Ginny's Story Chapter 36

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Ellen and <Jinny.jpg
Ginny's Story

A novel by Karen Lockhart

Copyright© 2017 Karen Lockhart
All Rights Reserved.


 


It's funny how things happen


CHAPTER 36

Pete paced back and forth, muttering to himself, occasionally taking a sip of whisky, twenty year old Scotch being too good to gulp. He finally calmed down, a good thing, because I don't think Wendy's eyes could get any wider.

Ellen decided to take the bull by the horns and asked Pete what went wrong.

“Some local cowboy used his siren, and tipped that SOB off. This guy has the instincts of a cat that's had his tail stepped on and the hearing of a bat; before my guys could get around the back, he was already gone. I swear he vaporized. Makes me believe in magic!”

“I'm calling the stakeout on the Andover house. Wake them the f*** up, and pay attention.”

When he dropped the F bomb, I saw Wendy perk up and start to say something about the Thailand clinic. Ellen beat me to it, shaking her head, and doing a 'zip your lip' motion.

Pete gave Ellen a quick kiss on the cheek and thanking me, flew out the door into his unmarked cruiser, and down the street he went.

“Wendy I stopped you because Pete doesn't know Ginny is anything other than she appears. The information we gave you should only be spoken of between us three, not Pete, not Kevin, not Steve, and especially, not Billy! Do you understand me honey?”

“I'm sorry, I'd rather die than give Ginny's secret away,” she said remorsefully.

“It's more than that, the bad guys are still trying to find the driver of that dump truck, and if they find her, it won't be nice!”

Wendy mulled that over for a while. Then she started laughing for some reason.

“What's so funny?” I asked.

“That means when the phony Boston cops were asking questions, and the one cop tried picking up Ginny, she was a guy with unshaven legs.”

For some reason, the furry legs were funnier than the sweaty truck driver in lipstick and heels.

The next day after the morning coffee break and a visit from the canteen truck, I packed up Wendy and headed for the Offices of the Registry of motor Vehicles in Bell Circle, Revere.

After finding a place to park, we headed down a flight of stairs and actually stood in a line going out the door. After five minutes, the thought came to me that we just wanted a hand-book, and learner's permit test form. I made my excuses as Wendy and I shouldered our way through the line. I swear we were cursed at in at least five different languages.

Once back at the office, Wendy started to pour over that booklet. I fired up the computer, and after booting up, I went to the RMV website. There it was, the rules and regulations of Chapter 90, and the other statutes that pertain to driving.

I was up to date on my work, so I dug in. Did you know bicycles were considered a vehicle, and therefore subject to the same laws as automobiles? This means obeying stop lights, stop signs, and speed limits.

I wonder if that guy in racing gear that flys by me every morning has ever read this, and if the police would ever give a speeding ticket to a fifty year old skinny guy in Spandex and funny looking shoes? (Apologies to our British road racing friends.) But when I'm doing 25 mph, and someone goes by in a blur, I get cranky; also, if I twitch and they bump against me, it's my fault! Is there a way of riding a vroom bike in a skirt and maintain your modesty? Probably not.

Things were really shaping up at the job-site. We now had a building that was ready for a roof. I thought a metal roof would go on it, not a 'standing seam' roof, but one that looked like slate. They are supposed to last 100 years, great when located on the water.

Then came Ellen with a handful of papers. I decided I'd better get to work! After lunch, I checked on Wendy. She was reading about being transgendered, and the surgeries that TG women get. I thought this is healthy for her, after all she could be facing these issues shortly.

I asked if she had some questions for me. She did, wanting to know the difference between what I had done and others, like the athlete that had everything except the GRS surgery.

I explained that it's the most personal decision you can make, because there is no going back. I personally felt that without corrective surgery, I was not a woman. However, other people, for reasons such as cost and being happy with being a woman and making love differently, chose not to do the surgery. But they still considered themselves a women as much as I did.

This was such a tough subject to talk about. I told her it takes two doctors, one of whom is a physiologist, to sign off on the GRS, and you must live as a woman full time for at least a year. You must also be on testosterone blockers and on a form of estrogen hormones. This is something not to be entered into on a whimsical idea.

When she asked me a question about driving, I was relieved. This was worse than THE conversation on the birds and the bees.

Wendy wanted to know when she could take the test for a learner's permit. Was I surprised she knew the book after just an hour? 'No,' I thought. 'She's smarter than everyone thinks. I've seen flashes of brilliance from that girl.'

“We have to look at the application form first, what does it say on-line?”

Wendy looked confused, then said, “You know I never looked Aunt Ginny.”

“Well, it really doesn't matter right now, but you must have to apply for a time to take the exam. I'll check when we get home.”

Wendy grumbled a bit, but it was a good-natured grumble.

I sat down with a stack of things to enter and then print. What a waste of paper. Why not just put the records on a thumb-drive that's updated every week? But then what do I know, I'm just a dumb secretary!

Ellen drove that day, so I had her stop at the grocery store for the makings of supper. Three pounds of lean hamburger beef, Ritz crackers, two bell peppers, a dozen eggs, an onion, garlic cloves, fresh asparagus and since we were low, a large bottle of ketchup. If you haven't guessed by now, I was planning to have meatloaf. I think this an American meal. I knew tomorrow's was, we would have American chop suey, elbows, hamburger, bell peppers, and a large can of Campbell's Tomato soup. Real easy to make with seconds galore.

Ellen and Wendy seemed to be having a serious conversation while I was in shopping, so I didn't tell them I bought a quart of Ben and Jerrie's Pistachio ice cream, a nice surprise to lighten things up after dinner.

After changing into something more comfortable, I always wear skirts in good weather, into the kitchen I went.

Ellen put on the television to watch those guys with a pawn shop in Las Vegas before the evening news came on. I don't know what Wendy did, she disappeared into my bedroom to have some quiet, I guess.

Soon, the odor of cooking filled the living room and kitchen, starting the stomach juices flowing. No need to call the others to the table. As usual, Wendy set the table and after asking, placed drinks in front of us.

Everyone must have been hungry, the loaf was going fast. I warned them to leave room for dessert. I had the option of a chocolate cake, ice cream, or both, with coffee or tea.

Thankfully there was no more talk of Bangkok, nor learners' permits, but the subject of Tina and Vinny Morales came up. The previous Saturday, Wendy met Tina and liked her a lot. She couldn't imagine her having a father that was a gangster.

I think the hit and run bothered her more. As a reminder, the poodle was curled up in Wendy's lap in the armchair. Speaking of the dog, I never saw her get walked that night.

“Wendy, have you walked the puppy yet?”

You'd think I stepped in something, With a curl of her nose, Wendy said “Ages ago, you were drinking wine and didn't notice.”

She told me!

To be continued.

Many thanks to Bronwen Welsh, for without her encouragement and assistance in correcting typos and sentence structure, this story would not happen
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Comments

Aunt Genny

Samantha Heart's picture

DID get told lol. I think Wendy does have a photographic memory. As well as VERY Intelgent for her age.

Love Samantha Renée Heart.

Thanks Samantha

Wendy is smart for any age !
Drat, this site is FUBAR tonight, can't comment !

Karen

Always A Small Percentage Behave Badly

joannebarbarella's picture

Some cyclists think the road rules don't apply to them. I exclude the road racers in general. Nearly all of them cycle safely as they are aware of the dangers, but every day I see those who don't stop at red lights, ignore stop signs and exceed speed limits (for our city they are from 40kph-60kph). The police are for once looking for the culprit after a clip shown on our TV news the other day showed a cyclist hitching a tow by hanging on to a motorist's wing mirror.

I also don't exclude some motorists from these charges either in case I am accused of being anti-bike.

Wendy is a regular little madam..."you were drinking wine and didn't notice.". The self-righteousness of the teenager!

Thanks, Joanne I once had a

Thanks, Joanne I once had a bicyclist go through a stop sign and sideswipe me. The police showed up and I was given a tongue lashing and a ticket, forcing me to appeal it in court. I won, but lost a day's pay.

Another good chapter

I wish my namesake well. But taking the driving test can be scary beyond words

Bicycles in the US have

Bicycles in the US have always been considered the same as other road vehicles, meaning the riders are supposed to be following the exact same rules of the road. Sadly and for some rather inexplicable reasons, way too many Police do not enforce this and thus we see accidents all too frequently occur between cars and bike riders. One thing that really gets me upset is to see a person on a bike riding towards traffic rather than with it. The same applies when I see a person walking with traffic coming from behind them, rather than they walking facing traffic. You are setting yourself up for what can wind up as being a deadly accident.
When I was growing up,(40's-50's) you had to show your local police that you knew the rules of the road & the hand signals to be used; unless your bike was outfitted with the proper equipment for those. Then you did a "road test to show your hand signals, if you passed, received a certificate AND a sticker to be placed on bike attesting that you had passed the road exam for bicycle riding. Guess this was kind of like the version of a person getting their drivers license for a car.
The sticker also served as a method for tracking your bike in case it was stolen, so you could get it back from the Police if they found it.
These were done at the local schools, and the school yard was used for ride testing IN FRONT of Police Officers who were the examiners. This was done in Washington State, Idaho, Oregon, California, and Montana. I do not know about other States if they had this system or not.
Wendy appears to me as being quite possibly a young lady with a photographic or close to it memory, and very, very intelligent both in "book smarts" as well as "street smarts".

In Massachusetts too.

Interesting, when I was a child our police gave us a road test, and after seeing a bill of sale a number plate matching the color of that year's automobile plate. I think the fee was $2. Of course, not every kid did this, but the police were known to confiscate unlicensed bikes, forcing a parent to come and pick it up and get a plate. All vehicles must have a plate! Later mopeds were treated the same. My first plate was dark green.

Was the same

tmf's picture

It was the same in Québec, you need a plate for your bike.
But some ________ decide you do not need plate for your bike anymore.
Cannot have any "driving" classes for bikes.

So you got Bad bike rider, Bad car driver, and Bad walkers.!
The bad walkers, you know them, they don't have any rules that apply to them, rely mostly to the artificial intelligence in there hands and not the one they were born with.!

Peace and Hugs tmf

bikes can and do get ticketed

Brooke Erickson's picture

bikes can and do get ticketed.

I had a friend who got ticketed for speeding on his bike in grade school (or maybe it was junior high). There was a hill sloping down to the school and a cop lived on the street.

He'd warned Gary to slow down several times, but Gary didn't.

His parents were *not* happy when they had to pay the fine.

BTW, the idea with the thumb drive is good, but needs a bit more complex setup.

At a *minimum* you want two drives. One one Friday you copy things to drive A. On the next, you copy them to drive B. And the week after, you are back to Drive a.

This way, if something gets screwed up, you haven't clobbered last weeks data (yeah, it was *supposed* to be copied to the computer at where ever. Never count on that).

This is also the "right" way to do backups. Though for those you often want to do daily copies with a disk/drive for each day, and then file the ones at the end of the week, month, quarter and year.

Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks

Two drives?

That is a sound idea, at one time you actually have 2 weeks of info, never less, except when you wipe the oldest one before loading. Who here daily backs things up? At work I did, but I guess I'm getting lazy

I've got daily backups. On

Brooke Erickson's picture

I've got daily backups. On the main machine I backup from C: to D: (same sized drive) every night. (Using Second Copy a very nice utility). That profile copies everything on C that has been added or changed to D.

Every so often, I run a profile that not only does that, but also removes any files on D that aren't on C anymore.

I also have a weekly "image" backup that Windows does to a much larger drive. That lets me restore the OS and settings, etc if the system dies.

I also use Beyond Compare (another nice utility) to let me compare groups of files on different drives so I can update them "manually". This is is because years back I got "bitten" when some files got corrupted on one machine and Windows cheerfully "backed up" the corrupted files over the good files.

Other computers do variations on the above. (Yes, I have multiple systems at home :-)

Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks