Numbers
by
Paula Dillon
Roger was a brilliant mathematician. Things go strange though when he just goes to bed.
Roger Brandon was tired and was going to bed. Roger was a grad student at Stanford and had spent the last twelve hours typing away on his dissertation; Math and Computer Encryption. Roger was twenty and had graduated with honors on a double major BS in Math and Computer Science with a second BS in History, all in four years.
Roger got bored of high school and had chosen to graduate after his second year and had a full ride in Math to Stanford. He just had to get away from all the petty bullshit at high school. He hardly talked to any of his class mates there, the other students little in common with Roger and they didn’t talk to him or socialize with him. He didn’t have a girlfriend and had never dated there. Now at Stanford, he had a girlfriend, Jessie Wolf.
Jessie Wolf had latched onto him his first semester there and had told him that she was his girlfriend. At least she wasn’t an airhead, she was a math and physics major there and she was two years older than he was. She was seventeen while he was fifteen. They loved talking shop, which is what he called it. He also helped her with the math on her classwork, proof reading and double checking it. She also taught him a few things, like interacting with average people, how to seem like he wasn’t a crass, rude, nerd and about boy/girl things, although he was still a virgin. They were both too busy to get into that sex thing.
While he was a senior at Stanford, Roger was recruited by a large corporation to test their firewall and data security. The IT man had talked to a professor there and had asked about any candidates for a white hat hacker and Rogers name had come up. Roger breached their firewall a dozen times and left hundreds of Easter Eggs, for the corporation’s computer people to find. The Easter Egg was nothing more harmful than a German Tiger II tank and an American M26 Pershing rolling on screen, exchanging three volleys of fire before a message popped up saying surprise. That particular Easter Egg would then uninstall itself. He was then hired to help plug up the holes in the company’s defenses. The corporations IT Vice President told Roger to leave the Easter Eggs for IT to find, He offered a bounty to IT for each egg they kept a computer operator from finding. Roger just did the work for fun and was surprised to receive a mid-six figure pay check. He used that money to buy the house he lived in.
Roger took a shower, dressed in a pair of blue plaid Joe Boxers and crawled into bed.
>>>>><<<<<
Nora Davis was tired. She was a math major at Stanford and spent the last four hours going over her notes. She was a graduate assistant to one of the professors there and was to help teach an undergraduate level class for her professor, who was in Washington. He had been summoned there at the behest of some big-wig, it was all so hush-hush. The Dean of Math and her Professor had asked her to take his two undergrad classes for a week. She would receive favorable treatment on her dissertation on Math and Code Breaking in exchange. She was also informed that she would receive credit for her dissertation, but that she might never be able to publish it to the general public, governmental secrecy or some bullshit, but they were almost frantic about having her research on the subject. She even had a federal agent visit her and run a background check.
Nora graduated high school at eighteen and had chosen Stanford to attend. It wasn’t easy for her and she had to really work to convince the admission people to allow her to attend, but after being locked in a room with three math professors for several hours, they whole heartedly admitted her. She didn’t have any use for a boyfriend, especially one who couldn’t talk about her love, Math. Also she only had a half scholarship and needed to work on campus and summers to earn the money to attend. She did have a girlfriend, but they never talked about their relationship to others, luckily they shared a dorm room at Stanford. After they had graduated with BS’s, Math for Nora and Physics for Gwendolyn Manning, Gwen bought a them a home near campus, close enough for them to walk to school on nice days, California had many nice days, to live in. She came from a family that had money so the price of the house was no sweat off her back.
Gwen and Nora slept in and kept their things in separate rooms, while it was OK for two girls to share a house, it wasn’t OK for them to be seen sleeping in the same bed. Their full beds would allow them to play around, but both of them needed to keep their security records in tact or they wouldn’t be allowed to progress in their fields.
Nora took a nice warm bath and shaved her legs. She dressed in cotton panties and a pink cotton sleep-dress and went to bed.
>>>>><<<<<
Both became mentally alert at about the same time and both stood. Both sensed the presence of another but didn’t see anyone. Both turned to the dresser mirror and saw a conglomeration of male and female reflected back.
Nora gave a mental shove and Roger popped out of her body wearing an ankle length sleep shirt, while Nora’s chest was flat and she wore a pair of Joe Boxers. She covered her now flat chest with her arms and looked at Roger. Roger felt the long hair he didn’t have and looked down to see that he had a pair of sizeable boobs, in fact they both in each other’s bodies.
“What are you doing in my bedroom?” they both asked.
“This is my bedroom," they both replied.
“I own this place,” Roger said, simultaneously as Nora said, “Gwen owns this place.”
“Gwen bought this house in August of thirty-five, when do you say you bought it.”
Roger was beyond perplexed as he looked at Nora, “Oh my god, in August of 2005. What was the date, when you went to sleep?”
“May 25, 1937”
“I went to sleep on May 25, 2007”
Nora shook her head in confusion, “If this is a joke by Gwen, I am going to kill her,” Nora said as she went to the door. She turned the door knob and pushed on the door. It was solid as a rock. Roger came over and helped her.
“Something is wrong, this door feels as solid as stone,” Roger said.
“I know this house is solidly built, but not that solid. Try the bathroom door,”
There were two other doors to this room, Nora watched as Roger in her body went straight to the bathroom door and opened it. She went to the closet door and opened it to find it was empty, the dresser was also empty.
“It almost seems that we are in another dimension,” Roger said. “There is a lot of work out there on extra dimensional space.”
“It looks like we aren’t going anywhere for a while. What was the last thing you remember and what is your name?”
“Roger, Roger Brandon. The last thing I remember is lying down on that bed to go to sleep. What is your name?”
“Nora Davis, I am a grad student at Stanford.”
“I too am a grad student at Stanford. What are you working on?”
Nora hesitated, maybe this is some kind of test by the G-men, and then again many people knew she was a math major. They just didn’t know what her specialty was, “Math.”
“I am working on getting a Masters in Math and then I will get a Master degree in Computer Science.”
“Computer what? What is a computer?”
Roger shook his head, if she was in 1937, there would be no computers, “Have you heard of Charles Babbage.”
A light went on in her head, “Yes he had a design for a Difference Engine back in the early to mid 1800’s. He never built it.”
“The difference engine would have been a mechanical calculator. A computer is a machine that can do many things and is electrical in nature.”
“Alan Turing wrote a paper last year on Computable Numbers.”
“Yeah he proved that some machine would be able to do all sorts of computations if it were represented as an algorithm. They made such a machine, but it wasn’t mechanical. It would be hard to describe to some-one without basic electronic knowledge.”
“Well it looks like we have nowhere to go, so let’s sit down and talk.”
They sat down on the bed and talked about mathematics, from their own point of view. Nora had some trouble with some of the math concepts Roger talked about, after all there had been many new development in Math in eighty years, but she realized that she was with a kindred spirit. Her ears perked up when he began talking about encryption and decryption.
“What do you know about codes and deciphering codes?”
“Cyphers were my entertainment when I was growing up. That and video games. I use to get Master class cryptography magazines and work the puzzles out in my head. Numbers were my friends.”
“Video games?”
“Oh right, if you don’t know about computers, you don’t know about video games. How about Television?”
“I know about Television. I watched the thirty-six Olympics on Professor Johnson’s TV. The picture quality was poor but we gave it to those Germans.”
A light clicked on in Roger’s head, “Of course, you come from the thirties, the war hasn’t happened yet.”
“What are you an Idiot? The war happened twenty years ago when I was a wee tot.” Nora’s face blanched, “Unless you are talking about Hitler and Germany. There are all sorts of stories in the news about Hitler.”
“I don’t know what you have read, but Hitler is worse than anything you can imagine.”
“Maybe that is why my professor, Dr. James went to Washington. Oops I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Whatever you do, don’t go to Europe for the next ten years and if you have any friends there now get them to come to the U.S. Now. Immediately. Sooner is better.”
“Is it that soon?”
“Pretty damn quick. Read the London Times, if you can get it. Pay attention to Neville Chamberlain.”
“He was just became Prime Minister of England. Tell me more.”
“I am afraid to. There is a theory called temporal paradox. If we could time travel, we could go back in time and kill our grandfather, but then we wouldn’t exist, so our grandfather would be alive and so on.”
“Shit,” Nora said. “We might have screwed things up already. If I make it back, I am going to have to give H. G. Wells a thorough read again.”
“We just have to trust that we haven’t screwed things up.” Roger said, yawning.
>>>>><<<<<
Roger woke and opened his eyes and said, “Damn that was a weird dream.” He pulled off the covers and hesitated, he was still wearing the cotton sleep shirt. He grabbed his chest and crotch. One hand didn’t feel anything and the other felt his stuff. He pulled off the ladies sleep shirt and found he was wearing a pair of cotton granny panties. “Damn I loved those boxers.”
Nora woke in her bed and sat up, mumbling about her dream, until she realized that she was bare chested and had on some weird men’s underwear. “And who the hell is Joe Boxer.” What was that boy’s name, she thought… Roger Brandon. Why is he wearing Joe’s Boxers? Is he a homosexual? She giggled as she thought about him waking up dressed like a Nancy Boy. Then she chided herself, she was a homosexual herself.
>>>>><<<<<
Roger thought about what he should do. He could do nothing and keep what he thought happened to himself, or tell someone, but whom? Jessie probably, but she might think he was crazy. Who was that girl? Nora Davis, that was her name. He’d do some research and then decide what to do later.
Roger got online and then checked Stanford Alumni for the thirties and forties. He actually found some Stanford Yearbooks online and found her pictures in several. He did a search on Nora Davis and math. He got a plethora of hits from 1948 and beyond, but nothing besides the yearbooks and Stanford Alumni files from before that. He went to the Library and went to the section that held research papers. He found her name listed in the index, yes she had done a dissertation, but no dissertations were on file.
“Damn, in her field, she would have done a dissertation or two… unless they were deemed classified.” Roger said to himself. “Open Records Act.” He almost shouted to himself, and he was in the field and had a good reason to ask. How should he frame his request and who too? Hmm Office of State handled intelligence before the OSS. Math and cryptography were probably her specialties.
He would talk to Jessie after all their classes today.
>>>>><<<<<
Nora went to Gwendolyn’s room after she got dressed. She carried the boy’s underpants with her.
“Gwen, can I talk to you a bit. You will have to promise not to spread what I am about to tell you around.”
“Of course I can keep your secret. We both have an explosive secret. What is it Love?”
Nora sat on Gwen’s bed and told Gwen about her “Dream”.
“You have been reading way too much H.G. Wells and Jules Verne girl.”
“Then explain this, Gwen.” Nora said, proffering the boys underwear. “I lost my pink sleep shirt and panties and awoke wearing these, unless you are pulling some weird kind of trick on me.”
>>>>><<<<<
Jessie came over to Roger’s place after her last grad class, she wished that Roger would hurry up and bed her, but she wasn’t one to push him. They boy needed a lot of maturing before they had sex. The boy and her needs were a paradox in themselves.
Roger seemed to be on pins and needles.
“Jessie, I have a really weird story to tell you.”
Jessie couldn’t help but giggle at times as he told his story. “It seems you have an overactive imagination.”
“I thought you might say that.” He then showed her his research on his laptop.
“You must have heard or seen her name somewhere before.”
He took Jessie up to his room and pointed to the sleep shirt and panties. “That is what I was wearing when I woke up.”
“I have got to move in with you. I would have loved seeing you in those, but I see what you mean,” Jessie said, as she picked up the cotton panties and sleep shirt. She inspected them closely, the panties appeared commercially made but there was no label. The sleep shirt looked to be home sewn and nicely done. They appeared to be fairly new, there were a few signs of wear, but they were in good shape. She had seen some vintage lingerie before and what she held was consistent with what she had seen. She didn’t make it a habit of sniffing underwear, but she did. She did smell a woman in the crotch. This was beyond Roger’s practical mind to pull something like this off, by thrift store shopping.
“If what you say is true, put them on for me.”
“But they are girl’s clothes.”
“If you want me to believe you, put them on.” Jessie reasoned that any full blooded male would rather die than wear women’s clothes. They are just fabric and besides the pink colored night shirt, fabric is fabric.
“Now?”
“Now, I want to see you do it.”
Roger slowly undressed and then dressed in the two items. Jessie had a predatory look in her eyes as she looked Roger over. She backed him up to the bed and pushed him over on to it. She took off her jeans, straddled him and began groping and kissing him.
“I believed you when I saw the clothes,” Jessie said, when they came up for air. “Your story made me a little horny, thinking about you wearing these things. I wanted to see if you would put them on for me…” Jessie then thought for several seconds and said. “We didn’t seem to open an extra-dimensional portal.”
“It was just me then and it happened after I fell asleep.”
Jessie got another gleam in her eye, “I want to try an experiment. It won’t hurt you but it will be a little strange to you. What size was she, in relation to your size?”
Roger got his laptop and showed Jessie her picture as he described her. “She was an inch or two shorter than me not more than that. She was bigger than me in the chest,” Roger made two fists and put them on his chest. “She was maybe slightly more projected than the pinky side of my fists and her hips were a couple of inches wider and projected backwards a couple of inches more than mine. I think her waist was about the same as mine.”
“Lift up the sleep shirt let me check the panties.” Jessie said.
The panties were a little tight at the waist and about four inches lose in the rear. Jessie tried to imagine Nora wearing the Joe Boxer underwear she had bought for Roger. She felt herself get wet in the panties. She then did some mental calculations into what she could get Roger into, which Nora might like.
“Stay here Roger, I will be back in an hour or so and don’t change clothes.” Jessie said pulling her jeans back on.
>>>>><<<<<
Gwen looked at Nora in a way that sent shivers up Nora’s back. Gwen wasn’t usually the aggressive one in their relationship, but she could be adventurous. She took Nora out and had her hair styled and permed in a short curly flapper style pixie cut. Gwen then went and bought Nora a whole new outfit. Nora was too frumpy in her style of dress and if a boy was going to be wearing her lover’s clothes she was going to exact some revenge on him. Revenge might be too strong a word, but she wanted Nora to give him something to remember.
When Gwen got Nora back home, she dressed Nora in a long corset that went from the bottom of her buttocks to over her shoulders. Gwen had place a note under the corset and tied off the corset in a way that Nora couldn’t undo it by herself. Nora complained, but Gwen gave her a loving kiss and continued what she was doing. She rolled real silk stockings up Nora’s legs and attached them to the garters that hung from the corset. Next Gwen got Nora into a pair of T-strap heels. Gwen wore shoes like this and neither she nor Nora liked them all that much, but Gwen wore them for the look they gave her. Gwen then dressed Nora in a blouse, jacket and a figure hugging to below the knee, mid-calf pencil skirt. Nora could only take twelve, thirteen inch steps in that skirt. Gwen then gave Nora her best dance hall girl makeup job.
Gwen wanted to rip Nora’s clothes off right there and ravish the girl, but it had taken her so long to get the frumpy librarian grade clothes off her lover and into these oh so nice clothes. She didn’t want to ruin her work. Nora had a hard time sitting and getting comfortable, but she sat down and talked with Gwen till bed time.
>>>>><<<<<
Jessie got back to Roger’s home. She was afraid that Roger might flip when she showed him what she had. She had bought something like a Kathrine Hepburn pantsuit and blouse in modern materials. It was the rest of her purchases that she was afraid he would balk at. She had bought a wig, breast forms, an underwire push up bra in a 38C, a below the bust corset, panties, nylon stockings and some really daring stiletto high heels. It was costly but if this didn’t work she had Roger in some really sexy clothes.
Jessie had Roger bathe and shave off all his sideburns and all the hair below his nose. It took a couple of dozen smoldering kisses to get Roger rigged out and made up. She gave Roger a party girl makeup look. Jessie wanted to rip off his pants and panties and screw the devil out of him, but that could come tomorrow when she helped him undress. When she finished she didn’t let Roger sit but made him practice walking in high heels. He wasn’t good when he went to bed, but he could stand, walk and sit without killing himself.
>>>>><<<<<
Gwen helped tuck Nora in bed; she closed the door and locked it from her side, tucking the key in her bra. She then pushed a chaise lounge chair in front of the door and lay down to sleep herself.
Jessie helped Roger get in bed; she closed the door and pushed a lazy boy in front of the door. She sat and reclined the chair so she could sleep.
>>>>><<<<<
Nora and Roger woke and gave each other a mental nudge, to separate their bodies.
“Oh my god,” Nora said. “Our girlfriends are so evil.”
“Tell me about it. What the hell do you have on under this skirt, blouse and jacket?”
“The same sort of thing you have on under this pant suit.” Nora said.
“Only worse.” Roger said.
They had to help each other stand, which wasn’t easy for either of them. They held onto each other as they walked over to the mirror.
“I like my clothes except for these heels. What kind of heels are these.”
“They are called stiletto heels,” Roger said. “They are in style with many party girls.”
“Oh, what you are now wearing, is what our dance hall girls wear.”
They both sat on the edge of the dresser and talked about their girlfriends and their reaction to what they had told them. They both had a good laugh.
“Roger I have been thinking about what you said. I sent a lot of letters to friends overseas and asked them to come visit me, without saying why. I have also thought about this paradox thing, you mentioned. Fate put us together for a reason, other than our sick girlfriends’ imaginations.”
“I too have thought about it and nothing bad had happened from what I told you yesterday. I also researched you. There was little information before 1948 except for seeing you in a couple of Stanford yearbooks. So I figured you might have worked in some intelligence capacity between thirty eight and forty eight.”
Nora thought for several minutes about what he had just said. Maybe her professor had gone to Washington to talk about her, or maybe they both were dreaming fiction.
“I have been checked out by a federal agent. He talked to me and Gwen and several of my friends and associates. I have some sort of security clearance, but I don’t know what kind.”
“Sounds like they are vetting you for a job or something.”
“I will tell you the truth, my dissertation is on Math and Code breaking. I was told that I won’t be able to publish it, but I will get credit for it.”
“That is why I couldn’t find your dissertation in the library. They noted that you did one and that is all.”
“So what can you tell me about the German codes?”
“The big break with the German code came when the HMS Bulldog captured a German code machine produced by a company called Enigma. The Japanese had a similar machine code named purple.”
“Japanese? The Japanese are in the war too.”
Roger realized he stuck his foot in it. He then gave Nora a brief primer on WWII.
“WWII was a close thing, without the work of our code breakers, the war might have turned out differently”
Nora then grilled Roger on code breaking. Roger was surprisingly knowledgeable and of course knew things she had yet to learn.
“I wish I had a chalk board or my computer.” Roger said. Then he looked at the mirror. “Nora see if there is a bar of soap in the bathroom.”
She went in the bathroom and came out with a bar of soap. Roger took the soap and began writing on the mirror. Nora giggled and studied what Roger wrote on the mirror. Time in this room meant nothing in comparison to the time their bodies back in their own time were going through.
“I need to do some research and will get back to you, if we find ourselves back here.”
“I have one request if we get back together. Could you come back dressed much like this ladies pant suit? I much prefer this to wearing boys clothes.”
Roger grimaced, but nodded, “I think my girlfriend will love me in this getup.” Roger said.
“Just lose that corset, the one I have on now is better. I will do the same with Gwen.” Nora said yawning.
>>>>><<<<<
Roger woke still dressed in the pencil skirt, jacket blouse and whatever else he had on. He tried to stand but couldn’t.
“Jessie can you help me. Jessie,”
Roger could hear some furniture being moved and the door finally opening. Jessie began to giggle and then laugh as she saw Roger. His short hair was now pixie cut and it looked like it was permed in tight curls, “I love that outfit on you. It’s cute. Why did you call for help?”
“It’s what I have on under the skirt and blouse that I won’t let me stand up and I need to use the restroom.”
Jessie helped Roger stand and unzipped the skirt. She again giggled till she laughed as she saw how long the corset was. She took off the jacket he wore and unbuttoned the back buttoning blouse.
“I am going to have to get a knife to get this corset off of you. The knot is really done up tight. I don’t know if I could ever get it undone.” Jessie said, as she headed to the kitchen.
Jessie quickly returned with a paring knife and began cutting laces. Roger felt relieved, he sat and removed the stockings from his legs and dashed to the bathroom. Jessie saw the breast forms and an envelope fall as she removed the corset.
While Roger relieved himself, Jessie opened the letter. As she opened up the letter, she heard the bathtub begin to fill. Good she could read the letter uninterrupted.
I don’t know who is reading this but I hope it is Roger’s girlfriend. You don’t have to dress Roger as restrictive as this, but seeing that he is alone with my girlfriend and lover. I want to request that he always be dressed as a lady, when he comes to see my girl.
I don’t know why they are being brought together, but I feel that it is important. Maybe we can meet too. I am a physicist here at Stanford. I know it is strange for a girl to be into Physics, but Nora and I are different kind of women. What do you do?
Gwendolyn Manning
This could be fun. She had never thought about being a lover to a she-male before but the thought now intrigued her. At least if he didn’t object, she would keep him in panties and stockings.
“Jessie can you help me with my hair,” Roger called from the bathroom.
Jessie went into the bathroom and saw Roger standing there with only a towel around his waist. He was blow drying his hair which was still in short tight curls. She took a brush to it but that only made it more cute and feminine.
“Sorry Roger, it looks like it was permed. It may take weeks or months for it to grow out, or I could give you a shaved head.”
“I like having hair.”
“Some guys get their hair permed and hey this is California. Just own it at Stanford today.”
To maintain an ‘A’ average he couldn’t afford to miss his two classes, so he put on a Rolling Stones T-shirt and a pair of tight jeans and headed to class.
Jessie went to her apartment got some of her things and moved them to one of the spare bedrooms. She was going to stick around and see what happened next.
>>>>><<<<<
Nora woke and slowly managed to get up. She found the back zip of the pants when she went to the bathroom. Gwen had left strict instructions for her not to take anything off till she helped Nora undress. She went to the door after relieving herself and found the door locked. She knocked and called for Gwen. After the fourth knock she heard Gwen say, “Just a minute Nora.”
Gwen moved the chaise lounge from in front of the door, retrieved the key from her bra and unlocked the door. When she opened the door she was a little disappointed. She had worked hard to get Nora into a sexy skirt and blouse, now she was in a pantsuit, but it was a cute girly pantsuit.
“You almost look like Kate Hepburn now, Nora. I think it looks good on you. Let’s see what’s under the wrapper,” Gwen said.
“Roger’s girlfriend is almost as sick as you are Gwen,” Nora said, as she took off the jacket, took off her pants and unbuttoned the blouse. “She had Roger in a corset and stockings too.”
“Wow, look at that bra and that corset. It’s much prettier than our lingerie. Those panties are so cute, I love them. Tell me how do they feel?”
Nora went to the mirror and took a good look. All her lingerie was white and cotton except for when she rarely wore silk stockings. (Nylon stockings weren’t developed around till 1940 as nylon was first produced in 1939. In 1920 stockings changed from cotton, solely for warmth and comfort, to silk or rayon as flapper skirts began to rise.)
“These stockings aren’t silk or rayon, Nora. I don’t know what they are made of, but I like them. The same goes for the panties. The bra is something else also.”
“We can’t let these be seen outside of you or me.”
“I know, how could we explain this stuff. Put these shoes back on let me take a good look. Those heels are taller and more pointed than most ladies shoes. He wore those?”
“I couldn’t say, but he was wearing my clothes and I was wearing these clothes when I woke. That is all I can say for sure.”
“I like that makeup job. Jessie must be an artist.”
“Roger called this a party girl look. It’s a little different from our dance hall girl look.”
“I hope she keeps dressing Roger as a Nancy boy so you can get some more stuff like this.”
“Gwen we aren’t doing this for the clothes. There is a war coming and I might be able to help the US. Roger is brilliant. He may be more intelligent than me and you. We talked about what my dissertation is about which I can’t talk about.”
“I know, Dr. Lawrence from Berkley came to school a few days ago and talked with me. He said he had an important project and wanted to know if I would be interested in joining him. He said he couldn’t explain it to me till the government said it was alright.”
“All in all, I wish this Roger was a girl. No I don’t wish that. Roger is a pretty nice person for a guy. He doesn’t put on any male pretenses. On top of that he was pretty cute in a skirt. Good thing I got you, love. I would have to marry him and keep him in skirts.”
For some reason Gwen just broke down laughing till she cried. If this didn’t seem so damn important she would burn the house down. She didn’t want to think about losing Nora to a guy.
>>>>><<<<<
The next day as Roger was getting ready; he shared an idea with Jessie, “Doing this every day is growing weary. Nora and I need to set a schedule for rendezvous. “
“I was thinking the same. Also we need to cut down on the clothing expenses. We need to set up a sort of uniform that you two can trade. I also want you to ask Nora to set up a time and maybe me and Gwen can meet with ya’ll too,”
Jessie dressed Roger in a black skirted suit, suitable for wear in any law firm or bank, under which he wore a bra and corset. Not that one, but another like the one he wore with the Kathrine Hepburn pant suit. The skirt was straight and came to just below the knee. It might be a little scandalous in the thirties, but it was strictly conservative by today’s standards and Roger knew that much. One new thing Roger wore was pantyhose. Jessie also included a cross shoulder that contained a dozen dry erase markers.
>>>>><<<<<
Roger and Nora awoke in their room and first looked each other over. Nora loved the suit. Roger was relieved to just have the Kathrine Hepburn pant suit on.
Nora and Roger then talked housekeeping. Instead of meeting everyday they agreed to make a calendar and split it up to two days a week.
“Let’s set up a schedule, we won’t use this bedroom for the next three days. If we come across we come across, we will find some way to deal with this. That will give me time to do so real research. Also Jessie wants to set up a uniform, like what you are wearing now or what I am wearing now. The clothes you are wearing are part of a ladies business suit in my world.”
“Good, I didn’t want to buy a clothing store either. Gwen wants to see if she can come across.”
“Jessie said the same thing. So three days from now we try to come across.”
“Now you can’t seem to know any of this stuff till the people you work for, read you in on it. You understand.”
“Yes, I can’t know what a cipher machine is till I can discover it, hopefully in their presence, or they tell me what it is.”
Roger then began to give Nora a primer on codes, recognizing codes, all where codes were secreted and how codes were broken. Much of the stuff Nora already knew, from her research, but it was good to know that Roger knew them as well. He covered transposition codes, single replacement codes, book codes and dozens of different methods of encryption. Some came as a surprise to Nora, such as a one-time pad. He took her from encoding a message to decoding the resultant cypher text.
The two of them had to clean the mirror several times. The more Roger saw that Nora knew the more complex he began to get. Nora paid rapt attention, as Roger got into using algorithms to help decode ciphers. After a period of time, they stopped what they were doing and sat on the bed talking.
“I want to try something; we could study better if we had materials. Try building a secret covey hole in the side wall of the closet, or under the floor boards,” Roger said. “I will do the same on the back wall. I don’t know if this room is forward in time, backward in time, between times, or somewhere else in time. Put something innocuous in there and we will see if we can store stuff to use there.”
“It could answer some questions. I think I can handle that duty myself, I am pretty handy with a wrench, a saw or a hammer and nail.” Nora said, flexing her right arm like a body builder showing off his biceps.
Roger had a shocked look on his face, “You are? I just call people in to do stuff like that.”
“You are so like Gwen. Of course she has money. How about you?”
“I received six figures for a job I did and spent almost two hundred twenty thousand on this house,” Roger said sheepishly.
“Oh my God and I thought Gwen was crazy for paying twelve thousand for this house. What could you do to earn over a hundred thousand for one job?”
“I earned six hundred eighty five thousand dollars working on computers. Statistically I could have saved the company I did the job for, tens of millions of dollars. It took me six months to get all the kinks out. The cost of living has skyrocketed since your time.”
“I’ll say it has. I earn thirty cents an hour and that is high pay for what I do.”
“What do you do?”
“I am a graduate assistant for Dr. James and I did work as a janitor on campus. Gwen is paying me four dollars a day to keep the house. It’s funny, because she helps me.”
“She loves you, doesn’t she?” Roger said yawning.
“Yes and I love her too,” Nora yawned.
>>>>><<<<<
Nora woke and went to Gwen’s room to talk to her lover. Gwen was excited about the prospects of meeting Roger and Jessie. She then unwrapped Nora piece by piece, “The hose really are strange, the stockings are part of a panty,” Gwen said. “I like that Jessie seems to like corsets too. Roger probably doesn’t have a waist and I know you could stand to lose a little of your waist.”
“Oh come on Gwen, I’m not fat,” Nora said, indignantly.
“No not fat, just pleasantly plump.”
They hurriedly got dressed and both headed to college. They were both called to their dean’s office. Nora went to Dr. Johnson’s office Dean of Math and Gwen went to Dr. Novak’s office Dean of Physics.
Nora was invited into the dean’s office after waiting ten minutes. When she entered the office, she saw three men standing in front of the Dr. Johnson’s desk. Dr. Johnson, a man wearing a gray suit and a Naval officer.
“Nora Davis welcome,” Dr. Johnson said. “Nora this is Timothy Smith and Commander William Trent. They wish to have a talk with you and I will make myself scarce,” he said, as he headed out the side door of his office.
“Please have a seat Miss Davis,” the man identified as Mr. Smith. “I am Timothy Smith, special assistant to the President on security matters. Don’t bother trying to find out who I am. That isn’t my real name. We have some good news and maybe some bad news for you. First you will be graduating with honors in May. Your dissertation has caused a stir around Washington. Even unfinished it is being passed around the Office of State and even the President has seen it.”
Nora smiled and said, “I assume that is the good news.”
“Rightly so, I guess there is no point in putting this off,” the man said, reaching in his breast pocket. “By order of the President of the United States of America, President Franklin Roosevelt, hereby requests that you Nora Louise Davis report to the San Diego Naval Training Center on June 23, 1937, for induction into the United States Navy. You now hold the technical rank of Ensign, after training you will be given the rank of a Navy Lieutenant.”
Nora just shook her head. In a month she would be in the Navy whether she liked it or not, “Guys you could have just asked. I have been reading the newspaper and watching the news reels at the theater. I might have said yes. I probably, no that isn’t right. I would have said yes. Why the big hurry?”
“Because we also wanted to inform you, that you may not speak to anybody about your work, without permission of the President of the United States or the Secretary of the Navy Claude Swanson. Any breach of that order will be treated as a breach of the Espionage Act of 1917. I am sorry, but we had to do it that way. The world is headed to hell in a hand basket, we need you and we need you research.”
“Can I at least talk to Gwendolyn Manning; she has been my sounding board. I have already talked to her about certain aspects.”
“We know about Gwendolyn Manning. I will talk with my boss and Commander Trent will get back with you on that matter. Until further notice Commander Trent is your commanding officer.”
Commander Trent sat down with Nora and had the woman sign a briefcase full of documents.
Elsewhere on campus Gwendolyn Manning was receiving much the same treatment, except she was inducted by the US Army Air Corp.
When Gwen and Nora finally got together, they compared notes.
“So you got visited by the Navy while I got visited by the Army, I have to report to Fort Bragg on July 6 th.”
“Yes, if they had asked, I know I would have said yes. Instead I got drafted. I didn’t know that they could draft a woman.”
“They can when the President signs off on it for national security reasons. I need to go tell my mom and dad. I will be home by ten, Love.”
“Ok, I guess I am going to write my mom and dad, or I could call the Williamson’s down the road, they have a telephone, but I don’t want to spread this around too far right now.”
“Why don’t you write a telegram, I could drop it at the Western Union office on my way to my parents’ home? But do write them a letter. I wouldn’t say anything else about your dissertation to them.”
Nora took a piece of paper out of the brief case she carried her school stuff in and wrote a quick note out and handed it to Gwen. She just said. “Mom, Dad, guess what? I’m in the Navy. Sending a letter to explain. Love Nora.”
>>>>><<<<<
Gwen did stop by the Western Union office and sent Nora’s message off, before heading to her own home. It was an hour long drive to get there and she was fuming all the way. She drove up the long drive and parked under the covered drive. She came in the side entrance and headed straight to the living room.
Richard and Amanda, Gwen’s parents, were sitting in the living room listening to Fibber McGee and Molly on the Radio and reading the newspaper.
“Hello Mum, it’s so good to see you,” Gwen said, hugging her mom. “FATHER, IN YOUR OFFICE NOW!” Gwen said, without stopping.
“I wonder what has gotten our daughter so up in arms today.” Amanda said, sarcastically.
“I haven’t the slightest,” Richard lied. “But I guess I am about to be educated.”
Richard put his newspaper down and followed in his daughter’s wake. He found her sitting in a chair in front of his desk. He closed the thick door and walked over and took his seat behind the desk.
“I am not going to ask if you work for the government, or what you do for them. I won’t ask, but how could you do that to me and Nora. I know you are behind it.”
Richard had a smug smirk that he hid from his daughter with his hands. He leaned forward putting his elbows on his desk. This was the pains of having a genius for a daughter.
“If I were who you think I am. Then you already know why. It had to be done. I know how you feel about Nora. You can’t hide that from me. The two of you have to be reminded that we need to have what you two know. If it got out that the two of you were, how shall I put this delicately, a number? It could seriously affect your ability to do government work. That is where you two are headed, government work. So if I did what you think I did, I had a serious reason to do it.”
“Gwen I love you and Nora. You two are my girls. I don’t care that the public sees what you two do as wrong. It’s none of their business, but I know you know where the country is heading. Hitler is making waves in Europe, the Japanese are at war with the Chinese right now. How long before War involves our interests? Add up the numbers and tell me I am wrong.”
“Why am I in the Army Air Corp now and Nora in the Navy?”
“You two are going in different directions right now. You know that. If you asked, Nora would follow you in a heartbeat. We need the both of you doing what we believe you two can do best. I didn’t make that decision dear. Other people did.”
“You could have at least given us a head’s up about it.”
“If I do what you think I do. No, I couldn’t give you a head’s up. I pray that there will be time for the two of you, after whatever happens, happens. Oh by the way, I have another business trip; I have to travel to Honolulu, Manila, Singapore and Sydney. I will be gone six to eight months. I leave at the end of the month.”
Richard Manning was a legitimate business man and he did have business concerns in those places, but he was also an intelligence asset for the Secretary of State and he wasn’t reporting on the state of businesses in these areas. He personally didn’t do any spying, but he had spies reporting to him.
“Oh Dad, please be careful. You may be a pain in the butt, but you are my pain in the butt.”
“I do what I have to do, Gwen, same as everybody else. You’ll stay for dinner with your Mother and I.”
“Of course Father.”
>>>>><<<<<
Roger had a carpenter come in to install a safe in his closet. Roger bought the safe and indicated where he would like the carpenter to create a concealed cubby hole for the safe. The carpenter began taping on the back wall of the closet looking for studs. Hearing none he pushed on the wall and it gave and moved a few inches. A few more hard pushed by the carpenter and Roger caused the wall to swing in.
Roger entered with the carpenter. They found a room that was six feet wide and eight feet long lined with shelves on three sides. The big surprise was what was on the shelves. There was probably four hundred bottles of whiskey, scotch, gin and rum.
“When did you say that this house was built?”
“I was told that it was built around 1920. This must have been a rum runner’s house. They would often build secret compartments and rooms to hide their liquor.”
“I am a drinker and I have never heard of some of these brands of alcohol. Judging by all the dust on the bottles this room hasn’t been opened in a long while.”
“Just put the safe under the shelf over here. I am going to get some oil or grease for the door.”
“Don’t bother I have some lube that will do just the trick,” the carpenter said. He went out to his truck and came back with two spray cans. He sprayed the hinges and worked the door back and forth. He discovered the locking mechanism that they broke and how to unlock it. You raised the shelf above the right hanger bar and the latch unlocked. The door then worked like a dream.
“That will be a thousand dollars, or a case or two of liquor.”
“What will it be, whiskey, scotch or gin?”
“Yes,” the carpenter said, laughing.
When Jessie got home Roger led her to his bedroom closet. He raised the right shelf and pushed on the wall.
“The carpenter did all of that in one day?” Jessie asked.
“Nope, this house was originally built in the 1920’s. We figured that it was a rum runner’s home.”
“Why?”
Roger led her into the closet and she saw the dust cobwebs and the liquor.
“That would be a pretty good indicator that this place could have belonged to a rum runner. Go get a broom and dust pan we need to clean this place.”
Jessie and Roger tied towels over their noses and mouths as they worked. They dusted the shelves swept the cobwebs out and swept the floor. They then took moist cleaning cloths and mops to the room, it was so dusty.
“I have been doing some of my own research on Gwen,” Jessie said. “Although I’m working on Quantum Field Theory, she seemed to be studying Artificial Radiation Induced by Neutrons. I know that I can help her.”
“You’re talking about basic nuclear decay; a neutron hits an atom causing it to decay into another element or two, releasing radiation and neutrons which hit other atoms stimulating them to decay and releasing radiation, etc. etc,” Roger said.
“That is the beginning of a chain reaction, if there is a critical mass of the decaying element present. Understanding that is the key to unlocking the power of the atom and that would make Gwen a hot property in the physics world at that time.”
They finally got the room clean moving out a mountain of dust in the trash can. Jessie grabbed a bottle of Glenfiddich off the shelf and she got them both drunk after they had a bath together. She also took care of Roger’s virginity that night as they fell asleep on his bed.
>>>>><<<<<
Gwen and Nora spent about five hours putting in their secret compartment. Nora was pretty handy with tools for an egghead. Nora created a secret compartment in the side wall of the closet, and they had fun doing it. Gwen hardly knew a keyhole saw from a crosscut saw. Her family hired people to do things like that.
The walls of the closet were cedar lined. Nora removed the bottom two feet of cedar boards. They both were surprised to see just how much space there was. Standard inside walls are about five inches thick depending on the thickness of the lath and plaster on the walls. Nora found that there was no lath behind the cedar wall boards. They had been secured directly to the walls studs. The space was about twenty inches deep. It looked like it was almost made for a secret compartment.
Nora took the boards did some of her magic; she was very good mentally at figuring out grids in her head and began reassembling them with a couple of hinges added. She created a section for her secret compartment in the first part of the wall. When she finished you couldn’t see the work she had done, she had even had an inspiration for a lock. She created a locking system that used a piece of heavy wire to open the secret compartment. You just insert the wire in what looked like a nail hole to lift the locking bar.
“I think we could line that area with some asbestos blocks and make it a fire proof storage.”
“Why make it fire proof. I know that the house is still there eighty years later. We just need something to see if it has been found sometime in those eighty years.”
“Oh, right. I hadn’t thought about that. I think I can help with the tell, Gwen said digging through her purse. She took out a book of matches and tore one out. “Open the secret compartment.”
Nora opened it then Gwen took the match and put it just between the hinges, holding it there as she closed the door. There was just a tiny bit there that wasn’t visible, but could be felt.
“Now open the door Nora.”
Nora opened the door and the match fell. Nora hugged Gwen and kissed her friend.
“You are a genius, Gwen.”
“I know and so are you.”
They reset their tell and closed the door. Nora then hid the wire above the door on the door casing behind a couple of brads she tacked in for that purpose.
They were both feeling a little randy. They both took off their clothes and did what they usually did in this type of situation after taking a bath together. Tired they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
All four of them awoke in a very crowded bed. Roger was in Nora’s body and Nora was in his, while Jessie was in Gwen’s and Gwen was in Jessie’s body. Everybody was naked. It was a very awkward few moments as everybody tried to find something to wrap around them. Nora in Roger’s body wound up tearing up a pillowcase and using it as a loin cloth. After determining who each one was they sat on the bed.
“I think we need to make it a rule not to get in this bed unless we are dressed,” Nora in Roger’s body said.
“I think we already did but something came about and well, you guys seemed to have had the same idea,” Roger said.
Gwen and Jessie both blushed.
They sat on the bed and awkwardly began talking.
“Oh I finished my secret compartment,” Nora said. “How about you, Roger?”
Roger in Nora’s body just smiled and said, “I have something to show ya’ll, but you first Nora.”
The four of them headed to the closet. Nora found the wire where she left it and then felt for the match end. It was still there.
“Roger feel right around here. You should feel the end of a paper match.”
Roger in Nora’s body reached down and felt for the match. He barely felt it, “Yes I feel it.”
“That will tell you if this secret compartment has been opened. Now you take this wire I hid above the door and insert it into that nail hole like this and viola it opens.”
The door opened and the match fell. There was an empty space.
“Very good, at least we know that you can make changes that can affect this room.” Roger said. “Now let me show you something.”
Roger went to the opposite side of the closet and pushed up on the closet shelf on that side, “I hired a carpenter to come in but he found something that surprised the both of us,” Roger said pushing on the back wall.
The back wall swung back and Roger showed them the secret room, “This house was probably built by a rum runner, because look.”
The four of them entered the room and saw all the bottles of alcohol.
“I think it was, Roger. It was rumored that the man sold alcohol to many of the college professors and a few of the students back in the twenties,” Gwen in Jessie’s body said. “My dad knew the man; in fact he was probably a customer. He disappeared in thirty-three or so, under suspicious circumstances, it is said.”
“Well things don’t come backwards in time, in this room. I had a safe installed in here and as you can see there is no safe.”
“We also cleaned the room very well,” Jessie in Gwen’s body said. “And as you can see it’s dirty, just not as dirty as it was in our time.”
“Well Nora and I will try to leave you two a message in this room tomorrow.”
“Maybe we can leave some emergency clothes in this room too.” Nora said.
“Agreed,” Jessie and Roger said. “Although it would be best to never use this room unless we are dressed,” Jessie said.
“Right, so let’s meet tomorrow. I will leave some paper and pencils in here so we can get down to work,” Nora said.
“You said you were in physics too Gwen.” Jessie said.
“Yes I am and oh we have something to tell you two. We have been drafted. I have been drafted by the Army Air Corp and Nora was drafted into the Navy.”
“That makes sense knowing what you two are studying. We’ve done some research, on both of you.”
“Yeah Gwen I know what your master’s thesis was on, but it wasn’t in the library.”
“Really, and what is your field of study.”
“An offshoot of Quantum Mechanics called Quantum Field Theory.”
“I know of Quantum Mechanics, but what is Quantum Field Theory?”
Gwen and Jessie then began talking in the arcane language of physics, So Roger and Nora got back to talking about math and codes. After what seemed like hours they all fell asleep.
Jessie awoke first. She was back in her own body. Roger was lying next to her. At least she hoped it was Roger. She had liked their first foray into sex and Roger was currently sporting a perfectly useful morning woody. It was hard working the clothes into a position that she could make use of that woody and not wake him, but she was able straddled him. She slowly rode him for several minutes before he began to wake. As he awoke he began to become an active participant. Jessie began to teach him how to make her happy and feel good and she learned what Roger liked. Much to Jessie’s delight, Roger wasn’t a wham, bam, thank you ma’am kind of lover. She was able to get her rocks off long before Roger came and deflated.
After they cleaned and dressed up they went to the closet. Roger found the wire above the door and checked to see if the match was in place, it was. He then opened the door and found what had to be an eighty year old chocolate cake. The cake was desiccated, dusty and rather funky. There was a note there from Gwen, thanking Roger and Jessie. She said she enjoyed the experience. She also asked Jessie several physics questions along the lines of her thesis.
Roger then went to the secret room he found. He opened the door and found the room just as he left it. The safe was there and eight key punches later it opened. Everything Roger had put in the safe was still there.
“Roger I need to go to the library to do some research, for Gwen.”
“Can’t you use the internet?”
“I don’t want to use the net to research fission. Somebody might get the wrong idea.”
Roger wasn’t a conspiracy theorist, but coming from a hacker background he knew that there was some truth behind the Echelon conspiracy.
“I think I will go with you. I found out that our library has a Japanese purple code machine. I want to study it. I also want to check out more of how they broke the enigma and the purple codes.”
“I bet you could teach a class on that in your sleep Roger, but come on.”
Jessie and Roger did go to the library and do some extensive research on their topics, at least as extensive as they could given the time constraints. Jessie was allowed in the library’s physics archives and was able to see the actual papers concerning their research on nuclear fission in the forties. She also dug through the libraries books on the subject.
Roger had better luck. When he went to see the purple code machine, there was also an old man there, named Ronald Winslow, who worked in the MAGIC program. Magic was the code name of the code breaking program during the war. Ronald Winslow had been a hotshot twenty two year old math student himself. Back in 1940, he had been drafted into the Navy. The details of his activities and the MAGIC program weren’t declassified till 1978. Since then he has written several books and papers about the program. Roger and Ronald had a great time talking and with the aide of one of the libraries archivists, they actually were given a chance to look at and operate the purple cypher machine. Roger’s ears perked up when the man began talking about the unsung people he worked with. Nora Davis was one of the people he mentioned.
He had lived in Japan till he came back to the US in January of 1940. His parents were at the US consulate in Japan from 1928 to 1940, when they were ordered back. He could read and speak the language, but more importantly understood the connotations of what they were communicating. He spent those twelve years in a Japanese high school and a Tokyo college. His parents being well respected people who worked for the US Ambassador to Japan didn’t hurt his cause either.
They stopped at the mall and ate an early dinner and did a little window shopping. Jessie did see an outfit on a mannequin she liked. The outfit consisted of a cute pair of long flowing pants, almost like gaucho pants, made from layers of a black silky gossamer fabric and a top made of the same material in layers of yellow. Overall it was something similar to some clothes made in the thirties only in modern fabric. Jessie bought the outfit skin out in Nora’s size, including lingerie and heels. She also bought a really nice vintage styled dress, she hoped Gwen would like.
Gwen and Nora were busy themselves. Gwen thought she would be cute and make a chocolate cake to hide in their secret compartment. They also stuffed both rooms with writing materials, books and stuff that they could talk to about their respective fields.
Although it would be a rush Gwen also took time to talk to her father. She drove to the family homestead and had a long chat with him. They always had long talks before he had to leave. She declined staying for dinner as she told her Dad she had an important meeting tonight.
As they prepared for the night Gwen put Nora into another corset. One thing good coming out of all of this she thought was that she got to see Nora in something other than her frumpy clothes and actually looking stylish. This Jessie had good tastes. Another thing, she loved the clothes that came from Roger’s time period and she was glad that they were coming back in time.
Dressed both couples laid down on their bed and soon fell asleep.
After they all woke Gwen and Nora took a few minutes appraising how each other were dressed. Nora loved the pantsuit, Gwen though it was very pretty, but wished that it was a skirt or dress. The top Nora wore would was shoulder less but the fabric was ruched around the color. Nora also had on an above the bust corset, that had cups, satin panties, although she would have to wait to discover those, stockings and four inch patent leather pumps.
Gwen also loved the skirted suit she wore, the shoulder pads on the jacket and the way the jacket flare in waves at the waist, was more from her time period, although the antiqued fabrics were modern. She had just the hat to go with the suit. She was also quite corseted. Jessie wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine.
Roger was wearing another back button blouse, a jacket and a pencil skirt over their lingerie and a corset. He had to admit it looked good, but he preferred the lingerie Jessie had him in better. The rayon stockings were almost as good as the nylons Jessie had bought.
Roger looked at Jessie. The clothes that Gwen had worn looked very nice. The clothes were feminine but still business. The wool jacket and skirt matched. The Jacket was fitted to the waist, had narrow sleeves and oversize buttons. The skirt was a high waist skirt that flared down to mid-calf. She had period heels and stockings also. She had on a bullet bra that lifted, separated and shaped her breasts into a pair of peaked cones.
They stopped admiring themselves after a few minutes and then got down to business. They found the writing paper and books in the secret room with the whiskey. Having something to write on really helped in their discussions.
The couple met eight more times before the end of May. They all turned in their dissertations and all had been accepted and approved. They all graduated. They all met one last time.
After graduating, Jessie talked Roger into getting his ears and his belly button pierced. Jessie even trimmed and plucked his eyebrows a bit to get a little more feminine look. He tried to draw the line at Hyaluronic Acid Lip injections to plump up his lips a bit, but Jessie was quite successful at convincing him. She had a friend come over who wasn’t a doctor, but in LA there were many unlicensed people who would do beauty parties where they would do HA or Botox injections. Jessie reasoned with Roger that they would be on vacation all summer long and by the time school began in the fall and they were both working on their Doctorate’s, his lips would be mostly back in shape, like his brow and his hair.
“It won’t hurt you one bit to spend some girl time this summer. You wouldn’t win a Miss America pageant, but you look good enough to pass on the street as a good looking woman.”
“What will people say if I go girly?”
“Who cares? I mean I am your best friend. This is California and they accept transsexuals a little better here. You can just about write your own ticket, when you get your Doctor’s degree. Your brain is your money, besides nobody will know us this summer.”
Roger didn’t want to admit it to Jessie, but he liked many of the things that Jessie dressed him in, except for the heels. The heels were good looking and he liked seeing women dress in them, but they were uncomfortable. He knew that Jessie could talk him into wearing them.
Jessie’s friend came over, a few days before their next trip back in time. Monica Carson did indeed inject his lips with hyaluronic acid; she plumped both his upper and lower lips by not quite 40% larger than they had been. His lips look about like Angelina Jolie’s lips now and they felt really tight and stretched out. The best thing he could say about them was that they were very nicely shaped and didn’t look like overstretched sausages like some celebs that had bad lip jobs. Monica also styled his short curly hair a bit more feminine.
They also stuck the breast forms on with a long wear adhesive. Jessie had also found some latex and silicone gurl panties that were padded in the back and sides and had a woman’s pubic mound and labia. They hid his penis and scrotum, but were open in areas so Roger didn’t need to take them off when necessary. They also worked like a girdle to flatten his tummy. He would have to wear a pair of regular panties over the, gurl panties.
He had also taken to wearing a corset, when he wasn’t at school and wearing panties almost all the time. Jessie would dress both of them in bras, panties, corsets, stockings and heels, do their makeup, and spritz each of them with fragrances that complimented each of them and mixed well together. She would take him and shag the heck out of him.
Jessie had fallen in love with him and seeing him dressed in gorgeous lingerie just sent her over the edge. She was going to propose to him this summer and marry him before Christmas; he just didn’t know it yet. She would keep him trim and fit and occasionally in skirts and heels. She really didn’t want him transition all the way, she loved that certain part of him that gave her so much pleasure. She couldn’t wait to take him out and get him some more feminine clothes. If he lets her, she will keep him looking his feminine best all summer long, at least till a couple of weeks before school starts.
Everyone went through a lot of preparation before their last night for a while. Jessie and Roger went to a day spa. Roger had been nervous about being known by a male name at the spa. Jessie told him that the spa was cool about transgendered customers. The spa informed her that they might or might not have a few transgendered people working the clinic. Still Jessie and Roger sat down and worked on a female name for Roger. After going through a list of girl baby names Roger chose Renee Michelle Brandon.
They both loved the pampering by the therapists at the spa. Although Renee had shouted some expletives when she had her legs waxed.
Jessie wondered about Roger. She wondered if she had taken him down a road she shouldn’t have. He hadn’t fought her at any step that she had taken him down. She looked at him; she couldn’t see any of the shy boy she had fallen for.
Jessie wasn’t questioning her feelings for him; she did love him so much. He just seemed different, more confident in some ways. Jessie really loved what she saw in him. He just seemed to be taking to his feminine role like a duck to water. Roger wore panties and other feminine clothes almost all the time. He wore lipstick all the time around the house. He seemed to smile more broadly and was beginning to pick up many of Jessie’s feminine gestures. Like right now he was dressed in bra, panties, stockings and heels and he was walking back and forth like he had been walking in heels his whole lifetime.
Roger/Renee was going over her own feelings right now. He loved being a boy and loved Jessie so much, but she loved the softer more feminine side that Renee brought out in him. He knew a lot about transsexuals. When he took psychology they talked about them some and when he took Human Sexuality, they spent a couple of weeks talking about them. He wasn’t going to go all the way, he wasn’t going to take hormones and have reassignment surgery, but he really could live like he was now, with maybe just breast implants. He loved looking down at his faux breasts fitted in such a pretty bra as he wore now. He also missed the corset; he would have Jessie lace him in a corset before they dressed.
They had gone out shopping the day before and picked out a couple of gowns to wear tonight. They spent a small fortune on the dresses. They were modern/vintage gowns. Jessie found some pictures of dresses that were similar in style to the pictures from the thirties and forties. The fabric was rayon; something that Nora and Gwen could wear, as long as they were ambiguous about where the dresses were made and who sold them.
Jessie spent several hours getting them both ready for their night.
Gwen liked Roger and Jessie. They seemed more real than some of her the so called “Friends” she had now. She didn’t really think of her current friends as friends, but because of her father and mother, she had social friends. Her so called friends would ditch her in a New York minute, if they found out about her and Nora. She found that hard to accept since she already knew some really bad stuff about some of them. Some of the things she knew would send some people to prison, if it wasn’t for their social, political or family connections. Yet her love for Nora would bring them both down if it got out. She and Nora could be arrested in some states like Texas or Georgia. It was all just a big game.
She went all out in choosing clothes for tonight. She had the money to do it. Nora in the past had objected to her spending such money on her. She almost had to twist Nora’s arm for her to take four dollars a day for keeping their home. This thing with Jessie and Roger had allowed her to do more for Nora as far as clothing went.
The girls had gone all out on shopping. Gwen bought her piles of clothes, from the skin out. Nora liked dressing simply, maybe because it was all she could afford, but she liked the clothes Gwen dressed her in and that she got from Roger. Nora would never admit that to Gwen, she knew that if Gwen saw a glimmer of acceptance, Nora would find herself dressed as nice as anyone in Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan or Vogue. Gwen never treated her poorly, because of how she dressed, but she did seem a little disappointed to see her in the ladies pants, she got from Roger.
Nora giggled as she thought about liking the ladies clothes she got from a boy like Roger. Maybe she could compromise a bit with Gwen. She could dress like Kathrine Hepburn in pants occasionally and Carole Lombard in dresses at other times. Kathrine Hepburn did dress up nicely on the screen, but off screen she was hardly seen in a skirt or a dress. Carole Lombard was just gorgeous all the time especially when she let her hair grow out longer.
When it came time to dress for their last meeting in a while, Nora turned to Gwen and said, “Okay Gwen, do your worst to me.”
Gwen happily clapped her hands and began getting them both ready for tonight.
It became apparent as both couples began to examine themselves after they woke, that they all had the same idea when it came to dressing up. At least Gwen and Jessie had the same idea. They all laughed and hugged each other.
“Looks like we are all dressed up with nowhere to go,” Gwen said. “I mean we could all go to the opera or theater dressed as we are now.”
“Yes, too bad there is no extra-dimensional opera or such,” Jessie kidded back.
“It’s too bad that Gwen and I are going in to different directions,” Nora said. “I would love to keep meeting with you two. It’s been refreshing having someone who we can talk about our love of math and science to. I am going to miss you Roger.”
“Call me Renee, when I am dressed up. Jessie has convinced me to vacation with her this summer dressed as and acting like a girl,” Roger said. “To tell the truth, I don’t find it as objectionable as maybe I should.”
“It’s too bad people can’t live the way they want to. I know that Nora and I would never be allowed to do what we are going to be doing if our relationship got out. How is it in your time Jessie?”
“Lesbians and gays are still sorely persecuted and can only get married in a couple of states, presently, but they are no longer overtly arrested for their lifestyles in the US. Police can still arrest them; they just have to be creative in doing so.”
“Gays?” Nora asked.
“Polite speak for homosexual males, just like they use lesbians for girls,” Renee said.
“And what about Nancy Boys,” Gwen asked.
“They are probably persecuted worse than a gay man,” Renee said. “The term they use now is Trans-gendered and that is a very complex subject.”
Renee spent a bit of time explaining about human sexuality as seen in his time period. Jessie was amazed at what he knew. She listened as closely as Gwen and Nora.
“So where does that put you, Renee,” Gwen asked.
“As I said, it’s a complex subject. I actually like dressing this way and looking pretty, but I don’t think I want to go all the way. Guess I am going to start talking to a psychologist that is up on gender identity problems and find out.”
“Won’t you be persecuted, when it comes to employment?” Nora asked.
“I think I am lucky when it comes to that. I am in the top 0.125 percent of the population in intelligence and I can do things on a computer that people will pay top dollar for. They may not like it, but I will be a hot product when I get my Doctorates. It will be like it is in Hollywood with the gay and lesbian actors.”
“Who?” Asked Gwen.
“All I know is rumor, and you should hate rumor,” Renee said.
“Yes, I see what you mean. I will let them have their secrets as I keep mine.” Gwen said.
“I say we have a drink to our friendship,” Nora said. “I have some glasses, we have some booze, let’s have a drink.”
“From the bottle, Nora oh you are so risqué.” Gwen said, giggling.
“No I put some glasses in the secret room,” Nora said.
“Then why didn’t you put some Champagne or wine in the closet.”
“Warm champagne, how droll,” Nora said, in her best high society tone. “The Queen would just have a fit. I didn’t think about this till just before bedtime and we don’t have any wine at home.”
“Gwen there are some brands, I never heard of maybe you could enlighten me on which are good and which are good for nothing,” Jessie said.
They all went back into the closet and took a look. Most of the bottles, Gwen pronounced as good to start fires and nothing else, but there were some good bourbons, scotches, American whiskeys and gins. They took a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon and the four glasses. Nora poured two fingers into each glass. They each said a toast to friends and gave each other hugs.
They took the bottle poured two fingers more and sat on the bed to talk. It was like four girlfriends talking. They found that finding topics all four knew about was harder than it seemed. The usual topics of fashion, makeup, movies and didn’t quite work, so they talked about themselves. Who they were, where they were born, their education, families and hopes, were topics that were easy.
All too soon they fell asleep.
Gwen woke first and found that she was in bed with, she hoped Nora in Roger’s body. She shook the boys shoulder saying, “Is that you Nora. Nora, Nora wake up.”
“Wha… wha… what is it?”
“Is that you Nora?”
“No it isn’t, are you Jessie?”
“You miss that too. I am Gwen.”
“Oh shit.” Roger said. He sat up and looked around. This was his bedroom.
Gwen had looked after Roger did and came to the same conclusion, “Yeah, this isn’t Nora’s bedroom.”
“The secret compartment, they should have sent us a message there.”
Gwen helped Roger get up and together they went to the closet. Roger squatted and felt the cardboard match end. He stood and got the wire and opened the secret compartment. There was a five page typed message there.
Roger read the message with Gwen looking over his shoulder. Jessie and Nora were back in time so they had plenty of time to think it over before they wrote the message. The first thing they said was to try again tonight. They then began listing things that might have gone wrong. The things they wrote didn’t make sense to Roger or to Gwen, till they read the last one. Jessie stated that she and Roger had just recently become sexually active together. In fact they had sex several times a day for the last week. Jessie didn’t come out and say it in plain language, but Gwen suddenly said, “Oh my, I could be pregnant, in this body.”
“That is a variable that could change things.”
“But we had sex many times over the last three weeks.”
“This is important, Roger when was the last time, Jessie had her period.”
“I don’t know, I don’t keep up with the dates.”
“I don’t suppose you know how long her cycle is either. Does she keep a calendar?”
“I suppose she has one on her smart phone.”
“Where does she keep it?”
“This way. She keeps it in her purse.” Roger said as they went for the door.
The door did open. He led Gwen to where Jessie always set her purse; she puts it next to the couch where she sits in the living room. He picked up the purse and out of reflex held it out to Gwen.
“I think you should open it Roger. I’m not sure what I am looking for,”
Roger opened the purse and in one of the side pockets on the inside, he pulled out a small rectangular device. He hit a button and the face lit up. Gwen’s eyes got really big. She saw the calendar for May. The date was highlighted by the device.
“Can you go to a previous month?”
With a swipe of his finger April appeared. Gwen studied all the notes, after seeing how Roger had done it; she swiped it back to April, March and February. There were some dates that had a letter B. She then counted the days between the letters B. There were twenty four between February and March, twenty three between March and April and eighteen days till today.
“She should start her period within the next week to ten days. Otherwise, Jessie is right. This doesn’t make sense unless Jessie’s body which I was in got pregnant while I was in it.”
Roger was deep in thought, he wasn’t a big student of medicine but he knew more than basic knowledge about health. He and Jessie had been having sex several times a day over the last week. Three or four days in the Fallopian tubes and implantation could have occurred while they were in the room, “The math for it is right, considering the variables, this is the conjecture that seems most plausible. It is the one variable that could have changed.”
“Well we aren’t going to solve this riddle till tonight. I’m hungry and I need a bath,” Gwen stated.
Roger led Gwen to the room that Jessie was using, when she stayed over. As he showed Gwen where everything was, he was surprised to see so much of Jessie’s things in the room. She had almost moved all her clothes in. That was cool to him though. He had been of the mind that he couldn’t live without Jessie. It saddened him to think that he just might have to live without her now.
“Well this is all of her clothes; I believe the bathrooms are still in the same places. Get dressed and I will take you out to eat. I will leave you here while I go to my room to undress.”
Roger went back to his room to undress. He got about five steps away when Gwen called him back. She was still wearing the clothes that she had worn for Jessie and she had booby trapped the button closure and knotted the corset laces. Gwen had Nora sew about four stitches at the neck of the dress.
Roger broke the stitches and unbuttoned the dress. Gwen then had him unknot the laces to the corset. She then did the same for Roger. He headed to his room and they both took a bath.
Jessie woke and was laying on a boob. She wished that Roger had real boobs; guys just didn’t know the pains and joys of having boobs. She loved it when Roger gently played with her boobs. He liked playing with them years before they had begun having sex.
Jessie opened her eyes and looked at Roger, except it wasn’t Roger’s body. She gently shook Nora, but whispered, “Roger, Roger.”
Nora’s eyes fluttered open and she looked at Gwen.
“Are you Roger?” Gwen asked.
“No you silly girl. I am Nora.”
“Oh shit, I am Jessie.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, but I want to get out of this corset and take a bath. We can sit down and talk it over after breakfast. We’ll need help getting out of our corsets, turn around.”
Jessie unzipped and un-laced Nora, who did the same for her. Jessie had knotted the laces.
“Does Gwen have a room here?”
“Yes second room on the left.”
“Good that is the room I use too.”
They then headed to their bathrooms. They were definitely in the past looking at everything, Jessie thought.
After her bath Jessie went through Gwen’s drawers. It was almost seemed like invading Gwen’s privacy, digging through her drawers, but she needed something besides an evening gown to wear. Jessie just shook her head looking at all the vintage clothing. She picked out a pair of cotton Granny panties wishing for a pair of bikini panties she was used to. It was when she picked out a bra that she really despaired. Gwen had a lot of vintage bras. Jessie supposed that they were really nice for their era, but she would never choose one of these, if she could choose a modern bra. Where were the things that Jessie had sent back in time?
Jessie then put on a girdle and stockings before dressing in a skirt, blouse and clunky heels. Gwen’s vanity was just as foreign to her, so unlike her usual practice, she bypassed it, except for lipstick.
When Jessie came out from Gwen’s room, Nora was in the Kitchen fixing breakfast. They sat down at the kitchen table and ate quietly. They didn’t talk till they had finished and cleaned up. When they sat down in the living room, they began to try to figure things out.
“Let’s look at this scientifically,” Jessie said.
Jessie and Nora began stating what they knew about the situation, which wasn’t much. Jessie took a pencil and pad and began writing things down.
“This thing worked a dozen times till last night. Last night something changed? What on earth changed Jessie?”
They listed a couple of dozen things. They dismissed some variables but still listed them. Finally Nora asked if she and Roger had been doing it.
“Oh shit, I wish I had my calendar. I kept a calendar where I kept up with my period. I know it had been several weeks since the last day I bled. Shit we have been screwing like rabbits and I’m not on the pill.”
“The pill?”
“Yeah, the pill. Back in my time they have a contraceptive pill. That keeps you from ovulating. It basically is a series of pills containing estrogen and progesterone. They trick the body into thinking it is pregnant, past the time of ovulation. Then it allows menses at the end of the month.”
“The only contraception we have is condoms and rhythm, and rhythm is called a fools method for pregnancy. From what we have come up with so far, that is the only real variable that could be different. I suggest we put a message in the secret compartment. Get them to try to meet again tonight. Let me type it up Gwen. Your handwriting is generally atrocious.”
Jessie was surprised to see an electric typewriter. Nora was an excellent typist. Jessie was outstanding with her word processor. She had actually never touched a typewriter. She wished she had her computer and laser printer. She was surprised to see that Nora was typing on an electric typewriter.
Nora saw Jessie looking strangely at the machine, “This is Gwen’s typewriter. I didn’t know whether you typed or not.”
“I do, but I use a different kind of machine to type on. It’s a computer with a printer.”
“Oh like a teletype machine.”
“Somewhat.”
Nora gave Jessie a lesson on using an electric typewriter. Jessie then typed up a few pages herself. She sorely missed the word wrap, auto-format and other features of her word processor and had to use an eraser, when she tried to squeeze a word in. Nora taught her to hyphenate long words at the end of sentences.
“I would never have gotten my thesis written if I had to use an ancient typewriter, like this one.”
“Are you kidding this is the newest typewriter out there. Gwen’s parents always get the latest gadgets around. They even have the latest RCA console radio. Gwen and I are one of about forty thousand people in LA to have their own private phone; we don’t have to put up with a party line.”
Jessie just had to laugh and shake her head. She had a lot to learn.
Roger took Gwen out to eat. She was amazed Roger’s automobile. It was a pretty, powerful and huge Lincoln Navigator. The interior was awesome compared to her car. Her head was on a swivel as Roger drove and she got a good look at the area. She was astonished at the city. It looked a hundred times larger than the area when she was with Nora. She quickly got lost as Roger drove onto the freeway. She knew this area well too. She recognized only a few of the building that existed in her time. The traffic though left her gobsmacked. There were more cars; it seemed, just in this area than there were in all of LA county back in the time where she came from. More than likely she was right.
Roger just let her take it all in. He didn’t know what to say. He wondered how he would ever teach her everything she needed to learn, if she were stuck here. Also even without the sex, he really missed Jessie. She was his rock, his sounding board and somebody he had depended on. He imagined it was the same for Gwen and Nora.
He parked at the restaurant, one he hoped that neither he nor Jessie had been to before a long way from where they lived. He didn’t want Gwen to run into someone Jessie knew well.
“Oh a bit of advice, don’t look at the prices and comment. I am sure that the prices are a lot higher than any you have ever seen before. Just know that this is a reasonably priced establishment. You can expect two dollar coffee.”
“That is high. I complained when coffee went to a nickel cup.”
“Everything is a lot more expensive,” Roger said, grabbing a bag, much like a purse that he kept his tablet in.
They went inside and were seated at a booth. He sat next to Gwen, which she found a little uncomfortable.
“He leaned over and whispered to Gwen, I just want to sit next to you so you can see my tablet,” which he pulled out of a messenger back he carried it in.
They both ordered coffee and browsed the menus. Gwen was shocked at the prices but she recognized some of the menu items. She pointed out what she wanted to Roger. After the waitress took their orders, Roger logged into the restaurants WiFi.
“Is there anything you are really dying to know?”
“I am really afraid to ask many things, because I hope to go home. So I don’t want to know about Nora or myself. If I am here more than a few days, I need to know about fashion and makeup. I have always been on the stylish edge. The clothes we got from you and Jessie are nice, but almost alien.”
“That is easy.” Roger said, as he called up YouTube. There were plenty of videos of fashion and makeup there. So he searched for a fashion show.
Gwen’s eyes were riveted to the tablet as the fashion show started. Her eyes got really big when she saw a girl’s breast pop out of her top and saw another model’s breasts, nipples and all through her blouse.
“Does that happen often?”
“Not in everyday life, but on the runways it does. I don’t know many girls who would be that casual about something like that. Fashion shows may not be the best place to learn fashion. I may take you to a mall after we eat.”
“I am fascinated by this… Tablet. Does everybody have them?”
“No, but the number of people without one is dropping daily. They are just a part of our technology.”
“How do you use it?”
Roger gave her a primer on the use of a tablet, especially Google search. He hooked a keyboard to it and let Gwen play with it. Surprisingly her first search was on Hitler and Europe. He was amazed at the speed that Gwen could read at. He would never be able to keep up with her. Jessie was fast but Gwen was scanning page after page at ten to fifteen seconds a page.
“Can you actually read that fast?”
“Yes, I use to drive my professor crazy at how fast I could read their papers and textbooks. At college, I’ve read all my text books by the third day of class. By mid-term I have usually read them three times over. I read Les Misérables in French in three days.”
“What languages do you speak?”
“I am fluent in English of course, I speak French like a Frenchman, Spanish and I am fair in German. My Dad is the linguist of the family. He had left to go to the orient, a few weeks ago.”
Gwen then googled her father. She didn’t find anything at all. Knowing her father though, not too many people would know about him.
“Is that your father’s name?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t be surprised if you don’t find people from back then. You might find him on a genealogy site, but I wouldn’t suggest going there. You might find something you don’t want to know about.”
“Roger I am scared to death. I want to go home.”
“I know. I am worried about Jessie also, but I know she is a strong girl. From what Nora told me about you. I know that you are a strong person too.”
“I don’t feel so strong. I feel lost. I couldn’t drive home now and I use to drive all over California. You are the only person in this time that I somewhat know.”
“We are on vacation from college till late August. Would it help you if I dress as a girl? Would it be less threatening,” Roger whispered.
“Maybe, but let’s hope we can sort this out tonight.”
From the restaurant, Roger took Gwen to the mall. Frightened Gwen held tightly onto Roger’s hand. She couldn’t believe, the size of mall. They walked in and Gwen began to relax a little as she saw many people there just having a good time. There were four stories to the mall and hundreds of stores on each level. It was hard to believe all the clothing stores there were, let alone the stores that sold things she knew nothing about.
As she walked through the mall though, she began window shopping and watching the people in the mall. She would stop and look at this or ask Roger about what he thought about that girl’s clothes. Gwen was surprised at how knowledgeable he was about and how open he was about talking about ladies clothes.
“What would Jessie wear if she had the money?”
“I’m not sure, but I know what clothes she has and you saw a lot of them this past month. I like it when Jessie dresses in her suits. They fit the academic community better and she looks downright gorgeous.”
“You looked pretty good wearing the things she chose I assume. Did you like dressing up?”
“I thought it was ridiculous at first, but I kind of liked wearing those things. Nah that ain’t right, I really liked wearing those clothes. Jessie was quite frisky the days after our meetings. Face it, me in a three piece, Italian suit and I still look wimpy. Put me in one of her Armani suits though and…”
“I agree, if I didn’t have Nora, I could have ravished you. So are you a Nancy girl?”
“I’m not sure what that means, but let me explain the current way science looks at it. The current label general label for guys that like to look like girls is transgendered. Am I transgendered to some degree, probably yes. To what degree I don’t know. Would I want to have surgery to become a girl, I don’t think so.”
“They have surgery to make a guy a girl?”
“Not completely, they can make a vagina and they implants that simulate breasts, they can give a guy female hormones, but they can’t create a pair of ovaries.”
“Are there girls like that too, you know transgendered?”
“Yes, and medical science has done a lot for them, but the results are not as good. One doctor jokingly said that it was easier to dig a hole than to build a pole.”
“How many people are that way?”
“I don’t know the estimates, but it is higher than most people realize. If they were treated well by the public, there could be twice as many as expected. Fear keeps many of the transgendered in hiding. There are a few very successful Transgendered people, but most are treated as the dregs of society.”
“So where does that put you?”
“I’ definitely in the closet, but I think I would still be marketable. I might be able to get away wearing a TuTu to work and still find work. There are some really good trans people that can’t find good jobs, because of who they are. You’re not offended are you?”
“I can’t cast stones. Nora and I are lesbians. Besides, you seem alright for a guy.”
They went into a few of the stores shopping. Several times Roger held Gwen’s purse while she went into the dressing room. She realized it would take some getting used to skirts so short that even some flappers wouldn’t wear. It was fun though. Roger would give her his opinions. Her Dad would never be caught shopping for with her mom for women’s clothes. It was just something he drew the line at.
Gwen got a real kinky grin on her face, and whispered into Roger’s ear. “What size skirt fits you well?”
“Not sure, what size does Nora wear? Jessie bought all the clothes.”
Gwen selected a low rise micro-mini school girl skirt, a school girl blouse and a pair of saddle oxford stilettos in black and white.
Roger whispered into Gwen’s ear, “Nora will look like a striper in these clothes.”
“Are you talking about burlesque?”
“Sort of. Nowadays they have strip clubs where the girl’s already start in next to nothing and go all the way.”
Roger paid for the clothes and they headed back home. Roger did stop at a pharmacy and buy two pregnancy test kits. Each kit contained two tests. Gwen just walked all the isles looking at all the merchandise. She told Roger what their pharmacies were like and Roger talked about the quackery that many of the pharmacies her day sold.
“Cosmetics before 1950’s might contain dangerous levels of lead, mercury, copper, tin, bismuth and antimony. A government agency now regulates what can go into cosmetics. Did you ever see the ingredients listed in your cosmetics? ”
“Can’t say that I ever checked.”
Roger picked up a tube of mascara for Gwen to read. The writing on the mascara tube was too small to read. Roger did find a stand of reading glasses. Gwen could, using the strongest glasses, read what was in the tube.
“Every ingredient has to be approved by the FDA.”
When they got home Roger had Gwen use one of the pregnancy test kits.
“Wow, we have to pee for the doctor, who injects the urine into a rabbit. We usually have to wait till we miss our second period.”
“These tests work as soon as ten days after conception. You should be right at that point today or a few days later.”
Gwen read the pamphlet that came with the tests. It beats killing a rabbit, she thought. She checked Jessie’s watch and peed on the stick. Roger was at her side when a minus was the only sign that showed as three minutes had passed.
“Let’s assume implantation might have occurred last night. That could be the change in variables that left you in Jessie’s body. We will test again at four days, eight days and at twelve days from today.”
As the sun went down Roger and Gwen got ready. Gwen tucked a message beneath the corset that Roger wore. They both bypassed the makeup. Gwen didn’t know what to use off Jessie’s vanity. She was also amazed to see what looked like a camel’s toe in Roger’s panties as he tried unsuccessfully to adjust the mini skirt lower. Gwen giggled and Roger stuck his tongue out at Gwen, which caused Gwen to break out in fits of laughter. Gwen put on one of Jessie’s pant suits. She found some hair goop and slicked back her hair and had Roger dry it and spray it. Her hair was uncomfortable, feeling like it was a skull cap glued onto her head, but the hair had a masculine appearance. Gwen then checked the secret compartments and set their tells before they headed to bed.
Roger woke inside Nora, after they separated; they found that it was just the two of them. Nora shed some tears, she was going to be alone, it seemed.
“Damn it,” Roger said. “I think it’s because Jessie, with Gwen in her body, is pregnant. She checked Jessie’s calendar and found that she should have started her period.”
“Help my Gwen,” Nora cried. “Be there for her and tell her that I love her.”
Roger comforted Nora in his body, “Jessie will be there for you. She is that kind of girl. Tell her I am sorry I got her in this mess. Tell her I love her too. We could try again in nine months after the baby comes.”
“No we couldn’t. Jessie and I will be in our jobs with the military. It will be hard to pass enough information to do it right. Maybe if we didn’t start our jobs in a year it would work, but we both start in June. I am sure Jessie can do her job.”
“Yes she is brilliant. I know one thing, she will miss her computer.”
“and something called a word processor.”
“Let’s try again in eight days. We should know by then if Gwen in Jessie’s body is pregnant. Try to get all the variables back to the same.”
Nora agreed to try again in eight days and they talked about all the possible variables. They hugged as they got tired. Nora gave Roger a kiss on the lips. “Kiss Gwen for me when you get back, tell her it is a kiss from me.”
“The same for me,” Roger said.
Jessie was the first to awake. She looked around and was crestfallen, this wasn’t Roger’s room. She shed a few tears till she looked at Nora. It had to be Gwen’s sense of humor, seeing Nora in an outfit that would get probably get her arrested on a moral’s charge if she were seen in public. She shook Nora’s shoulder. Nora’s eyes fluttered open.
“Is that you Nora?”
“Yes it is,” she said.
She reached over and kissed Jessie “Roger sends his love.”
Jessie hugged Nora and they both had a good cry.
Roger woke with Gwen, in Jessie’s body, in his arms. Gwen woke and looked deep into Roger’s eyes and knew the truth.
“Gwen, Nora told me to kiss you. She kissed my lips just before we parted.”
Gwen hungrily kissed Roger. She dreamt of kissing Nora and she became more passionate. Her hands began to roam all over Roger’s body. Her eyes shot open and she stopped as her fingers came to rest brushing up what felt like a vulva.
“If you are Roger, why do you have a vulva?”
It took Roger a few seconds to realize where her hands were.
“It’s a latex/silicone thing like the breast forms I am wearing.”
“Show me Roger.”
He was embarrassed but felt that he owed her that much. Gwen finished pulling Roger’s panties down. Gwen inspected Roger and saw the truth about the breasts and what he called the gurl pants. Roger worked them down a bit and Gwen saw that indeed Roger was a boy.
“Can you wear them for me, at least until I get use to you?”
“I need to not wear them for a bit. They get a little clammy, I need a bath too. I will wear them as much as possible, but they need to be cleaned daily. Go to Jessie’s room and get me a half-slip to wear.”
Gwen headed to Jessie’s room and went through her drawers. She found a half-slip and a pair of panties there and went back to Roger’s room. He was in the bath room and she could hear the water running. She went back to the bathroom and saw Roger sitting in the tub. She set the things down and sat on the toilet.
“We are going to try again in eight days. We should get a positive test by that time if you are pregnant. Gwen you may not want to hear it, but if you are pregnant. Gwen it will be hard to wait nine months to do this again.”
“Yes Jessie will be in the Army Air Corp and Nora will be in the Navy. Did you check the secret rooms?”
“Not yet I was waiting for you.”
“How are the breasts held on?”
“They are held on with a long term adhesive. I can easily wear them for two weeks. After cleaning they can be attached for another two weeks.”
“Can you take them off if you have too?”
“Yes with a solvent. I was going to have Jessie attach them to me this summer, Jessie liked me with them and I kind of liked them too,” Jessie said gently removing his breasts.
Roger then shaved his body, while Gwen watched.
Nora and Jessie were discussing what they needed to do now.
“I need to know about Gwen’s family, friends, professors and acquaintances. I need to know how to dress correctly for this time period and use your cosmetics. I know the cosmetics I use are a lot different from this time period.”
“I can help you there,” Nora said.
“I will be using math, how do you get fast accurate math done.”
“We use a slide rule. It's accurate to about four places.”
“Can you teach me?”
“Sure. I can teach you.”
They took a bath separately. Nora found a note when she took off her corset. She would share that with Jessie later. After her bath she met Jessie in Gwen’s room. Jessie already had a bra and what Jessie called granny panties on.
“How does Gwen dress to go to school?”
“That is easy. If Gwen is around people and not playing tennis or riding horses she always wears a skirt and blouse. The more important the situation the more formal she gets. She almost always wears a hat.”
Nora began to show Jessie how her lover wore her clothes and how she wore her makeup. Jessie picked up that Gwen dressed as an American aristocrat. She was always so proper. This was going to take some getting used to. There was a formal tennis outfit for tennis; at least Jessie was a decent player. The outfit was a long skirted culotte. There were Jodhpurs, frilled riding shirt, formal coat and a top hat for riding a horse. Jessie rode horses too, but she rode a western saddle, not an English saddle. At least the jodhpurs were pants.
“Does she ever dress casual?”
“At times, I guess, like around our house when we are being lazy bones, but she has always been a smart dresser.”
Nora taught Jessie about makeup. The mascara came in cakes and you used a brush to apply it. The brush Jessie was familiar with. It wasn’t like the round brushes in her tubes of mascara but was like a brush she owned. It was like a single row tooth brush.
“I’m not as good as Gwen with makeup. She was teaching me. I could do without it, except for my lipstick.”
“I loved my makeup. I wish I had my kit with me. I would probably look out of place here made up like I did in my time.”
“Somewhat, but Gwen used less than most girls and yet she looked so much better.”
With Nora’s help the Jessie/Gwen get everything on and looking good. They sat down to begin making a list of things that Jessie needed to know as they ate. They had a couple of pages in checklist style of things. They were beginning to go over it the list when there was a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it,” Nora said.
She went to the door, “It’s your Mum, Gwen.” Nora said, from the door.
Amanda swooped into the room and looked critically at her daughter after hugging her. Jessie was at a loss so she just walked over and hugged her mother and said, “Hello Mum, how are you today?”
“Cut the crap, are you Jessie or Roger. Gwen kept me up on what was happening. She had a premonition that something might happen.”
“I am Jessie.”
“I have no doubt that you are Nora, by the way you greeted me. I am Amanda Manning, Jessie. Now tell me about the situation.”
“We did our thing two nights ago and when I awoke I was in Gwen’s body in Nora’s time. We tried again last night but only Nora and Roger made it there. Gwen is stuck in my time in my body. I think the only variable that could matter, is that my body got pregnant while Gwen was in it, or that I began my period while she was in it.”
“Roger told me that he and Gwen think that pregnancy is the answer.”
Amanda began laughing, “I am happy but sad. I would love to see Gwen with child. What year was it in your time Jessie?”
“Two thousand and seven, seventy years into the future.”
“Damn, I won’t be able to live that long. She told me that you had a secret place to hide things that they could find.”
“Yes we do Amanda. I’ll show you.”
“Good, I want to send her something valuable, so she will be able to live on it for a few years. I have a thousand twenty dollar gold pieces. It’s only twenty thousand dollars but it should help.”
“Help, that is almost a million dollars in our time. Oops maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”
Amanda looked shocked, but asked, “The cat is out of the bag. How much is gold worth in 2007?”
“Around eight hundred dollars an ounce or so. I haven’t checked gold prices lately. It is said an ounce of gold has the same buying power today as it did a hundred years ago. While inflation can change what paper money can buy. Also the gold coins could have a collector’s value in excess of their intrinsic value.”
Amanda smiled; they spent about forty dollars a month on food and ate very well, “Is eight hundred thousand a lot of money in your time?”
“I could live comfortably for ten or twenty years on it depending on inflation, but she could spend that in a month, if she lived like a queen. Upper middle class, earn about sixty thousand a year. This house in our time is worth five hundred thousand or so.”
“Gwen paid seven thousand for it.”
“It is a nice house, in our time.”
Jessie and Nora then went with Amanda and helped her bring in four brief cases that weighed about thirty pounds each. Jessie took them to the bootlegger’s compartment.
“I think this house was first owned by a rum runner,” Jessie said.
“It was, Richard, my husband, actually helped him with the finances to buy the house. He had connections my husband needed. Richard was also a customer during the dry days. I wouldn’t be surprised to find other rooms secreted in this house.”
Roger was now in full girl mode with the breast forms attached and the gurl pants on. He was dressed in a corset, his Kate Hepburn pants, blouse and Nora’s high heels, with the large block heels. Gwen helped him a little with his makeup, she just used powder, mascara (which she really loved compared to her own in 37), a little eye shadow and lipstick.
Gwen dressed in Jessie’s red suits. It was a little flashy, but Roger said that Jessie wore it a lot. He also told her that she did dress casually around the house, but after years of training Gwen found it hard to dress down.
They then went to check the secret rooms. There was a note in Nora’s secret compartment to check the rum runner’s room. In the rum runner’s room they found four brief cases.
“My Mum sent a care package to me. I had a premonition that something would happen and told Mum.”
“What is in the cases?”
“Not sure, let’s check.”
They opened the cases up and looked.
“Oh my, it’s my mother’s gold collection. In the twenties mom started buying gold coins, Dad did too. He used his to buy up stock after the big crash of twenty-nine. He paid pennies on the dollar for a bunch of stock in companies that survived the crash and should prosper. Mum buried her gold coins in the back yards months before Roosevelt stole all the gold in the US for the government.”
“How much gold is there,” Roger asked.
“I don’t know, let’s count it.”
“and sort it by date and mint,” Roger said.
Gwen didn’t know why, but she humored him. It took them a while but they got it all sorted out. They had a thousand coins, ranging from 1847 to 1933, in forty two stacks.
“Mum sent me twenty thousand dollars.”
“She sent you over a million, dollars. Gold today is worth eight hundred dollars and ounce, but the real value of most of these coins is in the collectors market. Each gold double eagle is worth at least eight hundred, but there are coins that may be worth up to twenty or thirty thousand dollars,” Roger said.
He got his laptop and his tablet. He booted up the laptop, setting up a spread sheet in Excel and showed Gwen how to operate it, while he took his tablet and began in 1848 to check coins. He then told Gwen what to type.
“Coin value varies greatly depending on year and condition. I can’t grade the coins, but I can give you an estimate. We need to get a numismatist involved and have the coins graded.”
Gwen watched Roger work. He looked like he was almost in a trance as he checked each coin individually. She typed what he told her into the spread sheet. It looked like a huge multi column journal they used in accounting. She had to make him stop after about two hours. She was starving and he hadn’t eaten either.
He used his tablet to order a pizza and salads along with drinks.
“Lunch will be here in thirty minutes,” he said getting back to work.
It was actually twenty five minutes later when the door bell rung. Roger stopped and went to answer the door. He was back in three minutes with the food.
He showed Gwen the kitchen and got salad dressing, plates and silverware. Gwen was so busy looking at the kitchen; Roger almost had to pull her out to eat.
“I love that kitchen. I don’t recognize some of the things; you have got to show me.”
“I don’t use the kitchen much. Jessie came over and used it the most. I would eat a lot of take-out and delivery.”
They ate and talked about things. Gwen was worried about being pregnant, about Nora and about poor Jessie. Roger shared many of her concerns and really missed Jessie. They cleaned up after they ate. Roger was surprised that he only ate a slice and a half of pizza; he had to put the rest in the refrigerator. Gwen was fascinated by the light in the fridge and the dishwasher in the kitchen.
It took a few more hours, but they got a preliminary value of Gwen’s coins. Roger showed her how to run totals for each column and to run a grand total. The grand total of all the coins was over two million dollars.
“I’m not an expert, you need an expert. I suggest that we pick out about twenty to thirty coins. I have a friend that is a serious numismatist. He works with a coin grading company.”
“Why not sell them all at the same time?”
“Flooding the market with a thousand coins, could greatly devalue the coins. Your best bet is to sell no more than ten coins in a month. Also you’ll probably have to pay taxes on them. We can’t say you own them all your life. We will have to have discovered them, and that is income, subject to state and federal taxes.”
Gwen looked at her spread sheet and selected a dozen coins, that should give her about forty thousand dollars and two of the least valuable coins. They then put the rest of the coins back in the rum runner’s closet. Roger carefully wrapped a couple of hundred coins in tissue paper. He said that those were the most valuable. He also printed out a copy of the spreadsheet. Checking which coins were to be sold.
She then had Roger make an appointment to see this numismatist. Roger got his smart phone out and texted his friend, that they had come across some gold coins. Minutes later he got a text back, asking them to bring the coins to the grading company the next day.
“Gwen, this money is all yours. Call it your safety net. I suggest we take the rest of the coins and put them in a safe deposit box in your name, before we take the coins to see the dealer. The story we will give is that I own a house that was used by a rum runner and we found them in a secret room. If we tell this story, the house could become, let’s say a matter of interest for other people. A safe deposit box is your safest bet.”
There were safe deposit boxes in her time, so she knew it was prudent, “Okay.”
They went to their separate bedrooms to sleep that night. Gwen got a little lonesome and crawled in bed with Roger. She just needed to hold on to someone tonight. Roger didn’t say anything he just held onto her. He was glad for her company also.
The next morning they ate. Gwen chose another suit and chose a one of the suits she sent forward in time for Roger. He just grinned and bore it. After they were both dressed and their faces made up. Roger looked more than a little retro, but stylish too. Gwen wished that she had a small box hat to crown Roger.
Gwen checked Jessie’s purse and wallet. She was glad to see that she had ID. She was surprised that it had a picture and that she looked exactly like the real Jessie. Gwen also made a purse for Roger to carry. If he was going in girl mode, she was going to help him look the part. They went in the garage.
“That is Jessie’s car,” Roger said pointing to the 69 Camaro SS. “She wants to fix it up till it is one hot car. The engine is at a rebuilder’s home right now.”
The car needed some work on the body and a paint job. Gwen liked what she saw, but she would miss her 36 Cadillac Convertible Coupe.
“She also has a 2000 Volkswagen Beetle that is parked out back.”
“I am not familiar with Volkswagen, did you say, that means people’s car in German.”
Roger got her to look it up using her smartphone and use the google voice search as he drove to a bank.
They got Gwen a large safe deposit box, using Jessie’s ID and social security card. She also insisted the Roger’s name be put on the signature card. The bank officer who assisted them raised an eyebrow as he checked Roger’s ID, “What is the world coming to when a good looking girl is a guy,” he thought to himself. He then gave both of them keys to the box.
Gwen and Roger both moved the gold into the safe deposit box. A thousand gold double eagles weigh over 73 and a third pounds. At least the bank let them use a cart. It didn’t take the bank officer many seconds to guess what was in the brief cases. It wasn’t the first time a client brought in a large amount of gold, but without evidence of a crime and a subpoena, his lips were sealed.
Roger then drove them to John’s business. After introductions, John asked, “Why the girl garb Roger?”
Roger giggled and teased, “I’m thinking of making some cosmetic changes. Jessie loves the look as much as she enjoys the package.”
“Whatever floats your boat. So is this the chick that finally got you under her thumb.”
“Yes, she is.”
Gwen gave John an innocent, coy smile, as if to say, “What me?”
They then got down to business. Jessie showed John her gold coins and Roger began to tell John their cover story. The funny thing was it was almost a hundred percent true.
“Jessie and I were going to make some changes to the old homestead and we found the inside didn’t match the outside. There were some really large discrepancies in wall thickness. We found a secret room with some alcohol from the 1920’s and some gold coins.”
“Jeez, why can’t I get that lucky? How many coins did you find?”
“A few.”
“Yeah right, just don’t go trying to sell large quantities at the same time. Most of these coins are worth about eight or nine hundred dollars each, but you have three coins worth about thirteen thousand total, one worth eleven thousand and another worth about twenty four thousand. I’ll pay you eighty percent of fifty six thousand two hundred fifty dollars which is forty five thousand.”
“It’s up to you Jessie, I gave them to you.”
“It’s a deal,” Jessie said, holding out her hand to shake John’s.
John did a direct transfer from his bank account to Jessie’s bank account, using his computer. Roger helped Jessie with the transaction. Gwen would have to have a talk with Roger. She needed to understand the banking system, but she knew now wasn’t the time. John handed Jessie a receipt for forty five thousand dollars for rare coins.
Amanda had Jessie and Nora come to her place. Jessie loved driving the Cadillac. It took her a little practice getting use to the car, the stick’s shift pattern and the clutch. Thankfully her dad gave her a 69 Camaro with a Hurst four speed stick.
“Jessie, what do you need to succeed, in replacing Gwen if she can’t come back?”
Jessie showed Amanda the list she and Nora began making. Amanda looked over the list and began adding things and amending other things. After they were somewhat satisfied with the list, Amanda took them on a tour of the estate.
“First you are no longer Jessie Wolf. You must always answer to Gwen, Gwendolyn, Gwendolyn Manning or Miss Manning,” Amanda said. “You must call me Mum, unless you are mad at me. You then refer to me as Mother. Your father is Dad or Father when you’re mad at him.”
Amanda pointed out the staff and who they were, Gwen’s favorite places on the estate, the stables and tennis court. They went everywhere saving Gwen’s room for last. Gwen’s room was a little girl’s room grown up. The colors were pink and blue with gold gilt. There was canopy bed with a gauze mosquito net. The furniture was all Queen Anne. The toys were gone, except for some really nice porcelain dolls.
“Gwen, Nora has her own room; she stays in that room for propriety till after ten. She then sneaks into your room.”
“How did you know…?” Nora said.
“Honey, almost all the staff knows. I know things are different, but you two need to act the same way. You two were always a little more affectionate than you should have been. Out staff though are good people so you don’t have to worry. Nora, I know it may be hard, but you have to treat Gwen the same way now, at least for the next month. After you two go your separate ways, well things happen, but neither of you can have another lesbian affair, till you two can come back together.”
“Gwen we dress for dinner, at seven. Nora your dresses are in your room of course. I will help you with your makeup. My Gwen loved your makeup, but said it was positively scandalous.”
“I am sending the staff on vacation in two days, except for the cook, a maid and a groundskeeper. We will use the library as our battle ground, starting tomorrow.”
Roger explained the various cards in Jessie’s wallet and how to use them as he drove them to a restaurant.
“Oh Roger, I can’t keep calling you that, when you are dressed like a woman.”
“Jessie and I already discussed that. I chose Renee, Renee Brandon is my name.”
“Ok Renee, It is good meeting you,” Gwen said.
They went in the restaurant. They first had to visit the ladies room. Renee was a little nervous, but with Gwen there to reassure him, he or rather she got it done.
As they sat and ate, they talked about things.
“I think that if you are pregnant and can’t go back, you should be able to get a year stay on starting your Doctor’s degree. That is if you want to continue on.”
“Yes I would like to continue, but I am sorely behind times, when it comes to physics.”
“I can help, some. I took physics and I helped Jessie with her course work, although she had to explain things to me a few times. Jessie had me scan all of her textbooks onto her laptop and I converted them to .pdf files. She liked not having to carry all those books around. She also has a couple of hundred physics papers and other books on Physics on her computer and her tablet. Plus you can use the internet to look up others.”
“All that is on that thing you call a laptop computer. “
“And her smart phone and tablet. I have a friend who has a cottage up near San Francisco. I think we should spend a few days up there.”
“I suppose we could take a train up there.”
“We can drive there, in under eight hours.”
“Lay on MacDuff,”
“and damned be him who first cries ‘Hold! enough!”
They went home after eating and packed up. Renee called her friend and got permission to use the cottage for as long as he needed it, the friend was going to Europe next week. Gwen was more than a little scared at seeing all the traffic. Renee drove up the coast. He explained how to operate his vehicle. When the traffic thinned out a bit, he put her behind the wheel. Gwen was tentative at first. She wanted to grab the stick shift, but Renee’s Navigator was an automatic. She was amazed at how light the steering wheel was. On her Caddy, especially at slow speeds, it takes a lot of strength to turn the wheel.
It was an adventure when Renee taught Gwen how to use her credit card to initiate the pump, to fuel the Navigator. She had always had a man at a gas station to pump the gas for her. She pulled off the highway and into a gas station Renee indicated. Renee had Gwen open her wallet and pull out a gas card. She inserted and removed the card in a slot on the pump. She nearly panicked as she saw the pump’s price jump rapidly. It would take Gwen a long while to get use to the prices.
They stopped and ate twice along the way, trading driving duty each time they stopped. Gwen didn’t like the music choices, and missed her radio serial programs like Ellery Queen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Gasoline Alley, Philip Morris Playhouse, Texaco Theater and The Lone Ranger. The music was especially horrid. Renee switched to satellite radio and found a thirties music station. She found it strange, but it seemed to keep Gwen happy.
When Gwen wasn’t driving, she was looking at the scenery along the way. Back in her time, she would have really taken a train on distances like this, but in a way this was nicer than riding on a train. She also looked at the ocean when it was visible.
She loved sitting on the beach and watching the waves and even fishing at times. This is where Gwen went when she was thinking about physics. The sounds of the waves would clear her mind. She loathed though the swimming costumes that decent women had to wear in the twenties. They started to get more daring in the thirties and women could actually swim in their costumes. She was tempted to just cut the arms and legs off a union suit to swim in.
Renee took the wheel about fifty miles south of San Francisco. They were just about ten miles away from the cottage. Gwen knew the area somewhat, but there had been nothing in the area when she was last through.
Gwen loved the beach home. The back wall and the south side of the home were all glass. You could see for miles in those two directions as there was no homes or obstructions to see the ocean or to the south. The street side and the north side were stone facades. They parked in front of the garage and entered through the front door. There was a huge living/dining room area with a kitchen and three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms.
They moved their things into separate bedrooms and met up in the kitchen. They were both surprised to see a well-stocked pantry and refrigerator.
Gwen sniffed the milk and said, “This is still fresh.”
“Yeah, you can check the expiration date on the jug, instead of smelling it. My friend might have called ahead and had the kitchen stocked up for us and from the smell of the place, he had it aired out too.”
“Let’s go for a walk on the beach,” Gwen said. “That’s where I went when I was stuck on a Physics problem. Do I have a swimsuit?”
“I packed two of Jessie’s favorite bikinis. Let me show you.”
Renee led Gwen into the bedroom she had chosen. He helped Gwen unpack and set out two bikinis and Gwen put her lingerie and casual clothes in the dresser and hung her pants, dresses, skirts and blouses.
When she saw the bikinis her mouth hung open, “Are those swimsuits? I have lingerie that covers more.”
“Yes, most girls that have the figure for them wear bikinis on the beach. Even some very overweight girls wear them and look horrible in them. Jessie wore them all the time. She made them look good.”
Gwen picked up the more substantial suit, which had an underwire bra style top and a French style panty. She went to the bathroom. It wasn’t hard putting the suit on, the top had a large metal hook that hooked into a fabric loop. It didn’t take too long to hook it up. Gwen liked the way the top lifted her breasts and created more cleavage. If she was able to go back, she would wear as many bras and panties as possible. She loved the lingerie at this time. Gwen spent a lot of time looking at herself. She had longed for something like this in her time. She could go out wearing this, she told herself.
When Gwen came out, Renee was wearing a bikini that covered more than what she was wearing.
“How come I am showing so much and you so little?”
“I have to cover up the silicone. If I went out wearing your suit, I would have some unusual tan lines. The silicone breast forms and gurl pants don’t tan.”
Renee handed Gwen a sarong and showed her how to put one on by tying hers off at the hip. Gwen followed suit. They both put on a pair of flip-flops and headed out to the beach. The back deck was twenty or some odd feet higher than the beach. There was a staircase that went down to the sandy beach.
The sun hung low, about fifteen degrees above the horizon as they walked on the beach. There weren’t too many people on this section of beach, because of the jagged rock wall the house sat on continued for miles in each direction. The no more than a dozen people there owned homes just like the one they were staying in.
Gwen’s eyes got really big when she saw a woman wearing a micro bikini. The panty had a one inch wide strip and came up not more than two inches. The bra was a piece of string, which had two triangles of fabric that were about one inch at the base and maybe three inches up from the bottom. Considering how big her breasts were (around a DD)), the top amounted to two postage stamps on a string. Gwen hoped she didn’t show her surprise openly.
A few of the people were surf fishing and there were some boats fishing just beyond where the waves began.
Gwen sat and just looked at the surf come in.
“I love to watch the ocean and hear the roar of the waves. It helps clear my mind, Renee.”
“It’s fun to come out here, when I want to get away,” Renee said. “And I love to fish.”
“Me too. I caught a nice halibut about two weeks ago. It weighed about thirty five pounds. It took me forever to land him,” Gwen said.
“There are some rods and tackle in the garage, we can fish tomorrow. I’ll go get us some live shrimp.”
They sat on the beach till the sun set, they saw the green flash as the sun disappeared. The mosquitoes came out around then too and chased them back to their deck, where the bug zappers were flashing where mosquitos were dying.
Gwen stopped and starred at the bug zapper, “They are using high frequency electricity to zap bugs that come near to the wires.”
“Yes the mosquitos are attracted to the UV light, whenever a mosquito comes within a quarter of an inch of those wires; he is hit by an electrical charge and dies.”
Gwen counted eight bug zappers around the deck and she also noted there were fewer mosquitos around the deck.
There was a shower head out on the deck Renee, washed the sand off of her and she had Gwen do the same. Just inside the back door, Gwen stripped off and rinsed off her suit in a sink near the door.
“Renee was a little surprised to see Gwen naked. Just hang your suit to dry here. I know you didn’t have anything like these,” Renee said, pointing to a washer and dryer as she too stripped off. “This machine is a clothes washer and this one a clothes dryer. Not everything is machine washable or dryable. You have to check the clothing tags. I’ll show you in a couple of days, when we have something to wash.”
“We had servants who took care of our clothes.”
“Well Jessie and I do our own clothes, except for dry cleaning, which Jessie had a lot of.”
They went to their separate rooms, cleaned up and got dressed in shorts and T’s. Renee was sitting on the couch in the living room watching a big screen TV.
“Oh my, I love the future,” Gwen said, while sitting very close to Renee. “Show me how to operate, this
TV.”
“We have over two hundred fifty TV Channels. The TV is operated by this remote. This button turns on the TV and the cable box,” Renee spent twenty minutes showing her how to operate the TV, while Gwen operated the remote.
When Gwen came across some X rated simulated sex movies her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
“This is soft core porn. They don’t show a man’s penis or a girl’s vaginal area, but everything else is fair game.”
“They had stag films in my era, but girls didn’t show their crotches and wore pasties.”
“There are a few places you can watch hard core porn. They show everything. I guess some people are just voyeuristic. I don’t get off on it, but then I was a virgin when we began all of this. Jessie liked me dressing as a girl.”
“You do look good dressed up and you look good and quite convincing. I can see why she liked your looks.”
“This is all artificial. This isn’t the real me.” Renee said, sounding a little disappointed.
“I disagree. You make a pretty nice girl. Being a girl is more than breasts and a pussy. You are caring, intelligent and strong. All good points for a girl in my book.”
“Jessie was the strong one. I just kept her happy so she would stay with me. I loved her Gwen, I’m ashamed, I don’t think I ever told her that.”
“She knew Renee, believe me. Having someone tell you they love you is good, but you showed her that you loved her, that is better. Just like my Nora knew I loved her too.”
When they got tired they both went to their separated bedrooms. Again Gwen didn’t like feeling alone. She went to Renee’s room and crawled in bed with Renee. Renee just wrapped Gwen in a hug and they both went to sleep.
The next five days Renee and Gwen spent the hottest part of the day, catching Gwen up on physics. Gwen was impressed at just how much Renee knew. Renee told her that she was Jessie’s sounding board, so Roger picked up a lot of advanced physics. Renee was impressed at the speed that Gwen could read at. She was scrolling the page down on the laptop screen hardly ever stopping the screen scrolling, except to ask questions.
When the day began to cool they spent time on the beach. Renee caught a king salmon fishing, while Gwen caught a couple of halibut. They had some fine eating. Renee smoked her salmon in a smoker on the deck while Gwen baked hers with mayonnaise and almonds on top. They froze what they didn’t cook.
Gwen had been the strong one out of her relationship with Nora, but now she desperately needed Renee’s strength. The last day before they went back to LA try to hook up again, Gwen took a pregnancy test. The test strip showed a positive.
“I am Sorry Gwen. You are pregnant.”
“I don’t regret being pregnant, but I will miss being with Nora.”
“I know you may not love me, but I will marry you to give the baby a name, that is if you want too. Regardless I will help you through this.”
“We will see what happens,” Gwen said, kissing Renee’s cheek, while a tear traced her cheek.
As they drove back to LA, Gwen asked, “Do you think going back in time might hurt the baby?”
“I don’t know. This is all new territory. I doubt a doctor who actually believed us could tell you?”
“I’m not going to try to go back. I won’t hurt your baby Renee.”
“Tell Nora I love her but… I couldn’t live with myself if something I did to get back to her, hurt the child growing in Jessie’s, no make that my body. Maybe we can try after this after I have had your baby.”
Renee knew that this probably meant that Gwen would never go back. She didn’t say that though. Nora and Jessie would already be in technically challenging jobs. Gwen could never catch up to where Jessie was. The logistics would be insurmountable. That would mean Jessie couldn’t return till after the war at least. After seven years would they want to trade places again or would their lives be so entangled that they would want to stay where they were.
Much the same thought process was going through Gwen’s mind. She wanted to go back, but she knew she either couldn’t or wouldn’t if it could harm the baby. What Renee said meant a lot to her and she was seriously considering it.
Gwen worked hard on Renee’s looks. She had fun making Renee as girlish as she could. Jessie had a liquid silver silk mini dress. Nora would get arrested if she actually wore it out in public. Gwen was still behind in makeup for this time but she was assuming a modern look. She just needed to learn more. She still got Renee’s face looking great.
Amanda got into the game with Jessie as they got Nora rigged out and looking good. At least they didn’t shoe horn her into a corset, Nora thought. She wore an elegant high waist mid-calf length skirt, a five inch belt, a frilly ruffled front blouse and a jacket that was fitted to the broadest part of the hip and had thick shoulder pads. Her shoes matched the skirt and had three inch spool heels.
Jessie took a while selecting her outfit. Amanda came up with one of Gwen’s gowns, which she hadn’t worn in a while. It was a floor length gown in purple, with a square lace trimmed neckline and puff sleeves. Jessie really liked the dress. She made up her face while Nora and Amanda watched. Jessie didn’t tell Amanda or Nora, that she didn’t think Gwen was coming back, but she felt that they knew.
Nora and Jessie laid down and quickly fell asleep. Back in the future Roger/Renee laid down Gwen came over and planted a big one on Renee’s lips
“Give that to Nora, if you will. Tell her I love her and will sorely miss her,” she then left the room.
Nora awoke and shook Roger out of her. She looked around and when she didn’t see Gwen, she hugged Roger and began crying.
“I’m sorry Nora, Gwen is pregnant. She didn’t want to risk something happening to the baby,” Roger whispered, to Nora.
“She told me to tell you she loves you and misses you greatly. She also gave me something to give to you.”
Nora leaned back and asked, “What?”
“This,” Roger said, leaning towards Nora and kissing her deeply.
Nora returned the kiss with fervor. After about ten minutes they broke off their kiss. They then sat side by side holding hands.
“We could try again in ten months,” Roger said. “But I don’t feel that would be practical. You and Jessie would be in very sensitive jobs and it would be impossible to catch Gwen up with the people and projects.”
Nora nodded and began crying again softly, “Jessie and I had this conversation too. She was resigned to being Gwen.” Nora then giggled, “Jessie misses her makeup, apparently makeup has changed a lot over the years. Oh and the bras also. She said our bras aren’t as comfortable or cute. She misses you most of all.”
“I’m sorry this was all my fault,” Roger said.
“No it isn’t, we needed what you and Jessie brought to us.”
“But if I just kept it in my pants a few more weeks.”
“Jessie needed you Roger and besides she knew the odds of getting pregnant. It was her choice. We can try again after the war, but things can happen. We will get a message to you through the house, if we can.”
They sat for what seemed like hours talking about this or that. Nora kept Roger very close to her. She needed his support. As they were beginning to get tired, Nora asked a favor of Roger.
“Tell Gwen that I will always love her and keep her in my heart.”
“Tell Jessie that I love her too and I am sorry for how things happened.”
“Give this to Gwen for me and I will do the same for Jessie,” Nora said, giving Roger a long smoldering kiss.
With that they both fell asleep with their lips still touching.
Nora woke first. She turned to face the sleeping Jessie, Nora then kissed her. Jessie’s eyes fluttered open.
“Gwen is definitely pregnant. Roger asked me to give you this kiss,” Nora said.
Jessie and Nora kissed and cried for several minutes. If they had been wearing night clothes it might have gone much farther, but they broke it off instead of having to get undressed.
They came out of the bedroom and found Amanda asleep on a chase lounge chair. Nora gently woke Amanda.
“Gwen?” Amanda mumbled.
Jessie sadly shook her head no.
“Then you must take Gwen’s place. We will need her in the War effort. I can read the omen’s Jessie, I know war is coming with Germany and probably Japan too. You two pack up, we are all headed to my place. Gwen school begins in earnest for you today.”
For three weeks Gwen was grilled, the Manning’s had hundreds of pictures of everyone. They should have bought stock in Eastman Kodak. In fact they did own point seven two percent of Kodak stock. Nora knew all of Gwen’s professors, having met them with Gwen and she knew many of Gwen’s friends at school. Amanda taught her how to dress and do her makeup like girls did in this time period.
Orders for both Gwendolyn Manning and Nora Davis came in the mail with instructions on how to get to their respective destination and who to report to, along with train tickets.
Jessie despaired at always having to look so proper, she didn’t look forward to dressing military proper also. She took her lumps though and threw herself into her work.
Jessie was surprised and glad when they found a copy of Gwen’s thesis in a safe in Gwen’s room. Amanda had to call in a locksmith to get them to drill it out and open the safe. Jessie was able to get an idea of Gwen’s research and experiments, the detectors and equipment she used and her ideas. More importantly was her footnotes and appendices. They showed her who she drew material from, books she used, research data and more. Jessie read the paper over and over when she wasn’t dressing, making up her face, identifying people in photos and overall learning to be Gwen.
Gwen’s paper was almost spot on, from what Jessie knew. She was certain Gwen could build a rudimentary bomb on her own. With what Jessie knew, she could help keep the other researchers on track, by use of questions she could ask or comments she would make.
Jessie/Gwen and Nora made the rounds they normally made and were always circumspect in their relationship when out in public. They appeared as always as just very good friends.
Jessie hated the swimming costumes she had to wear, when she and Nora went on the beach. She also inwardly cringed when she went fishing, but she handled the stinky bait and was able to reasonably make decent casts with the rod. Jessie prayed that she wouldn’t catch anything, but she found she had a knack for fishing and could catch three or four fish anytime she went out. Nora had to teach Jessie how to clean fish.
Amanda had to teach the Jessie/Gwen how to drive like a woman and take care of her Caddy. Things like where to get fuel, how far she could drive on a tank of gas, where to get the car serviced and how often, what to do in case of an emergency and such. Amanda found the new Gwen was quite adapt at driving, although she had a lot to learn about turning the steering wheel. Jessie had never driven without the aid of power steering.
Amanda got Nora behind the wheel of Richard’s 1935 Lincoln Roadster. Nora was a bundle of nerves, but with Amanda’s loving patience she proved to be a competent student, even better than her Gwen because she drove more carefully. Nora got her first license two days before she had to take a train to San Diego.
Nora and Gwen spent that evening kissing and cuddling. The Jessie/Gwen recognized that Nora needed it.
Amanda spent the next day teaching both Gwen and Nora how to pack for an extended time. The girls at their separate training bases would be treated as administrative staff. That is how they got by the restriction of women in the military. Amanda found out what was acceptable and what was unacceptable on base. Amanda put three thousand dollars into both girls’ checking accounts and told them to call if they needed more.
Gwen got on a train headed south to San Diego. It was a tearful goodbye, Nora got hugs and kisses from both Gwen and Amanda.
Gwen left the next day on the train to Fayetteville North Carolina, reroute to Fort Bragg.
Nora had a four hour train ride to San Diego. There was a desk at the train station that handled Naval Personnel in transit. The Petty officer looked at her papers and arranged transport to the Women’s Barracks on base. She spent the night in the barracks on her assigned bunk and the next day she was inducted into the navy as an Ensign. For the next four months she spent learning to be a naval officer.
She buy her own uniforms, three sets of whites, a blue, PT gear and a set of lamented having to look sharp every day and her main uniform was either a white skirt or a blue skirt. She hadn’t been a slob, but she loved to dress casual. Except for PT and cleaning the barracks or policing the grounds, she was always in a skirt and flats.
Unlike the other females there, she was trained on the 1911A1 and the M-1 carbine. Ensign Davis did very well with the 1911 A1, she scored in the top fifteen percent with the pistol, but the M-1 carbine was a little much for her, she only just qualified with that weapon.
She also was put in a class for a couple of months, to learn radio operation, sending and receiving Morse code. Nora found she had a good ear for copying Morse code and she could send Morse fairly well. By the time she finished the course; she could copy twenty five words a minute and send twelve.
When one of her training officers inquired about what she was doing, when she wasn’t with the rest of the recruits, Ensign Nora E. Davis referred her to the base commander. The base commander reminded the training officer about how cold it was in Alaska. No further inquiries were made about Ensign Davis comings and goings.
It took Jessie four days to go cross continent to Fayetteville North Carolina. The train stopped at every backwater town. At least she had a bunk in the sleeper car, sleeping on those narrow bunks wasn’t fun at all, but the meals in the diner car were pretty good, a lot better than airline food at least.
She arrived in Fayetteville two days before she was scheduled to report for induction. She took a taxi into town and checked into a hotel. After freshening up she went for a walk and caught a movie. It was strange seeing a black and white movie with poor sound, but the movie, “Damsel in Distress”. She actually liked seeing Ginger Rogers dance with Fred Astaire. She then went window shopping, there were a few women’s stores in town and she looked over the fashions of the day. She just shook her head and determined to just accept what she couldn’t change.
Jessie/Gwen reported to base on time and was inducted as a Second Lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corp. She too had to buy uniforms on the base. She was already better fit than some of the women with her, but she still had to work hard to get into shape. She too spent most of her time studying with her fellow students.
She too had to qualify with the 1911A1, Thompson submachine gun and the M-1 carbine. She did better than expected. She had shot her Uncles guns on a farm. If she had been a male she would have qualified a sharpshooter. She left the Drill instructors shaking their heads and getting on the asses of the guys that were having trouble qualifying. Second Lieutenant Gwendolyn NMI Manning had a lot of new recruits cussing her name, when no one was around.
She also had trouble with a Captain on base. He was downright rude with her and came within inches of having her thrown into the stockade for refusing to answer his questions. The Captain resented women in the Army, especially a female officer. Her DI reported this to the base commander, he recognized that she was more than she appeared to be. The DI had served under the bases Colonel for many years and was as much a friend as a non-commissioned officer could be with an officer.
The Colonel stormed into the Captain Benjamin A. Werner’s office. Lieutenant Werner was ordered to pack his gear and report Fairbanks Alaska to begin plans for a weather station there, in the most expeditious manner possible, which means as soon as fucking possible.
Lieutenant Werner was on a train to Seattle, Washington in four hours. From Seattle he was in a flying boat carrying supplies to an Army Air Corp survey team, in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Nora Davis and Gwendolyn Manning both graduated and got their gold oak leaves. Lieutenant Nora E. Davis was given thirty days to report to Washington DC. Gwendolyn NMI Manning was given thirty days to report to San Francisco, to begin working with Dr. Earnest Lawrence at the University of California at Berkeley.
Nora took the train to LA. Amanda met her there and drove her to her home. Gwen flew from North Carolina back to LA. She swore that she would wait for airline travel to improve before she flew again. Amanda and Nora in uniform picked Gwendolyn, also in uniform, at the airport.
Richard, Gwen found out, was again was in the south pacific as things were beginning to get dicey there. She shuddered as Amanda told her his itinerary. He was headed to Manila, Singapore, Papa New Guinea and Bangkok. He was moving many of his south pacific interests to Australia, and collecting intelligence, unknown to this Gwen.
They spent a week together and then Nora left to go visit her parents in Texas City, Texas.
Amanda sat down with Gwen, “I know inside your head, you’re not my Gwen. I want you to understand that in my eyes you are my daughter; consider me your mother and what is mine is yours. If you have any financial needs call me or send me a telegraph. I will bring down heaven or hell to help you.”
“When you go to San Francisco take the train and buy a car there.”
“Mothball Gwen’s Cadillac, Amanda.”
“Mothballit?”
“Take it to a mechanic, have him fix it up like new, drain the gas tank, oil pan, radiator and take the tires off. Buy spare parts for the car. If Gwen can’t come to the car the car can eventually get to Gwen and it will be a very valuable car then. Nora said she loved that car.”
Amanda had a twinkle in her eye, Gwen did love her Cadillac. It was her first car and she kept it in excellent condition.
“Also if you like stockings, buy them by the case. They will become very valuable in the next few years. You’ll need a car that doesn’t use a lot of gasoline and buy a couple of sets of tires and save them. Rubber will be hard to get.”
Amanda listened, so we will be at war with Japan, she thought.
“Get me a Wall Street Journal, let me make some stock suggestions for you. Don’t buy a lot of any one company but buy a little of a lot of companies.”
Amanda got up and went to her room and returned with a Wall Street Journal. Richard handled their businesses, while Amanda handled their investments. Gwen went through the New York Stock Exchange report. She didn’t recognize some of the stock ticker symbols, but Amanda seemed to know most of them. Gwen circled many symbols. Companies like Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M), National Cash Register, International Business Machines (IBM), Electric Boat Company, Container Corp of America, Minneapolis Honeywell, International Paper and Power, Douglas Aircraft and many more, she listed as buy. Many more she listed as don’t buy and some sell as fast as possible. Amanda made some notes to take a serious look at the families stocks.
Amanda took Gwen clothing shopping before she went up to San Francisco. Since she would be around Academics, she would be able to wear street clothes, wearing the uniform only when she had to make a report to a superior officer. Amanda bought her a five piece nesting trunk set.
Amanda went with Gwen to San Francisco. It was a fourteen hour train ride with all the stops the train made along the way. Amanda helped Gwen find a small house to rent just a couple of miles away from UC Berkley. Gwen bought a 1938 Packard Phaeton and a Schwinn ladies bicycle. When the weather was nice, she would ride her bike to the University, otherwise she would take her car.
Gwen did have to put on her uniform, drive to Oakland California and report to a General William Davis there. She drove her new car there and had to show the gate guard her orders, before she was allowed on base. She was given directions the Generals headquarters and where she could park.
General Davis looked over the major and could find no fault in her appearance. He then inspected her orders. He then ordered her to return to keep him briefed on their progress, the first weekend each month. He ordered her to start a contact log of people she talked with and especially people who sought her out. The General told her that she would be under covert surveillance at times and if she spotted any surveillance at all, she was to call it in to him or his adjutant with as much detail as possible.
She was also to report any unusual behavior, or activities of others in her department, or any unauthorized access to materials or facilities. She was also ordered to always carry her 1911A1 at all times she was out and about and to maintain proficiency with her firearm. She was informed that the base has a firing range that she WILL shoot at, at least monthly!
General Blake ordered her to report Master Sgt. Oliver Combs at the base range and to qualify with her weapon. He already had orders typed out and signed.
She inwardly groaned at the thought of maintaining a contact log and having to carry her sidearm whenever she was away from her home. She was currently wearing her 1911A1 as it was considered part of her uniform.
She drove to the bases range and handed over her orders. Master Sgt. Combs read her orders and read her the riot act. This was his range, her oak leaves didn’t mean shit when she stepped onto HIS range.
Major Gwendolyn NMI Manning requisitioned two hundred rounds from the Armory and Mater Sgt. Combs didn’t know why the old man wanted her to shoot so much. He didn’t need to know, but if she was going to carry a sidearm and be expected to shoot well, she would damn well be a good shot. He made her his personal student.
Major Manning in skirt, blouse, coat and flats, took her assigned station at the range. Sgt. Combs was all over her as he ran her through several extended courses of fire. He was pleased at her shooting, but didn’t tell her that. She had plenty of room for improvement after all. She kept her shots inside the eight ring, with most in the nine ring.
It was late when Major Gwendolyn Manning was dismissed and allowed to return home. She was surprised when she saw what Amanda had done to her home. The place was fully furnished, curtains were up and the kitchen was stocked.
“Thank you Mom, you didn’t have to do all of this.”
“Of course I did. You have to go to Berkley tomorrow, when would you have gotten this done.”
“Whenever I had the time, which would have been in a while.”
Amanda stayed a few more days, then returned to LA. Gwen went to the University and reported to Dr. Earnest Lawrence PhD., to begin her doctoral work.
Nora had arrived in Washington DC and was assigned a room at the women’s BOQ (Bachelor Officers Quarters) on the Marine Base at Eight and I. She reported to Colonel Jason Brandt. Colonel Brandt had given LtCdr Nora E. Davis the same spiel that Major Manning had received, except that LtCdr Nora Davis was expected to live on base and to wear the uniform of the day.
Nora had to take a military driving test, and was turned over to a Master Gunnery Sgt. to learn how to shoot, a Master Gunnery Sgt. had different ideas about who was a good shot, than the Navy had. The first few days she must have shot over two thousand rounds, before the Gunney was pleased with her progress.
She spent time learning where everything was and navigating around Washington DC, as she might be called upon to carry dispatches to various agencies. At the same time she also took lessons for the gunnery Sgt. in the radio room. She brought her abilities to send and receive Morse code up to twenty-two sending and thirty five receiving.
She also spent three hours each day receiving a very intense tuition in cryptography. There were thirty students in the class when she started. Within three months the class had been whittled down to eight. She was very good at this and her superiors were pleased with her performance.
Languages was another course of study, she had to take. She took German and Japanese. Nora learned that the Japanese sent their coded dispatches out in Romanji or Roman letters. Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana were just too complex to encode using telegraphy at this time.
After being in DC for a month, she had a brief case, filled with dispatches, chained to her wrist. Colonel Brandt went with her as she delivered the papers. Some of the papers she just dropped off with the recipient, others she had to hand them the dispatch, stay with them as they read it and have them sign off on the dispatch, before putting it back in her brief case.
After three months she received a Top Secret need to know clearance and started spending time in the Navy’s code room and The Department of State’s code rooms as an observer. She was there to learn. One person would decode a dispatch, pass it off to another person, who if needed would translate the dispatch to English, passing the plain text message off to another person who would classify and prioritize the message, determine the recipient and send the dispatch to the recipient.
Nora started out handling normal coded dispatch traffic as she was taught cryptography. In her classroom the codes she was given were getting harder and harder. She despaired that she too would be cut from the program, as some of the codes took her days to solve. Her instructors didn’t give her any clues as to how she was doing, but didn’t dress her down as they had done to some other students who were no longer here.
They introduced all sorts of encryption systems to the students. Some of the codes were virtually unbreakable. He told them that most of the quote unbreakable codes were more suited for intelligence assets rather than military or diplomatic uses. He then began introducing the students to code machines.
Jessie/Gwen started class with Earnest Lawrence as her doctoral advisor. She had picked a topic of using nuclear decay to produce power. She figured that was germane enough to what she would be doing for the Manhattan project and maybe she could prevent some of the bad things that happened with the nuclear power industry.
When she wasn’t studying for her courses, doing research for her Doctoral thesis, teaching some of Dr. Lawrence’s graduate classes, grading graduate papers, working with Dr. Lawrence on his cyclotron, or reporting to the General, she had time to herself. She did have some time for herself, but not a whole lot of time. Her own research was immediately classified and she was given a Secret classification. This meant that she could only work on her paper within her office at Berkley; she also had a short list of people that she could consult with or talk about her thesis to.
On the 3rd of September 1939, Britain Declared war on Germany. The code room in Washington was running hot with all hands on deck. Coded messages were coming in left and right. Everyone was working hard. Lieutenant Commander Nora Davis was desperately trying to decode the mountain of dispatches coming in. The Japanese were still using the RED and BLUE code machines, even though they were issuing more complex PURPLE code machines. The Japanese Navy still believed RED and BLUE were secure. The code room was able to get some second hand information about what was going on in Germany through the Japanese.
At the close of 1939 Dr. Lawrence, Dr. Seaborg and the General Blake, came to the conclusion that she was best needed elsewhere. So she was packed up and sent to Chicago to work with Enrico Fermi. She took the train; the army moved her belongings and her Packard to Chicago. She was now in the heart of the Manhattan project.
Gwen and a handful of doctoral students, under directions of Fermi and the other PhD’s began drawing up the plans for what would become Chicago Pile 1. Other students were handed the job of assembling pellets of uranium into rods, while others were charged with producing graphite rods.
Thanks to the Army SIS, PURPLE was broken and a PURPLE code machine was constructed. The United States was deep into the Japanese coded communications. Not being fluent in Japanese wasn’t a hindrance to LtCdr Davis. She could recognize many Japanese words and there were always translators around to confirm when she had hit the right settings and began decrypting transmissions.
She was on duty on December 6, 1941, when the Washington Station began receiving a long coded transmission. She worked with the man who was using the code machine to decrypt the message. Translators were looking over their shoulders and when they saw the tenor of the first few sections, they began waking people up, like the Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Secretaries of War Henry Stimpson and Navy Frank Knox and even President Franklin D. Roosevelt was awakened.
After the fourteen part document was translated, heavily guarded Couriers were sent out with brief cases attached to their wrists. The American code breakers actually beat the Japanese signals personnel at the Japanese Embassy in Washington by hours in decoding the infamous Fourteen part message.
Secretary Hull read the Fourteen part message as if he had never seen it and informed the Japanese Ambassador that bombs had already fallen hours earlier on Pearl Harbor.
On December 2, 1942 Chicago Pile 1 went critical for twenty eight minutes. George Weil pulled the last control rod, while Fermi was measuring neutron activity. Gwen took the readings and estimated the amount of power the pile was generating, if the pile had been generating steam.
Gwen finished out the semester and was moved again. In January of 1943 she moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Strangely she didn’t work with the fissionable materials but was assigned to the explosive experts who were assigned to crush the sphere.
In May of 1943 LtCdr Nora Davis was promoted to Commander and sent aboard to England to join in the work at Bletchley Park. She was happy that she could at least wear civies to work there, but the uniform de jour was a skirt and blouse.
Alan Turing was just starting to work on colossus and Nora got to work with Turing on the machine. The things that she and Roger had talked about helped her get up to speed and actually prove of assistance to Alan Turing.
Ever since the time she had worked with Roger, Nora had been thinking of code breaking mathematically trying to construct an algorithm to solve the codes. She would sit down and draw flow charts of steps and procedures. Alan had walked up behind Nora as she was drawing a flow chart. He didn’t say anything, he just watched her work. Alan put her on the programing team the next day.
Nora felt more relaxed than she had been in Washington. The need to perform was still there but here in England, she didn’t have as many officers, who didn’t know what she was actually doing looking over her shoulder. She was in with many more like minds. She did have to make reports to a superior officer, but they weren’t around the barracks where she was staying when she wasn’t working.
She fell in with groups of other ladies who were working at Bletchley. Like her they didn’t talk about what they did during their time at work. She started going with some of the women to a nearby pub. One time she was at the pub she met a charming RAF bomber pilot, by the name of Squadron Leader William Blythe May.
William was charming enough and handsome. She didn’t take offense when he snickered when Nora told him, that she was with the US military here. He jokingly said, “Maybe you should wear your uniform here so she could salute him.”
“I just might do that. How often do you come here?”
“After a flight or when I’m not on alert. I just can’t say for sure.”
He wouldn’t say even if he knew. Nora realized that. Knowing when a bomber pilot would or wouldn’t be on alert could tell a spy, when the planes would be on the ground or in the air.
“Well I will see you, when I see you then,” Nora said.
Nora reported the contact on her contact log turning it in at the end of the week.
She did go back to the pub in uniform. It was two weeks later when he came in with several members of his crew. They snapped to attention and saluted her. She smiled and returned their salute. She then had five men sitting at her table.
“You didn’t tell me you were a bloody commander.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Are all of you women officers, so good looking?” Flight Lieutenant Jeffries, who flew on William’s wing asked.
“No, the uniform makes us all look the same.”
“Begging your Pardon Commander,” one of the aircraftmen said, “That just ain’t so Ma’am. You make that bloody uniform look good.”
S/Ldr May ordered a round of drinks for international co-operation.
After their drink, the aircraftmen excused themselves to hunt female companionship. Nora had another drink, but she needed to stay sober as long as she was in England. She made her excuse after a couple of hours and returned to her barracks.
Nora had weekend duty the next week. Dressed in Civies she kept going there. S/Ldr May wasn’t there the next weekend or the weekend after. S/Ldr Mays finally showed up with his face bandaged and his left arm in a sling.
“What happened to you William?”
“My plane took a buttload of flak from the Jerries. They are getting fucking better at shooting in the dark. I lost my bomb aimer, my navigator and my wireless operator. ”
“So how bad were you hurt.”
“I may not be flying anymore; I took some shrapnel to my right eye and broke my ulna on my right arm. I just did get my Lancaster back to base; my wounded engineer had to help me land. It will be a week or two till I find out if I am blind in my right eye or not.”
Nora took a slightly inebriated William to the apartment he was staying at and William found a use for some of those condoms they were being given, besides cover gun barrels. Nora though didn’t stay all night; she had duty the day after. She kissed William at three in the morning and made her way back to her barracks.
Jessie/Gwen was finding her work frustrating, it’s fairly easy to flatten a sphere with explosives or to get some really strange shapes, but it is very hard to crush a sphere so that it remains fairly spherical. They were making real progress, but the going was slow. There were just so many variables.
Gwen did get some time off and got to meet with Amanda in Albuquerque, a few times a year. It was early in 1944, that Jessie/Gwen found out that Gwen’s father Richard, had been killed. He had gone in to check on one of his contacts. He had run into a Japanese spy, the Americans thought, near Bangkok, although they still didn’t have a body, just a radio message from Richard’s contact in Malaysia. It had taken over a year and a half for this information to reach Amanda as the Americans had tried to verify the information.
Amanda and Jessie/Gwen got drunk that night and stayed in Amanda’s hotel room. Jessie/Gwen talked to Amanda about a guy she was working with. David Overton was a grad student at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, he was sort of a nerd, but brilliant at what he could do. He had enlisted in the Army, but they made him a Lieutenant and sent him here instead of Europe or the south pacific.
Amanda asked Jessie to compare him to Roger. Jessie stopped and thought about it.
“David is a lot like Roger. I hadn’t thought about Roger in a while. I’ve just been so busy to stop and miss him.”
“You may want to dress him up like you did Roger, but don’t. It could hurt the both of you.”
Amanda didn’t have to say it could destroy her security clearance, Jessie knew that.
“Amanda, I don’t think, that I will ever get back to the future. I couldn’t stand breaking relationships again. It was hard losing Roger and I have needs.”
“I could have told you that when you first couldn’t get back, that you probably wouldn’t get back. It was something you had to discover, Gwen. All I can say is follow your heart.”
Jessie/Gwen hugged Amanda and had to return to Los Alamos.
May of 1944 Bletchley Park noticed an increase in coded traffic from Germany. It was hard not to speculate what this meant. There were Americans everywhere. Things seemed to be building up.
S/Ldr May had the patch taken off his eye and the news wasn’t good. William traded the gauze patch with a black patch. Nora told him that he looked like a rogue or a pirate with his black eye patch.
“The better to steal your heart my dear Nora,” William said twisting
S/Ldr William May wound up driving a desk doing administrative duties for the RAF. He was in on planning the strikes the brass chose, working the intel desk. Since he had been where the RAF pilots were going, he worked to make the pilots’ job as safe as he could. He found it was harder sending pilots to highly dangerous missions, than it was flying the missions himself. He was always there in the mornings to count the planes as they returned. Nora and duty were all that kept him going.
Starting on June first all the code breakers were put on notice and had to remain in barracks if they were not on duty. They were told that it was critical that they decode any intercepts as quickly as possible for the next few weeks. Messages from or to the German high command were to be given priority.
S/Ldr May was knee deep in intel reports and mission requests. He basically stayed on base as he just caught quick cat naps, before digging back into the mountain of paper.
Nora and William were both too busy to realize that the other was also too busy. They both hoped that the other wouldn’t be upset that they hadn’t been around.
William was the first to realize what was happening as the RAF were pounding France from Calais to Caen and in for a hundred miles. The Code breakers soon were receiving a steady flow of frantic requests for re-enforcements from local commanders to the German high command.
Gwen’s group was making good progress as they began experimenting with the trigger system for the conventional explosives that would crush the plutonium sphere. Gwen was also making progress with Devid. She didn’t get him all dolled up like she had with Roger, but she got him to take better care of his appearance when he wasn’t working. They had also used quite a few condoms in their research.
Gwen hated Los Alamos when she got here. The place was hot, dry and dusty. She still hated it, but she didn’t have to wear those stuffy clothes that the real Gwen wore. She mostly wore Khaki slacks, a light cotton blouse, western boots and a pit helmet during the day and added layers of clothes as evening cooled to night. She missed her TV, computer and air conditioning most of all.
Only her Packard had air conditioning, you dropped the top and drove like crazy. This though was frowned upon in times of rationing. Because of her job, she received ration stamps for ten gallons of gasoline a week instead of eight. There really wasn’t a shortage of gasoline, it was rubber that was in so short of supply.
Nora received permission from her Admiral to get married to Wing Commander William Blythe May. William May got checked out by the US Navy, just as Nora Davis was checked out by the RAF. William knew that as soon as the war was over that he would be retired. So they agreed that he would follow Nora wherever she went. She was talking about staying in the Navy if they didn’t boot her when the war was over. They were married on the twenty-ninth of December 1944.
Everybody was hoping for a War end by Christmas. The Ardennes Counteroffensive threw a monkey wrench into that idea. The Germans weren’t laying down and playing dead.
February 5th 1945 Nora was sent back to Washington DC. The Allies seemed to be months away from ending the war there. Her commanders felt that the Japanese would be a tougher nut to crack. Nora arrived back in Washington on the tenth of February and went back to work.
By this time Gwen and her group had been very successful and the effort was shifted to bomb building. The actual work of assembling the bomb fell to Oppenheimer and the senior staff. The junior staff there worked in support.
The war in Europe ended in May and in June Wing Commander William May rejoined his wife in Washington. Nora continued to work in the message center handling Purple traffic.
David Overton was in seventh heaven when he got to blow up one hundred eight tons of TNT on May 7. It was the largest explosion he had ever gotten to detonate.
July 16, 1945 Gwen was at the twenty mile mark. She set up the instruments to measure radiation at the site she was at. David was at the barracks, when The Gadget was detonated at the Trinity Site. A couple of minutes after it was detonated, he and the others at the base felt the explosion. David was heard saying, son of a bitch.
August 6th little boy was dropped on Hiroshima and on August 9th Nagasaki saw the fat man dropped on their city. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 and signed a formal surrender on September 2nd.
The doctoral students at Los Alamos were allowed to go back to school. Gwen and David were put on 30 days leave while the military decided what to do with them and the other doctoral students that they had drafted.
Gwen sent her Packard home by rail and followed it three days later. David came with her and got to meet Amanda in LA. Nora and William joined them a few days later. Nora was asked to stay on as a crypto-analyst and she decided to accept the Navy’s offer.
While everyone was there Gwen announced that David had proposed to her on the train ride, from Santa Fe, NM. She then put on the engagement ring that David had given her a few days before. He had waited till he was in LA to go shopping for a ring.
Amanda, Nora and Gwen had a girls day at a salon and a heart to heart talk at the Brown Derby.
“I just want you to know that I love both of you,” Amanda said. “I see that you are both tied to other people now and that my Gwen will probably not be coming back. I will miss her, but I can’t ask you two to stop your lives, just to get my Gwen back. Also I don’t expect my Gwen would want to come back after carrying a baby for nine months.”
“I am sorry Gwen said. I wish this had never happened, but it did. I love David as much as I loved Roger. You’re right I couldn’t turn my back on him.”
“I feel the same way with William. I really did need what I got from Roger and I really missed Gwen, but now I couldn’t leave William, even if Gwen came back.”
“Good we got that out of the way. Gwen, I took those stocks that you told me about and even in times of war, I was almost able to almost double my worth. I sold Richard’s business interests in the south pacific and invested that money. I want to give a portion of that to my Gwen. So I want you and I Gwen to invest a portion of it for Roger and Gwen and a portion for you, Nora and your husband William. I know you can give me some good guidance Gwen.”
“I think we can do that Mom.” Gwen said kissing Amanda’s cheek.
“You don’t have to do that Amanda,” Nora said.
“Of course I do. I still love you Nora and you meant so much to my Gwen. So be a gracious woman and say that you Mom.”
“Thank you Mom,” Nora said, kissing Amanda’s other cheek. “I think we also need to send Roger and Gwen a letter through the room.”
“It’s been eight years since the swap. How much time has passed for them?” Amanda asked.
“Probably no time at all, we could write a letter and it will be like Roger and Gwen would get it when they wake up,” Gwen said. “The future hasn’t happened yet.”
“Let’s do that girls, each of you write a letter to Gwen and to Roger and tomorrow we will drop it off in the closet.”
Amanda went by the Stationers and bought some special stationary and pens. They each wrote a letter to Gwen and each wrote one to Roger. They drive to the house they shared and put the letters in the secret room.
“Don’t ever sell this house Gwen, and keep it in good condition,” Nora said.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I am still trying to figure it out. It’s a conundrum.”
The Gwen/Jessie woke and entered Roger’s room. Roger/Renee was just beginning to stir as she came in Roger/ Renee was wearing Nora’s clothes. Gwen lay next to Renee and tried to inhale Nora’s scent, from the clothes. She hugged the boy dressed in her lovers’ clothes. Renee woke to find Gwen crying on her shoulder. He hugged the woman and kissed her on her forehead. Gwen looked up and kissed Renee ravenously.
Things continued for quite a while as the two were almost frantic in their actions. Gwen became very aggressive in their actions. It was she who undressed Renee and it was she who decided what they were doing. Renee loved Gwen enough to let her do what she needed to do. Renee was Gwen’s first and the sex they had was magical. Gwen collapsed on Renee’s chest when she was done.
When they finally stirred, they got up and took a bath together.
Gwen giggled as she looked at what they, or rather she had done to the gurlpants. They were almost shredded. Renee had several pair, though and without being asked put another one on while Gwen watched. They then dressed quite alike, in panties, jeans, bra, t-shirts and heels.
Renee then checked the secret compartment and found the letters. Both sets of letters were quite long and dated years after they had first met. Renee said they were written in less than a year after the war. The letters explained what Nora and Jessie as Gwen had done from the day after Roger and Nora last met. Nora apologized for falling in love with an English aviator and marrying him, it was the times they were in and one thing led to another. Jessie told Gwen about David and how she fell in love with him, while they were blowing things up. The letters made them happy and sad at the same time, but explained many things.
“Can we go back to that beach house and I need to be away from this house, Renee,” Gwen said. “I want to sit on the beach and think.”
“Sure, we can use it all summer long. My friend is out of the country right now. He hates to leave it unoccupied.”
They packed up and were on the road just after lunch driving up Cabrillo highway. Gwen, who was comfortable behind the wheel by now, shared the driving duties. She had fun driving Renee’s massive SUV. They stopped to watch the sun set into the Pacific Ocean.
It was after two in the morning when they got back to the beach house. They hadn’t raced to get there and stopped a couple of times for fuel and food. The both of them dropped their bags at the door and collapsed in a bed together, still in their blouses and jeans. The rising sun found the two of them entwined in each other’s arms.
The sun was well up when Gwen woke. Neither of them had closed the curtains on the westward wall and light was flooding in. Gwen felt wicked and blew a raspberry on the sleeping Renee’s neck. Renee woke with a start causing Gwen to flop off the bed and onto the floor.
Instead of cooking they both got cleaned up and went out to eat. Gwen loved that there were so many restaurants. The food was as good as she could cook. Nora was the cook at their home and at her mother’s home they had cooks. Renee could cook pretty well, but then they had to clean up. Now though she resolved to learn how to cook for her daughter. She knew in her heart she was having a girl.
On the way back to the beach house Renee picked up some live bait. Renee got the fishing rods out of the garage and they went to the beach to sit and think and fish. Renee got the rods and the chairs and they went down to the beach. There were a few people around mostly neighbors, who were doing what people do on the beach, walking dogs, throwing frisbees, swimming, looking at the surf and of course fishing.
Renee stuck a pair of rod holders a foot deep into the sand. They then baited their hooks and cast them out into the sea. Gwen barely got a chance to sit, when her rod tip dramatically bent. She got her rod and set the hook sharply and began to fight the fish. She could tell she had a halibut, by the way it was sucking up its body on the sandy soil of the beach. That made it much harder to reel in. She waded waist deep and kept her rod tip high, reeling it in till the tip was level then pulling the tip up high again.
Renee got a hit too, though her fish was running and it was a big one. It was easier to fight than Gwen’s whose fish was still hugging the bottom. Renee headed her fish away from Gwen so they wouldn’t get tangled together and landed a huge striped bass about a yard long and maybe ten to twelve inches from stomach to back. It was a female ready to head to an estuary to spawn so she released it.
Gwen was just getting her fish near shore. Renee took her line and pulled it perpendicular to the shore and helped land the halibut. Gwen was exhausted but was smiling from ear to ear. The halibut weighed in at twenty two pounds ten ounces. Renee told Gwen to relax and took the fish to the cleaning station they had at the bottom of their stairs from the beach house.
Renee gutted and cleaned the halibut, tossing the guts to the gulls, which fought over the entrails. She then fileted the fish and took the filets into the kitchen to cook some and refrigerate the rest. Renee was just about to put the fish in the broiler when Gwen came in. She helped Renee fix the rest of the meal, frying the potatoes as Renee was making her tartar sauce.
They ate a belated lunch, Gwen loved the Halibut almandine. She asked him how she fixed it. Renee began to tell her what she used and how she brought it together. Renee asked Gwen about her cooking. She said she always had someone else do the cooking for her.
“Well I am far from a master chef, but I can teach you the basics. I make a killer cheese cake.”
“Ohhh I love cheesecake.”
“Let me see what we have in the fridge and I can get the rest of the ingredients at the supermarket.”
After they cleaned up after lunch Renee made a list on her tablet of the things she needed and checked off what she had.
They went to the same bed room and got cleaned up. Dressed in Jeans and T’s they headed out.
Gwen looked at the four car garage and asked, “Why don’t you park in the garage?”
“It’s already full of cars. My friend William has four old classical cars in there.”
“Oh really,” Gwen said. “How old are the cars?”
“There is one from the twenties, and three from the thirties. I’m not into classical cars, so don’t ask me what they are.”
“Can you show me when we get back. Those cars are from my time period.”
“Sure, if you want to drive any of them. I just have to call the mechanic to look what you want to drive over. William likes to have them driven a bit, whenever anybody he trusts is here. For some reason I can’t fathom, he trusts me. I’m afraid I might break them.”
Gwen was amazed at the size of the supermarket. The store itself seemed to be a half an acre. She was a little clingy as they entered the store. Renee led her through the various departments asking what types of food she liked. Renee hit the fruits and vegetables, picking a dozen ears of corn amongst the other things. She then hit the can goods, the baking aisle and so on finishing in the meat and dairy section. Renee would barbecue tomorrow. Fish and barbecue were the things Renee did best, next was Cajun foods. She could have bought crawfish, but she would work Gwen into that first. They soon filled the cart Renee was pushing and Gwen picked up another cart and they began adding things to it.
Gwen was used to food shopping with Nora. She would drive them to the various stores and help with carrying the bags into their home. The supermarket with everything in one store was great, though she nearly had a coronary when the clerk announced a price well over four hundred dollars. She could have emptied a meat market and a produce market with that much money.
It took them three trips from car to the kitchen to get everything inside and then half an hour to put everything away. Gwen was fascinated by all the features of the kitchen, from the refrigerator light to the huge freezer. Renee explained their operator as one scientist to another as they worked. They had to sit down for a few minutes to cool off.
After they had sat for a few minutes, Renee said, “Let’s go look at the cars.”
“Good I love cars. The fancier the better,” Gwen said.
Renee punched in a ten digit number into the security pad. She explained the security system to Gwen. When the light turned green the door unlocked and the lights came on. They entered the garage. The first car they came to was a thirty-two Duesenberg.
“I know that car it’s a thirty two Duesenberg, my father had one like that. Boy is that thing fast.”
The next car a thirty-seven Lincoln model ‘K’, Gwen began to smell a rat, their family car had been a thirty-seven Lincoln Model ‘K’ and it looked just like that car. The next car she recognized as a Packard, but didn’t know anything about it.
Gwen skidded to a stop though when she came to the last car. It was her 36 Cadillac Phaeton convertible, up on jack stands with the wheels off. She was sure of that. She almost ran around it and jumped into the driver’s side door. She didn’t start it, she didn’t know if it had any oil in the crankcase or water in the radiator, but she knew this was her car. It had the original steering wheel and she could feel a spot where a ring she liked to wear, had worn the wheel a bit. Everything was like she remembered it. She reached under her seat and pulled out an umbrella she kept there. It wasn’t the same umbrella but it was there. She then checked out the license plate. It was her license plate.
“Who the hell is this friend William? This is the car I drove Nora around in.”
“His name is William Sherman Jennings Russell. I met him at the university.”
“We had a neighbor named William Jennings Russell; he was on the board of Standard Oil CO. of California. William hoped to marry his son, William the second off to me.”
“Williams father, William Jennings Russell the fourth is on the board of SoCalGas.”
“This is my mother’s doing, god bless her. Call the mechanic; I want to drive my car.”
Gwen was caught up with sadness for a few seconds as she realized that her Mom had most likely passed away by this time. The she thought of her Nora and Jessie. According to Renee this was sixty, no seventy years past her the time she was last with Nora. They were probably gone too. She turned and grabbed hold of Renee and cried. Renee could guess what was going on in Gwen’s mind, she just held the crying girl.
“I am sorry it happened this way Gwen. I would do anything I could to make it not so.”
“Don’t say that Renee… Roger. This isn’t your fault. Fate has a twisted sense of humor. You also have lost someone you love and if I can be even a small part of your future, then I will be. I can see why Jessie loved you. You are as kind a man as I have ever known. Yet there is real strength in your heart and soul.”
Renee couldn’t help it but she began crying herself. After a few minutes Gwen kissed Renee, passionately. It didn’t take much encouragement to move into the bedroom. Renee did hit the button that closed the drapes this time.
That evening they dined on hot pastrami on pumpernickel with lettuce, pickles and tomatoes topped with Russian dressing. Gwen loved her sandwich. Renee then taught Gwen to make a chocolate chip mint cheesecake, while she made a Turtle cheesecake. They had small slices of each as they watched television and drank brandy.
Gwen finally made use of some of Jessie’s bedtime lingerie and got Renee into it too, which was fun for both of them.
The next day they sat down to have a study session. The mechanic came to work on all the cars and get them street ready. They went out on the back balcony to study and listen to the ocean. Renee knew a lot about Jessie’s course of study, but at the same time it was clear at just how much more advanced Jessie had to be. Gwen was reading Jessie’s laptop notes; she found that her notes were brilliant. Gwen had to go back and forth reading the excerpts of reference works. She was beginning to understand Quantum Field Theory a bit, but she was far from the expert, that Jessie had been.
“Jessie told me that Quantum Field Theory was part of the framework that led up to the search for the Higgs Boson and the Higgs Field.”
“Have they discovered the Higgs Boson yet?” Gwen asked.
“Not yet but they are building the Large Hadron Collider at CERN near Geneva Switzerland, in hopes of discovering the Higgs Boson.”
“Cern?”
“Oh sorry, I put the cart before the horse. CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The group was created to fund and build the collider.”
Renee then explained what she knew of colliders and such as they walked up and down the beach. Gwen found an intact sand dollar. Renee put it in her pocket. When they got back to the beach house the mechanic was just finishing with all the cars. He also told then about and showed them where there was a closet of vintage clothing. There were racks of vintage driving clothes ladies’ and men’s dusters, hats with scarfs to tie them down. Most of the clothes were from before Gwen’s time, but she had seen pictures of men and women wearing these clothes in open cab autos of the 1900’s. The dusters were tan or black, but much of the rest of the vintage clothing, was quite colorful.
Renee and Gwen both selected dresses, lingerie and shoes from the closet, although Renee couldn’t find any vintage shoes and they scuttled to their room to dress. They had to help each other dress. There was nary a zipper on any of the clothes, and the dressed buttoned up the back. Renee wore a pair of calf high boots with her lovely blue outfit, while Gwen went with a number in cream lace dress with button hook above the ankle shoes. They both wore hats tied with scarves.
Gwen put the top down on her Cadillac Phaeton and looked at the garage door.
“Can you open the door, Renee?”
“Sure can,” Renee said. She found the remote and hit a button. The door rolled up.
Gwen smiled at that and went through the procedures for a cold start. Her car started like a dream.
“Drive outside and let me close the garage door.”
Gwen drove fifteen feet and Renee hit a button to close the garage door. When it closed Gwen drove off. She was at home in her Car Renee would give her directions to a park they could drive through. Away from the big city, the traffic was moderate, which was heavy for Gwen, but she was fearless nonetheless. The Cadillac in such good condition received a lot of attention as it rolled by. The two pretty girls in vintage clothing added to the allure the car had.
Gwen was having fun as she drove. They got to the park and drove around on a shaded road. The park was quite busy with children playing, people jogging on the trails and people having picnics.
“Too bad we can’t stop for a walk, we can’t leave this car unattended, it can be stolen in a minute, or damaged by pranksters. A car like this in original condition is worth a lot of money.”
They did stop though and walk around within a stone’s throw of the car, never getting more than thirty yards away. Quite a few park goers asked the girls to model with the car. Most used their cell phone cams to photograph them. Renee hand her tablet to a lady runner and had her take their picture. One man, who had several thousands of dollars of cameras, came up to them and offered a business card. He asked, no make that begged the two women to let him photograph them and the car. Renee looked the guy up on her tablet and found that he had a website, a Facebook page and a Better Business Bureau rating of B+. Renee and Gwen talked it over, they were having fun. They agreed and followed him to the Golden Gate Bridge.
The photographer found a green spot near the bridge where the car could be displayed with the bridge in the background. The car looked wonderful; San Francisco had a nice ocean breeze that kept the sky crystal clear. What surprised the two girls was that a makeup artist arrived while the man was setting up his cameras. He took pictures for an hour and the makeup artist did their makeup and kept them looking fresh.
“We don’t need money but can we get a large print of the best shot?” Renee said.
“Sure, if you will just sign these releases.”
Renee scrutinized the release. It was just a standard photo release and the photographer listed as compensation a 32 x 40 framed print. Renee and Gwen weren’t concerned about the commercial exploitation of these innocuous, but nice photos.
The man displayed them on his laptop computer. Gwen was flabbergasted, but didn’t let it show. She selected three photos, and Renee selected two more. The man said he would be delighted to give them the five prints and the one he would select. He took their address and after he gave the girls hugs, he left on his way.
When the girls stopped for Gas on the way home they had a large crowd around the car. One old man volunteered to pump the gas for them. Gwen and Renee answered questions about the car, as many people wanted to take their pictures with the car.
For dinner that night, they had salads, dirty rice, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce and blackened Cajun style halibut. Gwen had never been a really spicy food eater, but the halibut and the dirty rice were just so delicious.
Renee and Gwen were heading to the living room to watch television, when the phone rang. Renee answered the phone, “Hello,”
“Thank God, your there Roger. My laptop had a meltdown and there is a lot of critical data on it,” William told him. “Really the data is priceless. Do you think you could spend some time on it and help me out?”
“You didn’t save the data to an off-site storage?”
“No I didn’t, I’m not sure some of those places are safe.”
“I thought you were in Europe for the summer.”
“I was but the board called me back.”
“Sure, bring the laptop and another laptop like it with you, William, along with an IT toolkit.”
“No problem, you are a real life saver dude,” William said, hanging up.
Renee began laughing as she thought about that word ‘dude’ and how she looked right now. She could easily go back to looking like Roger, but she didn’t know if she wanted that now.
“It seems, you will get to meet my benefactor tomorrow. He has computer problems.”
Renee pulled Gwen down in his lap as they sat on the couch, “You will have to help me to dress tomorrow. I want to see how he will react to a beautiful Renee Brandon and you will have to Jessie Walker.”
Gwen knew this was coming; she would have to take on Jessie’s life sooner or later. She would need Renee’s help, but she could do this.
Renee at this moment was driving Jessie mad, as she was nibbling on a spot on her throat, which was sending fire and electricity up and down her spine as she was watching TV. Then when his hand touched that spot between her legs, she couldn’t get them both undressed fast enough. She was terribly hot and bothered. She was in control enough to work the silicone panty off of Renee, before she ravished the poor dear right there on the sofa.
Gwen now Jessie couldn’t believe how quickly she went from normal to wanton at the hands of Renee. Renee seemed to know just which buttons to push, to light her fire. That thing that made Renee so special, gave the new Jessie so much pleasure, it was hard to believe.
Renee was flabbergasted that the new Jessie could keep him going for so long. Roger hadn’t been a quick shooter before, but this Jessie seemed to know how to keep her motor running for over an hour. She was also able to kick start little Roger or make that little Renee now and to do it all over.
“Oh, if this is going to work, Renee,” Jessie said, while riding him a second time. “You’re going to have to marry me.”
“Tonight?” a groaning Renee asked.
“No you idget, not tonight but soon. I’ll not have our daughter grow up without proper parents.”
Renee came again inside Jessie, and began laughing hysterically.
“Normal parents,” Renee got out between laughs, “A father who, prefers to dress as a girl and a mother who is part of two people, one of whom was born in the 1910’s.”
Jessie couldn’t help but laugh at those ironies herself as she lay panting on Renee’s chest, “Well maybe normal might be a bit out there, but at least she will have two people who deeply care about her.”
“It could be a boy.”
“No I feel a feminine spirit inside me.”
“A cross-dressing boy maybe.”
Gwen laughed at that. That laugh sent ripples through her that reached Renee’s shriveled manhood, causing it to respond and harden again, which lit a fire in Gwen.
They were both exhausted when they got to bed that night. They just collapsed in bed together clinging to each other.
They were both surprised to wake as the sky was beginning to lighten. They sat naked on a sofa and watched the waves roll in from the ocean. The gulls were out fishing in the surf. At seven they got up and took their baths and made to get ready for the day.
Renee had brought the entire wardrobe of clothes she had worn since this chapter began so long ago. After Jessie had gone through it all, she settled on the Hepburn pants and a very feminine blouse. Renee found herself corseted back in her gurl shorts and dressed to emphasize her bust. Renee was made to wear her highest heels with that outfit.
Jessie had fun doing Renee’s hair up in a style that was in keeping with Kathryn Hepburn and the time that Gwen had lived in. The makeup was the part that Renee really liked as Jessie did a Hollywood Starlet glamour look, it was a little much for early morning, but the look fit her. Renee’s cheekbones and lips became the best features on her face, although her eyes weren’t too bad either. Jessie just dressed in a nice skirt and blouse, with normal hair, makeup and heels. The Gwen part of Jessie had fun playing dress up with Renee.
At ten a bright red Ferrari pulled up in front of the beach home. Jessie met him and helped him bring all the gear in. William didn’t bat an eye as he walked by Renee setting the precious laptops down on the dining room table.
“Roger or whatever you are calling yourself, I really need your expertise.”
Renee sat and when she had everything she needed began to work.
“I was working, while I was plugged in. Something happened and the laptop smoked and died.”
“You shouldn’t let the magic smoke out of the computer. These things run on smoke, when they lose the smoke they die,” Renee said giggling. “I am Renee by the way, when I am dressed like this.”
Renee worked about two hours on the laptops opening both up, pulling the hard drives out and reinserting the important hard drive into the new laptop. He really could have gone to a competent IT person to do it, but Renee was more than competent. Renee was able to save the data and do a bit of unscrambling of the last bits of data. William jumped into working on the new laptop adding some lost bits of data, organizing and formatting it.
“I gotta run Renee, but I will be back in a couple of hours. I know you two have some questions. I will have some guests with me when I come back. I like the new you Renee.”
“How many guests? I will have dinner ready when you get here.”
“Me plus two. One needs a more bland plate. Gotta run.” William said, scurrying out the door.
They heard an engine roar and tires screech as the car pealed out of the drive.
“He looks a lot like his… great, great grandfather,” Jessie said, figuring three generations from ‘The Senior William Russell’ she knew.
Jessie helped Renee plan a meal fit for people like she had been, as far as what dishes to make. Renee pulled some recipes off the internet of things they could make without going shopping. They got right to work. Jessie was put to work chopping vegetables for a gumbo, while Renee made hush puppies, baked fish, red and tartar sauces, coleslaw, fried oysters, mashed potatoes and shrimp, some boiled, some fired.
Renee had to threaten Jessie with a spanking if she didn’t stop nibbling while she was cooking, “If you keep nibbling you won’t be able to eat when our guests arrive.” She finally had to chase a laughing Jessie out of the kitchen with a wooden spoon in her hand. Jessie had two shrimp in her hands and a shrimp tail sticking out of her mouth.
Jessie cleaned her hands and then spent fifteen minutes setting five places at the dining room table.
“Renee they are here.”
William got out of the limo and helped two ladies out. The first was a young woman, about William’s age and an older lady. Gwen knew who it was as soon as she saw her. It was her, or rather it was Jessie/Gwen.
“Oh my God, Renee it is your Jessie.”
It was Gwendolyn Overton in her nineties standing tall and proud, yet walking well if a little slow.
They greeted William at the door and led them into the living room.
After they were inside and Gwendolyn was seated William made the introductions. “Renee, Jessie, this is my wife Gwendolyn Overton Russell, call her Gwendolyn and her great grandmother Gwendolyn Overton, call her Gwen, it will help keep things straight. Jessie, Gwendolyn, this is Renee Brandon and Jessie Walker.”
“Dinner will be ready in five minutes,” Renee said. “I have a bland plate ready for you Gwen.”
“Why on earth would I eat a bland plate of food? The bland plate is for my great granddaughter; she is pregnant and can’t keep spicy or fried foods down right now.”
They sat at the dining table and had a pleasant meal. Gwendolyn wanted her husband to hire Renee as her cook. Renee thanked her but said she had a full time job, working on her doctorate and keeping her pregnant fiancé in line.
Gwendolyn’s eye became brilliant as she looked at Jessie Walker, “How far along are you?”
“I checked after I missed my first period. I got a couple of negative tests, but the last two were positive, last week.”
Mrs. Russell smiled and said, “Wait a couple more weeks before you go to the doctor. They sometimes aren’t as good as those home tests are. I got a home positive, went to the doctor and got a negative and two weeks later the doctor changed his tune.”
“I guess I need to hunt a good doctor down, but I don’t know where we will be living.”
“I don’t feel comfortable at the old place either,” Renee said. “But I do want to go back to Stanford for my Doctorate.”
“Me too.”
“I have been meaning to tell you Renee. Great Grandmother had me put this place and the cars in the garage in your name. You will need a house in LA too to go to Stanford,” William said. “I can arrange a house in Malibu for you two.”
“Will, be a dear and let us have some girl time here,” Gwendolyn said, after they finished eating. “Come back in about two hours. I need to talk to these two.”
“When the chairman of the board tells me to take a hike, I take a hike,” William said. He left after kissing his wife and her great grandmother on the cheek.
When they were all alone, Gwen turned to Jessie and said. “Granny here tells me you are the real Gwendolyn Manning.”
“Yes, she is wearing my body, but she is the real Jessie Walker and I am the real Gwendolyn Manning.”
“How did this happen?”
“I have had much time to consider it, but I have never come up with a reasonably scientific explanation, at least not one that will conform to scientific analysis,” the old lady said. “There was a need for information exchange, Gwen and I got caught up in the exchange. Before I go on, your mother Amanda Manning has a present for you. She passed in 69 but asked that I make sure you received this.” Gwendolyn said opening her briefcase. “It is a portfolio worth approximately a hundred million or so. She and I picked and choose the various investments over the last seventy years.”
“And you didn’t use insider information at all,” Renee said laughing.
“Heavens no. Don’t even say that. The SEC has ears everywhere. I will admit to selling Enron and World Com at least a year before their crashes and I never was on their Board of Directors.”
“I bet you are on the board of Microsoft and Intel.”
“And Apple. Plus about a dozen other Corporations. I have a present for you too Roger.” Gwendolyn said handing Roger a portfolio.
“That is a portfolio worth about fifty million. You didn’t lose as much as Gwen did.”
Renee began crying, “I don’t need this. I still love you Jessie.”
“I love you too. I will be gone in the next few years, but Gwen needs you more, right now. She is carrying our baby.”
“What about Nora?” Gwen asked.
“Nora married her English airman and carried on as a Navy Cryptanalyst. She retired as a Rear Admiral in seventy four and passed away in ninety two. She had so wanted to meet with you too. Especially when her husband passed, but she didn’t want to pressure you to come back. She didn’t die alone; she had a happy life and had many wonderful grandkids to take care of her. She loved you so much.”
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, everyone just hugged everyone else.
“What are we going to do about the house?” Renee asked.
“I don’t know, fate might need it again,” Gwendolyn said. “even if it was the house, that was the link. I’m not sure that it couldn’t have been Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos having fun. I have the same amount of evidence for both.”
“Well we are getting married as soon as possible,” the Jessie said.
“Let’s fly to Vegas tomorrow.” Renee said
“You can use my corporate jet to fly there and back,” Gwendolyn said.
“A jet.”
“One of those big silver birds you see flying. A plane that uses jet engines,” Renee said, pulling a picture of a Boeing jet up on her tablet.
“Ok and why a dirt water gambler’s town like Las Vegas.”
“Renee don’t say a thing, Gwen your last statement about Vegas was only half right. Gwendolyn call William and have him get the jet ready and our Suite at the Aria Sky Suites in Vegas ready. We leave in two hours.”
Renee and Gwen went to pack their bags.
“I am sorry about you losing Nora, Jessie. I kinda know how you feel. We don’t have to do this, I will still be by your side, regardless.” Renee said. “I will do my best to love you like you deserve to be.”
“I will miss Nora very much and there will be times that I will cry about it, but our child needs both of us and I really want our child to have you as a parent Renee. I like you too, you drive me crazy.”
“Do you love me?” Renee asked.
“Yes, not like my Nora, but I do love you and I will love our baby.”
“I can live with that.”
William and the Limo picked them up and drove them to the airstrip. The Gulfstream jet was sitting on the tarmac and the pilots were doing their pre-flight check. A steward came out and took all the bags and stowed them away. Miss Walkers head was on a swivel taking in the sights of all the giant beasts around them.
Once they were on the plane, Jessie asked, “How long a flight is it to Las Vegas two, three hours?”
“Try a little over an hour. That is by the scenic route also. I asked the pilot to do a circle around the city so you can see what a dirt water town Vegas is.”
They flew around Vegas twice spiraling into the airport. Gwen was given a front seat view through her port hole at the city and all the lights. Gwen remembered driving through Vegas with her mother and father on their way somewhere. It was just a desert then and a dozen buildings or so in the twenties. The lights were the most fascinating feature of the city.
While they circled the city Gwendolyn had a private talk with Renee about several things.
A limousine met them at the airport and took them to the heart of the city. It too took the tourist route to the hotel. It was an amazing trip. Jessie though was concerned when a wheel chair met them at the hotel.
“My bones are old and my legs tire easily, but my heart is strong dear.” Gwendolyn said. “This is what I do to keep William and my great granddaughter happy. I don’t plan on dying for years yet. I am ninety seven, I want to live to a hundred seven at least.”
The suite took up a third of a floor and had a dozen rooms to it. Jessie went with Gwendolyn to her suite to help her get ready for bed. Renee and Jessie went to bed in another bedroom. Jessie just held onto Renee tightly.
When Jessie woke, she was alone for the first time in since Renee’s last trip into the past. When she exited the suite, Gwen Russell was the only person there.
“Great Grandma wanted to spend a little time with Roger. They have been apart for seventy years. I am supposed to take you clothing shopping after we eat. You’ll love the stores here. You know the way I figure it. You are my Great Grandma too. One who would look so good in the clothes I wear.”
Jessie had to laugh as she thought about it. This girl was from her line in the past, “I guess I am. So you do believe, in all of this.”
“She told me the dates of things she had no way of knowing would happen, since I was a kid. I finally asked her if she was a psychic. She paw-pawed that and then told me her story. I didn’t believe her, but how else can I explain the hundreds of things she told me. It was like a history lesson of things that were going to happen. The most conclusive was the hanging chad event in Florida. We had a president of the United States, elected by a controversy, in a state his brother was governor of over thirty days after the election and an obscure reason for that election. She told me too many details too far ahead of the election. She told me about the collapse of two huge corporations, while the companies were soaring. She told me about a couple of disasters, terrorist attacks that were coming. She was either psychic or what she said was true. She saved my Dad by sending him out of the country on business.”
A waiter arrived with their breakfasts on a cart. Gwen signed the check and he took off. After they had their coffee and finished their food, they went to their rooms and dressed for the day.
Gwen overwhelmed Jessie over the next seven hours, Gwen was a professional clothing buyer for a major high end chain retailer. They first bought two sets of Louis Vuitton luggage and had them sent back to the hotel room. That was followed by hitting almost every high end fashion store and boutique in Las Vegas. Mrs. Russell even did some shopping for Renee that Jessie and Renee didn’t know about. Jessie found it strange shopping and not carrying any bags, but whatever she and Jessie Russell liked just disappeared, except the red Oscar de la Renta skirt and jacket suit, and the red Jimmy Choo open toe pumps she now wore.
They finally wound up at Josephine’s Salon at five. Gwen always loved going to the salon, even though some of the procedures were a pain. This salon was different, yes the chemicals still smelled, but the procedures weren’t as big a pain. She had her legs waxed, a big pain then and now, gel nails, a perm, color, cut, she had her makeup matched, applied and a tutorial on DVD’s with a professional makeup case filled with makeup. The perm had been the biggest change; she loved not being wired to what looked like an electrocution device called a Frederick’s Hair Permanent Machine. Seeing herself in the mirror with one of those monstrosities clinging to her head, was enough to put her off getting a perm.
Jessie looked and felt great as they returned to the suite at eight. Renee smiled and greeted them with kisses. Jessie had to take a step back and look at Renee, she had changed. It was her boobs they were at least a cup or two larger.
“What were you two up to today? Your breasts look larger.”
“They are and they are as real as modern cosmetic surgery can make them. Gwendolyn and I had a talk. She apologized for getting me into dresses and skirts.”
“It was more my fault. I did that to Nora and you just got caught up in it.”
“But I didn’t not like it Jessie. I have always been a little effeminate. But when I saw what I could look like, I fell in love with the way I looked. I had surgical implants today. Be careful touching them they are a little sore. This doesn’t change anything does it?”
Jessie just grabbed Renee’s hand and pulled him into their room. She undressed him down to his bra and panties feeling for little Roger. She then had Renee remove her bra. Renee chest was bruised, she showed Jessie where she was bandaged near her armpits. Renee explained the procedure to Gwen.
“Did you go to a hospital to do this?”
“No I went to a clinic and the surgery was done on an outpatient basis. I was in and out in five hours. I have to go back the day after tomorrow.”
“Are you hurting?”
“No, they gave me some really good pills. They make me kid of loopy.”
Jessie giggle, “It’s hard to tell if you are loopy or not, you dingbat.”
“This doesn’t change things does it?”
“No, somebody is going to have to take care of you, to keep you from cutting something off I’ve grown to like,” Jessie said copping a feel down below.
“Gee you’re just like a guy, you only care for my body,” Renee said. “I have to put my bra back on. I am supposed to wear this one and a couple of others like it for four or five days, while I heal up.”
“I am jealous yours are bigger than mine. Just how big are you?”
“After the swelling goes down, I am supposed to be a 36 D. You have no reason to be jealous, yours are real. After the baby comes, you can get yours done too.”
“Can we still get married.”
“I am still a male legally, just packaged a little differently. I have to say that you look marvelous Jessie. I like what you’ve done to your hair.”
“Gwen and I spent the day shopping and ended up at a salon. I do appreciate the modern salons over what I had in the past. Oh tomorrow we have to go to the courthouse and get our marriage license.”
The next day they went to Clarke County Court House and got their marriage license. The clerk who issued the license hardly batted an eyelash; she had seen many strange things in the license office. She did scrutinize the signature on Roger’s driver’s license and the signature on the license application.
Gwen took Renee then and went shopping, while Gwendolyn went with Jessie shopping.
Renee was fitting with a tuxedo that didn’t hide any of her girlish figure. When you have an Am Ex black card, you can get a lot of things done well in a hurry. The tux fit like a glove, except the legs were a looser fit.
After the tux, Renee received the same treatment that Jessie had the day before. They didn’t buy a single piece of clothing that was anywhere near masculine. Nobody that came into contact with Renee had any idea about her, or if they did they didn’t say anything about it because Renee was dropping some serious dough on this shopping trip. Renee left the last clothing store wearing a black Dior skirted suit, a Ralph Lauren white charmeuse blouse and black Prada heels. They then went to Josephine’s salon.
Jessie was taken to a bridal gown store. Gwendolyn saw to the new Jessie getting the royal treatment. The two women knew that this might be the last time in a year or two that Jessie would have a decent figure so they opted for a form fitting Floor length gown. Jessie felt just so feminine and girlie in the elegant gown; she almost drooled at her own image in the mirror. Again the treatment was fast and first class all the way. As fast the people at the Bridal shop was moving, Gwendolyn and Jessie did spend most of the day at the shop, but when they left Jessie had a fully fitted eight thousand dollar gown.
After Renee came out of the Salon looking much sexier, she and Gwen went to a Jewelry store. Gwen kept Renee from buying the biggest most gaudy wedding ring sets, but they did plop down nearly thirty-five thousand on a set of Rings. Gwen was impressed with Renee; after she went got past looking at rings fit only for a queen, she picked a ring set that was beautiful, yet elegant.
Jessie and Gwendolyn went to another Jewelry store and Jessie with a little prompting from Gwendolyn bought Renee a really beautiful wedding set too. Jessie was hesitant, because she didn’t know how Renee would take to wearing a ladies wedding and engagement ring set. Gwendolyn knew just the right size to buy the ring in.
Over a romantic dinner that night Jessie proposed to Renee and they traded engagement rings. Jessie loved her ring, and Renee couldn’t take her eyes off of the ring on her finger. It had a large square blue diamond surrounded by colorless, round cut diamonds and channel set baguette diamonds that went halfway on the sides.
Tears were falling from Renee’s eyes and Jessie sat in her lap. Renee was still sore so Jessie was very careful with her. They still made love in a more sedated manner. Gwendolyn made sure that they slept separately; she knocked and came in just before midnight. Renee moved to another empty room. The brides shouldn’t see each other before the wedding, she told them.
Renee was awakened first, she and Gwendolyn had breakfast together and then they were out to the salon. Jessie and Gwen then went out and did the same at another salon. Renee was surprised by being handed a suit bag after her hair and makeup were done. She was dressed in the prettiest black lace corset she had ever seen, black lace panties, black diamond patterned stockings, white tux shirt, tux vest, tux pants, black stilettoes and tux jacket. The outfit was perfectly fitted even though Renee had never tried it on.
Gwendolyn took the new Jessie to a classy wedding chapel and the former Jessie now Gwen and William took Renee to the same chapel. Now in Vegas there are fifty dollar wedding chapels and five hundred dollar wedding chapels. This chapel went well past a five hundred dollar wedding chapel and must have cost fifteen thousand dollars minimum. They even had a good fifty guests or so. Of course they only knew Gwen, Gwendolyn and William, but they rest of the guests made it feel like a regular wedding. They also had a flower girl, three bridesmaids, three groomsmen, a young male ring bearer and a five piece string and piano group. Gwen had arranged for a full thirty minute service
The new Jessie looked lovely as she walked down the aisle, while the musicians played Mendelssohn’s wedding march. Renee looked quite lovely herself, as Gwen approached the altar. After a ten minute sermon on marriage to the audience and five minutes talking to Jessie and Renee about the importance of their vows are to each other, they exchanged their vows and rings.
Jessie got to throw the bouquet and Renee threw Jessie’s garter on the steps of the chapel. They then were ushered to the limousine, where two girls assisted then into redoing their makeup and changing into going away suits.
They were driven to the airport, where Gwen met them by her plane. She told them the jet was theirs for the next thirty days and that she would meet them at the house just outside of San Francisco in a month.
Jessie and Renee joined the mile high club several times, between Las Vegas and Honolulu on that trip. Their lone steward kept herself conspicuously absent, once she discovered her charges engaged in certain pleasures. It didn’t bother her that one of the girls wasn’t a girl. She would just occasionally check her monitors to see if they were dressed before she checked to see if they needed anything.
They spent the month on several of the Hawaiian Islands, just relaxing and having fun. Renee also tutored Jesse in Physics in their spare time. Jessie was an eager student. They even visited the library of the University of Hawaii to look at some current physics books to study the various theories bouncing around. Jessie was intrigued about the work at CERN. Back in her time particle physics was just in its infancy. Bubble chambers were just coming in vogue back then and Dr. Lawrence had created the first cyclotron in 1932. Renee supplied her with the basics and a little of the advanced theory.
Jessie had so much fun, just being able to talk to someone about her love for her field of study again. Yes studying is work, but she loved her quest for knowledge. Renee did her best to bring her lover up to date, as best she could.
Renee also leased a helicopter and pilot to take them on a tour of Kilauea, Jessie wanted to visit the area on foot, once she saw the lava flows, but Renee pointed out that that wouldn’t be a good idea for a pregnant mother. She told Jessie about all the hazardous gasses and fumes could hurt the baby. That was all it took to dissuade her. Jessie told Renee about what she knew of the 1924 eruption of Kilauea when she was a very young girl.
They also spent time doing many of the regular touristy things. They both wore tiny bikinis although Renee’s always had bigger bottoms, which carefully kept things in hiding. Jessie seemed to get a thrill at knowing what Renee was hiding.
Jessie also loved shopping and loved all the high quality clothing shops. She bought a lot of clothing, but she just loved window shopping and being around other shoppers.
Jessie just seemed to assimilate in to this period of time. She was soon completely at ease with being seventy years in the future and being with Renee was a big part of her fitting in. She still had a lot to learn about the future, but she was no longer fearful about her future.
The only sore spot in their honeymoon was the morning sickness Jessie started experiencing towards the end of their trip. A few days, all Jessie could keep down were ginger ale and crackers. Renee took Jessie to a doctor on the big island for her first official pregnancy test, which came out positive.
They flew back to San Francisco a few days later. A limo met them and drove them to what was now their home on the beach. Gwen was already there with her nurse/assistant.
“How was your honeymoon, girls?” Gwen asked after hugging the two of them.
“It was great and it would’ve been better, but I started having morning sickness. A doctor there finally confirmed that I was pregnant.”
“So what did the doctor say?”
“He said I was pregnant and healthy. He also suggested I make an appointment with my doctor back home.”
“I took liberty to come up with your medical history for you. So you will be able to talk with your new doctor intelligently. I don’t think you should go to my doctor. She might notice some anomalies between us. I also took the liberties of researching the best San Francisco doctors for you. One is just a few miles from here.”
“Good I will make an appointment for next week.”
They sat around and talked about their adventures in Hawaii till Gwen got tired and with her nurse’s assistance went to bed. Renee and Jessie sat next to each other looking at the ocean and watched the sun go down.
The next morning Gwen talked with Jessie and asked if she wanted to get back into physics. Jessie stated the obvious, that she loved physics dearly, almost as much as she now loved Renee.
“I have written and collected several books. I also created about a hundred hours of video that connect the physics of the thirties with the physics of today. I also have some tutors ready to assist you, if you want? Also, I hope you don’t mind, but I would like to stay around till our baby is born. I feel like it will be mine, as much as it is your’s.”
“I don’t mind, as long as Renee doesn’t mind.”
>>>>><<<<<
Jessie studied went Gwen and others. She proved to herself that she had still had a sharp mind and quickly picked up the concepts and theories. The Internet proved invaluable, as long as she found reputable sites, as there were many junk science sites around also.
She met her appointment with her doctors and took their advice. Things were certainly different than what pregnant mothers in the thirties faced and she liked the difference. She and Renee often ran on the beach till she started getting bigger, then they would often walk to keep fit.
Gwen lived long enough to see Jessie’s child born. It was a boy and Jessie convinced Renee to name the baby Roger Brandon the 2nd. Gwen also got to the discovery of the Higgs Boson. Renee and Jessie were actually in Meyrin, Switzerland the week that the particle was discovered. They went there on vacation to visit the facility. She was talking with many of the researchers there as she was working on her doctoral thesis. Jessie did get her doctorate and became a professor of physics at Berkley.
Renee never fully transitioned; she and Jessie liked her special parts, although she did have some extensive feminization surgery. She and Jessie had three more children. They also collected many cars and set up a sort of auto museum. They drove almost all but a few of the oldest cars. Renee also became one of the leading mathematicians working in computer security.
And did they live happily ever after? That is another story.
The end
Comments
oops
in the space of one paragraph the girlfriend changes her name.
" Now at Stanford, he had a girlfriend, Jessie Walker.
Jessie Wolf had latched onto him his first semester "
That was quite a romp
I noticed a couple of little glitches, but that doesn't matter. Great story. I noticed the name change between paragraphs two and three. Also, “I have been meaning to tell you Renee. Great Grandmother had me put this place and the cars in the garage in your name. You will need a house in LA too to go to Stanford,” William said. “I can arrange a house in Malibu for you two.” Stanford is not in Southern California. It's in Palo Alto between San Jose and San Francisco.
Portia
Glitches
I am just getting where my research is slipping and hating the work editing the work I had already done. I am not writing as prolifically although I get ideas all the time. I are just getting old and write for my pleasure. I am sorry it isn't up to spec. I still hope people like it.
Paula
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
The Coda
Chapterhouse: Dune
Glitches... smitches...this was a damn good read, Paula
Happy mixed with sad and a lot of fun sci-fi/mystical/multiverse stuff.
What's not to like?
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Apologies and kudos
This really was a wonderful story that took one hell of a lot of work to get right. I'll tell you how good it was. I read it start to finish without a break, and that's nearly 41,000 words. Yeah, there were a few little 'glitches', but they are easily fixed. I think the one thing that might have made it more readable would have been to break it up into several postings.
I violated one of the rules I should have never done. I should have PM'd my criticisms, even though they were constructive. I was probably on my second glass of wine by the time I got to that point. I apologize.
I hope you will come up with another tale as equally fascinating
Portia
'course it's up to spec
Exceeds it even. I couldn't "put it down" this evening, apart from essential breaks. I'm sure the comments were meant to help and I believe the story a very worthy addition to your collection.
Teri Ann
"Reach for the sun."
Time travel with a twist
I really enjoyed this novel :) It is reminiscent of, and certainly more thought out than, the film Back to the Future. The attention to all details, including scientific ones, make the story all the more realistic. I look forward to what you'll end up coming up with next. :)
-christine
Not up tp spec???
Sorry. It was a brilliant tale with a few glitches and I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for a most enthralling story.
Joanna
PS: I love a good romance mixed in with the science fiction :)
Nice to See...
…a full-length story posted here, and a very good one. Quite enjoyable.
Eric
I'm a genius
I know how to fix the location problem. This story is partly sci-fi. In my sci-fi Universe I hereby move Stanford from its current location to south central LA. See an easy fix. Just change all your maps.
Paula
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
The Coda
Chapterhouse: Dune
You Could Destroy the Bay Area...
...in an earthquake (hey, we're all supposed to fall into the ocean sooner or later, right?) and force Stanford and the rest of us out here to relocate further south -- but that'd wreak havoc with your beach house on the coast, and cause a bit of trouble for the 90-year old house near the campus. (Maybe it happened in the 1906 quake?)
Eric (in San Francisco)
Good Morning
This is pretty much where I have been since I woke up. That statement tells the tale.
WoW! This has to rank with my all time favorites. Thank you so much for your thought and research (a lot) that made this story the epic sci-fi romance that it is.
Severe
Wow! what a ride. This is a stupendously written story. I had a severe emotional roller-coaster ride as I read this story. Any story that sucks a reader in and makes them cry is awesomely good. Thanks so much.
I know there have been comments about some slight glitches or errors. My comment would be, get off it! The author spend a lot of time and effort in putting an exceptional story together for we readers, for free!. I would that I was inspired and literally inclined to be able to write something this well researched and well thought out.
Dahlia
wonderful story!!!
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I've done some serious reading about both the cryptography program and the Manhattan project, so I respect your research and will certainly forgive a few glitches for a wonderful romance.
Gillian Cairns
Enigma
The Engima machine code had been broken before the war by Polish mathematicians.
The capture of the Kriegsmarine codes was important because the German navy used their own codes on TOP of the Enigma coding. The U-boats had a code book with codes for all possible situations and geographic locations, printed with ink which was dissoluble in seawater.
Nice story
Hiya people, here I am in 2021 hope all of you are well. It is such a nice story, my heart broke for them when the characters decided to stay in their 'own' time. But they still get the happy ending in a way. Cheers :)
Actually
I'm sad that the original couples couldn't get back together. And that meetup 70 years on reminds me a lot of the ending of the movie "The Final Countdown".
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin