Tarja 11

It was a rainy day in 1982. :10
Written and posted by
Barbara Lynn Terry for Dawn Smith

Chapter 1 - That night at home.

For Daniel, his twelfth birthday was starting out like every other one. Here was home, with his two sisters and his parents, and a lame cake and no friends. Instead, he had to spend the day faking happiness for his family.

Daniel remembered his birthdays when he was younger, and they were so different. But then, only his sisters knew about the special birthdays, or so he thought. The earliest birthday he recalled was when he was six. His parents were out of town on a cruise — it seemed like they went away every year on his birthday — and he was alone with two older girls. Yuck!

Collin Kline met Sarah Barnes in kindergarten. The two lived on adjoining blocks, with Collin being further from the school. Their mothers met and by the second week were walking the kids to school together. It wasn’t until second grade the children were allowed to make the seven block trip on their own. Their parents became friends and the families began having picnics and outings together as well as back yard picnics. While the guys went to sporting events, the gals went to ballets and concerts. For Collin, it was almost as if he had two dads while for Sarah it was like having two moms. The kids called the other parents aunt and uncle.

Dottie dresses down - A Jaci and Dottie story

'How did I let myself get talked into this?' Lil Jaci wondered to herself.

“Did you know that I do blame myself for what happened in December?” Modine asked her husband. “And I feel guilty for this whole crazy Molly situation too.”

“Well,” Modine looked up at him and she frowned, while shaking her head. “I went to Maggie’s and found Tracy that one morning. I gave Tracy a chance to come out, but only here and only when you were gone. But I could see that each time she came out, putting her back was getting harder. In October she decided to be just Troy, so Vance couldn’t find out and a part of me was relieved. I was so afraid that something would happen and that since I gave Tracy the chance to be out, it would be my fault. Then Thanksgiving happened and you found out, because of Bruce.” Modine wiped a tear from her eye.

“I kinda guessed they would, but I was mad.”

“Anger often shuts down common sense.” Ivan said with a nod. “And thinking a sibling has it easier then you, that makes things bad. Did you ever find out if she had it worse?”

Edited by Djkauf

More of Tracy and her family

Community Acceptance

McKenzie finally understands Aunt Karen's motivations. Ms. Byland organizes an event that shows McKenzie some wonderful things about her hometown. This episode concludes a story that began long ago with a hike on the Fairyland Trail.

“Reboot” Redux

“I come from the Net. From systems, people, and cities, to this place.

Reboot!”

Coffee Shop Conversation

“Hey Mary”

“Hey Marg. Wow. You look awful! What happened?”

The time is 12:40am December 21st.

Maggie was at the stove, not really paying attention to the pork chops in the frying pan, even though she was looking right at them. It was when her mother put on an oven mitt and grabbed the frying pan and moved it to a free burner, that she realized something had happened. “Hey, I was watching those.”

“Watch them do what? Burn?” Bernice asked and Maggie blushed when she saw she had burned the chops. Vance was in the kitchen as well, opening up the windows to clear the smoke out. In the living-room, her father was opening up a couple of windows, despite the cold weather. William was walking into the kitchen with a fan. He placed it in a window so it sucked the smoke out the window by the table.

Edits by Djkauf

Time to focus on the Patterson women.

The Panic Before Part 2: A Jaci and Dottie Story: Dottie tries to help.

Dottie got out of bed and practically floated to her closet.

Jacilynn was trying very hard to keep her emotions down today. The minutes slipped by far to fast for her. Although their regular school had let them out for the holidays yesterday today Jaci and Dottie were attending the Barbie Princess Charm School meeting.

“Rachel.” Tracy said, in a soft, sweet voice. “Wake up, Rachel.”

“No. You got to get up now.” Tracy said as she got up and went to Rachel's bed. She sat on the edge of the bed and began to tickle at Rachel's ear. “You wouldn't be this tired if you hadn't stayed up all night.” Rachel turned over and tried to hide her ears from Tracy, so Tracy went to plan B and uncovered Rachel's feet and began tickling her toes.

Edited by Djkauf

Tracy returns! She's in Livermore, staying with friends and missing her mother, it can get better, right?

The little girl was in her room and scared. She looked at the door to her room from her bed. She knew she should just get up and open it but she couldn't. It was far to frightening. She had spent so long hiding herself from everyone that the thought of walking out the door of her bedroom was so hard. She knew she should but as soon as she even thought about it her heart would pound in her ears.

Community Reactions

McKenzie is now openly presenting herself as a girl around Santa Carla. Will she be accepted in her new identity? Now that the divorce is final Father wants to come to the house to remove his personal stuff. Mrs. Russica publishes a tirade in the local newspaper.