On the back of that, Graham was better able to plan for the future. Not being able to drive started as a real pain, but he tried to alter his working life-style accordingly. The company, Frobisher & Booth, did not make it desperately easy for him to work from home, although conscious of his unfortunate circumstances. In actual fact, it made very little difference to either the work or the clients. Graham thought that they simply didn’t like not having him at their beck and call. Although Graham knew he was good at his job, what the partners hadn’t told him was he was their best, and they needed him to bring in the clients as he had done for the last decade or so.
They started making things harder and harder; demanding that he go to this meeting, that conference, and yet another meeting, knowing full well that without a car, he was stuffed. Stephanie was able to only do so much, and the stress began to tell on them both. After much soul searching, he asked for a meeting with James Booth, one of the partners, and made his situation plain. In the end, the company was very nice about it, but was not really able to give him the flexibility he needed. Reluctantly, Graham gave notice and launched out on his own as an Independent Financial Services Consultant.
Stephanie quit too, and joined him. Frobisher and Booth then regretted their uncompromising stance, as all Graham’s clients ditched them to stay with the man who had served them so well. That surprised Graham who had expected one or two, but not them all.
James Booth called him at home and all but begged him to come back on his own terms. Graham politely refused and hung up.
In August, all across the British Isles, envelopes were plopping into people’s homes, or were delivered to schools to distribute. The results were in!
“I don’t think I want to know,” said Connie, staring at her envelope.
Keira grinned and ripped hers open.
“Bloody hell!” she said.
“What?”
“All A grades with one A star in English.”
“No? Even in French?”
“Even in French.”
“There has got to have been a mistake; you are so crap at French.”
“I did a lot of revision,” said Keira, knowing that somehow her torc helped her learn what she had believed was un-learnable.
“But you failed the French mock!” Connie pointed out.
“So, I got better.”
“They’ll think you cheated.”
“They can think what they like, I didn’t.”
Connie opened her envelope.
“Well?”
“Three ‘A’s, and the rest ‘B’s. Better than I thought.”
“Enough for sixth form, anyway.”
“I’m not sure I want to go back, not if you’re not going to be there.”
“Hey, live with it, it’s just for two years.”
“Why don’t you want to go back; Mr Pettifer says it’ll be okay?”
“He’s just the Head. I’ve a history there, and even though people can see who and what I am now, there will always be those who will have a problem of some sort.”
“I think most of it is in your imagination. I think people will be fine with it. It’s not like you look like Kenneth in a dress.”
“Thanks for that. Maybe you’re right, and it is in my mind, but if I start afresh somewhere new, it’ll make it easier for me.”
“I suppose,” said her friend, morosely.
“Anyway, look at you, the new, slim-line and drop-dead gorgeous version. The guys will be queuing up, and so you won’t have time for me.”
Connie smiled half-heartedly; pleased on the one hand, as she was already noticing that boys were seeing her, as if for the first time, but she valued Keira’s friendship above nearly everything else.
As a result of those results, Graham was in a better position to seek a place for his daughter at a reputable sixth form college.
Whether it was guilt over not being around for Kenneth’s early schooling, or for some other reason, he investigated the possibilities of getting her into a private school for her last two years.
There were two reasons for this (apart from the fact there was the money available set aside by the divorce settlement), the first was there was less chance of her meeting anyone who remembered her as Kenneth. The second reason was the quality of the education. Keira was clearly a bright student, so he decided that she ought to get the best on offer so to help her get a place at a better university.
Which was why he now watched the indomitable Doreen turn the pages of the report in front of her.
“She’s managed to acquire some impressive grades at GCSE, even if this seems to have surprised some of her teachers,” she said.
“She was struggling with her gender disorder in the early part of the syllabus, so when she took the mock exams she was rather distracted,” Graham said, following the agreed spiel.
“Well, if these grades were achieved when she was going through a significant difficulty, what would she achieve without such problems?”
“Quite,” agreed Graham.
“I see she did particularly well in French, which confounded her French teacher.”
“Indeed,” said Graham. “We actually had a week in Brittany last week. She appears to have mastered the language. I was surprised at her fluency with the spoken word.”
“Really, where did you go?”
“Port Crouesty, at the mouth of the Gulf of Morbihan. We have an apartment there, opposite the Marina.”
“Lovely; I know it well. I used to sail in the Gulf quite often when I was younger and fitter.”
“We have a catamaran; a Hobiecat. Keira loves sailing.”
“Does she? Well, she sounds like a good all-rounder. Her Headmaster is of the opinion that she will do well now things are more settled. I notice he refers to her as a boy?”
“The gender confusion was only resolved since she took her exams. He is not fully aware of the current situation. He was made aware of the possibility that my son might become my daughter, but the speed of the transition took us all by surprise. I think the doctor classed it as a unique inter-sex case. It’s all a bit bamboozling, really.”
“I take it you have informed the school you are considering taking her out?”
“It’s not that simple. The school is a state school with a separate sixth form that one has to apply to join. It is over subscribed, so there is stiff competition to get in. Existing pupils have an advantage, as they do have pride of place, but it is never a foregone conclusion. Mr Pettifer has said that a place will remain open for Keira, but we need to make the decision by the end of this week.”
“How interesting. So, he’s willing to take her despite knowing the history?”
“Yes, he’s been very supportive.”
“And yet you are still looking elsewhere?”
“Two main reasons; one, Keira wants to start afresh somewhere there is little chance of anyone knowing her. This is for her piece of mind. Second, I am satisfied that her current school is a good one, as her grades display, but to be honest, I feel her chances of getting better grades in subjects she will really appreciate are better in a school like this that offers a wider range of subjects. Academic subject are great, but the more life-skills and artistic orientated subjects might give her an advantage in further development.”
Doreen smiled at Graham.
“I might ask you to write our prospectus. I wholeheartedly agree. I hated some of the core subjects at school, as the teachers were mediocre and the subjects did not enthral me in the slightest. I was blessed by a place here for sixth form, and can honestly say it opened my eyes to the real world.”
Graham breathed a sigh of relief, pleased that his Internet browsing paid off.