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Eve Chapter 21

By Topsy

I'd really wanted to ask mum more questions but her one answer had floored me. What had really happened? I put it to the back of my mind until I could ask the right questions. I didn't want to get stressed so I'd done some work on my essay as a distraction then fallen asleep.

Wednesday's breakfast was quiet. I had an appointment at the hospital at ten with Dr Bishop. We had to get out by nine fifteen and take two buses. Not having the car was a bind.

We got there a few minutes early, mum checked me in.

"I'm sorry but you're not on today's list."

"But this is a regular appointment for my daughter."

"I'll check."

Mum stood there, trying to be calm, and failing.

"Ah, it says here that your husband called yesterday afternoon to cancel. Your daughter wasn't available. I took the call myself."

"Well, I want to see a manager. No, make that Mr Bishop."

"But you don't have an appointment."

"Neither do I have a husband. He died sixteen years ago."

"Oh."

"So get me Mr Bishop, this is his clinic, isn't it?"

She went red and vanished into the back room.

A few minutes later mum was becoming very impatient and a manager appeared.

"Mrs Jones, there appears to be a misunderstanding."

"No, there appears to be somone impersonating my late husband and fraudulently cancelling my daughter's appointment. I want to see Mr Bishop now."

"Mrs Jones, Mr Bishop is in theatre. You were actually to see Dr Bennett from Mr Bishop's team. However the Deputy Chief Exec needs to see you and I've been asked to escort you. We are re-arranging your daughter's appointment."

"Today?"

"If we can. Please follow me."

We arrived in the administration block and were taken to the fifth floor. To our surprise Mr Dixon was waiting there.

"Ladies, I was just about to see the Deputy Chief Executive about the confidential information issue when there was a call from the out-patients clinic. Shall we go in?"

Mr Dixon outlined the earlier problems we'd had and the possible leak of my medical records. Mum was then asked to describe what had happened this morning. It appeared the senior manager already knew most of it.

"Ladies, Mr Dixon. I've overseen an investigation into these allegations and until now was not prepared to accept that anything malicious had happened. However, following this morning's incident I have asked the IT department to urgently investigate the phone call. While we wait for that, would you like something to drink?"

Mum was still uptight but we settled for a coffee to calm us down. Some ginger nut biscuits appeared as well. I resisted the urge to dunk the biccies.

We had just finished the coffee when a woman was let into the room.

"Ladies, Mr Dixon, this is my IT Director Susan Yates. Susan, what can you tell us?"

"As you may know all external phone calls, are digitally recorded along with the call information. We have isolated the call concerned."

She turned to her boss, "I've emailed you the call."

The call was played. It was a clumsy call, I was called Simon twice, but I thought I knew the voice.

"We've identified that the call was made from the porters rest room at 1655 yesterday. It was made as an external call but the system is setup to trap those and present them as internal calls and record them anyway. It was designed to save money and to identify who was dialling internal numbers externally. We don't advertise the feature to staff."

The porters, now I knew the voice.

"I know who it is."

All their heads turned to me.

"I don't know his name but I've met this person. He took me for my second MRI and he was outside when I came for my first outpatients appointment. I'm sure of it."

Mum had recognised the voice as well supplying the relevant dates, "and he made an anonymous call to me. Mr Dixon, you're already aware of that call."

"Susan, thank you for that. Can you ask my PA to get the relevant department head up here immediately."

She nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Mrs Jones, we do indeed appear to have a problem amongst our staff. Believe me, we treat this very seriously."

Mr Dixon asked if mum and I could speak to him privately. The Deputy Chief Exec suggested the adjoining meeting room.

"Miss Jones, Mrs Jones, things are moving very quickly. The school told me yesterday that they will exclude David Stevens permanently and have suspended the bursar with immediate effect for alledged disclosure of your school records and for misuse of the school computer system."

"The emails?"

"Yes Eve."

We were called back into the office. The facilities manager was waiting there.

"Right, George can you tell me what you have found?"

"I've compared the staff lists for yesterday afternoon and the dates you gave me. The only name that is common to those times is David Stevens."

I bit my tongue and looked straight at mum who also desperately wanted to say something. The Deputy Chief Exec was speaking.

"Where is he now?"

"Off duty, a 'domestic emergency' he called it."

"Get him here at two this afternoon. Get this union rep here as well. I want the Hospital Trust's solicitor in on this."

"I'll get him and the union rep."

"Yes, sorry, I suppose I should be the one to get the solicitor."

He waited until George had left the room and then turned to us.

"Ladies, Mr Dixon, I can assure you that we will deal with this appropriately. I do not like fraud or harassment in any capacity. Can I call you later this afternoon?"

We agreed and left with our solicitor, but at his suggestion we went first to the cafe in the main building.

"I don't know what's going on here but it looks like harrassment on several fronts."

"Yes Mr Dixon. What can we do?" Asked mum.

"Firstly we have the criminal damage case against the boy. That will be next Monday."

"Plus the ASBO." I suggested.

"ASBO?"

"The precinct will be applying to the council for an anti-social order against him."

"I'll speak to the precinct manager, I may be able to help them. Now, regarding Anne Holts, the bursar. The school has identified that her terminal was used to access Gmail to send those emails. While the LEA IT department wouldn't tell me themselves, it appears they did tell the Acting Head."

He paused for breath, "they have also identified several, unspecified, administrative and disciplinary anomalies that Ms Holts is unwilling to explain. One other thing, they have re-interviewed the Head and have accepted that he has made some errors but not enough to constitute dismissal. He'll be back at the school next week."

"Oh."

"The Chairman of the school's Governing Body wants to meet you and your mother next Tuesday afternoon at my offices."

"Right."

We went home, again there was no sign of Claire. I was getting very worried.

Mum found a message from the hospital on the answerphone saying there were no free slots before next Wednesday. That did not help our situation..

After dinner I walked across to the Johnson's house. Annie opened the door.

"Claire doesn't want to see you."

"Why?"

"Mum had a talk with her on Monday evening and she flipped. She hasn't been to school and mum can't coax her out of her room."

"Can you ask your mum to speak to mine?"

"Will do."

"Thanks Annie."

I walked the short distance home and told mum what Annie had said. Then I flopped in the lounge.

"Eve, I know this is difficult for you. I did warn you."

"Yes, but you never said this would affect me and Claire like this."

"Eve, I know I couldn't predict this, but don't worry, Claire will sort herself out."

"That's fine for you to say!"

I stormed upstairs and slammed my bedroom door. I thought I could hear mum on the phone but anger and fatigue got to me.

 Eve Chapter 22

Mum and I were barely on speaking terms on Thursday morning. We even forgot the usual 'first of the month' joke. If October was starting as frosty as this in the house, what would it be like in the fresh air outside?

While mum was busy downstairs I dived into her room and found the biscuit tin. I needed something.

The car wasn't back yet so I grabbed my bag at nine fifteen and made for the door.

Mum was stood in the kitchen with no shoes, "where do you think you're going?"

"To see Dr Fox."

"Not without me!"

I didn't answer but slammed the door behind me; I did not want mum in the room with me today. I grabbed a passing bus and was at the hospital twenty five minutes later. There was no sign of mum.

"Good morning Eve."

"Mornin'."

"Take a seat. Now, I can tell that something is wrong so why don't you tell me."

"I was lied to."

"Who?"

"Mum. She told me dad made the mistake with my name. Now I know it was mum all along, and it wasn't a mistake."

"How can you be sure?"

I produced my birth certificate, showing mum as the informant.

"I see."

"I want to know what other lies have been told."

"Eve, I can only go by what you and your mum have told me, so I don't know if there are any more lies, but I really think you need to talk to mum about this."

"I know I must, and I want to, eventually, but I know I'm going to get upset very quickly."

"Then let's talk to her here?"

"No!"

"Oh?"

"You told me at my first appointment that if I wanted to exclude her, I could."

"Yes."

"So, right now, I don't want her in here. Just us."

"Alright Eve, I respect your wishes but you will need to talk to her at some point. Why don't you tell me how your week has gone?"

I went over the precinct incidents, the school connection, the hospital problem and my change of name.

"I'm not so sure any more?"

"About what?"

"About this!"

I pointed at my skirt then at my developing breast.

"And?"

"This just feels strange. I'm comfortable like this, but I shouldn't be. My head's been played with, physically and mentally. I'm messed up."

I could see Dr Fox was ready to hit the alarm but I stayed sat, and physically calm.

"So, are you Simon or Eve?"

"I'm Eve. The question is not who, but why?"

"I think I see. So, you accept that you're Eve but you can't see how you got to this point?"

"Yes."

"Ah, let's go back to the beginning."

We spent another hour going through everything that had happened, and why. I still couldn't work out why mum and lied to me, though.

Lastly I talked about Claire and how I had to decide about children.

"So, do you?"

"I'm nearly seventeen but it's too early for me to think about that. Until a few weeks ago I didn't even have a girlfriend. Now I have a girlfriend who thinks she's a lesbian and that must mean I must be too, however strange that sounds. If Claire doesn't want children then neither do I. But one thing is clear I do not want to, err"

"Have intercourse?"

I was going red. "Yes."

"There are other ways."

I'd had several good cries while sat with Dr Fox and my hanky was stained with mascara. Dr Fox suggested I used her private bathroom to tidy myself up before I left.

As I left her room I spied mum sitting in the waiting area. She had her back to me so I could have just left without her knowing but Dr Fox had calmed me.

"Mum, I'm done. Can we go outside?"

"Yes dear."

I led mum to the same spot we'd gone to the week before and sat on the bench with her.

"Mum, I want the truth."

"Yes, I'm sorry. Do you remember how I said this was my fault?"

"Yes?"

"Well, your dad died the day after you were born. He was going to register your birth that afternoon so in the end I had to do it."

"During the pregnancy the ultrasounds had shown a girl. Just before I went into labour I had been reading an Evelyn Waugh novel and I really liked the idea of Eve Lynn. I really wanted a daughter but got a son. I loved you regardless but after not getting the girl I craved, and losing your husband, I was so very depressed. They call it post-natal depression."

"Yes, I've heard of it."

"So I was both a new mum and a widow, within 24 hours. I thought I would flip and they'd keep me here but somehow they let me go home the following day. The hospital had promised counselling but of course it never happened. I decided I was keeping the names I'd chosen and was going to call you Eve Lynn Simone but the registrar persuaded me to change Simone to Simon. I refused to change the rest. I now know I wasn't thinking straight."

"So why couldn't you tell me?"

"Guilt."

"So what about when I was brought into hospital six week ago?"

"You were in my clothes and unable to explain for yourself. The school gave the paramedics a quick explanation of the male/female confusion. The hospital compounded that mistake and I thought I'd finally get the daughter I wanted, even for just a short while."

"That explains why you didn't tell the hospital they were wrong."

"I was going to, then the staff heard you talking in your sleep and they contacted Dr Fox."

"Did you tell anyone, after I was born, what you'd done?"

"No, they might have taken you away from me."

"You sure?"

"No, but I couldn't take the chance."

I relaxed a little. I was getting to the bottom of it now. I looked up and saw Dr Fox stood a little behind mum. She signed to me to keep talking.

"So who knew my name was Eve?"

"I was so ashamed what I'd done but couldn't tell anyone, not even a solicitor to change your name. So I told no-one until you had to start primary school and then again when you started secondary school. Even then they were told that Simon was the name you used so Eve wouldn't show up on their normal records. Before they connected all their computers together it was easy to do that. Then you needed a passport for this holiday. When your certificates arrived addressed to Eve it all came back and I wanted my Eve. Can you forgive me?"

"Mum, I told you weeks ago that I forgave you, but why couldn't you tell me?"

"I, I, I was frightened."

Now mum was crying. I pulled some tissues out of my bag and dried her eyes.

"Eve, Mrs Jones, do you mind if I join you?"

I just nodded. Mum looked quizzical.

"How long have you been there?"

"Since you left the clinic. Eve wouldn't have you in the room but was very uptight. I wanted to make sure neither of you did anything stupid. You need each other."

Mum cried on my shoulder.

"Eve, you have an appointment here eight thirty on Tuesday to see Dr Preston, a Gender Identity specialist. I'll be there as well. I should have told you sooner but I forgot, shrinks are human too."

"Thanks, I'll remember that you're human, in case it comes in useful later."

She handed me an appointment letter, no doubt they'd post one to me as well. Given the current postal disputes it might turn up before the appointment. She also handed me another prescription, two more weeks of anti-depressants.

"Sorry, I forgot to give you these. I think they'll help."

We took the bus into town and went to the pharmacy to get my pills and some shopping. Without the car it really was a bind.

Back indoors, mum and I sat down with a coffee and cried on each-other's shoulders.

Mum had got the daughter she wanted but I still felt betrayed, she could have told me and let me make my own mind up. No, that was silly. Would a teenage boy willingly become a girl to please his mum?

Yes, I'd been having dreams but mum didn't know and I wasn't telling. I didn't even know what the dreams meant. I thought I was screwed before I found out the truth, but now I still had a ton of questions - but didn't know what to ask or even if there were any answers.

"I love you mum."

"I love you Eve."

The rest of the day was a blur.