Wolf-blood

Orvar's Past

Flashback (Orvar's past)

 Well, I was born June 19. Keep in mind that the ultrasound messed up my gender. My parents had everything picked out for a girl: girl's name, girl's clothes, they even picked out a pink crib. They were all ready for their little Heather to come home.

So, when I came out and the doctor shouted, "It's a boy!" they were less than prepared. They dressed me in the least girly outfits they had picked out and had to go out to get more. I was stuck with the pink crib, but at least they could paint over that. If they ever got to it, that is. Luckily, my mother was a teacher, so she never had to go to work, at least for the first three months.

They named my Hector, because it was the easiest thing to think of after preparing to name me Heather. I was a decent baby. I didn't cry much, slept most nights, and ate all my food. But I was very attached to my mother. She looked just like me. The same rusty red hair, freckles along her nose, even the same blue eyes that always greeted me in the mirror. She was my stronghold. I wouldn't go to sleep until she came in and sang me a song. But only one song. Over and over again. I never managed to pick up the lyrics, but the melody is forever ingrained in my mind.

As for my father, well he was just a big goof. He had light blond hair and eyes that opposed my mother's and mine, at a dark brown. He was always running away from this explosion or that fume, or, in better words, his failed experiments. My father worked for a big bio-tech firm that was trying to discover new medical break-throughs. He was one of the more... mad-hatters of the firm. He tended to experiment with elements and chemicals that he probably shouldn't have. Like one hundred percent pure mercury mixed with arsenic, added to liquid helium. Don't ask me how he came up with these ideas. I never quite knew myself.

But he did come up with many medical breakthroughs, there in our little Oregon backyard. That lead to a pay raise from his bosses, meaning I wasn't rich, but I certainly wasn't poor. The most important thing, though, was that I loved them both unconditionally, and I was sure they loved me too.

I don't remember much from my early years of childhood. I have flashes of memories from those years, like a beloved babysitter who would come whenever my parents were gone. Or, I remember one snowy Christmas night, when Mom took me out to build snowmen. I also remember when I went to my grandma's house and I played checkers all day. 

But as for a full, conscious memory, I don't remember anything until I was four. Because that was the day when I went to school. I woke up that morning in my brand new bed. I remember how excited I was. It had cars all over it, like any little boy wanted, and it was a step up from the crib. My parents had insisted that I get a big kid bed when I became a big boy. I was so happy that I was finally a big kid.

I hopped out of bed and looked around for the clothes that I knew would be there. Mom had had a talk with me about this. She said that I could have my big boy bed if I could get myself into big boy clothes. So I picked up the outfit she had out for me and put it on all by myself. I was so proud. I managed to get the shirt on on my first try, and my zipper pulled in only two!

I ran out the door and into the kitchen. Mom was sitting at the table, reading a book. I walked proudly up to her and said, "Look, Momma!" 

She looked up from her book and at my outfit. Her face broke into a smile, which changed to a stifled laugh. "Oh, Baby, what did you do?"

"I put on my clothes!" I said happily.

She laughed out loud and said, "Yes, you did. But you put your shirt on backwards, silly." She grabbed the shirt off of me and turned it the right way. "There. Now put it on."

I quickly put on my shirt and stood, still proud that I had gotten my pants on right.

My mother took me to school that day, as she worked in the same school building. She walked me to class, dropped me off, even introduced me to the teacher. My teacher had brown hair and wrinkles. She always smiled at me and it made me a bit uncomfortable. Why couldn't she smile at the other kids?