CHAPTER 20: Wheelchair

Val woke up the following day, after her supposed “operation,” but she didn’t feel that rested. She had tossed and turned most of the night, thinking of everything that she and Drs. P and Maia had talked about.

She was now officially a “she” – Faye Valentine. “Goodbye Val Edward,” she whispered.

She felt a little sad because who she was until that point was gone now. She wondered if being Faye Valentine would be better. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the coming day, and the rest of her new life, and got up.

The night before, she talked with Michael and Carla, as well as her folks via the internet, and she had to invent some details of what she went through with her fictitious “operation,” and claimed a little bit of pain, but the pain medication made it tolerable.

Thank goodness neither of them asked for details, as Val was too queasy to talk about it, even if it was just a make-believe thing. It was Maia’s advice to not give anyone details as it’s better not to tell them anything instead of having them pick at the details of her fake operation.

Dad told Val that Mr. Daimon called and explained that all of her documents were being modified already. He and Val’s mom had also permitted Mr. Daimon to modify their documents so that they would reflect that Val was a girl, and just identified her as “Val.” Subsequent new documents can identify her as “Faye Valentine,” but having old documents refer to her as just “Val” would minimize any inconsistencies if anyone should ask, since “Val” can stand in for both “Val Edward and “Faye Valentine.”

Val’s mom and dad agreed with this, and Mr. Daimon said he’d start the necessary document work right away.

Carla, Michael and her folks then told her about their day, but, again, she wasn’t really feeling too interested. She felt slightly guilty about that but did her best not to let them know this.

After a thorough shower, Val again confronted the usual dilemma of what to wear for the day.

Dr. Penny had given her something to wear last night. She told Val they were called a boxer’s groin guard or groin protectors. They were similar to the men’s supporters that she was familiar with except these were heavily padded all over, especially over the groin area. She didn’t include the cup protector anymore, though.

The point of wearing the groin guard was to give her a padded feeling down there and, hopefully, make her walk or sit like a person who’s had an operation there.

Dr. Penny also gave her a couple of pairs of what she called rompers. To her, though it looked like feminine versions of men’s jumpers but without the bib. She checked it out on the internet, and found it was also called a jumpsuit. They weren’t made of denim but of a stretchy jersey fabric, and the two pairs Dr. Penny brought were both XXL, in deference to Val’s supposed condition.

She tried the black pair on over the boxer’s groin guard and understood why Dr. Penny suggested the jumpsuit: the jumpsuit wasn’t tight so it wouldn’t pinch the person who’s just had an operation, and it hung from the shoulders, eliminating the need for belts.

The flare pant legs made her feel like it would feel cold underneath, so she decided to wear knee-high woolen socks, which she had one pair of in her bag. She thought she could wear them to bed but the temp in the room was okay. Thank goodness, because she had them to wear now.

She then wore the new pair of high-heeled Chuck Taylor’s that she got six days ago. The problem was, she didn’t notice the high-heel wedges of the shoes when they selected the sneakers. Val just thought they were regular Converse shoes. The heels were over three inches, but she thought that, at least they made her just as tall as Arianne. “Cool,” she thought.

When she was all ready, she put all her stuff away and stepped outside into the hall. The groin guard did indeed make her walk a little funny and a little bow-legged. Sure, it made her walk a little awkwardly, but it made her look authentically like someone who just had an operation, even though her pace wasn’t as slow as it should have been.

She had deliberately chosen to walk out into the hall so that people would see her. She thought she was being smart, until…

“Miss!” one of the lab techs that saw her called out.

She turned. “Yes?”

“You shouldn’t be walking around! You just had an operation! Hold on a sec.”

He came back in a minute with a wheelchair. It was a powered wheelchair – with the little joystick on one armrest, but it could be pushed, too.

The friendly lab tech helped her into the chair and obligingly pushed her down the hall towards the examination room, which she thought was where Drs. P and Maia were. Which was correct.

“There you go, miss,” he said. “Anything else I can do for you?”

“Thank you, Dave,” Dr. Penny said. “How about you rustle up some breakfast for us?”

“Oh! Yes, Doctor. Of course!”

The tech, Dave, rushed out and closed the door.

The three looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Faye Valentine, you flirt!” Maia giggled. “What did you say to poor Davie!”

“Me! I didn’t say anything!”

“Sure, sure,” Maia said disbelievingly.

Val savored the doctor’s use of her new name, and she found she liked it.

Sure enough, in less than fifteen minutes, Dave was back, pushing one of those trolleys from the cafeteria, laden with food and drink.

“Here you go, ladies,” Dave said. He went and pushed Val’s wheelchair against the meeting table, and then put a plate in front of her, making sure her plate was laden with food.

“Coffee?” he asked. Without waiting, he poured a cup for her.

“Thank you, Dave,” she said. “I was actually thinking of some orange juice…”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” he got the pitcher of juice and poured her a glass.

“Is that okay?”

“Yes, thank you, Dave.”

Clearly, he wanted to stay, but none of the women were inviting him to stay.

“Well,” he said finally, “just text or page me if you need anything, miss. I’ll be around. Dr. Castellanos, Dr. Griffin?” He nodded to the doctors and left the room.

“Val, you little tease!” Dr. Penny said.

“I didn’t do anything!”

“If you say, so.”

Val sullenly turned to her food but, after a minute or so, she couldn’t help it anymore and giggled.

The truth of the matter was, she didn’t really do anything, so it was a mystery why Dave was so solicitous. “Maybe it’s sorta like the Florence Nightingale Effect,” she thought. As far as Dave knew, she had just had an operation… In any case, she felt flattered by the attention, and it felt fun. She felt she couldn’t really do the same thing Dr. Penny does seemingly so effortlessly, like what she did at the border, but maybe she could try that when she was more used to being a girl.

For the rest of the morning, She stayed in the examination room, with Dr. Penny and Maia coming in and going out of the room, obviously very busy with work, but when they did come in, they’d have two or three staffers with them. They politely said hello to Val, some even staying a little bit to chat, and a couple of them being girls.

Pretty soon, those staffers came back in, not necessarily with Dr. Penny or Maia, and spent most of the morning with Val, just chatting about nothing at all.

Sometime before lunch, Arianne called Val up, saying that they’d be over to take her out for lunch. Val said no, and said she’d just meet them at school just like the day before. Arianne agreed reluctantly, and said they’d be waiting by the van.

Val explained it to the doctors, and they agreed, and said they’d just meet her back at the school the following morning.

She got bussed and hugged – something she expected by now (in her mind, she thought of the two as sort of surrogate moms by now) and was about to stand.

“What’re you doing!” one of the staff techs named Wendy exclaimed. She motioned her to sit back down and started pushing her chair out of the room. Val soon found herself being rolled over to the school, with her and seven lab people around her keeping her company, and with Wendy pushing her chair.

It wasn’t that far, though, and they were at the school parking area in less than twenty minutes.

“Te voila!” Arianne exclaimed.

“Thanks, guys,” Val said to the people who brought her. “I’m fine here. See you later!” The techs waved goodbye and left them with the girls.

Arianne came and hugged her. “How are you, ma chere pouliche?”

“Hey, Arianne,” Val said and tried to stand up to greet the others, Arianne pushed her back down on her wheelchair.

“Non!” she said. You must sit!”

“Yes, Vale-chan,” Momo said. “You just had an operation. Are you sure the doctors said you can be out of the clinic?”

“Yes!” she said. “I’m sure! You can even call Dr. Penny if you want…”

“There is no need, Vale-chan. We believe you. Can we help you into the van?” Momo gestured and Jazz helped her up from the other side. Soon, they had her installed in front with Rose, and they had her bag and her wheelchair stowed in the back.

When everyone piled in, Rose hugged her. “So, sweetie. Game for some lunch?”

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read my old Family Girl Blogs, click here to read ALL of my blogs, click here to read my stories here in BCTS, click here to leave me a Private Message, and click here to see my profile & know more about me