Introduction: What is discovery? Perhaps it’s finding something that you didn’t know existed. Maybe it’s finding a hidden treasure. Maybe it’s finding out something about yourself that many were aware of but you just didn’t know it.

Mannie does not hesitate one bit. Each step just makes her that much surer that she is doing the right thing. Of course she is going to transition, and the details aren’t that important in this story. Let’s just say it was a wonderful three years, and then tragedy.

This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

Chapter 7

“Jesus, I never thought this would be happening so quickly. My God, a beauty parlor. I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”

“Look, Mannie, we are not getting you ready for the prom. We are just getting you ready to meet our customers. Nothing’s changed. The work you do is still the same. You are still working the vineyards and you are still working in the winery. You might have to help out in the tasting room every once in a while. You certainly don’t have to dress to the nines, but you will be presentable. You can’t do this half way. You have several things in your favor. You haven’t put on much weight, so getting you into decent clothes won’t be a problem. You’re relatively tall, and your hair is to die for. Lindsay will show you how to do the best with what you have. The other things will be fixed over time.”

“When was the last time you cut your hair, dear?” Lindsay asked as she seated Mannie in the chair where she would spend many hours over the next year.

“That would be seven years ago. I told mom I didn’t want to cut it. She didn’t argue.”

“Well, I am going to trim it a bit. When you leave here there will be no doubt that you are a young, outdoorsy woman ready to conquer the world. When I’m through with you today, you might be in for a bit of a shock. I know this is the first time you will have let your feminine side out. So I’m not going to do anything extreme. You are working in a winery, not a high class dress shop. Not that we have any around here as it is.

“Your hair is a dirty blonde. I am going to lighted it quite a bit. I won’t have to pre-bleach it. It won’t be anything garish like Tori Spelling or Christina Aguilera. It will look perfectly natural. Now, this is important. Do not shave over the weekend I will want to see you first thing on Monday. We are going to start getting rid of what little beard you have. It will be a tedious but necessary process.”

Lindsay rummaged around in her cabinets until she found what she wanted. “Okay, have you read much of that transgender fiction on the internet?”

“A little, why?”

“Some of those writers have it all wrong about hair. I have two girls, that is clients, who were like you at one time.” While she was saying this she was mixing up several bowls of some sort of concoction. “One of my clients wanted to be platinum. It wasn’t right for her, but she wanted to be platinum. So I did it. I think it looks terrible, but she loves it. I’ve been doing it for her for six years. She was upset because I didn’t wash her hair before pre-bleaching it. She thought that was the way to do it because she read something written by someone who knew nothing about lightening hair. You don’t wash it because you want the natural oils to be there. They protect the hair from damage.

“Okay, we apply the mixtures starting about a half inch out from the roots. I had to mix up quite a bit because you have so much beautiful hair. I am also blending three different shades. They are subtly different, just enough to make your hair look as natural as possible. As soon as I get all the long tresses done I will go back and do the roots. Then I will bag it up and let the miracle start working. While that is going on, I will fix your eyebrows. You are lucky. Your brow ridges aren’t too prominent; however, you’ll probably want them done along with a little jaw and nose work. You will be quite attractive even without that work.”

Lindsay was quite the talker, and as she applied the hair coloring, Mannie learned quite a bit about some of her clientele without learning their names. She talked as she plucked and shaped Mannie’s eyebrows. She talked as she did several strand checks.

“Perfect. Lean back while I wash this stuff out of your hair.

“One of the rules is you can’t look until I’m through. The point is that when I’m finished and you see the results you will either faint dead away, give me a big tip, or both. Most importantly, I don’t ever want you to go back the way you were. If I can’t do this right for you, I’m going to quit my job.”

Time flies when you’re having fun. After drying Mannie’s hair to a damp dry, Lindsay started trimming. Mannie could see that her trimmed hair was considerably lighter than it had been, and it was still damp. Oh well, in for a penny.

“I am going to give your hair some body. This is so you don’t have to worry too much about getting it ready every morning. I’m going to show you how it looks down, and how to put it up. You can put it in a ponytail and it will look very nice for informal times and work.

“Okay, this perm stuff smells pretty bad, but you’ll get used to it. After the perm solution has been in long enough, I apply a neutralizer to stop the process.” By this time Mannie had a head full of large curlers plus some smaller ones around her temples. “Now to work on the makeup. We’ll have to watch this because your skin is going to change as the hormones take effect. We’ll keep adjusting things. I’m going to do some things for effect today. I’ll expect you to back off quite a bit. I have already prepared written instructions for you. I want you to practice daytime makeup in the morning and nighttime makeup after you get home from work. We’ll probably want to do your roots every two to three weeks depending on how fast your hair grows.

While waiting for her hair to dry, Mannie set a new record for time and points playing Free Cell on her cell phone. Finally it was time. Lindsay had had several customers come and go while Mannie had undergone what was, of course, a totally new experience for her. The thing was, it was almost fun. It was like having your house crash into the land of the Munchkins and being able to start out on a wonderful adventure with no idea where you were going to go.

At last, it was time for the unveiling. Lindsay had worked for quite a while getting Mannie’s hair exactly the way she wanted it. Then she gently rotated her chair.

There was no way Mannie could have been prepared for the reflection that greeted her. She was a woman, a very attractive young woman. Her long blonde hair cascaded down in gentle waves over her shoulders. Her hair glistened. Her cell phone crashed to the floor. She had cheek bones and her nose appeared to be smaller. Her blue eyes stood out. They sparkled. She couldn’t hold back her tears.

Lindsay grabbed several tissues and tried to prevent as much damage as possible. “God, I do good work.”

“Would you get my phone, please.”

Lindsay handed the phone to Mannie.

“Hi Gerry.”

“I’m doing fine. Look, I need to see you as soon as possible. Also, do you think you can get me an appointment with that endocrinologist?”

“Yeah, as soon as possible.” You gotta do what you gotta do she said to herself.

Mannie started slow release estrogen and blockers the following week. She’d had several sperm samples stored away for who knows what. She started feeling the effects of the hormones almost immediately. She couldn’t believe how good she felt. Yes, she was getting emotional, but she knew why. The morning sickness and sudden dizzy spells disappeared after two months. At the same time her breasts began to develop in earnest. At three months into HRT she went to a clinic in Fort Smith on a Friday and had a bilateral orchidectomy. She was back at work on Monday. In her eighth month of transition, she took a month off and went to San Francisco for facial feminization surgery. While she was there she got a California Driver’s license with F designated on it. She had used doctor’s clinic as the address. No one would bother to check. She didn’t look bad in the photo. Her makeup covered up what was left of the bruising. The swelling was down pretty much by then. Her mother spent the entire month with her. Uncle Ben knew some people in Texas who owed him. Mannie’s birth certificate suddenly had the name Emmanuelle Allison Argerich, sex female. She changed her driver’s license back to Arkansas when she returned.

The surgeon who did the facial surgery offered to do breast augmentation for a discount; however, Mannie declined. She was a full B and from all indications would continue to grow. She had gained two inches around the hips. She’s been using a waist cincher and dropped her waist from thirty inches to twenty-eight inches. How much of that reduction was due to good diet and exercise could not be determined.

At two years into her transition she and her mother went back to California for Mannie’s gender confirmation surgery. A young doctor had been recommended to her when she’d been out there before, and Mannie had interviewed her. It turned out that Dr. Robynn Jones had been transgender at one time, also. Mannie’s surgery went very well, and after three weeks she was given the okay to return to Arkansas.

Mannie could honestly say she had never been happier. By this time it was no secret that her uncle had paid for everything. He visited her and the winery for several days in her third year as a female. She loved her job and the people she worked with. Things couldn’t have been better. Then she got the phone call from her mother.

“Baby, Ben has been killed. He was shot. Someone murdered him.”

Mannie decides to ride her bike to North Dakota in spite of the fact that it is fall and winter is not too far off. She has no problem taking time off from the winery. Her mother will follow in a few weeks. Mannie has one objective: find her uncle’s murderer. Things are going to get interesting.