Continuing Release

By Kerry Brown

It had been nine months since the “Cross Dress For Red Cross” event when Paul was allocated to the start of a new software installation and implementation project, the client had signed up for a full installation after the sales team had performed their usual smoke and mirrors demonstration. The client's firm was a group of franchised service vehicles that had a centralized phone, admin and warehouse that needed a new accounting and CRM system to handle the increasing clientele along with a growing fleet of owner drivers. The owner was John and had asked for Paul to meet him in the offices to go over the project and discuss some of the scheduling, nothing unusual about the request or project, or so Paul thought.

“As you can see the operation is very straight forward” John said as he escorted Paul around the building, “we run a tight ship and try to make the most of technology whenever we can” John finished and opened the door into his own office. The next few minutes were just small talk as John shuffled papers on his desk, Paul wondered where he was going as he seemed to be hedging for some reason. Paul stopped John mid sentence “is there something else that I should know about John?” he asked trying to move the meeting along and get home early. John cleared his throat “yes there is, look this is very unusual of me to ask but can you give 30 minutes?” Paul agreed and walked back into the admin office. He sat and read the company annual report looking for more insight into the company, drank another coffee and ended up talking to John’s PA, Tracey.

The phone system had a Do Not Disturb light flashing over John’s name, when it went out Tracey told Paul that he could go back into John’s office, instead of John there was a well dressed woman. What he saw was a young early thirty year old woman about 165 cm and no more than 60 kg with good shape and no sign of fat anywhere. The legs were slender and fitted with a nice pair of black 4” heels and clear sparkling hose that gave great definition to her calf muscles. The waist was tight and the mid length skirt flared out over nice hips giving a good shape, her top was just as good with a hint of bra showing through the black and maroon silky top with  ¾ sleeves. The face was well made up but Paul was aware enough to find John under the makeup, which confirmed a few suspicions he had during the early meeting. John held out his hand again “good afternoon Paul, please call me Jean” the woman said in a soft but slightly husky voice, Paul gently shook the hand at half pressure making sure he didn’t squeeze the fingers. Jean motioned for Paul to sit down again, “I guess you have a few questions but first let me start” Jean said sitting down in her chair after smoothing out her skirt and crossing her legs.

Over the next half hour Jean told Paul about her desire to transition at work and a request that Paul work full time on the project from the firm’s offices. “The final request is that Kerry do the work and not Paul” Jean finally said then stopped and looked at Paul who shifted in his chair not believing what he had heard. “Let me get this right, you want to employ someone called Kerry full time in your office and Bill is aware of what you are doing?” Jean just nodded, “what makes you think she would do this?”. Jean went through his history with Jeanette, Bills wife, and the report he heard about the Red Cross event and how confident and natural Kerry had been. “Bill was very impressed with your performance but after a couple of days he put one and one together and came up with the idea that it was not your first time. When he told Jeanette about his thoughts she let him know all about my plans to transition wondering if Kerry could help me, and that brings me back to us” Jean said looking at Paul.

Paul was sitting there shaking his head, was this a setup or some cosmic conspiracy aimed at destroying his peace of mind. “As I said, what makes you think I would do this?” Paul repeated “only that I need someone like you to help me and I also thought a bonus may help persuade you” Jean said reaching for a piece of paper on her desk. “I have agreed with Bill that you would get a bonus of twenty grand for the ten weeks of exclusive work”, Jean paused then finished with “the money comes with only two points, exclusivity and Kerry.” Paul stood up and walked around the office with questions running through his head and excitement running through Kerry’s head. Jean stood up and walked around to Paul, “please think about this and let Bill know what you want to do, by the way the project is yours either way.” Two minutes later Paul was in his car driving home, questions racing around inside his head again, did Bill really know, would it hurt his career, what would Pam say, while Kerry only thought about having enough clothes for ten weeks.

Pam had been home for a while and had dinner nearly ready as Paul walked in still churning things over “ok spill it” Pam said seeing that Paul was wanting to talk. He put his computer bag down in the lounge and poured a cold drink from the fridge before explaining the project and what Jean had asked for. Pam laughed and shook her head at Paul, “how come you always seem to land on your feet, did you organise this, let me guess Kerry wants to go shopping and Paul is being gagged, and how much did they offer?”. Paul took a drink then said “twenty grand, is that enough for you?” Pam sat down “for two grand a week you can stay there the whole year” she said. Paul just did a Kerry’ism waving her hands and placing them under her chin, “I guess that I must have been a good girl this year.” “With that much we could paint the house, replace the lounge suite and kitchen appliances” Pam said staking a claim on the money. “Do I get any of the money after all I have to do the work?” Paul asked knowing that the plans Pam had could take most of the bonus. By the end of the night Pam and Paul had only one real question, “would this hinder Paul’s career at work” and only Bill could answer that question. Before going to bed Paul logged into the company email server and found an appointment set for 9am with Bill to discuss the project.

His sleep was spasmodic as the doubts ran around his head while Kerry sorted clothes into days and weeks before deciding that shopping would be essential if she wanted to look every bit the professional girl she was. Bill was in his office when Paul walked in just before nine the next day, “Okay if I get a coffee first Bill?” he asked putting his bag down and reaching for his favourite coffee mug. Paul took a long slurp on the coffee, before closing the office door and sitting down in Bills office. Bill slipped a piece of paper in front of Paul, it started off with “Agreement to Indemnify…” and covered three key areas. The option to accept or reject the special request was without repercussions, future employment would not be related to the choice, and finally it would be totally confidential from all staff and clients. Below the line were the signatures of both Bill and his wife, Jeanette who had joint ownership of the company as directors.
When Paul had finished reading the letter he felt much better but had only one nagging question left, “how did you know I would even contemplate accepting the request?” he asked Bill. Bill looked at him and smiled knowing that the answer was already a done deal as they say in sales. “Let me talk about a few things that I have noticed then you can tell me if you accept or not, firstly you never really complained when the Red Cross event was mentioned, I know you made some noises but not much. Secondly during the event you had so much confidence and natural talent at the role that it was obvious to me, later on, that you had far more going on than just pleasing the boss or client. Thirdly the plaque holds pride of place on your desk and often I have seen you cleaning it with a distant look on your face as if reliving the fun you had. I guess the real clincher was that two weeks after the ball I saw the three of you girls sitting at a restaurant eating dinner one night. I had to circle the block to make sure it was you but Sarah’s red hair stands out quite well. Did I get anything wrong in what I have seen with my own eyes?” Bill asked as he leaned forward and took up his coffee mug waiting for Paul to respond.

Now it was up to Paul, “you have known for nearly nine months and said nothing at all, I guess you don’t have problems then?” he stated wondering why Bill was so at ease over the whole thing. “I have known about Jean for well over eight years since I found John dressed up as Jean one night. I had decided to just drop in on John who was helping me with some business mentoring without thinking that he needed a phone call. Instead of John I found Jean just about to get into his car going to go out to a support meeting so he invited me to come back the next night and he would explain everything and let me ask questions as well. It was a pretty uneasy 24 hours as I went through so many ideas in my mind but as John explained his life story and confusion leading into his very own gender choice it seemed quite reasonable to me. So, no it doesn’t disturb me if you are going through the same issues.” Bill took another drink of coffee waiting for Paul’s next question, “do you want to ask me any questions?” Paul asked.

Bill had no questions but only reiterated that the choice was totally up to Paul, although it was very clear that Bill appreciated Paul even considering helping his friends John and Jean. The process had been a long time coming for John and after two false starts he had asked for Bills help in the matter. Jeanette had been glowing about Kerry and the Red Cross event after Bill showed her the photos and talked about how good they looked on the news. Paul stood up carrying his mug and said “in that case I’ll see you every Thursday for project debrief at Johns place and I’ll take two days off because I need to get my hair and nails done.” He opened the door and turned back to Bill before leaving “I would have done it for half of the amount Bill” and Kerry gave Bill a cheeky smile. A few minutes later he had picked up his bag and was heading for the lift to go home to plan the next ten weeks. Pam had four weekends away from home training and a couple of weekends where she would be working locally as well so they had agreed that Kerry could stay around 24/7 for the length of the project. The plan was simple, change, hair, makeup, nails, and a small amount of shopping just to make sure Kerry would be well dressed for the project.

At ten in the morning the traffic was all but finished so going home was even easier, twenty minutes and Paul stood in the bedroom eager to get started. The first job was to swap the drawers around, socks and jocks to the bottom and Lingerie to the top drawer. The same in the wardrobe, Kerry to the front and Paul to the back and all of the shoes and bags, actually there was far less Paul stuff than Kerry but she had “nothing to wear” and had to go shopping. Kerry slipped her breast forms into a nice light blue bra and pulled up matching knickers before sorting through her casual clothes to find a short grey cotton skirt and blouse that she liked for casual days. Kerry looked at her hair in the mirror and flicked it to the middle, by now it was just long enough for the new job at work she thought as long as she had it styled right. Colour and shape really made a difference for her confidence so a quick call to her stylist and she had an extra long appointment booked for lunchtime, a light makeup cover and she was ready for the start of day, again.

Kerry opened her laptop and logged into the main server, the software installation process involved a long needs analysis checklist that generally took 15 — 20 hours but afterwards the main configuration screens could be used quickly to get the whole programme ready. Kerry sent a copy of the checklist directly to John with a request for a meeting at 4pm today and signed the email — Kerry. It didn’t take long for John to reply and was absolutely excited that she had agreed to take the project and was looking forward to finally meeting her. The next thing she had to do was think about the number of outfits and combinations she had in the wardrobe that suited business / office work. Paul would have made a spreadsheet and done this properly but Kerry was more visual than him so the wardrobe was emptied and sorted on the bed, the floor, the dresser until she was happy. “Just a small shopping trip dear” she said to herself, but even Kerry didn’t believe herself as shopping was a time to be the girl she loved.
The project was going to be fairly easy work and with the exclusivity clause she was blocked from double timing the client with another project or support, except after hours from home. Kerry’s home office was in major need of tidying so an hour later the place was acceptable to Kerry and even smelled better after being aired. Fifty minutes to go so Kerry undressed again and entered the shower, a check for stray hairs and an alcohol scrub on the chest to make sure the breast forms would glue on properly. The glue was cold on her chest as she positioned the pink mounds, she had purchased another pair recently in a size D. The quality was so much better and after being glued in place they moved far more realistically, they warmed up quickly and it wasn’t hard for Kerry to imagine that the nipples were actually hers and that brought some excitement. She replaced the blue bra then put on a lined skirt, pantyhose and a cotton blouse which made her look good so then it was a few trinkets such as the Special K necklace, watch and rings before Kerry slipped on her sensible 2” heels ready to leave.

The hairstylist was only five minutes away and always had parking nearby so Kerry had no need to hurry and on Tuesdays the shops always looked bare. Kerry and Pam used the same place after the Red Cross event although it took some talking to get them comfortable with Kerry. This time the shear cost of the visit was enough to make them happy, hair colour and perm, acrylic nails, some permanent makeup. It wouldn’t be really permanent as it lasted for six to eight weeks before needing to be redone or so she had been told by other T-Girls. Kerry opened the door confidently and approached the counter where Jill was standing waiting for her, “nice to meet you again Kerry” she said showing Kerry through to the salon. Jill was always surprised that Paul could swap between the two sides without any visible effort and wondered what went on in his head at times. It took well over two hours but the results made Jill very proud of herself, Kerry was quite attractive with auburn streaks, thin arched eyebrows, acrylics, black eye liner and even her toes looked good in burgundy. Kerry had handed over one of her longer wigs at the start of her session for another stylist to work on and again they had not missed the mark.

By the time Kerry got home she was well and truly changed over, it would be ten weeks before Paul would be allowed to see the light of day again although he knew that coming back would be somewhat traumatic for him. Late lunch was a quick drink and then into the bedroom to get ready for meeting John at the project office, Business Formal was the order of the day. Kerry had selected her favourite dark grey fully lined skirt with dark hose and heels, a white bra and a slightly see through white blouse covered by a dark grey jacket completed her idea of what was required to assure John that she could deliver all of the goods. Retouch lipstick and Kerry was ready to go and take charge of the situation without scaring John or Jean from reaching their goals for the project.

Pulling into the car park just before four o’clock Kerry was relaxed and confident that she would pass muster, she looked at the office and set her sights. “Good afternoon, my name’s Kerry I believe John is expecting me” she said to the receptionist, “yes he is expecting you and I have to say he won’t be disappointed and by the way I’m Tracey, Johns PA” she said opening the door into Johns office for Kerry. John stood up and met Kerry as she approached his desk “well old Bill undersold your appearance I would never have guessed” he said shaking Kerry’s hand. “Thank you, I gather that your PA also knows about me?” Kerry said raising an eyebrow in Johns direction “sorry I should have told you, Tracey has been with me for nearly ten years and there’s not much that I don’t discuss with her.” Kerry sat as John moved back behind his power desk, “I would like to discuss the other aspects of the project with you to make sure that I can help you” Kerry started. “Have you made a decision on how and when the troops get told about everything, secondly are there anymore staff that know about me?”

John had prepared a simple letter to all staff but wanted to gather them together and have an informal chat with them over Friday drinks. His idea was to start a few days after the chat unless Kerry had a better idea, “sounds good to me, I’ve never had to do it before but a friend is nearly at the end of her RLT stage who works with Red Cross. Toni downloaded the framework from a tri-ess website and blended it with local terminology and reference to state laws etc. If you want I can get a copy of the document Toni sent out to all staff when she notified them?” Kerry offered. Thirty seconds later an e-mail flew out from Kerry’s blackberry or should it be pink-berry, anyway John would have a good cross check to make his letter work. John continued “I had thought about just turning up as Jean but that may be too hard to handle for the guys in the storeroom and service section.” “And what about people knowing about me?” asked Kerry again, “only Tracey knows and no one else is going to find out” John assured Kerry. Over the next hour Kerry asked about Jeans outfits, makeup ideas, final destination on the TG journey and how committed she was to making this work. John had tried several times to begin the trip but failed due to nerves and feelings of despair. It was only with the help of Bills wife and Tracey that he thought he could make it this time, and of course with Kerry’s help.

Kerry’s phone beeped and she read the SMS, “Techs leaving now, clear the building — Bill” this was her early warning system. The project called for a new Terminal Services box with RAID and auxiliary backup drives connected to a new managed hub, firewall, and second broadband connection. With Kerry running the project now, it was decided that the system should go in ahead of time otherwise she would be seen by her male colleagues when they came to install. The software install had been done in the office so the hardware install would only take an hour or so but had to be done when all users had logged out. A full system level backup of the old server was going to be done straight away to ensure no data loss during the project as well as incremental updates every night at midnight. The new managed hub and connection was designed to offer a level of protection against hackers with the entire upgrade fitting neatly into the existing communications and wiring rack. Kerry drove away happy with her activities for the day and very excited about the adventures she would have in the next ten weeks.

Pam was home by the time Kerry pulled into the drive and as she approached the front door her heels made the typical click clack on the path letting Pam know that it was Kerry and not Paul that would be coming home tonight. “Honey I’m home” Kerry joked as she put her own leather handbag on the counter and let Pam check out the hair and nails. “They did a great job on my eyebrows and nails, don’t you think?” Kerry said hoping that Pam would not be too unhappy. Pam was use to Paul taking advantage of the situation and should have expected him to go further than they had discussed, it would be nearly three months before she saw her husband again. Dinner was ready so they sat and talked about work, play and the project request. “OK, the story line for neighbors is that Paul has flown over east and his sister is staying with me for a short time to keep me company” Pam said in a matter of fact manner. Kerry and Pam relaxed and come bed time it was a nightie that came out of the drawers that made it very clear that Kerry was in the house, her breast forms jiggling out front.

Pam had an early morning session at work so left Kerry to her own devices which in its self was a worry for Pam because Kerry had planned to go shopping and could never stick to a budget. Kerry woke pulled on a pair of tight knickers then placed a silk wrap around her body, the daily toilet and washing routine followed with a light cover of makeup to augment the semi permanent items that Jill had done yesterday. She sat in the east facing sunroom eating breakfast wearing the silk wrap and pink fluffy slip-on heels while planning out her days activities, shopping, lunch with Toni, more shopping and then home to prepare dinner for Pam. Kerry could become very complacent with this style of living if she had someone to cater to her needs, financially that is. Toni sent an e-mail confirming time and location along with a copy of her document from work, Kerry forwarded the attachment to John and logged out, enough work for the day she thought.

Kerry wanted to appear at all times as a person that knew where she was going and that appearance gave her some degree of confidence when dealing with clients while dressed in a dress and heels. Some would say that offence is the best form of defence and Kerry knew how to dazzle the potential conflict makers in her work area. Sitting down at her own vanity table she applied foundation and powder to cover any beard growth, which had been declining due to some herbal tablets she was taking. A splash of blusher, eye shadow and mascara finishing up with several coats of deep red long stay lipstick, the sort that wouldn’t smudge according to the adverts. Standing there in just her makeup and underwear made Kerry think back to the time several years ago when she first appeared in the mirror. Many things come and go during a person’s lifetime and Kerry had certainly come into Paul’s life with major impact and had grown over the last year. She still waited for the jailer to come along and slam the door shut but every day the chance seemed to be getting more remote as Pam and Paul both seemed to enjoy the challenges of living with Kerry in their lives.

Kerry opened the wardrobe and perused the assortment of outfits she had, nothing cheap or secondhand, no e-Bay, or op-shop only good quality clothes. Paul’s mother had always said “never buy tat” which he dutifully obeyed when he bought fine clothes for Kerry to wear, although his own wardrobe lacked quality and colour. The weather was still pleasant and she was going to the main shopping area which meant she would be moving around outside some of the day. Functionality was very important, changing clothes all the time meant that she had to be dressed for shopping and looks. From the closet she pulled a pair of blue denim jeans with a low cut waist and a pair of comfortable shoes, just a low 2 inches. The top was a camisole style and open jacket to allow her assets to be presented properly without crowding her style, blues and white with blue canvas wedge heels and matching handbag, perfect style for shopping and lunch with a friend. The obligatory jewelry sat around her neck and adorned her ring fingers, especially the wedding band that Pam purchased to signify that Kerry was not on the market.

Toni had been working from home for the day so she caught up with Kerry earlier than they had planned and together they walked around the shops looking and trying things on like any normal girls would, the only issue was that they only looked like normal girls. Toni had really come on due to the hormones she had been prescribed by her GP and the plastic surgery on her face had healed quite quickly. Even the breast augmentation looked very good and the obvious smile on her face told Kerry that she was far happier than when they first met nearly nine months ago. Her motto was ‘no regrets’ and had been moving forward towards Gender Reassignment Surgery (GRS) after being integrated into work and family. Lunch was a simple affair since both girls had to watch their figures, after all Summer was only a few months away and strappy skirts and tops needed the right frame to sit on. Toni left Kerry to her shopping and went back to work with a promise to do a group dinner again if Grace was interested in attending.

The remainder of the day found Kerry spending a small fortune on more tops and skirts as well as a few essentials such as shoes and handbags to compliment the clothes. Compared to the twenty grand bonus she would earn this quarter she had hardly made a dent but Pam had allocated most if not all of it to her project of redecorating the house. Walking back to the car carrying several bags she found herself swaying slightly in the sunlight feeling very happy with herself. The thought of real breasts like Toni’s made her think of her own journey, “where to now grasshopper?” If only it was simply a matter of pressing a button and having it done in the blink of an eye without hassle or fear of rejection. But would she choose to do it, after a whole year of being out of her prison cell the answer was clearer than before, yes she would in fact she would jump at the button with all of her energy. The old joke of “what is the difference between a cross dresser and a transsexual” the answer being “two years” made her chuckle as she swung her bags and dreamed of things to come.

Kerry loved to cook and today was no exception, from the deli in town she had picked up a couple of chicken cordon bleu with pine nut stuffing and garlic butter, throwing together a quick salad of rocket and spinach along with cucumber, small grape tomatoes, sugar peas and she was ready. The wine was chilled as usual, candles on the table and Pam’s favourite music on the stereo, the only thing missing was Paul but then you can’t have everything she said to herself. As Pam entered the house she saw the candles and heard the music, she loved the things Kerry did to say thank you for letting her out of the prison cell. If it wasn’t for public opinion she would let Kerry stay around more of the time, sort of like having the best of both worlds. The children had been told about Kerry and although they didn’t understand all of the details they loved their father and had seen the pain from two years ago when he lost his position and job after outing himself to his fundamentalist boss. Pam placed her bags in the bedroom and came out to a glass of wine and the sound of the meal cooking on the stove. She had become quite happy to let Kerry run things and take some of the strain from her life while Kerry enjoyed the opportunity of being out of the closet, as they say.

Sex was always going to be unusual with a second pair of breasts being involved but Paul and Pam had been slow with each other as they tested the ground, tonight was no different at the start of ten weeks without letup. One of the basic agreements they had made revolved around the “Rules of Engagement” that Kerry had found on the web a sort of cease fire plan for marriages in their situation. Kerry had breached it several times but only with respect to money and style of clothes and never in terms of chemical or body modifications. Pam had also had to be reminded that her signature was on the form as well when Kerry wanted some time out with the girls, well T-Girls actually. The special project was an undocumented and unplanned event and they would have to work through anything that came up during the ten weeks. The next day would see Kerry at work full time and then possibly some out of hours stuff as Jean settled into the transition stage of her life.

Thursday morning started as usual, shower shave and makeup followed by selecting an outfit that Kerry thought was appropriate for her situation at work, that meant no see through anything or suspender belt. She chose a very conservative look for her first day, black slacks and jacket with a white blouse over white silky underwear and black 4” heels. She felt like any normal professionally dressed office manager and held her head up as she drove to work with her list of tasks for day one of the project. This day would be introductions to main staff and hundreds of questions for John, Tracey and the accountant — Sam, who Tracey thought was a tad too redneck for John’s plans but time would tell. She parked the car and strode towards the door with laptop bag in one hand and a handbag in the other only to have Sam rush to open the door from the inside for her, well that’s a first for a redneck she thought. “Thanks, there are gentlemen after all” she teased and smiled as he held the door until she was fully inside the office, if he only knew what he had just done the smile may have been wiped off Kerry’s face by him.

Tracey welcomed Kerry and led her through to her own office that John had set aside as the project office, it had separate toilet and kitchen facilities as well as a spare room that was always locked. This room was Jeans haven when times got hard or she had spare time to relax, a wardrobe and makeup table alongside a shower that had been custom designed by John when he built the office block several years before. Kerry setup her laptop and connected into the network and server using the login codes that Bill had sent to her, the printer came online and e-mail started to be received so everything looked good to begin the project. Her bank notified her of a deposit for $10,000 overnight with the reference DIA001, which was the project code allocated by Bill.

John had been in the office for two hours already and came into the room carrying two coffees, one just the way Kerry liked it. “Good morning Kerry, any problems connecting to the network?” he asked knowing that if Kerry couldn’t connect then he had no hope of doing it. Kerry thanked John for the first half of the bonus payment and continued setting out the documents for the days Q&A and all of her guides to make sure the right option was being selected. Then she took a drink “any changes to the special project that I need to know about?” she asked John while hoping that it wouldn’t interfere with the real project too much since she still had target dates to hit for the project. “No changes just some better idea of how I intend on doing it that’s all” John said pulling out a folder containing letters and information. “I was thinking of giving each person a letter by email over night and making a folder of information available in the office before talking to everyone at Friday drinks, ok?” Kerry scanned the letter and saw that John had included much of the letter Toni used, the info folder was also well constructed with medical, factual and realistic information that would allay any fear of freak show.

Kerry was walked around the place and formally introduced to each of the stakeholders allowing her to make times for each of them to meet in her office over the next two days. The accountant, Sam would be heavily involved in much of the work and Kerry needed him onboard as much as possible, having a difficult accountant could sink the project. It was somewhat of an unknown area for Jean having Sam in such a critical position and his redneck approach to matters just as she wanted to transition. Kerry would be drawing on all of her IT, accounting, and personal communication skills to make sure the project came together in the midst of a potential storm. Sam had several concerns from the sales process and had listed each of them in a report to John that was an attempt at covering his own backside if the project went pear shaped. During the morning Kerry scheduled meetings for each stakeholder and then a combined one at the end of week, this would normally happen every Thursday throughout the project life to stay on-track.

Generally people said they had open minds and even Sam was accepting the process by the time he had spent five hours going through the needs analysis with Kerry. Transition from old system to new was the only issue still outstanding and together they went to see John, “John, we have an issue with transition” Sam said making John choke on his biscuit. Kerry jumped straight in with “what Sam means is how we swap from the old system to the new one without losing data.” John regained his composure before going red, “I wondered what you were on about, can we keep to plain English by any chance?” Sam did not have any idea about the looks between Kerry and John but they would laugh about it later. Ten minutes later Kerry had convinced John to hire a temporary bookkeeper to assist Sam and take some of the hack work from her, this made Sam feel like he was being listened to and valued as well. Tracey had similar concerns over the workload of the admin staff trying to cope with two systems at the same time and not lose continuity. The plan was to configure the system and preload all static data in the seventh week, then over a long weekend transfer all current figures and starting balances ready for the start of business three days later. Training would take place as they went so each person would have access to the new system in training mode prior to the change over which would test the settings as well as train them.

Standard plan for a simple project but at four o’clock the simple stopped as John’s email hit the desktops ahead of time, he thought he had set it to go out at 4am on the next day but you all know about MS bugs/features. The noise from the admin area rose as people read and tried to understand the contents, was it a joke or real, should they laugh at it or could they lose their job? Tracey came into John’s office while Kerry was alone with him, “better check your e-mail boss, the letter just went out” she said closing the door behind her. “Crap, I’m not prepared for this today” John slumped into his chair, “well let’s just take a breath and wait a minute for the reaction, nothing we can’t handle” Kerry said calming John down. She would really earn her money on this project. Sam was the first to knock at the door , John called him to come in “mate, are you serious or is this some sort of sick April fool’s joke?” Sam was told to sit down for a moment, the knock at the door meant another person had questions, two minutes later and most of the admin staff wanted to talk to John. “Okay lets go into the warehouse so we can all talk” said John picking up the folder of information and striving for the door. Kerry saw the decisiveness come to the fore and quickly followed along behind John “holding it together or ready to scream?” she asked John.

The entire staff group pulled up chairs around John to hear what he said so he started at the beginning and repeated the e-mail and inserted more facts and information from the folder which he placed on the table. Some cried, some chuckled but most listened intently to what the man they respected shared about, his story of pain and confusion in a world that had strong ideas of what a man should be like. Kerry scanned the crowd trying to guess what they felt and only a few seemed like trouble but as John went on they diminished to only one person, Sam who had a distorted look of pain and anger on his face. John gave people a chance to ask questions and tried to give honest personal feelings and relate it to his life story, which proved to be a good strategy as most people had been with John for many years as he grew the business. His ethos of enjoying work and rewarding those that went beyond the call made them loyal to him and more prepared to listen rather than judge.

Johns final comment was that if anyone had concerns they should talk to Tracey and arrange a private session with him, otherwise they should expect Jean at work on Monday as planned. Kerry watched as Sam mingled afterwards testing the waters looking for any supporters of his view but found no one so sulked away to his office with quite a mischievous look on his face. Kerry quickly went to her office and hit the backup button on the new server which isolated the two servers from the main network while copying all of the data onto the auxiliary drive, just a precaution she had planned for last thing at night before the letters went out. Sam exploded when he found out that Kerry was using the system without letting him know about it, “won’t take long Sam I am just finishing a procedure” she said trying to keep him happy but knowing that he also had backup tapes in his safe. The new server had also received a complete system recovery set during the day just in case the main server died but Sam had not seen it being installed and knew nothing of it. Kerry walked back into John’s office shortly afterwards and closed the door, ”still good to go with all of this?” she asked. John was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands “I think so, how do you think it all went?” Kerry mentioned Sam and risk of trouble and that everyone else seemed quite happy to trust their boss.

The staff all filed out at five and left John and Kerry talking, Tracey joined them to offer her support, it was only a few minutes later when the entire network crashed and systems started reporting failures from reading the drives. Kerry saw the side door clicked closed as she went through the foyer to her office noticing that Sam’s desk was left in a mess with folders out and the safe open. “John I think we have some trouble here” Kerry said understating the situation. The next hour proved that Sam had attempted to trash the server and every backup tape had been taken from the property, it was going to be a late night for Kerry and she would need help. “Bill, I have a situation that needs more than I can do alone can you help?” Kerry went on to explain the scenario and what she had done to prevent too much damage to the company, although it would take several hours to rebuild the original server and reload the data from her backup server. Needless to say it was a night of pizza and coffee for all of them as Server 2003 disk were located in the back store room then reloaded and configured ready for business the next day. As a disaster recovery project the flaws were obvious, too much risk in one position of the company and if Kerry hadn’t triggered the two backups it would have been far worse if not deadly.

Kerry walked back into the building at nine the next morning to meet Tracey and John looking quite bleary eyed, although Tracey could hide it under makeup John had far more on his mind as franchisee’s came into the office to ask him about the letter they got overnight. This time it was clean sailing as they had committed money into the venture and walking away was not an option for them, they offered support to John or Jean as the need arose. Sam was another matter and a call to the company lawyer soon caused a warrant to search his property for the company tapes and any files. The warrant was served before lunchtime but Sam had already disposed of everything and claimed to be sick and off work not knowing anything about the attack on the company. Needless to say John’s lawyer also gave a notice of instant dismissal due to misconduct and an injunction to stay away from the property and not contact any clients. Severance pay was not on offer and if he wanted to fight it then they had sufficient threads of information to show that he had done the deed. The next task was to find another accountant that could take his place in quick time and handle a transition, system transition that is. The rest of the staff heard about Sam and quite believed that he had done the dirty on them, no loss as far as they were concerned.

By the end of the day Kerry was feeling exhausted, knackered was another phrase that could be applied but she would happily lose them too. Pam was working all weekend so Kerry planned to just unwind and cook or read a book, anything but project or computing stuff. So she was a little upset when John called around lunchtime on Saturday to ask for help, “are you free for an hour or so, I could do with your special help?” This was going to be a regular call from Jean as the project transitioned. “See you in ninety minutes at your place” Kerry offered, it would take her a while to get ready but mainly she didn’t want to set a precedence of jumping when Jean needed her. John’s house was set high in a new country estate with private driveway and garage allowing him to come and go as whoever he wanted to be on the day. Being on a large block meant that neighbors hardly made contact and over ten years they couldn’t really say who lived there. Kerry pulled her car into the drive and approached the door to find a disheveled John standing there in just his casual clothes and unshaven face. “Come in, thanks for coming over on the weekend I am not feeling too good about Monday after the attack by Sam” he said dropping his body onto the lounge suite. Kerry put her bright red handbag and keys on the table and stood looking at John, there was no sign of Jean and transition was supposed to start in under 36 hours she had some serious work ahead of her.

“Start at the beginning and tell me what you have been churning over since we left work yesterday.” John started talking then waffling. Kerry stopped him and made him just sit and breath slowly, “Look John, I’m not an expert in this matter but from where I am standing I don’t think that you should be concerned about Sam. What is the main reason you want to transition and are you going to let a redneck deprive you of that goal?” and then she waited for him. John seemed to brighten up as he went through the reasons in his mind, “you’re right it is my peace of mind that counts not his I’ve waited ten years to get to this point in my life.” Kerry sent him off to the shower and told him to come out looking like the girl he wanted to be wearing some nice lingerie as well. She always found that if the basics were right then the mind would follow, “nice bra - nice start”. John hit the shower then the makeup and finally came out wearing a black and red underwire bra and matching silk knickers covered by a nice dressing gown, Kerry smiled as she checked the painted toes peeping out from underneath the hem. “That looks more like the girl we need to see, feel better now?” Kerry asked noticing that Jean’s mannerisms had also changed as she brightened up.

“What about a special treat, hair makeup and such like?” that made Jean smile, “where can you get that today without a booking.” Kerry picked up her phone and speed dialed the salon where Jill did her hair “Hi Jill, Kerry here, any chance of helping a special friend of mine who’s in desperate need of your special help. Yes I do mean special help, hair, nails, makeup and by the way she expects to pay a small premium just to get in today, three o’clock, thanks I’ll make sure she gets there in time, bye” and Kerry hung up. Jean wanted to know the details but Kerry simply told her to go get dressed in something casual but nice as they had an appointment in just over an hour. Jean took Kerry up to her bedroom and into the largest wardrobe Kerry had ever seen “got this designed and installed specially for John and Jean to share, although John can empty his side shortly.” There was a definite resolve in the way she said that and Kerry wondered if it was just bravado or bluster speaking. Jean picked a pair of denim jeans and boots then put on a button up blouse and her jewelry before choosing a handbag and makeup.

Kerry drove the car and stopped about 400m from the hair salon, “let’s have coffee while we wait” she said turning into a car park and getting out of the car. Jean followed showing no signs of nerves, in fact her whole demeanor was quite different since Kerry had first arrived and found her so out of the game. They chose a small table outside and two lattes gave the two girls time to chat about nothing but enjoy the sunlight for once. Jean wanted to know all about Jill and what sort of things she took care of for her so it was no surprise that after being introduced to Jill in the salon, Jean wanted the works including the permanent makeup, eye liner and lips. Kerry left her in Jill’s capable hands and promised to return around five as Jill would take every minute of the two hours. Just enough time to get in a bit of her own shopping or retail therapy, and she definitely knew how to make the most of it. The centre had a few stores that catered for mid thirties and although Kerry was much older she always made sure that her clothes reflected a younger age. Keeping up appearances with Jean was going to be a challenge for her, one that she knew would be fun doing though and with the bonus already in the bank she was ready to engage.

Jill finished with Jean just after Kerry arrived to pick her up, the change was very good but the way that Jean had lifted was even better. As Jean continued to rotate in front of the mirror Jill spoke with Kerry in the front “do you have many more of these special friends as I could do with the extra money for sure.” Kerry told her that the number of visible trans-people in the city was fairly small but if she contacted the support groups there was always a chance that she could find clients that wanted more than just a cut and blow dry. Special events such as Pride Day or Annual Balls (no pun intended) may draw a few out if they knew about her and a referral from a client such as Kerry would help as well. “Come on princess, let’s get you out of here so Jill can go home, thanks again Jill I owe you one” she said opening the door for Princess Jean, her pumpkin awaited. As Kerry drove back to Jean’s place she had to smile as Jean kept checking her lips and eyes in the mirror. “I never knew how much fun this could be having the pampering and works” Jean said as Kerry pulled into the drive. Ten minutes later Kerry was heading back to her car and Jean was resolved to stick it to Sam and throw herself fully at the transition on Monday, this time was the last start.

Pam and Kerry spent Sunday relaxing and cleaning the house, a job that Kerry was supposed to do on Saturday. The mood between them was good most days and tension from past years had all but vanished apart from small twinges when old friends had been seen and wanted to talk about the things that only brought pain. The dynamics occasionally but subtlety changed though and Kerry found Pam treating her more like a friend than a lover, there were no quick gropes in the kitchen or neck kissing, Kerry had modified her behavior without noticing either. Kerry did her best to keep Pam onside by cooking and pampering to her enjoyment of water and slow leisurely car drives around the river and coastal area but it was different somehow. The second week was about to begin and they talked about the workload and tension from the project office and how Kerry would diffuse the office scuttlebutt if she could. Jean rang to thank Pam for letting Kerry help her and that really impressed Pam with the girls class but it was only day one of 365 for Jean.

Monday was going to be full on for Jean so she arrived early and laid out several special tables in the admin area, flowers, fruit, muffins, and even lollies. The “piece de resistance” was the coffee vendor that she had sitting just inside the warehouse waiting for the staff to arrive, the Roman Empire knew that to keep the populace happy you fed and entertained them. Kerry arrived early as well to make sure that Jean was coping, what she found astonished her, coping was an understatement this girl was achieving high grades. Before nine the staff arrived hesitantly looking for Jean to make sure she wasn’t too scary or freak like but what they each found was John in a different package, loving and caring as normal. The coffee and cakes took priority as the phone system continued to distribute the calls out to the franchisees based on postcode settings. They each milled around Jean asking about her makeup and hair, the clothes and shoes, her plans to have it “cut off” as they put it. Gradually the admin area settled down and business continued as normal, Jean in her office, Tracey out front as gatekeeper and Kerry in her new office, Sam hadn’t even been missed. Now they had to find someone to fill the role and by ten thirty they had a small list of potential applicants from Seek.com.au that had applied over the weekend. Jean asked Tracey and Kerry to help her sort through some of the details and by eleven the first applicants had been called and arranged to be interviewed. One applicant stood out as coming from another site that Kerry had installed at and she remembered her from the job, the only problem was that Paul had done the installation not Kerry.

Monday came and went, no problems with Jean or the install, just a normal day for the girls in the office and even the hunt for the new Accountant was looking good. Jean and Tracey had plans for dinner but Kerry opted for home instead wanting to make sure Pam was looked after. The idea of Tracey and Jean going out after work was interesting for Kerry as she had not picked up anything between them before, no winks or touchy feely things just very professional. The next morning was time to interview the applicants and Kerry sat in on the first two just making small comment about system needs and the transition. When it came time for the prime choice Kerry made sure that her background was that of a visiting software person and not Paul. The applicant seemed slightly spooked that Kerry knew about her previous site in so much detail but put it aside as they interviewed her about her depth of knowledge on the new software. She could do the job quite well and was returning fulltime to the work force after a year of partial maternity leave but wanted to change companies instead of going back to her old place and kicking out her replacement. Jean asked her to wait outside as they discussed her, they both saw her as capable and hungry enough to make it work but Jean wanted to tell her about the transition she was undertaking. Kerry thought about it then asked “are you doing this to test her of warn her?” Jean thought about it for only a second “both, I need a person that I can trust and one that can trust me fully.”

Susan was invited back into the office along with Tracey who had been showing her around the admin area. Jean moved to a less formal area in her office and sat around a small coffee table. “Could you get us all some coffee and cake please Tracey?” Jean asked smiling at Tracey as she left the room. “Tracey has been with me for over ten years and puts up with my foibles and peculiarities and that’s the sort of person I am looking for so I thought I should tell you some of them before you accept the job.” Susan smiled gathering that she was about to be offered the role in the company, what she had no idea about was Jean’s foibles as she had put it. Tracey put down a small tray of drinks and cake and joined the group, “thanks dear” Jean said to Kerry’s surprise, another slip she thought. Jean took a drink then looked straight at Susan “what I am about to tell you may shock or disturb you but after talking with you I feel you are the person I want in here to help us move forward. The company has been going for nearly fifteen years since I started it on a small inheritance from my father and mother’s estate it has grown because people stay here and enjoy their work space.

The only problem we have is that things changed last week when the old accountant tried to destroy the company by wrecking the server and data backup tapes, needless to say we repaired the damage and cleaned out his office ready for you. You are probably wondering why he did it, the short answer is that he was not able to handle the fact that I wanted to change what I looked like on the outside”. Jean stopped and took a drink, Susan sat waiting for more not guessing what Jean meant or was getting to. She continued, “about ten years ago I underwent several months of tests and the overriding result was that as a man I had way too many girl genes in my body”. Susan looked at her “is this a candid camera stunt or trick?” she asked Jean “no Susan this is no trick, just a trick of nature that I am trying to rectify now. If I am any judge of character then I feel that you can handle this in your stride and make a real impact in this company as we go forward, what do you think?” Now it was Jeans turn to wait for Susan, “am I correct in thinking that underneath the dress you are a guy that wants to be a girl and this is no trick” to which Jean nodded quietly. Susan looked at the other two in the room who also nodded in agreement, “well since everyone else seems comfortable with the idea what can I say apart from do I get the job or not.”

Tuesday finished and they had a new accountant that could actually start the next day and already knew the software that Kerry was installing, Susan had no idea about Kerry or that she had met her in another form, that being Paul. Wednesday would prove if the trouble caused by Sam had been repaired or neutralized as they started to configure the system using his needs analysis answers and paperwork. Tuesday had been Pam’s day off in exchange for working the Saturday so when Kerry got home that night the table was set ready for dinner and Pam had the glass of wine ready for them both. Kerry kissed Pam very gently and held her before taking the wine from the bench, “have I told you how much I appreciate you letting me have Kerry Time?” she asked Pam. Pam looked at her husband standing there in clothes that she would be happy to own knowing that Kerry’s wardrobe also looked every bit as good as Pam’s if not better. “Yes you have in many ways, sometimes even verbally” Pam said thinking of the traditionally “feminine tasks” that Paul always loved to do but as Kerry she had really made her own.

Pam handed Kerry the glass of wine and walked into the lounge to sit down, a clear sign that Pam wanted to talk about something and Kerry should shake her booty and get in there. “How do you think we are going to handle all of this Kerry Time as you call it, ten weeks of no husband or close to it?” Pam asked. Kerry had also been thinking of the subtle changes that she had seen and hoped that it was just her being over sensitive to Pam’s mood or feeling. “Not sure how it is affecting you but I get fairly well engrossed as Kerry and tend to not notice things all the time, have you felt different?” Kerry bounced the question back to Pam since she was obviously going through some thinking of her own. It took a few starts but Pam finally talked about not knowing who she was at times then at other times being very happy with the joy in Paul’s life that she could see and how it worked well for them both but she got confused and worried also. Kerry sat there trying hard to sort out threads from what Pam had said, happy or sad, knowing or confused, joy or fear. That was it she thought, Pam was afraid of what this may lead to the “big chop” or the “Switcharoo” or in normal terms GRS. She was afraid of losing her husband and ending up single since same sex marriage was banned still and frowned upon in many areas of the state let alone church. Paul assured her that this was only for ten weeks and 10% had already finished so only nine left then Paul would be back and so would the new furniture and painting that Pam could order already as the money had cleared the bank.

In Kerry’s mind the question of part time versus full time was very clearly answered while Paul was restrained by thoughts of how it would impact on others. During therapy there had been questions like this and “would you like breasts” or “have you ever thought of cutting it off” or even “what do you think of sex with a man”. All very good therapy questions aimed at uncovering the real person and their thoughts but ones that Paul always answered in a vague manner to not sound too far over the line, but in Kerry’s mind the answer was always “yes”. A small amount of knowledge about counseling techniques and therapy models can help anyone get where they want to go, it is only a game after all. This sounds like Paul was in denial but in reality he had convinced himself that he was in control of a very large bomb that could go off and hurt many people so he handled it the best way he could, even when it hurt him greatly.

Bill had planned a project review every Thursday morning with Jean and Kerry present, so by 9am they all sat around Jeans office with notes and coffee. This was the first time Bill had seen Kerry in full flight since the red cross event and was amazed at how good she looked and carried off the role, too good in fact. Both girls sat there in dark blue skirt suits, light blue silk tops, hose, heels and legs crossed pointing in the same direction, a conspiracy they had spoken about the night before. Bill could get confused here very easily, but that was their fun. He tried to lead the meeting but kept getting distracted by the two pairs of legs sitting around the coffee table, Kerry laughed “Bill, pay attention or us two girls are going to talk to Jeanette about your perving.” “This is so hard, I know both of you guys but there again I don’t know you do I?” Bill said stumbling over what he was thinking about. Jean put her coffee down, so Kerry mimicked her, “Bill you know what we each do at work or sometimes, like me, you may have seen a shadow of the other me in times gone by. The real me has taken nearly twenty years to come out fully and from what Kerry has told me it has taken her nearly forty years but the part you see today is every bit as real as the work person you employed or met as a friend of your wife’s family.”

Bill understood but still had a hard time sorting it out in his head. “Let me ask you one question Bill, at the ball when you came all dressed up and looking pretty did it do anything for you?” Kerry asked him. Bill moved uncomfortably in his seat he had a vulnerable doubt that hadn’t gone away after nine months of trying to put it all back into the box. “That’s not really the same, I was expected to look the part and so I just did it for a laugh” he said shuffling his feet slightly. “That’s not what I asked is it, did you enjoy feeling pretty and having people admire you, cos I saw the look on some of the men before you got up to speak and they had plans on your body.” Bill flushed, he had seen them and it made him feel, well, sexy is the only word to use but he was not gay and didn’t think like that anyway.

“Look, if this gets out of this room I’m dead” to which both girls just laughed, “duh, what about us?” Kerry said sarcastically. “Ok, sorry I was only thinking about myself, yes it did mess me around a bit but I figured that it was due to the number of other people enjoying swapping there sexes and stuff, that’s not what you asked though. Yes I felt sexy and flattered that someone wanted my body and excited that I had fooled someone but confused as well because I enjoyed the feel of the clothes and the way it made me happy.” Jean leant towards Bill, “that doesn’t make you gay or transgendered Bill, only normal, unless of course you would like to slip into my office wardrobe and find a nice little outfit to put on.” That seemed to break the ice and Bill smiled but declined the offer, for now.

Sam had made serious attempts at destroying data and had been thwarted, he had been replaced by a competent accountant that knew the system and could take the pressure off the project team as long as a temp bookkeeper could be found to help run the parallel system and some admin tasks. Timeframes for switch over were on track and the go live date was still good so all up the project was going well, they set the next milestone and finished early. Kerry went back to her office and Bill stayed with Jean for a while, “how is the transition going mate?” he asked then corrected himself “I guess that I shouldn’t use that phrase anymore, Jean.” Jean shook her head a bit “this must be really screwing around your points of reference Bill, if you need to talk just let me know.” “Only one thing Jean, how do you think Kerry is handling the project being Kerry and not Paul” Bill asked not sure that it made sense to him after asking it. Jean thought before talking then said “I assume from that comment that you have concerns, is there something that I should know about?” Bill was quick to defend Kerry, “no nothing at all, I was just making sure she was doing her job and not getting distracted by having to look after you at the same time.” Jean told Bill about Saturday and her sulks, or was it his sulks, anyway Kerry had helped get him back in a good position and keep moving so Jean was very happy.

When Bill had left the offices Jean called Kerry into her office for a chat, “Bill wanted to know how you are handling everything” she told Kerry. “You mean how am I handling you and the project together don’t you?” Kerry shot back “I think that’s what he meant so I said you were very good at both jobs.” Kerry sat down in a chair and crossed her legs showing a nice shape and balanced her heels on her right foot swinging in the air. “I don’t think Bill answered our question correctly, he hedged the issue and talked about duty rather than feelings which is an avoidance method. You know I think he would love to spend time in your office closet but scared that he would like it too much then have to deal with it all. At least that makes my job feel safer” Kerry finished with and let her shoe drop to the carpet. Jean had some talks with Bill before deciding on Kerry and there was empathy as well as understanding but Jean kept these to herself. “So are we advertising or just looking for a bookkeeper?” asked Kerry as the project needed to keep moving. Jean was not sure, “got anyone in mind that could do the job for eight weeks, doesn’t have to be skilled just follow instructions?” Jean asked Kerry. “Leave it with me, since you mention it there may be a young person I know that’s between University semesters and he is good with computers” Kerry said thinking aloud.

Back in her office Kerry thumbed through her blackberry looking for a phone number then closed the door for privacy before pressing the dial button. “Hi Graham, its Kerry here how are you going, that’s good, how is uni going this semester, how long do you have off, just wondering are you free for a chat in an hour, great meet you at the café where you met Toni then, bye.” Kerry walked back into Jeans office “may have someone that I know and they would have no issue with you either I’m going to chat with them shortly, do you want to come along?” So an hour later Jean, Kerry and Graham were sat around a café table drinking latte’s chatting about work, Graham was surprised that Kerry was working in her job instead of Paul but put it to one side. “Graham, I need a person to help with my current project and do some basic bookkeeping and admin stuff under direction but mainly to help transition the project, should take around seven or eight weeks possibly full time, want to earn some money?” Graham accepted straight away but Kerry cut him off, “before you say yes or no you need to know that Jean is in RLT mode so some things may get tense at work”. Graham found himself hog tied or gagged or paralyzed suddenly as Grace took over, “does that mean that Grace can come to work?” Graham asked but Grace had control of the mouth and brain. Kerry looked a bit surprised “I was actually thinking of Graham doing the work but it depends on Jean.” Kerry told Jean about Grace and her journey from last year, the trouble with her mum and best friend and how great she looked at Toni’s Manor. Cutting a long story short, Grace could start the next Monday and would love to work with Kerry and Jean and money was not even discussed, she would have paid for such an opportunity.

To be continued.... The girls have some fun and changes are everywhere.