Consequences

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Wishes are tricky things. Even when you get what you want...

Another old story of mine while i finish off chapter 3 of To Save A Family

Consequences
By Bruce

"I am not here to judge you or to punish you. I just want to help you but you need to make me understand." He tried to be as soothing as possible but the girl still looked nervous and depressed. "Just explain to me your side of the story."
The young girl fidgeted. She was quite the little enigma to the doctor. A young pretty girl, only ten years old, and so smart! Her parents were rich and it seemed the whole world was laid out before her grasp but she was so sad...
"Well Doc" she began, "I will try to explain but I know that you are not going to believe me either."
"I would still like to here it."
She shrugged. "OK, well I guess the whole thing started as my fault. It was my stupid wish that got me into this in the first place."
"What wish was that?"
"The wish that I could be young again."
"But you are only ten years old. You are not yet old..."
The girl stopped him. "I am going to explain it all if you just let me and don't interrupt."
"Go ahead."
"Thank you. As I was saying, I had made a wish. I guess it helps if I tell you more about whom I was before. You see, I was once a 30 year old man named David Springer."
She looked over toward the psychiatrist hoping to see some sign of whether he believed her in his reaction but he just sat stone faced.
"Go on." He said.
"I hadn't been very happy, you see. I had lots of hopes and dreams when I was a young man and they had never quite panned out. Here I was 30 years old and I had no wife, no kids, no schooling, no job, and no future. Then the thought entered my mind that if I could start all over again things would be different. It was more an obsession than a thought really and I began to imagine how things could have been different. I daydreamed about different lives and backgrounds I could have and how they would change my future. Then I made a wish."
The doctor gestured toward her. "I am to take that this is the result of your wish."
"Yes."
"So you just wanted to start over and the universe played this cruel trick on you?"
She squirmed a bit. "Not exactly. I didn't just want to start over it was important that I start over right so I was pretty specific in what I wanted."
The doctor raised an eyebrow and she continued. "I wanted to be young enough to have all my choices but not so young that I would take forever to grow up. Ten years old seemed about the right age for that. I also wanted to be smart and rich so that was put in the equation too. The girl thing...well, I thought if I wanted to be free of all my emotional and relationship baggage I need to break free of my rut. What better way than change everything."
"So you got your wish. Than why so unhappy?"
"Well, it just wasn't how I thought it would be. I never considered the
consequences..." She began to cry.
"It's OK. Talking about these things help."
"I guess the first problem I noticed was the boredom. I was so happy when I woke up in my new body with my new family. All I wanted to do was explore my new body and my newly found youth and wealth but it all quickly wore off. I never thought about the boundaries that being 10 years old could put on your freedom. I had to submit to a 9 o'clock bedtime, I was only allowed to watch children's TV shows and that was just the tip of the iceberg. I was not allowed to leave my street because some stranger might grab me, no more CD's with explicit lyrics either. Us kids must be protected. It was sending me slowly mad."
"I can imagine. I don't think I could handle something like that either."
"That's not all Doc. The kids were just as bad. The kids my age and younger had nothing in common with me and were of no interest. The kids older than me would have nothing to do with a little baby. I should have known; when I was a kid I would never have been caught dead playing with a younger kid either."
"You must have felt pretty lonely."
She laughed grimly. "Lonely? I had no friends to talk to and my parents saw me as their sweet little daughter. They did love me but they didn't relate to me. It was hell. Even the love had a down side."
"What kind of down side?"
"It was just that I knew I wasn't really their daughter. It all felt like a lie to me."
"So this is why you feel so sad?"
"It's not just that. There were a lot of other problems not associated with being young but with the fact that I was now a girl. First and foremost are the obvious physical differences. It is tough to get used to being so much shorter and weaker that even I was as a young boy and the sense of vulnerability that gives me. I don't think I will ever have the same sense of security again. The plumbing differences and the thought that I might one day have a period and get pregnant are not exactly fun concepts either."
"Every woman has to deal with those problems."
"True, but I had 30 years as a guy. It was just stuff I didn't consider. I also just don't know how woman can stand the social roles that are thrust upon them. My Mom makes me work in the kitchen instead of getting out in the fresh air and doing yard work. I have to wear dresses and frilly outfits and put up with being called cute and darling and never being taken seriously. I don't think that will ever change either. Now that I have the incentive to watch, I see how people treat my Mom and other woman and have a grim view of my future."
"That is really a lot for one person to have to deal with isn't it? Have you found any upside?"
"Not really, I thought things would be easier in school knowing what I know now but the just moved me to an enriched program where I am quickly finding the pressures mounting up again. What's worse is even though the students there are brilliant the are still so immature and recognize that I don't fit in. If only some one believed me things wouldn't be so bad but telling people at school my story is what got me sent here."
"It looks like we are about out of time. I need to speak with your parents and would like to see you again."
The girl got out of her seat.
"You believe me don't you Doc?"
"I am here to listen to anything you have to tell me."
"Thanks."

The girl left the room and the secretary escorted in her two young parents.
"So what's up with our daughter? She isn't schizophrenic or something is she?" The father asked.
"No, no. She is just feeling a little alienated from her life right now. She doesn't have many friends at home or at school and tries to rationalize it away but pretending she is someone else."
The mother looked relieved. "So what can we do to help her doctor?"
"Just don't indulge her fantasy. Make her act her age and her proper gender roles and she will eventually grow out of it. It would also probably help if you took her out of the pressure of the enriched classes and into a more normal environment. She just needs to know it's OK for her to be a 10 year old girl."
"Thanks doctor."
"Just make sure you pay my secretary."

Writers Note: I would take this characters place in a heartbeat so her feeling in no way reflect the author. :)

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Comments

no thinking things through

Sometimes, its better if a wish doesnt come true. Nice story.

DogSig.png

Well presented

never thought of the potential problems that way, on the other hand "If" I were in the same position, I'm not sure I would tell the good doctor the truth.

OK I'll admit it, I liked your story.

I don't know....

We read fiction and there isn't really anything that tells us it is not fantasy (other than being autobiographical, and that's non-fiction). In fact the author tells us it's fantasy, magic, wishs, etc. Now, do we believe the author's notes, or are the parents and the pshrink correct?

I usually start by believing what I read. Therefore, to me, the 10 year old's story is true. Given that mind set, the first thing I felt after reading the last paragraph, was anger at the doctor! What a rat! She tells him the truth then he advises her parents to treat her in a way that will hurt her even more. Even if the Dr. thinks she couldn't have been a 30 YO man, he could take her story as an allegory. He could test her to see if she is more mature than her peers. She could be advanced in school; it does happen with child geniuses. Her older peers would eventually get used to her. Some could befriend her just because of her mind/personality, ignoring her young body.

Maybe she can change her story so that it's more RW believable and get her 'rents to take her to a cooler/smarter pshrink.

Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee

Consequences

Careful about any wish because you need to think about all of the ramifications.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Girls

I can tell you probably haven't raised girls.

Boys are very age conscious, girls aren't. My girls played with other girls on a much wider age range that I did when I was their age. Part of it is they like babies, so a young girl is "cute". 8 year olds hang with 13 year olds in the neighborhood and it is no big deal, and they all belong to the feminine conspiracy against boys.

If a young girl is willing to talk clothes and makeup they are welcome anywhere, boys are optional (except at 13+). Girls collaborate, boys compete.

Reminds me of a joke I read the other day.

Little 7 year old Susie confessed she had kissed a boy at school.

This concerned her parents a little, especially her mom, but she nonchalantly asked if the boy had gotten her aside to ask for it.

"No", Susie said, "it took 3 of us to chase him down first."

Too circumspect by half, me

I would swap places too in a heartbeat except for missing my family, which I could not afford.

I used to fantasise about what I would wish for, given a wish, and the wish was getting towards a few pages with subclauses, if-thens, and get-outs all over the place. Sorta scuppered the fantasy just trying to get there.

Nice story, delightfully concise.
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