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Kevins in Bikinis
All her life, Kevin Jo Starkel had wished for two things: a little sister and a first name that she wasn't forced to share with her older brother. Through an odd clause in the will of her great-uncle Mendel, Kevin's parents had to name their first two children 'Kevin' after Mendel's father to inherit college annuities for all their children from his estate. They were given the right to choose a different middle name for each.
Miss Kevin Starkel had long loathed her great-uncle for assuming she would be born a boy. When it came to school, her parents made sure that the teachers and principal knew that her name was always to be "Kaye" or "Jo" for the sake of anything around her peers. For years, she kept the secret of her real first name from most friends and would always tense up when there was a substitute. Oftentimes, she just ditched those classes.
Once, she was chosen for a scholastic award and a fill-in speaker spoke the "hated" name. While she tried to show no reaction, the other kids soon started to put it together and laughed at what they all figured was a mistake. Kevin held her breath and didn't want to stand. Eventually, pride in her work won out and she walked, head down, to the podium. Of course, the fill-in asked her if there was an error.
Torn between a favorable lie and the embarrassing truth, Kevin glared at him till he passed her the award and she could make her way back through the swarm of chuckles.
While the joke persisted for days with spontaneous cries of "KEVIN!" among the other kids, it wasn't until fourth grade when things turned bad and the teacher Kevin most wanted to feed to a swarm of hungry crocodiles showed up.
Ms. Roach by name, she gave off the oddest smell of fertilizer and clinging smoke aged over decades. She seemed barely able to see beyond her towering glasses, therefore, she seemed to assume everything done wrong was Kevin's doing.
And she incessantly used the "hated" name from the first day to the very last (after which Kevin sprung from the classroom and stayed on summer vacation far away for three solid months).
All the way through, Kevin was teased. Even her friends indulged in jokes, despite moments of sympathy. She rarely spoke up in class or bothered to because she knew the "name" would be coming.
After that, despite her later teachers trying to make up for it and changing schools more than once, the information made its way to whatever class she was in. Everyone called her a boy and most girls subtly ostracized her with fake smiles. Junior high into high school was the worst because even her body turned against her.
While she didn't relish the idea of getting her first period, Kevin did look forward to it as the ultimate sign that she wasn't as boyish as her name dictated. But she headed into high school with no sign of anything going on. Fearfully, she cracked open her father's dusty medical books and read little notes of Swyer syndrome and other disorders despite assurances from her family doctor and her dad that she was normal, just a late bloomer.
She still had a boyish figure by her sophomore year of high school and, most days, Kevin wanted to shrink into a little bug, shrivel up on the floor with her androgynous legs curled up, and get brushed aside into oblivion by the nearest broom.
Furthermore, her only consolation, her same-named brother, was leaving for college. Kevin Joe Starkel, who got the better side of the deal with their great-uncle and was about to reap the benefits of paid college, always cared for his little sister. He never made fun of her name and, in many ways, he was the closest friend she could trust. Whenever the family went on vacation, he was always right beside her.
When the last moments of sophomore year ticked away, Kevin was already set to cling onto one last, brilliant vacation with her brother. Though she desperately hoped there would be more.
But with another cruel turn of fate's knife, she learned (while standing with enough dutifully-packed bags around her to make a Marine weak in the knees) from her parents that they wouldn't be staying at the usual beach area, but rather at great-uncle Mendel's old estate as part of another line in that 'accursed will from hell'. She also learned her brother would have to cut his part of the vacation short because of his upcoming fall schedule.
However much she begged him to stay longer, she knew that a slim six weeks was all she would have. Despite her long-trained pessimism, the night before leaving on the trip Kevin resolved (with an almost-heroic breeze blowing in through her window) that she would make the most of every moment she had.
The car ride was far too short for Kevin as she passed her Switch back and forth between herself and her brother. The estate was better than expectations. Set along the beach, it was grand, though it resembled a stack of bubbles collecting on a bubble blower.
A female custodian, who didn't give her name, greeted the Starkels with a planned, written message encouraging, "These grounds are yours to do with as you please, as are all the items therein. I ask only that my numerous inventions be used towards the betterment of humanity."
The rooms were well-cared for and Kevin enjoyed her king-sized bed from that first, joyous belly flop on the mattress. She smiled at the skylight looking down on her and stretched out. Her brother reported that not only did his room have a big-screen TV, but also video games and a full audio setup. She stuck her tongue out at him half-heartedly and gloated, "I have a skylight!"
After testing out their rooms, the custodian led them down to what she called, "Mendel's Lab". It seemed just like the kind of place Kevin expected of a mad scientist. There were large, numerous beakers and junk littering the walls. Several tables were set up off to the side. The custodian led them to an area with what she described as family heirlooms. Kevin tried not to zone out. She was curious, then deflated, when the custodian presented something to her: A bikini brief and "optional" top.
It steamed Kevin more than anything that this 'great' uncle had planned in gifts, but not in name, for a grandniece. She did develop a smile that her brother had the same "optional" top. Along with the clothing, she gave Kevin a small touchpad which didn't appear to do anything. The custodian said, as just another quirk of staying here, they were required to wear the bikini bottoms at least once during their time at the estate.
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Leaving the rest of the proceedings to their parents, both Kevins slipped on some beach clothes and checked out the area around.
A section of beachfront was exclusive to the estate and heavily fenced in. Aside from the bubble-house, there were some more normal-looking guest quarters to the far side and a vegetable garden.
After dipping their toes in the water a moment, Kevin urged her brother to go check out the commercial complex they'd seen on the way. It wasn't a long walk through the sand. During it, her brother put together stories about hidden robots from Mendel's lab probably hiding, buried under the beach. With giggles, Kevin dodged when her brother pointed out imaginary "metallic heads" poking out their periscope eyes.
The complex was rather underwhelming when they arrived. They could see signs it once used to be more, with a shuttered crab shack designed like a long, driftwood hut. The vast tanks, seen through dusty, barred glass, looked like they would've held countless crabs. Beyond that, Kevin grimaced as she saw a leaning figure of Santa Claus waving from the roof. His colors had long ago faded and one of his arms was missing, but the portly visage was clear. Below him, a toy shop and confectionary were shuttered like the crab shack.
Just beyond, a beach-front quality, combined-gender restroom groaned with a rusted circulating fan. Kevin glared as the toilets were all overstuffed with paper towels and only the urinals, sunk into the ground like ancient stone artifacts, seemed worth using.
A small trinket shop, shockingly open, was just after that. The owner smiled as they searched through porcelain mermaids. In passing, he asked where they were staying. He listened quietly as the two unwound their tale for him. A mermaid's lament from a nearby figurine filled the gap as they finished.
The merchant shook his head. "Old man Mendel was a kook. Always tinkering. He owned a stake in the two businesses next to mine which shut down. The community wanted to reshape the strip into something 'high-class' and old Santa didn't cut it."
He pointed out the new French restaurant at the other end and the plans for a five-diamond hotel. And he mentioned that some hoped with Mendel's passing that his estate land would be sold off and demolished for something even more ambitious. However, he noted, the other business owners had been thwarted so far.
After leaving the shop, Kevin looked down at the rest of the businesses and noted to her brother, "They look really…soulless."
Not a single one of the shops stood out to either of them, so they made their way back down the beach to the estate. To amuse themselves for the walk, they pitched each other ideas for better shops. Kevin gave a little twirl with her idea for a bookstore with chairs for laying back and reading right by the water with glass-bottom floors. She cheered her brother's idea for a scuba training shop.
Back at her brother's room, they relaxed with a movie and a quick game from what they assumed was Mendel's collection (whether it was her brother's now was unclear to either of them), though they couldn't understand how it could be so current with his death so many years ago.
At dinner. Kevin sat in the chair right next to her brother as their mother prepared a casserole. With a shiver, she watched her brother as he ate and wondered how many more of these times there would be. This melancholy persisted only a moment till he gave her an exposed tongue full of casserole mash. Like years ago, she squealed and waved her hand at him till their mother coughed and glared.
The rest of the evening was just sitting on the back porch of the estate as Kevin kicked up her feet with her brother beside her and watched the stars reveal themselves. Though Kevin would've loved to see the sun dip into the water, it set behind them.
She leaned back on the wooden porch. The smell of the wood was strange and soothing. She breathed calmly as the sea breeze teased at her hair. Since she couldn't control much else about her body, Kevin always tried to grow her hair out as long as possible. But several incidents ranging from sticky messes to insane hairdressers had conspired to keep it shorter than she wished. Still, it settled softly around her shoulders.
Her brother leaned back with his arms arched behind and supporting him. For Kevin, there were no moments more perfect. Each fall of the waves nearby were like a wash over her, washing away her joking 'friends', cleaning the teases, rinsing the bad days, eroding the stress, and leaving only bubbly joy.
Still, the remnants told her not to let herself relax too much. They prodded her with the expectation of fearful tears. But, for that moment, she could ignore the prodding.
After too short a time, they went back inside. A long bath and a longer sleep both felt too brief for Kevin. And she cursed her tiredness for not waking before her brother. He squirted a dollop of ketchup on her eggs though, just like always. After breakfast, the matter of the bikinis came up. Kevin's brother jumped at the chance of getting it over with. It didn't take Kevin much longer to jump as well.
She changed in the bathroom connected to her bedroom. She put on the top despite the lack of much to bother covering. To her relief and surprise, the material had a good fit. When she got out, she grinned as her brother posed, with the 'optional' top jokingly in place. "It fits perfectly," he noted.
The small touchpad had lit up with a green display. It read, "Unit 1 – 15F. Unit 2 – 18M." Below that, the information was a bunch of numbers that didn't make much sense to Kevin. She tucked the touchpad in her purse and followed her brother down to the water.
They set out a blanket and an umbrella and Kevin's brother was the first in. Under the umbrella, Kevin pulled out the touchpad and checked to see if it did anything. She tapped one of the side buttons as her brother crashed into the waves. The number for Unit 2 changed to 18F and some of the numbers underneath shifted.
The display read, "Overwrite?"