Posted by AlOmega on April 19, 2000 at 16:11:37:
WHO??
It sorta hit me the other day. Looking in the mirror I saw a stranger’s face staring at me as if I weren’t who I was. Its not like
no one else has gone through this. I’ve heard it from some of the Old Timers like Jake and Binks. Just that I never thought
it’d happen to me.
Well it comes from being too long in the Time Corp according to the shrinks. Just that they don’t know it all. And for sure
they don’t know me. But I’ve been around long enough that sometimes what one expects ain’t what happens.
Just that I wouldn’t have noticed so much except someone was playing that old Spike Jones tune, “I’m My Own Grandpa.”
I’ve always hated that and everybody knows it. But this time, I sorta let it slide.
I grew up a girl. Now I know what you’re a-thinking’. Here’s this six-foot guy fulla muscles and needing a shave by 10:00 AM
and I’m saying, “I was a girl”? Well, I was. And if you want to make something of it….
Thought not.
As I was saying, I grew up a girl. Stranger things have happened. So okay, I was a mite plain. Maybe some would say
horsey. Not so’s I could hear though not much escapes the orphanage. Besides, it was true. One grows up in an
orphanage mighty fast. No one knew who my parents were or anything. I was told I had been found on the door stoop like
in the early nineteenth century. I’ve been there so I know. But you would have thought the late twentieth century would have
been different. Well that was one thing Clinton never changed.
Anyway there I was finishing puberty real fast (a bit late, I’m afraid since I was seventeen) and its time to leave the old
homestead. Glad to see the last of a bad bargain on both sides, I suspect. They were glad to see my behind and I wasn’t
letting the breeze of the closing door ruffle my dress none. Well they’d done all they could for me – education and job
placement – so they figured that I was able to be on my own. And I was. But some things no one knows for sure. The job
made me a bit of money and kept me out of trouble.
That’s when he found me. Damn whirlwind romance it was. Both of us so in love. I’ll always remember that. Yes I loved
him even though I didn’t know who he was really. Finally one night we made love; and, then he ups and disappears. Damn!!
And you guessed it. I was knocked up pretty big. Shot in the foot at my job right quick, also. No Lady’s Wear wants a
knocked up single mom working for em – even in 2001. New century my ass – and it was. Nine months later I felt the pains
hitting real hard. Guys don’t know what pain is until they try taking something the size of a basketball out their dicks.
Caesarian didn’t help though its easier if you don’t have to bend much. Not so good when you goes to the pot but then I was
in no position to complain. I saw her though. Cute baby, I thought even if a little plain. But then look at the mom. I wasn’t
no raving beauty. That’s when the doctor came in. They’d just taken my baby away and he dumps on me right quick. Well
probably needed to know what was what anyway. Just didn’t expect what he told me.
Seems I was one of those weird people born male and female. I’d just had enough uterus to have the kid and that was
about it. So the doctors figured since I was well enough along to be a male they’d connect that part of me up. They also told
me that I was male enough that I’d be able to have an erection and probably father a brood of children of my own. I sorta
laughed thinking how now I was a mom and could be a dad at the same time. And that was how I changed from being
female to male.
Well life wasn’t turning out to be so bad, I figured. Next day I asked for my kid just to see how she was. I might not of been
able to provide milk but I sure as hell planned to keep my own kid.
That’s when they told me that someone had stolen her. My kid gone from the hospital. Maybe if I’d been rich – but I wasn’t.
Happened soon after I’d last seen her. Damn bastard! Some guy was seen in the nursery; and, soon thereafter the kid was
missing.
I hadn’t even been able to name her.
As I learned long ago, life goes on. I knew for sure I wasn’t going to get another job in Lady’s Wear. As I fleshed out, more
jobs came my way - at first in construction then later as foreman. But nothing was going right for me until that old guy
popped in – and I mean ‘popped’ in. Said he was a recruiter for the Time Corp and I was the perfect person for that job
since I had no ties to the past or family or anything that might disrupt the timeline if I disappeared out of the time stream.
Well I didn’t believe him at first so he suggested I go back in time with him and spend a few months at a place he owned.
He said to have fun, draw on Time Corp funds and gave me the keys to a Mercedes. Hey what does one say when they’ve
hit the jackpot? So I go with him.
Now it so happens I was cruising in that car when I find this young girl. She looked kinda familiar and she weren’t no beauty -
but neither was I. But we did fall in love and that was something else. By this time I was totally male and enjoying it. She
was one hellofa dish in my opinion and I wanted to marry her. Said so in no uncertain terms. That night we made love and it
was wonderful. We were going to get a ring the next day and get married that Wednesday.
That’s when the old guy came and picked me up. Said I’d do for Time Corp and had a job whether I wanted one or not.
Plopped me down in a station and said I’d do well. And I have. The first thing I did was start a search for my fiancée. But
nothing came of that right away. It’s hard enough searching for a person in a country or even in the world. But when you’re
looking for a particular person in a particular time, you’re up against it. And that’s when it hit me. She was familiar – too
familiar. It’s easy to fall in love with yourself, they say. Well I’d done just that.
As the old guy said, I did right well with the Time Corp. Saved a few people here and there. Stopped many a major timeline
change. Remember that old conspiracy theory about Kennedy? Oswald shot him true. But I sent a second slug through his
brain. Reason the doctors didn’t find it has to do with Time Corp weapons. Things sorta disappear when they should.
Anyway it was late last night when I took my unscheduled trip. Timeline was thin where I was going. Picked up a young kid
who I knew would make an excellent recruit. Set him down in a nice place that Time Corp owned. Picked him up a bit later.
Bewildered and dazed he was but he’d do, I figured. Then went and picked up a baby and put her in an orphanage. Not a
bad trip, I figure.
So I’m lying here thinking. Can’t see the scar as much. Healed right nicely and belly hair covers it mostly anyway.
Damn! Someone’s playing “I’m My Own Grandpa” again. Maybe I should shut the fucker up.
Ah why bother. Like I was thinking. I know where I came from. So who are you and where’d you come
from?
AlOmega