Mysterious Changes - Part 12 | Chapter 2

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"But that isn't going to happen, is it, Gloria?" I pressed. "When we break the rock, all the restraints on the trickster are gone. You'll be free to roam the world causing mischief and mayhem. It won't send you back to the Spirit World at all."  I stole a glance at the others. Judy and Ron knew George. Gloria's thin smile was nothing like the friendly expressions they remembered on George's face, but they weren't sure. Lisa and Dave looked confused and Alicia and Kevin looked downright hopeful. There was only frustration coming from Marsha and Gabby though.

"You used the word Indian," I went on, "instead of Native American. George would never do that. If you'd looked deeply enough into George's memories, you'd have known that. But you didn't think you needed to, did you? You learned our language a long time ago when you inhabited the body of the Carver boy.

He called them Indians. So you just assumed the word was still used. And it is, but George didn't use it."  "You're crazy, Hall!" Marsha interjected, but none of the guys thought so. Ron had put the sledgehammer down and Kevin and Dave were facing Gloria, not the rock.  Even though I was sure who inhabited Gloria's body, I was shocked at the sudden transformation. The smile had disappeared, and the snarl that issued from her lips seemed impossible to produce with the human larynx. The hatred in her eyes was the hatred of a cornered animal, and she extended her feminine nails as if they were sharp claws.

I didn't want to be on the receiving end of them, but she was looking straight at Ron. Without thinking, I jumped in her path.  "Out of the way, little girl!" she demanded in a guttural voice.  I think the power of the voice might have been too much for me if Alicia, Judy, and Lisa hadn't jumped in at my flanks. It was almost like football.

There we were, four defenders trying to keep the opposing linebacker from reaching our quarterback. In this case, that meant the three guys.  I could hear footsteps behind me as the males we sought to protect were rushing to our rescue. "Stay back, guys!" I warned. "The trickster can't hurt us, but it can change you into girls."  "Oh, I can still hurt you," the trickster said in a parody of Gloria's voice. "How would each of you like to be big-chested, mindless women? Your people have a name... whores. Yes, that's it! Whores.

How would you like that?"  "You can't do it," I said more confidently than I felt. "Look in George's mind for a reference to a one-trick pony. That's what you are, isn't it? You can't even change us back even if you wanted to."  "Yes, I can!"  "Prove it!" I demanded, pointing to Gabby and Marsha who had not picked a side. "Change one of them back into a male. If you can do that, we'll break the damned rock for you."

"No! Not until you've broken the rock!"  I laughed. "You expect us to believe you, trickster? You can't do it, can you?"  The trickster didn't answer me. I think it had been telling lies for so long that it couldn't tell the truth. Its only answer was to lunge at me.  I may have been changed into a girl, but I had all of my male memories. Instinctively I raised my fist and plowed it into her charging chin. I'm sure in the creature's long life, no one had ever struck it in that way. Unprepared for the punch, Gloria's head snapped back, colliding with a nearby tree.

Limited as the creature was by Gloria's body, it fell to the ground out cold.  "Hey, nice punch!' Ron called. "Remind me not to get you mad at me."  The creature in Gloria's body didn't stir. Gabby and Marsha had made up their minds. They helped us drag Gloria's unconscious body to a nearby tree. Gabby flipped the keys to her car to Lisa. "Get the battery cables out of the car," she ordered. "We'll use them to tie her up."  There were a few anxious minutes as we waited for the cable and then tied Gloria to a tree. One of us would approach her while the rest of us looked for signs that the creature had transferred out of Gloria.

"It would have been stronger as a guy," Kevin commented as I tied Gloria firmly to the tree. "I wonder why it didn't just transfer into George and leave him male. You never would have punched a guy's lights out."  "Probably not," I admitted as I finished tying her. "But even though whoever it took over took on the appearance of an Ind, a Native American, the features might have changed enough that we would have known it wasn't George. By turning George into Gloria, we wouldn't notice any irregularities. And the trickster could cover any mental lapses by claiming it was the shock of the transformation."  "That could have accounted for the Indian Native American terminology problem, too," Gabby pointed out.

I shook my head, feeling the long hair I now knew would be there forever. "No, that error was too basic. It would be like an African American calling himself a Negro. It just isn't done anymore."  "So what do we do now?" Lisa asked, looking at me for an answer.  I wasn't sure. I was winging it after all. It was dark Now and the trickster would be able to jump into any of us once Gloria woke up. I hadn't hit her all that hard, but I was beginning to suspect that the trickster was still weakened by reflected sunlight. I couldn't tell for sure, of course. If I was right, the trickster could be out during the day but not directly in sunlight.

The more light, the weaker it became. Whether this was natural or a consequence of its captivity was unknown. In any case, it would be dangerous until sunrise. The tree we had tied Gloria to was in the direct path of the early morning sun.  And what would happen to Gloria if the creature was still in her at sunrise?

Would the trickster merely be drawn painfully perhaps back into the rock, or would Gloria suffer some severe consequence? I couldn't exactly ask the creature. After all, we hadn't gotten a straight answer out of it yet.  "Check Gloria's car," I told Lisa and Dave. "See if you can find the number of that shaman any place."  "I think it's on his cell phone directory," Ron countered.  Thank God the purse was where she had left it on the ground.

I wouldn't have wanted to try to remove it from her body. I checked the phone. "Didn't you say George's last call was to the shaman?"  Ron nodded.  I punched up the last call and dialed the number.  "Yeah?" the voice at the other end replied.  "Look," I began, "I'm a friend of, Gloria's. I'm using her phone." I went on to tell the man his name was Peter Ragland what had happened. I did, however, omit George's transformation into Gloria. Since he undoubtedly remembered our friend as Gloria, it would accomplish nothing to tell him that the lovely girl he knew as Gloria had once been a man.

"Is Gloria okay?" he demanded, and the concern in his voice assured me I had done the right thing in not mentioning George.  "She's fine," I assured him. "She's just tied up at the moment." I nearly giggled at my unintentional pun.  "Keep her that way," he ordered. "We'll be there by midnight. Can you keep a watch on her until then?"  "No problem."  I hung up and explained to everyone what was happening. Everyone was relieved that the shaman would come and take charge.

It was agreed that we'd take shifts watching Gloria. Ron, Dave, Lisa, and I would take the first watch while the others went for food and to stroll the midway. Then, the others would relieve us halfway through the evening.  Kevin and Alicia looked as if they were going to find someplace a little more secluded than the midway. Judy, Gabby, and Marsha left together as if they were old friends. I suppose in a way they were. When Gabby and Marsha had been guys, they were good friends with Judy. The transformation had decreed in the small-town caste system that they would be attracted to different cliques, but apparently, the experience we had just gone through had changed all that.

I was pleased to see it. Dan and Marty had been friends, so it was only right that stay friends as girls.  Lisa and Dave wandered off by themselves. I could still hear them, though. I could hear a low, soft murmur from Dave's immature but deepening voice, followed by a dainty giggle from Lisa. I had to smile. I would have loved to have gone back in time a few days and told Lucas that within a week, he would be a girl and would be happy to be one.

It would have been worth it to watch the color drain out of his face.  But was I any different? I wondered as I sat carefully on the grass next to Ron. I smiled inwardly as he tried to not notice while I tried to keep my short denim skirt from riding obscenely high on my legs. Every minute in this feminine body of mine brought me closer to acceptance of who I had become. Perhaps it was hormones or maybe magic or most likely a combination of the two, but being a girl was starting to feel good. It was just as well because I knew in my heart that the transformation was forever.  It was also just as well because the trickster hadn't given up yet.  As I sat there on the grass next to Ron, Gloria's eyes opened suddenly. There was a wicked smile on her face as she observed us. "How sweet. The two lovers side by side watching over me."

We said nothing. We had expected to be taunted.  "This is just the beginning, you know," she continued. "When I was called by the True Believers to change their enemies into women, I made sure they were completely changed. They couldn't wait to spread their legs for their men. They were never happy after that until there was a man inside them."  I should have been horrified, and a part of me was. I knew in my soul that if I was to remain a woman, that meant I would eventually have a man enter me. I would probably have babies and suckle them at my breasts. But that was all in the future. This creature wanted me to know that I would have little time to adapt to this form before my body began to demand sexual attention.  "Sarah..." Ron said cautiously.

I looked over at Ron. His body was tensing as I had seen it tense many times before on the football field. He was about to become protective, I realized. He would try to silence the trickster in a futile effort to save me from myself. But if he touched the creature, it would transfer into him and all would be lost.  I had to do something to stop Ron from playing the futile hero and silence the trickster at the same time. I could only think of one way to accomplish both simultaneously.  Instinctively I threw myself at Ron, grabbing his strong arms and crushing my lips against his. The only way to stop the trickster was to confront it with proof that we didn't fear the worst it could do.

If I made it obvious to the spirit that I wanted this - that I wanted Ron - its power would be lost on us. Later in the night, Alicia and Kevin would show it the same way, I was certain. I wasn't like Alicia. I had not wanted this to happen. But I had reconciled myself to life as a woman, and I resolved to enjoy it to the fullest.  The kiss was long and lingering.

My small hands released Ron's arms and snaked around his trim waist. I felt his own powerful hands enveloping my torso. My body was alternating between throes of pleasure and insistent demands for more. I lacked the stiffness I had felt when male as I would gently kiss a girl, but I felt other things which more than made up for it. There was a stiffness in my nipples and a warm, moistness between my legs.  I came up for air long enough to watch the rage in Gloria's face. Futilely, she struggled at her bonds as I relaxed in Ron's arms. I even giggled at her, reveling in the look of disgust she couldn't hide. The final victory was ours.

I'll admit I was putting on a show for the trickster, but I was enjoying myself immensely as well. I had no idea a woman could feel so good just hugging and kissing. Of course, I knew I was probably giving Ron a huge erection one that I didn't plan to do anything about just yet but he seemed to be enjoying himself, too. Still, I have to admit that making out as a girl was infinitely more pleasurable than it had been as a guy.  Our relief watch showed up right on time. We had had no further trouble from the trickster and had contented ourselves with lying there in each other's arms.

Alicia and Kevin were slowly strolling, locked in each other's arms, while Judy, Marsha, and Gabby were laughing and talking as they approached us.  "Well, somebody's had a good time tonight," Gabby said with a grin as Ron and I made an attempt to straighten ourselves up. Lisa and Dave looked a little sheepish too, as they walked up to where we all stood. They had spent the evening doing the same thing Ron and I had done, watching the trickster from a secluded spot away from Ron and me.  "You guys look as if you've had fun, too," I commented as I tucked my tee back in.  "Oh we did," Judy laughed. "We all got dates for the dance tomorrow night."

"That's right," Gabby confirmed. "And the guys are from Blair, so they don't know about Marsha and me. We're going to double tomorrow night and play it as if we've always been girls. That should be good for some laughs."  I smiled. In some ways, Gabby was a human version of a trickster. If she was anything like Dan had been, not only would she end up screwing some guy's brains out but she would make sure Marsha did, too. That is unless Judy slowed them down by tagging along with her date. Knowing Judy, I suspected that was just what she planned to do.

None of the transformed girls were going to end up as little sluts on her watch!  The trickster in Gloria continued to fume. "I don't understand," she growled at last. We all turned, surprised. It was probably the first truthful thing the trickster had said. "I turned you all into girls," she continued. "You were all healthy young men. You should have been devastated by the transformation. Is your society so weak that being a girl doesn't matter?"  "No," I laughed. "Our society is so strong that being a girl doesn't matter. As women, we'll be able to have any job a man would have and do anything a man can." Except for playing on a football team, I might have added.

But my explanation was as much to rile the trickster as anything. Although I must admit, I meant every word of it. Just because I no longer had a penis didn't mean my life was over. "Your trick isn't as harmful as it once was."  With that, I took Ron's arm as if to prove the point and we strolled down to join the people at the fair without a backward glance at the hapless trickster.  "Tell me," Ron said as we enjoyed the lights and sounds of the fair, "did you mean what you were doing up there with me, or was it just to annoy the trickster?"

"In other words, am I just toying with your affections right now?" I grinned as I held him tightly.  "Something like that," he admitted.  The best way to prove what I really meant was to do what I did next. I stood in front of him, raised myself up on tiptoes as I laced my hands behind his neck, and kissed him long and hard right there on the midway. I heard "oohs" and catcalls from our high school friends who had spotted us, but you know what? I didn't care.  We all drifted back to the monument early. We managed to beat Gloria's shaman by a good half hour.

When he arrived, he didn't look anything like how I had pictured him. In fact, he didn't even look all that Native American. If I had met him on the street, I would have guessed him to be Italian. I found out later he was actually half English-American and half Omaha on his mother's side. I guess when you put the two together you look a little Italian.  Peter had two other men with him. Both were younger than his thirty or so years, and both looked as if they would be at home bare-chested wearing braids as they hunted buffalo across the prairies.

We introduced ourselves all around as Gloria glared at us from the tree where she remained firmly tied.  Peter looked over at Gloria and muttered, "You know I've warned that girl for years to be more careful. She never has taken Native American religion very seriously, and this is what it's gotten her."  As I suspected earlier, Peter had no idea that Gloria had ever been male. Instead, he seemed to remember her as a girl that he was obviously very close to maybe even intimately close to. There was no way any of us were going to tell him otherwise.

Even the trickster remained silent. Perhaps it realized that to tell the shaman the girl he was very interested in had been male just a few hours earlier would serve no advantage. Or perhaps the trickster was just too confused by the failure of its plans to try anything else.  "Caught you, did they, trickster?" he asked with a wide grin. "You let a bunch of puppies tie you to a tree. You must be getting slow in your old age."  "Have your fun, woman-man," the creature in Gloria growled, resigned at last to its fate.  Peter saw our puzzled faces and explained, "Magic is woman's work among our people. For a man to be a shaman, he must embrace women's ways. Since with our tribe that means mostly I can't hunt, it's no big deal.

I never liked hunting much anyway."  "Uh...you don't have to dress funny or anything, do you?" Keith asked so seriously I almost giggled.  "No," Peter laughed. "Don't worry I'm wearing boxers under my jeans. Now let's see what we can do to get our friend out of Gloria."  Although Peter's transformation was a natural one, it was nonetheless stunning. I hadn't realized it, but his hair was really very long, held in place by a wooden clip. When he removed it, his hair was long and black as the night. Stripping off his shirt, he was hairless and suddenly looked more native especially when he placed a large fetish necklace around his neck.

Each of the animal fetishes on the necklace had been carefully carved from smooth, colorful stones.  He began to chant, and as he did, his two associates began to move in cadence with the mournful chant. I looked over at Gloria. She was still watching us with hatred in her eyes, but her body was beginning to twitch involuntarily. Then, as the chanting got faster and faster, she began to shake, her body in near spasms. It was then that she screamed. I only hoped there was enough noise of screams from patrons of the carnival rides to keep her from being overheard.

Then, her head dropped forward. Only the thick coils of the jumper cables kept her body from sprawling out on the ground. Ron moved as if to help her, but Peter screamed, "No!" Ron stopped at once, looking back with a puzzled expression.  Peter yelled a sudden word at Gloria and spit in her direction.  To our surprise, Gloria's body jerked upright, and she growled some unheard word to Peter. He laughed.

"Thought you had us there, didn't you, trickster?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of something which he threw in her face. Whatever it was, it sparkled. We watched it as it first surrounded her and then moved as if blown by an unseen wind back to the rock.  Peter breathed a sigh of relief. He nodded to his two associates who produced small blankets beaded with strange symbols I had never seen before.

Protecting their hands, they moved the stone away, hiding it in a clump of bushes. "It will be safe there until tomorrow at sunset," Peter explained. "Then we'll make sure no one finds our trickster friend for a long, long time."  He bent down to Gloria, lifting her head. The hatred was gone from her eyes, and when she saw whose hand was beneath her chin, she smiled. "Peter! I didn't know you were here." She looked around. "Why is it night? And why am I tied up?"

Her last conscious thoughts, I realized, were when she had been examining the rock with Ron. And of course, she had no inkling that she had been male at the time. As Peter gently untied the jumper cables that held her to the tree, I saw a smug smile cross Gloria's face and had a sudden sinking feeling that the trickster had somehow fooled us one more time.

But as she threw her arms around Peter and kissed him passionately, I realized her smile had been Gloria's smile for being rescued by her true love.  "I'm going to be performing the Captivity Ceremony tomorrow at sundown," Peter announced to us.  "What will that do?" It was Gabby who asked, but all of us were wondering.  "I have no way of sending the trickster back to the Spirit World," Peter told us. "What I can do though, is use Earth Magic to hold him more firmly to the rock. We'll bury the rock tonight after you've all gone.

Then tomorrow, we'll say the words at sundown. You don't have to be here, but if any of you just want to have some sense of closure about this, it will be your chance."  "Closure..." I said slowly. "What you're saying is that none of the trickster's magic can be undone." I knew the answer, but I had to hear Peter say it. That was closure, too. And the truth of the matter was I was comfortable with my fate, as alien as that would have sounded to me only a couple of days earlier.  "I understand several of you were originally young men," Peter acknowledged. "I wish I could tell you that there was a way to change you back, but there isn't. Spirits like our trickster are just too devious.

Even if it agreed to change you back, I'd turn it down if I were you. And to be honest, from everything I've heard from Gloria today, I doubt if this spirit could change you back even if it wanted to."  "We had pretty much reached that same conclusion," I agreed. I looked around. "Does anybody have anything to say?"  "Yeah," Gabby said, stepping forward. "I'd like to have all of the girls over at my house tomorrow at noon. If we're gonna have to be this way forever, we have some things to discuss."  "Does that include me?" Judy asked.  "You're a girl, aren't you?" Gabby said laconically. Then she added, "And bring a swimsuit!"  We all scattered after that. Lisa and Dave rode home with us while Judy hitched a ride with Gabby.

I didn't know for sure what Gabby had in mind, but I was sure Judy was part of her planning. Once we had dropped off Dave and Lisa went in the house, and Ron and I were alone.  "Do you want to see the Captivity Ceremony tomorrow?" Ron asked his arms around me.  "Afraid I won't be able to accept being a girl until I see it?" I teased.  "No," he replied with a smile. "I think I finally believe you want to stay this way. I'm glad you do, but I just can't imagine what it's like to be... you know."  "A girl?"  He nodded.

I wrapped my arms more tightly around him begging for one more kiss. "Take it from me, stud, it's just fine."  The next day, Lisa and I found we were the last ones to make it to Gabby's.  She greeted us at the door with a large smile. She was wearing a white floral print bikini and a matching wrap around her waist which I later learned is called a pareo.

"Come on in," she said brightly. "Everybody else is already out by the pool."  I heard laughter and even a little splashing from the pool area.

Everyone seemed to be in good spirits.  "My parents are in Omaha today," Gabby explained. "So we have the run of the place all day."  Lisa and I had been a little concerned about wearing bikinis that day, but one look around the pool showed only Marsha in a one-piece suit. There was a lot of feminine flesh showing, but at least it was just us girls. Lisa and I each grabbed a lemonade and found a couple of comfortable pool chairs.

I'll say one thing for Gabby and I should point out that Dan was the same way. While her family was probably the wealthiest in the county, she was always a good hostess or host depending upon her sex. Dan had been a little pompous, but he had been a good friend. Gabby, while conscious of her station, seemed a little less pompous but no less generous.  All of us transformees were there, along with Becky Marshall and Judy. It was a select group, I realized, and I approved of Gabby's choices.

As I sipped on the lemonade, I noticed how Gabby seemed to have made making Marsha hotter a personal project. She seemed to delight in coaching Marsha on how to stand and what to say and of course, what to eat. More than once I saw her snatch a cookie from Marsha's hand and replace it with a piece of fresh fruit.

And she seemed to have enlisted Judy and Becky in her efforts. I was reminded a little of a similar situation from the movie Clueless.  "Okay, everybody," she announced at last as Judy turned down the stereo. "I asked you all here today to get your agreement on something. In the last few days, all of us  except Judy and Becky, of course, got turned into girls."  "Tell us something we don't know!" Alicia yelled to the giggles of the rest of us.  "Okay," Gabby said, nonplussed. "Since we've been changed, a lot of our old friends have been treating us as if we were invalids."  She was right about that, I had to admit.

While the real girls had been more accepting, most of our old male friends had been treating us as if we had just contracted a fatal disease.  "I don't think any of us are particularly happy about being changed into girls..." Her gaze did land for just a lingering moment on Alicia. "...but apparently we're stuck with it. Now between our classmates treating us like unfortunate lepers and fathers like mine treating us like dainty princesses, I'm getting a little fed up.

So here's what I propose. From here on out, we act as if we've always been girls and don't let our classmates act any differently."  "I'm for that," Alicia said. "If one more guy on the team asks me what it feels like to be a girl, I'm gonna cut his off and see how he likes it."  That got a laugh from all of us.  "Now Judy is going to help us today," Gabby continued. "I know we all have dates tonight. I want all of us to blow our dates' minds tonight."

"Just their minds?" Marsha called out to another laugh.  "That's up to you, dear," Gabby said sweetly. "The point is, I hung around with the cheerleader crowd for a couple of days. They think they're hot shit..."  I had also heard they had tried to put Gabby down for being formerly male.  "...but they aren't. We are!"

We all applauded at that.  "So from here on out, we're going to be the clique every other girl wants to join."  That brought a rousing cheer from all of us.  "I want all of you to bring your outfits for tonight's party over here. Becky and Judy will give all of us a hand with hair and makeup. Tell your dates to pick us up here. So are we all agreed on the plan?"

Again, everybody cheered. It wasn't going to be all that easy to be a girl, I thought, but with a boyfriend like Ron and friends like those I saw around me and of course a great sister, it was going to be a whole lot easier.  The afternoon at Gabby's was as busy as Santa's Workshop on Christmas Eve.

Becky and Judy were spread pretty thin, but we were all fast learners. We had all rushed home and brought what we planned to wear back with us, but under Judy and Becky's critical eyes, more than one of us was sent off to buy something new nylons, shoes, and even in one case (Marsha's), a new dress. Gabby took Marsha downtown and helped her select one. As they left, I noticed Gabby pointing out some of the equipment in the Wheeler's gym. I had a sneaky hunch Gabby wasn't going to let Marsha be overweight very long.

Somehow we all got ready. Only a week before as a guy, I would have been shaking my head at the idea that it would take seven girls all afternoon to get ready for a party. For guys, it would have been a shower, a shave, and quickly donning their best (or only) sport coast. The only thing done twice might be the tying of the tie.  With girls though, there was so much more to do. The Wheeler house reeked with the smell of nail polish and perfume.

A variety of colors of heels, hose, and dresses flashed by like floats in a parade. There were squeals and giggles, and they weren't just from Judy and Becky. All of us had taken our meeting seriously. We were girls now and forever, and as one had given in indulging in our new sex. If only one of us had been transformed, that individual might have held out longer, but with each other to rely on, we had given in to our new identities. I likened it to the state we would work ourselves up into in the locker room before a football game. When I mentioned this, no one disagreed.  So by the time our dates picked us up for the evening, we were radiant. Gabby even produced a camera and took a candid shot of each of the guys as they stood in stunned disbelief in front of absolutely unbelievable young women.

Each boy who knew who we had been was then taken aside and explained the rules: we were girls. Period. There would be no "remember when we were boys together" conversations. Nothing would be said or done which would conflict with what we had become.  While most of the guys took a little time to absorb the rules, and more than one looked a little confused, Ron just smiled. "After last night, how could I think of you as anyone else, Sarah?"

He bent over and gently kissed me so as not to disturb my makeup. There was a collective "Aw!" from my new girlfriends.  The Captivity Ceremony was almost anticlimactic. Peter's men had buried the rock under a large bush. It was doubtful if it would ever be uncovered. The land around the monument would probably always remain as parkland. Leeds would never grow into a metropolis where some fifty years from Now the rock would be uncovered to make room for an office tower. It was very likely the trickster was trapped forever.

As Peter chanted over the site, I could almost sense the trickster. As we had begun the ceremony, I had felt almost sorry for the creature. I suppose it was the womanly thing to do. My sympathy quickly faded though, as I could sense mindless hatred coming from the spot where the rock was buried.  Gloria sensed it, too. "Don't worry," she whispered to me. "When the ceremony is over, we won't hear it again."  Gloria was dressed to the nines like us. It seemed that in reality, she remembered, she and Peter had been invited to the dance.

That was fine with me. With her black hair piled sexily atop her head, her short, iridescent blue dress, smoky hose, and black three-inch heels, she would be a welcome addition to the surprise we had for our friends and classmates.  While the dance was open to everyone, it was mostly our friends who were there. Our parents and other adults would show up for a little while, drink a glass or two of the sweet punch, try to show "the kids" that they were cool enough to dance to Creed, and then slip off to do whatever adults chose to do while "the kids" were still at the party.

We had decided to make a grand entrance. Gloria and Peter, of course, had no idea why we were doing it, but they happily went along. I had to admit they made a cute couple. I was glad we had decided to not tell Gloria that she had ever been George.  As we entered the ballroom, I couldn't help but compare what was happening to my days playing football. In those days, we would rush onto the field from the locker room to the rapt attention and cheers of the crowd.

There would be no cheers for me as I stood there in a short burgundy cocktail dress, my smooth legs wrapped in sheer nylon and my feet tipped up on matching heels. But I was no less the subject of rapt attention and to be honest, it felt good. Maybe this is why women sometimes reject the jeans and sweaters they have come to prefer for comfort and dress in sexy clothes because it feels so good when people notice them.  Looks of shock from our friends quickly became smiles of approval as I walked in on Ron's arm, followed by the rest of our group.

Our parents and other adults looked on with approval as well, but unlike our friends, they didn't understand the significance of what was happening.  I felt in that moment a feeling I hadn't felt since my transformation. I felt really confident. I could do this. Not only could I be a girl, but I could enjoy being a girl. I wasn't sure where it would all end up.

Would I continue to date Ron or even marry him someday? Would I go on to NU and become a lawyer or would I marry and raise lots of children? Or would I do both? Or would I do neither?  I wasn't sure, but whatever I did and whomever I did it with, I would be Sarah Jean Hall, and I would do it the best I could.

The End.