Ethel Watts Mumford

“ The doctor and the nurse discussed me in low voices.
“The strange thing is,” said Benson, “that Dr. Jerrold has an appendicitis case followed by loss of identity with a hallucination of change of sex—a combination utterly unknown before. And he tells me he operated on the same day, almost at the same hour, that we did. It's most extraordinary—and Miss Delano's insisting that Jerrold is the only man who could understand her case. It's very odd. He's coming here to-day to consult; she insists on it.” ”

“ I wanted to cling to my ego as long as possible—to be a man to the last—for I realized that with an operation for appendicitis there comes always the great question of life and death. My twin brother, Fred, was waiting in the outer room. He alone of all the family knew my condition and the step I was about to take. Why worry the rest, and give them the anxiety of waiting for the news? I was in good hands. Dr. Jerrold was my classmate and devoted to me. ”

“ I look at myself all day. You must have a fine figure when you're well. I haven't learned to allow for your big shoulders or long legs yet. Indeed, I don't know that I want to swap back to my old self. I'm having a beautiful time with your friends; there are packs of them up to see me all the time. You're awfully popular, you know. They are teaching me poker; it's one of the things I forgot during my illness. ”

“ My new mother said gently: “Tom is not your brother, Polly. Don't you remember?”
She picked up my left hand and held it up before me. On the third finger was a heavy, old-fashioned ring, set with a solitaire. “Good Lord!” I thought. “I'm engaged, am I—engaged to a man named Tom!” They must have seen the terror on my face. My mother's lip quivered.
“You had better go,” the doctor said. “She mustn't be tired.”
They left me, all but the nurse. I lay thinking. Then I determined to take the bull by the horns.
“Nurse,” I said, “what is the rest of my name; Polly—what? ”