Unfamiliar Territory (the sequel to "Lost and Found")

GRACE: Bonnie and I held each other for what seemed like forever. She wiped away my tears and I had to laugh. Not because she'd done anything funny, but because it felt like we'd finally taken that first step into the adult world. A world that we still knew so little about. An unfamiliar territory or, as Shakespeare had put it, an undiscovered country. One that would require considerable exploration. Hopefully, for the rest of our lives.

I leaned in close and we shared our first kiss. Soft, warm, and something I wanted to experience again as often as possible.

“Feeling more like yourself now, Grace?” she asked when the kiss ended.

I looked at her beautiful dark eyes and nodded. “I'm sorry I ran away, Bonnie. That wasn't very mature of me. I didn't know what else to do. I'm glad I didn't ruin our friendship.”

She smiled and shook her head. “You didn't. You've made it a million times better.”

“Then why –” I began, a little confused.

“You caught me by surprise,” Bonnie explained. “You were further ahead than I was. I think I figured that I still had a few more years before I'd start looking for someone to fall in love with. I just didn't realize that that someone was my best friend, standing right in front of me. I can be a bit thick-headed sometimes. I'm sorry.”

I hugged her. “No apology needed.” Then I paused and looked at the watch on my right wrist. “I need to go home as soon as possible. My parents must be freaking out.”

“My parents have probably already told yours where I'd be and what I was doing,” she said. “Why don't you call them and let them know that everything's all right? More than all right, actually.”

I nodded, took my cell phone out of my backpack, and dialed my home phone number.

It rang a few times and then I heard my stepmother answer. “Hello?”

“Hi, Mom,” I said. “It's Grace. Everything's okay. No need to panic.”

“Where are you?” Mom asked.

“The construction site,” I replied. “The one on the other side of the graveyard from Dandridge Elementary School.”

“Why – oh, never mind,” Mom said. “You're all right and that's what matters.”

I could hear an unfamiliar voice in the background. “Are Bonnie's parents there?” I asked.

“No, no,” Mom replied. “But I'll call them and let them know you're on your way here. They can pick up Bonnie after dinner. Or would you rather they did that before dinner?”

“After dinner is just fine,” I said, gently squeezing Bonnie's hand in mine. “We'll be there as soon as we can.”

“I'll let your father's brother know that we'll have an extra place at the dining room table,” Mom went on.

“His brother?” I repeated. “I didn't know he had one.”

“They've been estranged for a long time,” Mom explained. “Your Uncle James decided to visit for a week or two. Maybe they can mend some fences while he's here. Want me to tell him you said 'hello'?”

“Su – sure,” I said, not sure at all what to say. Had I seen Uncle James before? If I had, how long ago had that been? It must've been before I became Grace because I didn't even have a face, much less a voice, to go with the name.

“See you soon, then,” Mom said. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said.

After we hung up, Bonnie asked, “Is something wrong at your place?”

“I don't know yet,” I replied. “My father's brother is visiting us.”

“That doesn't sound so bad,” she said. “Is he anything like your dad?”

“I don't know,” I said. “I can't remember the last time I met him. I really can't.”

“Maybe your uncle can tell you about it and refresh your memory,” Bonnie suggested.

“That might not be the only thing needing to be refreshed,” I said.

----------

JAMES:

I ran the fingers of my right hand through my short curly brown hair. Sometimes I envied Isaac's straight hair. But what I really envied was the feeling of family here. The feeling that they definitely enjoyed being together.

It wasn't always like that when Isaac and I were growing up. Our parents would sometimes get along and sometimes they'd argue until one would storm out of the room – or sometimes out of the house, only to return hours later, not mentioning where they'd been and what they'd done in the meantime. When they got divorced, I was only surprised that their marriage had taken that long to reach that point. Maybe they were trying to wait until Isaac and I turned eighteen.

You don't know how good you've got it here, Bro. Or maybe you do.

“They're on their way here,” my sister-in-law said as she hung up her cell phone and put it on the kitchen counter.

“That's great,” I said, pleased. “I can't wait to get reacquainted with Sean. It's been so long since we last spent time together. Is he still into football and baseball?”

There was an uncomfortable pause and an unfamiliar expression on Allie's face. I felt like I'd stepped into unfamiliar territory without meaning to.

“Maybe you should ask about that when they get here,” she suggested. “I need to get dinner prepared. You're welcome to help.”

I nodded. “Yes, please.” As I chopped up vegetables to go into her handmade soup, I asked, “Allie? Is there something wrong with Sean?”

“There's nothing … wrong … with him,” Allie replied, with a slight hesitation. “He's been happier over the last few years than he was before his birth mother – my twin sister Debra – died. His grades are improving, though he still sometimes has problems with procrastination.”

I chuckled. “That hasn't changed. He was like that when I was last here. I think he takes after Debra more than Isaac.”

“I suppose,” she said. “Here. Dump those into this pot. The water's already boiling.”

After I did that, I asked, “Anything else I can help with?”

“How about setting the table?” Allie suggested and showed me where everything was.

“China and silverware?” I asked as I laid it out. “What's the occasion? Or don't I get to know yet?”

She didn't answer and went back into the kitchen.

I had a distinct feeling that something was being stepped around. Something that she and Isaac knew about and weren't comfortable discussing with me yet. It seemed to have something to do with Sean. And maybe also his best friend, Bonnie.

If only Sean were here so that I could ask him. Why was it taking him so long to get here from wherever he was?

----------

ISAAC: I came into the kitchen and saw Allie leaning over the stove, steam rising from the pots in front of her. She seemed to be sniffing the air and looked pleased.

I gave her a hug from behind. “Is everything all right, dear?”

“Why wouldn't it be?” she replied.

“Allie –” I said, then lowered my voice. “Is there something you can't tell him but you could tell me?”

“He doesn't know,” she said quietly.

My eyebrows rose. “You haven't told him?”

Allie shook her head. “I couldn't. Not yet. I don't know how he'll react when he finds out. Is James anything like you?”

“In some ways, yes,” I said. “He's not narrow-minded if that's what you're worried about. Our parents did their best to raise us as tolerant and accepting as humanly possible.”

“Then maybe he won't mind after all,” she said. “I just don't want things to … blow up.”

I kissed her on the top of her head. “It'll probably be all right.”

Back in her normal voice, Allie said, “Bonnie's going to be having dinner with us. That's why there's an extra place at the dining room table.”

“And that is absolutely fine with me,” I said. “That way James gets to meet them both.”

“At least we won't have to make any premature preparations for July 4^th,” she said.

“Because there will probably be plenty of fireworks before then?” I asked.

Allie nodded.

----------

BONNIE: Grace's house was across the street. I could see the lights on in the living room window. There were three vehicles in the driveway. Two were parked just outside the garage door, and the third one was parked behind them. It was a very dusty Honda SUV that had probably been dark red a long time ago.

I felt Grace hold my hand and heard her say, “Thank you for being here, Bonnie. I think I would be much more nervous if I had to do this on my own.”

“It's what friends are for,” I said. “Or, in our case, girlfriends.”

She nodded and we crossed the street.

The front door was to the left of the living room window. Grace unlocked it with her house key. We went inside and she closed the door. Two voices came from the kitchen near the backside of the house, one female and one male.

Her father was sitting on the living room couch across from the front door. He looked up and smiled at both of us. I watched as he put aside his newspaper and came over. He hugged Grace first, holding her close. She laid her cheek against his chest as he mussed her hair a little.

“Everything's all right?” he asked her.

She nodded. “Better than all right.”

“Good.” Then he released her and shook my hand. “It's nice to meet you again, Bonnie. I'm glad that you're having dinner with us tonight. My wife is making one of her wonderful homemade soups.”

“So am I,” I said. “Is there somewhere we can put our backpacks for the time being?”

“My bedroom sounds like a good place,” Grace suggested and led the way down a short hallway that divided the front half of the house from the back half of the house.

I'd been in her bedroom many times in the past. But that was before today. Things were different now. We weren't just good friends. We were girlfriends who were in love with each other.

Still, the familiarity was comforting: the strawberry-ice-cream-pink walls, the cluttered bulletin board behind her small desk, the posters on the walls, the dresser between the foot of her bed and her closet. Not much had changed, decoration-wise. We were the ones who had changed.

We dumped our backpacks on her bed.

“I guess it's too late to back out now,” Grace said.

“Out of what?” I asked. “You're not having second thoughts, are you?”

“About us?” she replied and shook her head. “No. Not about that.”

“Then this is about –” I said.

Grace nodded. “He probably heard our voices.”

“And noticed the change in yours,” I said.

She nodded again. “Oh, Bonnie. If only I were as strong as you.” I thought I saw tears on her cheeks.

“I'm not as strong as you think I am,” I said, putting my arms around her. “Maybe that's why we get along so well. And why we were friends so quickly back when we were in elementary school.”

“We also both knew what it felt like to not fit in,” Grace said.

“I'm so glad that my parents moved back here after they retired from the military,” I said. “They could so easily have decided to move off-base and live in Monterey. I wouldn't have minded … except that it would've meant never seeing you again. Skype or Zoom is nice to have – ”

“But nothing like the real thing,” she said.

I nodded. “The real thing is a million million times better.”

Grace looked at me. Really looked at me. Then we kissed, and the kiss seemed to last much longer than the one at the construction site.

We were suddenly interrupted by knocking on the door.

“Sean?” a male voice asked. “Is everything okay? Your mother says that dinner is being served.”

We looked at each other.

“Now or never,” I said.

“We'll be at the dining room table in a minute, Uncle James,” Grace called.

“Still procrastinating,” I observed with a smile.

“Scared is more like it,” she said. “But at least I don't have to do it alone.”

----------

JAMES: I went back to the dining room, wondering about the girl's voice I'd heard coming from Sean's bedroom. Maybe that was his friend Bonnie's voice. Surely Sean's vocal range had dropped at least a little since he'd gone through puberty.

“Everything all right?” Allie asked me.

I nodded. “They'll be here in about a minute. I'm not sure what the delay is, though.”

“I wouldn't worry about it, then,” she said. “What do you want to drink? We have milk, juice, and soda. No alcohol.”

“Apple juice would be fine,” I said.

“Apple juice it is,” Allie said and headed for the fridge.

“Allie?” I asked. “Is Sean feeling all right? His voice sounded a bit … unusual. Maybe he has a cold or sore throat?”

“He isn't sick if that's what you mean,” she said as she poured a tall glass of apple juice and handed it to me. “He hasn't missed a day of school in several years.”

I looked puzzled. “Allie – something has changed since I was last here.”

She nodded. “Nothing too earthshaking, though. Besides, sometimes change is a good thing. Especially in this case.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “It feels like you've been talking in nothing but riddles since I arrived here.”

Allie sighed and looked at me. Then she looked past me and smiled. “There you are! The soup is getting cold. Soup crackers?”

The two girls nodded.

“I'll go get them, then,” Allie said.

I turned around to see … not a boy and a girl, but two girls. One fair, one dark. The fair girl had brown hair much like Isaac's. The dark one had an afro that looked really good on her. Both were wearing minidresses and were barefooted.

“I'm Bonnie,” the dark girl said, holding out her hand. “A friend of the family.”

We shook hands.

“Pleased to meet you,” I told her.

“And I'm Grace,” the fair girl said, holding out her hand. It seemed to be trembling a little.

We didn't shake.

“Where's Sean?” I blurted.

“Gone,” Grace replied. “Never to return.”

I tried not to stare. “You're … you're …”

“A girl, yes,” she said. “Grace Nichols, to be exact.”

“Grace,” I said, trying it out. It didn't sound so strange once I'd finally said it. “But … but why?”

“That would take too long to explain,” Grace said. “Maybe after dinner, I can explain a little.”

We sat down at the table. Allie served the soup, handing out the bag of soup crackers to anyone who wanted them. It seemed like your typical family meal. Plenty of banter, puns, and brief topical discussions. Grace and Bonnie seemed to be getting along quite well. Giggling sometimes, smiling at each other times. How close were they? Very good friends? Or maybe more than that?

----------

JAMES: After dinner, the table was cleared. Dishes etc. went into the dishwasher. The five of us went into the living room. Grace and Bonnie sat on the couch, shoulders touching, holding hands. My brother and I sat on chairs near the couch. My sister-in-law sat in a rocking chair near my brother's chair, holding hands.

Grace did her best to explain clearly and concisely what had led up to her decision to change her gender and what happened afterward. As she did so, the last of her nervousness and fear seemed to fade away. Almost as if she could sense my acceptance of her new identity.

“So you see, Uncle James, it wasn't something that just popped into my head one night while I was lying in bed,” she told me. “I was tired of being more and more depressed. Losing my temper at the slightest thing. I wanted to be happy again.”

“Have you ever had any regrets?” I asked Grace.

She shook her head, glanced at Bonnie. They smiled at each other. “Only one: that I hadn't done it sooner.”

“What about the kids at school?” I asked Grace.

“It was a little uncomfortable at first, but they adapted much faster than the teachers and office staff did,” she replied. “But everyone calls me 'Grace' now. Or, if they want to be more formal, 'Grace Nichols'. Or, if you're Madame Courbet, 'Mademoiselle Nichols'.”

Bonnie nudged Grace and both girls giggled. As if sharing some private joke.

“So – is everything good?” Allie asked me. “The world hasn't ended as far as I can tell, now that you know the truth about Grace.”

“Everything is better than good,” I said. “Since I don't have any children of my own, I just thought of a way to help Grace in the future.”

Isaac looked interested. “Oh?”

I nodded. “I'm going to set up a college fund for her. Enough to cover all her expenses: tuition, dorm, textbooks, transportation, meals, etc.”

Grace's eyes went very wide. “You mean it, Uncle James?”

“I sure do, kiddo,” I said.

She let go of Bonnie and jumped to her feet. She came over to me, leaned down, and threw her arms around my neck. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“You're very welcome, Grace,” I said.