“I have the pictures right here,” Dr. Palmer says. She opens an envelope on the counter so they can see the sequence of photos that show first a hairless newborn; it gets larger and furrier with each photograph until it looks exactly like the one in the cage. “Before you say anything, note the tattoo we put on the bunny’s rump. That’s so you know we didn’t switch them.”
“That’s amazing,” Tess says. She leans closer to the cage, to study the rabbit. “And you think you can do the same for the girls?”
“I hope so. We still have to run a few more tests. We’ll try it on primates next. If the results are good, then we can try it on humans.”
“How long will that take?”
“We’re working on the primate serum now. It should be two weeks to administer it. Then if the results are the same as with our friend here, we can try it on one of the girls in a month.”
“One of them?” Jake asks. “Not both?”
“Even if this does work on animals, it’s always dangerous trying a new drug on a human. There could be side-effects.”
“They could die?” Tess says.
“It’s a possibility.”
Tess shakes her head. “How could we ever make that kind of choice?”
“I don’t think there’s much of a choice to make,” Jake says. “We try it on Stacey first. She’s the oldest. She’ll want to protect her little sister.”
Jake gives Dr. Palmer a look. She nods to him. The real reason they would try it on Stacey first is that she’s Madison’s father. As such, she wouldn’t want to put her daughter in harm’s way.
“I don’t know,” Tess says. “It seems like we’re playing God.”
“We’re just trying to fix the damage Ling did with his experiments,” Dr. Palmer says. “We can save them the pain of growing up again. Isn’t that what you want?”
“I suppose so,” Tess says. She looks into one of the rabbit’s eyes. “Thank you, Doctor.”
“I’ll keep you posted on what’s happening,” Dr. Palmer says. “In the meantime, don’t say anything to them. There’s no point confusing them about who they are until we have to.”
She shakes hands with the Madigans and then shows them out. Once they’ve gone, Dr. Palmer checks on her test subject again. She kept from the Madigans that this rabbit was their fifth test subject. “Don’t you die on me,” she says to the rabbit in the cage.
***
Today is their last rehearsal at Darren’s house. Tomorrow they have the dress rehearsal at school. She listens to Darren explain the intricacies of how to tune a piano; she doesn’t hear the words so much as his passion. She loves to listen to Darren like this, when he talks to her instead of mumbles like he usually does. “You know so much about pianos,” she says.
Then his face reddens and the mumbling returns. “Well, I’ve been playing them pretty much my whole life.”
“You must really love them.”
“I guess.” He fiddles with the keys. “Let’s try it again from the top. You were a little late on the second part.”
“Was not! You were early.” But as she always does, she acquiesces to his judgment about music. She runs through her scales the way Mr. Lewis, her music teacher, taught her to warm up her voice. Once she’s ready, she signals for Darren to begin.
They’re halfway through when Darren’s uncle comes into the room. He’s on the phone, saying, “Thank you so much, Mrs. Madigan. I’m sorry about the short notice. No, I don’t think it’s too serious. Thanks. I’ll pass that along.”
By the time he hangs up, Darren has already stopped; he senses something is wrong. “I’m sorry, kids, I have to go. One of my patients is in trouble.” He fixes them with a serious look. “Can I trust you guys alone for a little bit?”
“How long?” Darren asks.
“Just until Stacey’s grandma gets here. An hour maybe. She’ll look after you until I get back.”
“We can do it,” Stacey says. She hopes she looks sincere, though inside she wants to scream for joy. A whole hour alone with Darren!
“Thanks, kids.” Before he goes, Dr. Macintosh kisses Darren on the top of the head. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.” He doesn’t kiss Stacey; he just tousles her hair. “I’m trusting you to behave.”
“We’ll be good,” she says.
“I know you will.”
Then he’s gone. Stacey sighs and then leans against the piano. “So what do you want to do now?”
“I don’t know. We should probably practice again.”
Stacey shakes her head. She sits next to him on the bench. “Dar-ren, we have a whole hour. Alone.” She takes his hand and gives it a squeeze. “Isn’t there anything you want to do?”
“Oh,” he says. His face lights up with a smile as the realization kicks in. “I see what you mean.”
They kiss once on the piano bench. Then she pulls him to his feet. They go upstairs to Darren’s bedroom. She’s worried it’ll be gross, with dirty clothes all over. It’s not. Everything is nice and neat. The posters on the wall are of Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin, not athletes or superheroes like most stupid boys would have. Even the comforter on his bed has piano keys on it.
“You are such a geek,” she says.
“Sorry,” he says.
She slaps him on the arm. “Oh my God, I’m kidding!”
“Sorry,” he says again.
They lie down on the bed. They kiss again, this time a little longer. Stacey runs her hand through Darren’s hair afterwards and thinks of what to do next.
“What do we do now?” he asks.
“We should take our shirts off,” she says.
“We should?”
“That’s what they do on TV.”
“OK.” It’s easy for Darren to take his shirt off since he has on a T-shirt. His chest is pale and skinny, not like the boys in pictures Jamie has shown her. Too bad she can’t tell Jamie she got to see a real boy with his shirt off.
She’s still in her school uniform, so she has to unbutton her blouse. Her fingers begin to tremble about halfway down as Darren stares at her. “You need help?”
“I can do it,” she snaps. She doesn’t need help from a boy, even if that boy is Darren. She finishes unbuttoning the shirt and exposes her naked tummy to him. She thinks back to her last appointment with Dr. Macintosh. “Darren, do you think I’m pretty?”
“Yes.”
“Really? As pretty as the other girls in class?”
“You’re way prettier than them,” he says. He tries to kiss her again, but she pushes him away. “What is it?”
“I mean, am I prettier than Lacy Doubletree?” she asks. Lacy is a girl in their class who already has a contract with a modeling agency.
“Are you kidding? You’re much prettier than Lacy.”
“But she doesn’t have stupid glasses and her hair is blond and her eyes are blue. I mean, she’s like a total Barbie doll.”
“I don’t want a Barbie doll,” he says. He brushes hair away from her face. “I want you.”
“Oh, Darren,” she says and starts to cry. They kiss again, this time until they both gasp for air. Afterwards they lie on the bed and hug each other.
That’s how Grandma Tess finds them. Stacey is roused from sleep when Grandma shouts, “What is the meaning of this?”
Stacey sits up. She tries to find something to cover up with, but her clothes are on the floor. She grabs one of Darren’s pillows to put over her chest. “I’m sorry, Grandma,” she says. “We were just taking a nap.”
“Where are your clothes?”
“On the floor.”
“Put them on this instant, young lady.”
“Yes, Grandma.”
Stacey rolls off the bed to gather up her shirt, jacket, and shoes. While Stacey puts these on, Grandma starts to lay into Darren. “You! How could you do that to my granddaughter? I thought you were a nice boy.”
“I’m sorry.” Stacey loves Darren more than ever when he says, “It’s all my fault
. I asked Stacey to take off her clothes, like they do on TV.”
He hasn’t bothered to cover himself. Grandma picks up his shirt and throws it at him. Stacey cringes at this; she’s never seen Grandma Tess this angry before. Will she hurt Darren? “Grandma—”
“Go into the living room to wait for me, young lady. I’ll deal with you in a few minutes.”
Stacey wants to stay and help Darren, but she doesn’t. She puts her head down and then hurries into the living room. She puts on the rest of her clothes and then throws herself on the couch to sob into the cushions.
A few minutes later she feels a hand on her back. Stacey turns to see Grandma Tess on the edge of the couch; she still looks mad. “Did you hurt Darren?” Stacey asks.
“Of course not. We just talked.” Grandma pats Stacey’s back. “Come on, dear, sit up. We need to have a talk too.”
Stacey sits up. She clutches one of the throw pillows to her chest but wishes it were Darren. “It’s not his fault,” she says. “I’m the one who said we should take off our clothes.”
“Why did you do that?”
“That’s what people who love each other do on TV. They go to the bedroom and kiss and take off their clothes and then they hug.”
“Is that all you and Darren did?”
“Yes,” Stacey says. She wonders what else there is.
Grandma smiles a little, though Stacey can still see she’s mad. “That was a very naughty thing to do, Stacey. You’re much too young for that.”
“Am not. I’m ten.”
“That’s not the kind of thing you should do until you’re married, like your grandfather and me.”
“But Darren and I are going to get married.”
“You are?”
“When we’re big enough. We’re going to get married and buy a house and we’ll have babies.”
“Oh, I see. You have it all planned out, don’t you?”
“Uh-huh.”
Grandma Tess sighs and then shakes her head. “Oh, sweetheart, that’s a long time away. I know you and Darren think you’re grown up, but you’re still just children.”
“We are not!”
“Stacey, please, listen to me. You’re just a little girl. Much too little to be playing with boys like this.”
“We weren’t playing. We love each other.” Stacey starts to cry again. “You don’t understand anything! You’re just a mean old lady.”
“Don’t talk to your elders like that, young lady, or I’ll wash your mouth out with soap.”
“Sorry,” Stacey says, though she isn’t.
“After this project is done, I think it would be best if you and Darren didn’t spend so much time together.”
“But Grandma—”
“No buts,” Grandma says. “You’re not to do anything like this with a boy again, not until you’re older.”
“How old?”
“Eighteen at least, when you’re grown up.”
“That’s not fair!”
“I’m sorry, dear, but that’s final.”
“No, you can’t do this. We love each other!”
She begins to sob. Grandma Tess pulls her close for a hug. Stacey tries to resist, but she can’t. She’s too little. Someday I’ll be big enough, she tells herself.
They sit on the couch for a while, until Dr. Mac returns. He sees them and right away he frowns. “What happened?” he asks.
Grandma gives Stacey a little push to get her off the couch. “Go say goodbye to Darren, sweetheart. But keep the door open.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Stacey trudges back to Darren’s room, where she finds him on the bed; he scribbles in the notebook. He’s fully dressed now, knees tucked up beneath his chin. “Hi,” she says.
“Hi.”
She looks down at the floor. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s my fault too,” he says.
“Grandma says we can’t play together anymore.”
“What about the presentation?”
“There’s still that, but I can’t come over here anymore.”
“Oh.” He puts down the notebook. “It’s not fair.”
“I know. It sucks.” She sits on the edge of the bed and puts one hand on his foot. “We can still see each other at recess.”
“Only when Jamie isn’t around, right?”
“I don’t know.” Stacey sighs. “We can still go to the closet.”
“I guess.”
“It’ll be fine. We’ll find a way.”
“OK.”
“Stacey! Time to go,” Grandma calls out.
“Coming, Grandma.” Stacey gets off the bed. Before she goes, she kisses Darren on the lips, maybe for the last time. “See you tomorrow.”
“See you.”
And then she has to go.
Chapter 36
The next day at school, Darren isn’t there. Ms. Lowry says he’s sick. Stacey knows that’s not true. He stayed home so he doesn’t have to see her. Was it his idea or Dr. Macintosh’s? While she sits alone and the rest of the class works on their projects for tonight’s presentation, Stacey starts to hate them both.
Of course Keshia can’t resist the chance to make Stacey feel even worse. Keshia whispers loud enough so everyone can hear, “Even the weird kid can’t stand her.”
Stacey puts her head down on her desk for a few minutes, until Ms. Lowry puts a hand on her back. “Are you feeling sick, Stacey?” Ms. Lowry asks.
“No.” She wipes at her eyes so no one else will see her cry. Then she lifts her head enough to ask, “Can I work in the library?”
“All right,” Ms. Lowry says. “I’ll write you a pass.”
Stacey goes up to the third floor of the library, where she can be alone. Except she isn’t alone for long until she feels another hand on her back. She figures it’s Mrs. Brown the librarian to scold her, but it’s Jamie. “Stacey, what’s wrong? Did that bitch Keshia do something?”
“No.”
Jamie pulls up a chair to sit beside Stacey. “Then what happened?”
“Grandma says I can’t see Darren anymore.”
“Why would she say that? I know he’s weird—”
“He is not!” Stacey shouts loud enough that the other kids in the library turn to stare at her. In a lower voice she says, “I love Darren and he loves me. We kissed a whole bunch of times and then when his uncle had to go, we went back to his room and we kissed and hugged without our shirts on.”
“Oh my God,” Jamie says. “The Ouija board was right.”
“But Grandma Tess saw us and now she won’t let me see him anymore. He didn’t come to school today and the presentation is tonight.” Stacey starts to cry again. “It’s not fair!”
“How long has this been going on?”
“A month or so.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know.”
“I thought we were friends. I’ve told you everything.”
“I’m sorry. You’re always saying Darren is weird. But he’s not. He’s nice. He wrote a song for me.”
“He did?”
“Yes.” Stacey clears her throat. She keeps her voice low so no one else will hear as she sings the song Darren wrote for her.
Long before Stacey finishes, she and Jamie are both in tears. “That is so amazing,” Jamie says. “He wrote that for you?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. I’m sorry I said he’s weird.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
They hug and then Jamie pulls out her phone. As she types, she says, “I can’t wait to tell everyone about this. Stacey and Darren sitting in a tree—”
“Jamie, don’t!”
Jamie laughs and then grins at her. “Got you.” She holds up the screen to show a bunch of random text. “You are so gullible.”
They laugh and hug again, still best friends forever.
***
Stacey goes home with Grandma Tess and Maddy after school. She hopes Darren shows up fo
r the presentation tonight. If he doesn’t she’ll have to go on alone. She supposes someone else could play the piano or she could sing without music, but she doesn’t want it to come to that. They worked so hard on this together, they should finish it together.
Maddy can’t sit still the whole way. She bounces up and down in her seat and chirps excitedly about the pageant tonight. “I’m going to be the best one!” she says.
“Good for you,” Stacey grumbles.
“Grandma, Stacey’s being mean.”
“Tattletale.”
“Am not.”
“Are too!”
“Quiet down, girls, or neither of you is going anywhere tonight.”
“But Grandma—”
“That’s enough, Madison.”
Maddy crosses her arms and pouts. She still fidgets in her booster seat and mumbles her lines for the pageant. Stacey shakes her head. The stupid baby only has two lines. She won’t be on stage more than a minute. Stacey has to do five whole minutes, maybe by herself.
Grandpa is home before they are for once. He’s back in his study, still at work. As soon as they’re in the house, Maddy races towards the stairs. “Don’t get dressed yet, dear,” Grandma says. “Not until after dinner.”
“But Gramma—”
“Just go practice for a little while, dear.”
“Fine.” Maddy walks up the stairs and then slams the door.
Stacey throws herself on the couch to watch TV. Maybe she should practice a little, but she’d rather save her voice for tonight. If she needs it.
Maddy is still upstairs, Grandpa in his study, and Grandma in the kitchen when the doorbell rings. Stacey slides off the couch and wonders if maybe it’s Darren to see her. Maybe it’s Dr. Macintosh to apologize.
It’s neither. At the door is a woman who’s very pale and so skinny she looks almost like a skeleton. Her hair is long and brown, but it looks all mussed and tangled like she hasn’t combed it in a while. Despite all that, the woman’s face brightens with a smile. “Hi there,” she says. “Is this the Madigan house?”
“Yes,” Stacey says, unsure what to do. In school they said not to talk to strangers. This woman is obviously a stranger, but Stacey can’t just slam the door, can she? That would be rude. “I’ll go get Grandpa.”
Chances Are Omnibus (Gender Swap Fiction) Page 50
