Tommy - The Trials and Tribulations of a Girl? - Chapter 22

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Tommy
The Trials and Tribulations of a Girl?

A Novel By Teddie S.

Copyright © 2017 Teddie S.
All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 22
A meeting. Why me? Another dress.

We had met with the Medicine Man, Naainish, and it had been interesting. When we were back at my aunt and uncle’s house, my mother and aunt were back from Albuquerque. We sat with them and told them about our meeting with Naainish. When we finished telling our story, my aunt said, “I knew that you would find your meeting with Naainish interesting. He’s a fascinating person. And I knew that he was interested in meeting you.”

“Thank you for setting it up Aunt Ruth.”, I said. “I think that both Amy and I learned a lot and I now understand what being a person with two spirits means. But now I want to get back to our room, take a shower, and start getting back to being a blond Tammy.”

“Ah. Tammy.”, my Uncle Paul said. “Can I ask you something first?”

“Sure, Uncle Paul. Anything.”

“Well, the owners representative is here for a meeting and was at the bonfire last night, she saw what you were doing, and overheard what the guests were saying about you. And then during this morning’s meeting, they asked me about you. I told them a little bit. But I twisted the story a little.”

“Uncle Paul!”

“I’m sorry, but I had to say something.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them that your name was Kai and that you were a Navajo and a guest, and that you had been kind enough to allow the people who were at last night's bonfire to take your picture. Then you let them pose with you in the hotel lobby for pictures.

“They asked why the guests were interested in you. And I told them that they felt that you were beautiful and that you just happened to be dressed in traditional, actually fancy, Navajo dress. They asked why you were dressed that way. I told them it was because it's felt that the area of the resort, and in particular the area around the fire pit, was sacred and that you wanted to meditate. They were concerned that the other guests had disturbed you. But I told them, that everyone, you and the other guests, were okay with everything.

“I guess that they’ve also heard from a few of the guests, and they all said how nice you were, and how pretty you are, and that they appreciated Kai being nice enough to allow them to take pictures.

“And ... And the representative of the resort’s owners and the management people would like to meet you.”

“Please. No.”

“Tammy.”, my Aunt Ruth said. “They’re very nice people. And probably just want to thank you for being so nice.”

“Ah. There’s more.”, Uncle Paul said.

I just looked at him and deeply sighed.

Uncle Paul continued with, “They’re planning on making a new brochure for the resort. And they were looking for a native girl to feature in a few pictures. And they want to meet you, to see if you’ll do it.”

“Why not use a real Navajo girl.”

“Honey. You are part Navajo.”, Amy said

“I know. But why me? I’m not a girl.”

“What did Naainish tell you?”

“I know.”

“It also sounds like they received some excellent reports from the current guests about you. And that means a lot to them. So they figured that it couldn’t hurt to ask you.”

“But I'm not a native girl. Why not use a local girl?”

My mother had been sitting there taking this all in, and she said, “You could have fooled me last night. And you did fool a lot of people. I watched a beautiful, confident, girl charm a bunch of people. And she came across as a Navajo maiden.”

I looked at my mother, and said, “Mother!”

“I’m sorry honey. But you did look like a native girl last night. The black hair, your coloring, your clothes, and your mannerisms all said, I’m a girl. I’m a Navajo girl. And I know that your grandmother and aunts were impressed with how you looked today.”

“God. Sometimes I hate this. Why can’t I just be an ordinary boy.”

“Honey.”, Amy said. “Just think, if you were an ordinary boy, of all the fun stuff you would have missed out on. And think of this as just another chapter in your life. A fun chapter.”

“Oh God. Why me.”

I stood, and walked out the back door. Then I stood there for a minute or two looking up at the Moon. I then walked back into the kitchen. Looked at them, and said, “Uncle Paul. ... I may hate myself for this. But I'll meet with them.”

“Thanks, Tammy.”, Uncle Paul said.

“Better make that Kai.”

A short time later Amy and I were walking into our room, and I said, “I need a shower.”

Amy smiled her devious little smile, and said, “Me too.”

I won’t go into details, but we had a fantastic, very long, shower that we took together that expanded into other activity.

After we had dressed, I was as close to being Tammy as I could with black hair in a ponytail, we went for a hike and watched another incredible sunset. Then we headed back down and enjoyed the bonfire. Some of the people who were there last night were there tonight, but since I wasn’t dressed like I was last night, they didn’t pay much attention to me.

* * * * *

On Wednesday morning we had breakfast with my aunt, uncle, and mother. As we were eating, my uncle said, “I’ve spoken to the owner’s representative and the management team. And, I've set up a meeting for nine this morning.”

“Oh.”, I replied. “We were going to do some sightseeing before we went down to see grandma.”

“I’m sorry. But the owner’s representative is leaving early this afternoon.”

I looked at Amy, and said, “Honey. What do you think?”

“Maybe we can do the site seeing tomorrow morning.”, Amy replied.

“But we only have three more days here.”

“I know.”

“Okay, Uncle Paul. I'll meet with them at nine.”

“Thank you. I'll come and get you at your room a little before nine.”

“How should I dress?”

“Maybe like you did last night.”

I sighed, and said, “I guess. But the Biil dress is a little dirty.

“We have a little time.”, my aunt said. “I’ll come with you, take the dress, and see what I can do.”

Aunt Ruth and my mother came with us to our room, and Aunt Ruth took the dress away. I started getting ready, bra, forms, special panty, and wrap moccasins. Amy fixed my hair and used the butterfly barrette and leather headband. We changed my studs for the loop earrings that grandma had given Amy. I applied a little makeup. And we waited for my aunt to come back with my dress.

My aunt was back at eight-thirty with my clean dress. I didn’t ask her what she’d done, but just slipped it on, then added the Concho belt. I knew Uncle Paul would be here shortly. At a quarter to nine, he knocked on the door, Amy opened it, and let him in. He looked at me, and said, “Kai. You look very nice. You ready to go?”

“I guess.”, I replied.

“I’ll wait here with Amy and Jean.”, my Aunt Ruth said.

I walked with Uncle Paul to a meeting room in the hotel. There were six people there, and he introduced me to them as Kai Nez. Don’t ask me who was there. I was too nervous to remember. But there were four men and two women.

We talked for about half an hour. They looked me over very carefully, and that made me even more nervous. Of course, I was asked about my blue eyes, and I used the recessive gene explanation. For some reason they accepted it.

In the end, one of the women, I think she was the owners representative, said, “Kai you are a lovely young lady. And the guests loved what you did with them the other night. We are planning on a new brochure for the resort. And are looking for a model for some of the photos that will be in it. Would you be willing to be a model for our new brochure?”

“I’m not a model. What would I have to do?”

“You may not be a model, but you present yourself in a way that one would. I can tell that you are a very confident person. And all you’d have to do is spend some time with a professional photographer as they take pictures of you at various locations around the resort. We’d use them in the new brochure. And we’d pay you the going rate.”

“When do you want to do this?”

“When could you do it?”

“We’re leaving for home on Saturday. I have to be back home on Monday to start my clinicals for my nursing degree. So it would have to be before that.” Well at least half of what I told them was true.

“So we have today, tomorrow, and Friday.”

“Yes. And I'd prefer not to do Friday. I have things that I'd like to do before I leave.”

“Let’s see what we can do, and we’ll let you know.”

“I know a local professional photographer.”, my uncle said. “She does excellent work. In fact, some of her prints are in the hotel lobby, and we sell some of her work in the gift shop.”

“Paul, that sounds like it might work. See if you can set something up with the photographer that will work with Kai. If not we’ll see if we can quickly work something out with someone else.”

“Kai.”, the woman said. “We appreciate this. After meeting you, we feel that you will be a good representative of the Navajo people for the resort.”

Now I felt bad. It shouldn’t be me doing this. It should be a real girl, a native girl. Do I continue with this farce, or back out? If I back out, will it hurt my aunt and uncle’s jobs here?

My uncle and I went back to my room. I walked in, sat at the table, and started crying. My mother asked, “Honey. What’s wrong?”

“I’m a fraud.”, I said. “Nothing but a fraud. A real Navajo girl should be doing this. Earning the money that will help her.”

“Honey. You’re not a fraud. You have a girl’s spirit within you. And she’s impressed a lot of people. You’re comfortable with her. You enjoy being her. Just be yourself.”

“But who am I?”

“You are you.”, Amy said. “You are who you feel you should be. And I know right now that you feel that you are a girl. And for some reason out here you feel that you are a native girl. A girl called Kai.”

“Honey.”, my aunt said. “If I could find someone to donate the money to, would you feel better?”

“Maybe.”, I replied.

“I know of a girl. She's very smart. And she's working hard to save money for college. She wants to go into medicine. Maybe become a doctor. They've set up a college fund for her, and we could donate the money to that. That way you'll know where it's going.”

I looked at Amy. She smiled. And I said, “Yeah. That would work.”

“In fact.”, my aunt added. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, once they learn what you’re doing, that the owners don’t match your donation with one of their own. ”

“Really.”

“Yes. They’re terrific people.”

I went and changed back into Tammy. Well, a black-haired Tammy. Amy and I had time to do a little sightseeing before we went to visit grandma. When we left the resort, we went up to the Taos Pueblo, looked at the pueblo, and had lunch. Then we headed to Santa Fe and noticed that there are a lot of art galleries there, and seeing the Sangre de Cristo Mountains behind the town was incredible. We didn't have much time but decided that if we had more time before Saturday that we'd be back.

We drove further south to Albuquerque to visit grandma. We told her about going to Taos Pueblo and Santa Fe, and she gave us the name of an excellent restaurant in Santa Fe to try if we had time.

Then I filled her in on what the people at the resort wanted me to do. She was very interested in it, so I had to go into detail. And when I mentioned about donating whatever I received for a modeling fee to the girl's college fund, she was surprised and pleased. Then she asked what I was going to wear, and I told her that I was going to wear the Biil dress that she gave me.

She said, “That old thing. You need something new.”

“Grandma.”, I said. “It may be old, but it’s still beautiful.”

“Honey. A girl doing something like this needs something new. She needs to pamper herself with a new dress.”

“But they want me to look like a native girl. And they saw me in your Biil dress this morning, and they loved the look. They were thrilled when I told them that I had a squash blossom necklace that I could wear.”

“Don’t I remember, the other day, you saying that you saw a Biil dress that you just loved?”

“Yes. It was the day you gave me your Biil dress. Amy and I had stopped and watched a weaver working and then we looked at the clothes that were in the shop. There was a stunning white Biil dress with a black and gray pattern on the lower half of the skirt and like black epaulets. It was hand woven and handmade.

“The woman told us she had made it for a wedding and the wedding had fallen through. And the bride never picked it up. She also said that she very seldom sold Biil dresses to non-Navajo people. But might make an exception with this dress. I asked her how much she'd charge for it. She told me one-hundred and fifty dollars. I told her, thank you, but no thank you.”

“That is expensive. But worth it. And I want you to have it if she’ll sell it to you. Buy it, and I'll give you the money.”

“No grandma. You've done too much already.”

“You're arguing with an old, sick, lady again.”

“Grandma. Your not old, and you’re getting better.”

“But you're still arguing with your elder.”

I sat there and looked at her. Then she said, “Go on. Go and buy the dress, and you’ll look like a million dollars when you do the pictures.”

“Grandma. I give up. You are going to keep after me until I go and buy that dress. Aren't you?”

“You’d better believe that I am young lady. You’re my only granddaughter, and ... “

“Grandma. I’m not a girl.”

“You're not!? Yes, you are. At least right now you are. Now please go and buy that dress. I want you to have it.”

I shook my head, and said, “Grandma. I'm not going to win this. Am I?”

“No granddaughter. You’re not.”

I stood up, and said, “Come on Amy. Let's run over to that shop and see if she will sell me the dress.”

“Amy.”, grandma said. “Be sure she does. And get yourself something pretty too.”

“Grandma.”, Amy said. “You don’t need to get me anything.”

“Now don’t you start arguing with me too.”

Amy gave grandma a look, shook her head, then said, “Yes grandma. I’ll be sure that she gets the dress.”

“And.”

“And I’ll find something for myself.”

“Good girl. And be sure that Tammy brings the dress back here and shows it to me.”

“Yes, grandma.”

Amy and I drove over to the group of shops where the weaver was, went in, and the dress was still there. I talked to the woman, and she again told me that she didn't sell Biil dresses to non-Navajo people.

I then told her that I was one-quarter Navajo and my grandmother was a full-blooded Navajo. And then I told her about the conversation that grandma and I had. And we had a good laugh over it. Then I told her about grandma giving me her old Biil dress, but wanting me to have a new one to do the photo shoot that I was going to do.

She asked me about the photo shoot, and I told her a little bit about it and what brought it about. She thought for a second then agreed to sell me the dress. She did ask one favor, and that was to ask them to put something in the brochure about the model wearing one of her dresses. I told her that I'd be more than happy to do that. And she handed me a few of her business cards and told me that she’d give me a discount on the dress.

She took the dress down for me and showed Amy and me where the dressing rooms were. I tried the dress on, and it was an excellent fit. I changed back, and we took the dress back out to the woman. As she was wrapping it, she asked about jewelry. When I told her what I had, and that it was made by my great-great-grandfather. She stopped wrapping the dress looked at me, and said, “You are one very lucky girl.”

I smiled, and said, “Yeah. And I don’t know why?”

“Maybe your grandmother loves you.”

“Could very well be.”

She finished wrapping the dress. Then Amy walked over with a pair of earrings. They were beaded and looked like they matched the barrette.

I paid the woman for everything, and we headed back to the hospital.

When we walked back into grandma's hospital room, my mother and both aunts were there talking with grandma. Grandma looked at me, and said, “Well. Did you buy it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”, I said. “It’s right here.”

“Show me.”

I unwrapped the dress and held it up. Grandma smiled, and said, “That is gorgeous.”

“It was supposed to be a wedding dress, but something happened, and the bride never picked it up.”

My mother and aunts couldn’t get over how pretty it was.

Then my grandmother asked me, “Well. Granddaughter. How much was it?”

I smiled, and replied, “Five dollars.”

“Granddaughter! Tell your grandmother how much this dress was.”

“One twenty-five.”

There was a low whistle from my Aunt Ginny.

“Granddaughter.”, grandma said. “Didn’t you tell me it was one fifty?”

“Yes.”, I replied. “She gave me a discount because of the photo shoot.”

“Ruthie. I want you to take one hundred and twenty-five dollars out of my account and give it to Tammy.”

My Aunt Ruth said, “Sure thing mom.”

I looked at my Aunt Ruth, and said, “No. You’ll take that money and put it into that college account for the girl.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

My grandmother looked at me, and said, “Granddaughter. I don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”

I smiled, and said, “Love me.”

She smiled and shook her head. Then she asked Amy what she'd found, and Amy showed her the earrings. Grandma loved them and asked the cost. Amy told her twenty dollars, and that she also wanted to have the money added to the check for the college fund.

Grandma said, “Now I don’t know what I'm going to do with either of you.”

Amy and I just smiled at grandma, and Amy said, “Grandma. You are doing too much for us. We love you and just want to see you well.”

I figured that Amy and I were going to follow my mother and aunt back to the resort, but when we were walking to the parking lot, Amy said, “We’ll see you back at the resort. We need to make a stop.”

“Oh. Where?”, I asked.

“I want to re-dye your hair, and maybe pick up some different makeup.”

“Remember kids.” my aunt said. “A Navajo girl doesn’t wear much makeup.”

“Hmm. True. I guess we can just take it with us in case the photographer thinks we need something.”

“Whatever you do. Keep it subdued.”

We stopped at the same drug store that we’d been to before. Amy led me right to where the hair dyes were and picked up the same color that we’d used last time, a semi-permanent black.

I asked, “Why semi-permanent?”

“It washes out, but doesn’t wash out quickly.”

She also grabbed a can of hairspray. Then we headed over to the makeup, and we looked at a lot of things. Amy picked out a few things, foundation, mascara, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and a subdued red lipstick. She also picked up a bag that we could put all of the makeup, hair brushes, and whatever in, and take with us on the photo shoot. I figured that she knew what she was doing, so I didn't say a word. We paid for our purchases then headed towards the resort.

We walked into my aunt and uncle’s house and found everyone in the kitchen. My mother asked, “Did you find everything that you needed?”

“Yes.”, Amy replied. “And we’ll just wait until we meet with the photographer to put any makeup on Kai. Except maybe some foundation.”

Then Uncle Phil said, “I talked to the photographer that I know and explained what was going on. She was excited about being able to work on the new brochure, and she only has one appointment tomorrow, and it's in the morning. So, she's going to spend the afternoon and evening here working with Kai. She knows the resort and has some ideas as to what might look good. I mentioned the fire pit at night, and she said that might be good. And I've arranged for the three of you, Amy, Kai, and the photographer to have dinner in the restaurant on us. I also have a room set aside for the photographer if she needs to take a break. Also, you have carte blanche for all the resorts services. And the staff is aware of what's going on.

“And, she’ll be here at two.”

“And she is?”, Amy asked.

“Oh. Sorry. Her name is Mary Woodham.”

“That sounds good.”, I said. “At least that'll give us a chance to go see grandma in the morning, and then come back here and change.”

Then my uncle said, “I do have the model releases for Kai to sign. I made them out for Kai Nez, and I used the address here. Is that all right?”

“That sounds good, Uncle Paul.”

After we finished dinner, Amy and I, against protests from my aunt, cleaned up. Then we said goodnight to everyone and walked towards the resort. As we did, I asked Amy, “So love what do you want to do tonight?”

She grinned, and said, “Make mad passionate love with you.”

“I like that idea.”

“The only thing we need to do is re-dye your hair. So, let's get that over with. Then we can maybe go for a walk, or to the pools.”

And that's what we did. After Amy finished my hair, we did go for a walk, and then spent a half an hour soaking in one of the thermal pools. Amy had put my hair into a braid to help keep it out of the water, and somehow I did keep my hair dry. Later that night, after some lovemaking, as we lay cuddled together on the bed, Amy said, “That was wonderful. But, you know something. Kai makes softer, more sensual, love then even Tammy does.”

“That so?”, I asked.

“Uh huh.”

~o~O~o~

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Comments

It could be ackward

Going back to school w/ dyed hair. It could be a tipoff between Tom and Tammy to some people.I suspect professional hair care help will be needed.

He has to gp back to his

He has to go back to his uncle's store too. And then there's dad.

Teddie

Hope the photo shoot comes

Hope the photo shoot comes out great, I for one, would love to see Kai/Tammy in her newest dress. I'm guessing this is going to really put the Resort on the map, even more than it may already be.
If they want Tammy to be dark eyed, there is always colored contact lens that she could use or her eyes can be touched up during printing.

Remember the time frame of

Remember the time frame of the story is the 1960s. And I'm not sure when colored contacts came out. Also, remember that the glasses that Tammy wore were costume glass with plain glass lenses. So even if colored contact lenses were available they would probably have to with a prescription.

Teddie

Hope the photo shoot comes

Hope the photo shoot comes out great, I for one, would love to see Kai/Tammy in her newest dress. I'm guessing this is going to really put the Resort on the map, even more than it may already be.
If they want Tammy to be dark eyed, there is always colored contact lens that she could use or her eyes can be touched up during printing.

Tammy certainly is making the most of the opportunities

endowed by her dual spirits. She has taken the path to explore the openings as they came, and benefited from seizing the moment. A lesson most of us would like to learn. Having a wonderful loving partner like Amy, and her parents to support her helps too.

Thanks. Teddie

Thanks.

Teddie