*****************************************************

Here's a story I wrote several years ago and posted
on another web site. I hope to get a wee bit more
feedback than I did on the other site.

*****************************************************

Out of this Body

by Terry Volkirch

1. Prologue

Astral projection is real. I know because I've done it. You
may not have heard of it. It's also referred to as having an
out-of-body experience. It happens when your energy body, or
soul, leaves your body. You might not believe in it, but
it's the reason why the world has been turned upside down.
It's why the battle between the sexes escalated into a
full-scale gender war.

How do I know all this? I know because the gender war is
all my fault. It wasn't my intention but I'm responsible
nonetheless. I must be. My experiences and what followed are
too much of a coincidence. Read on and judge for yourself.

One more thing.... I hope everyone can forgive me any pain
I have caused. I'm telling this story so people will
understand how their lives could be changed so drastically.
Perhaps that understanding can help speed along the healing
process.

2. Astral Visit

I'd started to seriously pursue astral projection a little
over two years ago. My bookshelf has been full of books on
the subject but I never found time to read them and try all
of the exercises. What changed things was my online friend
in England. Her name is Rhona. We wanted to be able to see
each other more often than our infrequent trips by plane so
I suggested astral projection. Once you leave your body, you
can go anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye. We could
see each other whenever we wanted.

Besides visiting Rhona, I had an added incentive. I'm a
transgendered man. I've read that you could change the
appearance of the astral body and I wanted to make my male
body look like a woman. Being a man who wants to be a woman
is frustrating but I don't want to go into that. I only
mention my transgendered nature because it's relevant to
this story.

Rhona and I soon started following the astral projection
exercises. Within about six months, I had started making
progress. After another few months I had done it. I was able
to leave my physical body and travel the astral plane. Rhona
was still having trouble but I thought I could help her. My
plan was to have my astral body interact with hers and
somehow pull hers out of her physical body.

I started with short trips out of my body and gradually
moved farther away as I got comfortable. It took some
getting used to the feeling. I don't even want to try to
explain it. You have to experience it for yourself to really
understand it.

Eventually, I left my apartment, my city and then my state.
Soon I was able to visit England without any anxiety and I
explored a few castles while I was there. A few people
seemed to detect my presence too. I wonder if they thought
I was a ghost.

I had been so involved in getting used to my out-of-body
experiences that I didn't think to try to change my
appearance for several weeks. After my first trip to
England, I finally remembered to try. It took a lot of
concentration but I was able to do it for brief moments. As
soon as my thoughts wandered, I reverted to my male form. I
decided to work on it more later. First I wanted to start
my experiment to help Rhona. I got back to my body and
quickly called her to make plans.

"Hiya Rhona. It's me again!"

"Hi Terry."

"Have you had any luck with the astral projection
exercises? I have."

"Not so far. Have you made it over here yet?"

I told her all about my success. She wasn't envious at all.
She really is a great friend. We laughed about the
possibility of castle tourists mistaking me for a ghost.
Maybe a lot of ghosts are really just astral bodies of
living beings.

"So are you going to show me how it's done?" she asked.

"I might."

"You tease!"

I had to laugh at that. But I relented. We talked for over
an hour as usual and made plans for my ambitious astral
projection experiment to begin that night. There's an eight
hour time difference between Rhona and me so I'd wait until
Rhona went to bed and then join her after a few more hours.

*****

It was a hot August evening here in Washington state as I
laid down to start. Before long, my astral body hovered over
my friend. She was lying on her back and I stared down at
her peaceful face, surrounded by frizzy shoulder length
brown hair. Her mouth hung slightly open and she was lightly
snoring.

I couldn't help myself. I reached down and tried to pinch
her cheek. There was no reaction. When my fingertips
reached her skin, they met with some resistance and then
passed through. I couldn't grip anything to pinch but I
could still feel her. I pulled my hand back and thought
about what to do next.

Time is hard to gauge on the astral plane but, after what
felt like a few minutes, I reached out with my left hand to
touch her right one. The same thing happened. I felt some
slight resistance and then my hand passed through hers.

I was starting to get frustrated and thought about giving
up - at least for tonight. But for some strange reason, I
reached over with my left hand and touched her left hand.
I immediately felt my hand vibrate. It was much like I felt
when I prepared to leave my physical body. I'd feel a rapid
vibration and then think about rising up out of my body. If
the vibrations were fast enough, my astral body would
separate.

The strange sensation made me a little nervous and my hand
reflexively jerked back. When I did so, I saw Rhona's
glowing astral left hand briefly follow mine and then fall
back to her sleeping body. This looked promising.

My astral body rolled over. Now, with my back to Rhona, I
lowered myself down to her and gradually slipped into her.
My head and torso were superimposed over hers but my hands
and feet were sticking out. She's about six inches shorter
than I am so I shrunk myself and altered my astral body to
look like her.

My whole body vibrated now and I willed myself to rise. As I
rose, Rhona's astral body came with me. Our two astral
bodies remained together. I had done it! I had gotten Rhona
to have an out-of-body experience. Now all I had to do was
separate us.

I moved in all different directions but we remained joined.
Then I thought to change myself back to my male form. That
did the trick. As I changed, we automatically peeled apart.
I turned to look at her astral self and saw that she was
asleep. Both of her bodies had their eyes closed and their
mouths slightly open. What now?

3. Meeting Halfway

Rhona's astral form stood motionless beside me. I waved my
hand in front of her face but nothing happened. Then I tried
to grab her shoulders and gently shake her. Her shoulders
felt solid to my hands so I was able to shake her, but she
didn't respond.

Frustration mounted again. I had made too much progress to
give up now so I decided to let my imagination run wild and
try anything that popped into my head. The first thing that
occurred to me was to merge back with Rhona's physical body.
That's when things started to get really interesting.

I duplicated Rhona's form once again and slowly lowered
myself down into her body. The vibrations started again but
I ignored them. I let my astral body completely match
Rhona's position. As soon as I settled in, I heard a
clicking sound and my whole body suddenly convulsed for a
brief moment. My arms shook and both of my legs kicked out
at the same time. I sat up and blinked a few times.

"Terry?" I said with Rhona's voice.

That startled me. I shook my head and wondered why I would
say my own name. It was almost as if I was calling to
myself. I was so preoccupied with what I had said that my
change of voice didn't register until later.

It was dark but a little light filtered through some dark
curtains from a nearby street light. It wasn't my room but
it looked strangely familiar. The image provoked a stray
thought.

It should look familiar. It's my room.

Okay, now I was getting worried. I seemed to be talking to
myself and answering. I was afraid I was going insane.

I should explain something before I go on. I was having
thoughts that weren't my own. I later realized that they
were residual thoughts from the person who's body I was now
inhabiting. It soon sunk in that I was controlling Rhona's
body!

Actually, the room should look familiar to me as well as
her. I had spent two weeks visiting Rhona only a few months
ago. It was exactly as I had remembered it.

I got up and immediately noticed that I was six inches
shorter. Everything looked much bigger to me. I walked
around but I couldn't see much in the dark. It was the
middle of the night over here. I opened the curtains a
little to let in more light. Then I checked myself out in
the full-length mirror. I gasped as I saw my friend's nude
body. I had forgotten that she likes to sleep in the nude.
I blushed and fished around for a robe before I looked in
the mirror again.

After staring at myself in the mirror and making faces, I
was giddy. I plopped down on the edge of the bed and crossed
my legs with no problem. Then I stood up and hopped up and
down to feel my breasts bounce. It was wonderful.

This was too cool! I had found a way to swap bodies. I
couldn't wait to tell Rhona about it, but that would be
difficult at the moment. I had left her astral form asleep
next to her bed. I closed the curtains and looked around but
couldn't see anything. I had to get back out of Rhona's body.

A mischievous grin spread across my new face as I had a last
walk around the bedroom. I wanted to leave some evidence
that I had taken over her body. I assembled some items and
crawled back into bed.

Luckily, I was able to relax and start the telltale
vibrations that allowed the astral body to separate. I rose
up and saw Rhona's astral form right where I left her, still
completely unaware of her surroundings.

I walked over to astral Rhona and stood next to her. I
noticed we were the same height and looked down at myself. I
still looked like her. I tried changing back to myself but I
couldn't hold my original form without concentrating. Being
in Rhona changed my default astral form. That concerned me a
little but I put it out of my mind. I still had one more
thing I wanted to try.

Daybreak was still hours away so I had plenty of time. My
hands reached out to the standing figure and she felt solid.
I got a good hold on her and pulled her along with me as I
tried to return to my own body. We might have made it if I
hadn't decided to take the scenic route. We soared high
above Earth and the view was spectacular. We made it
somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean before she slipped from my
grasp. I felt a slight twitch in her and suddenly she was
gone. I tried to return but couldn't stop myself from
continuing on to my own bedroom. I concentrated hard to
change to my male astral form and crawled back into my
physical body. After hearing the familiar click, I was back
in control of my original body.

I normally leave my phone disconnected during the night so
my sleep won't be interrupted. Sometimes I forget but this
time I had purposely left my phone connected. It was ringing
as soon as I returned home.

4. Examining the Evidence

"Terry!"

It was Rhona on the phone - big surprise.

"Yes?" I purred.

"What did you do?!"

My attitude quickly changed and I had to apologize. She was
pretty shaken when she first woke up. Luckily she's very
resilient and has a good sense of humor. We look back at
that night and laugh about it now.

She woke up dressed in the robe I had put on, along with all
of her stuffed animals under her covers. She knew I had
something to do with it but thought I had somehow caused her
to sleep walk. There was a long pause after I told her the
real reason.

We worked out that we lived too far apart for me to get her
into my body. That was fine to her because she had no wish
to be male. I'm not sure how it could be done without the
cooperation of her astral body anyway. It would probably be
a lot easier to do a complete swap if she could have an
out-of-body experience on her own. She could duplicate my
male astral form and enter my body at the same time that I
duplicated her astral form and entered her body. Too bad it
wasn't easier to do, I thought. I bet a lot of people's
attitudes would improve if they could swap bodies and see
the world through different eyes.

Rhona went back to bed and I wrote down some notes. I wasn't
sure exactly how I would complete the body swap but I was
determined to try. All I had to do was find a willing
partner who lived closer to home and start more experiments.

*****

Meanwhile, for the rest of August, life was normal. There
was no indication at this point that anything strange was
happening in the world. All of the planned sporting,
entertainment and business events took place as usual.
World economic markets were just as stable or unstable as
ever and petty posturing and senseless wars continued. I
mention this to try to prove my assertion that I'm
responsible for our brave new world. I hadn't yet made a
two-way body swap and everything was still normal.

I spent the rest of the month brainstorming ideas for body
swapping and looking for a suitable partner. I was hoping to
swap with a female friend. I'd settle for a male friend but
I talked to several women first.

It was hard to broach the subject of body swapping. My
friends knew I was transgendered and they had all heard of
astral projection but my experience went much further.
According to everyone I talked to, my ideas were too unreal.
They were the stuff of fantasy and science fiction. I began
to get discouraged at the skeptical responses and my
intensity and passion began to get the best of me.

It was the middle of September now. Debbie met me for dinner
at my favorite Thai food restaurant. We chatted aimlessly
throughout the meal while my mind wandered. I kept wondering
what it would feel like to be her. I loved her long dark
brown hair and blue eyes. She was about 5 foot 4 and very
curvy. She was a little overweight but I could live with
that. In my active imagination, I suddenly envisioned
starting a new service. I swapped bodies with overweight
women and got them into shape while they experienced what it
was like to be a man. It was wonderful.

When dinner was over, I got serious and ambushed her with my
ideas. She responded the same way everyone else did after
she realized I was serious.

"Body swapping? That's crazy."

"Call it whatever you like but it's not crazy!" I
practically shouted at her.

She looked around, afraid that someone would hear us. I'm
sure she was embarrassed, and she must have thought I was at
least a little crazy. That's why she relented. She agreed to
let me try to swap with her just to humor me. There was
nothing for her to fear because she didn't believe it could
happen. She was so wrong.

5. If at First You Don't Succeed

I was so excited. I thought I had finally found someone
besides Rhona to believe me. Even better, I could try to
make a complete body swap. I raced home after my dinner and
waited for Rhona to wake up so I could tell her all about
it. It was well after midnight before I finished chatting
online with her. She wished me good luck and signed off to
start her day over in merry old England. I looked through my
notes and prepared for my swapping attempt.

It was Friday night. Debbie didn't work weekends so the
timing was perfect. I didn't have to worry because I was
currently unemployed. It was nice to finally find a good
reason to be between jobs. I dressed comfortably in a tee
shirt and shorts, put my portable phone on my bed and laid
back to start the vibrations. Soon afterwards, I separated
from my body and almost immediately found myself staring
down at Debbie. Astral travel can be so quick. All I had to
do was think of moving to her and there she was. It still
amazes me.

I had the time to try some additional experiments but
decided to skip them. I didn't want any distractions
tonight. I rolled over to face the ceiling and sank down to
her bed, following the same procedure I had done with Rhona.
My astral body changed form and pulled hers out as I rose up
out of her physical body.

Now it was time to start exploring uncharted territory. I
grabbed Debbie's astral body and brought her back to my
bedroom. I tried everything I could think of but I couldn't
get her to change form. I could change my own easily enough
but hers was fixed. I guess only she could control it. I
moved her into a horizontal position and lowered her into
my body. I hoped that would be good enough but nothing
happened. It was time to move to the next phase of my
experiment.

I returned to Debbie's body and took it over. That part was
easy to do. Then I got up out of her bed and dialed my home
phone number, marveling at my slim fingers and long
fingernails as I did so. My phone rang several dozen times
but Debbie didn't answer. Swapping bodies was more difficult
than I had hoped.

I found her keys without too much trouble. They were in her
purse along with her drivers license and a lot of other
interesting things. I'd need the keys and drivers license to
drive so I kept the purse with me. I couldn't wait to try
out Debbie's car. She drove a new model Mercedes. I didn't
know much about cars but thought it would be nice to drive.

Looking down at myself, I realized I still wasn't ready to
go. I was dressed in a short pale yellow nightie and
matching panties. The nightie was very sheer, revealing
tempting glimpses of the body wearing it. I wanted to crawl
back into bed and explore further but figured I'd have time
for that later.

I looked for a yellow bra but couldn't find one. Instead, I
found a seamless full coverage bra and whipped off the
nightie. The light blue bra didn't go with yellow panties
but I didn't think I could handle a change of panties.

Putting on the bra was a sensual and spiritual experience
that I'll savor forever. I had no trouble with it - I've had
lots of practice as a transgendered man - but I took my time
anyway. After admiring myself in the mirror, I added blue
jeans and a lavender polo top and then brushed my hair. I
dug around in Debbie's walk-in closet and found a cute pair
of blue and white tennis shoes. I threw them on and after
one more check in the mirror, I was ready to go. I hopped
into the Mercedes and drove over to my apartment. Luckily I
had planned ahead and left my door unlocked.

It was odd to walk into my little two bedroom apartment. No
lights were on and it was very quiet. I almost felt like a
burglar. I set the dead bolt, walked down the angled hallway
and opened the door to my master bedroom. With the light
from a nearby carport, I could just barely see my old body,
sleeping in my queen size bed. I had to remind myself that
it wasn't really me and the body wasn't really sleeping.

I still had unfinished work to do so I got to it. I walked
over to my body and nudged it. Nothing happened. Then I
shook it and even gave it a light slap on the face. Still
nothing. My frustration was coming back with a vengeance. I
sat down on the edge of my bed and tried to think but it was
hard to concentrate. Debbie's body was tired and I had woken
it up in the middle of the night. My eyes closed and my head
bobbed as I fought sleep. It wasn't long before I succumbed.

6. Breakthrough

Morning light crept into my bedroom and slowly woke me out
of a light sleep. I was remembering a pleasant dream about
being a woman and opened my eyes grudgingly. A slight gasp
escaped my lips as I gazed at my former male face, very near
my current face. We were lying on our sides, still fully
clothed and facing each other in the bed. Our arms were
wrapped around each other and my face blazed red with
embarrassment. I very slowly and carefully untangled myself
from our mutual embrace before I rolled back away to get out
of bed.

I ignored my own appearance for the moment and stared down
at the six foot tall slender body lying in the bed. On
impulse, I ran a hand through its long brown hair and a
shiver ran down the spine of my current body.

Something nagged at me. Something had changed. My old body
was lying on its back last night and now it was on its side.
We had our arms wrapped around each other. How had that
happened? Could the switch be complete? I reached down and
nudged my old self. I jumped and gasped again as it mumbled
something and licked its lips. I nudged harder and two
familiar eyes flew open and stared at me. Soon after the
screaming began.

It's very odd to watch and hear yourself scream from another
body. It was almost like watching a video tape of myself. I
was almost amused. But then I thought of the neighbors
calling the police and quickly tried to soothe the screaming
person that could only be Debbie. I didn't understand why
she was so upset. I told her I was going to try to swap last
night.

After what seemed like hours, the screaming stopped and the
shouting and glaring began. Debbie slowly sat up, trying not
to look at her hairy forearms and large, strong hands.

"What the hell did you do?!" she yelled.

"We switched bodies. I told you I was going to try last
night. What's the big deal?"

"You moron! I thought you were crazy. This is impossible."

Her voice trailed off to a whisper. Shock was setting in at
this point and it seemed important to keep her talking. We
had to work through this together. I had no idea that she
didn't believe me last night.

"Hey. It's going to be okay. We'll swap back ... um somehow."

I didn't mean to say the last part. It just popped out of my
mouth. But in the long run, I think it was good that I did.
Debbie wasn't too far gone to notice what I'd said so it
kept her talking.

"What do you mean, somehow?" she growled.

"I mean, I'm not sure how I did it. I've never done a
complete swap before. I fell asleep last night in your body
before I could finish. I woke up and here we are."

Debbie's eyes widened at first and then narrowed as she
scowled. Seeing her so angry made me nervous for the first
time since I started leaving my body. She was a lot stronger
than me. I hoped she could control her temper.

"You mean we could be stuck like this?!" Debbie howled.

The situation was getting very uncomfortable for me now. I
could handle being a woman very easily but my friend was
getting angrier by the minute and I was getting very scared.
I was afraid it would soon escalate into violence.

"I didn't say that. If it happened once, it can happen
again. I'm sure we'll switch again, eventually."

"Eventually?! I want to switch now! I mean right now!!"

Debbie looked at me with murderous fury. I thought she'd
attack me any second. My eyes went wide and my vision got
blurry as tears started forming. My angry friend took a
sudden step towards me and I immediately hugged my head in
terror.

"Don't hit me!" I shrieked. Then, much more quietly,
"Please, don't hit me."

Debbie stopped with a shocked look on her face. I don't
think she realized the effect she was having on me. She
didn't really want to hurt me. She was just very upset,
and now so was I.

My tears flowed freely as I slowly slumped to the floor and
sobbed. How could everything have turned out so badly? All I
wanted to do was experience life as a woman, if only for a
short while. Feeling like you're the wrong gender is hell.
Almost everyday I'd get up, see myself in the mirror and
have to get used to it all over again. I contemplated a sex
change - sexual reassignment surgery for the more
politically correct - but it wouldn't be real. I wouldn't be
a real woman.

Debbie crouched down and hugged me. She still had a stern
look on her face but the tone of her voice had softened.

"I'm sorry, Terry. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm having a
lot of trouble accepting this," she said, pointing to
herself. "I really need to change back."

"I know. I can tell," I said with a weak smile. "I was
hoping you'd get an idea of what I've been going through.
Then we could relate better. You're effectively a
transgendered man now."

"Yes, but you've had your whole life to get used to it.
Didn't you tell me that it took you years to accept it? It's
been a rude shock for me, especially since I didn't think
you could pull it off."

I hadn't thought about that. I was a little miffed that she
didn't believe me but I let it pass. She needed my support
for now. I decided to diffuse the situation with some humor.
We could both use a good laugh to release some tension.

"I just want to say that I think you've handled this all
very well," I said with a slightly sarcastic tone and silly
grin.

Debbie responded by slapping me on the shoulder and I
thought she'd be alright.

7. First Blood

The rest of the morning went fairly well. We had a bowl of
cold cereal together and then went our separate ways. Debbie
sat on the couch and watched TV while I rummaged through my
male body's extensive feminine wardrobe. I had hoped to
have a bit of a fashion show but the clothes were all too
long. Since that didn't pan out, I explored the contents of
Debbie's purse. There were keys, a large wallet, makeup,
tissues and several feminine hygiene products. It made sense
for women to carry a purse. They had a lot more things to
carry around with them. Pockets couldn't hold it all.

Everything was quiet until Debbie suddenly remembered that
she was supposed to meet with a few girlfriends in a couple
hours. They were planning to shop at the mall and then see a
movie. I'd love to take her place but it wouldn't be a good
idea. I didn't know her friends and couldn't hope to carry
on a meaningful conversation with them.

"I should probably call at least one of them to say you're -
I mean, I'm not going," I said. "But what will I use for an
excuse?"

Debbie looked a little upset at first. Then she got a wicked
grin that developed into some disturbing laughter. I
eventually got her to settle down and tell me what was going
on in her handsome little head.

"I've got a great excuse for you. In fact, I'd almost
considered not going myself because of it."

"What is it?"

"My period is due today."

"Great timing," I groaned.

I'd be doing a lot more groaning before the day was over. I
had noticed that I wasn't feeling well but I thought it was
nerves. My breasts were very tender and I was starting to
get cramps. It was not a nice experience. Luckily, Debbie's
purse was full of things I'd need to get through it.

After Debbie's feminine hygiene lecture, I called her
girlfriend, Michelle. My authentic moans and groans on the
phone were enough to convince Michelle that I had a good
excuse not to go. I ended the conversation with an apology
and hung up. Then I popped a couple of pain pills.

"That went well," I frowned. "So how long before this pain
medication kicks in?"

Debbie hadn't heard me. She just kept staring at me with a
bemused look on her face. It started bugging me so I broke
the awkward silence.

"What?! What is it? Is my tag out?"

That got a laugh out of her.

"No, it's just nice to have missed out on menstruation for
once. It's fascinating to see how much it affects my body. I
have some pretty severe symptoms."

"Yeah, I know," I grumbled. "At least something good has
come out of this for you."

"Maybe. But I still want to switch back tonight," she
maintained.

*****

For the next couple hours, Debbie was almost moodier than I
was. I tried to get her interested in sampling the
advantages of being a man, but whenever she began to relax,
she would find some way to sabotage herself. She liked
missing out on her period but then realized she had a penis
she didn't want. She liked being stronger but hated seeing
hair on her arms. She liked being taller but missed her
little stepping stool. It was bad enough for me to have
cramps and bleed, but I had to listen to her complain too.

"Shit!" Debbie hissed.

"What is it this time?"

"I just remembered why I wanted to go shopping so badly. I
really needed to get some new pants," she replied.

"Needed or wanted?"

She glared at me and inspired a lot worse comments that I
kept to myself. PMS really was a bitch. But somehow I
overcame my foul mood for a brief moment and got a great
idea. I was determined to enjoy my womanhood.

"Hey! I've got an idea."

Debbie just rolled her eyes.

"We can still go shopping. I can try on clothes and you'll
be able to easily see how they look on you. I'd love that."

I could see the wheels turning as she thought about it. She
finally agreed and within another 45 minutes, we were on our
way. It took 45 minutes because she insisted on putting some
makeup on my face and fixing my hair. I could've done it
myself but I figured it would be good therapy for her.

We chose a different mall to make sure we didn't run into
her friends. That would be awkward to say the least. I drove
us in her car and soon we were in the women's clothing
section of Debbie's favorite department store. I was in
heaven. My pain medication was working - I barely felt the
cramps - and I could freely try on women's clothes.

Talking Debbie into letting me try on dresses was
impossible. No matter how much I pleaded, she just wanted
to get two or three pairs of dress slacks for work and then
leave. I thought she was acting too much like a man at this
point but I held my tongue. Hopefully, she would relent
after getting the pants.

We walked around looking at several styles. I suggested
some beige and tan colored slacks. I thought they'd look
nice on her but she didn't appreciate the help. After
another 15 minutes or so, Debbie had picked out some navy
blue and black pants for me to try. I suspected she chose
dark colors because she was self-conscious about her
weight. That would explain why she didn't like my choices.

Debbie handed me the clothes and went to sit down while I
started walking to the dressing room. I'm sure the clerk
could hear me sigh with pleasure as I went inside but I
didn't care. I tried on the black slacks first. They seemed
to fit very well so I hurried out to model them.

I walked out to the waiting area and immediately noticed a
funny look on my old face. Ignoring the look, I walked back
and forth and spun around once.

"Well? What do you think?" I said.

"Nice. I'll take it. Now try the navy pair."

That was a strange response, I thought. What was wrong now?
Debbie seemed even more uptight.

The navy blue slacks were a little tighter fit than the
black pair but still looked nice in the dressing room
mirror. I again hurried out and saw Debbie still sporting
the same look. She got worse as I walked towards her and
repeated my modeling performance.

"I'll take those too. Let's go."

Then she suddenly crossed her legs and immediately got a
pained look on her face. I guessed what the problem was and
made sure to suppress a smile.

"Um, you have to be careful how you cross your legs," I
whispered.

She waved a hand to hurry me into the dressing room and
looked away. I went inside to change and reluctantly came
back out. I would always cherish trying on those pants no
matter how little time I spent doing it. I paid for the
pants with some cash from Debbie's purse and soon we were
on our way home. As I was driving, I heard some sniffing
sounds and saw that Debbie was crying. I didn't think
crossing her legs would make her cry but something was
upsetting her.

"I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the shopping," I said softly.
"Are you okay?"

"No."

"What's wrong? You didn't hurt yourself too much crossing
your legs, did you?"

"Not really," she sulked.

"Then what is it? Were you embarrassed? Please tell me."

"I... I got an erection!" she finally blurted out. Then she
started crying again.

That did it. Debbie was not handling her manhood well, and
she was getting worse. I drove to the nearest drug store
and picked up a sleep aid, one I knew worked well on my
body. It was time to switch back.

8. Calm before the Storm

We got back to my apartment. Debbie had stopped crying and
stopped talking. She wasn't catatonic or anything. She'd
grunt when I'd ask a question and she followed me inside,
but that was it. She was numb. I unwrapped the sleeping
pills and gave them to her.

"Here, take three of these," I ordered. "They'll make you
sleep and we can try to switch back. I can't promise we'll
be back in our own bodies in the morning but I can't stand
to see you like this."

She took the pills with some water and just stood there. She
didn't seem to be thinking very well. I led her back to my
bed and got her to lie down. Between the stress and the
pills, she was asleep in less than 30 minutes.

It was early evening by now. My pain medication was wearing
off and cramps were starting to bother me. I took some more
medication and decided I should wait for it to take effect
before I tried another body swap.

While I waited, there were a couple more things I wanted to
try. An orgasm was out of the question. It wouldn't feel
right with Debbie being so upset. But I had to try
something. First I sat at my dining room table, crossing and
uncrossing my legs several times. It was such a wonderful
feeling. Then I couldn't help myself. My hand slipped inside
my bra and very gently tweaked a nipple, causing me to moan
with pleasure. After only about 10 minutes of alternately
rubbing and tweaking both nipples, it wasn't long before I
felt a little moisture in my crotch. That reminded me of
Debbie's feminine hygiene lecture and quickly dampened my
spirit.

My imagination is extremely active and vivid. It produced
all sorts of horrible images of what I'd find in my panties
after experiencing what I learned was a heavy flow day of
menstruation. I reluctantly trudged off to the bathroom to
put on a fresh maxi pad, but I have to say it wasn't that
bad. I don't understand why I had been so squeamish about
it. It's just a bit of blood. Men get cuts all the time and
don't think twice about it. How silly of me.

I spent the next hour or so trying different hairstyles.
That was fun. My face was fairly round but putting my hair
up loosely on my head seemed to make my face look more oval.
I hoped to suggest it to Debbie after the body swap if she
was still speaking to me.

Now it was time for the big swap. The pain medication was
performing its magic and I felt tired, even though it was
only about 9 o'clock. It had been an emotionally draining
day and I'm sure battling a period didn't help. I laid down
beside my old body and began my preparation.

The vibrations came easily and before long I was floating
over the bed. My astral form looked like Debbie as expected.
Then the silver cords caught my eye. The silver cord is some
sort of umbilical cord that connects the astral body to its
physical body. I noticed our two cords were crossed. They
correctly connected the original bodies. That was
interesting. It provided a way to tell if two people had
swapped.

I dropped down into my old body and followed my previous
procedure. Before long, and with a lot of difficulty, I
slowly woke up in my old body. I was only awake briefly
though. The sleeping pills that Debbie took were too strong.
I hoped everything would work as I lost consciousness.

*****

I didn't wake up until around noon the next day. I was
extremely groggy but I did notice right away that Debbie was
gone. The swap worked. Good for her. I dragged myself out of
bed and looked for her car. It was gone too. There was no
note or message on my answering machine. It would be awhile
before I'd hear from her again. I just shook my head. What a
shame. Then I sunk down on the couch and had a good cry.

*****

The rest of September passed pretty much without incident. I
had given up on astral projection for awhile. Debbie's
attitude really upset me. Rhona consoled me but I decided to
wait until she was able to have out-of-body experiences
before I'd start again. Then we could share the experience
and perhaps even swap bodies. Anyway, I needed the time to
get over Debbie.

The only thing that happened over the next couple weeks was
a flurry of strange dreams with a recurring theme. In my
dreams, men and women all around the world kept swapping
bodies and then tried to deal with it. It only happened to
couples of the opposite sex who slept together. The dreams
were very satisfying and good therapy for me.

By early October, I started noticing body swapping stories
in tabloid headlines at the grocery store. I often scan the
headlines while waiting in the checkout line. Some of them
are humorous. If I had been more observant, I would've
realized there was a strong correspondence between my recent
dreams and those headlines. I should've bought a tabloid and
read the stories. If I had, I might have averted the
impending gender war. It's too bad tabloids have such a bad
reputation. I'm sure I would've died from embarrassment if I
had bought one. I guess those rags actually do contain some
truth. But who reads them?

9. Gender War

By the time I realized my dreams were coming true, I think
it would've been too late to stop the swapping. There seemed
to be a lot of momentum building. Too many people had
already switched. Too many lives were already disrupted.

I wonder now whether I had a direct hand in it or if I just
somehow planted a seed. I didn't know how I could swap two
other people but I didn't know exactly how I swapped with
Debbie either. Regardless of a direct or indirect
involvement, I still feel guilty. I convicted myself on the
strong circumstantial evidence.

For all the guilt I felt, a sense of satisfaction was even
stronger. Debbie and several other previous encounters made
me think that most people needed mandatory body swapping.
I'm sure that's part of the reason why it was happening. It
was a form of cosmic justice, asserting itself over a world
of intolerant human beings. Until attitudes improved, I
secretly hoped the swapping would continue.

*****

As the weeks scrolled by, I watched in fascination as more
evidence of global body switches accumulated. It looked as
though most of the switching was done by couples of the
opposite sex who slept together or very near each other.
There were also a substantial number of claims by teenage
siblings of the opposite sex. The news was just starting to
spread from tabloids to more mainstream sources. I brought
up the subject of recent tabloid headlines with Rhona and
that started an interesting conversation.

"I've been scanning the tabloids over here. I'm starting to
see the same pattern," she said. "Something else caught my
eye too. Television personalities seem to be going missing.
Some claim to be chronically sick and others disappear
completely. The tabloids claim a new epidemic is
responsible."

Yeah, I thought. It was an epidemic of body swapping.

"I've also noticed a new trend," I mentioned. "I started
skimming some free local newspapers and I'm seeing strange
new personal ads. Translated from personal ad shorthand,
they go something like 'tall white blonde man seeks petite
white blonde woman for swapping'. At first I thought it
might be wife swapping but now I'm not sure. I'm really
afraid I've started something."

I told Rhona about my dreams and how they matched the
pattern of swapping. Rhona agreed it was a strange
coincidence but she reminded me that even if I was somehow
causing the swaps, I wasn't doing it consciously. Her casual
dismissal eased my mind a little. I could handle a little
guilt but I wouldn't like to lose my best friend over it.

We continued our discussion and I remembered another
important detail. Rhona wondered why people didn't get
swapped back and forth several times if they continued to
sleep together. So far, Debbie and I were the only two
people who had swapped back to our original bodies. I
recalled that it was easy to tell whether two people had
been swapped by looking at their silver cords. The cords
cross in swapped bodies. Whoever or whatever was doing the
swapping must want it to be permanent, or at least want it
to last for a long time. It would take a lot longer than one
day for some people to adjust to being the opposite sex and
apparently, adjustment is important.

*****

In the months ahead, body switches had obviously affected
all parts of the country. Vacation and sick leave was used
and abused in all sectors of the economy, as swap victims
stayed home to adjust to their new bodies. No business was
spared. There must have been millions of swaps. It staggered
even my imagination. I started doubting whether I could be
directly responsible. How could I possibly switch millions
of people in only a few months?

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, heads of
state started swapping. When the president and first lady
switched, everyone - at least in America - finally
acknowledged it. With brain wave scans and private
briefings, there was too much evidence to deny that our
president was now a woman.

The president, in his wife's body, gave an impassioned
speech, imploring everyone to remain calm. I was impressed
and surprised that the president was handling the switch so
well. Of course I didn't know how long she'd actually had
to get used to it. She never told us how long ago she'd
switched.

It's too bad the speech didn't help. Once the swapping
became public, people panicked. The dynamics between the
sexes changed dramatically. Men and women had sex much less
frequently and sexual tension skyrocketed. They were afraid
of switching so they wouldn't go near each other. It didn't
matter that, so far, only sleeping couples actually
switched. Pornography sales were at an all-time high but
there's no substitute for a warm body.

Violence was another problem. Rape and assault increased.
It was disturbing to see how many "new" women were beating
their "new" boyfriends. There were many cases of forced
switches too. Men and women were being handcuffed to their
beds and drugged. Someone of the opposite gender would sleep
nearby and wait for the inevitable body swap.

Gender relations got worse before they got better. There
were still too many anxious people who would do anything to
avoid being switched. They became celibate and lashed out
at the world. Men blamed women. Women blamed men. Things
got ugly. I think the worst thing to happen was the anger
towards those who accepted their new gender. They were
called homosexuals and ridiculed beyond belief by people who
had still evaded the big switch.

I cried a lot during that time. Half the problem with being
transgendered is the fear of being ostracized for it, and
hateful, intolerant individuals were adding to my fear.
What's worse, millions of swapped individuals now felt the
same thing I did.

On the surface, the heightened sexual tension, violence and
fear seemed to be the makings of a gender war. That's what
the news media was calling it. It sounded good and it was a
natural extension of the phrase, "battle between the sexes".
But actually, it was a war within each of us. It was a war
against intolerance, and unless the majority of people
switched, there didn't seem to be much hope in ending it.

*****

Nine months had gone by since Debbie and I had switched but
things hadn't improved. They hadn't gotten worse but they
were definitely no better. It was hard to estimate how many
people had switched. Many of them were still hiding. The
best numbers we had to go on were the increase in number of
absent workers. Absentee rates had jumped 35% from last
year's numbers. But that didn't work well as an indicator
for very long. As victims started accepting their new
gender, they returned to work. They decided to rejoin the
human race.

I have to admit that a part of me would've liked to see
everyone changed overnight. I wanted the world to suffer
with being transgendered the same way I had. I wanted to
yell, "How do you like it?!" I guess I wanted a little
vengeance for the way I had been treated. But in retrospect,
I'm mostly glad that the swapping occurred so gradually. If
everyone had swapped together I could see how civilization
could've been brought to a grinding halt. Everyone would've
had to adjust at the same time. Too many people would've
hidden away, disrupting important services that we take
advantage of and then scream when they're not working well.
As it was, there were always people around to support the
swappers in their hour - or day or week or even month - of
need. Life went on.

10. Dawn of a New Era

It had been nearly two years before I saw signs of a gender
recovery. Well over half of the world's adult population
must have been switched by this time. New cases became much
more infrequent. There were a lot fewer people to switch
and many of those that did switch didn't report it now.

It was nice to see attitudes change. Switching gender
became mainstream - normal even. It wasn't accepted by any
means but it was tolerated. Couples couldn't stay apart.
Men and women needed each other. Each side realized the
power the other side had over them. Love conquers all, even
body swapping.

Rhona and I didn't have a significant other. We were more
interested in developing and maintaining our friendship
from afar so our lives remained stable. Most teenagers also
remained in their original bodies, along with gays, lesbians
and some lonely adults. I was still transgendered but now I
had a lot more people who could relate to me. It worked out
well for my swapped friends too. I helped them deal with
their new lives.

Rhona continued trying to have out-of-body experiences and
I continued trying to help her. She eventually discovered
the joys of astral projection and we were able to swap
bodies several times. Rhona was brave but I could tell she
didn't like being a man. We never switched for longer than
a weekend.

We never told anyone that we could swap at will. We didn't
want to be swarmed with requests and demands to try to swap
others. It was better that way. I seemed to be able to swap
with anyone but I still wasn't sure how to swap two other
people. To this day, the global swapping is still a mystery
to me.

There was only one more loose end: Debbie. I'm sure she
suspected I had something to do with the gender war. We were
the first to swap after all. I knew the day would come when
she'd confront me about it. I'd wait patiently until then
and watch the world slowly heal.

*****

Debbie called me several months later. It took me awhile to
recognize her voice. Then I had to wonder if it was someone
she'd swapped with. She quickly corrected that notion. She
was one of the lonely ones who didn't switch, and once again
she was very upset. After things had settled down a little,
she'd started thinking.

"Did you have something to do with all of these body swaps?
You did, didn't you!" Debbie accused.

"I truly don't know, Debbie. I admit there's a strange
coincidence. The global swapping started soon after our
brief swap."

"Yeah. Maybe it's a little too much of a coincidence. How
could you?!"

It was another case of guilty until proven innocent, I
thought.

"Look Debbie, I haven't done anything I'm aware of. Remember
that I didn't know exactly how we swapped."

"Well... yeah."

"And do you think I'd start a gender war on purpose? You
know me better than that."

That satisfied her. I didn't tell her about my dreams coming
true. I still thought I could be indirectly responsible but
I didn't need anyone else thinking the same thing.

"I wonder if some outside force is somehow responsible," I
continued.

"You mean like God?"

"I don't know. Our swap didn't go very well. Perhaps the
universe decided we needed to be swapped. You have to admit
that men and women understand each other better now."

That got Debbie thinking. She was still upset about our swap
and very upset about the gender war but she was no longer
angry at me. Perhaps she also felt responsible in some way.
I know I implied it with my comment about our swap. She's
the one who didn't take it very well. I loved it.

We parted company on neutral terms this time. I told her I'd
like to talk to her again and she promised she'd call. All
of her other friends had swapped and were a bit preoccupied
so she was a little lonely.

*****

It was another three weeks before I heard from Debbie again.
The world still hadn't improved much but there were no signs
of imminent collapse either. I was disappointed that it took
her so long to call but change is difficult for most people.

"Hi Terry."

"Hiya Debbie. How are you?"

"I was wondering...."

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering if we could swap again sometime," she said
softly. "Just for a couple days. Would that be okay?"

*The End*