Harold's chance to help (alternate options)

"So, mom went through with it?"

Harold laughed a bit as he leaned back in the chair and put his hands behind his head. Across from him sat their children, all three of them, who had made their way over to the family home with the vague request of "needing to clear the air on something." Their sons, Thomas and David, and daughter, Rebecca, were all seated and had been apprised of their mother's plans beforehand. Rebecca was probably the most mature of the kids, being the oldest, but even she had looked surprised that Sandra had followed through with her plan of X-Change.

Then the diagnosis of stage four prostate cancer lay on the table. They supposed that made the decision all the more understandable for their father. Their mom, however, was still a mystery to them all.

"Yup, took her pill two days ago and left. I've been wrapping up things here and waiting for you three to come home, thought you'd deserve hearing it straight from one of us and not in a letter." He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Not that it matters, you'll never find your mother anyway."

"Not that we care about that right now," Thomas muttered and David chuckled his agreement. "Stage four Prostate cancer?"

"Of an aggressive nature..." Harold muttered. "They say I have like 4-6 weeks, maybe a bit more. Figured that your mom took this out to try for a new life, why the hell can't I? It supposedly will change everything and remove the cancer, the meds can do that. Only drawback is that can't have a prostate anymore." He laughed a little and then looked at his two sons. "Wanted to know how you two felt about that, given what happened with Gemma," he paused, looking at Thomas, "and Phyllis," glanced at David. "This is your out as well."

Thomas simply growled. "Fuck that bitch."

David was equally not dissuaded. "Same."

Rebecca leafed through the booklet, now understanding the cryptic message he had sent to the three of them by family text about reading up on X-Change and selecting the options best for them. "You wanted us to do this as a family but gave us a choice out right, dad?" When he nodded, she looked at her brothers who each nodded. "We stick as a family then. We're all not going anywhere with our current lives. Gemma swindled Thomas and Phyllis scammed David. The company said they'll tie up loose ends." She looked at the packets in front of them, each with a pink pill marked as a "plus", save hers which was blue but also a plus. "Me, Greg beat me and I lost the baby. He'll never see the day outside again."

Thomas gritted his teeth. "Should've let us handle that fucking ass..."

"Yes, but you'd be in jail where he belongs. The judge made sure he'll not survive a year." She looked at her father. "Did you decide on how you'd look, dad?"