Free A Proper Young Lady by Lianne Simon Page B

calm her nerves. Well, yeah. Guess so.  
    I grab her bathrobe and help her get dressed. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”
    “No freaks.” She stumbles into the bedroom, picks up her handbag, and dumps its contents on the floor. “No boy with breasts. No girl with a big clitoris and a little vagina.”
    From the pile she hands me an envelope. “Tell my parents I love them.” She shakes her finger under my nose. “No freaks.”
    The envelope contains a medical power of attorney and a note. In case something goes wrong with my surgery.  
    I stuff the papers into my bag and kneel to gather everything else into Dani’s purse.
    Mom parks the car and walks with us to the front entrance of the clinic. “You sure you don’t want me to stay with you? I can take off work, you know.”
    “Thanks. No. We’ll be okay.” Dani’s hand is crushing mine. I kiss my mother goodbye.
    Disappointment flashes in her eyes. As she turns to go, I grab her elbow. “No. Wait. I want you beside me when I wake up.”
    Her face brightens, and she hugs me. “Sure.”
    The nurse checks me and Dani in, hands us gowns, and leads us to a patient room. I check my wristband again—Melanie Rose Fairbairn. Good. I don’t need them removing any of my body parts. A few eggs maybe, but that’s all.  
    Still in her robe, Dani plops down on one of the beds. She lies there and plays with her wristband. A glance at my watch tells me the doctor will arrive any moment, so I hand her one of the gowns. “You can still back out.”
    Dani gazes up at me, eyes hollow. “Please stop. I need your help to get through this.”
    Shake her, slap her, scream—would anything work? I clench my teeth and turn my head away. “Time to put on your gown then, Miss Danièle .” 
    The girl stands and hugs me. “Thanks for being here.” As she strips down to nothing, her motions slow, like some wind-up toy running out of energy. A tear runs down one cheek.
    Naked, she looks like a marble statue of some Nordic princess. Well, except between her legs rests her little post—that thing so offensive to the world—shaped like a clitoris, but more than an inch long. 
    You’re gorgeous. Why do you wanna screw up your body with surgery? I bite my lip to keep from swearing at her, and help her put on the hospital gown. 
    Dani flinches when somebody taps on the door post. A nurse walks in. “Miss Welles, if you’ll lie down, I’ll put in your IV line.”
    A tremor runs through her, but Dani lies on the bed and stretches out her arm. I perch beside the girl and grab her other hand. Slow-motion terror flows out of her eyes. Neither of us blink till the nurse finishes.
    A few minutes later, Dr. Pierson arrives. “Any questions or concerns before we get started?”
    Yeah! Who says a clit can only be so big? I know better than yelling at her, though. For once, a doctor’s only doing what the patient wants. And screaming at the girl seems pointless. 
    “Let’s get this over with,” Dani says. A weak smile passes across her face.
    “Very well.” Dr. Pierson perches on a chair beside the girl. “Before they perform the orchiopexies, they’ll shave your pubic area. I’ve asked them to put you under anesthesia first, but I didn’t want you to be surprised when you regain consciousness. All right?”
    Dani nods at the doctor. I dig out the girl’s legal paper. “If anything isn’t right in surgery, I want to know.” Though I’ll probably be unconscious.  
    Her eyes flick to mine. “Of course.”
    When they’re ready, the nurse rolls Dani’s gurney out the door.
    What is wrong with you, girl? I slump on the remaining bed, roll over, and cry out my stress. Why should I care? It’s your body—your life to wreck.  
    One hand wanders down to my abdomen. Two weeks of shots have left my ovaries sore and my abdomen bruised. And yet—and yet my emotions have quieted from daily explosions to a steady burn. 
    Somebody knocks on the door frame—the nurse