Chapter 8

Jim was out the front, set up with a zoom lens and taking pictures of the queue during the afternoon. The genuine fans would always be at the front of the line and were a mix of ‘first halfers’ and ‘second halfers’.

The first being as glamorous as they could be in flowing dresses; with the others decked out in a mix of grunge and slut wear. He joined us at the official entrance in time to get shots of the various dignitaries. For the opening night we had the usual mix; government officials, politicians, and local stars, all out for a good time.

The first half was, again, magical, and I was really getting hooked on this formal glamour look, revelling in being able to pull it off as well as the rest of the crew despite my comparative newness to the world of womanhood.

I was also becoming a listener to the orchestral sound, being able to pick out the better players in each place we went. We did manage to get our guests around the edge of the area to the marquee, security being able to weed out the few fans who tried to join us. Lesley greeted us as we got there, me with a hug and a kiss on the lips. As usual, everyone tucked in and talked, and it wasn’t long before the band had to leave us to change

Before the second half started there was a small group of older guests who professed to have other engagements so were escorted out to their cars while the rest of us guided the braver ones back to their seats.

At the final song some looked as if their eyes had been opened onto a new world that they never realised existed, a few with the disgust showing but others with looks that implied that they may investigate this new world to see what they could find. If the band was being a catalyst for discussion into formally taboo subjects, then I was all for it.

The after-show affair was different in one way that would affect the entire tour. Because of the way the place was set up, once we got our dignitaries into the marquee there was a crowd of fans gathered at the fence gate.

I suggested to Lesley that, because we had a lot of spare room, she should go out to the fence line and pick out a few fans to join us. This we did and the marquee soon was filled with an equal number of posh people and ordinary fandom. It became quite a merry time as well as interesting to look at.

Lesley had chosen an equal number of firsters and seconders, so the marquee was a riot of colourful gowns and slut-grunge clad fans. Jim was having a field day taking pictures of band members with a suited pollie on one side and a gowned fan on the other, the band not being able to change yet. The one that hit the media was the prime minister with Lesley in slut-wear on one side and a drag queen looking fabulous on the other.

The next three shows were similar, but we had a number of dignitaries pull out; no doubt because they realised that they may have to be nice to the ordinary folk afterwards. This, in turn, allowed us to have more fans in the after-party.

It worked well once they had been made aware of the rule that everyone was just a person and there was to be no attempt to remove anyone’s clothing. I really enjoyed these times, being able to chat without having to watch my language, many of the younger fans having a vocabulary that would have got one a clip around the ear when I was younger, and likely being spoken to by a policeman in a previous generation.

One night I had a lively conversation with an older ‘woman’ who had a local TV show that did comedy skits and discussed a lot of LGTBQ topics. ‘She’ had come along to see the show and find out what the fuss was all about and had loved everything.

‘She’ was obviously a jock in a frock but did not care as it had been good to her. As we chatted ‘she’ took a bunch of selfies and Jim took a few with the two of us either side of Lesley. ’She’ did ask me if I had found any gender bias in the industry, seeing that it was a male bastion; and I could tell her, with a totally straight face, that I had encountered no bias at all.

At the end of the four shows, we had a full day in Auckland before the flight to Australia. That flight would be taking off at eleven for a three-and-a-half-hour journey that would land us in Brisbane around half-past eleven, losing three hours with the time difference.

On the day off the band were taken north for a Māori experience while my crew and I went out to the airport to check over Betsy and then just relax with some shopping. We split into two groups and the cabin girls went off to look for younger styles which left Molly, Julia, Annette, and me looking for more adult outfits.

With us being so well supplied, I had never needed to have anything of my own and wondered why I was here. I was soon immersed in a new experience of trying on things that I liked that were not specifically to promote ‘the look’. I knew that the only chance I would have to wear personal styles would be either our days off or when the tour finished. Hey! Was I considering staying this way afterwards?

I did get enough to be considered a ‘savvy shopper’ by the others and the last thing we all bought was a nice suitcase each which could stay on the plane unless we needed it.

When we all met in the hotel dining room for a late lunch, we were all in ‘civvies’ and looked very different to our usual matched outfits. After lunch it was decided that we needed more shopping time, this to be an expedition into the realm of lingerie.

When I protested, feebly I must admit, I was told that no proper woman would be without her own sexy underwear, that she could wear without anyone else needing to see it. I did think that it may be something to surprise Lesley with.

The dinner that night was a formal one put on by the Government to say thank you for coming so it was to be hair up and long dresses. I was almost reluctant to take off the very bright dress I had been wearing during the afternoon.

It was almost a badge of my individuality as a woman, rather than a company mannequin. Now, that was a totally new thing as I had been a company man for years without questioning my look. I made sure that I properly folded all my own clothes and packed them away in the case to go with me to the plane tomorrow.

There was no way I would allow them to be bundled up with the usual supplied items now. They were mine and I had a strange sense of looking forward to; not only adding to them, but also wondering about somewhere where I could have a wardrobe that was not in a company room.

The next day I was back into our flying uniform of silk blouse and pencil skirt, and we had breakfast before being picked up to go to the airport. This time we needed to go through emigration so put our bags and cases through a scanner, had our paperwork checked and were then allowed to go airside to be taken out to the plane.

Julia took control of our new bags and got them stored away while Molly, Annette and I took a walk around the plane, discussing with the ground crew what had been done while it was here.

In the plane we checked our instruments and the radio, and the cabin girls told us that we had enough snacks to get us to Brisbane. The fuel truck finished topping us up and we had a tug hooked up to take us to the sky-bridge we had been allocated on the international side.

Once there we were attached to the terminal and opened the door to await our passengers. When Jim arrived, he was full of beans and showed me an email he had got from the newspaper praising his work.

When we had everyone in and settled and the ground manager told us we were all closed up and ready to go, we were pushed away from the terminal, and everyone said farewell as we started the engines. I looked at the viewing platform and it was a riot of colourful banners with the band names on.

Molly pointed one out to me and I had to have a double take.

It had “I Love you CeeCee” on it

I pulled out the binoculars we kept in the cabin and had a good look at the person holding the banner. It took a few seconds before I realised that it was my ‘friend’ from the after-show party, today in male mode with a snazzy suit but I could still detect eye make-up from this far away. Molly laughed and said that I could have a nice time if I ever came back to New Zealand.

Getting back to work I put the binoculars away and helped Molly set the plane up for flight. We got the clearance and taxied out to the end of the runway at exactly our booked time, and we were soon in the air, heading for Australia.

Once the belt lights went off it only took a couple of minutes before Lesley popped her head inside the cabin, “Hey, CeeCee, who was that dude who professes his love for you; that was a pretty big sign?”

I smiled, “You met her at the after-show party a couple of evenings ago; only then she was dressed to kill in a red frock.”

“Her!” she snarled, “A drag queen thinks she loves you, that really is a riot. You, my sweet, are mine, I tell you, mine! All mine!”

She broke into a peal of manic laughter which cracked us all up.

She then looked out the front window and said, “You know, all the time I have flown, no-one has invited me into the cockpit although a few have invited back to the baggage storage to see their cock pit.”

So, Molly got out of her seat, “Take mine, Lesley, and enjoy the view. CeeCee can take us into Brisbane, and you can hold hands on the way.”

She gave me a devilish grin and made her way into the body of the plane

“The gauges are all normal, boss, I think I’ll go and get something to drink.” Annette said and left us alone.

We did hold hands as the plane flew itself across the sea. We chatted about this and that and I realised that this was the longest time I had been alone with her without having sex.

“Lesley, you know that I love it that we can talk like this, me, a lowly airline pilot and you, a mega-star. The way you can talk to your fans and detractors in the show parties is a window into a wonderful soul. If I had met you twenty years ago, I may well have gone into the music business just to be near you.”

She chuckled. “Then you would have met my mother at her most predatory. She was a cougar among sheep in those days, trying out guys while looking for number two, or was it number three.”

I got her to put a set of headphones on and then called up Brisbane Tower. They gave me a new heading to take us north of them to land into a south-easterly, so I unhooked the auto pilot and did the correction, telling Lesley to just rest her hands and feet on the controls to feel the power of controlling a large plane.

At around an hour out Annette came back and sat in her place to monitor the engines for descent. She said that Molly would stay in the cabin unless I wanted to call her. So, Lesley got the full flying experience from the best seat in the house.

We looped around over the Sunshine Coast, and I throttled back to let us lose height. When I put the wheels down and Annette verified we had lock I could see the runway ahead and pointed it out to Lesley, who squawked “That little thing! Never!”

Her knuckles were white as she gripped the armrests, and I brought us over the boundary and onto the ground.

She started as I put the reverse thrusters on. “You know, I’ve heard that so many times before, but I have never realised that they are to stop us going off the other end of the runway.”

We slowed enough for me to use the brakes and then we were instructed which taxiway to use. We were directed to nearly the most northerly gate at the International Terminal, and it was a delight to see the look on the faces of the fans when they saw who was sitting in one of the pilots’ seats. When Lesley realized what she was seeing she gripped my hand and waved at the fans with the other.

As I was shutting down the engines and going through the procedures she stood up.

“I’ve got to go back and change my panties before I leave the plane. I can see now why you love Betsy so much because she made me leak as we came in to land. Thank you, darling.”

She left the cockpit and Annette laughed. “Well, that’s the first time I have ever seen sex by remote control. You really turn that girl on, boss.”

I left it to Molly and Julia to see our passengers and their luggage off. Julia would be unloading our personal bags because we would be on the ground here for nearly a week, there being four shows with a day off beforehand and another one after.

As I sat and checked off the list, I thought of all the times I had landed a plane. The only one that did give me a hard-on was the 707 which was always a guess as to whether you would pull up in time, especially on some of the strips I put one down on. I had never wet myself, though.

Marianne Gregory © 2022