Extracted - Chapter 17 – The Party’s At The Pool

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 17 – The Party’s At The Pool

 

“But you said you love swimming!” Wanda exclaimed.

“I do but…”

“But what?”

“Wearing this is embarrassing.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.  It’s just…”

Wanda sat on the bed and pulled Nancy to her.  “Nancy, listen to me.  How many girls have you seen wearing bikini’s before?”

“Lots,” Nancy admitted.

“And did you think anything was wrong with it?”

“Not exactly.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I loved it.  The more the better.”

“I’m sure!” Wanda told her.  “Nancy, believe it or not, girls like to be thought of as sexy.  They love it.  Especially if it gets them a bit of attention.  Like it or not, it’s your turn.  Now seriously, all your private areas are covered.  What’s wrong with wearing it?”

Nancy considered it.  “Nothing I guess.”

“Then stop complaining and take those earrings out so you don’t lose them.  You can wear just the necklace.  And if you’re that concerned about walking through the hotel that way then put a shirt on over your bathing suit.  Now let’s go.  Emily left for the pool ten minutes ago.”

Nancy quickly pulled a shirt over her bikini swimsuit and finished getting ready.  She was about to leave the room and follow her new mother and father, when she remembered something.  She quickly went back to her suitcase and grabbed something.  Only then did she run out of the room.

By the time Nancy and her new parents arrived at the pool, Emily had already been lying out on one of the lounge chairs, getting some sun.  Nancy took a moment to study Emily in her bikini.  Yeah.  She was sexy alright.  If she was a guy, getting to know her would be a must.  So why didn’t Emly seem to have any boyfriends?  She was guessing it had something to do with their father.  She looked around and didn’t see any sign of her real family.  Were they coming?  They had said they were.

“Take that shirt off and try not to get it wet,” her new mother told her.

Nancy pulled her shirt off and was just putting it down on one of the lounge chairs when she saw the entire Marsh family coming into the pool area.  Her eyes followed them, but mostly they lingered on Stephen.  She noticed too that Emily was watching them, or more likely Stephen, as they came over and took some lounge chairs nearby.  Other than them, the entire pool area appeared to be deserted except for some people manning the snack bar and a number of FBI agents who were all doing their best to stay somewhat out of sight.

She watched as Stephen put his towel down on one of the chairs and pulled his shirt off.  Yeah, she should have known.  That had been her body not long ago, and his chest was full of muscles.  His entire body was full of muscles.  Her muscles.  Except that now they all belonged to him.  Him, who used to be her.  A young girl.

Wearing just her bikini, she picked something up from her chair and headed towards Stephen.  It wasn’t far and she noticed the look on Stephen’s face, a look of amazement.  His eyes finally looked up from what was in her hands to her face.

“Is that…” he started to say.

“I thought that since you’re really me inside, that you might like something from…your old life.”  With that she handed over the stuffed dog that Emily had said was her favorite.

“Miss Barkey!” Stephen exclaimed happily as he hugged the stuffed dog.

“Um…Steve,” Nancy said.  “When you get home, you might want to keep that thing hidden, like under your bed or something so anyone who comes over won’t see it.  Only take it out at night or something when you’re alone.  Guys as big as you don’t have stuffed pets.”

“Thank you,” Stephen told her, hugging the dog tightly once again.  “I wish I brought you something now.”

Nancy shook her head.  “Trust me, I can’t think of anything you could have brought that I can use anymore.  Nothing at all.”

A short distance away, Agatha moved closer to Wanda.  “That was nice,” she told her softly.

“Yeah,” Wanda replied.  “Thanks.  Thanks for raising such a good kid.”

“You’re welcome,” Agatha replied.

“Did you know that Stephen wore that suit earlier, just because he thought that I might like it?” Wanda told her.

“He said something like that this morning before we left,” Agatha replied.  “Although I got the impression that it might also have been because he likes clothes.”

“Of that, I’ve no doubt,” Wanda agreed.

“Maybe we both raised good kids,” Agatha suggested.

Wanda nodded and briefly touched her arm.  She looked up to see her husband and Henry heading towards the snack bar.  “How much you want to bet those two won’t come any closer to the pool than that.”

“They’ve talked on the phone too without telling us,” Agatha reminded her.  “I can’t imagine they would have that much to talk about.”

Wanda considered that.  “Me either.”

The two women noticed Emily getting up from her seat and heading towards Stephen.  “Uh-oh,” Wanda breathed softly as they watched.

Stephen had just sat down, and Nancy had taken a seat right next to him so they could talk.  Stephen was still holding Miss Barkey in his arms.

“Come on,” Emily said the moment she got close to him as she held both arms out towards him.

“What?” Stephen asked as he grabbed her hands and let her help pull him to his feet.

Emily wrapped her arms around his body and gave him a hug.  Then she turned to Nancy and handed her phone to her.  “Take a picture for me.”

Nancy took the phone and got the camera app ready.  By that time, Emily had posed herself with Stephen so that most of his body was visible, while his arm was wrapped around her as if she was his girlfriend.  “Nance,” Emily said.  “Since you used to be him, I’m sure you can figure out the kind of picture I want.”

Nancy just looked at them for a moment and rolled her eyes.  “Yeah, yeah.”  Then she snapped the picture.  Emily reposed herself with Stephen a few times and Nancy took more pictures.  Finally, she turned the phone over to Emily again and sat down.  Emily sat on her lounge chair next to her, and Stephen laid back on his lounge chair.

“Damn it!” Nancy swore.  “It’s not fair!”

“What?” Emily asked.

“If I was still…him,” she said pointing at Steve, “I’d be all over you out here…and probably anywhere else.  Now…”

“Emily reached over and wrapped an arm around the young girl and gave her a bit of a hug.  “Your turn will come again.  And it won’t be long,” she told the girl who was now her sister.”

“Not the way it’s supposed to be!  Not the way I want it to be.”

“Yeah.  Maybe not,” Emily agreed.  “Sorry.”

“So were those pictures for you or your girlfriends?” Nancy asked.

“Um…”  She shrugged and didn’t answer.

“Trust me,” Stephen told her.  “The answer is both!  She wants to show off who she’s been hanging out with, and I can guarantee that she won’t mention one word about who she’s really posing with.”

“How can I?” Emily replied as if she was shocked he could say such a thing.  “Besides, all I really did was to just pose for a few pictures with my sister, that’s all.  And you both know it!”

Stephen and Nancy both let out a few sounds that let Emily know that neither of them believed that explanation at all.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

In the shade surrounding the snack bar, the congressman and district attorney sat nursing their drinks.  “The kids certainly seem to be getting along just fine,” Henry noted.

“Looks like it,” Mike agreed.  “They’re probably doing better than we are.”

“They’re young,” Henry reminded him.

“But two of them have gone through the most horrific thing imaginable, and they’re still going through it, with a lot more to come.”

“True, but still, I’m glad to see them all getting on so well together.”

“Yeah.  Me too.  And as you just said, there’s going to be a lot more to come, and I’m not talking about those interviews that we have yet to go through.”

“I try once in a while to look into the future a bit,” Henry told him, “but what we need to do about all this just won’t seem to allow itself to focus in my brain.”

“I know what you mean,” Mike replied.  “I don’t know what direction we need to go next either.”

“There’s school of course,” Henry replied.  “But Steve was about to enter his senior year of high school.  Football is out now of course, but that’s a minor thing.  And Steve, I mean the real Stephen, was actually a damn smart kid.  He was a whiz at math.  I mean, calculus?  I certainly can’t take a class like that.”

Mike grunted.  “Yeah, he had to be a whiz.  Nancy wasn’t a slouch in school either.  Her grades were straight A’s…mostly.  But now….  I guess I don’t have to tell you that she won’t stand a chance trying to figure out calculus.  I couldn’t.”

“No, and then there’s the rest of her classes as well.  What grade was she going into?”

“Seventh.”

“That’s nowhere near being a senior in high school,” Henry noted.  “I’ve been rolling the idea of a private tutor around in my head, but is that the way to go?  Mike, as much as I hate to say it, Stephen needs friends.  He needs other kids to pull him out of this big funk he seems to live in.”

“I’d be living in it too,” Mike told him.  “In his position, I don’t think I could cope at all.  I’m actually amazed he’s doing so well.”

“So is your Nancy, my real son Stephen,” Henry said.  “But in your case, at least he’s not going to be behind all the kids at school, he’ll actually be way ahead.”

“There is that,” Mike conceded.  “But can this Nancy manage to fit in with a bunch of seventh grade girls?  That’s the question.”

“Yeah, and the truth is that I seriously doubt it.  My bet is that my Stephen is so lost in that little body that he’s going nuts.”

Mike nodded.  “He is.  And as much as I’d like to help, I don’t have a clue where to start.”

“Me either,” Henry admitted.  “They’re both lost and depressed.”

“They both need friends to help pull them out of it.”

“And to hopefully help them learn how to exist in their new bodies,” Henry added.

“True.  But…I can’t help but hope and pray that someone will find some way to switch them back the way they belong.  I mean, someone did this to them.  We know that for a fact.  Even if we have no idea yet as to who it was, we know it was done to them deliberately.”

“Which means that there has to be a way to put them right,” Henry finished.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

A small cocktail gathering was scheduled for six-thirty, and dinner was scheduled for seven.  As the Marsh family arrived back at their rooms after the pool, Agatha stopped Stephen before he could go to his own room.  “Steve,” she said.  “Please wear your suit again for dinner.  Wanda and I both want our families to dress nice.”

“Sure Mom,” Stephen agreed.  “No problem.  Uh…Dad’s going to have to help me with my tie again.”

“No problem,” Henry told him.  “Stop by when you’re ready.”

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

“Another dress?” Nancy complained. 

“We’re all dressing up for dinner,” Wanda told her.  “Which means you too.  “Now get that swimsuit off and get into the shower.  And remember to rinse your hair and dry it.  I’ll be back in a little while to figure out what dress I want you to wear.”

A few hours later, Nancy’s hair had been brushed to death and fashioned into a nice hairdo, she was wearing another nice dress, she had different earrings in her ears, two necklaces, two bracelets, and the shoes she was wearing had small heels.  And to make matters worse, her new mother had just made her sit though getting a bit of makeup put on her face.

“We should have thought to do your nails,” Wanda mused as she looked her young daughter over.

Nancy said nothing.  That was the last thing she needed, as if she needed any of what she was wearing.  What would have been wrong with wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers to dinner.  Nothing as far as she was concerned.

“All set?” Wanda asked her as she headed to Nancy’s dresser to grab her purse.  She turned to Nancy.  “Where’s your purse?”

Exasperated, Nancy went to her suitcase and grabbed her purse.

“Hm,” Wanda muttered.  “We should have thought to bring a different one for you.  That one doesn’t go with what you’ve got on.  Just leave it here.”

“Thank you God!” Nancy breathed as she threw the purse onto her bed.

“Nancy,” Wanda said.  “Your father is a congressman.  A very important man.  Which means that everyone watches not just him but all of us as well.  We have to maintain and project an image that is more important than you can possibly realize right now.  The way all of us dress, and look, and act is vital to everything your father stands for.  Do you understand?”

Nancy remembered that she was actually seventeen years old.  What her new mother had just told her should have been obvious, but she had never really thought about it before.  “Yeah,” Nancy replied.  “I get it.  It’s just that…”

“You’re still a boy inside and for some reason you’re embarrassed to do or wear anything having to do with being a girl,” Wanda finished for her.

Nancy just looked at her, then asked, “Are you sure you don’t want me to carry that purse?”

Wanda smiled at her.  “It’s up to you.”

Nancy was tempted to grab it, then she thought otherwise.  “I’ll leave it here.”

“That’s fine,” Wanda told her.”

Nancy wanted to know if it was so fine for her to leave it behind, why had she wanted her to take it in the first place?  She said nothing about that though and headed out the door.

They found Emily just coming from her own room.

“Mom,” Emily said.  “They said this is cocktails.  Can I have one?”

“Maybe, but probably not,” Wanda replied.  “You’re still underage.  It may depend on the situation.”

“But if it looks okay?”

“I’ll ask your father.”

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Stephen may have been a twelve year old girl inside, but he stood straight and tall and proud in his suit.  Something that both Henry and Agatha noticed and appreciated.  He was actually making them proud.  The room was beginning to fill with people, mostly FBI agents, but Stephen noticed both that detective and the psychiatrist woman as well.  He also noticed when all four members of the Stiller family came in together.  The family that used to be his family.  He felt a pang of jealousy over that no longer being the case.

He wasn’t the least bit surprised when his sister…when Emily headed straight for him.  He took note of the nice dress she was wearing and how good she looked.  The way she was behaving toward him was starting to make him a little uncomfortable.  That was his sister!  Except…was she still his sister?  He didn’t know how he was supposed to think about her.

“Hi Steve,” Emily said as she latched onto his arm.  “You look real nice tonight.”

“So do you,” Steve replied.  He noticed Nancy watching them, but purposely staying away.  Had Emily asked her to keep her distance?  He loved Emily and had missed her the most, but right now, he just considered her to be acting strange.  He nodded his head toward Nancy.  “Did Nancy pick out what to wear tonight, or did Mom have anything to do with it?”

“Mom,” Emily told him.  “That Nancy not only doesn’t have a clue as to what to wear, she literally doesn’t want to look nice, or even decent.  Nance…I mean Steve, she’s not a girl.”

“No,” Stephen agreed.  “I’m not a boy either, and I’m not as old as I look, but even I know she’s not happy having to be me.  I’ll bet she’s fighting it as hard as she can.”

“I never thought of that,” Emily replied, wishing he would get the subject away from her sister.  “Are you fighting it?” she asked.

Stephen considered that.  “Some,” he admitted.  “Maybe more than some.  I never thought about it.  Em…I miss so much!  And there’s nothing for me to do.  I guess I’m just trying to get by the best I can.”

“What else can you do?” Emily pointed out.  “Hey.  Go ask your dad if you can have a cocktail.  You’re seventeen.  Maybe he’ll say yes.”

“Me?”

“Yes!  If your dad lets you have one, then maybe mine will let me.”

Stephen was a bit dubious about that.  “Really?” he asked.

“Yes!  Try it.”

Together they walked over to Stephen’s new father.  “Dad,” Stephen said.  “Uh…any chance I can have a cocktail?”

Henry looked at him like he was crazy.  “No!  Absolutely not!”  Then his voice dropped to a whisper.  “You’re only twelve years old inside that body!  Don’t ask again.”

Somehow, Emily knew that she wasn’t going to get her cocktail.

A little while later, the dining room seemed to be a lot fuller than any of them imagined.  The staff had moved tables together so that both families could sit together.  It was while they were waiting for their food that Mike noticed something.  He stared for a moment, then said, “Uh-oh.”

“What?” Henry asked, looking in the direction where Mike was staring.

Mike nodded towards the table in the corner.  “See the table in the corner, the one with all the FBI agents standing in front of it?”

“Yeah, that’s weird.  What are they doing?”

“Probably keeping everyone away from that table.  I recognize one of those men.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.  Don’t you?”

“No.  Who is it?”

“Daniel Curmett, the president’s National Security Advisor.”

Henry stared, but he didn’t know which of the three men Mike was talking about.  “I’m guessing they’re the ones we’ll be talking to tomorrow.”

The congressman nodded.  “I better go over and say hello.”  He got up from the table and Henry got up with him.  The two of them headed for the corner table.  Before they got there, they were stopped by the FBI agents.  The congressman saw Daniel Curmett look at him, then hold up his hand in such a way as to let him know not to come near.

“Come on,” Mike told Henry.  “It looks like he doesn’t want to talk to us yet.”

Together, they walked back to their families.

“What are they going to do tomorrow?” Henry wondered?

“Probably put us all through the grinder and talk us to death,” Mike told him.

“You said one of them is the National Security Advisor, but who are the guys with him?” Henry asked.

“No idea,” Mike admitted.  “Curmett is a damn brilliant guy, but he’s also a politician.  He’s probably the perfect person for the position he’s holding.  With him there we need to be aware that tomorrow could get nasty.”

“Can’t be too bad tomorrow,” Agatha said.  “They mentioned we could probably go home tomorrow.”

“Maybe,” Mike conceded.  “I think it’s going to depend on them.  And mostly, on him and what he thinks.  We all might want to stay as flexible as possible tomorrow.”