Sister's Passport - Flying Off To New Life - Part 6

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Brian, just three and a half years old, toddled over the threshold and into the enormous wood house with the noble pungent smell of varnish and tobacco. He looked up, eyes wide and amazed at the elegant staircase, intricate moldings, and enormous sliding doors between the living room and dining room. 

He imagined himself as a bird, flying through the spacious rooms, swooping through the doorways and under furniture.  

"There's my grandson!" he heard from above. Without warning, strong hands scooped him up and hugged him close. Brian nuzzled his face into his grandfather's sweater, smelling wonderfully of pipe smoke and mothballs.  

"Brian?"  Brian looked over at his grandmother. The shape of her face was so elegant, framed by silver hair as she took another sip of bourbon, leaving a red lipstick smear on the Waterford crystal tumbler.  

"Brian?"  Brian closed his eyes and just enjoyed his grandfather's embrace, never wanting it to end. His grandfather hugged him closer and kissed the top of his head. 

"Our family's future lies in your hands," he said gently.  "Brian, are you okay?" Tina shook him gently.  Brian opened his eyes and saw his wife kneeling beside him, a worried expression on her face.  "I'm fine..." he said a little unsteadily. 

 "Are you sure?"  

Brian looked at the newly remodeled house, unable to think coherently. He was sitting at the front door, where he had sunk to the floor in shock.

 "What now, the house?" he sputtered, barely able to speak, much less think.  

"Oh, Brian! I'm so sorry!" 

Tina blurted out, her carefully rehearsed speech completely forgotten. 

"I just when Kathy found out."  

"Kathy?"  

"Yes! She was talking to Marc LaRossa, he was the one who added all these walls on the first floor for your grandfather when he was sick. Well, not him, his father, really... well, he helped... I mean..."  

"Tina," Brian tried to cut her off.  "Look, we can totally put the walls back. Marc said it wouldn't be a problem..."  

"Tina!"  "... but I thought, you know, to restore the house back to the way it was originally and then Kathy... 

 "Tina!" 

 "She found an old 'Home and Garden'."  

"Tina! It's wonderful!" 

 "and it had pictures, you know, original pictures..." Tina stopped. 

"Wait, what did you say?"  

"I said it's wonderful!" 

 "What? Really?" Tina's face lit up with joy. 

"Do you really mean it?"  

"Yes! Oh my gosh, I stepped into the front door and I was overcome with memories from when I was a boy and would go to visit my grandparents. It looked exactly like it did then. 

And I" Brian started to tear up, "I mean, it's just like I remember."  

Tina gathered Brian into a warm hug, tears flowing. 

"O,h Brian! I'm so happy! I can't tell you!" 

"DAY!" Julie squealed, racing over to her father and running full force into him. Brian picked up his daughter and swung her overhead.  

"Mr. Johnson!" Kathy exclaimed, putting down her broom. 

Tim looked up from where he was stringing Christmas lights for the party.  

"So, I understand it's all your fault," Brian said flatly.  

"Wha... what is?" Kathy asked, taking a step back.  

"The house. It was your idea." 

 "I" Kathy looked over to Tina, who looked to be smirking. 

"I mean. I, I suppose." 

 "Well, then, I guess I have you to thank!" Brian broke into a wide grin. "For the best homecoming I have ever had!"  "You like it!" Kathy exclaimed, relieved.  

"Yes! It's amazing! The details, the trim, the gorgeous wood floors. I can't believe it! It's just like I remembered from when I was a boy. How will I ever thank you!" 

"It was Tina who did all the work. You should have seen all the late nights she put in!" Kathy demurred.  

"Well, it was a joint effort, that's for sure," Tina agreed.  Tina walked over to Kathy and gave her a warm hug. 

"But without your strength and encouragement, I would never have had the courage to attempt it. Thank you. You're really a member of the family now."  Kathy smiled and clenched her eyes tight in joy as she returned the hug. 

"This moment," she said softly to herself, "if only I could live this moment forever."  "Hey, isn't there a recital tonight?" Brian asked. "Don't you girls have some dancing to do?" 

"Pardon me, there!"  

"Yes?" Tim looked up to find a somewhat rumpled older gentleman standing before him, a tweed driving cap in his hand and holding a small suitcase.  

"Would you be so kind as to tell me where the Johnsons live?" His accent was clearly British and had a familiar ring to it.  

"Oh," Tim said. "That's their house next door. But they're not there right now, they've gone to a ballet recital."  

"Would you happen to know if they had a young English boy named Ken with them?"  

"Uh, no. They do have an English girl named Kathy, though. She's their Au Pair."  "Kathy?" The man's eyes grew narrow.  

"Yes, why do you ask?"  

"He's, I mean she's my uh, daughter." 

"Really! You're Mr. Shore?" Tim lit up, all smiles. 

"I'm Tim! It's such a pleasure to meet you! Has Kathy told you about me?"

Mr. Henry Shore was taken aback at Tim's enthusiasm. 

"No, she hasn't. Why should she?" he asked.  

"Well, uh," Tim was taken aback, "I guess, because, I'm kind of her boyfriend."  

Henry just stared at Tim. 

"You are, are you?"  

"Uh, yeah. 

I guess," Tim faltered under the penetrating glare of the Englishman. 

"Say, would you like a ride to the recital?" he asked, quickly changing the topic. 

"Kathy will be dancing and I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss it!"    

"Places! Places everyone!"  Sarah called out, clapping her hands.  

"Kathy! I'm so nervous!" Julie squealed, grabbing Kathy around the waist in a fierce hug. 

"There there," Kathy comforted her, "it will be great! You are a wonderful dancer, now get to your place and get in position!"  

Julie raced across the stage and stood with the other children, waiting for their entrance.  

As the music started, Kathy danced out, her long Nun's habit flowing around her. She twirled and interleaved with three of the other mothers, as Sarah herself danced out to be the mother's superior.  

'This is fun!' thought Kathy to herself, enjoying the feeling of her body as it swept through the air to the music. Since starting dance lessons she had become much more graceful and her motions had become so much more confident, fluid, and feminine. 

"Most improved," Sarah had said.  

Finally, the opening dance finished and Kathy was able to enjoy the applause, lined up with the other Nuns behind Sarah. 

Smiling she looked out over the enthusiastic audience, looking for Tina, Tim, and Brian. Finally, she located them and smiled.  But as she followed the other nuns off stage, a tickling at the edge of her brain sensed that something was wrong. 

 But now it was Julie's turn! Kathy watched, proud as the children danced out with Maria, learning their "Do Re Mi's", all dressed in proper heavy children's clothes of the 1930's. 

Julie couldn't stop smiling as she marched with the other children behind Maria, over and across the stage, until they finally broke out dancing.  It wasn't until early in Act II that Kathy finally got a chance to look out over the audience again. 

As she danced the simple processional she located and smiled at Tim again, who smiled back, delighted.  

But still, something was wrong. What was it?  

Kathy looked back at Tim.

And then slipped and fell to the ground. It couldn't be, could it?  

"Kathy, are you okay?" Sarah whispered urgently to her, helping her up.  

"I'm fine," Kathy said just able to get into her closing position before the music ended. Looking out over the audience, Kathy locked eyes with the man sitting next to Tim and glaring back at her.  

It was Mr. Henry Shore. Kathy's father.  Kathy suddenly felt herself slipping backward in time, as her awful, violent past rose up to strip away all of her pretensions revealing the lonely, naked, gawky boy named Ken underneath.  

The gawky boy who would never fit in anywhere. Not ever.  

"How did he find me?" Ken anguished, tears dripping on the floor. 

"How did he get here?" 

 "You okay?" one of the other nuns asked him.  

", I need to go to the bathroom."  

"Of course! We're not on again until the end," the nun said after him, as Ken raced into the high school hallway behind the stage.  

Stopping at the changing room to get his backpack, Ken hesitated, but then reached into Tina's handbag, taking her car keys.  

"Please forgive me, Tina," Ken said with gulp, as he left the building still dressed in his nun's habit.   

"What am I going to do? What am I going to doooo?" Ken wailed, as he desperately tried to unlock the front door.  

After finally getting the key to work, Ken ran upstairs and began frantically throwing everything he could into his suitcase.  

"Bloody 'ell!" he spat out through clenched teeth. 

"Bloody 'ell! Why'd he have to show up? Couldn't he have just left me the fuck alone?"  

Ken reached for the Versace Crewneck jersey dress and hesitated. It was the dress he wore on his first date with Tim.  

Ken sat down on the bed, holding the dress. He thought of Tina, Tim, Julie, Brian, Sarah, Marc, and Michael everyone he had betrayed with his stupid, selfish stunt.  

Finally, he hung the dress back up on the hangar and completed packing the rest of his stuff.  

Downstairs in the Kitchen, Tim tried to quickly write out a note for the Johnsons.  

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused," Ken wrote, his tears returning with a vengeance. 

"Please forgive me." And then, "I love you all."  Ken signed it and placed it on the counter.  

"Kathy!"  

"Ack!"  

Brian and Tina rushed up to Ken, both talking at once. "Are you okay? What's the matter? 

Why did you leave? Is that man really your father? Is it true what he said? Are you really, a boy?" 

 "STOP!!" Ken cried, hiding his eyes. 

"I'm just... I'm just so sorry! Please, I have to go!"  

Brian grabbed Ken's arm in a vice-like grip and pulled him roughly back. 

"Stop right there," Brian said in measured tones. 

"Tell us the truth. Who are you?"  

"I"  "Brian!" Tina said shocked.

"Stop that! You're hurting him!" 

"Stay back, Tina," Brian spat out. "We need to get to the bottom of this. Are you Ken? Or Kathy?"  

"I please," Ken said between choking sobs, hesitating, looking at the ground, in shock.  

"I'm Ken," he finally said his heart sinking. 

"KATHY!" Julie banged open the door, still dressed in her ballet costume. She raced over to Ken, the force of her collision knocking him back against the counter and out of Brian's grasp.  

"WHAT'S WRONG?" she screamed. 

"Are you leaving?? Don't you love me anymore? What did I do wrong? Please don't go!!!" Julie's hysterical screams reached a fever pitch.  

"Julie!" Ken knelt down next to her, his heart breaking at all the suffering he had caused. 

"Please, don't cry! Please, please, please don't cry! 

Of course,e I love you! It's just that, I think it's best if I go." 

"Noooo!" she screamed.  

Brian reached out and pulled Julie away.  Julie turned on her father. 

"It's your fault! Isn't it! 

You're sending Kathy away, aren't you! I HATE YOU!"  

"Julie," Brian said trying to be firm but understanding. 

It'st just that, Well, this may not be the right place for Kathy right now."  

"Why not?" Tina said her voice soft and calm.  Instantly Julie's screams stopped.  

"What?" asked Brian.  

"I think Ken... I mean Kathy... should stay."  

"But he's, I mean she's a," Brian stumbled.  

"A what? An amazing Au Pair? The older sister that Julie never had? A better-than-average amateur ballet dancer? The person who saved our marriage?" 

Brian looked at his wife, dumbstruck.  

"You can't be serious," he finally said.  Tina walked over to Ken and held him firmly to her side. Taking her cue, Julie rushed over and held on to Ken as well.  

"I have never been more serious. Kathy gave me my self-respect back. She's the missing piece that makes our family work." Tina looked directly into Ken's eyes. 

"You're my best friend and I love you."  

"I love you too!" Ken sobbed.  

"I LOVE YOU TOO!" Julie shouted.  "But, but" Brian stuttered.  "Brian!" Tina said with authority. 

"You asked before 'How can I ever thank you'. Do you remember?" 

 "Yes,"  

For some reason, just then, Brian glanced over to his briefcase sitting on the kitchen countertop. 

He thought back to his hotel room (was it just yesterday?) which had been littered with organizational charts from the companies he was studying.  

"Customer, Operations, and Innovation," he muttered to himself. 

"Customer, Operations, Innovation..." 

And just then he saw the pieces of the chart fall into place. The organization is balanced and whole. It was a thing of beauty.  

"Brian?" asked Tina.  

"Of course, Kathy is staying," Brian said suddenly. 

"She has to!" 

"I don't know what kind of hold you have over these people."  

"Dad" Ken sighed.  

"And now they want you to stay? Are they nutters? Having a pervert fag like you in the same house as their four-year-old daughter?"  

"I am not a pervert..."

"But what else should I expect from Americans? 

No respect for the position, that's what I say. No respect for a person's proper place in life."

"They're good people, Dad."  

"Hah," Henry snorted. "If you say so. Well, get your stuff. We're going home."  

"No." 

"What?" 

"I'm not going, I'm staying."  

"I didn't fly all the bloody way across the bloody Atlantic ocean to hear you talk this way. Get your stuff, we're going."  

"I'm not and you can't make me."  

"Oh, I can't? We'll see about that. Suppose I called the police? How about the immigration service? 

I bet they'll be pretty interested in how you smuggled yourself into the country on a stolen passport."  

Ken felt his nerve slipping. 

"You, you wouldn't do that, would you?"  Mr. Shore sat for a long time, just staring at Ken, his face frozen solid.  

"I guess not," he said finally. "Fine. If you're going to stay, then stay. Good riddance. But don't come crying back home when these people see you for who you really are." 

 "They already see me for who I really am." 

 "Right," Mr. Shore snorted again. "And would you please give your mother a call? She's been hysterical since the day you left. 

You should be ashamed of how you've treated her."  

"Oh! Of course, I'll call her! I promise, right away."  

"Fine."  

After they exchanged passports, Mr. Shore said his polite farewells to the Johnsons and then accepted a ride back to the airport hotel.  

"Oh, Kathy!" Tina said when he had finally left. 

"I'm so sorry he was so mean and intolerant! Can't he accept you for the wonderful person you are?" 

 "But, couldn't you tell?" Ken asked, looking at Tina, amazed. 

"That was his way of accepting me!" 

 "What, are you serious?"  

"Yes!" Ken said suddenly feeling as light as a flower petal.    

But Ken wasn't out of the woods yet. There was one more person he had to tell.  

"Tim, we have to talk."  

"Okay, out here?" 

Tim led Kathy out to the back patio and closed the door behind them. Muffled sounds of the party came through the glass. 

Most of the guests were around the TV watching a video of the recital.  Ken grabbed both of Tim's hands and took a deep breath.  

"Okay, here goes," he said.  

"Wait!" Tim trotted over to the bushes, fiddled with something, and suddenly strings of Christmas lights blinked on, adding white twinkles to the warm spring evening.  

"Oh!" Ken said in wonder. "They're beautiful!"  

"Now what was it you wanted to tell me?" Tim reached out and held both of Ken's hands in his.  

"I," thrown off stride, Ken took a second to gather his thoughts. 

"It's just that, I mean," Tim's hands felt wonderfully soft and warm, Ken realized.  "That you were born a man?" Tim asked gently.  

"WHAT?" Ken's eyes shot wide open. 

"How did you know?" 

 Tim shrugged his shoulders. "Sarah told me," he said simply, "a few days ago. I think she's known since you first danced for her."  

"Really?"  "Yeah. And so, when I was helping out with the scenery, remember? She pulled me aside and told me. I think she could tell I was getting... uh... 'attached' and wanted to warn me before my heart got broken, or yours. She said you had enough to deal with already."  

"I feel just terrible!" 

 "Why?"  

"Because! I should have had the guts to tell you when we first met. I almost did, so many times! But..."  

"But what?" 

 "I was too afraid. I" Ken hesitated. "I love you," he finally said simply, staring down at the ground, so afraid that he was shaking.  

Tim tilted Ken's head back up, looked him in the eyes, and kissed him.  

"Mmm...." Ken sighed feeling all of the day's stress and turmoil slip off his shoulders like a cloak, sliding down his body and away, revealing the girl within.  Ken was back to being Kathy again.  

"I love you too," Tim said breaking the kiss. 

"As if that weren't already blatantly obvious. I mean, when I first heard the news from Sarah, I was like, 'No way!' I mean, you're so beautiful! But then it started to make sense, your attempts to warn me off at the beginning, your nervousness on our first date everything. 

And then, when I sat down to think about it, I discovered something else." 

 "What?"  

"That it just made me want you all the more."  

"That's impossible."  

"Apparently not. I don't know why, but it's the truth."  

"Wow. Oh my god, Tim. I hope tonight never ends."  Kathy melted into Tim's warm embrace as they kissed again.  

"YAAY!" Julie squealed, followed by applause!  Startled Tim and Kathy broke their kiss and looked over. 

The entire party had been watching the two young lovers from behind the glass doors.  Now the glass doors were open and the young couple was being surrounded by all of the partygoers.  

Kathy and Tim just grinned and kissed again.  

"You go, you two!" said Sarah. 

 "Hey, get a room!" said Brian, teasingly.  "Don't listen to him," said Tina, pulling Brian into a kiss of her own.  

"They love each other! I knew it! I just knew they would fall in love!" said Julie running around in circles.  'I am Kathy,' Kathy thought to herself, 'and here I am.'  

The End.