We were also going to make a quick stop at the uniform shop. Amy wanted to purchase an inexpensive Sigma Theta Tau pin to wear on her uniform. But they were closed.

When we were back home, we went to work on putting dinner together. Amy took a little time out from cooking to get her things ready to start her clinicals tomorrow. I'm a good cook and didn’t worry too much about being alone in the kitchen. When Amy came back into the kitchen, I went and became Kai.

Since I'd been Kai more than I’d been either Tom or Tammy in the past nine days, I quickly slipped back into being Kai. A pair of the padded panties, a bra with the forms. Then I went and did my hair and makeup. The makeup, as I did in New Mexico, was very light. I brushed my hair straight, with a little over my right eye, and used the braided headband to hold it in place. I placed the bone choker around my neck and tied it. Then I put on the wrap moccasins. And lastly, I slipped into the white Biil dress. I was going to wait on the jewelry until closer to the time that Amy’s parents were going to arrive.

I went back to the kitchen just as my dad was walking out. He stopped dead in his tracks, looked at me, and said, “Tammy?”

“Daddy.”, I replied. “It’s Kai.”

“Yes. Kai. So you spent all the time in New Mexico looking like this?”

“No. Not the whole time. I did wear this dress a lot, but I was also Tammy once in a while.”

Dad followed me back into the kitchen. Amy saw me, smiled, and said, “There’s my girl. And dad, she was Kai more than Tammy.”

“So, you did pass as a native girl out there?”, my dad asked.

“Yes, sir.”, I replied. “Everyone thought that I was a native girl. And accepted me that way, even when they knew I wasn’t.”

“Had fun. Didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir. It was fun. But I was more worried about grandma.”

“We were both worried about grandma.”, Amy said. “But I think by both of us being there, actually more Tammy than me, that grandma was much better when we left.”

“Honey. It was both of us being there.”

“I know.”

“Is there anything I can do?”, my dad asked.

“Sure dad.”, Amy said. “Could you set the table? There will be six of us. Billy’s home, so he’s coming too.”

We’d told Amy’s parents to come at five-thirty, and that we’d eat about six.

A few minutes after five I heard a car pull in the drive. I looked out the window, and it was Amy’s parents. I said, “Honey. It’s your mom and dad. They’re early. I’m going to go and finish dressing.”

I ran back to our bedroom and retrieved the box with all the jewelry in it. I replaced my studs with the silver feather earrings. Then added the Concho belt, the two rings, and the bracelet. I wasn’t sure about the squash blossom necklace, and I decided not to wear it.

I looked in the mirror, fussed with my hair a bit, and smiled. Then I walked to the kitchen, and everyone was standing around talking. Amy noticed me first and smiled. Her mother, father, and brother turned and looked at me. Her mother said, “Oh my. Tammy. Don’t you look nice.”

“In New Mexico.”, Amy said. “They called her Kai when she dressed like this.”

“Well then, Kai you look very nice.”

“Thanks, mom.”, I said.

“That dress is beautiful.”

“Thank you. It’s called a Biil dress. It’s fancy dress. A wedding dress.”

Amy’s mother walked over to me and took a close look at the dress. She felt the material, and said, “I know this is wool, but it’s so soft. And it looks handmade. Is it?”

“Yes. The wool is hand spun and dyed, then woven by hand into the cloth.”

“And, your jewelry. It’s stunning.”

“Thanks.”

Amy added, “Her great-great-grandfather was a silversmith and made all of it. And we found this dress at a shop in Albuquerque. We watched a woman there actually weaving cloth for a dress, and she’s the one that made this dress.”

We sat and had a nice dinner, and Amy and I went into more details on some of the things that we’d done. Her mom and dad were full of questions.

After dinner, dad made coffee for Amy’s parents, Bill, and himself. And we went into the den and had a nice visit.

My brother-in-law Bill and I get along very well, and he is a quiet guy. And tonight wasn’t an exception. But I could tell by the way he looked at me that he had something on his mind. He didn’t say anything until he and I were alone, and then he asked, “When we lived here before, there was a girl that use to visit Amy on rainy days. That was you. Wasn’t it?”

I smiled, and just said, “Yes.”

“And you’ve been doing this since then?”

“Doing this?”

“Dressing as a girl?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t know why?”

“I think I do now. When we were in New Mexico, I was able to talk to a few people and had things happen that opened my eyes.”

“The two spirit thing that you were talking about earlier with mom and dad?”

“Yeah. Amy and I learned some things about two spirit people, and I think she understands it better than I do. And I don’t think that I’ll ever completely understand it.”

“And you don’t have a split personality?”

“No. Do you remember when I was beaten up by that bunch of guys on campus?”

“Of course.”

“I saw a psychologist because I was having problems accepting what happened. She ended up hypnotizing me, and she ended up meeting Tammy. And she was surprised. Afterwards, we talked, and I told her my story. And one of the first things that she said was that she was initially worried about me having a split personality, but that I didn’t show any of the symptoms.”

He just nodded yes.

Then I asked, “Bill, is there something wrong?”

“No.”, he replied. “It’s just that ... that I've known about this part of you. But now seeing the Kai part it just made me think some more."

“Bill, realize that it's something that I'm stuck with, but I like doing it.

"We can talk anytime you want. And I know that your sister will be happy to talk to you too.”

“Thanks. But aren’t you worried about someone finding out?”

“I’m careful. But I don’t advertise it. Only family and close friends know.”

Bill again nodded yes, and said, “Thanks. I probably will think of some other things.”

Monday morning we were up early. Amy was starting her clinicals and had to be at the hospital at eight, I was going to my Uncle Mark’s store at Noon for a few hours, and then picking Amy up at the hospital at five.

I dropped Amy off, then went back home for a little while before I went to Uncle Mark’s store. Then on the way to my uncle’s store, I stopped at the department store that my mother works at, to talk to Helen about my hair. I walked into the beauty shop at the department store and asked to speak with Helen. The girl at the desk said that she was with a client, but should be free shortly. I sat down, picked up a woman’s magazine, and waited.

About ten minutes later Helen walked out with her last client. The girl at the desk pointed to me and told Helen that I wanted to talk to her. Helen looked at me in a puzzling way, then she started smiling, as she said, “Tom. What happened?”

I looked at her smiled, and said, “Long story.”

“I’m going on my break, so come with me.”

We walked to the shop’s break room. We sat at the table, and Helen said, “So tell me.”

I gave her the short story about our trip to New Mexico. Helen said that she knew my mother had gone, but not that Amy and I had also gone. I told her about Kai. Then about Amy dying my hair black so that I looked more like a Navajo girl. She just shook her head. Then I asked the big question, “What’s it going to take to get me back to being a blond?”

She shook her head and smiled. Then said, “Let it grow out.”

I gave her a look of, ‘Oh come on.’

Then she said, “Or a lot of work. We’d need to bleach your hair to remove the black and then color it as close to your old color as we can. Do you know what kind of dye Amy used?”

“She said it was semi-permanent. And it’s supposed to wash out over time.”

“When did she do it?”

“Last Monday and then again on the Wednesday before the photo shoot.”

“Photo shoot! I didn’t think you were ever going to do another one?”

“I didn’t either, but this one was fun. I dressed as a Navajo girl, and we did a lot of fun things.”

“This I have to see.”

“The photographer took a lot of pictures. I’ll ask my mother if she can get some copies.”

“That would be great. Now, with semi-permanent hair dye, it should wash out in a few weeks or so. Your hair will get lighter and lighter. Or we could bleach your hair, and that takes a lot of time in the chair. And, it may damage your hair.

“If it was me. I’d go for washing it out.”

“Yeah. I guess I can live with it until it washes out.”

“If you have time. I don’t have anyone scheduled right now, and I could give it a good wash with some good shampoo. Then I'll give you some to take home to use, but also be sure to use a good conditioner on it.”

Helen gave my hair a very thorough washing, actually washing it twice. Then she conditioned it. When my hair was dry, it still looked as dark as it did when I came in, but I guess it’s just going to take time. And she put it back into a ponytail. I thanked Helen, paid her, and headed to my Uncle Mark’s store.

My Uncle Mark, when he saw me, gave me a hard time about my hair color, and so did a number of his employees. I just told them that it was my fashion statement.

When I picked Amy up, the first thing she said was, “What did you do to your hair?”

“I stopped by to see Helen.”, I replied. “And see about getting back to being a blond.”

“I like you with black hair.”

“What! I did too, but only when I was Kai.”

“You’re not ever going to be her again?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I will.”

“I hope so. I guess we need to get you a black wig.”

I didn’t respond to Amy, but thought, ‘Hmm. Now there’s an idea.’

Then Amy told me about her day. How all the girls doing clinicals met in an auditorium for a couple of hours, then took a tour of the hospital, and were assigned to work in different areas of the hospital for a week, then they’d go to another area for a week, and so on for five weeks. Then at the end of the fifth week, the girls would be given a chance to pick which of the departments that they’d like to do their last two weeks of clinicals.

Amy was starting on the surgical ward, then going to the intensive care unit, then the emergency room, then to surgery, and finally to one of the medical floors. We stopped at the uniform store to pick up a Sigma Theta Tau pin for her uniform, and she had me pin it on her.

This was our routine for the week. I’d get up, take a shower, scrub and condition my hair, drop Amy at the hospital, go to my Uncle Mark’s store, work until I picked Amy up, and come home.

It was funny, every day when I picked up Amy, she was excited about what she’d done that day. And she’d give me all the details.

On Friday when we were back home, my dad was home, and he was working on his dinner. As we walked into the kitchen, he said, “Hi kids. There’s some mail from the university for both of you on the kitchen table. And Tom give Detective Thomas a call either at his office or home.”

“Thanks, dad.”, I said. “Did Detective Thomas say what it’s about?”

“No. But it’s probably about those guys that attacked you.”

“Okay. I’ll call him after I look at my mail.”

I picked up the mail. It was our grades and another letter from the office of the university president for Amy. I thought, ‘What the heck.’

I handed Amy her two letters. She looked at the letter from the university president, and mumbled, “Now what?”

We both opened our grades, and she broke out in a huge smile. I smiled, but not like Amy did. She asked, “So what’s your grade point average this quarter?”

“3.90”, I replied. “What’s yours?”

“4.0”, she replied.

“Well, missy smarty pants. You finally beat me.”

“We’ll both still be on the dean’s list.”

“I know. Way to go. What’s the other letter?”

Amy opened the other letter, read it, and said, “Oh, my God!”

“Did you get expelled or something?”, I said, in a kidding way.

“Or something.”, she said. “I made the President’s Honor List for this past quarter.”

“No way!”

“Way. And that goes on my permanent record.”

I grabbed her and gave her a big kiss. My dad walked over, hugged her, and said, “Congratulations to both of you.”

“I’d better go and change.”, Amy said. “Aren’t we meeting, Mark, Maria, Larry, and Kelly for dinner?”

“Yes. And I’d better give Detective Thomas a call.”

I called Detective Thomas, and he told me that the leader of the bunch of guys that had attacked me had finally admitted to everything. Even to it being his idea to beat up homosexuals or those who they thought were homosexuals. So there will be no trial. Just a sentencing hearing for them. I thanked him for all his help. And he said that he couldn’t have done it without Tammy’s help.

We hadn’t been together with our friends in the past two or three weeks. What with going to New Mexico, Amy’s clinicals at the hospital, and me working. But tonight it would be the gang of six back together again. We met at one of our usual haunts for dinner, and of course, I received a hard time over my hair. But after we told them everything that went on while we were in New Mexico they were quiet. Until Maria, the only one of the three girls with naturally black hair, said, “This I have to see.”

“See what?”, I asked.

“This native girl that you have hidden in your closet.”

“Okay. Come over tomorrow afternoon, and you can meet Kai.”

Then we found out that everyone had done well with their grades, and Larry had received an “A+” on his research paper on me. Since this class was two-quarters long, the grade on the paper counted towards his grade for the past two quarters. Amy and I have decided to keep her making the President’s Honor List secret until sometime later.

And don’t ask me why, but we went bowling again. Big mistake. But, we still had fun as Kelly again won all three games.

After lunch on Saturday, I starting to become Kai. First I had to run to the basement to get the jewelry out of the safe. I brought it upstairs and set the box on Amy’s vanity. Then I looked at Amy, and said, “I wonder how many times I'll have to do this?”

“You’ll do it as much as you feel that you want to do it. You didn’t have to do it tonight, but I figure that you wanted to show our friends. After tonight, if I know you, Kai, like Tammy, will visit whenever she wants to. And I expect that it will be fairly often.”

“You think?”

She just smiled.

I put on the white Biil dress and everything that went with it. I used all the jewelry, including the squash blossom necklace. Amy looked at me when I was finished dressing, and she said, “The only thing is your hair is a little lighter. Other than that, you’re perfect.”

“Think I should get that black wig?”, I asked.

“Maybe.”

When our four friends arrived, Amy let them in and brought them into the den where I was waiting. Maria was the first to see me, she just shook her head, and said, “Okay. Where are you hiding Tom?”

I grinned.

Larry saw me and just stared for a few seconds, and then said, “I’ve talked to Tom about this. I’ve seen and talked to Tammy, and she is a beautiful girl. But this takes the cake. I was going to say something stupid and silly when I saw you, but there is no way that I can do that now.”

Kelly said, “That dress is just gorgeous. The white just brings out your darker coloring. And the blue of the turquoise in the jewelry just makes your blue eyes stand out. But, don’t most Indians have brown eyes?”

I told them the story of using the recessive gene explanation. And they agreed that it was a good explanation. And then I told them about the dress and the woman that we’d seen weaving.

Mark had been quiet, but then said, “Tom you scare me.”

“I scare you!”, I replied. “Why? You’ve known about this part of me for a long time.”

“Maybe scare is the wrong word. Maybe it should have been, amaze. I’m sure that you’re a guy. I know you are. I saw you in the showers when we had gym in high school. It’s that you can so easily be a guy or a girl. And get away with it. It should be illegal.”

“Illegal! I hope that never happens. I’d be in trouble all the time.”

“I have to admit that you are a good looking guy. But as a girl, you are amazingly pretty.”

“I still say that she’s a ringer.”, Maria said. “And that Tom is hiding someplace in the house. We need to send out a search party.”

When I looked at Maria, she was grinning. I just smiled back. Then I asked Larry, “Okay, old friend, now what silly thing were you going to say?”

“I was hoping that you’d forgotten about that.”, Larry replied.

“Me. Forget. No way.”

“It was stupid. But I was going to raise my right hand and say ‘How.’”

“You’re right. It would have been stupid. Besides as a greeting, we would shake hands and say, Yá’át’ééh. Which means, it is good.”

“So you’re learning Navajo?”

“I’ve picked up a few words. Very few words.”

We went back into the kitchen, sat at the table, and Amy, and I gave everyone drinks. Then I took a cake out of the refrigerator and set it on the table. It had ‘Congratulations Amy’ written on it.

Amy looked at it, and asked, “Where did that come from?”

“A bakery.”, I replied.

“Brat. But why?”

“To celebrate you being on the President’s Honor List. But really because I wanted some cake.”

“Now you’re being bad.”

“Would she be who she is if she wasn’t bad.”, Maria said.

“You’re right. But she’s worse than Tom is.”

“Wait!”, Maria said. “Did you say that Amy made the President’s Honor List?”

“Uh huh.”

“No way.”

“She did.”

Everyone congratulated Amy. And we just had a great time sitting and talking about what had happened the past week or two.

On Sunday Amy and I went to church with her parents, and ate lunch with them. Then we had dinner with my dad. Amy’s mom and dad gave her a beautiful necklace for making the President’s Honor List.

Then on Monday, it was back to the routine. Amy started her second week of clinicals. So, I’d get up, take a shower, scrub and condition my hair, drop Amy at the hospital, go to my Uncle Mark’s store, pick Amy up, and come home. And it was the same on Tuesday and Wednesday.

My hair was getting lighter, still not blond, but maybe a medium brown.

On Thursday, I didn’t have to go into Uncle Mark’s store. And earlier in the week I had called the beauty shop at my mom’s store and made an appointment to see Helen. So on Thursday after dropping Amy off, I went back home for a couple of hours with nothing much to do.

Then just before the time of my appointment, I headed downtown. I walked into the beauty shop right on time, and Helen was just finishing with a client. She looked at me smiled, and said, “Hi Tom. You’re right on time. What are we doing today?”

“Oh, a wash, condition, and trim.”, I replied. “And maybe a talk about a wig.”

“A wig. Okay come on back, and we’ll get started.”

I went with Helen to her work area, and she went to work washing and conditioning my hair. We talked, but not about the wig right away. As she started trimming my hair, she asked, “Now. What’s this about a wig. I thought you had one?”

“I do. But it’s blond.”

“I know. So what are you thinking about.”

“Well. You know about my Navajo side. And blond just isn’t what a Navajo girl is.”

“So you want a black wig?”

“I was thinking about it.”

“Why not just dye your wig black? After all, it is real hair.”

“I may need it if I get male pattern baldness like my dad.”

“You might. But with your Indian heritage, you may not.”

“I know that’s a possibility. I never did see a bald native man while we were out west.”

“Any idea for a style if we do the wig?”

“Not yet. But most of the native girls that we saw had either straight hair or braids. I'm going to have to look, and talk with Amy.”

“Speaking of Amy. I haven’t seen her for a while. Where is she?”

“She’s doing her clinicals at the hospital. Right now, she’s there from eight to five, Monday thru Friday,”

“Good for her. When’s your mom coming back?”

“It should be soon. The last we heard grandma was making good progress.”

“And by the way, your hair is getting lighter. I'd say another week or so, and you might be back to normal.”

When I picked up Amy at the hospital, she commented on how nice my hair was. I told her that I'd seen Helen, and she had said hello. Then I told her that I was thinking of dying my wig black and changing the style. Amy smiled and said. “Kai wants to visit. Doesn’t she?”

When we were back home, my dad wasn’t home yet. So Amy went to change, and I started dinner. Later as the three of us were eating, the phone rang. My dad answered it, and said “Hello.”

Then he said, “Hi honey. How’s everything?” ... “Oh Really! That’s great! So you're coming home on Saturday. I can’t wait to see you.” ... “And you’re catching the same flight the kids did and will be in at the same time they were?” ... “That’s great.” ... “Yes. They’re here. We’re just finishing up dinner.” ... “Sure. Here they are.”

My dad then said, “It’s your mother, and she wants to talk to you two.”

Amy took the phone from my dad, and I ran to the den to use the extension there. We had a nice talk with her, and she congratulated Amy on her grades for the last quarter. Then we talked about some things especially about her coming home. Then I asked her, “Mom. Could you bring home a book or magazine that shows Navajo girl’s hairstyles? I'm going to have Helen dye and style my blond wig.” ... “Of course for Kai.” ... “Helen said that since it was a human hair wig that it shouldn’t be a problem.” ... “Great. Can’t wait to see you on Saturday. I’ll let you talk to Amy a bit. Then I’ll say so long.”

Amy and my mother talked for a few minutes, then Amy said, “Bye mom. See you Saturday.” And hung up.

“Mom. Were you able to find the moccasins?” ... “Great! I'll pay you when I see you.” ... “Yes, I will.” ... “Okay. See you Saturday mom. Bye.”

I hung up and went back to the kitchen to help Amy and my father clean up, and lucky for me, they were almost finished. He said, “It’s sure going to be good to have your mother home again.”

“We’ve missed her too dad.”, Amy said.

Friday was a duplicate of Monday. But when I picked Amy up on Friday afternoon, she said, that they wanted her to work four to Midnight next week, because the Emergency Room would be busier and more interesting.

This would mean that I wouldn’t see her for most of the day. I thought that I'd take that week off from my uncle’s store so I could spend some time with Amy. But two of the regular employees were going to be off, and he’d need me. Oh well.

When we got home the phone was ringing. I answered it and it was Detective Thomas. He told me that the guys that had beat me up were sentenced today. The leader got eighteen months on each of the three count. Two of the others got one year, and the others six months. I told him that it wasn’t enough, and he agreeded with me.

Amy overheard the conversation, and said, “At least that’s over with.”

“Yeah.”, I replied. “Until they get out and attach some one else.”

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”

I told my dad what Detective Thomas had said, and he said that he hopes that the boys learned a lesson.

Saturday, dad made us give the house a good cleaning. It’s not like we were messy or anything. But he wanted it to look good for mom. Then later in the afternoon, we headed to the airport. Mom’s flight was a little early. And there was a lot of hugging and kissing when she walked through the gate. We grabbed her luggage, tossed it in the car, and headed towards a nice restaurant. On the way, she told us that everyone sent their love and that grandma was doing great.

We shared a nice dinner, and she told us more about the rest of her stay. When we were home, we took her luggage into my parent’s room. She opened one of her suitcases, handed me a magazine, and said, “This might be what you wanted.”

I looked at the magazine, and said, “Thanks, mom. It looks like it just might be what I need.”

Then my mother opened another one of her cases, hand me a box and Amy a box. Amy asked, “What’s this?”

“Something for Amy and something for Kai.”

“What?”

“Open them and see. Amy first.”

Amy opened her box and took out a beautiful poncho. She looked at my mother and said, “You shouldn’t have.”

“Honey. I just had to bring this back for you. I think I found it in the same shop in Albuquerque where you found the Biil dress.”

Amy gave mom a big hug, and said, “Mom thanks. It’ll keep me warm on cold winter nights. But you still shouldn’t have.”

“Honey. I saw it and thought of you. Keep looking.”

Amy removed some paper from her box and took out a pair of moccasins. She looked at my mother and said, “Why?”

My mother smiled, and said, “Someone wanted you to have a nice pair of moccasins.”

“Who?”

My mother looked at me. Then Amy looked at me, and asked, “Why?”

“Because I thought that you might like a pair of moccasins.”, I replied.

“Thanks, honey. It’ll be nice to put them on after being on my feet all day.” And she gave me a nice kiss.

“Now Tom open yours.”

I opened my box and found a beautiful, long linen skirt that had an alternating zigzag pattern of orange, peach, and burgundy. I looked at my mother and said, “Like Amy said, why?”

“Kai only has the Biil dresses, and I thought she’d like a skirt that she could wear. It’s cotton and made by the same lady that made your white dress.”

“She’ll more than like it. She’ll love it.” And I gave mom a big hug.

“Keep looking.”

Like Amy had done, I removed a layer of paper, and saw the wrap moccasins. I took them out of the box and looked at them, and they were prettier than the ones that grandma had given me.

“Who got those for you?”, Amy asked.

“I had mom get them for me when she got yours.”, I said. “I was worried about the one's grandma gave me being so old, and them getting ruined.”

“Those are nice.”

“I know. Mom, these are nice. Thank you.”

“It’s what you wanted.” mom said. Then as she took another package out, she said, “Now my husband. This is for you.”

My dad took the package and opened it, and took out a nice buckskin jacket. It had some fringe work on it, but not much. And some very well done beadwork. You could tell he loved it, because of the big smile on his face, and the kiss he gave mom.

Then he looked in the package and looked a little disappointed. Mom asked, “Honey. What’s the matter?”

“Everyone received two presents, but me.”, he said with a fake pout.

Mom grinned, and said, “You’ll just have to wait until later tonight for your other present.”

“Oh! Okay. I guess I can wait.”

Amy caught on, and said, “I don’t want to hear strange noises out of your room tonight.”

I just said, “Huh?”

“Honey. Where has your mother been for the last month or so?”

“In New Mexico.”

“And where has your dad been?”

“Here.”

“And what would you want to do if we were apart that long?”

The light lit, and I said, “Oh. Ah. Yeah.”

“He’s back to being a blond.”

We went into the den and talked more about her stay in New Mexico. We talked until Amy started yawning. I looked at her, and said, “You look tired?”

“I am.”, Amy replied. “The ICU can wear you out.”

“I think we’re going to put you to bed little girl.”

“You’ll get no argument from me.”

Amy said goodnight to my parents, and I went back to our room with her. She changed for bed, I kissed her goodnight, she crawled into bed, and I think she was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

I went back out to talk with mom some more, and she asked, “Is this clinical thing too much for Amy?”

“No.”, I replied. “I don’t think so. I think it’s getting used to being on the go for eight hours a day, five days a week. Besides, you should hear how she talks about it. She’s excited about the whole thing.

“But next week maybe more of a strain on her. She’s working in the emergency room, and she’s working four to Midnight.”

“That may be hard for her, but it’s only for a week.”

“I hope.”

Sunday was just a laid back day. Both Amy and my mother slept in. Then Amy and I went over to swim in her parent’s pool, and to have dinner with them. And that was about it.