Tomboy: Turnabout (Chapter 3) (Patreon)

Tomboy: Turnabout

Chapter 3

“This is a lot of clothes.”

“Are you crazy?” Kelly said. “Most girls would be horrified if their entire wardrobe fit in two suitcases and a pack. I own the bare minimum required to qualify as a girl.”

He laughed, and left her room.

“I’ll go order the pizza.”

Kelly watched her father go, shaking her head. He was so clueless. She wasn’t joking about her paltry wardrobe. Oh, she had a few really nice mini-dresses and heels in one suitcase, but mostly it was the wardrobe of a poor girl. Jeans. Shorts. Lots of t-shirts and tanks. And underwear. The suitcases also contained her laptop, chargers, and other property she owned. She’d sold all of her text books back to the stores at the end of the semester.

Really, almost all of her clothes were in the backpack. The suitcases were for her nicest clothes and other property, like baseball gloves, caps, bats, and balls. All of the athletic gear a coed with a softball scholarship needed. And most importantly of all, there was a nylon gym bag stuffed into the bottom of her pack with her Tomboy costume.

She stuffed the suitcases in the closet. No need to unpack, unless she found opportunity to play a little ball over the summer. Bisbee did have adult softball leagues. Maybe she still had time to join up.

Pizza arrived, and she had two slices.

“Do you eat this early every day now that I’m not here?”

“Pretty much, but it’s five o’clock,” he said. “Not that early.”

She put her hand on his arm, holding his gaze with big soulful eyes.

“I worry about you, Daddy. You’re turning into an old man without me here to ride roughshod over you. Stop.”

They continued to laugh and joke, just enjoying each other’s company. Her father threw in an old Rodney Dangerfield movie, and they spent another ninety minutes laughing together. Just like old times. By that time it was full dark, and Kelly was starting to feel her long bus ride in her bones.

“That’s it for me, Daddy. I need to finish unpacking, jump in the shower, and then get a good night’s sleep,” Kelly said. “It was a long, hot trip up from Dallas.”

She quickly finished pulling clothes out of her pack. Everything either went on hangers in her closet, or into her chest of drawers. Then leaving the almost empty pack on the bed, Kelly took clean thongs, shorts, and a tank to the bathroom.

Her shower was long, hot, and wonderful. Then she pulled her damp hair back in a ponytail and returned to her bedroom. Her father was in there, her gym bag in one hand, her super heroine mask in the other.

Kelly’s jaw dropped. “Daddy!”

“Kel. Say it’s not true,” he whispered. “You can’t be a super heroine. It’s too dangerous. You’ll get killed. Or worse.”

Mostly or worse, she thought.

He dropped the mask back into the gym bag, reached in and pulled out her FEM Belt. Kelly rushed up to him, yanked the power belt out of his hand, and stuffed it back into the bag. Then she ripped the gym bag out of his hand.

“I can’t believe you disrespected me like this,” she cried. “I’m a grown woman. I deserve respect and privacy.”

“This is my house, young lady,” he said, anger spreading across his face. “I forbid you from being a super heroine. Return those power gadgets. You are just a simple college girl. Nothing more.”

“You don’t own me, Daddy,” she said. “I’m nineteen years old now. A full woman. An adult, who makes her own decisions.”

“Not in my house!”

“Fine!” Kelly screamed, picked up her pack, her purse, and headed for the front door. “I’m leaving!”

Her father started shouting. Kelly didn’t pay attention. He sounded angry and she didn’t care what he thought. He’d violated her trust. It made her wonder if he went through her stuff back when she was growing up.

Kelly stormed out in to full night. That took her aback a second. How late was it? Didn’t matter. She couldn’t go back. The only thing she could do was call some old girlfriends, see if someone would let her crash on the couch, and then buy a ticket back to Dallas.

“I’ll find a stupid job,” she hissed, eyes narrow. “I’ll be a Hooter Girl and shake my tits and ass if I have to.”

It was almost impossible to think straight. But a moment later, she started to cool off. She looked around, discovering she had only made it to the closest intersection from the house. Five houses away.

“I don’t have any money,” she whispered, feeling her eyes welling up with tears. “Why did he have to invade my privacy? Couldn’t he just be happy I was home?”

Her shoulders slumped. She had nowhere to go. No money for a motel room, much less food or a bus ticket back to Dallas. And she’d be homeless when she reached Dallas, so…

Kelly turned and headed back to the house. It’d be uncomfortable, but she and her father had to work out their differences. It might take a few days. But her father had a temper that always faded quickly. He’d be able to reason with in short order.

I shouldn’t have flown off the handle like that.

The next door neighbor’s, the Philippi’s, had huge hedges that enclosed their front yard. Six foot high hedges. Kelly couldn’t even see her house until she reached the corner of the yard. Her eyes locked on the still open front door, and then her shoulders tensed.

“Ha!” a man cried as he emerged from the shrubs.

Kelly saw a man over six feet tall, broad-shoulders, in all black. Even his head and face were wrapped in black cloth. She thought “ninja” and then he yanked her into his arms and pulled her into the shrubs.

“Hey! Let me go, you mor – ”

That’s all she got out. Another man in all black pressed up behind her, slapping a damp cloth over her mouth and nose to silence her. Kelly smelled the terrifying aroma of chloroform. Too late. She’d already sucked in a deep breath of that sleep drug, and her entire world shifted violently. She got dizzy, unable to tell up from down. Then she heard her father calling her name.

She was dragged to the ground behind the shrubs, arms and legs held tightly by the two men in black. They kept the chloroform over her mouth and nose, and she slowly faded away as her father continued to call her name, sounding more and more distressed.

And then blackness sucked her down.