""A healthy little girt. Five pounds, three ounces. "
"I relaxed. It"s something, to have made a baby. I told myself I would go somewhere and tack "Mrs. " on my name and let the kid think her papa was dead -no orphanage for my kid!
"But the surgeon was talking. "Tell me, uh-" He avoided my name. "did you ever think your glandular setup was odd? "
"I said, "Huh? Of course not. What are you driving at?
"He hesitated. I"ll give you this in one dose, then a hypo to let you sleep off your jitters. You"ll have "em. "
""Why? I demanded.
Ever hear of that Scottish physician who was female until she was thirtyfive? -then had surgery and became legally and medically a man? Got married. All okay. "
"What"s that got to do with me? "
""That"s what I"m saying. You"re a man. "
"I tried to sit up. What? "
"Take it easy. When I opened you, I found a mess. I sent for the Chief of Surgery while I got the baby out, then we held a consultation with you on the table-and worked for hours to salvage what we could. You had two full sets of organs, both immature, but with the female set well enough developed for you to have a baby. They could never be any use to you again, so we took them out and rearranged things so that you can develop properly as a man. He put a hand on me. "Don"t worry. You"re young, your bones will readjust, we"ll watch your glandular balance - and make a fine young man out of you. "
"I started to cry. "What about my baby? "
"Well, you can"t nurse her, you haven"t milk enough for a kitten. If I were you, I wouldn"t see her-put her up for adoption. "
""No! "
"He shrugged. "The choice is yours; you"re her mother - well, her parent. But don"t worry now; we"ll get you well first. "
"Next day they let me see the kid and I saw her daily - trying to get used to her. I had never seen a brand-new baby and had no idea how awful they look - my daughter looked like an orange monkey. My feelings changed to cold determination to do right by her. But four weeks later that didn"t mean anything. --
"Eh? --
"She was s.n.a.t.c.hed. --
""s.n.a.t.c.hed? --
The Unmarried Mother almost knocked over the bottle we had bet. -- Kidnapped - stolen from the hospital nursery! " He breathed hard. -- How"s that for taking the last a man"s got to live for? --
"A bad deal, " I agreed. -- Let"s pour you another. No clues? --
"Nothing the police could trace. Somebody came to see her, claimed to be her uncle. While the nurse had her back turned, he walked out with her. --
"Description? --
"Just a man, with a face-shaped face, like yours or mine. -- He frowned. -- I think it was the baby"s father. The nurse swore it was an older man but he probably used makeup.
Who else would swipe my baby? Childless women pull such stunts
- but whoever heard of a man doing it? --
"What happened to you then? --
"Eleven more months of that grim place and three operations. In four months I started to grow a beard; before I was out I was shaving regularly... and no longer doubted that I was male. -- He grinned wryly. -- I was staring down nurses necklines. --
"Well, " I said, "seems to me you came through okay.
Here you are, a normal man, making good money, no real troubles. And the life of a female is not an easy one. --
He glared at me. -- A lot you know about it! "
"So? --
"Ever hear the expression "a ruined woman"? --
"Mmm, years ago. Doesn"t mean much today. --
"I was as ruined as a woman can be; that b.u.m really ruined me - I was no longer a woman... and I didn"t know how to be a man. --
"Takes getting used to, I suppose. --
"You have no idea. I don"t mean learning how to dress, or not walking into the wrong rest room; I learned those in the hospital. But how could I live? What job could I get? h.e.l.l, I couldn"t even drive a car. I didn"t know a trade; I couldn"t do manual labor-too much scar tissue, too tender.
"I hated him for having ruined me for the W. E. N. C.
H. E. S., too, but I didn"t know how much until I tried to join the s.p.a.ce Corps instead. One look at my belly and I was marked unfit for military service. The medical officer spent time on me just from curiosity; he had read about my case.
"So I changed my name and came to New York. I got by as a fry cook, then rented a typewriter and set myself up as a public stenographer - what a laugh! In four months I typed four letters and one ma.n.u.script. The ma.n.u.script was for Real Life
Tales and a waste of paper, but the goof who wrote it sold it.
Which gave me an idea; I bought a stack of confession magazines and studied them. -- He looked cynical. -- Now you know how I get the authentic woman"s angle on an unmarried-mother story... through the only version I haven"t sold - the true one. Do I win the bottle? --
I pushed it toward him. I was upset myself, but there was work to do. I said, "Son, you still want to lay hands on that so-and-so? --
His eyes lighted up-a feral gleam.
"Hold it! " I said. -- You wouldn"t kill him? --
He chuckled nastily. -- Try me. --
"Take it easy. I know more about it than you think I do. I can help you. I know where he is. --
He reached across the bar. -- Where is he? --
I said softly, "Let go my shirt, sonny-or you"ll land in the alley and we"ll tell the cops you fainted. -- I showed him the sap.