After quite a bit of juggling and working extra days to allow other drivers time off to do their Christmas shopping, I managed to secure a decent period off over Christmas. I didn’t tell Jon/Fiona until I’d booked a week in Tenerife over the holiday. It wasn’t cheap but I’d secured a self-catering apartment and flights for a week away. The downside was that the flight was from Birmingham on the 21st. We’d need to set off really early in the morning to check in by 07:00. The other downside was that the return flight was not due to land until 23:00. I booked a Hotel close to the Airport for that night as I guessed that neither of us would want to drive home in the small hours of the next morning.

When all the tickets and everything arrived, I showed them to Fiona.

“Dad?” she said when she’d seen everything.

“Don’t you want to go?”

“You know I do but I don’t have anything to wear for that amount of time away.”

“Funny that, neither do I. Why don’t we go shopping in Manchester a week on Saturday?”

“As Sisters?”

I grinned back.

“Yes, as Sisters. That will remove at least three items on the ‘downside’ list, won’t it?”

“But Dad? Can you afford it? You know how you gripe at the cost of going away over the school holidays.”

“Yes, we can afford it. As long as we don’t go mad. At least as Sisters, we are almost the same size so a bit of mixing and matching will help. Don’t real sisters do that all the time?”

That got me a big hug from my Daughter or was that Sister? It was then that I realised that it didn’t matter that much. As long as Fiona was happy then I would be as well.

As every day went by, the influence of Jon in her whole demeanour diminished. There was a question that I knew I should ask but was afraid to. I think I already knew the answer.

---

One of the sacrifices I’d made in order to get the extra days off was to agree to work a week of split shifts. That meant that I was working from 06:00 to 10:00 and from 15:30 to 19:00. All the drivers in the depot hated it and it was usually done by someone who was in the doghouse with the management so my volunteering to do it earned me a lot of gratitude and several ‘I owe you one’ comments so everyone ended up happy.

I did some Christmas shopping on the first two days but soon got bored and went in search of some Coffee.

I’d just sat down with a Coffee and some lunch when someone sat opposite me.

“You don’t mind if I join you Mr Simms?”

It was the same man who’d approached me almost a month before.

He put his cup of tea down and stirred it before speaking.

“I or rather ‘we’ are very pleased at the approach you are taking to our offer. Very pleased indeed. Some people just throw the bracelets away but I must say, you are very thorough indeed. You have a lovely child Mr Simms and Fiona takes after you in so many ways. That’s why you were selected for this offer. You have done a magnificent job in bringing up your child… Well she’s not a child any longer.”

He took a sip of his tea. He grimaced.
“I put far too much sugar in it,” he commented.

“Anyway, back to the offer. You seemed to have a good time up in the Lakes. And, I must say that going away for Christmas is a stroke of genius. That’s why we may well give you some more incentives to accept the offer on the 31st.”

“Eh?” I said dumbfounded.

He smiled back.

“That’s all I can say for now but you are doing really well. Keep it up and you will find that making the final decision will be a virtual ‘no brainer’.”

“But, why me? Why us?”

The man smiled back at me.

“You drew the short straw when your wife went off to pastures new. You’d already sacrificed the possibility of a good career when she became Pregnant. You gave up University and went out to work. You didn’t complain, you just got on with it. You did the same when she bailed out of your life and went south leaving you with an eight-year old. Think of this as reward for being a decent person who needs a new start in life.”

I sighed.

“There are so many unknowns.”

The man smiled.

“That list of yours is very good. If you don’t mind, we’d like to use it as a reference document.”

“I don’t understand?”

The man smiled.

“Each year we give a number of people the chance of a new life such as you and Fiona. Some require shall we say, a lot of gentle nudging in the right direction. You on the other-hand require virtually none of that.”

“And if we say no?”

The man smiled.

“As I said before, we walk away and leave you get on with your lives. You won’t hear from us again. All that will happen is that you will get a text with an address. Just send the bracelets back to us. There is a lot of shall we say ‘special stuff’ in them that a lot of people would love to get their hands upon and keep for themselves. Does that answer your question?”

“I think so.”

The man took another drink of his tea and after another grimace, he stood up. As he turned to leave he said,

“Enjoy Tenerife. I might turn out to be an interesting experience.”

Before I could answer, he’d gone.

---

This whole thing was a mystery but at least I now knew that other people were going through the same sort of mental torture as I was. This was scant relief but relief nevertheless.

What perturbed me more than anything was how much ‘he’ knew about my and indeed our life. Then I told myself not to be silly. They had to know basically everything about us before this whole thing even started.

I went back to work a little happier but still worried. As I took my first trip out of the depot, I resolved that I would not tell Fiona about the meeting at least for the time being.

Jon came home from College with a sad face.

“What’s up?”

“It’s Mum. She called me when I was in a seminar so I could not answer. When I called her back, she said sorry for not letting us know that she was coming up for my birthday. We talked about Christmas. Before I could say anything, she said that she was off to Barbados for three weeks and that she’d call me when she returned.”

“What’s so wrong about that? At least we know where she will be?”

“That’s not the point. I finished the call feeling that she’d called me just to put me in my place. Almost as if I’m not worthy to be in her company.”

I sighed.
“That’s how she got just before she left us alone. Don’t let her get you down. Remember we have some serious shopping to do at the weekend.”

Jon went to get changed into Fiona with a definite smile on his face.

Our shopping trip to Manchester was fairly successful. We bought what seemed to be loads on clothes and shoes as well as two men trying unsuccessfully to pick us up. Fiona and I had a real laugh when we got back to our car. If they only knew the truth…

---

“Nervous?”

“A bit,” said Jon.

He looked very eager to be in Tenerife. At the moment, we were sitting in an aircraft that itself was sitting on a Taxi-way at Birmingham International Airport. The sun was just coming up. I hoped that it was an omen for our future. Our Aircraft was waiting to taxi onto the end of the runway and take-off. This was his first flight.

“We’ll be airborne soon,”

“I hope so,” he replied as he looked out at the grey but brightening morning sky. We’d left home before 03:00 that morning. A fairly clear run south had put us in a good mood. That had dissipated in a flash when we arrived at the terminal to check-in. The queues of people waiting to fly away were a bit of a surprise to both of us. We were obviously rank amateurs at this travelling malarkey. Still, we’d gotten checked in in time and we were about to get off the ground.

---

We were both relieved to arrive at the small apartment that was going to be our home for the next week. Jon flopped onto his bed.

“Are you ok Son?”

He opened his eyes.

“Yes, or I will be. It does seem that I’m not that good a flyer.”

“Do you want to delay changing?”

Jon thought for several seconds.

“Can we go out for a walk? Some sea air might clear my head?”

I smiled.

“Sure, let me grab a bag and we can do some grocery shopping while we are out.”

We spent the next hour exploring the part of Playa de las Americas where our apartment was located. We even found a small beach, a few possible restaurants to check out and a couple of supermarkets. Jon seemed to brighten up by the time we returned to our apartment.

As I prepared something for us to eat, Jon changed into one of the outfits we’d bought for the holiday.

“I guess you are feeling better then?”

“Yes, that fresh air was all I needed.”

“I think some food and a good sleep is in order. It has been a long day.”

“I didn’t answer your question from earlier.”

“And the answer is now ‘No’ I presume?”

Fiona just smiled.

We went to bed wearing our bracelets ready for the real holiday to begin.

---

Our hopes for the first real day of our holiday were dampened by the rain that greeted us the following morning. Nevertheless, we went out and found a taxi to take us to the Siam Mall. Where else would two twenty something women or was that girls? Anyway whatever is the correct word, go to escape the rain?

We did a lot of window shopping until it was time for a mid-morning coffee. That was when we got our first shock.

Fiona suddenly stiffened and put her coffee cup down with very shaky hands.

“What’s up sister dear? You look as if you have seen a ghost?”

She nodded her head and pointed to a couple who were looking into a shop not far from where we were sitting.

I knew in an instant who we were looking at. Well, one of the two anyway.

“Don’t move darling. Let them move away before we say anything,” I said in a voice slightly above a whisper.
Then I said in a more normal voice,

“Do you fancy eating at Oliver’s tonight?”

Fiona looked at me strangely for a moment then she smiled. Oliver’s was a restaurant close to our apartment.

“Sounds like a good choice.”

We made some more small talk before the couple moved off.

Then we smiled at each other.

“I wonder if Alexander and the children know that she’s playing around again?”

Fiona grinned.
“And she said that she was going to Barbados.”

The mystery woman was my former wife and Jon’s mother.

I finished my coffee and stood up.
“I think we need to finish this conversation somewhere else?”

Then I added,
“But first, I think a few pictures are in order.”

Fiona smiled back at me.

“Can I be the one to do it? After all she was the one who lied to me about where she’d be?”

I nodded.
“Just be careful and don’t get too close. She might get a bit of a fright to find herself looking at a younger version of herself.”

Fiona smiled back at me as she took off down the street in search of her Mother.

I followed slowly and saw Fiona get a few pictures of her Mother. Then Fiona disappeared down a side street. We met up again a few minutes later.

“Any problems?”

“No. She’s all lovey-dovey with him. He must be in his early 20’s.”

Then Fiona looked at me sternly.

“Don’t say it Sis. It looks like my mother has a ‘toy-boy’.”

I nodded.

“She seems to like them young.”

“What’s next?” asked Fiona changing the subject.

“It seems to be clearing up at last. Why don’t we head for the beach?”

We spent an enjoyable hour on the beach relaxing. We were only bothered a few times by the trinket sellers. We watched two women playing Frisbee. It was going miles in the wind. They soon disappeared off the beach. I looked at my watch. It was lunchtime.

---

We settled into a bit of a routine in the days leading up to Christmas Day. I found a few nice things to eat on the 25th in a bigger supermarket that wasn’t far from the shopping Mall. We didn’t see Jon’s Mother on any of our excursions which included a trip to Mt Teide. It was pretty cold up the top but the views were fantastic.

We celebrated Christmas Day with walk in the morning and a decent meal. After a short siesta, we went out again. We ended up on the beach that was just a few minutes from our apartment.

The same two women we’d seen before were playing Frisbee. At one point, it came and landed almost at my feet. One of the women came running over.

As I handed the disk to her, she said,
“Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it. Once the wind takes it, it can go miles.”

Then I stopped dead. She saw my face.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked.

“I… I was admiring your bracelet. It is a lot like mine.”

Fiona was glaring at me. I ignored her and pulled up my sleeve.

“Oh shit!” exclaimed the woman.

By now, the other woman had walked over to see what the problem was. Now that I saw them both close up, I realised that they were almost identical just like Fiona and myself.

The words of the man in the Café came back to me. He’d said,
“Enjoy Tenerife. I might turn out to be an interesting experience.”

Perhaps this is what he meant.

The other woman looked at our wrists and let out a little yelp.

There we were, four apparently twenty something women standing on a beach on Christmas Day looking at basically identical bracelets on our wrists.

“It seems ladies that we are all here for the same reason?” I said quietly.

The second woman was clearly the one in charge of them. I wondered if she was like me, the older one of the two.

“I wonder if it might be more appropriate to finish this conversation out of the wind? Our apartment is only a few minutes away?”

“I’m Roberta by the way. This is Fiona.”

The two women looked at each other. The second one said,
“I’m Barbara and this is Christine.”

“Pleased to meet the both of you,” said Fiona trying to get involved at last.

Barbara and Christine looked at each other again. Christine nodded.

“Thanks for the offer. Yes, I agree. I do think we have a few things to talk about.”

“Please make yourselves at home,” I said when we arrived at our apartment.

Once everyone was settled and suitably refreshed, I said,

“I think perhaps I should tell my or rather our story and … let us see how we go from there.”

There were no disagreements so I began.

“It all started one day in late October. I drive busses for a living in Burnley. After a long shift, I was having a drink in a Pub not far from home and this man came and sat opposite me. After a bit he started talking. He seemed to know all about me and my family and everything, especially that Fiona was struggling with being transgendered. Fiona is really my son Jonathan or Jon for short.”

I carried on for the next twenty minutes. When I’d finished there was silence in the room.

Fiona broke it by saying,
“Dad or as I refer to her now, Sis has been there for me ever since my Mother walked out on us a week before my eighth birthday. I don’t even begin to understand how hard this sort of change has been on him. We came here to try to work out if we should stay as sisters or not.”

“Have you? Worked it out?” asked Christine.

I looked at Fiona and then back to our guests.

“Not yet and yes, time is running out.”

Then Barbara said,
“Our story is remarkably similar. I was in a Café waiting for my daughter. We were going shopping in Chesterfield when this man sat opposite and said started talking. Like you, he knew all about us and our problems. He offered me a way to escape my former partner and Christine’s Father. He is a two timing, rat who likes to get drunk and beat up women. We had to move from Leeds to Sheffield and then to Chesterfield to get away from him but he always seems to find us. We are here now to decide if we want to take this escape route to a new life.”

“Have you decided?” asked Fiona.

Barbara smiled.

“Until earlier, we were close to saying yes. It never crossed my mind that there would be others going through the very same… the very same quandary as us. Now, my mind is all messed up.”

I stepped in and said,
“Isn’t a problem shared, a problem halved?”
No one disagreed.

“Perhaps if we shared our thoughts and concerns then the decisions we make might be easier and we’d be more definite in them and how to go forward?”

Fiona smiled back at me.

---

Our guests left very late that night. We’d spent almost seven hours talking. Our only breaks were to eat, drink and as they say ‘use the facilities’.

When they’d gone, I asked Fiona,
“Well darling, what are your thoughts?”

“Sis, I want to stay like this. I know that an awful lot of things will have to change as a consequence but I’m more certain that it is this version of Fiona is who I want to be.”

I went and sat by her. Then I gave her a big hug.

“I thought you would say that. I am so proud that you came to that decision yourself.”

“I think Christine is of the same mind.”

“I have to agree with you there.”

“Well Sis, it is late so why don’t we sleep on it and pick it up again tomorrow?”

“Have you decided?” asked Fiona.

“No, I haven’t. Even if I decide no, I’ll be there for you, you do know that, don’t you?”

“Thanks Sister Dad,” said Fiona giving me a hug.

---

The next day dawned bright and clear and with a lot less wind.

“Fancy a walk before breakfast?” I asked a sleepy Fiona.

“Eh? What? Errrr Ok. Just let me get dressed…”

Fiona was in that respect, just like Jon and not a morning person.

Fifteen minutes later we left the apartment and walked down towards the sea. A few people were out and about. I could see a large cruise ship moored down at the harbour in Los Christianos.

Neither of us said much as we walked. I hadn’t got much further with my decision making but I could see a difference in Fiona. Once she’d woken up properly, she seemed more determined and actually more graceful in her movements. It was if her mind and body were starting to accept that this was how it would be in the future.

“Did that session we had yesterday help?” I asked as we watched a Mother and child play on the beach.

“Yes and no,” replied Fiona.

“Yes, because this is me. I feel even more at home like this than before. It is almost as if my mind is becoming comfortable in this body and has accepted that Fiona Mk 2 is here for the long term.”

“And the no?”

“The downside is that there are far too many unknowns. But instead of letting that get me down, I am going forward.”

Then she added,
“When we studied famous Philosophers last year, a few things stuck. One was the story where Rousseau returned from a walk and found the city gates closed. Instead of moaning about it, he went off in a new direction and his career took off. I’m not saying that I’m another Rousseau but this is an opportunity. The old me was standing outside those locked gates wondering how Jon would get inside and become Fiona. Well, Fiona is here, alive and kicking. What happens next is going to happen. I just feel a whole lot better equipped to face it.”

Then after a slight pause she said,
“Does that make sense or is it complete bollocks?”

I laughed.

“Darling, it makes perfect sense. I only wish that I was a sure as you are. The ‘Innocence of Youth’ may have something to do with it.”

Fiona grinned.

“From where I stand, you look as young as me.”

I laughed.

“But remember that inside this body is a much wiser person. I might be over analysing all this but I do have some responsibility towards you. We might look like twin sisters but don’t forget that somewhere inside me is your Father.”

Fiona took my arm and held it tight.
“I know pops.”

I looked at her sternly. Then I saw the grin on her face.
We headed back to the apartment in much better spirits and ready for breakfast.

---

We hadn’t made arrangements to meet Barbara and Christine that day but I wasn’t surprised by a knock on our door just after Lunch.

I opened it fully expecting to see our guests from the previous day. Standing there was the man from the Café.

“May I come in?”

He didn’t wait for me to answer but came in nevertheless.

He went into the main room of the apartment. Fiona was watching something on TV.

“Fiona, this is the man I from the Café that I spoke about.”

He smiled at us.

“I really should introduce myself. My name is Warren Harcourt. I’m here because it has come to my attention that one of you has decided to accept my offer of a new life. Is that true?”

I looked at Fiona who shrugged her shoulders.

“We didn’t tell anyone about it,” I said.

“That does not matter. It is my job to know these things. We also know that you made contact with Barbara and Christine. Normally, we don’t like that sort of thing happening but sometimes the people we are helping need an extra push in the right direction. From what I understand about the events of yesterday, it wasn’t altogether a bad thing. I think the words ‘a problem shared’ would be an apt way of describing it?”

Neither of us answered.

“The success of yesterday was really down to you Roberta. You have a very wise head on your shoulders. I reviewed the situation with my superiors and they were very impressed indeed with the way you have approached this whole thing.”

I tried not to show any reaction but a small smile slipped out.

“In light of this, we are prepared to do two things. Firstly, your ‘Cinderella deadline’ has been extended by one month. That applies to both of you.”

Then after a brief pause he continued,
“We’d also like to offer you a job Roberta. The job is basically doing what I do with people in similar situations as you. You could remain as Roberta and live a normal life as Sisters. If that means having relationships and a family then that is fine. You are both fertile by the way. As women, you will experience the same things as any other woman would do. The job would normally entail between five and ten days of work spread over a month. You have seen what I do at first hand so there really is no need to explain further although should you choose to accept this, you would need at least a month of further training. The sort of magic we deal with has, I’m sure you understand, has to be handled very carefully.”

To say that I was shocked was an understatement.

Warren went on to say,
“We’d very much like you to come on board. You will be a big asset to us.”

Then he looked at his watch.

“I must be going. You will have some more visitors shortly. They may well have something interesting to say.”

Then he just walked out leaving us somewhat gobsmacked.

Less than fifteen minutes later, there was another knock on our door. I opened it with slight apprehension but felt relieved that it was Barbara and Christine.

“Please come in. We were expecting you,” I said trying to smile.

“Eh?” asked Barbara as they came inside.

“We had a visit from that man.”

Barbara smiled. So, did Christine.

“We had one too this morning.”

“You had both better sit down then,” I said.

When they were settled, Christine said,

“We talked for much of the night about what we all talked about yesterday. We both felt happy knowing that we weren’t alone in this. This morning, I told Mum that this is how I want to be. I don’t want to go back to the old me. I also said that she shouldn’t either.”

I looked at Fiona who was grinning. Barbara noticed this as well.

“I take it that you have made the same decision then Fiona?”

“Yes. I think it was that that prompted our visit from Mr Harcourt.”

Suddenly, I had this vision of Fiona and Christine getting married. It startled me.

“What’s wrong Sis?” asked Fiona.

“Sorry,”

“Sis?”

I sighed and said,
“I don’t mean to insult anyone but I suddenly had this vision of Christine and Fiona getting married. I really don’t know where that came from but I did. Please forgive me.”

Barbara and Christine looked at each other and started laughing.

When they’d recovered Christine said,
“Mum had the same vision not long after our visit from Mr Harcourt. That’s one of the reasons we came back today.”

“I wasn’t dreaming then?” I asked.

“Sis, I thought about this last night. I all makes sense. If both parties to a relationship know about all this magic stuff then you don’t have any secrets to hide. If we all do this then we can put the past behind us and move forward with our lives. A totally clean slate especially with what else Mr Harcourt said to you.”

Barbara and Christine looked at me.
“He offered me a job doing what he does,” I said quietly.

“That makes sense to me,” said Christine.

We all looked at her as she continued,
“All the time we were with you two yesterday it was clear that Roberta had her head screwed on the right way. I was thinking about this last night and I realised that I’d trusted her almost from the off. Even when she told us that you two were men, I didn’t worry. I haven’t felt like that with anyone other than Mum for years. She felt the same.”

I looked at Barbara who smiled.

I then realised that Fiona and Christine were sitting next to each other and holding hands. Fiona just looked so happy, happier than I’d ever seen Jon or Fiona.

---

Saying goodbye to Barbara and Christine at the airport was hard for both of us. I really didn’t want them to leave us. Their flight to East Midlands left the day before ours so they’d removed their bracelets the evening before. They looked like any other Mother and Daughter travelling together. This version of Barbara was pretty good looking as well.

When we met up the following day at the airport to say goodbye, I noticed a big change in both of them. Their changes we not as dramatic as ours but even so, Barbara looked a whole lot less sure of herself. They had no idea what they were going back to.

“If there is trouble at home, you know where we live. You are more than welcome to come and stay with us,” I’d said over our end of holiday dinner the previous evening.

I looked at Christine and Fiona who now seemed to be joined at the hip. Fiona had smiled and laughed more in the past few days that she’d ever done. Something had always been missing from her life. That wasn’t the case now and I’d never seen him or indeed her so happy.

This was hammered home by the length and the passion of their goodbye kiss. It did draw some glances from the other passengers but the smiles on their faces when they parted was more than enough to show that they were serious about each other.
That night, Fiona and I removed our bracelets with a good deal of reluctance but there was no way that we were going to fly home as women, yet.

Yes, I’d made the decision that Roberta was soon to come into existence and stay until it was time for me to meet my maker.

---

Both of us were subdued the following morning. Jon was especially down until he received a phone call from Christine letting us know that they’d got home successfully.

Our journey home was uneventful but the M6 on New Year’s Eve was not much fun. We got home in mid-afternoon and while Jon sorted out our things, I went to the Supermarket.

A couple of times I had to stop and remember that I wasn’t wearing my Bracelet. This was especially true when I nearly went into the Ladies toilet rather than the Gents. I filled my trolley with a load of stuff but to be honest, my mind wasn’t really on the task.

Jon and I toasted the old year out right on the stroke of Midnight. The end of the old year had been pretty eventful and had changed our lives beyond all recognition.

It was back to work for me on New Year’s Day. Thankfully, we were running a Sunday Service and Burnley were not playing at home so the number of passengers was pretty light.

[To be continued]