The Renaissance Man

Part 2: The Two-Step

We had been at it for six weeks and were making good progress. I had arranged my works schedule around Trish's. We were doing clean up on Sunday when I got a phone call from one of the au pairs employed in our city.

She believed that the child she was responsible for or she was being stalked when she was out in the park. She told me what time they would be there the next day. I told her to go about her day as she would normally, and I would be there checking things out. I had learned that family was very important to the Malley's. They got together every Sunday for supper regardless of what was going on. As a result, Trish and I had to shut down early on that day.

At nine o'clock that Monday morning I was walking through Southeast Missouri Hospital carrying a dozen yellow roses in a nice vase heading for the maternity ward. I had two reasons I wanted to pass the public's image of me, and I wanted to surprise Trish.

I thought I looked pretty good dressed up a girl wearing a reddish-brown long-haired wig with red lipstick on my lips. I wore one inch opened toed heels, a very feminine pair of blue jeans with a tank top to cover the body form I was wearing which had a built-in girdle. I had my favorite shirt hanging off my shoulders, along with a purse. The eyelash makeup had thickened my lashes and added length. Blush and a spray of powder had feminized my face making me look very feminine. A lot of men were taking a second look at me. The false fingernails helped to slender my hands. I had even applied red nail polish to all my nails.

As I got on the elevator one of the hospital staff security guards joined me. I recognized him as the one that had been chatting with Trish that first weekend. The poor man couldn't help himself and tried to flirt with me. Like a woman would I gently shot him down. We walked down the maternity hall together towards the nurse's station, I asked to see Trish Malley.

Jennifer the nurse working with her went to the door behind her and told her she had someone wanting to speak to her. Trish came out and her mouth dropped in total surprise as soon as she saw the shirt. It was nice to see those blue eyes sparkling. My voice lesson during university years was paying dividends. I still used the lessons learned to alter my voice.

"What are you doing here," Trish asked while smiling.

"Just dropping these off for you before I head out in the field," I said handing them to her.

Trish accepted them with a big smile then set them on the counter. Turning back to me I leaned down and wrapped her in my arms giving her a deep long very sensual kiss before walking away.

"Dam Trish I never knew you were into girls." I heard Stephen say loudly as I waited for the elevator. I had to bite my tongue, so I didn't laugh.

"Oh God," said Trish as she looked over at Jen who was still in awe of what she had witnessed.

"I got a video of it." Jen said. "and I still don't believe it. I didn't have a clue. How long have you swung both ways?"

Just as the elevator door open Stephen had caught up to me. Thankfully he was going up and I was going down.

Trish read the card; it said some roses for a 'rose'. S

"Jen that was Scott," Trish said. "But no one will believe it. He did it again. I'm going to be talked about all day because a lot of people saw it."

"Sure, it was," Jen said. "I bet that's what you tell everyone. Sorry that voice was just too soft for it to be a man."

"Well, it was." Trish said, "and I can prove it."

How?" Jen asked.

"If he wants me to know it's him, he always wears the shirt I tore off of him that first day we met." Trish explained. "text it to me so I can add it to the other two disguises I have of him."

Trish realized that if her best friend Jennifer didn't believe her no one would. For the rest of the day, she had to endure unwanted looks and whispers behind her back. Even from some of her patients. Trish leaned that what the truth did not matter. Believe came from seeing and there was no argument in what they saw.

It was about four fifteen in the afternoon when Trish got called into one of the patient's room because her girlfriend was on tv.

Trish yelled, "Jen you got to see this."

They came in to discover I had stopped a kidnapping in progress, and it had resulted in two men from out of state being arrested. The female reporter was asking me a lot of questions and I was answering them in my female voice.

"Detective any final thoughts." The reporter asked.

"Yes, I don't know how you ladies do it. I never realized how much work and effort you go through just to look this good. I will never ever complain again about how long it takes for my girlfriend to get ready to go out. I can't wait till I can get out of this bra and girdle." I said using my normal male voice. "They're to dam uncomfortable and it's irritating."

"You're a man," the reporter said in shock. "Did you get yourself looking this good by yourself? Have you always been able to alter your voice?"

'Yes, I learned how to alter my voice as I minored in drama at school. No, my girlfriend helped me get dressed like this, but it has come with a hook." I said.

"What's that." The reporter asked.

"I have to go on a girls' night out dressed like this in the future?" I said.

The female reporter lost it and said: "To his girlfriend can I borrow him for a night dressed like this?"

That interview would be replayed at five pm, the six pm and the ten pm news because not only did it cover a major story but entertained the public too.

Trish lost it and started laughing while saying 'I'm going to get Scott for this. The looks I had to endure today because of what he planted into their minds will be with me forever."

"You said it was Scott, but I did not believe it. Hell, no one who saw him kissing you did." Jennifer said. "You two and your ongoing relationship are going to be talked about for weeks."

"Now you know why our relationship is so hard to explain," Trish said. "I'm still trying to figure it out. Each time I see him in disguise it's like another side of him is opening up. Each one revealing something about him that I did not know."

"Is he a complex man?" Jen asked."

Trish thought about that for a while and then said. "More a private man. He has to be in his line of work. When he is working, he is very focused. Even with the furniture, his mind is on what he's doing. Yet when he is showing me how to do something, he explains why it's best to do it that way. He's trying to answer every question I might have. A lot of what he knows he learned by trial and error."

Jennifer sent the video to Trish's mother saying you got to see what I took today. Then added watch channel twelve news to figure it out. Then she forwarded a copy of the video to Trish.

Trish texted me can my girlfriend take me out to Red Lobster for dinner. When I read it, I broke out in laughter. I texted back; be there to pick you up at seven.

Jenifer had to show the girls who were replacing the excitement of the day when they came in early to prepare for the shift change and to get updates on what was happening. It was about five to seven when I showed up. Trish had texted Tina not to pick her up. It was common for Tina to be driving her sister's car.

It's not very often a man gets introduced to three females while dressed in drag, but I did. For a few minutes, I was the center of attention. Everyone and their uncles had to get their picture with me. Of course, they all had to tease Trish a lot. We walked out of the hospital hand in hand.

"I was thrilled when you brought me the flowers," Trish said. "But no one would believe it was you until one of the patients caught you on the four o'clock news."

"I'm sorry I didn't think it out," I said. "I should have. I promise to be more thoughtful in the future."

"Don't, the day went by fast," Trish said. "I bet a lot will be totally shocked when the watch the news, the new mothers had something to discuss besides what was happening with their babies. Every one of our patients had to ask about how we met."

We sat across from each other as we ate dinner. Trish could not get over how good I had made myself look like a female. After dinner, we had gone back to the apartment Trish and Tina shared. It was about ten when I left.

In doing follow-ups the following day the au pair informed that the husband's wife was in the hospital because she had given birth to another child. I texted Trish asking about her. She had delivered the previous night. The two we had in custody had confessed that they had been hired by the husband to take the child as he was planning on a divorce.

Trish texted me a six-thirty that her husband had shown up to see his wife and new daughter. I radioed for a team and they met me. We headed up to take him into custody. I had Trish tell him that there were problems with the paperwork, and he needed to go straighten them out. As soon as he walked out, we arrested him.

For the next hour, I spent telling the lady what I knew. It opened Trish's eyes to what is not shown about the job from the mass media.

--------

Over the last three months, we had de assembled the sofa and love seat so we could take them to the upholstery shop. They had to make from scratch some of the repairs needed and order the material used to cover them from France. Trish was amazed as I made the stain and paint as they did back then when they were originally made. I also had bought fifty lbs. of black tea leaves, not ground.

We had soaked a lot of the pieces in a huge vat to take off the years and years of painting and repainting the original pieces. Then the fine sanding to smooth out all blemishes. She was still worried about the huge gash in the dining table which was now completely clean of all the paint.

Trish had noticed me bring a small sander with a collection bag with it into the garage with a metal container of a special goop I had made. Along with a bunch of peacock feathers and some fine glass very thin tubes. When she asked what the items were for, I said for the fixing of the table. Once I started working on that I could not stop until it was done. I told her it was a slow and deliberate process that required time and patience.

Out of the blue, there was a knock at the garage side door. It was one of the kids from a block over needing to talk to me. The young eleven-year-old boy had snuck out of his parents' house. His father was holding his mother and sibling's hostage with a gun. I headed over there after telling the boy to stay with Trish. Trish called dispatch and told them what was going on.

The backdoor of the house was open, so I quietly entered. The father was a man that I knew. He had a history of going off his meds and doing stuff like this. I had almost reached him when he turned to face me. To his surprise, the gun went off hitting me in the right shoulder. Still not completely out of it mentally he dropped the gun saying he was sorry. It allowed me to quickly cuff him.

Within minutes re-enforcement was there to take him into custody, and I was on my way by ambulance the hospital. The bullet had gone clear through. I asked Ted, Beth's husband to let Trish know what was happening and gave him my keys to give to her.

By the time she got to the hospital, I was already in surgery. The operation went well. It was when I was in recovery that the problems started. I had awoken got out of bed and was putting my clothes back on. The nurse working at the time told me I couldn't do that. I told quite rudely where to go and how to do it. She called the doctor who tried to stop me, and he found out the hard way that it was not going to work. In a panic, they called security. When Trish saw Stephen and a couple of other security guards coming in, she asked what was going on.

"A cop just awoke from surgery and insists he is going home," Stephen said. "They want us to restrain him and tie him to the bed."

"Don't bother I will handle him. It's Scott, Stephen but since I don't have my identification with me and I'm not family I need you to escort me in," Trish said.

Stephen did. Trish found me standing against the wall refusing to cooperate with anyone and arguing with two of the hospital staff. I had already got my blue jeans on and was working on putting on my boots.

Trish walked up to me and slapped me. Everybody was shocked. "Scott you get back in that bed right now. You're just too weak to go home right now and you know it."

I looked at her in anger and said, "Fine, but if I am going to die, I'll die with my boots on."

I moved over and sat on the bed.

"You can't stay dressed like that the clothes are all bloody and may be contaminated." Trish said, 'So you're going to have to get out of them."

"Over my dead body. I will when Brad has brought me some underwear and clean clothing from home," I said. "I'm not going to wear a hospital gown that allows everybody accesses to my ass."

"Scott when was the last time you were in a hospital as a patient" Trish asked me.

I said "never, I have stayed away from them ever since I was seven. I watched them take my parents, and the next thing I remember was seeing them in a pine box."

"Scott, do you trust me?" Trish asked as she took my hand in hers with her eyes looking directly at mine.

"Of course, I do?" I replied. "you would not have gotten away with hitting me if I didn't."

"Then I will be here to walk you through it." She said, "until they let you out."

When she said that I laid back down on the bed and started to calm down. The fellow hospital staff was amazed.

The surgeon asked Trish who she was.

Stephen said, "She's one of the best nurses this hospital has on staff.

"What's your relationship with Scott?"

Stephen stepped in saying, "Those two have not figured that out yet so just consider them good friends."

When I awoke in the room Trish was there watching over me. The nursing staff came in to check up on me. After they had left Trish sat down on the bed facing me.

"Scott you know about my childhood, it's time you opened up and told me yours," Trish said.

"I was seven years old when I got awoken by my dad one morning and told to get dressed. When I came downstairs, he was waiting for me. He told me he had done a very bad thing because he had lost his temper. He calmly made me breakfast and watched me eat. Afterward, he took me outside to the front step with the phone. He said I want you to promise me, son, that when I go back inside you will call the police to come to our house. Remember always that in life there is always a price to be paid for what you do. Today I have to pay for mine in a way that best for all concerned." I said. "While I was talking to the police officer, we both heard the shotgun going off."

Trish had tears running down her cheeks.

"My mother and father were still alive when the ambulance took them. Her lover my dad's best friend was not. He had come home from work early because of a power failure at the plant and caught them in the act. I learned years later they died on the operating table."

Trish now understood why Scott had said to Linda that it was best because of his family's history that he did not allow himself to love. He had seen the cost of love at its worst and still did not see the emotional sides that had been in play.

"My maternal grandparents took me in, but my grandmother could not stand to look at me, because I reminded her of what my dad had done to her daughter." I went on. "So, my grandfather and I made part of the barn loft into a one-room apartment for me to live in. I knew that I was just a burden to them. With no tv, I had to develop other things to occupy myself I found myself attracted to wood. A semi-retired farmer to the north of us became my best friend. It was him that gave me his skill and knowledge about furniture and all things wood."

"It was worse at school and on the bus. Everyone knew who I was and what my dad had done. Most parents didn't want their children having anything to do with me, so I had very few friends growing up." I said. "That had drawn the neighbor to the north and me even closer."

"One night he had a house fire that gutted most of the kitchen. The insurance wrote the whole thing off. I helped him tear it out and thought most of the cupboards were savable, so we moved it into the free space in my loft." I explained. "I spend hours and hours on it and finally had got it back to where you thought it was brand new. He also had given me his huge dining set that had been written off."

"When I turned fifteen the lawyer for my parent's estate which was now mine contacted me through my school. My mother had life insurance of two hundred thousand dollars and after settling all the debts and selling all the assets with interest it had reached almost three hundred thousand dollars."

I told her, "My maternal grandfather had given me a written note that said when I turned sixteen, I was on my own. I had the lawyer using my grandfather's note start the procedure to have my name changed and have me legal declared as being self-dependent."

"Wood rot had eaten at my grandparents' kitchen for years. When she fell through the floor, they gutted the whole thing and rebuilt it. My death uncle who was ignored by the family and I talked in sign language. The family had enough to reframe the kitchen, drywall it and do the floor but not enough to finish the kitchen."

"I took my uncle to the loft and showed him the finished kitchen and dining furniture that I had restored there. He thought it was beautiful and asked me if I had restored it. I said yes and told him to take it for the house. He warned me that his brothers and sisters would take the credit. I said that it didn't matter I was paying for my room and board."

"The day I turned sixteen they had finished the project, Granddad and Grandma could now move back in," I said. "I legally had a new name and was independent. I had placed my meager belongings in the back of my uncle's truck and asked him to drive me to the nursing home where my former neighbor now lived. Before leaving the truck, I gave a letter to my uncle and asked him to hold it till his father came looking for me. I went to introduce myself to my best friend with my new name. I had taken his last name as my own. James was the first name of my death uncle and Scott was my father's first name. That night began the journey that brought me here. I bought the property I own via a tax sale while I was going to school, and made a living tearing down buildings."

Trish just held my hand till I went back to sleep.

To Trish, it had explained so very many things. On the way to the hospital, she had been too worried to drive so Ted had driven her. Trying to get her not to worry he had revealed that Scott was indeed the mysterious Mr. Claus. A man who had appeared thirteen years ago leaving much-needed help on needy doors in the month of December.

Trish understood now that her Scott was a Renaissance Man not by choice but by circumstances of life. Many who had bad things happen in childhood carried on doing bad things throughout their lives. Scott had turned it and forced himself to become a better person. While he slept, she quietly wept while wondering why she was brought into his life.

When her sister Terry was expecting the twins, she and Robert had lost everything because of fire at the apartment building in the middle of July. It had been him that had given them a fresh start. There was no explanation of how they were chosen or why. It was something her sister still talked about today. Over the years in her eyes, Mr. Claus had become a god.

Mr. Claus's Representative, a priest had shown up. He had got them a new home that they still owned and got them a no-interest loan for five years. When they opened the garage, doors were all the stuff needed to start a life. All they got from Mr. Claus was a note that said always remember to pass it on. Three or four times a year some family in some way were brought back by the magic of Mr. Claus.