By
Karen Singer
Chapter
64 Part 1 of 3
“Are you coming?”
“Of course,” Candy replied to
Jessica’s question. There was no doubt
though that the doctor had sounded very half-hearted when she suggested it.
“Great,” Jessica replied. “We’ll just have dinner or something and we
can talk then. In fact, if you don’t
mind, maybe we can do this every Friday evening. That is, if you’re not
busy. You know I’ll go out of my way to
take care of you anytime you want. But
since you don’t have any other therapist… and I know you won’t ever have one,
then I’m going to try to do my best to fulfill that position too. The once a week sessions should be a big help
to you.”
“I’m sure they will,” Candy
replied. And Candy knew all too well
that the doctor had the most trouble staying out of the casinos on
Fridays. It was the result of Janice’s
conditioning on the woman. “It all
sounds fine with me,” Candy replied. “I
guess you’re using me to help you get past your gambling urge?”
It was a moment before the doctor
could reply. “Kind of. My own therapist suggested that I find
something to do every Friday since that seems to be my worst day.”
“Then I’ll be more than glad to
help. You know I enjoy spending the time
with you anyway.”
“If you don’t count last week,”
Jessica replied.
“Well… last week was somewhat of a
disaster.”
“I’m so sorry about that,” Jessica
told him.
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. In more ways than you can imagine.”
Jessica was silent about that for a
moment. “I’m sure,” she replied. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through
with this… and anything else that she’s done to you.”
“Like I told you before, right now,
I’m just trying to figure out how to live the rest of my life like this. I’m just doing the best I can.”
“I know Candy. Forgive me for feeling sorry for you… but at
the same time, I’m rather impressed with the way you’re handling
everything. I don’t think I could have
done that.”
Candy grunted. “I just do what I have to do. It’s all I have.”
“I suppose so. See you tomorrow?”
“I look forward to it,” Candy
replied. He hung up the phone. It looked like he now had an appointment for
every Friday evening with Jessica… his doctor …and now his therapist. And he had another appointment every Tuesday
morning for his laser treatments. If
things kept on like that, his schedule was going to get awfully busy. He laughed.
Busy? Sure. Working for himself now, he basically had all
the time in the world.
As the evening shadows fell and the
world outside his living room grew darker, he stuck yet another needle
carefully into the quilt material to hold the pieces together. Making a quilt was nothing at all like
building anything else. He found it
tiresome, frustrating, and more than a little difficult. And as much as he used power tools that were
extremely dangerous, he was still somewhat intimidated by Janice’s sewing
machine. But at the same time, he also
found that he was rather enjoying the constant pattern changes of the
material. It was all… very pleasing. He
had already finished the first quilt for his room, and now he was in the middle
of his second one.
The headlights turning into his
driveway surprised him. Who would be
coming to the house now? And worse, he
only had a set of temporary steps going up to the front door because of the new
porch he was building. And whoever was
out there would have to climb over half his construction materials just to get
to the steps!
He put the quilt down and hurried
to the door… and was both surprised and irritated to see Agent Forsyth trying
to climb over a pile of his boards. The
command to protect Janice was immediately coursing through his head. “There’s nothing I can help you with,” he
said as soon as he opened the front door.
“Yeah,” Forsyth said, doing his
best to take in Brinkley’s new appearance.
He was more than a bit shocked at how feminine the guy now looked. “I have no doubt that’s pretty much the case. Can I come in anyway?”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” Candy
replied testily.
Forsyth only nodded. “That’s okay,” he replied. He knew this was going to be a wasted
trip. “Look,” he said.
“Oh hell!” Candy exclaimed. “Come on in for a minute. We’re letting the damn mosquitos in.”
“Thanks,” Forsyth replied as he
mounted the steps and climbed into the house.
He looked around. The place looked far different on the inside than he
expected it would. “Nice place!” he
said. “My wife would love this.”
“Janice takes good care of it for
me,” Candy told him.
“It looks like it,” Forsyth said,
still looking around. He didn’t see any
sign of the dog that Jacobs had told him about.
He saw the sewing center all set up in the living room. “Looks like somebody does some sewing,” he
noted.
“I’m making a quilt!” Candy told
him with more than a hint of irritation since he wasn’t happy that Forsyth was
there at all. Then he thought better of
his attitude. The least he could do was
to be a bit a little more polite… whether he liked the fact that the man was
there or not. As much as he really
wanted to tell Forsyth what was really going on, actually doing it was out of
the question. He tried his best to sound
a bit nicer. “Do you want to see?” Not waiting for an answer, he walked over to
the sewing table and stretched out the quilt he was working on.
“Nice,” Forsyth noted. “I think you’ve surprised me again. I didn’t take you for the type that was into
sewing.”
“Did you take me for the type that
would be changing my sex either?”
Forsyth just looked at him for a
moment. “Touché,” he replied.
“So what did you come all the way
out here for this time?” Candy asked.
Instead of answering his question,
Forsyth looked around again. “Is Mrs.
Stokley here?” he asked.
Candy shook his head. “Sorry, she and her daughter have gone off on
a little trip. I’m afraid they’re going
to be gone a few days.”
“Oh,” Forsyth replied.
“And if you’re thinking of coming
back,” Candy continued, “I doubt that she’ll want to see you.”
“Huh!” Forsyth grunted. “I know she won’t. But actually, I’m here to see you again
instead.”
“Me? You already know there’s nothing I can tell
you.”
“Yeah, I know that, but I’m here to
try anyway.”
“Why bother?” Candy asked.
Forsyth took a deep breath before
replying. “Because a friend of mine is
in trouble.”
“So?”
“So he’s a real good friend.”
“Okay. And what does that have to do with me?”
“He asked me to check with you one
more time. He wanted me to plead with
you to try and come up with something that might help.”
“Me?” Candy asked, totally
surprised.
“Look, Mr. Brinkley…”
“It’s Miss Brinkley now,” Candy
told him. “Candy Brinkley. Soon to be completely official… as soon as I
get the court date.”
“Uh… okay… Miss Brinkley. Look, you remember my partner, Ted Jacobs?”
“How could I forget? The damn guy wasn’t exactly nice!”
“No, I’m sure you thought
that. But he was damn good at his job!”
“Is he the friend who’s in
trouble?”
Forsyth nodded. “Yeah.
Big trouble.”
Candy shook his head. “I’m not sure if I should be glad about that
or not. As I said, the guy wasn’t exactly nice to me.”
“I know, but hear me out.”
Candy shook his head. “Go for it.”
“I promised Ted that I’d ask again
if you knew anything at all about Janice and a lot of money.”
“Haven’t we been all through this
before?” Candy asked.
Forsyth nodded. “Yeah, several
times in fact. But very often more
information comes out when we keep going back and checking multiple times.”
“You mean when you hound your
victim.”
“I don’t like to think of it like
that.”
“Well that’s what you’re
doing! And not just me, but my friends
as well. Think about someone in my
position. I’m going through a major life
change here. Alienating the only good
friends I have doesn’t exactly help me.”
“I’m sure, and I’m sorry about
that. And if it’s any help, I can assure
you that we won’t be talking to them again.”
Candy just shook his head,
disgusted with the whole situation. “So
why is your partner in such hot water?”
“He did something really bad. Crossed way over the line. But he admits that completely. But the funny part of it all is the money. Look, he admits he framed your housekeeper,
Janice Stokley. He admits that
freely. But somehow, he had these drugs,
and then most of them were suddenly gone.
And in their place was a pile of money.
Money straight from one of the banks that my partner is convinced that
Stokley had robbed.”
Candy was suddenly going crazy
trying to put all those pieces together.
“So Janice didn’t do it?” he exclaimed.
“She always insisted she didn’t do it and that she’s never had anything
at all to do with drugs. Ever! And you know what, from everything I’ve seen,
I totally believe her!”
Forsyth nodded. “Yeah, it looks like she had nothing at all
to do with the drugs, but the money is still another matter. And quite frankly… uh… Miss Brinkley, both my
partner and I think you’re holding out on us.
We both think you know more than you’re saying.”
Candy’s mouth hung open – as
‘protect Janice’ raced through his mind again… along with an image of money he
himself had pulled out of a bag on his kitchen table… and gotten his blood all
over. Protect Janice! And himself!
This time when he spoke, his voice was no longer his Candy voice… even
though it didn’t sound quite like his old Roger voice either. But there was more than a hint of harshness
in what he said. “Agent Forsyth... I’ve
told you everything I can! I’ve been
patient and had to put up with you and your partner over and over again –
including in school where it didn’t exactly help my position there one
bit. There’s nothing I can tell you
about any money at all! Janice works as
my housekeeper, and I know she’d much rather be somewhere else… doing something
else. Now get out of my house and leave
me alone!”
Forsyth only nodded sadly and
headed for the door. He reached into his
pocket before he left and automatically pulled out one of his business
cards. He turned back to Brinkley. “Here,” he said. “Just in case you ever change your mind.”
Candy looked at the card in his
hand. “No thank you,” he said
testily. “Besides, I think I’ve already
got one somewhere.”
Forsyth nodded and headed outside,
carefully climbing down the steps and stepping over the construction. As Candy watched his car backing out of the
driveway, his thoughts turned to the business card that was still stuck
somewhere in his wallet. Why had he kept
it? He only knew that he wasn’t willing
to throw it out yet.
Candy’s first order of business on
Friday morning was to phone Stan. He
punched the number into his cell phone and waited.
“Hello?” Stan’s voice finally
answered.
“Are you up for some fishing tomorrow?”
Candy asked brightly. He waited, but he
got no reply. “Stan?” he asked after a
few moments. “Are you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Stan replied
half-heartedly.
“So… are you up for some fishing?”
“I guess that depends,” Stan
replied.
“On?”
“Are you going to fish, or are you
going to be more interested in makeup and stuff?”
“Stan…”
“Look man, I don’t even know who
you are anymore!”
“I’m still me… just in a different
form.”
“Shit man, you’re starting to act
all… girly!”
“Stan… I don’t have much choice in
the matter. That’s going to be my new
life. It is my new life now.”
“Shit!” Stan replied.
“Stan,” Candy said, “you’ve been my
best friend for a long time. I don’t
want to lose you.”
“But I’ve already lost you!”
“In what way?”
“Shit! You’re not a fucking man anymore! I can’t look at you and talk about… guy stuff
with you anymore!”
“Why not?”
“Have you looked at yourself in a
mirror lately?”
“Every day, Stan. Every day.”
“Well I can’t very well talk about
some of the things we used to talk about.
I can’t very well treat you like I used to anymore.”
“What the heck are you talking
about? Why not?”
“You know what I mean. You know perfectly well that we both used to
deal with women different than with another guy… and I’m not certain yet if you
qualify as a woman or a guy. Well,
certainly not a guy anymore. That much
is for sure.”
The problem was, that Candy did
know now what Stan was talking about.
“Stan… I don’t know what to say.
I’m changing. I’m going to be a
woman for the rest of my life.”
“Shit!”
Candy waited a moment, but Stan
didn’t say anything else. “Stan,” he
said, then waited a moment again. Still
no reply. “Stan, I still want to be your
friend. I still value you as my friend
too much to lose you… if I can help it.
We’ve both been through a lot together.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciated your support in the past.”
“Shit!” Stan muttered again, but
softly.
At least Candy knew he was
listening, but the thought that he might be losing his best friend was starting
to get to him. “I understand if you
don’t want to be around me anymore. I
hate it like you wouldn’t believe, but I understand. And I can’t tell you how much it hurts me
right now just to think that you don’t want to be my friend anymore.” As he said it, he felt himself getting
quickly over emotional again and his eyes started tearing up. His voice now betraying the hurt, he
continued. “I hate that so much. But I have to understand if you can’t accept
me for the new me that I’m becoming.”
His voice clearly showed that he
was now crying openly. “You’ve been my
best friend Stan. I’ve always been able
to count on you. But… like I said, if
you can’t accept who I am now, then I have to accept that and move on. I don’t want to make things worse between us
than they are right now.”
His emotional level hit the point
where he couldn’t continue. “I can’t
talk now Stan. I’m sorry. So, so sorry!
Bye!” He quickly hung up the
phone. With the tears streaming from his
eyes, he ran to his bedroom and buried his face in his pillow. He had just lost his best friend in the
world. Stan couldn’t accept who he was
now. It hurt. It hurt bad!
But he had no choice but to accept that.
His phone rang and he ignored
it. He couldn’t talk to anyone in the
condition he was in. It would be too
embarrassing. Thankfully, the ringing
stopped. But two minutes later, it
started again. Frustrated, he picked it
up and looked to see who was calling… Stan!
“Hello?” he said tentatively, his voice still overly thick with emotion.
“Shit!” said Stan softly. “See, this is what I’m talking about. What am I supposed to do with you if you
start crying on me somewhere?”
Candy tried to laugh, but wasn’t
successful. “Ignore me. Just walk away and ignore me for a
while. I’ll get over it eventually.”
“Huh! Easier said than done sometimes”
“Yeah, I know. But I’m telling you that’s all you have to
do. Just ignore me.”
Stan didn’t reply to that. After a moment he said, “You better not ask
me to ever bait your hook for you or even to remove a fish from your line if
you catch anything!”
This time Candy’s forced laugh was
a bit more successful. “I think we can
safely call that a deal.”
“Can you promise you won’t break
down and cry on me again?”
“I wish!” Candy replied. “I’d like to promise it, but right now these
hormones are doing a major number on me.
My emotions are almost impossible to control.”
“Shit!” Stan muttered again. “I guess since you think you’re a woman now
that you expect me to pick you up tomorrow?”
“Either way,” Candy replied. “If you like, I’ll be more than glad to pick
you up instead.”
“No, better not. I’ll come get you. I’d feel funny riding around with the woman
doing the driving… even if that someone is you!”
This time, Candy’s laugh was more
genuine.
No comments:
Post a Comment