Lawrence's accident

Lawrence has an accident riding his bike and he has to undergo 
surgery. His parents decide that he should become a girl with the 
remnants. Ths story is posted in www.fictionmania.com. Author 
Elaine.

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This story does not involve sex below the age of consent (16 years 
old), it is not based on fact and the characters or incidents are 
not based on any known individual. This story must not be read by 
minors. Any comments positive or negative should be sent to Elaine 
at [email protected].

Lawrence's Accident by Elaine ã

My son Lawrence, our only child, was always a happy go lucky sort of 
chap. He played hard. Perhaps he played too hard to make up for his 
slight build and long girlish blonde hair. He was always getting 
into scrapes and accidents. He never heeded our warnings to be more 
careful and it was that perhaps that led to his eventual undoing.

Cycling home from school about eight years ago at his usual break 
neck speed, he took a bend too quickly and crashed into a car. He 
suffered a fractured femur and had severe abdominal injuries. I was 
telephoned at work with news of the accident and I then rushed to 
his bedside at the local sick kids hospital. There I met Amanda, my 
wife who was clearly visibly upset.

"I'm glad you're here at last," she said hugging and kissing me 
closely.

"What the hell happened?" I asked her.

"He was going too fast on that bike of his and he took quite a bad 
knock on the head, he has a fractured leg and abdominal injuries. 
They think he will make a recovery but it wont be a full one," she 
said.

"Why what's wrong?" I looked into her tear stained eyes thinking 
that a broken leg would mend as good as new at his age.

"When he came off,  the handlebars of his bike penetrated and 
injured his lower stomach area and it damaged his manhood!" she said

"What damage did he do to his manhood?" I looked at her then it 
clicked when I saw the expression on her face. "Will he lose his 
penis?" I asked shocked at the thought.

"They reckon that he will never be able to father children! His 
penis and testicles suffered serious lacerations and the doctors say 
that they cannot be saved. They say that they will have to remove 
them before serious infection sets in. They were ruptured in the 
blow to his stomach. The doctor wants to speak to us now about the 
operation that he must do." 

Amanda led me by the arm to the nearby office and we were quickly 
shown in by a waiting nurse.

"Well doctor what's the prognosis," I asked tears welling up in my 
eyes. I really felt sad for my 11 year old boy.

"Not good I'm afraid, your son suffered lacerations to his face and 
his leg is broken but it is his abdominal injuries that are really 
worrying us. His sexual organs are I'm afraid too badly damaged to 
save. The options are either total removal so that he is in effect a 
eunuch or a some sexual reassignment surgery so that we can turn him 
into a little girl."

"He hasn't started puberty yet and he has such a slight build that 
he may well make a convincing female. One that cannot conceive but 
he at least will be able to have some sexual feelings albeit in the 
sex he wasn't born in. My preferred option is the latter course but 
it is your decision."

"I'm not sure about this doctor, isn't there anything you can do to 
save his manhood?"

"Nothing I'm afraid and I've just had a second opinion from a 
colleague. I'm also afraid you two have only a few minutes to 
sanction this operation or we will have to remove his organs and 
leave nothing there. The sex change operation will take a little 
longer and be more complicated. My colleague Dr William's assures me 
that your son should still be able to have full feeling but only as 
a transsexual would."

"I see," I said trying to make time to talk about his other 
injuries.

"The stomach wound  can be dealt with and we will have a surgical 
orthopaedic team here soon to fix his leg. His face around the nose 
was damaged and we would expect that to require some minor cosmetic 
surgery in a few days time. If he became a girl then it would make 
sense to give him some additional facial enhancements at the same 
time. That can wait in the meantime, the crucial thing is to do that 
genital surgery quickly," he said.

"I know you don't have much time Doctor but what will this do to 
him, he was always such a masculine boy. He was always getting into 
scrapes and stuff, how will he react to his loss and 
transformation."

"It's hard to say but some boys never make the adjustment  correctly 
and it will be some time before we see whether he accepts the 
situation or rebels against it. With the removal of his testicles he 
will have no testosterone production and that should calm his 
wayward spirit a great deal. He will also require to take female 
hormones and that will make him even more compliant in his ways. In 
due course we will see that he will exhibit female body development 
such as growing breasts and more rounded hips. As he is prepubescent 
his voice will continue to remain high." He explained.

"In other words his life as a girl starts today," I concluded 
speaking out loud.

"I'm afraid so, does that mean you give permission to go ahead?"

"It looks like there is no alternative," I said looking at Amanda 
who still visibly worried with tears dripping from both eyes onto 
her dress. We signed the consent forms with a shaky hand.

The doctor shook my hand and said, "your son is in the hands of the 
best surgeons in the country, please don't worry. I'll be back as 
soon as I can to give you a report of how he is." With that he was 
gone. I sat down again and cuddled Amanda.

"To think I always wanted a little girl, I never ever thought it 
would be like this," she said slowly shaking her head as tears 
streamed down both cheeks. My wife's fertility problems had 
prevented us from having any other children.

"Look," I said. "We have to be positive, once this operation is over 
and it's a success as it should be, his life won't be in danger. He 
will be different but that means we will have to find a way to help 
him cope with this crazy situation."

Having watched a few late night programmes on the subject of cross 
dressers who did the transformation into women and were quite 
passable, I said. "He is young enough to learn a new outlook on 
life. He has a slight build and his hair always looked like a girls' 
style. He used to tell me that long hair was the fashion. Maybe now 
he'll think about getting it cut. Maybe he'll still be a tomboy. I 
just don't know." 

I got up and went over to the nurse and explained that I would need 
to speak to someone about caring for my new daughter and how we 
should go about it. She said that she would talk to the other duty 
doctor and that she would come and see us when she had completed her 
ward round.

Soon the doctor was sitting with Amanda and me explaining that we 
would need to be referred to a psychiatrist to discuss Lawrence's 
treatment. The doctor gave us a phone number and I was soon 
arranging an appointment convinced that Lawrence was going to make a 
full recovery albeit missing his vital spark.

The receptionist gave me an appointment to see the psychiatrist at 
the same time the next day and I went back to console and cuddle 
into Amanda. 

That two hours was the longest of my life not even when Amanda had 
been giving birth had I felt like this. The only thing we decided 
was that from now on Lawrence would be called Laura.

Our wait was ended when the doctor came out all covered in sweat and 
looking somewhat tired. He explained that the surgery had gone 
better than he had expected. Lawrence's fractured femur had been 
pinned and his face was cleaned up but would still need some minor 
attention. The reassignment surgery had gone very well. He was still 
sedated because of the pain he was in but he took us through to the 
recovery room. Lawrence looked to be sleeping peacefully despite the 
tubes in his arm and mouth. A small heart monitor showed that his 
heart was beating well and his temperature was normal.

"Sleeping the  next 24 hours should help him a great deal and make 
the recovery better. We woke him up slightly after the surgery and 
we could tell he was still in a lot of pain, so we sedated him again 
and he will be like that now until tomorrow."

"Don't you mean 'She' Doctor," I reminded him.

"Yes of course," he said, "sorry about that but it does take some 
getting used to even for me."

"Tell me about it," I replied. "The easiest thing is if the nurses 
could change all his name labels to Laura from now on," I said. "We 
are all going to have to make the change sooner or later, I think it 
is better if we start now. The main thing is that he I mean she is 
alive and will have the best life we can provide for her."

That had been hard for me, as Lawrence was my best friend, he had 
loved to do things together with me as father and son. We did all 
the macho things such as going to the motor racing, football, hill 
climbing and riding our mountain bikes. There was no reason why 
Lawrence as Laura shouldn't do all these things too but it did seem 
to be difficult to imagine it.

I asked Amanda if she wanted to stay the night and she said yes that 
she wanted to stay in the parents room overnight. I told her that I 
would go home and take care of the domestic chores at home including 
feeding our pets and then I would relieve her in the morning.

Chapter 2 - A new beginning

The next day Laura was still pretty groggy after the long period 
under sedation and didn't really know where she was or what had 
happened to her. She continued to drift in and out of consciousness 
all day with the nurses giving her regular painkilling injections 
and dressing changes.

Of course I went to see the therapist and she gave me some insight 
on the problems faced by people who suddenly have to change sexual 
roles in mid-life.

She gave me cause for optimism though when she explained that Laura 
would indeed come to see the need to change her outlook but it would 
be hard to change her sexual identity. She might want to become a 
masculine woman and she may prefer lesbian type relationships rather 
than associate with men.

The doctor explained that the hormone therapy would curtail her 
competitive instincts and make her more compliant and emotional. It 
could take a few weeks or even months before she would attain the 
correct hormonal blood levels for a prepubescent girl..

The doctor agreed to see Laura for regular consultations when she 
was able to get around again. I then returned to the hospital and 
saw that Laura was still sedated and that Amanda had taken the 
chance to have some time to herself.

"Your wife said she was going out shopping and would be back later," 
a Nurse told me.

"How is Laura?" I asked.

"Sleeping at the moment and not in so much pain. I'm afraid she has 
her facial surgery scheduled for 11:00am tomorrow to repair the 
damage to her nose and face. The doctors also want to feminise her 
features a little too."

Poor Laura I thought, now she will have the face of girl to match 
her new body. I went over to her bed and she twitched slightly as if 
she were a dog dreaming she was chasing rabbits. I grasped her hand 
and couldn't believe it when I saw that her nails were filed to a 
point and she wore pink nail polish now.

I found a note from Amanda that said that she needed to get out for 
a couple of hours and had gone off shopping to buy some girl's 
clothes before coming back later. 

I sat down and stared into her face and then for some reason she 
woke. "Hi dad," she smiled.

"Hi, how do you feel," I said as I grasped her hand conscious not to 
use her old name.

"Still sore between my legs and my nose feels sore," she replied.

"That'll pass soon. Do you want anything?" I asked.

"No dad, I'm glad you are here. I would like to go back to sleep," 
and with that she was instantly back asleep.

Pretty soon, Amanda returned and placed Laura's new clothes in her 
locker and we departed for the parents room. Amanda wanted to stay 
but I insisted that she go home with me. Laura would be sedated much 
of the night so it made sense to go home and get some much needed 
sleep before her next operation.

We spent the evening deciding how to convince Laura that the change 
was necessary and that it wouldn't be that bad.

Amanda declared, "I think I'm going to like having a daughter, she 
was always your son but I feel that Laura and I will get closer now. 
He, I mean she will have to learn a lot over the next few months to 
become a convincing girl."

"I hope that you won't turn her into a little frock wearing princess 
and that she will be able to do some of things she did before. I was 
thinking that we could get her a pony or a dog to keep her company."

Amanda, who used to ride horses until a few years ago, thought that 
buying a pony was a great idea and was keen to sound out Laura's 
opinion. "I could get a horse too and we could go out riding 
together," she enthused.

We both went to bed feeling pretty tired.

When we arrived back at the hospital at about 8:00am, Laura was now 
a little perkier. Her name tag now read Laura and she wore another 
pretty night-gown with lace trimmings. The nurses sensibly 
explaining that it would ease the discomfort of her rapidly healing 
abdominal surgery.

While we were there, the doctors came round and they quickly 
examined Laura's wounds and expressed themselves satisfied with the 
healing process. I looked over their shoulders and saw that where 
Lawrence's crown jewels had been was now a swollen, black and blue 
mound covered in a mass of stitches. The stitches extended around 
most of his crotch area and she even had some extending up her 
stomach towards her navel. The scars would eventually be covered by 
her pubic hair when that began to grow.

Her mother held her hand and squeezed it. "Honey how do you feel?"

"Pretty sore mum, what happened?"

"You had an accident darling, you are in hospital. You've had an 
operation they had to fix your leg and near the bottom of your 
tummy. You hit your head pretty hard too dear despite wearing your 
hard hat. Can't you remember?"

"Not very well Mum."

"Do you remember your name?" Asked Amanda.

"Lawrence?" she asked. 

"No dear, your name is Laura," Amanda replied. "What age are you? Do 
you remember?"

"11 years old. Are you sure my name is Laura?" she asked looking at 
my wife as if she were deranged.

"Quite sure darling look at your name tag on your wrist and here 
above your bed. They both say Laura don't they?"

"I suppose so, is Lawrence my nickname?"
	
"Yes darling, you were always a tom-boy and that's what landed you 
in hospital."

I chimed in, "how's daddy's little girl today?"

"Still sore dad," she said as she held my hand. "I'm not a little 
girl am I?"

"Yes you are dear, I'm afraid there is more to come, in a little 
while they are going to do an operation on your face because it was 
hurt in the accident too. At least this way all the operations are 
done at the same time and you get them all over with."

"What did I do to my face," she asked.

"It was cut up when you hit the ground, there was a lot of glass on 
the road and some has gone under the skin," I explained.

"The doctors say that you will be up in a few days and that you 
should make a good recovery. Pretty soon we will have you back on 
your bike and we can go riding together again. Your old bike was too 
badly damaged to repair, so I've ordered another for you with 18 
gears and wide tyres." I took out a leaflet and handed it too her.

She looked at the leaflet and studied the picture of the lady's 
style mountain bike and looked back at me with a smile. "Dad this is 
a girl's bike I would like a boy's bike please."

"Why Laura, the girl's bike here will fit you perfectly it has the 
correct saddle, the correct frame and the correct gears for a girl. 
It should be plenty strong enough for you when you get better." I 
added. "Besides I ordered and paid for that model yesterday."

"Thanks Dad," she replied somewhat less than happy.

I opened up a bag and showed her, her new helmet which unlike her 
sporty boy's helmet was covered in little flowers and was coloured 
pink and yellow. "Your old helmet was destroyed in the accident so I 
got you a new helmet, I hope you like it," I said.

"It's smashing dad," she said, "but it's a bit too girlish for me."

"How do you mean honey?" I asked.

"Dad I like boy's things, not girl's things," she looked me with an 
indignant smile.

Amanda looked at me and I knew we were treading on dangerous ground, 
so I backed off. "OK," I said,  "you can see how it looks when you 
get out of hospital," I added putting it back in its box.

Just then one of the prettiest nurses I had ever seen arrived and 
announced that she thought that Laura could get up for a little 
while. We lifted Laura into a chair while they remade her bed. She 
held on just like a girl with her arm around my neck just in case I 
dropped her. As I laid her down I kissed her on the cheek and the 
nurse quickly covered her with a pink blanket but not before she saw 
she was wearing a frilly night-dress instead of pyjamas.

"The reason's simple, pyjama's would hurt you too much between your 
legs," her mother said when Laura asked the question.

Amanda then produced all the new clothes that she had bought. I saw 
that they included a couple of pairs of white knee high socks, half 
a dozen pair of panties, a training bra and a yellow and orange sun 
dress. Also in the pile was a pair of girl's style lilac coloured 
trainers with Polly Pocket dolls stitched in the sides. All these 
items were replaced in her locker and she winced visibly when she 
saw them.

My wife then added some Barbie comics and two new dolls of Barbie 
and Ken. "I thought you might like something to read and play with 
and these were all I could find."

"Thanks Mum," said Laura who was starting to nod off to sleep and 
who didn't yet associate the gifts with the female gender. Soon she 
was fast asleep on the chair. At around ten, a nurse arrived and 
gave Laura, her pre-med injection. An hour later and Laura was 
heading back to the operating theatre. Fortunately she slept through 
the trip to the theatre.

The plastic surgeon told us that he was going to remould Laura's 
face slightly, she would have a less pointy chin, smaller and 
rounded nose, fuller lips and a slight slant in both eyes. He would 
repair the damaged skin tissue at the same time. He also said that 
he would check her facial proportions so that the distances between 
her eyes, nose and lips corresponded to that of a female

He finished by saying that. "Look I don't want you to get you too 
upset but after this operation, Laura will look worse than she does 
now, but when the healing is over she will look absolutely gorgeous. 
I want you trust me."

"Will she be in a lot of pain doctor?" I asked.

"Some but she is already receiving treatment for pain, so she should 
be OK. Now I'll see you both back here in a couple of hours, I 
suggest that you go and have an early lunch as there is no sense in 
hanging around here." With that he was gone as he went back towards 
the theatre.

We returned back to the ward about 2:30pm to find Laura and her face 
swathed in bandages. There was two small openings for her eyes and 
even her mouth was covered up. She would get her sustenance by a 
tube feeding through her mouth for a few days and by drip into her 
right arm. By her bed she still had the urine bag that no longer 
contained the blood redness of earlier in the day.

We would spend the next few days with her, helping her adjust to 
this terrible ordeal as best we could. 

Chapter 3 - The healing starts

Three days following the facial surgery, Laura was beginning to perk 
up again and it helped when both sets of surgeons arrived to remove 
and replace her dressings.

The plastic surgeon was well pleased with his results. When he had 
removed the miles of bandages that surrounded her head, it was soon 
obvious that the results of the accident would leave only very minor 
scarring. His handiwork had changed her appearance significantly. 
Looking past the swelling was difficult but it was possible to see 
her new pouty lips, her more tapered eyebrows and eyes and that her 
pointed nose and chin was gone. Laura asked for mirror but it was 
refused on the grounds that she would be too distressed if she saw 
the bruising.

Next the surgeon came up and started removing her bandages and the 
packing out of her new vagina. Again it seemed that miles and miles 
of bandages came out of that small orifice and she pronounced 
herself happy with the healing process and the lack of infection.

"We can also take the catheter out now, Laura it looks like you are 
going to be a very pretty and healthy girl very soon."

The doctor and got up and left the nurse to tidy up and Laura now 
wide awake asked her first question to Amanda. "Mum, am I really a 
girl now?"

"Why do you ask?" Amanda fired back.

"Oh it's just that I could have sworn that I was a boy."

"Now that your bandages have come off dear it is easy to see that 
you really are a girl. Maybe the accident has re-arranged your 
brain," she said laughing.

Soon we were all laughing at Laura who also saw the funny side.

"Mum if I'm a girl why did I dream last night that I kissed Lorraine 
at school?"

"Did you? That's odd," she said. "Maybe it's because you thanked her 
for something. Girls always thank other girls by kissing them."

"No mum this was a hard kiss on the lips and I dreamt that my Willie 
got hard while I was doing it."

"Laura I think the pretence is over now," said Amanda.

"How do you mean?" the little boy/girl answered.

"You are Laura now and I'm afraid you always will be a girl from now 
on. When you were in the accident you damaged your pee-pee so much 
that the doctors have had to remove it. They have turned you into 
Laura our new daughter instead of Lawrence our tearaway son."

Laura looked on incredulously as Amanda explained why and what the 
doctors had done.

"So I'm a girl now? But I don't want to be a girl, I want to go back 
to being a boy."

"I'm sorry Laura but that isn't possible any more sweetheart. You 
will have to grow up to be a woman to match your new body. The 
doctors have decided to give you special medicine and that will help 
you adjust to your new life.

"Will I have to wear dresses and girl's clothes all the time?" she 
asked suddenly wide eyed.

"Not if you don't want to but it will look strange if you go around 
in jeans and a T-shirt all the time."

"Will I have to wear a bra?" Laura suddenly asked.

"Yes dear as you grow older, you will grow breasts and you will need 
to wear bras to support them just like I do.

"Mum your breasts are so large, will mine be as big as yours?" she 
asked.

"I shouldn't think so dear but they will go to what ever size nature 
intends."

"Mum I don't want to grow breasts, wear girl's clothes and become a 
woman," Laura started crying in an uncontrollable fashion.

As we tried to comfort her, the doctor hearing the commotion came 
over.

"What seems to be the problem," she asked and I explained what had 
just happened and that despite a promising start, Laura was not 
going to accept this transition without a fight.

"That's a pity but forced gender changes can be difficult. You will 
need to be patient and just show Laura the advantages of her new 
sex. Some professional psychiatric help and counselling will help 
you."

"I hope so, Doctor," I said as she left to go back to her theatre 
list.

Laura just lay there just sobbing her pretty eyes out.

"Mum I need to go to the toilet now." Said Laura.

"OK I'll ring for a bedpan."

"No Mum, I want to do it in a real toilet," she replied.

The nurse brought a wheelchair commode over and soon Laura was 
wheeled into a large cubicle at the end of the ward. She was back in 
bed with a smile on her face.

"Dad it's the weirdest thing I wanted to put my hands down to hold 
it but there is nothing there and my pee just went everywhere. I'm 
sure that it went everywhere except in the bowl."

Amanda then took her hair brush and started to brush Laura's hair 
out and fashion it in a more female style before we went home for 
the night. Soon she had tied it into a pretty pony tail and despite 
not having been cleaned for a few days, her hair shone.

"Thanks mum, that feels better," she said patting her head with the 
only hand that did not contain an IV tube.

"Mum when can I go home?"

"I don't know darling that just depends on how quickly you get 
better.

"I'm going to get better very quickly, you wait and see."

Chapter 4. The long haul to womanhood begins

Laura was good as her word within two weeks she was ready to leave 
hospital despite still being in some pain from her pinned leg and 
the surgery in her genital area. The poor child had endured a whole 
series of medications, blood tests and hormone injections to start 
her therapy. In that time Laura had begun to accept her new role 
especially when she was shown by her nurse how to dilate her new 
vagina regularly.

"Mum it was very painful the first time Sheila did it but now it's 
not so bad. She gave me a set of the dilators and I have to do it 
five times a day. Watch," and Laura promptly displayed her prowess 
with the dilators over the next 20 minutes and Amanda watched on 
incredulously at Laura's new smoother sexual appearance.

Soon Amanda was helping her into that pretty sun dress, panties, 
ankle socks and smart girl's sandals. 

"Mum. Do I have to wear this stuff?" Asked Laura just as Amanda 
finished dressing.

"I'm afraid so dear, your stomach wound is still oozing slightly and 
the doctors have said that tight jeans or trousers are out for the 
time being and the only dress you have here is this pretty sun 
dress," she said as she slipped the dress over the new girl's head. 
"Here give these chocolates to the nurses as a thank you."

"Oh Mum do I have too?"

"Yes darling they have looked after you for the last three weeks and 
I think that a box of chocolates  is the very least we can do to 
show our appreciation."

I watched with some pride as my new little girl thanked the nurses 
who had helped her. "We will see you in a few weeks when you come 
for your check up," said one and the others crowded round Laura's 
wheelchair. 

Soon we were speeding home and I carried Laura up to her bedroom. 
She was disappointed to see that virtually all of her male toys were 
gone and in their place was a series of girl's toys such as a doll's 
house, and her racing car wallpaper had been redecorated with the 
poem taken from a children's nursery rhyme.

Over the last two weeks and Amanda had styled Laura's hair into a 
more feminine style and allowed her nails to grow out. She also wore 
night-dresses all the time. 

After I set her down on her bed and started to help her undress, she 
exclaimed, "Dad my skin feels funny."

"How do you mean funny?", I asked.

"It feels softer somehow," she declared pointing to her chest area.

"There's nothing to worry about, it's probably the first sign that 
your breasts are beginning to grow," I tried to say it in a matter 
of fact style but it came over all wrong with Laura reacting 
violently.

"Dad I don't want to grow breasts I just want to stay as I am," she 
started crying again but in a boyish fashion and beating me with her 
fists as I moved away.

"Look Laura, your body and your mind will adjust to the changes that 
will happen to you over the next few years, the change to a girl was 
the only option open to you. " I lied but life as a eunuch seemed 
horribly wrong.

"Right now I do. I just wish I was dead. How can I be a convincing 
girl when I've spent all my life as a boy," she sobbed.

"That's all in hand, we have engaged a teacher to help with your 
schooling and female deportment. She knows all about you and she has 
agreed to help with your transition before you attend your new 
school in two months time."

"What new school?" She asked in between sobs.

"Your mother and I have decided to send you to a private girls 
school and you will have to be convincing in your movements and 
attitude if you do not want to be rumbled by the other girls," I 
said.

"Dad I don't want to be a girl and I don't want to go to a girl's 
school."

"I'm sorry Laura but that's not possible anymore."

I left the youngster sobbing her eyes out as I went downstairs to 
help her mother prepare supper. This was going to be harder than I 
thought, each time Laura seemed to be against what had happened. It 
seemed impossible to make her see that the option that was taken was 
the only one available. Deep deep down she was still a boy. Then 
again I hadn't exactly been tactful with the truth. This was never 
going to be easy.

Amanda gave up on the cooking and waded in with both barrels when 
she went upstairs. "What is going on here Laura?" she shouted. Even 
I winced when I heard her let go at Laura. "I want you to stop these 
tantrums and accept the fact of who and what you are. You are a 
little girl now like it or not, the sooner you face that fact and 
that you will grow into a woman the better it will be for you."

Laura sobbed as Amanda continued in a softer tone. "Laura it will 
not be so bad, you will be able to do all of the things that you did 
before and you will also be able to do girl's things too. Remember 
when you turned your nose up at riding a pony because it was 
something that boys didn't do, well you can have one of your own 
now. Girls can have even more fun than boys, you will see."

Tears still streaming down her face Laura said, "Will you help me 
mum, I don't think I can face this on my own."

"Yes dear, your daddy and I will help you as much as we can. A new 
lady will be arriving later this month who will help you make the 
necessary changes. Come on let's get you cleaned up and we'll go out 
shopping tonight for some new clothes for you."

Laura was pretty proficient on her crutches and soon negotiated the