Loneliest Man Who Ever Lived Ch. 03

Goldie craved experiences. She would take buses to the shopping center, or to other towns, or to anywhere, really, just to explore new places. But every time she went to a new place, she rarely returned a second time. Once she had seen it once, she had no need to see it again.

Schoolwork continued to bore her. Her grades reflected her indifference. There had to be more to life than this.

Goldie made friends, and lost them just as easily. When she played card games with other girls, she was always changing the rules. Why, she was asked?

"Because it's boring to play the same way every time," said Goldie, rapidly dealing the cards. "All right, now 2's, 7's, and 9's are wild... and 10's, if they're diamonds."

Girls bored her. Boys, on the other hand, were starting to become more interesting.

But Goldie's development was twisted by a unique experience she had three years earlier, at the age of 10. She developed a severe fever. Antibiotics could not treat it. For a time, there was a possibility that she might die. Her mother sat by her side day and night. Goldie remembered the worried look on her face.

"If anything happens, you always have Claire. Claire is the important one."

"No, you are," said Goldie's mother, touching her cheek.

"What am I brilliant at?"

"Lots of things," her mother said.

"Name one," said Goldie.

"You'll see," her mother promised.

Goldie recovered from the fever after two weeks, but she noticed the worried way her parents looked at her afterwards. They had a long talk with her doctor, a private talk. He told them something, something important, she could sense it. But they wouldn't tell her what it was.

And then in the sixth grade, when girls started to go through puberty, there were whispers about girls bleeding in their panties. Goldie knew what that was all about. Goldie knew everything. One by one, all of Goldie's friends whispered excitedly that they had received their "bloody wound" in their panties. Goldie waited day after day for hers, but it never arrived.

Her parents noticed. Every week her mother asked if it happened, and Goldie shook her head. Finally, by the time she was 12, they took her to the doctor for tests, and he confirmed what her parents already knew.

"It's Grimwave Syndrome," said Doctor Tainey gently, sitting down next to Goldie on the examination table.

"What's that?" Goldie asked.

"Remember a few years ago, when you had that terrible fever?"

Goldie nodded.

"You were experiencing a rare genetic defect. It happens when the body decides to attack part of itself."

"Why does the body do that?"

"No one knows," said Doctor Tainey. "The important thing to know is that in Grimwave's Syndrome, when it happens to girls, the body attacks the ovaries."

"What... what does that mean?"

Tainey looked up at Goldie's parents. "It means... you'll never have kids of your own. I'm so sorry, Goldie."

Goldie cried and cried all night. Her mother tried to console her.

"Everything good happens to Claire!" Goldie cried. "She has the genius mind! She has the body that can make kids! I have nothing!"

"That's not true," said her mother.

"I'm going to be a flat chested freak," said Goldie.

"Also not true," said her mother. "Doctor Tainey said you'll continue to grow breasts like normal girls." At least, they hoped so. Over 90% of Grimwave cases grew breasts, at least.

"And I'll never have kids!"

"And you'll also never have a bloody mess in your panties," said her mother. She smiled. "When you get old enough to attract boys, you'll be able to have fun with them every day. You'll be the only girl on the planet who can say that."

"Yeah, they can fuck me full time. They'll call me, Goldie, the sterile girl," said Goldie, weeping.

The discovery of her condition changed her. She became more impulsive. She stayed out with her friends long after curfew. She would run up to a boy and kiss him, just for the fun of it. Just to feel what it was like. Her wild nature more often than not got her into trouble.

She channeled her energy into ice skating. There was a local rink in town, and Goldie skated there after school every day. She found it was a great way to work out her nervous tension. At first her mother wasn't sure it was a good idea, after Goldie suffered one skinned knee after another. But soon enough Goldie became good in her own right, and her heart leapt when her parents watched her perform one Sunday morning. They all clapped, even Claire.

********

That night Goldie smiled as she checked her Pad and saw the message from Harry. She ran his results through the comparison program. It matched. She called Mr. Slattery to tell him the good news.

"He passed the first test."

"As we thought," said Slattery. "The second problem is where it starts to get tougher, however."

"He'll pass them all. He's brilliant," said Goldie.

"Are you starting to like him, Goldie?" Slattery asked.

"He's... interesting," said Goldie, giving a small smile.

"Good. Keep me informed of your progress," said Slattery.