on her actual birthday, and this time all the girls, including Carol had made it. That had been really special.

The day after they got back from their annual stay at the lake house, her mom had taken her for her driving test, and she had passed.

To celebrate her new license, she and Julie had gone to the movies and dinner, and she got to drive. It had been a fun night overall, and Julie had suggested that since the movie had let out a little early, and they didn't need to be home right away that they take a drive.

Kelly thought that sounded nice, so she agreed. She started to get a little nervous when Julie suggested they stop and just snuggle and talk. Kelly had been thinking a lot about starting to take the hormones though, so she had agreed, as she thought now would be a good time to mention it. She was waiting for a good time to broach the subject. Julie put the arm rest between the seats up and moved closer to Kelly, leaning her head on Kelly's shoulders.

They sat that way for a little while, just quietly. Julie turned her head slightly and kissed her on her cheek. "I love you, you know that Kelly?"

"I love you too, Julie."

Julie moved her hand across Kelly's stomach and up to her left breast. Kelly stiffened.

"Julie …"

Julie had pulled back, moved back across the seat and said, "Oh for God's sakes… let's just go home."

"Julie… please…" Kelly said, as tears started to fall.

"Look, Kelly, I'm sorry… I know better… I'm wrong, can we just go home now."

Kelly bit back what she was going to say, turned the car on and drove Julie home. As she drove home crying, she had to pull over to get under control. When she could she wiped her eyes, and went home.

She put the diary down, as the tears blurred her vision. That had been two weeks ago. Julie had not said more the three words to her in the past two weeks, and was not returning her calls.

Meghan was livid with Julie, and Kathy and Sue were trying to stay neutral. All Kelly knew was that it hurt.

Copyright (c) 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Author's Note:I want to try and pick up Kelly's story again. As you know it has been quite a while since I last updated this, and in part that has been because RL and work has been keeping me incredibly busy and tired. But the other reason was I had come to a point where the story needed to move forward. Her sophomore year simply did not provide the opportunity for anything new that I wanted to talk about, with the hormone blockers; it would have simply been more of the same.

So as you can see I'm moving the story forward a year and that will bring about the changes that come about as she starts to become an adult.

I hope that people are still interested in Kelly's story. I can't promise to post weekly, but I will be at least trying to post something on a regular basis, for now, and if I do get to a point where I can't continue to bring it to a reasonable stopping point.

As always, let me know what you think… I've missed Kelly myself, and am looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Hugs to all,
Kristy