Bless Me Father
by: Deane Christopher
edited by: Steve Zink

6 - Rebirth

It was a beautiful night. It was crisp and clear, with just a sliver of a crescent moon riding low on the horizon. It was, as all the local meteorologists proclaimed, the perfect night for viewing the spectacular meteor shower that was scheduled to begin short after midnight.

Gus, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of his wife’s Chevy Blazer, caught sight of several falling stars streaking across the sky on his drive over to the hospital. However, though he did, given that his daughter was in the early stages of labor, he failed to mention the fact to the other three occupants of the vehicle. Some things, Gus Miller realized, were not as important as others.

"Mom!" the former Catholic priest frantically intoned. "Did anyone think to call Mickey before we left?"

Answering for the woman she now refereed to as her Aunt Jean, Gabriella said, "Yes. I did."

"Good." Karen was relieved. "I know he wants to be there..."

+

 

Women have their whole life to come to terms with the ordeal involved in childbirth. Karen, owing to the fact that she had been a man until something a little under eight months prior, was nowhere near mentally prepared for what she was about to undergo. To say that she was scared would have been the grossest of understatements. She was petrified, and freely admitted that she was.

"Karen," an empathetic Jean Miller softly intoned as her husband turned off the main drag and started up the hill to the hospital. "You know, dear, you don’t have anything to prove. That’s to say that if you find that you can’t handle the pain, you can always ask them to give you something. Believe me. No one will think any less of you if you do."

"I know, Mom. And, I promise you that if it gets to be more than I can handle, I’ll do just that. But, if I can manage it, I’d really like to give birth to this baby of mine naturally."

"Oh!" Gabriella chimed in. "So, what you’re saying is, you want to do the manly thing and tough it out?"

Karen responded to her friend’s gibe by reaching over and pinching Gabriella’s leg.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"Good!" Karen sneered. "I’m glad to hear that it did."

+

 

A few minutes later, as Jean Miller was dealing with the admitting nurse, Gabriella, taking note of the fact that Karen had just endured another contraction, leaned over and said, "That was a bad one, wasn’t it?"

"Take it from me, they’re all bad ones! But, yes! That one was pretty bad."

"You do know, they’re only going to get worse."

"Oh, they are, are they? So, when are you going to tell me something I don’t already know? I mean, of the two of us, aren’t you the one who’s supposed to be psychic?"

"Okay, smartass! You want a prediction! I’ll give you one! You’re going to do great!"

"I pray to God that you’re right about that!"

"Don’t worry, kiddo. I am. Take it from me. God’s going to make sure that you and your baby are going to come through this with flying colors..."

+

 

Though Karen would have been hard pressed to agree with her girlfriend’s assertions, Gabriella was proven right. As far as deliveries are concerned, Karen’s by and large followed the prescribed script.

Once her mother had completed all the rigmarole involved in getting her daughter admitted, Karen was wheeled into a room. Shortly thereafter, a nurse came in and shaved off all of her pubic hair. Then, once that had been attended to, another nurse came in and, to Karen’s chagrin, gave her an enema.

"How’s she doing?" Gus asked his wife as she once again reentered the waiting room somewhere around five the next morning.

Jean Miller wearily replied, "All in all, I’d say she’s doing pretty good."

"So, how much longer do you think it’ll be?"

"Last they checked, she was at eight centimeters. So, my guess is, we shouldn’t have too much longer to wait."

"Do you think they would mind if I popped in for a minute or so?" Mickey, who was wearing his police uniform, tentatively asked.

"Probably... but, if I were you, I’d just go ahead and go on in there. Besides, what’s the worst that’s going to happen? They’ll just tell you that you have to leave, right?"

"Yes... I guess so..." Mickey sheepishly replied.

+

 

Around six thirty, shortly after Karen’s cervix reached full dilation, her water broke.

Karen had long chided herself against behaving in a crude and debasing manner during the delivery process. However, though she had, her contractions became so severe that she found herself compelled to vent her anguish. As a result, profanity resplendent epithets, epithets that would no doubt make a sailor blush, began to issue from her lips and cavort savagely about the delivery room.

"God!" she frantically clamored through clenched teeth. "Why in the hell did you do this to me? You know I don’t deserve this! I’m a man, for Christ’s sake..."

"Karen..." Gabriella gingerly implored. "Come on now. That’s enough of that nonsense. Right now, what I need you to do is to concentrate on your breathing..."

A few minutes later, Dr. Anna Gibbons said, "All right, Karen. I can see your baby’s head. So, what I need you to do for me is to push really, really hard on your next contraction."

Though Karen had no idea how she managed to find the wherewithal within herself to do so, she did as her doctor instructed. As she did so, God infused her spirit with the bounty of His grace and so, caused an imperceptible change to occur in Karen’s psyche. Much as a loosened pebble might serve as the random triggering mechanism for a massive landslide, that imperceptible change in Karen’s psyche would eventually result in making the impossible, possible.

"Good girl!" Dr. Gibbons enthusiastically encouraged as she grasped Karen’s baby under the chin and began to gently work the infant’s shoulders free of the birthing canal. "You’re doing great! And, I do believe we have ourselves a brand new little girl here..."

+

 

"Dr. Gibbons said that both you and baby are doing just fine," an ecstatic and glowing Jean Miller offered as she brushed a stray strand of sweet soaked hair off her daughter’s forehead. "Needless to say that both your father and I are so very, very proud of you..."

"Have you seen her yet?" a very tuckered out Karen weakly managed.

"No... but one of the nurses said that we should be able to shortly..."

"Mom!" Karen meekly intoned, as her mother got ready to depart the room.

"Yes, dear?"

"I just want to thank both you and Dad."

"For what, dear?"

"For the two of you being here for me..."

"And, where else would we be? Need I remind you, Karen? You’re our daughter. And, regardless of what happened in the past, we love you. And, we only want the best for you..."

"I love you, too, Mom...

"And, Mom!" Karen said in an afterthought. "Please! Tell Dad that I love him, too!"

"Sure thing, sweetie. Now, you get some rest. All right? Remember, you’re a mother now. And, I’m sorry to have to be the one to have tell you this, but from here on out, that new baby of yours is going to keep you on your toes. In other words, you’re not going to get a lot of opportunities to rest once we get you get back home. So, you better take advantage of the situation and get all the rest you can while you’re here..."

+

 

Later that afternoon, Jean Miller, who was at the time cradling that granddaughter of hers so lovingly in her arms, began a new topic as she gingerly inquired, "Are you sure about this, Karen?"

"Yes, Mother. I am," Karen replied as she shifted about in the hospital bed in an ongoing effort on her part to find a more comfortable position.

"And, you’re not doing this because you think your father and I would like it?

"No, Mom. I’m not. I’ve been giving it a lot thought, and I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the way I’d like to go to more or less honor his memory."

"But, you really didn’t know him the way your father and I did," Jean Miller charged.

"That’s not true, Mother. You see, even though I never made mention of this before, I did know him. Fact is, I knew him pretty well. And, I guess you could say that he’s the real reason that I’m here now. I mean, if it weren’t for him, you probably wouldn’t be a grandmother right now."

"You mean to tell me..." Jean Miller was horrified at the very thought of which her daughter had just alluded; so horrified in fact that she was reluctant to actually put the thought into words.

"Yes, Mother. As hard as it is for me to be saying this, your daughter was actually considering getting an abortion."

"And, you’re saying that Father Dan was instrumental in talking you out of it?" her mother asked.

"Yes. In a roundabout manner of speaking, that granddaughter of yours is here because of him. He put his life on the line for me. So, as a way to honor his memory, I thought it would be nice to name her after him..."

After a moment of silent and solemn contemplation, Jean Miller smiled and said, "I do believe that our little Danielle Patricia here has just woken up, and would like her nanna to give her back to her mother..."

+

 

Two floors above, Mickey and Gabriella were engaged in their own conversation as they sat drinking coffee in the hospital’s surprisingly clean and newly refurbished cafeteria.

"I need to apologize to you," Gabriella said.

"For what?"

"For saying something that I shouldn’t ought to have said."

"Okay! So, what did you say, and to whom did you say it?"

"Well..." Gabriella began somewhat reluctantly. "Last night, right before she went into labor, Karen suggested that you and I might make a good couple."

"She did, did she?" Mickey had to chuckled at that.

"Yes!" Gabriella snapped. "In so many words, that’s pretty much what she told me."

"So, what did you say?"

"I told her that I wasn’t the girl for you. But then, I had a slip of the tongue and told her that she was."

"Oh...

"So, is that going to be a problem?"

"No..." Gabriella returned thoughtfully. "I don’t think so..."

A few minutes later, another chuckle escaped Mickey’s lips.

"What’s so dog-gone funny now?" Gabriella quizzically inquired.

"I was just thinking..."

"About what?"

"About Karen’s suggestion that you and I might make a go of it as a couple," Mickey replied glibly.

"I mean, could you imagine the stir the two of us would cause if we were to do something like that..."

+

 

A few minutes later, as the two of them were traversing the corridors on their way back to Karen’s room, Mickey broached another subject.

"Oh! I almost forget," Mickey said as he reached into the shirt pocket of his uniform and withdrew a small oblong box. "I’ve got something here I’ve been meaning to give you."

As they entered the elevator, Gabriella flipped the small box’s hinge top up to reveal the gleaming chrome surface of brand new Honer Marine Band Harmonica. Raising the harmonica to her lips, she played the first few bars of the well known hymn, Amazing Grace. Whereupon, Mickey issued a gentle rebuke to dissuade her from her playing the instrument while in the hospital.

"So, tell me," Mickey asked. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah... it’s kind of neat. Plus, unlike that trusty old horn of mine, it’s extremely portable and a lot less dangerous, if that is, you know what I mean..."

+

 

That imperceptible change that had occurred in Karen’s psyche got a little nudge the first time she breast fed little Danielle. And, though she was unaware of it occurring, each and every time that precious newborn of hers suckled on one of those super-sensitive teats of hers, Karen’s psyche got another little nudge.

Karen’s psyche also mutated a smidgen whenever she had an occasion to interact with Mickey De Angelo. Though she remained oblivious to the fact, Karen’s formerly male oriented mind was being systematically retrofitted. In order to provide Danielle with the nurturing influence of an earthly father, while at the same time, rewarding the former Catholic priest for her selfless sacrifice, by God’s hand, Karen was gradually being turned into the kind of woman that was not only capable of, but eager to, return the love of a man.

While Karen would never reach a point at which she would find that she was no longer sexually attracted to other women, that male libido of hers was being remodulated. Though she knew it not, she was slowly but surely becoming a bisexual woman.

A couple of weeks after returning home from the hospital, from out of nowhere, Karen, with a girlish giggle, proceeded to asked Gabriella, "Is it just me? Or, does Mickey have a great ass?"

+

 

"What’s wrong, Karen? Is there a problem?" Gabriella asked as her clearly shaken friend reentered the clinic’s waiting room.

"I’ll tell you when we’re outside. But, how ‘bout we get out of here first!!"

A few minutes later, once they were out of the building, Gabriella, feigning impatience, sternly demanded, "Okay! What gives, girl? What did the doctor say? I mean, you and Danielle are all right, aren’t you?"

"Yes! Yes!" Karen was clearly distraught. "We’re both fine! Actually, according to Dr. Gibbons, Danielle couldn’t be finer! As for me... well... all in all, I guess you’d have to say that I’m doing even better than great!"

"How so?" Gabriella, already aware of what Karen’s brouhaha was all about, felt obliged to ask the question anyway.

"You’re not going to believe this! But, guess what! As absurd as this is going to sound, Dr. Gibbons informed me that my hymen is still intact!"

"You’re shittin’ me, right?"

"No, Gabriella! I’m not! Technically, I’m still a virgin!"

+

 

A few minutes later, Gabriella, having assumed the role of the devil’s advocate, innocently put a question to her friend. "So, tell me. What’s so bad about you and your still being a virgin?"

Irately, Karen snapped, "I can’t believe you’re actually asking me that question! Need I remind you what happened the last time there was a virgin birth! I told you before, Gabriella! I’m no Mary, Mother of God! I’m simply not cut out to handle something that... that... that..." Karen, unable to find the right words to express the turmoil that raged within her, frantically stammered.

"Stupendous..." Gabriella, taking pity on her friend, tentatively offered.

"Yes!" Karen wildly exclaimed. "That’s the word I was looking for! Stupendous! Look! I might be a good person! And, even though the odds are stacked against me, I think I’m actually becoming a good mother! But, even with all of that, there’s no getting around the fact that I’m not cut out to handle something as stupendous and earth shattering as that!"

"So, what are you going to do, Karen?" Gabriella said bluntly. "Cut and run? Let’s say you’re right. Let’s say that God chose you to be the mother for the Second Coming of His only Son, Who just happens to be His only Daughter this time around. What are you going to do?

"Are you going to say the hell with it; leave Danielle with your parents and haul ass?"

"No! I would never do anything like that!"

"That’s right! You wouldn’t! You wouldn’t, because you couldn’t! You’re just not that kind of person, Karen!"

"I know I’m not that kind of person...

"But sometimes, I wish I were..."

"Oh, no you don’t! You might think you do. But, take it from me, it’s just not in your nature to be like that. Remember, kiddo. It’s like I keep telling you. You’re one of the good guys.

"That’s to say that you’re going to keep doing the right thing if for no other reason than it’s the right thing to do.

"Besides, Karen, even if Danielle is God’s Child, she’s your child, too. And, that means, you are going to do everything and then some to ensure that she’s raised right..."

 

 

*********************************************
© 2001 by Deane Christopher. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.