Amy walked up stairs wanting to check on Eric. She stopped outside his door and knocked softly.
"Go Away" she heard a woman's voice yell.
"Eric, honey can I come in?" Amy asked.
"Leave me alone" she heard in reply.
Amy gently turned the knob and slowly opened the door.
Eric was sitting at his computer, shoulders slumped staring at his phone.
"I said leave me alone" he mumbled.
"I'm sorry Eric" Amy said "I was worried about you, you seemed so upset".
"Damn right I'm upset Mom" Eric growled...well as best as he could.
"And you should be Eric, this is quite a lot to take in....for all of us" Amy assured
The room was hot and very stuffy. Beside the computer desk was a 25 pound dumb bell. When Amy noticed Eric was rubbing his arm she put two and two together. She walked over and sat on his bed.
"You know....there are going to be some differences...changes in how you...well there will be some limitations that you need to..."she trailed off losing her words. Eric always communicated better with his father. Amy loved her son but there was just something unique with a father son bond and when Eric grew into a young man she fell behind a little as he developed more and more in common with his father.
"Daddy will figure something out...this isn't the end Eric." She finally said.
Eric spun his chair around. His round face red, eyes swollen. "This is a death sentence Mom" he shook his head. "I'm old, I'm weak, I'm out of shape." He shook his head. "I'm a woman for fuck sake. An old woman". He moaned.
Amy was a little perturbed at the language but stopped herself from saying something figuring he had a right to be angry.
"Well, being woman isn't that bad" she said and then regretted it.
"Not bad?" Eric said "Not bad for who? You who was born one or me one who became one....and it wasn't my choice."
"What I mean is, it's not like you are the Crypt Keepor or anything. You are still you...you are still smart....you're not an invalid. Yes it is different now but you can choose to either wallow or make the best of it until Dad can find a way to fix this." she said
"For how long though?" he asked "Am I stuck like this for a week? Month? Year? Football starts next week. You can be ' put silver lining around this black cloud' all you want, but the reality is my life is fucked. What about Rachel? 'Hi Rachel, I'll need to take a rain check on Homecoming, what do you say we find a Mother Daughter dance to go to instead?'. What about the team? So I just show up and say 'Hi Coach don't mind me, Mom says I'm not an invalid'." His voice started to shake and his lip quiver. "Mom what am I going to do?" he asked quietly breaking down in to sobs. "Damn it, I can't stop crying." he sniffled.
"Today is only today, we'll know more tomorrow. Come here" she said and patted the bed beside her.
Eric stood up and walked over. He stood face to face with his mother.
"Sit" she said again.
Eric turned and tried to hop up onto the bed. His rather large backside and thighs didn't quite make it all the way on, causing him to slip down hard onto the bedroom floor. The breasts on his chest lurched down before settling back up into place, or as up as they could go which apparently seemed to be resting on his belly.
"Shit, fuck....GOD DAMN IT" he yelled and tried to stand but his bare feet slid out from beneath him causing the scene to play it's self out again.
Defeated Eric sat on the floor nursing his bruised ego.
Amy put her hand over her mouth.
"Are...are you OK?" she asked.
Eric sat there, not knowing what to say. Suddenly he burst out laughing.
Amy at first couldn't tell if he was laughing or crying. When she realized that he was indeed laughing...she too began to chuckle and sat down beside him on the floor. The two sat there laughing till they were out of breath.
Mia, heard the laughter from her bedroom and came into investigate. "What's so funny?" she asked them confused as to what in the world it could be.
Eric's giggles slowed. "Nothing sis...nothing at all" he said.
Mia shrugged her shoulders and walked back to her room.
"Mom?" Eric asked
"What baby?" Amy replied
"I peed a little" he said breaking out into the giggles again.
Amy laughed out loud, and harder than she had before.
Eric caught his breath..."Are...are you laughing at me?" he asked
Amy couldn't speak she just shook her head. "No...no" she finally spit out.
"Then why are you laughing so hard?" he asked
"I peed a little too" she said cracking up again, causing Eric to lose it once more.
Amy noticed some cooler air. "Feels like your dad got the AC working" she said wiping her brow.
Eric sighed. "Thank God. BTW, mom this room smells bad did the fire cause something to die? It smells like a dead skunk."
Amy sighed. "Let's just say, teenage boys have their own...uh smell. I guess with this new..uh different set up you can notice it now." she said gesturing to his nose and face.
"You mean I stink that bad?" he asked
Amy shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe?" she said forcing a smile.
A cell phone notification interrupted them causing Eric's face to drop. "It's Rachel" he said and struggled to his feet.
"She wants to go swimming at the lake tomorrow"
Amy stood and straightened out her pants and took a deep breath.