“Yeah, but she’s gone to visit my Uncle in hospital.”
“Can you sign?” he said, thrusting a big parcel at her.
“If you like.”
He gave her the small electronic gizmo and directed her to sign with the plastic stylus.
She signed, ‘K. Ambrose.’
“Thanks,” he said, and was gone.
Okay, then maybe not the first personable young man; perhaps the next one?
Five
“Hey Kenneth, wait up!”
Reluctantly, Kenneth stopped and waited for Connie to catch up with him. The school bus that had just dropped them off passed them, heading to the next drop-off point in Cookham.
Connie was slightly plump, but still quite pretty, if it wasn’t for her thick spectacles and uncontrollable, frizzy hair. She was about Kenneth’s only friend, as he was hers. They were both misfits, but for different reasons. Kenneth didn’t want to be around people because he knew he was the wrong gender, while Connie was so desperate to be liked that she put people off. Kenneth initially felt sorry for her, so unwittingly sent her the wrong messages. Connie now believed that Kenneth was her boyfriend.
“What’s the rush?” she asked, breathless.
He shrugged.
“I just want to get home.”
“I thought you hated it at home?”
He shrugged again and resumed walking.
“Have I done anything to upset you?” the girl asked.
“Nope.”
“Are you sure? I mean, you seem to be avoiding me.”
“I’m avoiding everyone.”
“Why?”
“I want to be alone.”
“Why?”
“Coz I do.”
He walked quickly and said no more. Connie wheezed a bit, but kept up with him. Eventually he stopped, turned and looked at her.
“Look, what’s with always wanting to be with me?” he asked.
It was her turn to shrug.
“I thought you liked me.”
“I do, Connie, but I don’t need to be with you all the time.”
“You’re not; most of the time you’re by yourself. Most boys want to be with their girlfriends.”
He sighed, knowing what she felt about him.
“Look, Connie, I’m not like the other guys. I like you, but not like that.”
“Are you gay?” she asked, fearing the worst.
He sighed again, as this was the conclusion everyone drew.
“If I let you in on a secret, will you swear never to reveal it, even under torture?”
Her eyes widened a little, but she nodded rapidly.
“I swear.”
He looked around, like he imagined a spy would, and then leaned close to her.
“I’m really a girl!” he whispered.
For a moment her eyes widened even more, but then she laughed. It was a funny little laugh, nervous and uncertain.
“No, you’re not!” she said, but with considerable uncertainty in her voice. Kenneth smiled as he heard it.
“Come on, I’ll prove it to you,” he said, and resumed walking.
Five minutes later, they arrived at his house. It was a nice house, much bigger than Connie’s. She liked coming here, as it gave her something to aim for in life.
Using a key, Kenneth opened the front door. Basil, the little Jack Russell came and yapped at him in excitement, so he made a fuss of him. Then he let Basil out into the back garden.
“Are your parents out?”
“Both at work. Dad is away again; Germany, I think. Mum won’t be back until half-five at the earliest.” He paused. “No, it’s Thursday, so she might drive over to her brother’s house to check on how he’s doing. I expect she’ll rollup at about eight or nine.”
“Is that the one who had a heart attack?”
“Uncle Billy, yes. He was discharged a few weeks ago after a triple by-pass operation.”
Connie knew that Kenneth was an only child, as the lad had bemoaned the fact many times.
“I like your house,” she said, looking at a large cabinet with all sorts of exotic ornaments on display.
“Whatever. Wait here, I’ll be back in a minute,” he said, heading from the stairs.
She followed him, as he knew she would. He didn’t care.
She followed him into his bedroom. She had been here several times. She hoped beyond hope that one day he might ask her to join him on the bed.
She sat on it now, still hoping.
“Well, do you want proof, or not?” he asked.
She laughed, still rather uncertainly.
“Do you have a pen?” he asked.
“Why?”
He held out his thumb.
“Make a mark, any mark you like on my thumb,” he said.
She took out a red felt-tip and drew a little heart on his thumb.
“Wait here, I’m going to change,” he said, opening a drawer and taking a metal hoop from it. Leaving the door open, he walked across the landing and into the bathroom. He closed the door.
Connie stood up and walked to the window and looked out to the large garden below. The River Thames flowed majestically past the house at the bottom of the garden. She wished she lived in a house like this. Oh, to have money!
On hearing a noise behind her, she turned and nearly died of fright.
There, in just a bra and panties, and a plain metal thing round her neck, was a very pretty girl who looked a little like Kenneth. Only, unlike the beanpole Kenneth, this girl had a figure that Connie would have happily killed for.
“Shit, you startled me,” she said, but then frowned. “Where’s Kenneth?”
“Ta-da,” said the girl, lifting her arms up in time-honoured show-biz fashion. Then she held out her thumb towards the confused girl.
The truth dawned on Connie like a slow leak of very cold water. There was no one else in the house, and there, on the thumb, was a little red heart.
“I told you, Connie; I’m not like the other boys!”
It was about half an hour before Connie calmed down enough for Keira to be able to explain a little of what she had been through. She did not mention the torc, or how she discovered it. Instead she claimed to have been a girl all along and just hid it from the world.
“Why?”
“My parents are in denial,” she said. “They were only able to have one, and they wanted a boy. They made me pretend to be a boy all this time.”
Connie was gullible, but not that gullible.
“No, that’s bollocks; you’re too different to the Kenneth I was at school with today. How do you do this?”
Keira sighed, working out how she could explain the inexplicable.
“You’ve heard of hermaphrodites, yes?”
Connie nodded.
“Yeah, they’re people born with both a penis and a vagina.”
“Okay, well, I’m like that, only I can control what I am by my mind. If I think I’m a girl I can be one, and likewise revert to being a boy if I concentrate. I can only be one or the other, not both at the same time.”
Connie looked at Keira with that expression that said ‘I don’t believe you.’
“Seriously, it’s all in the mind. You’ve heard of ESP, and telekinesis, well, it’s like that.”
This time Connie laughed.
“Yeah, right, like I believe that!” she said. “Okay, prove it; fly across the room!”
Keira wasn’t quite sure who was more shocked, her or Connie. I mean, it is one thing to talk about it, but a completely different thing to fly across the room.
One minute she was standing by the door, and literally the next second she was across the other side of the room by the wardrobe.
As Keira stood there, somewhat shocked to say the least, Connie wailed and sat on the bed.
“How the fuck did you do that?” she demanded, almost hysterically.
Keira absently raised one hand to the torc around her neck.
“I told you, I have powers,” she said, somewhat hesitantly.
“This is fucking creepy. It’s impossible, that’s what it is!”
Keira turned and looked at her.
“Look, you wanted to know my secret, and now I’ve told you. Do you really want to know the truth, or will you just cry and run away and tell everyone?”