So, I didn’t like the old version of this story very well, so I reworked it, adding substantial content. A large part of this story is true. The bit about the E-coli happened to me. I spent 32 years working in industry and construction here in America. The way the construction guys treated me is authentic, and yes, some of them thought I was a woman and some thought I was gay. I hope that you enjoy this. Can you guess which feature of the story has become my de-facto “trademark”?

The guys at work liked Ernie. Without much conversation at all, they always knew he was somehow different, but he could out do any Track Hoe operator there. The bucket on his machine seemed to be as agile as his own hand. He was good for a little joking now and then because of his diminutive size. Would Ernie's closely guarded secret ruin everything? It was getting harder and harder to hold everything in, to hide his true nature.

When the Medium Cat Excavator on the Construction site shut down for lunch, an observer would expect a big hulking man to climb out of it. Instead, Ernie scampered down off the tall tracks. He was a skinny, short, hippie looking kid with long light brown hair. He usually kept it under his helmet but today it had fallen down around his shoulders. He picked his way daintily across the site to the lunch trailer, trying as hard as he could to keep dry and out of the mud. The insulated Carhart Coveralls and Jacket he wore made him appear much manlier than when he looked in normal street clothes.

The rest of the guys just plodded along like they owned the world; not always missing mud holes. There was nothing graceful about them. They all went into the trailer together. They’d stand there scraping the big stuff off their boots and then leave their muddy trails into the trailer's Lunch room.

In the trailer, there was the usual talk of last weekend’s game; the usual comments about whose truck was best; who caught the biggest fish, and a few jokes about the smallest guy on the crew, Ernie. Of course everyone knew that the guy who drove the Ford pickup would have the biggest lie about it. Ernie usually tried to scurry out of the trailer before the guys got bored and started chiding him about needing a booster seat for his Excavator. Most of the time, they good naturedly teased him and he didn’t really mind too much. Most of them treated him like a little brother (or sister?).

Ernie was a good worker and friendly to the other guys. They all liked him, except a couple rednecks who no one liked. Once in a while they’d start harassing Ernie, and old Jack would threaten to throttle them. It seemed that Jack or one of the other guys were always around where Ernie was working. He just thought that they were being friendly. To an outsider, it might seem a lot like they were protecting Ernie.

The only real problem that Frank had with Ernie is his constant tardiness to work. It didn’t matter that he could move twice the dirt, and dig to grade better than any operator there. The kid needed to show up on time or it would make the other guys think they could do it too. Every now and then, he’d call Ernie in and chew his ass real good. The kid would straighten up for a while.

Ernie stood just over 5’ 1” and the only day he weighed much over 125lbs was when it was raining and the mud on his boots and clothes gave him a little help. Today he felt nervous and excited. He was leaving on 30 Days of Vacation. He’d told everyone that he was going to Mexico, but he was really going to Thailand. He’d been really close mouthed about his plans. Ernie hadn’t told a soul that “he” would cease to exist, and he hoped that the person who returned would eventually make a go of it.

“Hey Ernie, maybe down south you’ll find a woman really short, like you.” Jack said. If it had been anyone else than Jack, Ernie would have been upset. If he did get upset, it didn’t do any good. Being so small, none of the guys really paid attention to him if he did. They mostly liked him and if he was just nice, and massaged their egos a little, they would listen to him.

Once when one of the guys had dumped a shovel of dirt on Ernie’s seat, he got really mad, shaking his fists and spitting like a mad cat. Everyone just laughed about it. So, Ernie just walked out, slamming the door.

Frank stepped out of his office and said, “Ok knock it off you guys, and quit picking on little “sister”. You all know damned good and well that he makes it so I don’t have to hire a second operator. I’ve been sharing the savings with you all.
“Now, who in the hell dumped the dirt in Ernie’s cab?” “Uh, I did boss”, Jim said.

“Look Jim, you know what a clean freak Ernie is? Now get out there and help the little kid clean it up.”

At that, Frank Chuckled a little, and everyone else in the shack burst out laughing.

That was Friday, and Ernie would be gone on Vacation now.

The work site seemed different without Ernie around; boring somehow, no one to joke about. So, the month passed even though things felt somehow dull without the kid.

Ernie had done enough counseling with a "professional" to know what he wanted to do, but did not want to spend the money on another two years of counseling to get a "carry letter" to take to Thailand. So, through negotiation, he found out that a couple hundred dollars would get him permission to have surgery there. Ernie was very intelligent and almost too stubborn for his own good. That stubbornness would put his life in danger.

In Thailand Ernie became Candace. While the actual surgery wasn’t very painful at all, and the dilation was easy, it somehow sapped his vitality and it did not take much at all to make Candace really tired. Being only 25 years old, she had expected more from herself. Perhaps it was the breast augmentation, and the facial surgery in addition to SRS that so weakened her. She'd secretly been taking Estrogen for years, but wanted just a little more breast. Then there was the awful E-coli infection she’d brought home from Thailand. Her body was naturally adapted to the surgery because she was a genetic outlier, so already had much of the facial and pelvic construction, but not even the healthiest woman would struggle with such an infection. Perhaps it was more the infection than the actual surgery that weakened her.

When the surgeon was doing her operation, he found evidence of past surgery in her lower abdomen, but Candace did not have the money for genetic testing. Through her own study and research she already knew.

When she returned to the States, she felt really sick, so as soon as she got her baggage into her apartment, she called her doctor, who saw her the next morning. She revealed to Dr. Bronson that she’d been in Thailand and had surgery. “You what, you just ran off to Thailand and had surgery?” He told her to go right to ER, that he would meet her there. The strain of E-coli she brought from Thailand was resistant to American Antibiotics; stronger measures would be needed.

In a week, Candace was scheduled to return to work. She had reasoned that a bottle of pills and she would be fine. That was far from the case though. After Dr. Bronson berated her stupidity to the point that she began to piteously weep, he had a nurse “install” a PICC line IV that ran from her left elbow up her arm and across her chest and into the Vena Cava above her heart. It would be there for the next month and he ordered her to be sedately inactive at home. Twice a day she was to hook up an electric pump and inject herself with IV Antibiotics.

Candace was so stubborn that she heard what she wanted to hear, not what the Doctor told her. After a week of using the PICC line, on a Monday, she carefully showered, after saran wrapping her IV, got dressed and started for work. It was an hour on light rail down to the city and then a 20 minute walk to the site. By the time she got there, she knew she could not work that day or soon at all.

Ernie's plan was to just conceal Candace under his heavy clothing. He was just too sick to come to work. Ernie did not realize just how long it would take to recover from his surgeries. Maybe he’d had too much done?

His boss Frank, thought that Ernie he looked like he should be in the hospital. His cheeks were sunken and sallow.

Frank, looked at Ernie with a funny look on his face. He thought Ernie looked really different for some reason. With his hard hat, ear muffs, and huge safety glasses on the boss couldn’t tell much but he kept getting the feeling he was looking at a girl. Ernie had never looked much like a man, but since he’d been sick, Ernie looked down right feminine. He decided not to kid the young man about it. It looked as if he could collapse right in front of his desk.

“Geez kid, I hope you get better soon, I really need you here working”

“Thank you, Sir, I promise that two weeks will be enough.” Ernie said.

Frank followed Ernie out of the trailer because he was on his way over to check out the surveyors’ new stakes. On the way down the steps, Ernie began to fall down, but Frank reached out and grabbed him around the chest before he went down.

Ernie, let out a scream that sounded just like his wife, and then pried Frank’s arm off of his chest.

Frank was concerned. “What the hell you screamin’ like that for kid, you sound like my wife?”

“Sorry boss, you got my, ah, sunburn. It really hurts.”

“You sure you’re OK kid?” He could tell that Ernie’s eyes were full of tears. Frank was really getting concerned, the kid’s voice didn’t even sound right.

“Yes, I just need to go home and get back in bed.”

“Kid, I know that you are the best operator here but I don’t want you here if you are going to keel over on me.” Frank kept his voice gruff. The kid was not going to know that Frank thought of him almost like a son.

“Hey Ernie, we have to start that 8 level underground parking structure in a couple weeks. If you ain’t back by then, I have to get another operator. You know how it is.”

Ernie’s voice broke as he told Frank he’d be back for sure then. “I’m sorry, Frank.” To Frank, the kid’s voice did sound like his daughter’s that time. He decided not to say anything, the kid was too sick.

Frank watched him as he picked his way across the site. The kid was trying to walk like a man, but he still almost looked like a girl. “What the hell?” He thought.

Well, the engineers set the job set back two weeks, so when Ernie came back, Frank put him to doing some office work and studying the plans on the new project. Ernie was smarter than the other guys and Frank knew that one day he’d have his own crew. The kid just needed some meat on his bones; work out in a gym or something. No one on the crew knew about Ernie’s night classes and the fact that he was about to take an MS Degree in genetics. It would still take Ernie years to get his Phd in the field.

On the Monday that the new Job started, Frank arrived at the site in a foul mood. Something really had him pissed off and the other guys were careful to keep busy and out of Frank’s way. Of all the days to be tardy, Ernie picked today to be a whole half hour late for work.

Frank was sitting at his desk working when he looked out the window and saw Ernie trying to sneak in late. He was on his feet so fast that he almost knocked his steel desk over. He went busting out the door of the trailer.

“Hey kid, get your ass over here now!”

Ernie’s whole body tensed in abject fear. He knew he was really late and he knew that Frank was really pissed.

When Ernie got to the bottom of the steps, he looked up at Frank and the look in his eyes almost made him wet his pants.

“Get the hell in here kid, you got some explaining to do.”

“Yes sir.” Ernie could easily tell that Frank was much angrier than being late for work called for. He was so afraid that he could hardly stand up when he walked in and stood in front of Frank’s desk..
“OK, kid, I am going to give you one chance to explain and if you don’t get it right the first time, you are fired.”

“Yes sir.” His voice sounded like a very frightened teen age girl.

Frank just sat there looking at Ernie for a while. Yep he was sure it was Ernie he’d seen. He was so damned disappointed that he did not know what to do with the kid.

“Where the hell was you on the Saturday night when you left on your vacation?” Franks eyes looked like two fiery furnace doors. There would be no lies to him, this day! Ernie could see it and he felt like a rabbit in a wire snare.

Ernie’s eyes were as big as saucers. He was hesitating, not able to speak. Frank was having none of this. He’d get to the bottom of the matter right now!

“Take that hard hat and your safety glasses off. Take your coat off and drop your coveralls. Hurry up!”

As Ernie sat his hard hat down, the pin that was holding his hair up came loose and shoulder length light brown hair cascaded down his head. When he took his huge safety glasses off, Frank would see his eye brows. Ernie began to sob quietly as he laid his coat on the table. By the time he’d dropped his over pants, the tears were dripping on the floor. He now stood there in his jeans and a T shirt that revealed his lovely new breasts covered with a bra. Ernie was so tiny that they did not have to be very big to make a real impression on Frank.

“Explain to me just what the hell you are up to Ernie?” Frank’s voice didn’t sound as mean as he wanted it to. It hurt him that Ernie was so afraid of him, but the kid was sure as hell never going to know that.

“Well, sir, while I was on vacation, I had Sexual Reassignment Surgery.”

“That part is damned obvious Ernie. So what are you going to do, quit me when I am starting a new job? How in the hell am I going to explain this to the boys? Am I gonna have to get you your own toilet? How the hell am I going to keep those HR creeps away from here? They’ll screw everything up if they get wind of this.”

“Sir, I don’t want to lose my job. I owe so much money on loans that I really need this job. And Sir, I don’t need my own toilet. Oh, and I didn’t tell HR. They don’t have a reason to come making life miserable for anyone.” She said, “Besides, running that track hoe is fun, I like it”. Her smile looked really funny on her face that was tear stained, and had disheveled hair.

“So, you’re gonna be a woman now? Can you keep running the excavator, or do I have to get another desk in here? And, what in the hell were you doing in the Silverado Saturday night before you went on vacation? Don’t you realize that place is not safe for a lady? Don’t think you can start wearing all that female crap to work, you’ll have the boys all stirred up and I won’t be able to get any work done. You are going to explain all this to the boys. I sure as hell am not going to do it for you, do you understand that?”

“You mean you aren’t going to fire me?”

“Hell no, if I do, this damned job will run over and the head office will lose money.” Frank never let on but he actually owned the whole company but had his little brother run the office like it was his own. After the company had gotten big enough, and his brother had graduated from College, Frank decided to return to running one of the crews. Only a few of the old timers knew.”

“Oh, thank you sir for not firing me. I promise that I will work really hard and not disappoint you.”

While all the other guys called Frank by name, and were really casual with him, poor little Ernie mostly called Frank sir. Come to think of it, now that Frank had seen Ernie coming out of the Silverado dressed in a mini skirt, he realized that Ernie had always looked like a girl, but he just never thought about it.

“OK, now just what is it going to take to get you in here to work on time? It was a half hour today.”

“I promise I won’t do it again.”

“That’s bull shit that I’ve heard before.”

Ernie’s eyes got really wide. “No, I promise, really!”

Frank sat and looked at Ernie for a while. “What the hell am I gonna call you now, what’s your name?”

“It’s Candace sir.”

Frank looked at Candace for a minute or two. “You damn well better make sure you are not late for work anymore.” Frank looked at Candace for a minute more, like he was thinking.

He seemed to make up his mind. “Candace, get over here, and drop your pants down around your ankles.

“What? You can’t do that to me Sir.” She said. Her voice carried no conviction at all. She knew what was coming and she could not stop Frank from doing it. She slowly moved over by Frank and dropped her pants.

“Oh yes I can little lady. I tried everything else, so this better work” Frank said with his most stern voice.

Frank reached out and took her by the wrist, bending her over his knees. Without a word, he began to spank Candace with his big meaty hand. It only took a few and Candace was weeping piteously and begging Frank to stop.

“Frank, please stop, I am sorry. I will be good; I won’t be late for work again. Please stop?”

When Frank finally did stop, it wasn’t really so long but Candace carried on like he’d half killed her. He helped her pull her pants back up. He told her that she could sit in his chair until she got herself together. His voice sounded more like a father’s voice, not a boss’s. Candace could hear the softness and concern in it now. She jumped with fright when she heard the door to the trailer shut.

She was just too upset to go out there now. She had to stop sobbing and try to dry her face. She just knew she’d be red in the face and eyes but nowhere near as red as her bottom felt. She could barely sit, it was so sore.

She wondered where Frank had gone, but she knew she had to get back outside and get to work. She had all her gear back on and had just started out the door to go back to work, when Frank and all the other guys met her.

“Go back into the trailer. We all have some talking to do.”

Candace backed into the room and into the corner. Sitting did not appeal to her right now.

Frank looked right at her and said, “Take all your gear off again.”

By the time Candace had finished and was back just wearing jeans and a T shirt, the boys were talking among themselves and giving her really frightening looks.

“Damn Jack, said Harry, she is a girl, just like you have been saying for months.”

“Hell, she can still run that machine twice as fast as you can Harry,” said Tony.

“So, what the hell, where’d you get a name like Ernie, princess?,” Said Jack.

Frank let it go on like that for a few minutes. “OK listen up. There have been a couple changes here, but Ernie can still out work all of you, doing what she does and don’t you forget it.” She’s going to explain a few things to you.”

Candace could easily see that at least a few of the guys had always thought she was a girl, so she decided to make use of that. “I needed this job to pay for College and some corrective surgery. I had no idea that I would find running the excavator so easy and fun. My name is Candace, and I took the month off to go on Vacation and to have a little surgery”. With that, she looked down at the girls now perched on her chest. “Oh, there were a couple other things that needed to be fixed but I am fine now.”

She looked around at the guys for a moment, and made a decision.

“Now, I am a complete woman.” That’s’ it. She wasn’t going to tell them anymore. If she ever got serious with a man, then she would fill him in, but these guys did not need to know any more. They would support each other just like they always had, she hoped.

There was some good natured grumbling. Of course the two rednecks had to get their stupid shit in.

“Hey faggot, wait till we get you behind the tool box.” They both leered evilly as they laughed.

“You two pull anything, and you are going to be part of a pour, got it?” Jack said. They did not need to be told that included anything off the work site, too.

The meeting was over, but before everyone went back to work, Jack said, “OK, so is it Ernie or Candy?”

Candace turned to look at Jack with a glare on her face. She saw the mirthful look on his face.

“Jack, is your name Jack or Jackie?” those within ear shot began to laugh like braying donkeys.

“Ok little lady, it’s Candace, OK?”

Candace broke out in a smile. “Sure Jack.” she struck a pose, by flipping her hips and winking at Jack. Another roar of laughter filled the trailer.

Candace was on the way out of the trailer to go to work when Frank stopped her.

“Candace, is the problem with you being late solved?”

She gasped, and covered her butt with her hands. Looking at Frank, she thought she saw a grin for a moment.” Yes sir, it is, I promise”

“Oh, and none of this flirting with the guys either!” He said. That part was said with less conviction but Candace took it seriously.

“Good,” He said, examining her face.

With that, she turned and headed out, leaving her butt unguarded.

“Whap!” his hand made the sound as he planted a good firm one on her errant behind.

Her impish smile did not escape his notice as she turned and tried to dance out of the way. “Yes, sir, I promise.”