Spider Man
By Missy Crystal
I wasn't happy about being a research assistant. As a little girl, I
dreamed of being a model. I would put on my pink and white taffeta
party dress with the built in nylon net crinoline that puffed out the
skirt and the big bow in back, well, actually it was my cousin Molly's
hand me down dress which was two sizes too big for me, and my, well
hers too, black patent leather mary janes, that didn't fit either, and
sashay back and forth in my room. I asked my mom for modeling lessons,
but she just looked at me and said it would be a waste of money.
Thanks mom. And so it went all though high school. Boys aren't
attracted to tall, skinny girls with little boobies. When I was using
the bathroom, I would hear the other girls joking about giving their
boyfriends birthday blowjobs. I would have done that for my boyfriend,
if I had one. I would have done it for their boyfriends, but no luck.
Mini skirts, stuffing Kleenex in my bra, fancy makeup, perfume
guaranteed to win a man's heart, nothing helped. I was the ugly
duckling that grew up to be a turkey.
College was no better. I was a biochemistry major. Not too many hot
guys were in my classes. Actually, none. Only nerds. I probably
could have seduced one. If animals can do it, I suppose eventually
they would have figured out what goes where too, but I had my sights
set higher. My aim was great, but I was lacking the ammunition. Then
I went for my Masters. There'd be lots of hot guys there, right?
Wrong. My classes were mostly women and the jury was out on the rest.
At least they never responded to my provocative looks and seductive
outfits. After I graduated, still a virgin through no fault of my own,
I was recruited by a big pharmaceutical company to work in their drug
research laboratory. The pay was good and there had to be some hot
guys in a big company, right? Wrong. Most of the men I worked with
were old enough to be my father and those few who were around my age
were all weird with a capital "W". What's a girl to do?
Every day I would get up, wash, get dressed in whatever I felt like
throwing on, it didn't matter, since I wore a white lab coat over it,
sometimes I thought it would be funny if I just wore my bra and
panties, and catch the 8:25 bus to the lab. Actually, from a
scientific standpoint, my work was pretty interesting. Our group was
analyzing the venom from a newly discovered South American spider.
According to our protocol briefing, this particular spider was the only
one that was known to be social, more like bees than its eight-legged
relatives. The spiders spun huge communal webs, each one with a queen
nested in the center. It was her venom that was of interest, because,
if she was unique among spiders, maybe her venom was unique too and
could cure cancer or genital warts or whatever.
After I got my station set up, I went to the Research Director's office
to get a venom sample. The spiders were found in a remote area of the
rain forest and, since there was just one queen to a web, only a few
could be taken for their venom without affecting the spider's ecology.
That meant there was very little to work with and the small amount we
had was closely monitored. I signed the necessary requisition forms
and received a syringe into which a small amount of the venom had been
drawn from a vial. The Director handed the syringe to me and I
carefully carried it to my lab bench. I removed the protective plastic
cap from the needle and was about to place a drop on a glass slide for
testing, when I felt like I was going to sneeze. I was afraid that I
would drop the syringe, so I quickly put it down on the bench. I did
sneeze, blew my nose on some tissues, which I threw in the wastebasket
under my bench, and then reached for the syringe. It must have rolled,
because I had put it down with the needle facing away from me, but I
felt a prick in my finger and, when I looked, I saw a little spot of
blood. Damn, I thought, just my luck.
Good lab procedure is to report any accidents, but I was worried that I
would be reprimanded, maybe even fired, because of my carelessness in
handling the venom. There probably wasn't any remaining in the needle
anyway, I reassured myself, at least not enough to hurt me. After all,
it's a little tiny spider that preys on other little tiny insects, so
it shouldn't hurt a great big human, I rationalized. Since I had
plenty of the venom sample left to work with, I decided to keep my
mouth shut about the accident and go on with my work. All day long I
was very sensitive to how I felt, but I didn't notice anything. I
cleaned up my station and caught the 5:15 bus back to my apartment. As
far as I could tell, I still had no symptoms. However, I was a little
tired and I decided to rest for a few minutes, before I opened up a can
of ravioli for my dinner. I went over to my bed, it was a studio
apartment, stripped down to my panties and put on my nightgown.
I woke up a few hours later and looked at the alarm clock. It was
eleven o'clock, but something was strange. I looked closer and saw
that the pm light was out, which meant that it was morning. I turned
my head to look at the window and, holy cow, it was daylight. I had
overslept. I started to sit up and then felt really funny, bulkier,
for some reason. My nightgown had ridden up while I slept and my
panties were showing. There was a funny bulge in them. I put my hand
down and felt it press against something. I quickly hooked my thumbs
in the waistband to pull them down. I gasped when I saw what looked
like a sausage, long, round and meaty. What had that spider bite done
to me? Were these growths all over my body I worried, not grasping the
nature of what I was looking at.
I jumped out of bed, stumbling because my panties were down around my
thighs, stepped out of them, pulled my nightgown over my head and went
to the door mirror. Instead of me, there was a guy looking back at me.
A handsome face, killer body, with well developed pecs, muscular arms
and legs and a six pack stomach. I spun around and so did he, showing
off a really nice tight set of buns. He was everything I every dreamt
about in a man, except that the man was me. What the hell was
happening? Then it hit me. The spider venom must be some kind of
hallucinogen. Maybe that's how it worked. The prey became delusional
and the spider could then capture it and keep it fresh until it needed
to feed. But why would the Queen have that kind of venom? From what
they told us about these spiders, she stayed in the web and the other
spiders brought her food. I shrugged. Maybe it has a different effect
on the spiders. Maybe it turns the male spiders into studs when she
needs them to service her, but, whatever it did for the spiders, I
might as well enjoy my hallucination before the effect wore off.
As a science major, I had taken enough biology courses to know the
fundamentals of penises. Reaching down to examine it, mmmm, that felt
nice, it was quite a respectable specimen, about five inches long and
two inches thick I estimated, with a flap of skin over the tip.
Reaching underneath I felt a pouch with two big balls dangling between
my legs. Rubbing them felt nice too. I had heard about jerking off.
What the heck, I thought. I gentle circled the shaft with my right
hand while continuing to fondle my balls with my left. Stroking up and
down, I discovered that gentle pressure from a ring formed by my thumb
and first finger gave me the most stimulation, going all the way to the
top, pulling back the skin and rubbing my thumb over the exposed tip.
After about a minute, I noticed some clear liquid begin to leak out of
the opening, which added lubrication. By now, my cock - hah, my cock -
was sticking out, hard as a rock, and, after about two more minutes of
attention, I felt a spasm and big gobs of white goo spurted out onto
the mirror. Holy cow, that was sperm, the stuff that makes babies. I
watched as it slowly dribbled down the glass. I had played with my
clit off an on, well, more on than off, and had an assortment of toys
in my nightstand drawer, for when I got really horny, but I never got
off like that. Damn, guys have all the fun. It was really going to be
disappointing when I finally woke up and went back to having a pussy
with a bloody mess every month.
Okay, Pet, I said to myself. That's my nickname. My full name is
Petula. I know. As a little girl, my mother was infatuated with some
Brit pop singer. She had a collection of her records and by the time I
was four, I knew the words to "Downtown" and "I Know a Place" the same
way normal kids could recite nursery rhymes. Way to go mom. Anyway,
Pet, I said to myself, this is too good to waste sitting in your
apartment. You're a chick magnet. Why not go out and show the girls a
good time, in your dreams at least. Huh? Did I want to have sex with
women? Then again, if you got it, might as well use it. I hoped that
my imagination had provided me with a wardrobe as well.
I checked my bureau, but there were only panties, very sexy, but too
skimpy to contain my manhood. Then I remembered I had a pair of men's
boxers that I bought to wear as a beach cover-up. I rummaged around in
my bathing suit drawer and found them. I stepped in and pulled them up
to my waist. They seemed to fit, but I couldn't figure out how you
supported yourself. Did guys wear jockstraps with these things? As
far as I knew, they were only for sports. Besides they were not a basic
item in my feminine wardrobe, so it didn't matter. Finally, I just let
everything dangle. Kind of breezy, but a lot more comfortable than
pantyhose. God forbid you showed a panty line. And no bra either.
Not that I needed one, except for enhancement, but it was still a royal
pain to have something strapped around your chest all day, just so you
could have a couple of size bigger boobs. Guys don't appreciate how
good they have it. I was hoping that my delusion had at least put some
designer men's clothes in my closet, but no. It was full of my women's
clothes and shoes. I tried on a pair of jeans, but they were much too
tailored for my new physique. So were my blouses and stretchy tops. I
finally found a baggy warm-up suit that I could get on, except it was
in pastel pink and the pant legs and jacket sleeves were way short.
Not only did I dream myself a killer body, but I made myself taller
too. At least I concentrated my hallucination on things that mattered.
My feet were too big for my shoes, not that my macho image would have
been enhanced by mincing around in pumps, but I managed to cram them
into a pair of open backed sneakers.
Before heading out, I decided to check myself out in the mirror. The
first thing I noticed was my hair. Since I had given up on dating, I
cut my hair in a short pageboy for easy care. I may have dreamed up a
great body, but I left my own hair. Looking back at me was Prince
Valiant with a stubbly beard. It looked kind of cool, but I wondered
what it would be like to shave my face. From the time I was a
teenager, I had spent hours bleaching my mustache, because I had been
warned that shaving would make it grow back darker. Now I didn't have
to worry. Guys don't know how good they have it. I got my pink
Princess razor and gel, lathered my face and began to shave. As I
rinsed off the razor, I could see the whiskers in the sink. Neat. When
I was done, I washed off my face, toweled it dry and admired my smooth
skin. Too bad I don't have some of that aftershave stuff they
advertise, Aqua something. You really suck at imagining how to be a
man, I reprimanded myself. Next time you hallucinate, you have to pay
more attention to the details, although you did an impressive job with
the dick, thinking back to the fun I had jerking off.
Now that I was ready, I picked up my purse and headed out the door.
Since I had no place in particular to go, I decided to find a men's
store and get myself some proper clothes. Walking down the street,
people stopped to stare. On the one hand, a stud with a pageboy
haircut, pink warm-up suit and carrying a purse is not something you
see every day. On the other hand, they were all figments of my
imagination, so what did I care. There was a department store a few
blocks away. I went to the Men's Department. I had never really paid
much attention to it before, having no need to shop there. My father
divorced my mother when I was very young, so I never had to buy him
ties, belts and handkerchiefs as gifts. I was surprised by how small
it was, compared to the women's section of the store. Clothes, shoes,
underwear, everything was in one place. How convenient not to have to
go from the lingerie department to the women's department to the
cosmetic department to the shoe department. Men really did have it
easy.
A sales associate came up to me and gave me a suspicious look,
obviously thinking I was some kind of weirdo. Careful, I thought, or I
will imagine you into a toad, although that would not have been very
practical, since I need his assistance to pick out clothes.
"May I help you, sir?" he asked me.
"Yes, please. I umm, I'm visiting my, umm, my sister. Our mother's in
the hospital," I lied, not that I had to explain anything to someone I
dreamed up, but I decided to pretend the fantasy was real. "I'm from
out of state, yes, out of state, and the airline lost my suitcase. I
spilled coffee all over my only clothes this morning, yes, right,
coffee all over me, quite a mess, so I, umm, had to borrow these from
her. I need to get some new clothes to wear until my suitcase gets
here."
"Yes, well, what in particular are you looking for?" the sales
associate asked skeptically.
"Everything really," I replied, "some pants, shirts, underwear and
shoes."
"What sizes?" he wanted to know.
"Size five," I told him.
"Size five what?" he asked.
I realized that I had given him my women's size.
"Umm, actually, I'm not sure," I told him, which was true. "I've been
dieting and working out, so maybe you should measure me, just to be on
the safe side."
"Very well," he conceded.
He went to the sales desk and got a tape measure.
"Waist 33, inseam, 32, chest, 38, arm, 34, neck 15. Does that sound
correct?"
"Yes, right on," I agreed.
"Do you have a preference in style or color?"
"No, please just select whatever you think would coordinate."
"How many of each?"
"Oh, I think just one for now. Hopefully, my suitcases will arrive
soon."
The sales associate looked though the racks and picked out a pair of
charcoal grey slacks in a wool and polyester blend and a light grey
long sleeved cotton sport shirt with tan and black vertical stripes.
He draped the slacks over his arm and held the shirt against them.
"Is this satisfactory?" he asked.
"Yes, that will do nicely. I need underwear too."
"Briefs or boxers?"
"Umm, briefs please."
He went over to a display rack."
"White or colored?"
"White, please."
He took a package from one of the shelves, then went to another display
rack and took a package of black socks.
"Would you like to try them on?"
"Yes, please."
He directed me to the dressing rooms and handed me the clothes. I was
hoping he would give me the underwear too, but he put them on the sales
counter. The dressing room was very different than in the ladies
department. Much smaller and there wasn't an attendant counting what
you brought in and returned, to make sure you didn't hide anything
under your clothes. I stripped and put on the slacks. They fit
perfectly. So did the shirt. I picked up the clothes I had taken off
and went out. The sales associate was waiting for me at the sales
desk. He nodded approvingly.
"Are you going to wear those out?" he inquired.
"Yes."
"Will that be check or charge?"
"Charge, please."
I opened my purse and took out my wallet. I handed him my credit card.
He looked at it and shook his head.
"This isn't your card," he challenged me.
"No," I agreed. "It's my, umm, sister's. I told you the airline lost
my suitcase."
"How did you get on the plane without your wallet for identification,"
he asked skeptically.
"Umm, I had my license separate."
"May I see it?"
"I, umm, I left it in my shirt pocket when I changed clothes."
"I see," the sales associate said, giving me a very dirty look.
"How about me going to the ATM and getting cash? I'll be right back."
I started to leave and heard the sales associate call out, "sir!" It
took me a few seconds to realize he was referring to me. "Sir," he
said again more emphatically. I stopped.
"Really, you cannot leave the store without paying for the clothes."
I returned to the dressing room and changed back into my jogging suit."
"How much do I owe?" I asked him when I came out.
"All together, $235.00, plus $12.75 tax. The total is $247.75."
"I'll be right back," I told him.
Luckily, there was a bank branch with an ATM nearby. I went to the
machine, put in my cash card, entered my pin and withdrew $300.00, just
to be on the safe side. I put the money in my purse and returned to
the department store. When I got back, the sales associate was waiting
with two security officers.
"I'm sorry, sir," one of the guards addressed me, "but there is some
question about your using someone else's credit card. May I see some
identification, please?
"I already told the sales associate, I left my driver's license at my
sister's apartment."
"Whose pocket book is that, sir?" the second security guard demanded."
"It's my sister's."
"What is your name, sir?"
This hallucination was getting out of hand. I needed to put a stop to
it, before it turned into a nightmare. I concentrated, trying to wake
myself up, but nothing happened. I tried again. Nothing. Maybe if I
tried to imagine a different scene, these people would go away. I
closed my eyes and thought of myself on the beach, in a bikini, sipping
a marguerite. I opened my eyes, but nothing had changed. Damn.
Whatever was in that spider venom was really potent.
"Sir, I must have your name" the security officer insisted, looking at
me menacingly.
"It's, umm, it's Pet, umm, Petu ?, umm, Peter.
"Last name?"
"Barker. Peter Barker."
"Your sister, what's her name?" the other security guard asked.
"Petula, really, Petula Barker. See it's on her credit card."
"Yes, I see," he agreed. "How is it that you have her pocket book with
her wallet and credit cards?"
"She gave it to me," I told him.
"Doesn't she need it?" he asked.
I shrugged.
"I'm afraid I will have to ask you to accompany us to the security
office, Mr. Barker. We can call you sister and sort this out. Let's
go."
Each of the security officers took one of my arms and began to escort
me out of the men's department towards the escalator. Funny, well,
ironic, that I was fantasizing about using my new body to screw someone
and it was I who was screwed. Damn. Maybe being a man wasn't such a
good thing after all.
The security office was on the third floor. One of officers used his
free hand to enter a code on the keypad on the wall beside the door,
there was a click and the door opened. Inside was a small room with no
windows and no pictures or decorations, just a grey metal desk, a
filing cabinet and some chairs. There was nothing on the desk, except
a telephone. Once we were inside, the guards released my arms. One of
them went over to the desk and the other remained standing in front of
the door, obviously to prevent me from escaping.
"Sit down," the security guard at the desk directed me.
I sat down and looked around for something to read while I waited, but
there were no magazines or a table to put them on. The chairs had one
piece metal frames with plastic seats and they were attached together,
so you couldn't pick them up. This was not a room for social chats.
"What is your sister's telephone number?" the officer at the desk
asked.
Not thinking that obviously I wouldn't be home, if I was here, I gave
it to him. He dialed the number and waited.
"There's no answer," he told me, hanging up the phone.
"Where does you sister work?" he questioned me.
"I gave him the name of the pharmaceutical company."
"Is she at work now?"
"Yes," I lied, hoping that would satisfy the officer as to why she
wasn't home.
"What is her telephone number at work?"
Crap. Caught again.
"Umm, I don't know, I never call her when she's at work," I lied some
more.
"Never mind," the guard said, "I can call information."
He dialed, gave the company's name and wrote down the number.
"Hello, this is Sergeant Webb of store security. Could you connect me
with Ms. Petula Barker, please."
A minute went by.
"Yes, this is Sergeant Jack Webb of store security. I'm trying to
reach Ms. Petula Barker. I see. Three days. No. I don't. No, I
can't say. Thank you."
He hung up the phone.
"According to Ms. Barker's supervisor, she hasn't shown up at work for
three days and he assumed she quit. Mr. Barker, if that is your real
name, you are in serious trouble. Is there anything you want to tell
us?"
"No."
"Very well Mr. Barker or whoever you are. I am going to turn this over
to the police."
He picked up the phone and dialed. The other officer stared at me,
anticipating that I would do something violent, but I just sat there.
I figured once the police arrived, I could explain the situation. Then
I thought, what the hell do I care anyway? This is all imaginary. At
some point I'm going to wake up. In the meantime, I had to pee really,
really bad.
"I need to go to the bathroom," I said.
"I'm not falling for that old gag," the officer at the door said
gruffly.
"If you don't let me go to the bathroom, I'm going to pee all over your
chair," I threatened." Did men say pee? "It'll be your fault and you
can clean up the mess."
The two officers looked at each other.
"Okay," said the one at the desk, who appeared to be more senior, since
he got to sit down. "Stand up, but no funny business or you'll be
sorry."
I stood up and he came around to one side of me, taking hold of my arm.
The other officer opened the door and took my other arm. They guided
me down the corridor to a pair of doors, one marked "Women" and the
other marked "Men."
I expected them to let go of me, but they kept their grip on my arms.
"Are you coming into the ladies room with me?"
"Don't get smart with us," the officer on my right said.
The other officer opened the door to the men's room. I hesitated.
"Do you want to go or not?"
"Oh, right, sorry," I apologized. "With all that's happened, I got
confused," which was an understatement. "Go ahead."
Inside the men's room, I turned to use one of the stalls, but the
officers held me back.
"You said you had to take a leak." Ah, I would have to remember that
was how men said it. "Use the urinal where we can keep an eye on you."
I looked over to the opposite wall and there were three white porcelain
bowls with handles on top. I walked over and stood in front of the one
in the center. Apparently the guards were going to watch me, because
one of them kept hold of my arm while the other blocked the door. I
mean, women go to the ladies room together to put on makeup and gossip,
but we allow each other privacy when relieving ourselves. My first
lesson in male bathroom etiquette was that it is a spectator sport.
Since I was wearing a woman's warm-up suit, it didn't have a zipper.
"I need both my hands," I told the officer, "unless one of you wants to
pull down my pants for me."
The officer let go. Apparently pulling down another man's pants was
not part of male bathroom etiquette. I hooked my thumbs in the
waistband and pulled them down low enough to expose my underpants.
Luckily, I had on the boxers or I really would have gotten strange
looks. Now all I had to do was to figure out how to use the equipment.
I assumed it worked the same way for both sexes, men just had a better
aiming system. I put my hand down the front of my shorts, like I would
if I was putting in a pad, and got hold of myself, but couldn't figure
out how to get it through the fly."
"C'mon, will ya," the officer on my left said with annoyance. "Stop
screwing around."
It was obvious I was going about it in the wrong way. I pulled my hand
free and reached in through the fly, successfully retrieving my organ.
Extending it towards the bowl, I relaxed my bladder muscles and let go
a very impressive stream. A minute latter I was drained and looked
around for some toilet paper to wipe myself. Not seeing any, I assumed
that men did not indulge in that particular form of personal hygiene
and, after checking to make sure there were no drips, tucked it back in
and pulled up my pants. The officer immediately took hold of my arm
and started taking me towards the door.
"Hold it, I need to wash my hands."
That was my third lesson in male bathroom etiquette. Men don't wash
their hands after handling themselves. Definitely a guy thing and I
made a note not to eat those little mints at the reception desk of
restaurants that guys stick their hands in.
The officer who had been holding my arm moved to the door with his
partner. When I had finished, they both came over and took my arms,
guiding me out of the bathroom and down the corridor, back to the
security office. Once inside, they brought me back to the chairs and
took up their positions, one at the desk and one at the door. I don't
know how long I sat there. There was no clock. The officer at the
desk unlocked the top drawer, took out a pad of paper and started
writing with a pen from his pocket. I assumed it was a report about
me. He was still writing when there was a knock on the door.
"Police," a gruff voiced announced.
The officer at the door opened it and I could see a man in tan
raincoat, although I don't recall it raining. Behind him there was a
uniformed police officer. They entered the room and spoke to the
officer at the desk.
"I'm Detective Tracy," he introduced himself, flashing a badge. "Is
this him?"
"Yes," the officer replied. "The credit card he was trying to use is
in there," he said, pointing to my pocketbook on the desk.
The Detective turned to me.
"What's you name?" he asked.
"Pet, umm, Peter Barker," I answered.
"Do you have an ID, Mr. Barker?"
"No."
"He said he left his license at his sister's apartment," the officer at
the desk volunteered. "The name on the credit card he was trying to
use is Petula Barker."
"Okay," said the Detective. "We'll take it from here. Good job,
guys."
He turned to me with a scowl.
"You are under arrest for suspicion of credit card fraud."
He took out a card and began to read me my rights. "You have the right
to remain silent and anything you say may be taken down and used
against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and,
if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed for you." He put the
card away. "Stand up and walk over to the desk, put your hands on the
top, step back and spread your legs."
I did as he directed.
He walked over and used his foot to push my feet back, so I had my
weight on my hands. He frisked me, roughly running his hands from my
shoulders, around my sides, over my back and chest an all the way down
to my ankles. After he finished, he moved me forward and order me to
put my hands behind my head. He took my left hand, pulled it behind my
back and I could feel metal and then a click as he locked the handcuff.
He did the same with my other hand. He picked up my pocket book,
nodded to the uniformed officer, who put his hand under my left arm and
escorted me out of the room. We went down a back elevator and I was
put into the back seat of a police car.
It was about a ten minute ride to the police station. Everything
seemed so real, I kept wondering to myself how I knew all this stuff
about being arrested. Too many cop shows on TV, I thought. You need
to get a life, Pet, I told myself. I was taken to a desk where they
booked me and then was taken to an interrogation room. It was bare,
except for a metal table and two chairs. They seated me in the one on
the opposite side of the table from the door. I sat there by myself
for a long time. Finally, the door opened and Detective Tracy came in.
"We've gone to Ms. Barker's apartment. There are no men's clothes
there and there's no license with your name on it. None of the
neighbors remember seeing the woman who lives there in the last few
days, but one of them did see a man leaving her apartment around noon
today. Do you want to tell me why you are dressed in a ladies warm-up
suit that doesn't fit you and carrying Ms. Barker's purse?"
I laughed to myself. I don't think my neighbors even knew what I
looked like, but a man, him they remember. Figures. I thought about
asking for a lawyer, but then this was all a hallucination, so why not
play it out. Eventually I would have to wake up. At least I hoped I
would wake up and everything would be back to normal. Then I thought
of that movie, "The Matrix," where the people were all dreaming and
didn't know it, but their dream was better than the reality. Just
like them, my real life sucked, so either way it didn't matter.
"Well, what's it going to be?" the Detective asked impatiently. "If
you've got nothing to hide, then help us find the girl and you can go,"
he offered.
"Detective, the truth is that I'm Petula Barker. I was working on this
research project and accidentally injected myself with some spider
venom. When I woke up this morning, I had turned into a man. Now can
I go?"
The Detective glared at me.
"If you're trying to set up an insanity defense, it won't work. Just
because you're cross-dressed and carrying a pocketbook doesn't mean you
can get away with murder; but, if you cooperate and help us find the
woman's body, you may be able to cop a plea."
I shook my head.
"Look, Detective, I told you where her body is. It's here. I'm Petula
Barker. That's why I'm wearing her clothes and carrying her
pocketbook, I mean my clothes and my pocketbook. Why don't you call
Novalox Pharmaceuticals and talk to Dr. Jameson. He's the Director of
the research lab. He'll confirm my story."
The Detective sighed.
"Have it your way."
He knocked on the door. It opened and he left. When he came back, he
looked very angry.
"Okay, you've screwed around enough," he shouted. "I spoke to Dr.
Jameson. There's no spiders in his lab. He said that Ms. Barker was
working on a hemorrhoid ointment and that she hasn't been there for
three days. Now, do you want to tell me what really happened to her?"
I should have known Jameson wouldn't disclose anything about the spider
research. Well, it didn't matter anyway. I closed my eyes and again
tried to put an end to the hallucination, but when I opened them, I was
still in the interrogation room."
"I told you the truth, Detective Tracy," I insisted. "I can't help it
if Dr. Jameson is covering up to protect his research. You can search
for Petula Barker until the cows come home, but you won't find her,
because she's here." I pointed to myself. Then the solution to my
imaginary situation hit me. "I'm no lawyer, but I recall something
about not being able to convict someone of murder if you don't have any
evidence that they're dead. Isn't that right?"
The Detective scowled.
"Maybe, maybe not, but we still have you on breaking and entering, you
were seen leaving Ms. Barker's apartment, on larceny, you were caught
with her pocket book, and for credit card fraud, you tried to use her
card to buy clothes. That's enough to put you away for a very long
time and, in the meantime, her body will turn up. They always do."
"Not in this case," I assured him.
He turned, knocked on the door and it opened. He said something to the
uniformed officer stationed outside. The officer came in, told me to
get up, handcuffed me and escorted me to another room where another
officer was waiting.
"Strip," the officer in the room ordered me.
I stepped out of my sneakers and took off my warm-up suit.
"The shorts too."
I drop my shorts and stepped out of them. I started to bend over to
pick them up, but he stopped me.
"Leave them where they are."
The officer pulled two rubber gloves out of a box and put them on. He
picked up a small flashlight, a tongue depressor and walked over to me.
"Open."
He searched my mouth.
"Arms up."
He searched my armpits.
"Bend over and spread your legs."
I hesitated.
"You might as well get used to it," he advised me. "When you're in
prison and somebody's bitch, this will be routine, except it will be
something bigger than my finger. Now bend over."
The other officer tapped his nightstick against his hand menacingly.
Great, I thought to myself. Way to hallucinate Pet. Well, at least
I'll finally get to be somebody's girlfriend. I guess that's a step up
from dating myself and I'll save a bundle on batteries too. With the
officer scowling at me, I complied and got the male equivalent of a
gynecological exam. Then again I thought, as I felt him probing,
having one opening to inspect is better than having two.
"He's clean," the examining officer announced and they both snickered.
Obviously, a standard joke for this type of activity.
The officer went over to a cabinet, rummaged around and came back with
a pile of clothes. He handed me a pair of white cotton briefs that
were on top.
"Put these on."
Then he gave me a bright orange jump suit that zipped up the front,
from the crotch to the neck and a pair of canvas slip-ons. The jump
suit was baggy and the slips on were too big. Apparently, one-size
fits all. Next they put a chain around my waist with two wrist cuffs
attached, which they put on me, and a pair of cuffs with a foot long
chain went on my ankles.
"Okay, let's go."
Each officer took an arm and I shuffled out the door to a waiting van.
I was put in back and the officer got in after me. There were no
windows, so I couldn't tell where we were going. Finally, the van
stopped and the officer opened the door. We were parked in front of a
metal door. The officer buzzed, the door unlocked and we went in, down
a long corridor with cinderblock walls, to another door. We were
buzzed through that door, I noticed a security camera on the wall, and
came to a desk. There was another officer who took some paperwork from
the first officer. He got up from the desk and took me into a small
room.
It wasn't like any jail cell I'd seen on TV or in the movies. It had a
regular door with a window which must have been one-way glass, because
it was dark on the inside, and the walls were covered with some type of
rubber material, like the stuff they make exercise mats out of. There
were no windows. Against one wall was a stainless steel box with an
opening and a button set in the wall next to it, like the toilets on
airplanes, except it didn't have a seat, and attached to the opposite
wall was a metal bench covered with the same rubber material. The
officer closed the door behind us. I noticed that there was no handle
on the inside. He unlocked the restraints and pointed to the bed. I
walked over and when I was seated, he went and stood by the door.
There must have been a second officer watching through the glass,
because the door unlocked and he left. Then I looked up and saw a back
bubble in the ceiling. So much for privacy.
I decided to lie down and try to concentrate on controlling my
thoughts. I had the right concept, being a guy was great, just the
wrong context. I thought of myself in a fancy bar, like one of those
Las Vegas hotel night clubs, surrounded by exotic show girls with big
boobs, long legs and sexy figures, the kind of woman I dreamt about
being, when I was a woman. I had on a cream colored white silk shirt,
open at the neck, with lots of gold chains, tight tan slacks with
pleats and dark green alligator Italian loafers, sort of a combination
of Sylvester Stallone and John Travolta. The girls just couldn't keep
their eyes or their hands off of me. I picked out the hottest number,
she must have been a double D at least, most of it hanging out of her
dress, and was going to take her for a spin on the dance floor, when I
heard a voice.
"Sit up and stay on the bed."
Damn. It didn't work. I was stuck in my hallucination. I did as the
voice directed me, looking around until I saw a grill in the wall next
to the door, like an intercom speaker, except there was no button. As
soon as I was sitting up, the door opened and two men came in. They
wore white coats, pants and shoes, instead of police uniforms.
"Where am I and what's going on?" I asked.
"This is the Marvelle City Hospital. You're here for a psychiatric
evaluation and we're taking you to see Dr. Stanley," one of the men
told me.
"This is a locked ward and you can't escape, so don't try anything,"
the other man warned me. "All that will happen is that you'll get
yourself an armful of lala juice. It's your choice. Now let's go, Dr.
Stanley is waiting."
I was taken down a corridor, through two more sets of doors which
opened with a keypad and into an elevator, which also required the use
of a keypad, before the floor buttons worked. We went up to the fourth
floor and out into a corridor, through two more sets of doors with
keypads, obviously a secure floor, and stopped in front of a
shatterproof glass door, the kind that has wire mesh in it. Inside I
could see a man sitting at a wood desk with two armless chairs in front
of it. There were diplomas on the walls, a set of bookshelves behind
the desk and filing cabinets against the right wall. The left wall had
two large windows that looked out over the city. It was the first time
that I had seen daylight since I was arrested and it appeared to by
late afternoon. When the man behind the desk saw us through the door,
he buzzed it open and we went in. He stood up and pointed to one of
the chairs. I sat down.
"Thank you, you can leave us. Mr., umm, Barker, yes, Barker, is not
going to cause any trouble, are you Mr,, umm Barker?"
"No," I agreed.
"Very well then."
He nodded to the men and they returned to the door. I saw Dr. Stanley
push a button on the desk and the door unlocked. The door closed
behind them and they took seats across from the door, so that they
could observe what was happening in the office.
"Good afternoon, I am Dr. Stanley," he introduced himself formally.
"We are simply going to have a chat. It appears that the District
Attorney's Office has some concerns about your mental health before
they prosecute you. Something about you claiming to be a woman?" he
said in a questioning tone. "Let me just look at your commitment
papers. "Ah, yes," he began to read, " no identification, delusional,
claims to be a missing woman who was turned into a man by a spider,
hmmm, works in a drug research lab, no spiders, hmmm. Mr., umm,
Barker, I must warn you, whatever we discuss will be reported. You
don't have to talk, but keeping silent may result in your remaining
here indefinitely, if I conclude you are a danger to yourself or
society. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Doctor, quite clear. I want to cooperate. It's just that nobody
will believe me when I tell the truth."
The doctor gave me a patronizing look.
"Mr. Barker, please go over to the window."
I got up and walked over.
"What do you see?"
"The city?"
"No, look at your reflection. What do you see?"
It was getting dark and I could see myself in the glass.
"Well?"
"I don't understand."
"Do you see a man or a woman?"
"A man."
"May I assume that you have the appropriate genitals to compliment your
appearance?"
"Yes, as far as I can tell. I haven't had a chance to fully test
them."
"Are you telling me you're a virgin?
"Yes, regardless of gender," I quipped.
"Let's stick with your being a man. That's what you claim you are,
right?"
"No. I'm a woman. Somehow the spider venom turned me into a man."
"So you are a woman trapped in a man's body, is that it?"
"Well, not trapped exactly, but yes."
"In other words, you're transgendered."
"I don't know what that means, Dr. Stanley."
"It means that you want to be the opposite of your birth sex. In your
case, you are a man who feels like he should have been born a woman."
"No, the opposite. I'm a woman who has become a man. Is there a term
for that?"
"Are you saying that you're a transsexual?"
"I don't know what that means either."
"It means that you've had a sex change operation.
"Not an operation, Doctor Stanley," I said excitedly, "a spider bite.
Now, you understand how it happened, don't you."
"Mr. Barker, what you are claiming is a medical impossibility. A sex
change may create the superficial appearance of being male, but it
doesn't make your female reproductive system disappear. A woman may
have her breasts removed and an artificial penis and a sac with what
appear to be testicles constructed, but they are not functional. The
penis cannot have a natural erection and the faux testes, if you will,
cannot produce sperm. Can yours?"
"Yes," I conceded, at least as far as I could tell this morning."
Dr. Stanley gave me a curious look.
"I, umm, experimented with my new toys."
"You masturbated?"
"Yes."
"You got an erection?"
"Yes."
"And you ejaculated?"
"Yes."
"Well then, Mr. Barker," Dr. Stanley rationalized, "if you have a fully
functional male reproductive system, then you cannot be a woman, can
you?"
"Yes, Doctor Stanley, I mean no, Doctor Stanely, I mean, I don't know
what I mean. I'm not a woman now. I used to be a woman. Well, no, I
mean I am still a woman, I mean I'm still Petula Barker, I just have a
man's body. I didn't want to become a man, it just happened."
"Now I'm the one who's confused, Mr. Barker. Are you claiming that you
have Petula Barker's personality in someone else's body? Whose body
would that be, Mr. Barker. Where did it come from, if it isn't yours?"
I sighed.
"Look, Dr. Stanley. I am Petula Barker and this is my body. A few
days ago, I accidentally injected myself with some spider venom. I
didn't notice any immediate effect, but when I got home, I felt tired.
I changed into my nightgown and lay down to rest. I thought I had just
dozed off, but, when I woke up, it was three days later and, instead of
being a woman, I was a man. I don't understand how it happened, except
that it has something to do with the spider venom."
"Assuming, for the sake of our discussion, what you told me is true, do
you want to go back to being a woman?"
"Honestly, I don't know, Dr. Stanley. I wasn't very good at being
female. Being male seems to have a lot of advantages. Besides, I
don't know if the process is reversible, if there is an antidote. Why
would you ask me such a question, anyway? What does that have to do
with who I am?"
"Just curious."
Then it struck me that I was having an argument over changing my gender
with myself. This was only a hallucination. Did I really have some
repressed desire to be a man? Was that my problem or was it just
society's emphasis on female perfection that frustrated me? Was I
transgendered? Had I heard that term before? I didn't think so, but
maybe subliminally I had picked it up from somewhere. I had no idea
why my imagination was running wild, but I had an idea how to put a
stop to it.
"Look, Dr. Stanley, I can prove that I am Petula Barker. Call my
mother. She lives here in town. She can confirm that I know things
only her daughter would know. That should convince you I'm telling the
truth."
"Perhaps, Mr. Barker, but it is a well known psychological fact that
people who are obsessive can learn a tremendous amount of information
about the personality they adopt. There are institutionalized
Napoleons that know more about his life from their historical research
than Napoleon himself probably remembered."
"Perhaps, Doctor Stanley, but there are no biographies about Petula
Barker and she's only been absent from work for two days," I argued.
"Today is the third day and I was arrested this morning, so I would not
have had time to memorize the details of her childhood, even if I had
thought that I might be questioned about it, which would be a pretty
far fetched thing to do while I was doing whatever it is I am supposed
to have done to her, don't you think? How about it, will you please
call her?"
"Mr. Barker, when it comes to the capacity of the human mind nothing
would surprise me, but I will make a deal with you. I will call this
woman you say is your mother; but, if you cannot convince her that you
are her daughter, then you will give up this pretense that you are a
woman. Do you promise?"
"Yes. Her name is Kate Barker."
Dr. Stanley dialed her number as I gave it to him.
"Hello, is this Mrs. Kathrine Barker?"
I winced, because mom never went by Katherine.
"Kate Barker, yes, sorry. Do you have a daughter named Petula?"
"No, this is not a sales call Mrs. Barker."
There was a pause.
"No, I'm sorry. Really. Ms. Barker. This is Doctor Stanley at
Marvelle Hospital. Something has happened to your daughter and we
would like you to come down to the hospital and identify her," he
explained cryptically.
"No, Mrs., sorry," he apologized, "yes, I understand, your divorced and
its Ms. Barker. No, I can't tell you the details over the telephone.
I really need you to come to the hospital as soon as possible."
Another pause.
"No, Ms. Barker, she's not dead. Well, we're not sure, actually."
Another pause.
"No, I don't know if she had a life insurance policy. You're her only
living relative and she has no brother's or sisters," he repeated.
"Yes, I understand, but this isn't about that. I just need you to come
down here right away."
A long pause.
"Yes, I appreciate today is your mahjong day. Ms. Barker, really, this
is much more important than a game. What? For money? Even so, this
is more important. Can't you give it up for today, please? You always
win? No, I can't pay you for your time. Please, just come down here
and help us identify your daughter. You do want to help her, don't
you? Ms. Barker? Don't you want to help your daughter? No, it can't
wait until the weekend. You need to come down right now."
I should have known. Even when I hallucinate my mother is a pain in
the ass.
"Look, Ms. Barker, Kate, I am going to send a police car to pick you up
and bring you here. They should arrive in about ten or fifteen
minutes. Please be ready. No, I don't know what you should wear. It
doesn't matter. Well, yes, I know it matters to you, but nobody is
going to see you. This isn't a social affair. You are coming directly
to my office."
Another long pause.
"No, Mrs. Barker, I can't order them to use the siren. It's not an
emergency. Well, you can ask them. Maybe they'll let you ride in
front. It's up to them. Just be ready when they get there, okay?
Thank you."
He looked relieved when he hung up the telephone.
"Well, I believe that she will be here shortly. In the meantime, I'm
going to return you to your room, so that I can start on your report.
I'll send for you when she arrives."
Dr. Stanley motioned for the two attendants to come in and pushed the
button on his desk. They took me back to my room. Since there was
nothing else for me to do, I decided to lie down and try to redirect my
thoughts one more time.
I closed my eyes and imagined myself back in the nightclub with my
busty companion. We were on the dance floor and her breasts we
squashed against my chest. I felt jealous. I should be the one who
was turning me on. No, Pet, you're supposed to be the man, the one
that the woman dresses herself up in uncomfortable clothes and shoes,
spends hours doing her hair and makeup and pumps herself full of
silicone, collagen and botox to please. Why do we do that? Focus!
That's what men want. You're a man and that's what you want, a pretty
plastic plaything. Isn't it? But when you wake up, you will be a
woman. If this was for real, and Dr. Jameson offered to let you be a
test subject, would you volunteer to be turned into a man permanently?
If there really was a safe and painless way for a woman to become a
man, why wouldn't you want to do it? After all, it is a man's world.
Why wouldn't any woman want to do it? Is that what Dr. Stanley was
getting at when he asked if you wanted to go back to being a woman?
So, your answer to his question should have been no. Does that make
you transgendered? Why are you even having these thoughts? Shouldn't
you be concentrating on controlling your imagination?
My unresolved debate with myself ended with the speaker directing me to
sit up. I was brought to Dr. Stanley's office. He was alone.
"I am informed that Mrs, umm, Ms. Barker will be here shortly. I
wanted you here when she arrived, so that you would not suspect that
somehow I had influenced her questioning; because, if she does not
recognize you as her daughter, then you agreed to abandon you claim
that you are a woman and tell me what really happened. That is our
deal and I've kept my end of it. I expect you to keep yours."
I nodded my agreement, expecting that there would be no problem with my
convincing my mother that I was her daughter, since that was who I was,
or at least used to be, no still was, even though I didn't look like
me.
I sat quietly while Dr. Stanley continued writing on a piece of white
lined paper in a manilla folder. I turned my head when he looked up
and saw my mother being escorted by a uniformed police officer. When
the door unlocked, he brought her in. Dr. Stanley thanked the officer
and told him he could go back to his duties. As the officer was
leaving, he pointed to the other chair and politely asked my mother to
be seated. She sat down, crossed her legs, adjusted her dress and put
her giant pocketbook on the floor next to her. When she was done, she
looked at the Doctor and smiled and then turned her head and smiled at
the good looking guy sitting next to her, not realizing that it was me.
"Thank you for coming, Ms. Barker," Dr. Stanley greeted her,
remembering the designation she preferred. "This gentleman," he
pointed to me, "claims to be your daughter and would like you to
confirm his identity."
My mother gave me a cursory look.
"He's not my daughter. Can I go now? I can probably get back in time
for those delicious cucumber and tomato sandwiches Mrs. Goldstein
makes, if the cop will step on it. You know she uses fresh white bread
and cuts off the crusts, with just a tiny bit of herb mayonnaise."
"Ms. Barker, please cooperate. This is an official investigation and
there are penalties for obstructing justice," Dr. Stanley cautioned
her.
"Mom, please," I interrupted. "This is important. I am you daughter.
I just look different. Don't you remember when I was a little girl, I
had a pink security blanket that I called my boppy and a favorite teddy
bear named 'roy. His actual name was Corduroy, from a storybook, but I
couldn't pronounce his full name, so I just called him 'roy. Isn't
that right Mom?" I asked hopefully.
My mother looked at Dr. Stanley.
"I don't know what this man is talking about," she told him. "Can you
get the police officer to drop me off at Mrs. Goldstein's?"
"Mom, you can't have forgotten!" I exclaimed. "You must still have my
baby stuff stored somewhere. You do have it don't you? Mom! You
didn't throw my boppy and 'roy out did you?"
She looked at me blankly.
"For crying out loud, Mom, you didn't throw them out did you? You did,
didn't you!"
In my excitement, I started to get up.
"Sit down and behave," Dr. Stanely warned me with his finger poised
over the door button.
I sank back down.
"Just to prove that I am giving you every opportunity, I am going to
have Mrs. Barker ask you a question about your childhood. Go ahead,
Mrs. Barker. Ask this gentleman something that you think only Petula
would know."
Mom thought for a minute.
"What was the name of Petula's first boyfriend?" she challenged me.
"Mom, what are you talking about? Its me, Mom. I never had a social
life and I never had a boyfriend."
"See, he doesn't know. Can I go now? It's probably too late. Maybe
if the cop uses the siren, there'll be some sandwiches left."
She started to get up.
"Sit down, Mrs. Barker. I'll tell you when you can go," Dr. Stanley
admonished her.
He looked at me.
"Well, answer her question, if you can."
"Okay, hold on, let me try to figure out what her nutso mind is
thinking."
"Please, no insults. Can you or can't you answer the question?"
"Is it that snot nosed kid in the first grade that kept offering me his
chocolate pudding at lunch? Was that him?"
"No," Mom replied.
"Then was it that kid, I can't remember his name, Billy, Bobby, Barry,
Barney, something with a b and a y, the one with the world's worst case
of acne, that wanted to take me to the junior prom?"
"No."
"I give up, Dr. Stanley. She's impossible. Just out of curiosity, I'd
like to know who it is she thinks I dated."
"Well," Mrs. Barker?" Dr. Stanley inquired.
"Craig," she answered.
"Craig? I never dated a boy named Craig . I never even knew a boy
named Craig."
"My daughter is very popular, like her mother. Craig was a very
handsome doctor who was in love with her, but she preferred his
roommate, Hugh. Personally, I think she made a big mistake."
"Oh for crying out loud, Mom, that's not me! That's some episode of
one of your soap operas."
"Well, it's obvious this woman cannot identify you," Dr. Stanley
concluded. "I've kept my part of the bargain, now it's up to you.
Tell me what happened to Petula."
"You want to know what happened to Petula. I'll tell you," I said
spitefully, glaring at my mother, who let me down, just as she always
had when I was growing up. No wonder I was an emotional mess. "I tied
her up with a pair of Donna Karan nude ultra-sheer sandal foot
pantyhose and then strangled her with the petal pink gel cup Wonderbra
she was wearing. She died very fashionably. Then I cut her up into
little pieces and mailed them to all of your relatives, Mom. Bernie
and Phyl in Houston, Thelma and Donni, the lesbians lovers, in San
Franciso, and Uncle Frank in the penitentiary in Kansas. How about
that!"
"Thelma and Donni are not lesbians. They're just very good friends who
happen to live together and my brother is not in jail," Mom protested,
ignoring the more serious issue of her daughter having been murdered
and diced. "He's in Hawaii surfing," she claimed.
I looked at Dr. Stanley and he was staring at us in shocked disbelief.
"Hah, Mom. Uncle Frank is fifty-three, he hates the beach and he
wouldn't know a surf board from an emery board. He's been a criminal
all of his life and I see the letters you get from him postmarked
Leavenworth, Kansas. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure
out he's in prison."
"Is that true, Ms. Barker. Is your brother in prison?
"No."
"Ms. Barker, I am warning you one last time. I can check with the
federal authorities."
"He was framed."
"Mrs. Barker, it is a yes or no question and I'm not going to ask it
again."
"Yes," Mom conceded, "but he wouldn't be if he had a decent lawyer."
"Thank you, Ms. Barker," Dr. Stanley said with relief, "You are free to
go."
He motioned towards the door.
"Isn't the officer going to take me home?"
"No, I'm afraid he has police work to do. There's a bus stop in front
of the hospital."
Obviously, Dr. Stanley was not pleased with Mom's cooperation and saw
no reason to accommodate her.
"At least can I have bus fare?" she bargained.
"No! Good day Ms. Barker," Dr. Stanley dismissed her.
After she left, I smiled at him, forgetting that it was not a manly
thing to do. Old habits die hard.
"You see, Dr. Stanley. I was telling you the truth. I am Petula
Barker. Now will you release me?"
Dr. Stanley shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Barker. I assume that is the appropriate designation
under the circumstances. You are only here for psychiatric evaluation.
I have no say in whether you are released or prosecuted. That decision
is up to the District Attorney's Office. At best, I can report that
you are not mentally ill." Dr. Stanley shook his head and added, "but
without confirmation that you were even working with spiders, let alone
that their venom causes gender reversal, I cannot verify your
identity."
I contemplated my situation. Twice I had tried to end the
hallucination unsuccessfully. However, I did have some control over
it. My suggestion that Dr. Stanley interview my mother, as frustrating
as it was for both of us, convinced him that I was sane. If I could
offer him a way to get the scientific proof to support my story, I
might be able to enjoy my imaginary manhood. Then, I thought, what if?
What if this wasn't a hallucination? Dreams usually have some bizarre
element, at least my dreams usually did, like going to school naked, I
hated when I had that one, or doing impossible things, like flying, or
having DD boobs, I loved that one. This hallucination seemed rational
in comparison. The people, places and actions all corresponded to my
real life, assuming you accepted the basic premise that a spider's bite
could turn a woman into a man. Since I didn't care for alcohol and I
had never tried drugs, I had no frame of reference as to whether
chemically induced hallucinations were different from regular dreams;
but, if this was really happening, then there was even more reason to
prove I was Petula Barker."
"Mr. Barker?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Stanley, I was trying to come up with a way to get
Dr. Jameson to tell the truth," which really would have been my next
issue for consideration, if he hadn't interrupted me. "The problem,
well his problem, which is my problem too," I thought out loud, "is
that any publicity would compromise his research project. A naturally
occurring drug, such as the venom, is not patentable, so the only way
to profit from it is to isolate the biologically active component
before the other drug companies learn about it and figure out how to
create their own version. Whoever is first to complete the FDA
protocols and get to market hits the jackpot. In fact, Dr. Jameson has
a double whammy, because if word gets out, all of the other drug
companies will want their own supply of the venom. The spiders have a
very fragile ecology. There are not many of the webs to begin with,
there is only one Queen to a web and the colony cannot survive without
her. High demand would probably lead to the spiders extinction and
that would mean an end to the supply of venom before the research could
be completed."
Then it hit me. Dr. Jameson's aversion to publicity and that problem
it would cause, if word got out, could work to my advantage.
"Dr. Stanley, I do have a plan."
Once I had gone over the details, Dr. Jameson agreed to help.
"I will contact Dr. Jameson. From what you have told me, I can
persuade him to meet with me. However, once he's here, you're on your
own."
"I understand, Dr. Stanley, and thank you for believing my story."
"I don't believe you or disbelieve you, Mr. Barker" Dr. Stanley
cautioned me. "The first rule of counseling is to allow the patient to
work through the issues on his or her own. The therapist is simply a
referee in their emotional conflict. Whatever the outcome in your
case, it will be of your doing, not mine, and the consequences will be
yours as well."
I nodded my acceptance of his neutrality.
"Since I have concluded that you are not dangerous to yourself or
others, there is no need to keep you in seclusion. I will order your
transfer to a regular hospital room. Even so, this is a locked ward.
You want me to cooperate with you, but cooperation is reciprocal. Do
you understand?"
"Yes," I assured him.
"Good. I will notify you when Dr. Jameson arrives tomorrow," he
paused, "if he comes."
He pushed the button to open the door and the attendants entered.
"Wait," he directed them as he wrote a note.
"Mr. Barker may remain on the floor. See that he is assigned a room.
Here is an order for his transfer."
"Oh, Dr. Stanley, I'm sorry, but would it be possible for me to have
some dinner? I just realized I haven't eaten anything all day, what
with waking up a man, getting arrested and being brought here."
Dr. Stanley added something to the order and handed it to one of the
attendants, who put it in his pocket. They escorted me out of Dr.
Stanley's office and through two sets of locked doors, which they
opened by entering a code on the keypad next to them. We arrived at a
counter with a sliding glass window. It was the same shatterproof
glass as the door to Dr. Stanley's office. One of the attendants
rapped on the glass to get the attention of the white coated people
inside. A man came over, undid a lock and slid the window up an inch.
The attendant slid him Dr. Stanley's order. The person inside went to
a clipboard, looked something up and then returned."
"Fourteen West," he told the attendant through a grill set in the
glass, then slid the window closed and locked it again.
We set off down the corridor, took a right and then a left, and ended
up in front of a door with a glass observation window, similar to the
one on the room I had been kept in, and opened with a keypad, like the
others. The attendants waited for me to enter and then the door closed
and I heard it lock. Looking around, I was relieved to see that it
looked like a standard hospital room. There was an adjustable bed with
a pillow, sheets and a white cotton blanket, a night stand next to it
and, best of all, a TV mounted on the wall. There was also a doorway,
which I hoped lead to a bathroom, because it had been a long time since
I peed, or took a leak, as us guys say, and my bladder was about to
explode. Hurrying in, I found a sink, toilet and tub with a shower.
I unzipped my jumpsuit, shrugged out of the top and bunched it below my
knees, lifted the lid, turned around and sat down, assuming that the
seat in a hospital must be sanitary. I noticed that my dick dangled,
which was convenient for making sure that I did not miss the bowl and
pee on my pants, and began to relieve myself. Than it dawned on me
that sitting down was not how men went to the bathroom. I stopped
myself in mid stream, stood up, waddled around with my pants around my
ankles, flipped up the seat, took hold of myself for accuracy and let
fly. I wondered if dads taught their sons to stand up and go, the same
as moms taught their daughters to squat over the seat when using public
restrooms. What did single moms do with their sons? Did they all
become gay, because the women didn't know any better, so they were
taught to pee like girls? Probably they figured it out for themselves
eventually, just the way I figured out sex, since my mother was useless
in that department. Anyway, having mastered the basics of urinating as
a man, I washed up and went back into the room.
While I was in the bathroom getting the hang, so to speak, of my new
equipment, someone had come into the room and left my meal on the bed
table. There was a Styrofoam compartmented tray which held some
brownish meat with creamy gravy, mashed potatoes, a couple of gold foil
wrapped squares of butter, a slice of white bread, a pile of peas and a
cellophane package with plastic utensils, a napkin and little packets
of salt and pepper in it. There was also a Saran wrap covered
Styrofoam cup with milk and a plastic container of red Jello for
desert. Not exactly gourmet dining, but then beggars, or in this case
prisoners, can't be choosers.
I rolled the bed table over to the armchair, adjusted the height and
sat down. I cut up the meat and took small bites, wiping my lips with
the napkin. About half way through the meal, I remembered sittin