Extracted - Chapter 15 – Have You Met Yourself – Part 1 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 15 – Have You Met Yourself – Part 1 of 2

 

“No!” Nancy protested.  “I’m not wearing a dress!”

“Yes you are young lady.  You’ll wear it and like it!”

“Why?”

“Because we’re meeting your other mother today and I won’t have her think that I don’t care about how you look!”

“My mother is used to seeing me all dirty and sweaty.  That’s how she usually sees me.”

“Not anymore.  Especially not in that body.  I won’t have it.  Now what earrings do you want to wear with it?”

“Earrings?  You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Earrings!  You should have been wearing them every day.  I’ve just been slack about making you.  Now it’s time you started getting used to them.  Not to mention a million other things.  Now put that dress on and let’s get you ready.  And no more complaining.  Get used to it!  And we’ve still got to do your hair.”

Half an hour later, Nancy sat on her bed and glanced at the clock.  It was only eight thirty, but the entire family had already had breakfast, gotten packed, and her dumb new mother had literally attacked every inch of her with a different hairdo including a big hairclip, earrings, a necklace, a bracelet, sandals on her feet, and of course, a dress!  She felt completely humiliated.

Emily leaned into her room from the hallway.  “All ready?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Nancy replied sullenly.  “I still don’t see why I have to wear…all this.”

Emily laughed.  “You look nice…finally!  You…I mean the old you, loved getting dressed.”

“I’m not the old me.”

Emily shook her head.  “Unfortunately.  By the way, did you pack your pads?”

“My pads?”

“In case your period starts.”

“I’m not bleeding!”

“Not right now maybe, but what if it starts while you’re on this trip?  Nancy, you better start getting used to these little things immediately.  From now on you never go anywhere without some kind of protection for things like that.”

“Never?”

“No. You never leave the house without them.  I’m sure Mom told you that.  Now make sure you’ve got some in your bag.”

“My bag?  Mom already packed it full of stuff.  Too much stuff.”

“No dummy.  Your purse.”

“Mom didn’t say I had to have one.”

“Nancy, your bag goes without saying.  Now check it to make sure your pads are there.”

Nancy got up from her bed and opened her closet.  There were two different hooks that had a lot of “bags” hung on them.  “Which one?”

“Whatever one you want.”

“I don’t want any of them.”

“Tough!  Choose.  Quickly.  Before we leave.”

Nancy grabbed the one that was on top of one of the hooks.  It felt heavy.  She opened it and saw it jumbled with all kinds of stuff.  “What’s in here?”

“I don’t know.  It’s your purse.  Just make sure your pads are there.  Oh, and maybe your wallet would be a good idea too.  Is your cellphone in there?”

“My cellphone is in my dresser.”

“Are you bringing it?”

“What for?”

“Up to you kid,” Emily said.  “Better get with it.”

Emily was about to leave when Nancy quickly called, “Emily!”

“Yeah?”

“Did Nancy have a favorite stuffed animal or something?”

“Why?”

“I just thought that, if I get to see her, she might like to have it again.”

Emily stared at Nancy for a few moments, then said.  “Yeah.  She did.”  She went over to the shelf and selected a stuffed dog and handed it to this new Nancy.  “She called her Miss Barkey.”

“Thanks,” Nancy told her.  “I just thought it might be nice.”

“Yeah.  It would.”  She suddenly reached down and hugged Nancy.  “Thanks,” she said softly.

Nancy watched as Emily left and went back to her room.  She glanced over at her suitcase that her “mother” had packed for her.  It was full of more clothes like she was already wearing.  Girly stuff.  She wasn’t girly.  Even if she looked like a girl.

A car was supposed to pick them up at nine and take them to someplace that nobody knew about.  So far, she had already been transported to crazy-land today.  She looked down at the stuffed dog in her hand.  Something just told her that even as a boy now, the real Nancy would appreciate having it.

 

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“Dad,” Stephen said as he stood in the doorway to his new parent’s room.

“Yeah Stephen?”

“Can you help me with something?”

“Sure, what?”

“Steve!” his mother said, looking at him.  “That suit looks very nice on you.”

“Thanks.  But now I need help tying this tie.”

“What do you need a tie for right now?” Agatha asked.  “We’re just riding in the car.  You really don’t need to be wearing a suit right now either.  Your father isn’t.”

“I just wanted to…look nice,” Stephen replied.

“For your mother?”

“Yeah.  Maybe.  I don’t know.  Besides, I never get a chance to wear interesting clothes, and this is the first real chance I’ve had.”  It was all true.  Including wanting to look nice for his mother.

“Maybe leave the tie off for now and just leave the top button on your shirt unbuttoned,” Agatha suggested.  “If you want, you can wear the tie later.  Your father will help you with it then.”

Stephen nodded.  “Okay.  Thanks.”

“Are you all packed?” Agatha asked.

“You packed for me last night,” Stephen reminded her.

“Okay.  Just checking.”

“Do you really think I’ll need that bathing suit?” Stephen asked.

“They said it would be someplace nice, like a vacation.  I would think there’s a good chance that wherever it is could have some kind of pool.  You said you love swimming.”

“Yeah.  But not in this body.  I’ll be…pretty much naked.  At least on top.”

“Darling, naked on top is perfectly fine for a boy.  You know that I’m sure.  And Stephen, trust me, even fully naked that body of yours is nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t the body I want to show off.”

Agatha stopped getting ready and stared at him for a moment.  No, I guess it wouldn’t be.  But don’t sell yourself short.  Did you grab your wallet?”

“It’s on my dresser.  But without a purse, where am I supposed to put it?”

Henry was startled by the question.  “In your pocket of course.  And keep it there!”

“What for?”

“I’ll give you some money in case they have things you can buy when we get there.  A wallet is a good place to keep it.”

“I know that.  It’s just…”  He sighed.  “Everything is all different!  I can’t get used to any of it!”

Agatha went over and hugged her son, who was in reality a little girl inside.  “I know dear.  But now it’s time to be brave and push your boundaries a bit.”

“Do what?”

“Pretend to be big.  And a boy.  Get used to it.”

Stephen rolled his eyes and walked out.  He didn’t want to be a boy.  He wanted to be Nancy again.

 

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The Stiller family arrived first, taking up three rooms in the east building of the resort.  There were agents staying in all the rooms around them for their protection, even though they would hopefully never know it.

The Marsh family arrived thirty minutes later, and were driven directly to the west building on the opposite side of the resort.  This was now one of the times that the agents were the most concerned with, because both families were given time to freshen up and wander around a bit before they needed to be back in their rooms to be escorted to the proceedings.  Both Rosenberg and Doctor Montcliff considered it amazing that neither family noticed the other in the small amount of wandering around that they did.

Neither family had much time to explore though since they were both warned to be ready soon.

 

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Detective Nolan knocked on the door to Henry and Agatha Marsh’s room.  The door was opened promptly.  “Are you ready?” he asked.

“All set,” Henry told him.  “Let’s get these questions out of the way.”

“Um…about that,” Nolan said.  “It seems our team of government experts decided to spend the day researching things at the two hospitals instead.  So they’ve asked us to put your interviews off until tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!  But we’re here now.  Today!”

“Yeah.  Sorry about that.  In the meantime, we thought we’d give the two families a chance to meet each other.”

“Oh good,” Agatha said quickly.  “And how about our Stephen?”

“That too of course,” Nolan confirmed.  “But I need to warn you, we’re a bit worried about how these meetings between you might go, so we’ve arranged to kind of introduce you all slowly.”

“What’s that mean?” Henry asked.

“A few at a time.  Especially between Stephen and Nancy.”

Henry shook his head.  “Whatever.  I just want to meet this Nancy and see if it really is my son inside her.”

“And I’m sure the congressman wants to do the same with Stephen,” Nolan countered.

Henry stared at him for a moment, then nodded.  “I’m sure he does.  Let’s get on with it then.”

“We just need Stephen now,” Nolan replied.

Henry pointed at the door next to his.  “Right there.”

A minute later, Nolan led them all to a temporary holding room.

 

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Agent Rosenberg went to get the Stiller family to bring them to the arranged meetings.  She had to apologize to them however, because it seemed that the government team that was supposed to question them had decided to visit the medical personnel at the two hospitals first to get their take on what had happened.  While they were in Philadelphia, they also planned on meeting with Doctor Faucet, Stephen’s psychiatrist that the family had dropped.  The congressman was angry at being put off, but at least he and his family could finally see Stephen and get a chance to see for themselves if he was really their Nancy inside.

Once they understood what was going on, Rosenberg led them all to a holding room and asked them to please be patient as some of the Marsh family were already involved in things.

 

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