Extracted - Chapter 15 – Have You Met Yourself – Part 2 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 15 – Have You Met Yourself – Part 2 of 2

 

When the Marsh family arrived at their holding room, Doctor Montcliff was already inside, waiting for them.  Montcliff introduced herself to the family since she hadn’t met any of them yet, then she took just Stephen out of the room with her.  She hadn’t yet had a chance to sit down and meet Stephen Marsh, the mental Nancy Stiller, so she was taking this very brief chance now.

She led Stephen from the holding room into another room where they could talk privately.  As she walked the short distance with him, she sized the boy up.  He was certainly big, just like she had been told.  Even under the nice suit he was wearing, his muscles were very evident.  She had no doubt that he would drive all the girls crazy…if he wasn’t a little girl in his head.

“Hi Stephen,” she said as they finally had a chance to sit together.  “I’m Doctor Montcliff.”

“That’s what you said in the other room when you came and got me,” Stephen replied.

“Yes I did,” Montcliff replied.  “Stephen, I want you to know something right up front.  And this is something I told Nancy in one of the sessions I had with her as well.”

“What?”

“Whenever I talk to you, or about you, I’m going to call you Stephen, even though I have no doubt that you still think of yourself as Nancy.”

“I do!  I am Nancy.”

“Yes.  I know you probably think that way.  But I’m going to call you Stephen.”

“Why?”

“Because everyone who sees you is only going to see Stephen.  They’re not going to have a clue about Nancy.  So to avoid confusion, I’m going to call you Stephen, and I’m going to call…the other you out there, Nancy.  And I hate to say it, but you’re going to have to get used to being called that by everyone.  More importantly, you’re going to have to start thinking of yourself that way too.  You’ve got a boy’s body now, so to the world, you’re Stephen.”

“What if I don’t want to be?”

“I don’t think you’re going to have a choice.”

Stephen groaned.  “There’s too many things I don’t seem to have a choice about lately.”

“I’m sure there must be,” Montcliff agreed.

“Then what now?” Stephen asked.

“Now?  I just wanted a chance to meet and talk with you first.  I’ve already met Nancy, your…opposite.”

“The other me,” Stephen replied.

“That’s right.   Now it’s your turn.”

“Okay, so what are we supposed to do?”

“Nothing  Just sit here and talk for a few minutes.”

“Just talk.”

“That’s all.”

“About what?”

“What kinds of things are worrying you now.”

Stephen shook his head.  “Aren’t you going to ask me any questions about what I remember about being Stephen, or what I felt in the hospital?”

“Let me guess,” Montcliff said.  “In the hospital your head kept spinning and your confusion kept getting worse, and you’re still confused now about practically everything, and you don’t have a clue what to do about it.  And as to being Stephen, you don’t remember anything at all.”

“Yeah!  Exactly!”

“Then why should I bother asking you about those things?  I already know that much.”

Stephen had to take that in for a minute.  “Are you being tricky or something?”

“Why?  Because I can guess at how crazy this new life seems to be for you?”

“Yeah.”

Montcliff chuckled a bit.  “It’s my job.  So tell me, what’s your biggest problem with this new life?”

“The biggest one?”

“Yeah.  Tell me about it.”

“I’m bored!”

Montcliff considered that for a moment then asked, “In what way?”

“What the heck am I supposed to do with myself?”

“What do you mean?”

“The old Stephen was crazy into sports and stuff.  I’m not.  I like dancing, but he didn’t.  And really I love ballet.  I’ve been taking it since I was six.”

“Six!  And you’re still at it.  You must love it.”

“I do.  But now I can’t do that at all.  And I hate that!”

“I’m sure you do.”

“But I don’t really like sports.  Especially football, and that’s what…the other Stephen seems to like the most.  There’s literally nothing for me to do that I’m interested in.”

Montcliff nodded.  “Maybe it’s time to look around and develop some new interests.  There’s nothing wrong with doing that.  And I have no doubt that there’s a lot of things out there that can be interesting to both boys and girls alike.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.  That needs to be up to you.”

“Boys can dance ballet.”

“Yes, but not like a girl can.  And Stephen, I hate to say this, but take a good look at that body you’ve got now.  It’s not exactly ballet material.  It’s more like a bulldozer.”

“Yeah.  Ugly!”

“Ugly?  Is that how you see yourself.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe I would.  In fact, thinking about it, in your shoes, I definitely would.”

“See.”

“Okay.  The point is though that maybe ballet should be out.  But there’s other kinds of dancing.  And dancing is just one thing.  Find yourself something that interests you.”

“Maybe,” Stephen replied.

“Just look around.  Think about it,” Montcliff suggested.

Stephen’s only reply was to shrug.

“And you may think your body is ugly,” Montcliff said, “but the truth is, you’ve got a beautiful body.  Really…nice.”

“Not like my old body.  It’s not nice the way I want it to be.”

“You were a girl before and you’re still a girl inside.”

“Of course I am, and that’s not changing!”

“I didn’t say anything about worrying about changing yet.”

Stephen shook his head.  “You want to know something weird about this body though?”

“What?”

“I can’t get used to how big I am.  It’s crazy.  It’s like I’ve got…miles of body all around me.  Do you know I can reach absolutely everything in the kitchen?  Everything!  My…new mom back there can’t even do that.”

Montcliff chuckled a bit.  You’re bigger than she is.

“But I’m not supposed to be!”

Montcliff sighed.  “No.  You’re supposed to still be Nancy.  The problem is, that you’re not.”

“Just tell me what we have to do to fix it so I can be me again.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have a clue.  I really don’t know.  But I can tell you, it’s the foremost thing on my mind.”

“Just find out.  Fast!”

“I’m trying,” Montcliff told him.  “Stephen, we can’t take much time right now, but how would you like a chance to get together with Emily again for a little while?”

“Emily!”  Stephen’s eyes lit up.  “Yes!  Please!  I miss her.  I think I miss Emily more than anything!”

“Easy Stephen.  Relax,” Montcliff told him as she stood up.  “I’ll have Emily brought in to you in a few minutes.  Thanks for this little talk.  I’ll see you in a little while.”

With that she walked out.  It was time for the next round of meetings.  Three at once.  She knocked on the door to the holding room where the Marsh family was waiting.  Detective Nolan answered the door.  “It’s time,” she told him.

“Finally,” Nolan replied before closing the door again.

Montcliff continued on to another room where she opened the door and walked in.  The Stiller family was waiting anxiously.  “Okay,” she told them.  “Mrs. Stiller, if you’ll go with Agent Rosenberg there, she’ll introduce you to Mrs. Marsh.  Mr. Stiller, if you’ll wait right here, Mr. Marsh should be with you momentarily.”  She looked to Emily.  “And Emily, if you’ll come with me there’s someone else I’d like you to meet.”

“Henry Marsh will be here?” Mike Stiller asked for confirmation.

“Yes.  Just give him a moment,” Montcliff confirmed.  As she saw Mrs. Stiller getting ready to leave with Agent Rosenberg she turned to Emily.  “Emily.  Ready?”

“I guess,” Emily replied.  “Who am I supposed to talk to?”

Montcliff ignored her question and led her down the hallway to the door where she had just left Stephen.  “Right in there,” she told Emily.

Emily wasn’t sure what was going on.  Who was she meeting?

She opened the door and saw a large boy inside.  Only then did it dawn on her who that boy had to be.  Her eyes went wide.  “Nancy?  Is that you?”

Stephen saw who it was and immediately stood up.  “Emily!  Emily, it’s me.  Yes, it’s really me, Nancy!  Oh wow I’ve missed you.  I’ve missed you like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I’ve missed you too,” Emily told him as she moved closer.  She couldn’t stop looking at the big hulking body that claimed to be her little sister.  “Damn.  When I first looked at you I was hoping it wasn’t you.”

“Me too.  I don’t want to be stuck like this.  I want to be me again.”

“No, not because of that,” Emily told him.  “Nancy, have you looked at yourself in the mirror?”

“More than a few times,” Nancy replied disgustedly.

“Nance, I’d give my right arm to just have a date with you!”

“A date?  But Emily!  You’ve got the hots for Jacob, remember?”

“What Jacob doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Emily replied.

Nancy giggled, despite the body she was in.

It was only then that something hit Emily.  The only person in the world that knew she liked Jacob was her sister, Nancy.  In amazement she said, “You really are my sister in there.  It’s so hard to believe.”

“Yeah.  For me too.”

The two of them hugged each other for dear life.  Both of them started crying.

“Shit!” Emily finally said, pulling away from him a bit.  “Man do you have muscles.”

“Tell me about it,” Stephen said.  “I hate it.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Em, I don’t want muscles like this.  It’s awful!”

“Maybe for you, but…damn you’re hot!”

“Em!  Please!”

Emily laughed and hugged Stephen again.  “So how are you?” she asked as the two of them sat down together.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Agatha and Wanda actually met each other in the hallway, just outside of the room where they were supposed to meet.

“Wanda?” Agatha asked.

“You must be Agatha,” Wanda replied.  She quickly moved in for a hug.  “Sorry,” she whispered.  “After talking to you on the phone, I feel like I know you already.”

“Me too,” Agatha replied.

Agent Rosenberg held the door open for them.  “Ladies?  Why don’t you get comfortable.  There’s coffee available inside.  As soon as the two women were in the room, she left and closed the door.

Inside, Wanda picked up a coffee cup.  “Coffee?” she asked.

“Yes, please,” Agatha replied.

Wanda filled the cup from the coffee urn and handed it off.  Then she got herself a cup.  The two women sat together.

“I’m glad they finally gave us a chance to meet,” Agatha told her.

“Me too,” Wanda agreed.  “How the heck did we wind up in this situation?”

“Heaven only knows.  But you’ve got to admit, we seem to be stuck in the strangest position on earth.”

“Maybe in the history of the earth,” Agatha agreed.

“How are you managing having to deal with a son who’s in reality, my little daughter?” Wanda asked.

“I won’t lie to you, it’s difficult.  I literally yearn for my Stephen…all of him.  But overall, at least your Nancy seems to be not only bright, but a whole lot cleaner and easier to deal with than my Stephen.  Compliments to you for raising such a good girl.”

“Thanks,” Wanda replied.  “I certainly know what you mean about yearning for your real child.  I do the same for Nancy.  But I have to say, Stephen has been interesting.  Very different, but interesting.  I had to sit down and explain bras to him recently, along with having the period talk.  He didn’t exactly take that too well.”

Agatha laughed.  “No.  I imagine he wouldn’t.  At least that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about on my end."

"No.  Still, at least I’ve got Emily to help me.  Although for some reason, Emily has been avoiding Nancy like the plague.  That’s one of the most disappointing things about this situation so far.”

“I’ve only got the one child, Stephen, so I don’t have that problem.  But at the same time, I have no other kids to hang onto.  It’s like…my Stephen is dead, even though technically he’s still there.”

Wanda grabbed Agatha’s hand.  “I’m so sorry.  I can’t imagine.”

Agatha nodded.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Doctor Montcliff watched the video monitor carefully.  Henry Marsh had just entered the room with Mike Stiller.  This was one of the meetings she was the most worried about.  Two dominant males together.  She was surprised however by how easy the two men seemed to be with each other, right from the start.

“Henry?” Mike Stiller said as he entered the room.

“Mike?” Henry Marsh returned.  “It’s good to finally meet you.”

“If I recall, this was supposed to happen over a good bottle of Scotch.”

“True.  I found the bar earlier.  Maybe we can find it together later.”

“That’s a plan,” Mike agreed.

“So I guess we’re supposed to be talking about…something or other,” Stiller noted.  “And something tells me you don’t want to discuss politics right now.”

Henry laughed.  “Not really.  Although another time it might be interesting.  We both have to worry about keeping our jobs.  And that means being elected for us both.”

“Yeah,” Mike agreed.  “We’ve got a few things in common.”

“Speaking of things in common,” Henry said.  “I guess there’s still the big elephant in the room.”

“The kids.”

“That would be it,” Henry agreed.

“Yeah.  It’s my…our…biggest concern.  I’ve got to be honest.  My job is immensely important, and I can barely think about it right now.  Knowing that my daughter has been…ripped apart and done…who knows what with.  It just makes me so angry!” he suddenly roared.

“I know what you mean,” Henry told him, his voice growing in intensity too.  “I look over there and see my son, but it’s not my son.  My son is somewhere else instead.  In one way, it’s like there’s two of him, but the reality is that it’s more like…”  He looked straight at Mike.  “They murdered him.  Murdered my son.  And I’m the D.A..  It’s my job to put people who do things like that away.  Permanently!”

“And that’s just what I want done with whoever did it,” Mike agreed.

To Montcliff, secretly watching from another room, for a moment there she had started to get worried.  It had been like two bull moose going at each other…except they weren’t.  She was glad to see the tempers of both men settling down a bit.  Hopefully, they would stay that way.  At least their tempers hadn’t been aimed at each other.

In the room, the two men looked at each other for a moment.  “Damn,” Henry said.  “Some Scotch right now would be really good.”

“We’ll complain to the management as soon as we get out of here.”

Henry chuckled.  “What do we do about the kids?”

“You’ve got me, and I’m supposed to be the guy everyone counts on for answers.”

“Something tells me I’d hate your job.”

“In some ways, I happen to know yours is worse than mine.”

“Sometimes it seems that way,” Henry agreed.  “Damn, I miss my son though.  Yes, his physical body is living in my house, but he’s not there.  He’s just…gone.  Would you believe that since this happened, I miss football more than ever?”

“Oh, I believe it.  You want to hear the really funny part?  I miss all the ballet music.  Nancy loved her ballet.  She was good at it too.  And ballet music seemed to be always echoing through the entire house.”

“Hm!” Henry grunted.  “You mentioning that just stuck a picture in my mind of something I don’t think I’d ever want to see.”

“What’s that?”

“My son, as big as he is, dancing ballet.”

Mike laughed.  “How much you want to bet our wives would love it.”

“No bet!  I have no doubt they would.”

Their discussion was interrupted by the door opening.  Doctor Montcliff entered with both of their wives.

“Speak of the devil,” Henry noted.  “We were just talking about you two,” he said as he went over and kissed his wife.

Wanda went to her husband and gave him a light hug.  “What were you saying about us?” she asked.

“You probably don’t want to know,” Mike told her.  “But it mentioned Stephen and ballet in the same sentence.”

“Oh lord!” Agatha replied with a roll of her eyes.

Doctor Montcliff took that opportunity to move closer.  “I need to know how all of you want to proceed with our next meeting.”

“Another one?” Wanda asked.

“One of the more important meetings Montcliff told her.  How do you want to go about getting together with your…mental children?”

“Finally!” Mike Stiller exclaimed.  “What do you mean by how we want to do it?”

“Would you Mr. Stiller and Mrs. Stiller, rather see Stephen separately, alone, or would you rather be together to…meet him.”

Mike and Wanda looked at each other.  “Together!” Wanda decided.

“And how about you Mr. and Mrs. Marsh?  How do you want to meet Nancy?” Montcliff asked.

“Together!” Henry declared.

“Yes,” Agatha agreed.

“But…” Wanda said.  “Emily is dying to meet this Stephen.  She should be here too.”

“Emily has been with Stephen since before you all met.  The two of them seem to be getting along amazingly well.  Not only is Stephen ecstatic over seeing his sister, but I almost get the impression that Emily is developing a bit of a crush on him.”  She noticed a few bulging eyeballs at that one.

“Uh…that could be awkward,” Agatha noted.

Montcliff nodded, then said, “Come on.  Mr. and Mrs. Stiller, I’ll take you to Stephen.  Mr. and Mrs. Marsh, Agent Rosenberg will escort you to Nancy.”

The four parents looked to each other as if for courage, then they all turned and trooped out of the room.  Rosenberg led the Marshes one direction, while Montcliff took the Stillers in the opposite direction.