By Chance

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The door opened. “Oh! Hello.”

“Hi.” Rue smiled sweetly at the red haired older woman in front of the door.

The older woman pulled her glasses up to her eyes and looked at the number on the door for a split second longer. “Well dear, I don’t mean to disturb you, but I’m looking for apartment 1001A. I’m looking for Joe Vic, do you know him?”

Rue nodded. “Well ma’am, you’re actually in the right place. Joe Vic’s at work right now, but I could tell him you stopped by- -”

The woman raised her hand to cover her rounded ‘O’ mouth. She dropped her palm and wrapped her soft fingers around Rue’s wrist. A smile was spreading. “Now, you know I could just whack that boy on that big head of his!”

Rue looked nervously at the older woman who was still latched on to her. Confidence aside, Rue had the same fear as countless other transgendered people- - of being found out. The older woman didn’t seem angry or anything remotely resembling the expression, but things always had a way of changing suddenly.

That terrible fear of discovery. Rue’s brow began to sweat.

“Oh dear, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Rue nodded tentatively. “No ma’am.”
“I’m Mary Braggsford- -” Rue didn’t recognize the name. “Old Bill’s wife.”

“Oh!”

“Well, I thought I’d come over while I was out and see if I could get Joe Vic to could cut the grass this weekend, but now- - you tell him, I’ll be expecting him Friday night, you too. I’ve got a few bones to pick with him over keeping such a beautiful girl like locked up- -”

Rue released a burning breath. A smile spread across her lips. “My shift doesn’t start for a few hours more. So, he’s not holding me prisoner or nothing, ma’am”

“You’ve got a job, manners and an accent!” She pinched Rue’s chin in her excitement.

“You tell Joe Vic everything I said and emphasize the whacking on the head part.” Mary began walking, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she left. Rue felt the sense of normal buoyancy return to her stomach. Disaster was averted and she’d passed. Passed, like any normal born with a double XX chromosome set fish.

Joe Vic knew just as easy as people saw his huge size, they automatically assumed his quiet reticent manner meant he was as dumb as he was big. Too bad they were always wrong. Oblivious. That’s what he was. He didn’t need a word to define him as something he already knew.

But, even he couldn’t ignore problems, questions, queries when faced with them daily. He hadn’t realized it until he was in the middle of hoisting the engine of a ’67 Buick that he wondered what Rue was up to.

The fact that he’d thought of her at all, and not just dinner, was a novel realization all its own. Startling and shocking. When had the sometime problematic trouble bringer with a whirlwind of Southern charm become his friend? As the heavy engine swayed within the chains no more than two feet above his head, Joe Vic decided that the time wasn’t right to think of such things.

So, here he was. Internally, he thanked those bootcamps and juvie for providing him with some resources. Sure, he had fists and a hard head. But, what could they teach him about transgenderism and transexuality? He signed on to the computer that Old Bill rarely used. Luckily, like any sixteen year old boy he’d learned that the internet was more than just an education tool. A purveyor of porn was more like it. In other words, Joe Vic knew how to clean up after himself.

A quick search. He was sure he wouldn’t find anything useful. Entered the word Rue taught him. Transgendered.

“Christ!” He hissed. Over a million hits. Had everyone heard of this thing but him, he wondered.

The first few links were all included things that had felt like peeking through his fingers to look at. She-males. Chicks with dicks. He-shes. None of them seemed like Rue. These were - - freaks; people taunted and mocked because of their outlandish sense of life. His stomach tightened and he exited the page.

Amazing how angry and disgusted he could feel all of a sudden. Those people weren’t like Rue. He continued to scroll through a series of webpages. Some were filled with medical mumbo-jumbo that might as well have been written in Chinese for his complete lack of understanding.

Finally, he hit paydirt. A Straight Guide for Non-Gender Dysphoric Person. The website had individual pages on the definition of transgendered, initial steps, hormone therapy, surgery, passing, vocabulary of the transgendered, and the journals of two individuals that were going through and were finished with transition and surgery.

Joe Vic sat in the office, quiet as a church mouse. His eyes took in every word from passing to ‘T’ to vaginoplasty; he was both intrigued and determined to understand. Better for him that Rolling Wheels was having a light day.

He’d realized there was too much for him to take in one sitting. The journals he thought were the most interesting thing he’d found so far. He printed a copy of the mainpage for Rue. He thought it would be good for her to have something like this. Joe Vic hadn’t given it much thought as to whether Rue’d made some friends over in Haxton. A small feeling curled low in his belly.

He clicked on the link for information about surgery. After reading the first paragraph, the bright set of vivid images that glared at him made him exit the page with quickness. “What the fuck?!” There was no way he was going to Rue do this.

The sequence of images, that amounted to Joe Vic’s permanent scarring, were of the cutting and inversion of the male organ into a female one. He wiped his brow. “Like fuck Rue’s going to let some asshole cute her into pieces--” Joe Vic and his dick were both in agreement that sharp objects and cocks didn’t go together.

The price didn’t dissuade him either. “Twenty fucking grand, my ass.”

“Fifty grand for what?” Joe Vic looked up to see Old Bill leaning in the door way a half smile at his lips.

Joe Vic shook his head. “Aw, nothing. I was just fiddling around. Sorry.” He cleaned the browser history and began to log off.

Old Bill walked into the office and headed over to the garage’s fridge. There was little food, mostly beer. Though, the mix didn’t seem like something that would be wise in mixing. “It’s good to see someone using that piece of expensive garbage. Mary said ‘Buy it, Bill. You’ll need it, Bill. You gotta adapt to the new world, Bill.’ ” Old Bill’s muscled and tattooed forearms pointed at his chest, “How can something I don’t even know how to turn on save me trouble? It’s like that new- -coffeemaker. Yeah, that shiny sleek petite little thing that I don’t know how to use has somehow taken over the job of making my coffee.” He waved a hand and chuckled. “These days, I’m under the assumption that magic did it.”
Joe Vic moved around the desk, laughing at Old Bill’s exaggerated misfortune. “As long as Mary continues to make the coffee, you got nothin’ to worry about.”

Old Bill waved him off. “Yeah. Yeah.” He pointed at the computer, behind Joe Vic. “I didn’t know you could work that.”

“Yeah. One of the programs I did made us take computer literacy classes as part of our--” He air quoted. “Vocational training.”

Old Bill nodded in understand. “Well, it’s good they got something into the thick head of yours- -” He looked over the young man in front of him. Joe Vic looked cooler than normal, more relaxed less restless. His eyes didn’t still have the sort of manic edge to them. “Go on. I’ll close up.”

“You sure?”

“Boy, if you don’t get out my garage, I swear I’ll have you pulling an all nighter with that restoration job.”

Joe Vic held up his hands and flashed Old Bill one of those rare smiles that made him look like a big kid. Old Bill watched him go as he sipped his beer. Joe Vic was like a son to him. He’d known Joe Vic as a tough as nails, mean as sin boy. Now, he knew him as a young man with edges so rough they could cut glass. He’d never expected the young man he caught attempting to steal a car in need of repair to still be here all these years later.

A sip of frosty brew passed his lips again. Funny how thinking of the boy or now the man he thought of as his surrogate son could drive him to drink. The newest development with the computer was tipping the balance in favor of the thought he’d had more than a few passing times. Ironic that the thought of turning over the garage to Joe Vic would arise as a spasm crippled his hand into a tight fist.

He’d heard from a friend down at the local precinct of Joe Vic’s very conspicuous absence from the drunk tank. He’d also heard of Joe Vic’s empty fighting card down at Kent’s Tavern. The most staggering fact was seeing him turn down going out for drinks with some of the guys after they’d finished their biggest job to date; remodeling a water-logged classic Model-T Ford.

Something had gotten into that boy and he was glad that it did. Somehow, he was sure Joe Vic wouldn’t turn into a heartless brute. Old Bill laughed heartily to the darkness, because he was kinda proud. My boy.
Joe Vi c walked through the door expecting to be greeted by a quiet apartment. He stopped short when he heard Rue in the kitchen humming, not actually humming but singing something that he obviously didn’t understand.

“Hey.”

She gave him a flirty smile. “Hey yourself!”
He tossed his cap aside. “You seem awfully cherry. What’s up?”

Rue turned away from whatever was simmering prettily in the pots on the stove. “I don’t know where to begin…I got an appointment with a counselor. See, I’m one step closer- -”

Joe Vic had an unintentional flash of what sliced open penile tissue looked like and barely stopped himself from reaching down to pet his nuts. “About that- -”

Rue kept on talking. “Then, I found a new source to get the hormones. And this sonuvabitch tried to charge me $900. That was my whole reasoning for going to him. I cursed him long and hard as the day is long! He dropped his price back to $500.”

“You actually called him a son of a bitch. Wow, I must be rubbin’ off on you.” He smirked.

Rue walked over to him and tapped him hard on the chest with her rather pointy pointer finger. “You had a visitor.”

“Who?”

“Mary Braggsford…She told me to tell you that she’s going to cuff you one as soon as she sees you.”

“Haha. Not funny. She say anything else?”

“Yeah, she said we were invited to dinner on Friday night.” That part came out kinda low and drawn out.”

Joe Vic leaned in the doorway. His work shirt unbuttoned and white wifebeater sticking to him due to his sweat. He could already see the excitement in those sharp blue eyes. “So, you working Friday?”

Rue nodded. “Yeah, but if I go in earlier, then I should be able to come back and get cleaned up….Before I forget, she also wanted you to cut her grass.”

Joe Vic opened the fridge for a beer. Looking inside the box, he honestly saw no need for Rue to cook everyday. The fridge was full of those plastic containers always shown on the television. Somehow, they’d managed to materialize in his fridge. He’d shut up, because he wanted to continue eating things that tasted good and that didn’t come out of a can.

“Got anymore good news?”

“Yeah.” Her smile was bright and her eyes looked watery. “I passed.”

He knew that meant. So, he smiled too.

TBC/?

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