The change

Chapter four

The ride to Vladimere’s was miserable. Their is a wreck on the freeway and we were stuck in a major traffic jam for an hour and a half. Sharon seemed as comfortable as she could be - it must be wonderful to be that well adjusted to something as severe as a Milwaukee brace. We talked a bit and kind of got to know Chantel, of course I never met Rhonda before either.

It turns out that Rhonda writes children’s stories and does quite well with it, but she is really having bad problems in her marriage. She is consumed by the problems and has nothing good to say about her husband, Billy, or the institution of marriage. I know that every conflict has at least two sides, but Rhonda’s side is pretty convincing, at least when she talks about it. Billy is abusive, violent, and often drunk. He won’t accept any outside help, he just blames everything that is wrong in his world on Rhonda. She is getting desperate and may leave at any time. Her writing is suffering, her job is suffering, and most of all her children are suffering. Just a bad situation.

Chantel has a live in lover and that suits her just fine, she says she isn’t ready for commitment yet, she wants to devote most of her time to her accounting firm. She graduated from school and got her C.P.A. four years ago and the world is all coming together for her. It looks like Sharon is going to have Chantel do her books too, Sharon’s accountant is retiring in the spring.

We have been standing in the entry way for about twenty minutes so it is very good to hear the hostess call for the Gleason party.

Sharon is saying. "I was starting to think that they don’t want us in here."

Chantel replies. "Come on girl, get real, four women in heels and skirts in a bar, - they would pay us to come here"

We all chuckle as we are escorted to our table by a hostess that could double as the bouncer, she is in heels and a skirt too but somehow manages to look more manly and stronger than I ever did. She probably is stronger than I ever was - and maybe she has a secret, she could be like me.

As we sit down Chantel asks. "Well, what are we going to order?"

"Dicks" replies Rhonda.

Sharon adds "None for me, I ate one last night"

Chantel laughs and says. "I think we better order soda pop, this party could get out of hand"

I am just a little shocked. I didn’t know women even talked like this - so I didn’t say anything. Then I thought I should say something sane like "Oh I think I will order a simple rum and coke"

"Rum and coke for you honey?" came in a strange voice. I didn’t see a waitress, of course I miss quite a lot since I can’t move anything from my butt to my head. I suddenly realized that just for a moment I forgot that I am wearing a cast.

"OK" I answered. Then Rhonda, Chantel, and Sharon all ordered in turn.

Vladimere’s is kind of an up scale place. The waitresses are uniformed in short skirts and tee’s that say "Vladimere’s" across their boobs. Wood and brick line the walls and large wooden beams majestically cross the high cathedral ceiling. Antiques adorn the walls and pillars. They have an extensive and expensive food menu. It is a little late now and we all ate supper at home so we are just here to enjoy each others company, maybe a drink or two, and a night out. In the corner a band is just setting up their instruments. I have never been here before so I don’t know what to expect. By the look and feel of the place they will be pretty good.

I see Chantel talking to Sharon. She is asking her "Why do you like wearing that brace"

"I don’t" Sharon replies.

Rhonda joins in "You sure as hell do" I have to turn in my seat to see Rhonda as she continues. "You wore it when we went out for my birthday, and you wore it when I helped you paint your store, you wear that thing any time you have an excuse."

"My back hurt" Sharon defended.

"So take a pill" was Rhonda’s answer.

I am wearing out my dress turning back and fourth in my seat as Sharon continues. "Pills put me to sleep. Don’t forget I broke my neck six months ago too. You know when I was a kid and this thing was put on me I went in my room and cried for hours, I just hated it. It hurt me and I felt like a freak. My parents had to force me to wear it. My dad put boxing gloves on me at night so I couldn’t remove the damn brace"

"That was twenty years ago" Rhonda said. "I think you got over it, adjusted to it, and when you didn’t need it any more you felt worse without it than you ever did with it. My sister was like that with her head gear. When her teeth were finally all where they were supposed to be, she didn’t want to give up the braces, her boyfriend liked them on her and she got attention from everyone she knew, it was harder for her when she got them off than it was when she got them on"

"OK, OK, so I like wearing it, Do you have a problem with that?

Rhonda answers. "No, I don’t, I never did, I just wanted you, miss to perfect, to admit it, that’s all."

Sharon continues. "OK, so It feels comfortable and secure in a lot of ways. I can use it for an excuse for a lot of things that come my way. Oh yea my husband likes me in it too. And believe it or not it is a diet aid, it’s hard to eat in one of these things, if I had a brain in my head I would sell them for weight loss at the shop."

Chantel asks "You like wearing it?"

"Well it makes me stand out in a crowd, I used to hate that part of it, but now that I,m older I kind of enjoy the attention."

Chantel replied. "Well, what ever feels good, just do it"

"Chantel, does it bother you that I wear the brace? Do you think it’s weird?" Sharon asked.

I can’t help but think this is getting serious. I wonder if other people are listening.

"No sweetie I don’t think it’s weird, it’s different, but not weird." Says Chantel, she pauses and then continues. "I’ll tell you what’s weird, Piercing is weird. All four of us have pierced ears. Rhonda has four holes."

"Six" says Rhonda and adds "I have nothing in the top two on the right ear tonight, but I usually wear posts with little stones on them in the high ones. I love ear rings and I find pierced a lot more comfortable than clasps".

Chantel continues "OK, so ears are all right, but what about pierced lips, pierced noses, pierced eyebrows, pierced nipples, pierced belly buttons, and even lower. That’s not fashion, it’s mutilation. Braces aren’t mutilation, because they don’t draw blood. About three weeks ago I went into a cafe downtown and the waitress could hardly talk. She had two huge posts in her tongue, that’s weird, that’s strange, and that bothered me." She paused for just a second and then continued. "Hey, and don’t forget about tattoo’s.

Tattoo’s hurt, a lot, and unlike true love their forever.",

Rhonda says "Don’t rip on tattoo’s, I have a rose on my butt"

"Girl, that’s a good place for it" said Chantel.

We all giggled about that one and I realized that I am getting a bit tired of turning back and fourth in my chair so I said. "Well I sure don’t like this cast"

Rhonda pointing at me says. "You will get used to it."

"But I won’t miss it when it’s gone" I answered.

"Of course not" Sharon added. "You will have a beautiful new Milwaukee, just like mine. You will love it and you will loose weight, I guarantee it. See, I can sell them for weight loss."

Chantel added. "You could sell anything if you say it’s for weight loss."

We all laughed as our drinks were served and the band began to play. That stopped our talking for just a while as we took in a very good jazz group. I don’t know what they were playing but I like it, I think we all are enjoying it.

The little group continued the evening by loosing themselves in conversations about almost everything anyone could think of. We all, including me, fended off various invitations to dance, date, and one jerk asked Rhonda to "screw" but in spite of what she had said on the way here she didn’t take him up on it. None of us took any of the invitations. I really feel like I am part of the group and that is just super for me. I am very comfortable with them, I feel like I really am one of them. I am thinking of the cast less as the evening wears on and more about my new identity, the cast is just one small step to achieving my goal.

Time passed very quickly for all of us and, too soon, it is getting to be time to go. Chantel asked for our bill and we are waiting for it when suddenly Rhonda looks behind me with a start and appears shocked. Instantly I hear a man’s voice behind me.

"You damn bitch, I knew you were out with whores, who’s supposed to be watching my kid’s"

Rhonda says quietly. "Don’t do this Billy, these are my friends and your drunk again."

"I am not drunk and you don’t need no damn barfly whores for friends, you need to be home where you belong."

Rhonda offers "OK, just quiet down, I’ll go home with you, I need to pay my part of the bill and we can go, I’m sorry girls I’ll call you tomorrow and try to make it up to you. Forgive me please."

Even louder now Billy rages on. "You don’t need to apologize to any damn whores, you need to apologize to me."

"OK, I’m sorry Billy, now let’s go, I’ll settle with you tomorrow Sharon, is that OK, I guess I can’t wait for the bill"

Sharon says "Sure it’s OK, in fact forget it, it’s no problem."

We are getting all kinds of attention now, everyone that I can see with my limited view is staring at us and I can feel the rest of them staring at my back. Billy is standing next to Rhonda now. He is a big, good looking, powerful man in a very red neck sort of a way. Rhonda starts to get up and he sits her back down with a slap.

"It’s not that easy bitch. You need to tell these whores to go to hell before we can go. I don’t know what’s wrong with you but you got to stop this crap here and now".

Rhonda says. "These are my friends Billy, I really don’t like you calling them whores. We can talk about this when you sober up in the morning."

"Ain’t nothin to talk about, your done with damn whores, you belong at home."

Rhonda starts to get up again and is slapped down again.

I think I am a little sick of this too. I can be called a lot of things now, but I sure am not a whore. Sharon, Chantel, and me are all quiet and mostly in shock. I hope sombody is calling 911, this is getting very ugly.

Now Billy is looking at Sharon and me. "I don’t ever want to see you damn whores again, hear me good, I mean this, your gonna get hurt if I ever see you again."

Now Sharon pipes up. "You can’t be talking to me mister, because I sure don’t want to see you now, or ever, but your here and I can’t seem to do anything about it. We are not whores, thank you very much"

Now Billy is getting even louder. "Don’t you give me no bad mouth you piece of shit."

Chantel stands up and shouts. "Billy, I don’t know what planet your coming from but we don’t need this, nobody needs this, go home and eat some raw meat, you’ll feel better and you won’t need to insult and slap women around."

Rhonda, pleading now says. "Please don’t do this Billy, remember when you are sober you seem to know that Chantel’s our accountant, let’s just go and forget about all this."

Billy is looking madder all the time yells "BULLSHIT"

I don’t know what to do here, so I start to stand up. Then Billy hits Chantel in the side of the neck, hard, she nearly fell over. That isn’t enough for him so he clasps both fists together and came down on the top of her head. She dropped like a sack of flour and landed on the floor with a thud.

Then another loud male voice shouts "FREEZE JACKASS"

I turn and see a man in a gray pin stripped suit holding a gun with both hands and pointing it at Billy.

The man continues. "I’m a cop and your under arrest"

I’m facing the door now so I can see that two uniformed officers are coming in. I think that Billy saw them too, he calmed down instantly and put his hands up in a surrender position.

The man with the gun continued. "OK jackass, turn around, that’s good, now lower you right arm and put it behind your back"

He produced a set of hand cuffs and clasped one side on Billy’s wrist.

"Now the left, good caveboy, good caveboy, that’s real good."

The other hand is clasped and the man continues. "I’m off duty now and I’ve had a real bad day so you can do exactly as I tell you, understand?" then a small pause "Understand jackass"

Billy finally replied "Yes sir"

"Good. I am going to put my hand on your shoulder to steady you. Now, down on your knees. That’s right. Now put your face on the floor. That’s right, on the floor, nope you need to be nose down, that’s better, thank you. Now if you move I am going to think that you are threatening me and I will shoot

you right in the head. Understand jackass"

"Yes sir"

"Do any of you ladies know this man?"

Rhonda said "He’s my husband"

"Don’t he make you proud?"

"He used to."

I have to get down on my knees to look at Chantel. I put my hand over her face and feel no air moving so I said to Sharon. "She’s not breathing."

Sharon says "See if you can find a pulse"

"She has a pulse, it’s irregular, but it is a pulse."

Sharon turns to the man in the pin stripes and says "I’m a nurse" then she turns to me and tells me "I have to get out of this brace." With that she started to unbutton her top, then she finished the process by ripping it off. "Cindy, there are some buckles on the back of the brace, undo them for me OK?

I had to pull her skirt down just a bit to get to the clasp that is low on the girdle part. Then I found a clasp higher up attached to a belt that went around her left side. She worked on something at the back of the neck ring and the brace opened and she dropped it to the floor.

Then Sharon commanded. "Cindy call DR Mahmood at the university, give him my name, and tell him what happened, I think we have a closed head or a neck injury, possibly both, oh their are four DR Mahmood’s at university hospital, you want George Mahmood"

"George? Mahmood? George? that seems odd" I said.

Sharon angrily. "It’s a long story that I’ll tell you someday, just call him dammit, then get back here"

"Sharon, did you see a phone in here?

"Just use my flip phone, It’s in my purse"

I can’t help but think that I have been living as a woman for less than two months now and in a real crisis situation I am a complete ditz. I don’t want to be a ditz. I want to be more like Sharon, attractive and smart. I also can’t help but notice that Sharon is one good looking chick without her top on. She wears a better under wire bra than I do.

Things are happening fast now. Sharon is giving mouth to mouth, I am making sure that Chantels pulse is continuing. Sharon used her top and a table cloth as pillows to steady Chantel’s head. The off duty officer told one of the on duty officers to make the arrest because he wanted to be a witness on this one. Two more police officers showed up. The one a female cop is asking the others where the ambulance is. One of the men is interviewing Rhonda, one of them is watching Billy and the other is taking names of people that saw what happened. I can hardly wait for my turn to be interviewed because my drivers license still has my old name on it, I have to show it, it’s the only one I have.

The cast is really bothering me now because I am in such an awkward position to check Chantel’s pulse but this is important and I can’t do anything about the cast. Chantel has blood oozing out of her ear, that’s not good, Rhonda is bleeding from her nose. This isn’t exactly the girls night out that Sharon had planned for us. Interesting how fast life can change.

At long last the ambulance arrived. A man and a woman came in together with a gurney. They asked the female officer what had happened, then they relieved Sharon with a respirator, and me with a monitor. Chantel got an I.V. and a rather large cumbersome collar, then she is secured to the gurney.

Rhonda came up and told Sharon that she was going to leave with the police.

Sharon told the paramedic that I was going to university hospital with them. Then she told me to take Chantel’s purse, get in the ambulance, and try to find a phone number that I can use. She said "contact anyone that you can but try to find a family member, and her boyfriend, I’ll meet you later at the hospital. OK?

I answered "OK" gave Sharon a twenty for the bill from my purse and got in the ambulance ahead of the gurney.

We got underway and I found pay dirt right away without going through Chantel’s personal things. She carries an address book. That leaves at least a little of her privacy and dignity in tact. Then I realized that Sharon probably saved me the embarrassment of a police interview. Well, thank you Sharon once again.

University hospital’s emergency room is relatively quiet so Chantel got full attention right away. She is still unconscious so I found her insurance card and signed her in. Of course the first phone call anyone has to make in a medical emergency nowadays is to the insurance company. They didn’t like that I am not a relative but they said It is OK to proceed anyway. Maybe I’m not a ditz after all.

Chantel’s own phone number is in her book so I tried that one first. I think she said that her boyfriends name is Allen.

A male voice answered and I said "Is this Allen?

"Nope, how’s about Arlen"

"I’me Cynthia Martin, a friend of Chantel Bains"

Arlen sounding very pleased and talking very fast says. "Oh good, if your a friend of Chantel’s I need a little advice, I mean I could really use someone that knows her to help pick out a ring, I have no sense of style at all."

"Sorry Arlen, this isn’t that kind of a phone call, their has been an incident"

"An incident?" Asks Arlen.

I continue. "Chantel’s been hurt"

"Is she all right?"

I answer. "She is in very good hands at university hospital."

"What happened?"

"She was assaulted"

"Oh come on who the hell are you? She is out with Rhonda. Rhonda’s a little mouthy but she would never hurt anybody, it’s a little late for this, give me a break so I can get some sleep."

I say "I’m sorry but this is serious, I need you to call Chantel’s family and get them down here, then you should come too."

Arlen sounding concerned now asks. "Who attacked her"

"Billy Mayer, the police have him, I’ll tell you all about it when you get here"

"Oh God no. That screwball needs a doctor, he’s got a brain tumor or something. He gets worse every time I see him."

Arlen paused just a bit and then asked. "How will I know you"

"I’m the girl in the lobby, in a body cast, you can’t miss me"

Arlen said "I’ll be their in a few minutes" and hung up.

I think the body cast is good for something after all. Like Sharon said, it can sure make you stand out in a public place.

All I can do now is sit and wait. Chantel is being worked on and I am sitting and waiting for anyone that will show up. With all that is happening to Chantel I shouldn’t be thinking about myself but their is nothing else I can do anyway. The discomfort and the itching inside the body cast seem to make everything even worse. I wish I could just get this thing off and be done with it. I don’t even need it anyway, it’s just to see if I can adjust after the big transplant.

Sharon showed up first, in her brace again with her top in very bad condition it has blood stains on it, it’s wrinkled badly, and has buttons missing, she says "I am so sorry I got you into this mess. This has been a bad one."

I reply "It’s not your fault."

She answers. "I know that, but just the same this should have been good for you, you have enough problems of your own, you don’t need to get messed up in something like this."

I think before saying. "That’s true, I should be home in bed."

Then Sharon smiles at me and says. "Well Cindy, what I really need is a hug, this has been a bit hard on me too."

We must have looked like quite a pair in each others arms, but it all seemed right and good. It’s great to have a real friend like Sharon.

<><><> To be continued <><><>