A pain in the balls

Eric was the younger of twelve year old twins, just approaching their thirteenth birthday. Although only six minutes younger than Lauren, she was clearly the alpha character when it came to sibling rivalry; she had an effervescent outgoing personality and exuded confidence in everything that she did. Eric, on the other hand, was introverted and largely lived his life in under the shadow of his sister.
That was until Eric was diagnosed with a life threatening condition. Admitted to hospital for emergency life-changing surgery. Waking up a different person there was a new-found confidence and optimism that results in a metamorphosis into a life that is far from the shadows.

Born out of Covid-19 lockdown, this was conceived as a light-hearted short story to counteract the doom and gloom that was resulting from the pandemic. It grew longer than expected, as I got to know Erin.

The story might still be a bit rough round the edges, but I wanted to release it in time for summer vacation reading.

There is no violence or hatred, just kindness and acceptance.
For those that discount this as unrealistic of the real world, I counter two arguments:
1) It is a complete work of fiction.
2) My son went to Lycee (Senior secondary school) in rural France, where attitudes are generally very conservative. Despite this, there was a girl his his year, who believed she should have been a boy. HE was accepted for who he was, without prejudice.
Hopefully it offers a little light reading with a happy ending.

Not that the story is set in Scotland and the spelling reflects British convention, perhaps with some Scottish dialect thrown in.