OK, it's intermission time. Go out to the lobby and get your drinks. The lines are still short at the WC. I am going to work in the garden for a while.

I suppose I could have stopped this story at this point. The bad guys are going to jail. Mike and Jo can get on with their lives. Maybe Pat and MK will get together. There were just too many things left out there to stop now.

If you hide from the truth, it will bite you in the ass when you least expect it. Jo makes that decision and comes out and it basically becomes a minor deal due to the enormity of the crime that had been committed. I had to deal with a number of issues though. The Pat and MK issue was easily resolved. A more difficult one was Mindy. What were her motives? Why did she do what she did? What is going to happen to Mike’s father? At the time of this story, in this universe, capital punishment is a reality. That would be too easy an out. Besides, if he dies, I can’t use him in future stories. What’s interesting is he plays a very important role in two future tales. I will leave it at that. Then there is George Essegian. George is modeled after a high school friend and much of what happened to him in the relationship with his mother and family happened to my friend. What happened to Tony Salcedo and Cindy? Tony is probably the biggest fantasy in the story; however, he does have small but important roles in later stories. Finally, there is the ultimate event, the one that erases any doubts in Jo’s mind about her gender and sex. Jo is not a perfect woman or mother; however, she is a very good, compassionate and, in many ways, wise person. But in some ways she is quite naíve. Her missed childhood does create future problems not evident in this novel.

I want to express my deepest appreciation to everyone who has stuck out this overly long tale to this point. From taking a look at the counts, there must be several hundred readers following this adventure. Thank you. I hope you aren’t disappointed in the outcome. My thanks go to Erin, Gwen, Joanne, J-Lynn, Richard, cbee, Puddintane, Sam, John in Wauwatosa and everyone else who has taken time to comment and provide your wisdom.

The start of Part 3 will be posted tomorrow. That will give some of you a chance to catch up.