Trick of the Mind — 25 & 26 by Maeryn Lamonte Melanie Ezell's big closet ultimate writer's challenge — Written From The Heart Thanks to Wren Erendae Phoenix for editing/proofing. “If we sort out your hair and boobs before bed time that’ll mean you have quite a bit less to do tomorrow.” As a result, late as it was, I found myself soaking in a scented bath again and washing and conditioning my hair. After I’d dried and styled it, I allowed Jen to glue the breasts onto my chest and for the second time in my life I went to bed with breasts. The night was filled with erotic dreams of Jenny and Rachael making out and I had to get up half way through to relieve some sexual tension.

-oOo-

Jen bounced into my room at seven the next morning with a cheerful “Wakeup sleepyhead”, pulled the curtains and more or less dragged me out of bed. Have I mentioned that Jen is a morning person? I know; wretched isn’t it?

I did what needed to be done in the bathroom and headed back to my room to find an outfit all laid out for me. It was one of the outfits I’d bought on the charity shop raid and Jen had been threatening to put me in it for a while. It was a plain A-line dress with diagonal stripes in different shades of grey and white; simple but quite striking.

Alongside it was a new pair of charcoal, 10 denier tights, some underwear and my black pumps, and on the bedside table, eliciting a pledge of eternal gratitude and unconditional forgiveness for the bright and breezy good morning, was a mug of coffee.

I took me the best part of an hour to get ready: Ten minutes to dress, twenty to sort out my hair and the rest to put on a respectable face. I headed down to the kitchen with my empty mug and was greeted with a cheery “You look nice dear” from Mrs T. Obvious where the early morning genes come from in this family.

Jen popped her head in to check me out and I was made to twirl for her while my toast was crisping in the toaster. She then dashed off and returned a few seconds later with a black handbag and a pair of silver stud earrings. She also replaced my part of the Chinese pendant with a short silver chain.

Mrs T nodded her approval and a short while later we were bustling towards the car, and from there into town.

I won’t bore you with the details of all the shops we went through or all the clothes and shoes we tried. It was a repeat of the last time I’d gone out with the girls at university but far more upmarket.

I’d thought I might try a few things on and help the others pick some stuff out, I mean I was hardly the wealthiest person in the world, but Jen and her Mum had different ideas. The first time I looked wistfully at a dress that I’d just tried and we’d all liked, Mrs T had added it to the stack of clothes Jen had already chosen. I tried to protest, but Mrs T held up her hand.

“You can thank your girlfriend if you want. By her own admission, she already has a closet full of clothes that she hardly uses, so she more or less insisted that half her allowance for this little spree should be allotted to you.”

Half Jen’s allowance ended up being quite significant and as the day wore on I found myself carrying more bags than I thought I could easily fit into my hands.

Jen had persuaded me to try some shorts and tee-shirts that she thought looked particularly cute, but my subconscious didn’t think they were girly enough, and every time I tried them on I found myself wearing a skirt or dress instead. Jen was disappointed but, since a big part of the reason for doing this was to give me a break from the tricks my mind was playing on me, we settled on cuter stuff.

At one point Jen was looking at swimsuits and more or less insisted I look with her.

“You’re going to need one too.” She told me cryptically.

I was a little bewildered. I mean I couldn’t exactly go to the public swimming baths and change with the girls could I?

A few seconds later I was protesting all the more as we looked through the array of skimpy clothes.

“There is no way I could get away with wearing any of these Jen.”

“Why not?” She asked. “You have a very nice figure.”

“Thanks I think, but that’s not what bothers me.” I held up a pair of very skimpy bikini bottoms.
“There is no room in most of these to hide what I’m not supposed to have.”

She gave me a knowing grin and towed me down to the end of one of the isles.

“Tada!” She said waving at a rack full of what I then learnt were called tankinis. “These are gaining popularity with a lot of girls,” she told me. “A lot of them have swim skirts. Let me know when you find something you like.”

I had already found it though. It had a halter top with red and orange palm designs on it and a full, if short, brown swim skirt. I pulled it off the rack and Jen nodded her head enthusiastically.

It was a bit of a squeeze fitting my extra bits into the fitted bikini, but with some juggling I found a way to tuck things away that was reasonably comfortable and unnoticeable. I stepped out of the dressing room and struck a pose.

“Oh that is a must,” Jen told me, so despite the rather extravagant price tag, it was added to my pile of swag.

We did stop for a light lunch part way through the day, but even so, by the time we made it back to the house my feet were killing me. Mrs T insisted that the new clothes needed to be hung up straight away so Jen and I headed off with armloads of bags.

Jen being more practised than me and, for once having less to put away, came bounding into my room before I had unpacked half my stuff. She helped my put the rest away then told me to choose one new outfit. She herself was wearing the pair of shorts and tee-shirt that she’d hoped would work on me and I have to say they did look good on her.

After a moment’s deliberation I picked out a cotton mini dress with a bold floral print. From the twinkle in Jen’s eye it seemed she approved, and she helped me change.

We made our way downstairs to find Mrs T wearing a new bronze dress and carrying a tray of lemonade out onto the porch. We chatted the afternoon away until Mr Talbot returned, at which point I was roped into what, it seemed, was a Talbot family tradition.

First Mrs T removed his tie for him and sat him down with a drink, and then one by one we each paraded in front of him in the clothes we’d just bought. I’m not sure just how much Mr T really enjoyed it, but he played along, making appreciative noises in all the right places. The finale had the three of us come back into the room together wearing the clothes we’d started out in.

“Nice to see all the money I work so hard to earn being well spent,” he told us. For a moment I wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic as I seemed to have hogged the show, but he seemed genuine enough when turned to his wife.

“I do like this,” he told her indicating the bronze dress.

“Rachael’s choice,” said Mrs T. “I wasn’t at all sure when she showed it to me, but she has a good eye. I knew it was right the moment I put it on.”

“She certainly does,” Mr T nodded to me in his appreciation and I found myself blushing, though I’m not sure how much of it was down to them referring to me in the feminine.

After dinner, Jen and I went for a walk in the woods, enjoying the long summer days while they were there.

“Careful you don’t get grass stains on your new clothes,” Mrs T called after us, laughing when Jen and I gave each other sheepish looks.

It wasn’t exactly an interdiction though so Jen led me to a secluded part of the woods where she lay out a blanket and we explored the wild side for a while. It turned out to be a spectacular turn on for both of us and we had to spend a long while afterwards neatening each other up in the gathering gloom before heading back to the house holding hands.

“Can Rachael stay around for tomorrow as well?” Jen asked, uncertain but hopeful. I was enjoying myself too much to refuse.

“Did you girls have fun?” Mrs T asked as we walked into the house.

We chorused an affirmative and she smiled.

“Come into the living room,” she said. “We have a little something to discuss.”

She noticed the look of apprehension on my face and laughed. “It’s nothing to worry about Rachael. I think you’ll approve.”

We followed her into the lounge and sat down next to each other on the couch.

Mr T put down his book and turned to us. “We usually take a bit of a family holiday this time of year Rachael. We have part shares in a canal boat that's moored not too far from here, and usually Justin — that’s our son whose room you’re using at the moment — tries to get some time off to join us. Sadly all leave’s been cancelled right now and he can’t make it this year.

“We were planing on inviting you to come along anyway, albeit as Richard since I’m not sure Justin would find your feminine side so easy to accept. Since he’s not coming I just wanted to ask, first if you’d like to come, though I’m assuming with your limited options that will be a yes, and second which of Jenny’s friends will be joining us on board.

“Personally I’d appreciate having another man along for at least some of the trip, but I don’t see why Rachael can’t come too.”

Jen threw her arms around her father’s neck and I barely managed to stop myself from doing the same. I’m not sure how much he would have appreciated that kind of contact from me, regardless of how much he referred to me as a girl.

“We’ll be heading down to the boat first thing tomorrow,” he told us, “so make sure you’re packed before you go to bed. We will have at least one night out while we’re aboard so you should pack some smart clothes.”

Since, as Richard, I only had jeans, it seemed I would be spending at least one evening as Rachael during the week. As it turned out it would be a lot more than that.

That evening I called Alice. We’d exchanged texts once or twice over the previous few days, but I was aware I’d been neglecting her. I asked her how things were at home and she recited a half expected litany of woes. Mum and Dad were furious with me and refused even to mention my name. Meal times were trial by silence. Alice had tried to start a conversation once by wondering out loud how I was getting on and for her troubles had received a verbal tongue lashing for bringing my name up and had been sent to her room without dinner that evening. The grounding was still being enforced since Dad held her at least partly responsible for the way I had turned out. Dad had taken to drinking in the evenings which just darkened his mood and Mum was still Mum only more so. I sympathised, feeling awful that things were going so well for me while she was getting all the backlash.

She must have sensed something. “So tell me what’s new in your life big brother. Give me some good news so that I know all this is worthwhile.”

I told her about my week and quite soon had her laughing as I told her how the Talbots had reacted to their first sight of Rachael. We talked for about an hour and by the time I hung up I could feel she was a little less sad.

“You should have told me I was talking to Rachael,” she scolded me gently.

“I thought you needed a brother right now.”

“Well maybe you’re right. Listen I’m glad you’re doing OK, really. It’s about time you had some happiness in your life, and I don’t want you worrying about me. I’ll call you if I need anything. Just get Jen to take some photos of Rachael and send them through to me.”

I promised to call again soon and we hung up. I packed my bags for the week making sure I had all my new purchases as well as enough Richard clothes to last. I chose the black dress from my first night out with the girls as the one I would wear for our posh evening and settled down to sleep.

I had a nagging feeling that I had forgotten something and fell asleep ticking off a packing list in my mind.

-oOo-

The next morning I was up and dressed early; I think it was the prospect of a holiday, especially one with Jen.

As per Jen’s request form the previous day it was Rachael who appeared in a short yellow summer dress carrying two rather heavily laden bags to add to the rest.

“Well it’s a good job it’s a big boat,” Mr T commented looking at the pile of luggage. He’d attached the trailer to the car in anticipation, so even though it seemed that Jen and her Mum had also packed pretty much everything they owned, we still had a fair bit of space in the car when we set off.

Two hours of motorways and country lanes later we entered a small town a few miles from the marina where the boat was moored. Mr T dropped the rest of us at a supermarket and headed off to fill the car up.

With three of us on shopping detail, the week’s provisions were soon bought and we made it to the marina by midday. Half an hour later the contents of the car and trailer had been transferred to a sixty foot canal boat. With just the four of us on board we could spread around quite happily and while Jen’s parents took over a luxurious double bed next to the galley and sofas, they were trusting enough to let Jen and me take the bunk beds near the aft hatch. The alternative would have been for me to use one of the convertible sofa beds in the galley/living area at the front of the boat which would have been inconvenient for everyone.

“Besides,” Mr T said, “I have a feeling I can trust you two to be sensible.”

We nodded our heads, both trying to gauge how much of a relative term sensible could be.

Jen and Mrs T headed for the galley to put together a plate of sandwiches and some cups of soup. I was about to follow them when Mr T intercepted me.

“I could do with Richard’s help getting us underway if you don’t mind.”

“OK, give me a minute to get changed,” I replied and dived down to where my bags were.

Thirty seconds later I said something most unladylike which had the rest of them scurrying to see what had happened.

“I had a feeling I’d forgotten something last night,” I said. “I don't have the solvent to get these off.”

I gestured at my breasts and everyone fell about laughing.

“I guess I’ll have to settle for Rachael’s help then,” said Mr T and I followed him up on deck still wearing my yellow dress.

I wasn’t as much help as I could have been. Having a little more strength than either of the real ladies on board I did manage a few things that Jen or Mrs T might have struggled with, but I found myself squealing at dirty wet ropes as I pulled them out of the water, not wanting to mess up my clothes, and the shortness of the dress severely limited how far I was prepared to stretch out my legs when pushing the bows out. Mr T shook his head in disgust as I disappeared below to wash my hands, leaving the bow rope a tangled muddy mess in the fore deck.

After a plain but filling lunch Jen dragged me back to our bunk space and told me to change out of the dress and put on a pair of jeans. I wasn’t sure what she had in mind but did as she told me and was wondering if I should take my bra off when she chucked a tatty old white tee-shirt at me.

“Yours won’t fit with your boobs so I’ll have to lend you one or two of mine,” she said. “Don’t worry if you get it grubby, as you can see it’s been on the boat before.”

It was fairly messy, but it did fit better than any of mine would have, and as soon as I had it on, it transformed into a blue gingham dress.

Jen looked at me critically. “Hang on a minute something’s not quite right.”

My perception shifted back to what I was wearing as she took a handful of tee-shirt and tied a knot in it to expose a bit of midriff. A moment later the gingham dress was back but somehow shorter.

“No,” Jen said, “it’s the style of the jeans, they look wrong. Here try these instead.”

She threw me a pair of shorts which I slid on with some misgivings.

The dress was still gingham, but now the skirt was almost up to my crotch with flounces of short lacy petticoat underneath.

“No they don’t hang on you right. Sorry girlfriend you don’t have the hips for those, and it’s quite apparent you have something else in there too.”

I pulled off the shorts and took one look at the skin tight trousers she offered.

“Those will never work,” I told her and after a second look she agreed.

“OK try these.” This time she handed me a pair of three quarter length canvas trousers.

They were designed to be a loosed fit and I slipped them on with a bit more hope.

My subconscious was getting a bit fed up with all the changing and rebelled by transforming the outfit into a sailor moon outfit.

Jen finally nodded her approval and shooed me out so she could get changed. I re-emerged on deck to find Mrs T dressed down to crew the boat and all the things I had left half done tidied up.

“That looks more sensible dear. We may be able to find you a few similar bits as we go. Some of the bigger locks have shops nearby and they’ve got used to stocking cheap clothes for people who hire a narrow boat without much concept of what’s involved.”

I gave her a weak smile. All the changes had given me a headache and the frills and flounces of this costume weren’t helping it much.

I managed to redeem myself a bit later when we came to a rise of five locks. I did most of the grunt work and was enjoying the exertion by the time we reached the top.

“Don’t push yourself too hard dear,” Jen’s Mum told me, “sweat stains are most unbecoming in a lady.”

I must have looked crestfallen because she added, “Only teasing sweetheart, you’re doing really well. I take it you haven’t done this before?”

I shook my head. “Mum and Dad’s idea of a holiday usually involves a beach and lots of sun. I don’t ever remember doing anything fun like this.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. We don’t have any locks for quite a while so you may want to take advantage of the sun. I think you’ll find Jenny’s changing to do a bit of sunbathing up top.”

“Won’t Mr Talbot want someone to take over from him at the controls?”

“You know if you’re going to come on holiday with us, I think you are going to have to start calling us Paul and Sharon. And don’t you dare try to push Paul off the tiller just yet; he's enjoying himself way too much. Go and find Jenny and I’ll bring some drinks along in a while.”

I ducked back to the bunks and changed into my tankini, grateful for the rest this gave my subconscious, and followed Jenny up on top with a towel and suntan lotion in hand.

“Fancy a go Rachael?”

“Thanks Mr T — I mean Paul. Maybe later.”

He smiled and nodded. “I wondered when you were going to lose the formality.” Like Mrs T said, he was enjoying himself too much.

I made my way down the roof to the centre of the boat where Jen was already soaking up the sun. She looked up as I settled down next to her and I proffered the bottle in my hands.

“Mm please,” came the sleepy reply so I spent a few minutes massaging generous squirts into the exposed parts of her body.

She got to her knees and took the bottle out my hand. “Your turn,” she said indicating that I should lie down.

“What are we going to do about these?” I asked looking down at my chest.

“They should be alright for a week. We’ll get them off when we get home.” She was already rubbing my shoulders and arms.

“They’re not going to tan though are they?”

“I wouldn’t worry too much. We’ll be lucky if we see more than two or three days like this all week. If it really does start to show we should be able to cover it up with some darker foundation.”

I accepted her assurances and lay down on my front. The two mounds in front were a little uncomfortable and I fidgeted a bit to find a position that I could live with.

Jen finished my legs and moved her towel to lie down next to me.

“Still having fun?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re stuck as Rachael now for the rest of the week. Does that bother you?”

“I think I’ll be able to live with it,” I replied, “as long as get to wear dresses most of the time.”

She laughed. “You are such a girl sometimes.”

“I know and you wouldn’t have it any other way.”

We gazed into each other’s eyes knowing it was true.

-oOo-

As promised, the weather turned on us a couple of days later. We only had one really rainy day and Paul remained staunchly at the helm while the rest of us huddled below and fed him the occasional cup of coffee. I hadn’t realised that we were working our way around a ring of canals and had to travel so many miles each day if we were to make it back to the marina by the end of the week. The rest of the week was a mixture of overcast and broken clouds, neither of which tempted Jen or me onto the roof again.

I chose to stay in frocks most days, swiftly slipping into Jen’s trousers and tee-shirt for brief periods when we came to a lock or a series of locks. I hadn’t thought to bring any reading material with me so Sharon lent me one of her library books. Very much a girly story but I found myself really getting into it. Once or twice I caught Sharon’s knowing smile as I wiped a tear away, but I figured she wasn’t making fun of me so I just smiled back.

After a nearly disastrous first time on the tiller, I rapidly improved to become Paul’s first choice of driver any time he wanted a break or a go at operating the locks. This suited me fine as I could keep my dress on as we went through rather than risk getting grubby. Paul went to some pains to make sure I knew what a cill was in a lock and how to make sure I avoided it, but other than that he left me to enjoy myself.

Midweek we passed through a large town and moored up immediately afterwards, even though it was only mid afternoon. Jen dragged me down to our bunks and set about filling a bag with our posh frocks and various other necessities.

“Dad knows the owner of the hotel in the town. We have an arrangement whereby he lets us use one of the suites for the afternoon so we can get washed up and ready for dinner and Dad spends a certain amount of money in the restaurant afterwards. We’ve been doing it for a few years now.”

I found myself looking forward to a long luxurious soak in a bath, but was worried about what would happen to the breast forms.

“Look if water could shift them we’d have had the pleasure of Richard’s company this week,” Mr T told me. “Enjoy the bath. Keep an eye on them, if you think the edges are beginning to come away get out, or stay in until they come off all the way. Either way don’t worry about it, you’re on holiday.”

I took his advice and after a thirty minute soak in steaming, oil scented water, they remained as firmly fixed as they had been at the beginning of the week.

Jen and I helped each other get ready and, when we emerged to join Mr and Mrs Talbot, he fairly preened at the thought of eating out with three such lovely ladies. Before we headed down Jen got her Dad to take a photo of her and me on my phone which we sent to Alice.

The meal was extravagant. I would have preferred a steak or a lobster, but following the lead of the other ladies present I ordered one of the less protein rich dishes on the menu. It turned out to be exquisite, so much so that I was glad to be taking smaller bites, the more to enjoy the mixture of flavours.

I had my first taste of real champagne that evening as well, and found out why it goes so well with fresh strawberries, I don’t remember drinking that much, but I did become quite giggly by the end of the evening. We were all rather unsteady as we made our way back along the tow path towards the boat and, although I do vaguely remember climbing back on board and changing into my nightclothes the rest of the night is a blank right up to the moment when I woke up to the flash of a camera and some stifled laughter from Jen’s parents.

As I roused myself, I found that Jen and I had ended up in her bunk and were snuggled together in a riot of pink satin.

“That photo had better not make it into the family album,” I murmured and Jen snuggled into me becoming aware of how we had passed the night and deciding not to worry about it.

“How come your parents are so understanding about this?” I asked her. If she wasn’t going to worry I decided I wasn’t either.

“I think because they trust me,” she said matter of factly. “You too. I mean how much trouble can two girls get into?”

“They really see me as a girl?”

“Right now that’s all I see. No boy could ever smell or feel so good.”

“I think I’m going to have to get up,” I told her.

She raised her head and looked at me.

“Right now I don’t trust myself not to find out how much trouble two ‘girls’ can get into.”

She reached under the covers and found my not-so-little friend standing at very rigid attention. I jumped out of her reach before I made a mess of her bed and headed off to the bathroom holding a towel in front of the traitorous bulge.

The rest of the week was more of the same and we were all feeling well rested if a little grubby by the time we moored up back at the marina the following Sunday morning. We loaded up the car and trailer and spent a couple of hours cleaning the boat down before heading home. Jen and I fell asleep on each other on the way home prompting another round of photographs which we only found out about much later.

We stopped at a motorway restaurant for a quick bite to supplement our large breakfast and headed on for the Talbot’s house. The moment the door was unlocked I ran up to my room in a most unladylike manner followed by a smatter of good natured laughter. A couple of days previously the skin under my breast forms had started itching maddeningly and had been getting progressively worse since. I found the bottle of solvent where I had left it in the bedside cabinet and headed straight for the bathroom.

It only took ten minutes to remove them and I breathed a sigh of relief as the air reached my deprived skin. I spent a good while cleaning the breast forms before putting them to one side, then realising I didn’t have any Richard clothes in my room made an appearance as a very flat chested Rachael.

“You cannot begin to imagine how much better that feels,” I said walking into the living room.

Sensing something wrong I looked up to see three very grim faces looking at me from over where Mr Talbot was holding a rather official looking piece of paper.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

Paul held up the letter in his hand. “This is I’m afraid Richard. It’s an injunction instructing me to deliver you to the county court nearest your home town, where your parents have requested that you should undergo an assessment to ascertain the state of your mental health. The court appearance is for tomorrow at noon.”

-oOo-