Jones Beach

by

Pamela

([email protected])

Chapter 1

Cathy Margolies, blonde and pretty with a sunny disposition locks the front door of her modest home in Seal Beach, California, and walks behind her fiancé, Brad Featherson, as he carries her luggage to his Jaguar XKE convertible parked at the curb. Brad, sandy-haired, tall, well-built and well-dressed is driving her to John Wayne Airport on this early June, Thursday morning so that she can catch a flight to New York. In a major advance in her modeling career, Cathy has gotten a gig in the Big Apple, her first ever, for a new line of clothing.

As they approach the airport Brad says, "Call me when you get to the hotel."

"The second I arrive, I'll call you!"

"I'm worried about you in New York City. Don't talk to anyone. New Yorkers are notorious for all kinds of scams."

"Like what, Brad?"

"Just be careful, especially with cab drivers, doormen and waiters."

"You worry too much, Brad."

"Probably, but you're not used to big cities."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine! I'll see you Monday back here at the airport."

They kiss and Cathy heads to the check-in counter rolling her suitcase behind her.

***

As Cathy takes her seat in first class next to a window, she nods at a casually dressed man sitting next to her on the aisle seat. "You look familiar," she says.

"I’m pretty sure we haven’t met."

Cathy laughs, "Not familiar in that way. No, I’ve seen you on television. One of those late-night shows."

"Guilty as charged."

Cathy smiles at him and he says, "You have no idea what my name is, do you?"

"I’m sorry. To tell you the truth I was flipping through channels and saw you seated on a sofa chatting with one of the hosts. I can’t remember who. So please tell me your name."

"Adam Stein."

"I’m Cathy Margolies."

"The pleasure is all mine. Are you returning to New York, or just visiting?"

"Visiting, actually. I've got a modeling job in New York."

"A model? I can’t say I’m surprised."

"How kind of you. It's my first really big job. So far, I've only done catalogue work in L.A."

Adam notices Cathy's engagement ring and says, "Who's the lucky guy?"

"You're so observant. He's Brad. We're getting married next week. I should be back home helping with the wedding preparations, but this once in a lifetime chance came up and I had to take it. You’re a New Yorker?"

"Born and raised."

"Brad thinks I should be wary of New Yorkers, but I think he’s wrong. You seem very nice."

"Thanks."

"Adam Stein. I’m going to make a point of remembering your name! And I intend to follow you on TV."

***

On the cab ride from the airport to midtown, Cathy rolls down the car window and takes pictures of the Manhattan skyline. At the hotel, the cabbie turns around to collect his fare and Cathy takes his picture. When she checks into the hotel, she is told that there are three messages from Brad. She confides to the clerk that she is getting married the next week, and her fiancé is worried about her.

A bellman takes her luggage to her room and she tips him. She asks him to pose for a picture. "My fiancé says that New Yorkers are mean, and I'm determined to prove him wrong by taking pictures of the nice people that have helped me since I've been here."

"Knock yourself out, lady," the bellman says as he poses with a forced smile.

Alone in the room, Cathy systematically empties her clothing into the dresser drawers and closet. When she is done, she calls Brad. "I made it here safely!"

"Be careful, I can't say it enough times. It's New York City."

"Everyone I've met has been lovely. Don't worry!" When the call ends, she puts a small framed photograph of Brad on the desk.

***

The next morning Cathy walks a few blocks to the modeling studio and is ushered into a dressing room where she is seated next to a raven-haired, sharp featured, and sultry woman. Makeup is scattered everywhere on counters in front of large mirrors ringed by light bulbs.

"Hi, I'm Cathy," Cathy says to the woman. "I guess we're working together today."

"Yeah, I'm Lisa.

"You're so beautiful and sophisticated. This is my first big chance in modeling. I've mainly been doing catalogues in LA. It's so glamorous to finally be a New York model."

"Let me tell you, you'll be jaded and cynical soon enough. Just you wait and see."

"Brad says that New Yorkers are like that. But I think it's just a mask. Inside they're just as sweet as anyone else."

"Who's Brad?"

"He's my fiancé. We're getting married next week. We've been working on the wedding for months. It's going to be like a fairy tale. Brad insists that we go all out for our wedding and he has the resources to do that."

"You mean he's loaded?"

"You'd never know that just meeting him. I didn't, well, except for his car. Anyway, I'm not marrying him for that! I’m happy that he's letting me come to New York all on my own a week before the wedding. I should be helping him with the preparations."

"How kind of him."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Lisa laughs and says, "Most people can figure out that I'm gay."

"Oh, really? That's fascinating! Should I change behind the curtain?"

Lisa laughs harder, "You're a trip Cathy. Do I make you feel unsafe?

"No, I just don't know what the protocol is."

"Just be yourself and I promise that I won't try and seduce you."

"I'm so sorry Lisa, sometimes I'm an idiot."

"Don't beat yourself up, Cathy. You're very refreshing."

Lisa and Cathy change into outfits and then enter into the studio where they are photographed. When the photographer is done, they go back to the dressing room to change into other outfits. Cathy says, "My agent says that getting this job is a once in a lifetime opportunity. They were looking for a fresh face, a face with the country still in it. Of course, I live in LA, actually Seal Beach, but it’s kind of a small town in a way. Where do you come from?"

"I'm from Huntington."

"Huntington?"

"It's on Long Island."

"Long Island?"

"Did you like, miss geography?"

"I never heard of Miss Geography. Actually, I'm not familiar with that pageant. I did enter a few pageants myself, and was a runner up at Miss Orange County."

Lisa laughs, out loud. "You're a trip, Cathy. Miss geography. I’ve got to remember that one."

At the end of the shoot they are told that they won't have to return on the weekend.

"What are you going to do now?" Lisa asks.

"My flight back is on Monday," Cathy says. "I wanted to make sure that I'd have at least one weekend day in New York."

"Why is that?"

"I've always wanted to go to Jones Beach. So, I'll go tomorrow. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Of course, I have. It's on Long Island as a matter of fact."

"Really?"

"How do you know of it?"

"I read about it in a travel magazine when I was ten years old, and I told myself that one day I was going to go there."

"It's a nice beach, but there are lots of other nice beaches."

"I'm sure, but I know exactly how to get there. I take the Long Island Railroad to Freeport. Oh, how ditzy of me. Long Island Railroad would be on Long Island wouldn’t it? Then I take a bus from there. I'm so excited! Can you come?"

"I'd love to, but I'm going out to Martha's Vineyard for a week with some friends. But I'd be happy to show you around midtown right now, if you're not in a rush."

"That would be fun. Thanks."

They walk around Rockefeller Center and then make their way to Times Square. They stop at the outdoor cafe in Bryant Park to rest up. Along the way Cathy takes photographs. "It's so neat here," Cathy says, "no, I think it's magical."

"Are you always so enthusiastic?"

"You can say that I'm a great tourist. Brad took me to Yosemite when we first met. I must have taken a thousand pictures as we hiked up and back on the switchbacks to the falls. It was so perfect."

"I hope there was a vodka tonic at the end of that hike."

After a few beats, Cathy laughs. "You're so funny, Lisa. I love how funny New Yorkers are."

A very New York waiter shows up to serve them. "What can I get for you twos."

Lisa says, "Get me a vodka tonic."

"Get me whatever she’s having, and I’ve got to get your picture." The waiter smiles and Cathy takes the photo. When the waiter leaves, Cathy says, "I think he is very nice."

"Probably an aspiring actor."

"Really? I also had a nice cab driver from the airport. So, I've got a waiter and a cab driver and also a bellman and they weren't mean like Brad says they would be."

"What do you do with your photos?"

"I'll make a collage of them. I've done it before, like on our trip to Yosemite. You'll get to see that when you come visit me at Seal Beach. I live in a small house right on the ocean, that I bought when my dad died. He liked the sea and now I can stare at the sea and think of my dad. Look at me, I just ramble on and on and never allow you to speak about yourself. Brad calls me a conversation hog."

"Your innocence is refreshing, Cathy. I can see why they brought us together. You're a welcome contrast to my tired impatience."

"Come visit me in Seal Beach and it'll wake you up! Well actually, you'll have to come soon." For the first time Cathy shows a hint of sadness.

"What's the matter?"

"It's the only wrinkle. Brad has a big house and he wants us to live there. I think you can fit my whole house inside his living room."

"On the ocean?"

"No, and that's the other big problem. It's up a canyon and I’ll have to drive to the water. I'm not happy about giving up my little place."

"Why do you have to do that?"

"Brad says that if we own two houses, we won't be two love birds in our single nest."

"Brad is really clever," Lisa says rolling her eyes. "What do you want?"

"It’s a hard decision to make, but I decided that Brad is right. One nest is best."

"Why not your nest?"

"His house is bigger; more room to entertain."

"I may be going out west in the next few weeks. I'm not sure. There's a gig with a fashion studio that my agent is talking about. If I end up out there, I'll give you a call."

"That'll be so great! I’ll show you Seal Beach." The waiter returns with the drinks and Cathy asks him, "Are you really a waiter?"

Without missing a beat, the waiter says, "Am I that bad? Ouch."

Cathy says laughing, "What I meant is that I heard that so many waiters in New York are really actors waiting for a break. Are you an actor?"

"I just might be. You never know."

"Can you at least take our picture?" Cathy says.

"You're making me work so hard!" the waiter says and takes the picture.

Chapter 2

Barry Alper and his partners Vinny and Dave are the co-owners of BVD Plumbing company in Freeport, Long Island. Barry is handsome, has a ready smile, a physique that women notice and is good natured. Vinny, on the other hand, is tough and roughhewn, of Italian descent, while Dave is exceedingly thin and tall. It is Saturday morning, and while normally the shop will stay open until six, this day they have to close early because BVD plumbing is one of the teams in a beach volleyball tournament that afternoon at Jones Beach. Barry and Vinny make a championship combination. Only when playing weaker teams does Dave get a chance to play.

Barry is at the desk trying to finish some paperwork while Vinny cajoles him to put it down so that they can lock up and get to the beach. "C'mon Barry, we need some warm-up time and practice before the game."

"I'm coming," Barry says, "one more minute."

The phone rings and Vinny says, "Don't answer it."

"It could be important," Barry says.

"I don't give a shit, come on, we've got to go."

"He's right, Vinny, it could be important," Dave says.

"Shut up and get in the car, Dave," Vinny says.

"I've got to answer it, then we'll go."

"No!" Vinny says and he races toward the phone so Barry can't get it, but it is too late.

"BVD Plumbing," Barry says when he picks up the receiver.

"Hello, Ms. Murdoch, what is the problem?"

"Actually, today is not a good day. I'm on my way to the beach. There's a volleyball tournament."

"Two o'clock, I think."

"It's cutting it close."

"OK, I'll take a quick look. See you soon."

Vinny throws a wrench at Barry and he ducks so it clanks against the wall. "You guys go on ahead and warm-up. I'll just make a quick stop at Ms. Murdoch's and then I'll join you. Don't worry, Vinny, I'll be there."

"If you're late, Dave is playing, and then this is going to be VD plumbing from now on. Well maybe not VD," Vinny says.

***

Ms. Murdoch lives in a large mansion with 5 bathrooms. "I've dropped a bottle cap down the sink," she tells Barry when he arrives in the BVD plumbing truck, with its logo on the side in large red letters.

"That's not such an easy job to do quickly, Ms. Murdoch and I have the tournament to think of."

"It's the guest bathroom on the main floor and I'm having a dinner party tonight."

"Can't you send the guests to a different bathroom?"

"That would be very embarrassing. Can't you fix the sink?"

"OK, Ms. Murdoch, I'll see what I can do."

To his chagrin, Barry discovers that the cap has moved down the line to a point somewhere beyond the bathroom. He goes to the basement and into the crawl space and follows the line to a tee where he figures the cap must now be. He returns to Ms. Murdoch and tells her he'll have to cut open the pipe to extract the cap. It will take him at least an hour. "It'll be very close to the time of my match. I might not make it, Ms. Murdoch."

"Whatever your charge is, I'll give you another two hundred dollars. How's that?"

"That's very generous of you, Ms. Murdoch. I guess I better get started."

By the time Barry cuts open the pipe, takes out the bottle cap and reworks the pipe, he has just enough time to zoom to Jones Beach and get into the tournament. He races out of Ms. Murdoch's house in the truck and drives to Jones Beach as fast as possible. Parking the truck in one of the large lots, he climbs into the back, changes into his bathing suit and leaves his valuables, except for a few dollars and a towel. The rear door of the truck uses keyless entry with a combination. Barry runs to the volleyball court and when he arrives, he sees that the game with BVD has just started. Vinny and Dave, wearing shirts with the BVD logo, are playing two imposing guys from Apex Plumbing in Wantagh.

When Vinny sees Barry he yells, "Thanks a lot, asshole."

"I’m really sorry. What's the score?" Barry says.

"We're getting killed." At that moment an Apex player spikes the ball past Dave who flings his arms up to protect his head. "I'm going to kill you, Barry, when we're done."

"Then I'd better catch you later. I'm taking a dip." Barry walks a good distance up the beach to a place where he doubts Vinny will follow him and spreads out a towel in the sand. He starts up a conversation with a few nearby women wearing bikinis and plays with them in the surf. When the women leave, he goes in the water, swims for a while and then comes back to his blanket. It is five o'clock and the sun is starting to make long shadows in the sand. As he stares out at the surf and along the beach, he notices an attractive woman wearing a one-piece pink bathing suit sitting on a blanket a few dozen yards away from him. She’s reading a book and occasionally looking up at the surf. At one point she seems to have noticed him and then he sees that she occasionally sneaks glances at him. He contemplates introducing himself to her.

Chapter 3

Saturday morning Cathy packs a beach bag with her bathing suit, towel and flip flops and heads out to Penn Station to catch the train to Freeport. After the 45-minute ride she arrives at noon and takes the bus out to the beach where she rents a locker. She knows that she looks great in a bikini, but she decided before she left Seal Beach that she'd take her old pink one-piece bathing suit instead. It’s a small gesture to Brad, since he has no idea of her plans to go out to Jones Beach, and she knows that when she is in a bikini, men tend to flock around her. She leaves the locker with her purse and clothes inside and puts the key around her wrist. She takes with her the beach bag containing her towel, sunscreen, a book to read, her small digital camera and a few dollars to buy snacks with.

Cathy hikes out to the surf passing throngs of people engaged in a beach volleyball tournament and stops to watch for a while and take some pictures. Then she continues on to the ocean, walks along the coast, and spreads out her towel where she puts some sun block on and lays down and stares out at the water. It is a different ocean than Seal Beach, that is for sure. The water is a greener color and the surf breaks very differently. She thinks back to the previous day and how nice Lisa had been and how much she enjoyed the waiter and all the excitement of Manhattan. Occasionally she gets up and takes a dip in the water to cool off. She makes sure to take pictures of the beach and the nearby people so she can show Brad how nice everyone is.

Some of the men on the beach are handsome and athletic and Cathy finds herself taking peeks at them and comparing them to Brad. Toward late afternoon she notices a particularly attractive man not too far down the beach from her. He is fit with broad shoulders and actually a bit better looking than Brad. She remembers seeing him playing with a group of girls earlier and she had thought that he must be with them. Now he is alone.

Hopefully he won't notice me, Cathy thinks, but she nonetheless takes many glances his way noticing his biceps and calf muscles. She looks out at the waves for a minute and when she turns to look back at the guy, he is a few feet away from her. "Hi," Barry says. "You don’t seem like you’re from Long Island."

"How could you possibly figure that out?"

"You’re a California girl, I’ll bet. Am I right?"

"Yes, you’re right. That’s incredible. Tell me how you knew."

"In California, the ocean faces to the west . Here it’s sort of southeast. That affects how people lie on their towels. You’ve got that California orientation."

"That’s ridiculous," Cathy says. "You’re teasing me, aren’t you?"

"Yes, I apologize. I was surprised to see such a beautiful woman here by herself. So, I figured you must be a visitor."

"Are all New Yorkers as clever as you?"

"No, I’m pretty sure they’re not."

"I’m in New York by myself and I wanted to see Jones Beach, so I came."

"Why is that?"

"When I was young, I read about it in a travel book and it captured my imagination. Why are you here alone?"

"I missed my volleyball game and my partners are pissed at me. So, I went on down the beach so they wouldn’t find me."

"Who do you play for?"

"BVD plumbing. I’m Barry, the B in BVD. And who are you?"

"Cathy."

"Nice to meet you, Cathy."

"It’s nice to meet you, too. I guess you’re a plumber?"

"Yes."

"You’re a very handsome plumber."

Barry laughs. "There’s no law against that, is there?"

"Nope."

"And you’re a model, I bet."

"How did you know?"

"Please. You’ve got poise and grace that shouts out model."

Barry and Cathy continue to talk about themselves and their lives. When the subject of her engagement comes up, Cathy seems apologetic, and Barry tells her not to be concerned. In fact, he saw her ring when they first met, and he wishes her the best. Cathy can’t help but think what a gentleman Barry is, and she wonders if Brad would be equally gentlemanly in return. Probably not. He’d be insanely jealous by her even talking to Barry.

As it approaches six o’clock, Barry says, "I’m hungry. Can I get you a hot dog?"

"That’s so kind of you, but …" Cathy points to her engagement ring.

"Even engaged women can be hungry."

"OK. I haven’t eaten all day. That’s so sweet of you."

"I’ll be right back." Barry heads across the beach to a hot dog stand in the distance. Cathy watches him as he walks, and she feels herself fighting a temptation to enjoy what she is seeing. She takes out her camera and takes some pictures of Barry walking away from her. The man seems kind and considerate and, most importantly, mellow, in a way that Brad never is. Brad is always uptight and worried. Barry doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would insist she sell her home on Seal Beach. She sees Barry reach the hot dog stand in the distance. When he starts returning, she takes a few more pictures of him. She’ll have to make sure that Brad never sees these pictures.

***

When the proprietor of the hot dog stand sees Barry he says, "Barry, my man!"

"Hey, Frank."

"Chillin at the beach today?"

"Yeah. I was supposed to be in the volleyball tournament, but I missed my game, so I thought I’d swim a little and checkout the local wildlife."

Barry turns around and looks back towards Cathy and waves. In the distance, Cathy waves at him.

"I see what you mean. Who’s the chick?" Frank says.

"She’s incredible. Besides being beautiful, she’s kind. She’s sweet. No drama about her. We really hit it off."

"That’s great Barry."

"Except that she’s just visiting here from California."

"That’s a bummer."

"Even worse, she’s engaged and going to be married next week. I don’t get a great vibe about that."

"She’s obviously making a big mistake."

"How do you know that?"

"She’s engaged. She’s standing there waving at you at a hot dog stand. What more evidence do you need?"

"You’re funny, Frank."

"On top of that, you’re a nice guy. You’re a catch and she’s smart enough to see that. Let me tell you a secret Barry. What you and everyone else on the planet doesn’t know is that hot dog guys have seen everything under the sun you can imagine. Every kind of goddamn couple that exists. People loving and hating and stewing about and because of that we know people better than anybody else. We know more than psychiatrists, and even psychowatchamacallits."

Barry laughs, "You’re a piece of work, Frank."

"Scoff, if you want Barry, but I’m sure that despite the fact that that young lady is from California and is engaged, she’s meant for you."

"Of course, Frank."

"Coming from a hot dog guy, it’s something. Anyway, tell me what I can get for you."

Barry faces Frank again and says, "Get me two dogs. One is for her."

"What do you want on yours?"

"Mine is the usual with mustard and relish. Hers is just mustard." Barry turns back to look at Cathy.

While Barry’s turned away from the counter Frank prepares the two hot dogs. When they are ready, he reaches under the counter and takes out two small vials of clear liquid. He opens one up puts a drop of liquid on one of the hot dogs, and then puts a drop of the liquid from the second bottle on the other hot dog. Barry turns back to him and pays him. "Have a good one, Frank," Barry says.

"You too," Frank says, smiling.

***

As Barry walks back toward Cathy, he watches her taking a series of pictures of him. When he reaches her holding the hot dogs, Cathy says, "Oh, I didn’t know they have relish."

"I should have asked you. You take that one, I like them either way."

"That’s so sweet of you," Cathy says, taking the hot dog with relish. They eat in silence, smiling at each other. The light is beginning to fade as the time moves into early evening and the beach is emptying out. Cathy feels a relaxed happiness in the company of this man that she doesn’t remember ever having felt before with men. It is true that she is inexperienced in matters of the heart. She dated just a few guys before Brad. Why is it she thinks she has fallen in love with Brad? It is true that Brad has been so insistent about marrying her, and professed his love so much, that she has gotten swept up in his excitement and figures she is in love with him. Right now, next to her, is a man that she can see herself easily falling for, a man who makes her feel regret about marrying Brad. Just a couple of hours with this man has cleared her vision up in a way it has never been cleared before. But the fact is that she is engaged, and she is getting married in a week. Nonetheless, she feels a growing sadness at the thought that Barry and she will soon have to part forever.

After they are both done with their hot dogs, Cathy fights to keep her thoughts focused on marrying Brad. She yawns and then feels a great drowsiness descend on her. "I’m not so sure I feel well," Cathy says.

"Me neither," Barry says, holding his stomach. He also begins yawning. He watches as Cathy lays down. "You’re crashing into sleep, just the way I think I want to. I think it’s the hot dogs." Cathy’s eyes shut. Her last thought before she falls asleep is how sad it is that she isn’t marrying someone as nice as Barry.

Barry gets up and walks down the beach to his own towel and falls down on it. Could the hot dog have been contaminated in some way, he wonders? A memory of Frank’s smile as he left the hot dog stand passes through his mind. A few minutes later Barry stretches out and turns on his side and grips his stomach and feels very tired. Fighting sleep, he thinks about Vinny and that he has probably gone home by now. He'll have to make it up to him somehow for letting him down. Before he collapses into sleep, he thinks about how amazingly nice Cathy is. A real treasure. The kind of woman that you know is a keeper. Too bad. Wrong coast. Wrong guy. His last thought before falling asleep is an image of Cathy’s smile.

Chapter 4

As the sun lowers into evening, Cathy and Barry are asleep on their blankets. They are each in a deep sleep with the heaving of their chests showing that they are alive. Not too far off from where Cathy is lying, a middle-aged, balding man with a large belly and his equally plump wife gather their things to leave. The man walks over to look at Cathy and he says to his wife, "I hope she's OK, she's been sleeping like that for an hour."

"For an hour? Is that how long you've been ogling her body?"

"No, I just happened to notice."

"Yeah, right. Hurry up, or we'll be late to Sid's barbeque."

"Sure Ethel. I just hope she's OK."

The sun sets and the beach is deserted except for Cathy and Barry. It gets dark in the moonless night with just the sound of the surf pounding away. Sometime in the night, Barry wakes up, groggy and staggers to his feet and walks down the beach a few hundred yards further away from Cathy leaving his towel behind. Eventually he sinks to his knees and once again falls into a deep sleep sprawled on the sand.

In the wee hours of the morning, just before sunrise, an electric vehicle makes its way along the sand stopping at the trash bins that are located periodically along the beach. At each bin, an elderly, short, deeply tanned man with thin gray hair gets out of the truck and collects a plastic bag of trash from within the trash receptacle. Then he puts a new bag inside and heads out to the next can. A short distance along the beach the garbage man has to hit the brakes to avoid running over what appears to be a man lying in the sand. The sound of the brakes causes the person to stir and stagger to their feet. The person looks up crazily at the garbage man, who says, "What are you doing here? Don't you know the beach is closed at dusk?"

Frightened, the person shrieks and backs away from the garbageman as if he is an alien. The person yells, "No! No! No!" and then runs wildly across the sand in the direction of the parking lots. Disoriented and not knowing which way to go, the person circles and then heads off running further away from the sand toward a road in the distance. The person passes by the BVD plumbing truck standing by itself in the vast parking lot.

The garbageman stares after the person until he can no longer see him. It's probably drugs, the garbageman tells himself. These people get on bad trips and the next thing you know, they're crazy as a June bug. He gets back in the truck and drives further until he sees a woman who appears to be Cathy lying on a blanket on her side in a fetal position. Jesus, another person? Must have been a drug party last night. He gets out of the truck and walks up to the woman. "Are you OK, lady?" he says in a loud voice.

The person stirs and their eyes flutter open. The sun just appears to the east and the beach is being lit up in gentle hues of color. Barry rubs his neck as if he is stiff from having slept in an awkward position. He shivers slightly and a puzzled look crosses his face as his eyes fixate on the pink bathing suit that covers his torso and ends above his thighs. He also notices toes with pink nail polish on them and wonders whose they are. He tries wiggling his toes and he sees the toes with nail polish wiggle. He stops wiggling his toes and the toes stop. A cold sweat breaks out over his face. These must be my toes. Who in the world put nail polish on my toes while I was sleeping? He once again glances at his torso and thighs and the pink bathing suit and thinks, just great, some asshole has dressed me in a pink, girls bathing suit. His face shows surprise and then appears to be deep in thought. This is so embarrassing. He rotates his head slowly to look up at the garbageman. "I guess I'm fine," Barry says, realizing that something is off with the sound of his voice. "I guess someone played a practical joke on me with this bathing suit." The garbageman looks puzzled and then Barry looks down and fully realizes that his body fits the suit perfectly and that he has large breasts pushing out the fabric over his chest. Barry stands up and gazes at his legs and twists around to look at his rear end and back. Fear crosses his face now and he feels himself panicking.

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Yeah?"

"Are you on drugs?"

"I don’t know."

"You spent the night here? That's not allowed. Did you get locked out of the changing room?"

"What?"

"You've got a key on your wrist, the kind that goes in the lockers." The garbageman points to a building in the distance.

"I guess so."

"You know how dangerous it is to stay out here at night? I wonder why people take such risks. Is it drugs? Particularly, a pretty girl like you. There are all kinds of creeps in this world."

"I guess it is an accident," Barry says. His voice is so freaky he doesn't want to hear it.

Barry remains lost in thought and the garbageman says, "Anyway, it's 6:30 now. The changing room opens at seven. You'll have to wait until then to get your things."

"Thanks."

The garbageman drives off down the beach. Barry sits down to think. I'm a man. I know I'm a man. What the hell is my name? I can't quite remember. It feels like it's on the tip of my tongue. So why the fuck do I look like a woman? Why do I have a woman's body? This is totally crazy. I'm a man. I've always been a man. I've got to remember who I am. Barry concentrates hard. I have all these memories of being a boy, a teenage guy and then going to some kind of school or something and then I became a man. I know I've got great biceps and powerful legs and a penis, a really great penis that the girls love. But where is it now? Where are my muscles? I've got these thin girl arms and there is no sign of a penis. And boobs? I've got these incredible boobs. Barry looks down at them in amazement and then puts his hand inside the top of his bathing suit and feels one of them. Oh my God, what an incredible breast. Jesus. I should have a boner touching this, but there's no prick down there. Barry looks around and doesn't see anyone. He takes his finger and slips it inside the bottom of his bathing suit and feels around. "Goddam, it's a vagina. It's shaved. I have a slit and he puts his finger inside it and feels a little. Oh God, it has some feeling. Jesus. What in heaven's name has happened to me?

On the blanket next to him is a beach bag. He opens it and sees a digital camera that he picks up and turns on. The pictures are strange. Many are of scenery as if the photographer is a tourist. Other shots are of a cabdriver, a bellman, a waiter and then a picture of two women. There are some pictures of guys playing beach volleyball. The last group of pictures are of a man walking toward a hot dog stand and then walking toward the camera holding hot dogs. There are lots of people in the pictures that he can’t identify, though the man with the hot dogs seems a bit more familiar than the others. Could that be me, or perhaps Cathy’s boyfriend? Barry gets up and walks toward the building with the lockers. It’s strange walking in this woman's body. His stride is half what he feels it usually is. He also feels like he has a huge ass and that his hips want to naturally swivel around as he walks. If he is lucky the locker will reveal an answer to this mystery. A wind is picking up and he notices he has long blonde hair blowing across his face. He is pretty sure that he has always had short hair, and now this? When he moves the hair out of his eyes, he notices that his long fingernails are covered in pink polish that matches his toes. He thinks that he must be going insane. A wave of anxiety sweeps through Barry's mind and he tries to calm himself down. This has got to be a dream. He'll wake up and he'll be a man again and he'll remember who he is. He arrives a few minutes before seven at the lockers and sits on a bench to await their opening.

Chapter 5

When the sound of the garbage truck wakes up Cathy, she knows immediately that something is terribly, terribly wrong. Her chest is covered with hair and she is missing her boobs. Entirely disconcerting is the enormous amount of strength she feels in her limbs. All these crazy sensations land at once and she yells out "No! No! No!" in an unbelievable masculine voice that further freaks her out. Some old guy is staring at her. She feels herself sliding into insanity. She runs with her incredible legs across the sand. She will run and run and then everything will be right. She'd be the girl she knows herself to be. But what girl? She can't remember her name. It feels like it is just around the corner in her memory, but she can't quite figure out what it is. She easily conjures up images of being a girl. She knows that she loves dresses, has always loved dresses. She remembers getting her first bra and finding that she loves makeup and going to the beauty parlor. And her job is maybe something to do with modeling. She seems to think she knows something about posing for a camera. The details are just out of her memory. Who her friends are, she can't recall at all. There is someone special she seems to remember, and something is supposed to happen soon with this person that will be very important to her life, but she can’t recall what it is. She runs along a road that turns into a causeway over water. She is desperate to find people who know who she is.

She stops to catch her breath and then realizes that she is wearing a man's bathing suit. Oh my God, she wonders, what is inside this suit? She puts her hand inside and discovers a penis. She starts crying and now almost completely crazy with fear she takes off again running on the causeway, not having any idea any longer what she should do or where she should go. Halfway across the bridge a cop car pulls up next to her and she stops. A policeman, about 30 years old with a crew cut gets out of the car and confronts Cathy. "What are you doing out here?"

Breathing heavily, Cathy says, "I awoke, and I had all these muscles. And this hair. Oh my God. I have no idea what this is all about. God, I wish I knew."

"Are you on drugs?"

Cathy starts sobbing hysterically and sinks to the ground. "Jesus, what are you crying for?" the cop says.

"I don't know where I am. I don't know who I am. I don't know where this body came from. It's not me. I swear, it's not me."

Cathy cries with great heaving motions of her chest and the cop calls in to his headquarters. "I've got a guy running on the causeway who seems to be wacko bird. He claims he doesn't know who he is, and he thinks he's in the wrong body."

"I'm not a man," Cathy says with tears streaking down her cheeks.

"Yes, I know," the cop says. "What drug are you on?"

Cathy wails now. The cop calls in, "I've never seen a grown man cry like this one. He's a strong guy and he's crying like a child or something."

To Cathy, the cop says, "OK, I'm bringing you in. There have been no reports of missing persons this morning. We'll let the sergeant figure out what to do with you."

***

Cathy's eyes are red from crying as she sits on a bench in the police station. She realizes that she has to pee, and she is directed to a nearby men's room. She sees the urinals and walks up to one. She lowers her bathing suit and takes a hold of the penis she sees is there and aims it at the urinal and closes her eyes. She feels herself sending out a stream of pee. The concept of holding on to a penis while peeing is so upsetting that she finds herself crying. Through her tears she opens her eyes and sees the pee shooting all over the urinal. When she is done, she looks near the urinal for paper to wipe herself with but there isn't any. Is that what men do she wonders? Am I supposed to just shake this thing or what?

As she leaves the bathroom, she sees that there are paper towels and she takes one and blows her nose and tries to regain her composure. The desk sergeant comes over to her and says, "Why's a big guy like you crying like that? It's weird. Can't you control yourself? Do you want a cup of coffee?"

"OK," Cathy says, "and can I have a blanket, I'm cold."

The sergeant returns with coffee, a blanket and flip-flops to put on her feet and Cathy begins to feel a bit better. The sergeant sits down next to her and says, "OK, can you tell me your name?"

"That's it, Officer, I don't know my name."

"So, you have amnesia? Did you hit your head? Does it hurt anywhere?"

"No, no, no, Officer. As I said to the other policeman, I know that I'm a girl. Somehow, I ended up inside this guy. I don't know who he is. I can't stand all these muscles and this hair. I want to be a girl again," Cathy begins crying again uncontrollably.

"Jesus," the sergeant says. "Look, it's Sunday so there isn't much that we can do. It’s too soon for a missing person report to have been filed about you, but maybe by tomorrow one will appear. You never know. For tonight, I'll have to find a place for you to stay."

"What's to become of me?"

"Just sit tight and we’ll figure something out."

The sergeant leaves Cathy sitting on the bench with a blanket wrapped over her shoulders. She gets up and paces around the small waiting area. A few moments later she hears the sergeant’s voice coming from a nearby room where he must be speaking on the phone. "I’ve got a wacko bird. It’s a big guy who’s sure he’s a girl. He cries constantly. I think he desperately needs psychiatric help. So far none of the mental institutions say he’s escaped. But we need to get him into a bed in the state facility."

Horrified, Cathy can’t believe that the sergeant would be this duplicitous. She hears him say, "Great, you’ll come by and get him by noon? Wonderful."

Cathy turns and heads to the front door of the police station and runs out onto the street. She looks around and makes off down a side street and into a neighborhood of small houses. Her bathing suit has an inner pocket that she discovers contains a few dollars. Her biggest priority is to get away from the police, so she won’t be locked up in a mental hospital.

Continuing along the street she is walking on; she comes upon a major cross street and sees a bus stop. In the distance she sees a bus coming and she gets on it when it arrives. She has just enough cash to pay the driver and she sits back in a seat wondering where in the world she is heading.

Chapter 6

When Barry enters the locker room a little past seven, he finds locker 701 that matches the number on his key. Trepidatious as to what he might find inside, he cautiously opens the door and peers in. There is a dress hanging on a hook and some neatly folded light blue underwear. He shakes his head. A bra and panty? You've got to be kidding. A purse is hanging by its shoulder strap and he takes it down and opens it up. Inside is a wallet and he opens it to see a California driver’s license with the name Cathy Margolies and an address in Seal Beach, wherever that is. The woman in the picture is very pretty and Barry walks to a nearby mirror and looks at his face. It matches that in the photo. OK, this is progress. He, whoever he is, is someone inhabiting Cathy Margolies's body. The mirror allows himself to see the full shape of his new body in the pink one-piece suit and he feels a strong sexual desire. Since he doesn't have a penis, he spends a moment trying to identify where the feelings might be manifesting themselves. Interestingly, he feels a slight tingle in his nipples and in his vagina. When women would have looked at him and gotten horny, they must have been having similar responses.

Barry notices that there is a cell phone in the purse, and he takes it out and looks at it. He has no idea what the code is to open it up, but the phone symbol seems to indicate that a number of phone messages have come in. He'll have to try and deal with that later. For now, Barry sits down on a bench to contemplate his situation. He feels inside like he is a guy. How could a person feel like they are occupying someone else’s body? What about his own body? Does he have a body somewhere? Another scenario, that ought to make more sense, but doesn't feel quite right, is that he is actually the woman Cathy, but she has amnesia plus some sort of weird personality switch to make her think she is a guy. The feeling that he's a man must be due to some sort of strange accident. Maybe he got hit by a big wave. The problem with this theory is the degree to which he is sure that he is a man. The amount of innate male knowledge that he feels he has, cannot just spontaneously appear by a psychological transformation of a woman if she is hit on the head. The bottom line is that science fiction or not, he is absolutely sure that he is a guy in Cathy's body. He should ask the police if they found a guy who thinks he's a girl, though they'd probably laugh and say that half of Fire Island feels that way. In any event, he has to be careful what he says to the police, since they might decide to lock him up as if he is a crazy person.

Barry contemplates what his next step should be. He looks further through the purse and finds a key to a hotel in midtown Manhattan. So, this Cathy is visiting New York. Clearly, his next move must be to go to the hotel room and see what he can find there. He'll have to change out of the bathing suit to the clothes in the locker. Barry takes off the pink bathing suit so that he is naked wearing just his flip-flops. He goes to the mirror and looks at his amazing breasts and his vagina. His body is truly beautiful. He loves the slit where he had formerly had a penis. And the beautiful ass and boobs. He is mesmerized by this incredible body and the thought that he has the power to do with it whatever he wants. He feels a powerful sexual lust. Boy it’s weird to feel this way about one's own body he thinks.

Barry realizes that he has to pee badly and looks around for the bathroom and finds it in the next room. There are no urinals, so he has to use a stall. Inside one, he realizes that he has to pee sitting down. Every girl he has known has always sat down and there is no clear way he can stand there and aim a stream like he has done with his penis, when he has had a penis. He sits down and the pee comes out fast and strong. Whoa, he thinks. There's none of the usual waiting for the pee to come out like he is used to. When he is done peeing, he remembers that the girls he has known have always taken some tissue paper and cleaned themselves up and he now gathers up some paper and dabs at his vagina. He notices on the wall a dispenser of sanitary napkins and with a shock he realizes that he’ll probably have to deal with a period at some point. He wonders if maybe he already has a Tampon inside himself and he feels with his fingers and decides that his vagina is empty. Then the thought hits him that he might be pregnant. Maybe this Cathy is pregnant. What in the world will he do then? Now he hopes that he'll be getting a period sooner than later. Barry flushes the toilet and walks back to his locker. He looks in Cathy's purse and sees that there are a few Tampax stored there and he breathes a sigh of relief. This must mean that Cathy does have periods. On the other hand, he has no idea how to put in a tampon. He also has no idea when the period will come. If he makes a mistake there might be an accident in public.

Staring at Cathy’s clothes, he says to himself, OK, here we go. I'll start with the panty. The girls in his experience always put their panties on first, then their bras. That includes his girlfriends when he watches them get dressed after having sex with him. Thankfully, the panty should be easy to put on, at least compared to the bra. The light blue panty is decorated with some lace and Barry holds it up, lines the label to the back and steps into it. It is strange to be wearing a girl's panty, but considering that he has a girl's figure and body, he has to admit that it looks fine. The real question, it occurs to him, is what will it mean if he enjoys wearing the panty? No doubt, he is allowed to wear it, since his body is that of a woman, but if his man's mind likes wearing the panty what does that say about him?

With these thoughts in his mind, Barry contemplates the light blue bra. It’s clearly part of a set with the panty since it has a similar color and lace decoration. He checks out the label and sees that it is a 36D. "So, these are size D boobs" he says to himself and lifts them up with his hands, measuring their weight and size. Amazing, he thinks. He can't say that he doesn't find bras sexy, particularly when he sees girls wearing them. The thought that he’ll be capturing his breasts in Cathy’s bra is titillating. Is this because he likes the idea of getting to act like a real woman, or is it because he likes the chance to manipulate his breasts? In any event, he likes breasts, and he cannot help but like the breasts on his body.

Barry holds up the bra thinking about how it goes on. This is an operation that he has to admit he has never paid too much attention to in the past. If anything, he used to watch his girlfriend’s breasts bouncing around until the moment the bra captured them and then he'd find something else to look at. While Barry concentrates on how he is to line up the bra, three women come in together who have lockers near him. They seem to know each other. Barry realizes that he is topless, but the women don't seem to be blown out by it. They smile at Barry and he smiles back at them. I'm a girl in a girl's locker room. Boobs don't get them excited. On the other hand, he will be in a great position to see them get changed into their bathing suits, and for him he will like nothing better than to gaze at their naked bodies. What an unbelievable situation he is now in. He can spy on women in any locker room and there will be no harm no foul. Just one woman looking at others.

With the three women nearby, Barry becomes self-conscious about having to put his bra on with an audience. They'll probably wonder why he is getting dressed so early in the morning. He'll just have to tell them that he got locked out and has spent the night waiting for the locker room to open. Barry knows enough about bras that he'll have to clip the bra in front and then somehow get the clip to the back. So, the first step is to get the two ends of the bra correctly lined up in front of himself. While he figures this out, the women, who are wearing sundresses, lift them up over their heads revealing their bras and panties underneath. Two of the women are a bit bigger busted than Cathy and Barry gets absorbed in watching their large breasts fill out the white bras the women are wearing. The third woman's chest is smaller, and she has on a bra whose cups are decorated with roses. With one hand holding one end of the bra, Barry reaches behind his back to get the other end. When he then draws his hands together in front of himself, he realizes that he doesn't know which of the three rows of clips needs to be used. He figures he'll go with the middle group and he clips the two clips and then swivels the bra around to the front only to find out that it is upside down. The women see what he has done and laugh. Barry says, "I'm still groggy from sleeping in the sand. I got locked out last night and had to spend it here."

"That's terrible," one of the women says.

"So now, I guess I clipped my bra the wrong way. Silly me."

Watching Barry, the women have taken off their bras and now Barry has the three naked chests in front of himself. He is having a hard time between looking at the women, looking at his own breasts and trying to understand why he got the bra on upside down. Barry holds the bra up and studies it carefully and repeats clipping it in the front and swiveling it to his back and this time he discovers that it is inside out. "Oh, my God," Barry says.

"Do you know how to put on a bra?" One of the busty women says.

"Yeah, obviously, but I don't know what's come over me."

"Here, let me help you," she says.

The woman demonstrates how the bra is to be put on and Barry concentrates on what she says. This time the cups come out correct and then Barry has to pull the bra up his chest, get his arms through the shoulder straps and capture his boobs in the cups. Concentrating on putting Cathy's boobs in the bra cups he doesn't realize that he cannot now get his hands through the shoulder straps. The three women look on with amazement. "I'd swear that you've never put on a bra in your life," the woman says.

"This is my bra," Barry says. "I wore it here to the beach. I'm just a little bit dazed after the night."

"If you say so. Anyway, lower your bra down and get your hands through the straps, then pull it up and fit your breasts in the cups. OK?"

"Thanks again," Barry says. He does what the woman says, and he finally has the bra on, though it doesn't feel exactly right.

"Jesus," the woman says. "Now lean forward so your boobs can swing free and get them centered correctly in your cups."

Barry does that and finally he realizes that the bra is on comfortably. He smiles and thanks the woman profusely. While he has been fussing with his bra, the women have taken off their panties and are stepping into their bathing suits. Now with his panties and bra on, he takes out the dress which is a blue color with a sparse design of reeds and Willow branches. Barry examines it carefully and concludes that it must go over his head. He lines it up like he remembers seeing his girl friends put on dresses. As he lowers it over his head, he makes sure his hands go into the arm holes, but as he pulls down on the dress it seems to get stuck over his head and shoulders. He now can't see, and he can't figure out how to undo what he has done. He walks around and bangs into the lockers and he hears the women laughing uproariously.

"You are so funny," one of the women says. "You need to undo the back zipper to put on a dress like that. Come, let me undo the zipper before you kill yourself."

Barry feels the woman's hand on his back as she finds the top of the zipper and lowers it. Suddenly the pressure of the tight dress is released, and it falls down to fit over his shoulders. "I don't know what is going on here, but as beautiful as you are, you sure don't seem to know much about being a woman."

This observation causes Barry to suddenly burst into tears. Frustrated and embarrassed the tears roll down his cheeks and he sobs. The woman feels terrible for causing the scene and tries to comfort Barry. "Now, now, there's no reason to cry," the woman says.

Her friends have finished putting on their suits and she says to them, "I'll join you in a few minutes at our usual spot." The other two women leave, and the woman helps Barry sit down next to her.

"So, you want to tell me what's going on here?" She hands Barry a tissue and he dabs at his eyes.

"I wish I could tell you. You're right. I guess I'm having a hard time remembering how to put on a bra and a dress. But as soon as I get home, I'm going to talk to my doctor about it."

"OK, that sounds like a good idea. So, let me tell you. For a dress like this, you open the zipper and as you're sliding it down over your head, you can zip it up as it falls. That way it ends up with the zipper high enough for you to reach behind your back to pull it all the way up. For right now, I'm going to zip you up." The woman stands behind Barry and zips up his dress.

Barry says, "I can't thank you enough. You're so kind."

"Good. Get some help and you'll be fine." The woman returns to putting on her bathing suit.

All that is left now for Barry is to put on Cathy's sandals which he is able to do. He asks the woman how he can get to Manhattan and she tells him where to get the bus to the LIRR station in Freeport.

Barry sets out across the parking lot. He realizes that he must be walking like a guy walks and decides that is too ridiculous. He is making Cathy look bizarre and he decides that he really needs to walk the way women walk. So, he thinks of a woman walking in his mind's eye and before he knows it, he feels like he is doing a pretty good imitation of that. His hips swivel and his feet sort of go one in front of the other. He also tries to hold his hands the way women do, and he puts the strap of the purse over his shoulder. Whatever I do, he tells himself, don't forget my purse. Otherwise I'm toast.

Barry passes nearby the BVD truck which is now surrounded by other vehicles and is no longer conspicuous. He arrives at the bus stop and takes the next bus to the station in Freeport.

Chapter 7

After the volleyball game is over and Vinny and Dave are crushed by Apex Plumbing, they look around for Barry and see he is nowhere in sight. "He's too chickenshit to show his face," Vinny says. "He knows he really screwed up." They drive back to the office to look for Barry and see that his car is parked there. Vinny calls Barry's cell and gets no answer, which makes him even angrier. The prick doesn't have the balls to speak to me, Vinny thinks. Vinny has Dave call him, but he also does not get an answer and Vinny begins to worry

"He probably met some chick and he's having a good time and feeling guilty," Dave says.

"I hope you're right," Vinny says.

***

The next morning, on Sunday, Vinny drives to the office and the BVD truck is still not back. Vinny calls some of Barry's friends and none of them have heard from him. He calls up Dave and says, "We have a problem. Barry is still missing along with the truck." Dave drives over to join him at the office.

"It doesn't make sense that Barry is not answering his phone. It could be that Barry drowned."

"Jesus, you think that?"

"I'm calling the police," Vinny says.

Vinny dials them up and says, "I want to file a missing person report. I think my friend might have drowned at Jones Beach."

"No bodies have been found there recently."

"That doesn’t mean he hasn’t drowned, does it?"

"True, but the bodies usually wash up on the shore. Get a picture and you can post it online."

"OK."

To Dave, Vinny says, "We can file a report online. I sure hope he hasn't drowned."

***

Late Sunday evening, the BVD truck is once again by itself in the vast parking lot, and this time it attracts the attention of a park employee who calls the BVD phone number written on the side of the truck. The call is forwarded to Vinny’s cell phone.

"Hi. I'm down at Jones Beach and there's a BVD van parked here. It's not allowed to stay overnight."

"Oh my God. Our partner Barry drove that to the beach and he's missing since Saturday. He must have drowned."

"No bodies have washed up on the shore. They usually do fairly quickly. If he's missing, I need to call the local police. They'll have to search the truck. You should get down here and let the cops into the van."

***

A half hour later, Vinny, Dave and the police are at the van. Vinny opens the rear door and they find Barry's wallet, phone and plumbing outfit. "He changed into his swimsuit and has not been heard from since. We got into a fight about the volleyball tournament. Maybe he did something foolish."

"I'll call in the missing person and see if anyone has been found." The policeman goes into his car and makes the call. He comes back and says, "Early this morning an officer picked up a crazy guy running on the causeway, and before they could get him taken to a psychiatric facility he ran away. If you come by the station with a picture, they’ll be able to tell you if that’s your guy or not."

Dave drives the BVD van back to the shop while Vinny goes to the police station. Vinny shows a picture of Barry to the sergeant, who says, "Yes, that’s the guy. He said he couldn't remember who he was. Lots of people get hit with surfboards so maybe that's what happened to him. What made us think he’s crazy is that the guy claimed that he was a girl and he kept crying and crying about it. No sooner had we calmed him down, then he’d start weeping all over again. It’s kind of weird to watch a big athletic guy like him cry hysterically. I was arranging transport for him to a psychiatric hospital for observation when he ran away. No one has seen him since. I have no idea where he is now."

"I guarantee you that there’s nothing girl-like about Barry."

"Well, this version of Barry is adamant that he’s a girl. I’ve never even seen the Fire Island crowd act so certain that they were girls. If you looked at him crosswise, he broke down into tears. He spent more time sitting here crying than not crying. There’s really something messed up about this guy."

"Thanks," Vinny says. Barry thinking he’s a girl. That’s got to be the most ridiculous idea ever.

Chapter 8

The bus terminates in the center of Hempstead and Cathy gets off. It is early afternoon and she has no idea where she will be able to sleep that night and where she’ll get food. She wanders around the streets looking for some hopeful idea as to what she should do. As long as it is daylight, she’ll be able to fend off her panic, but when night falls she worries that she’ll go insane and once again be picked up by the police.

On one of the downtown streets she sees a large church ahead of her and she enters it. At least there will be a bathroom here, which she finds down a corridor in what must be a small school. When she is leaving the church, she hesitates in the chapel and wonders if prayer will do her any good. She isn’t religious, at least she’s pretty sure she’s not, but maybe it would do her some good. Who knows?

A priest walks up to her and says, "I’m Father Gonzalez. Can I help you; you look lost?"

"I’m sorry, I guess I am lost. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"I don’t have anything in the world other than what I’m wearing. Is there a shelter and food near here for someone like me?"

The priest smiles and says, "We have a small shelter right here in the building for the homeless."

"Is it safe?"

The priest laughs. "Of course it is. I run it with the help of many volunteers. It’s a great place for helping people get back on their feet."

"May I stay here tonight?"

"Certainly. The summer is the slow season, we’ve got many empty beds. Can I ask you how you got in your present circumstances?"

"I have amnesia. I can’t remember who I am. I woke up on Jones Beach this morning and I can’t remember who I am. If I could stay here a few days until my memory returns, I’d be so grateful."

"Don’t you think you ought to see a doctor?"

"No, I didn’t get hit on the head. It’s not that kind of amnesia. Actually, I’m a little afraid to tell you my whole story since you might want to have me locked up like I’m crazy."

"One of our central beliefs in our work in this church is not to force people to reveal painful truths. So, you can stay here and when you’re ready to talk to me about what troubles you, let me know and I’ll see if I can help you. In the meantime, I’ll get the staff to settle you in, including getting you some clothes. A swimsuit and a blanket is not enough. We'll also need a name for you, so let's call you Mr. Jones since you say you came from Jones Beach."

***

That evening, after dinner Cathy is approached by Father Riley, who says that Father Gonzalez had mentioned that Mr. Jones might need someone to listen to his story and provide some moral support. "How can I help you my child?" Father Riley says.

"Thanks for talking to me. You see I don't know who I am and I'm definitely not the person you see in front of you, whoever that person is."

"It is true that people are divided between those that are lost and those that are found. In a real sense those souls who don't know who they are, are lost, since if they did know who they were, then they wouldn't be lost. Am I making myself clear?"

"I guess so. If I wasn't lost, then I'd be found?"

"Precisely"

"Right now I'm lost?"

"Indeed."

"Then how can I not be lost?"

"Find yourself."

"That's what I'm trying to do."

"Then I know you'll succeed."

"But when?"

"That is the eternal question, isn't it?"

"If you say so."

"I do say so."

"Thanks father," Cathy says feeling like she ought to cry.

"Don't hesitate to come again if you need to talk more."

After Cathy settles into a bunk in a room containing several other men, she waits for sleep to overtake her. She lays on her back and gingerly uses her hand to feel around her body. The large muscles in her arms and calves are strange to touch. She knows that her muscles have never been hard like this before. She inches her hand onto her pubic hair and then feels her penis. A great sadness mixes with fear descends on her as she feels around the phallus and then to the balls. "Ugh," she thinks. "I want my pretty vagina back and my breasts and my round behind, and I hate this man's toenails and fingernails and I hate this short hair! Her hand touches the underside of her penis and she feels a jolt of pleasure. "And on top of everything else I'll have to deal with this getting hard, and I have no idea how or when that will happen. How does one even use that thing?" Eventually she drifts off to sleep.

Chapter 9

Barry arrives at the hotel in Manhattan and enters the unfamiliar lobby. His walk through the streets of Manhattan in a dress and clutching his purse is a freaky experience. He feels he has gotten the woman's walk down pretty well. What is weird is the realization that men are eyeing his breasts and his rear end in the dress. Being checked out by men. Mostly subtle glances, but sometimes not so subtle. He can't escape the bizarre thought that he can look upon his own body the same way these guys do. But for him, it’s there for the taking. If this body really belongs to some woman out there, then she has no way of knowing how he uses it. If he wants to feel himself up, he can, and she’ll never know about it. While he is contemplating this reality, it strikes him that if there had been a switch and this woman is in his body, she might be playing with his penis this very minute. And she might use his muscles. He hopes she’s taking good care of his body.

Barry walks over to the front desk and a clerk says, "I'm so glad to see you Ms. Margolies. Brad has been calling every hour to see if you're in."

"He has, has he?" Greg says wondering who Brad is.

"He probably has wedding jitters."

"Yeah, that's probably it," Barry says. Jesus Christ, is he supposed to marry this guy Brad?

"And what about you?"

"Sure, I'm nervous too. Could you please remind me what my room number is?"

"701, Ms. Margolies."

"Thanks."

Riding up to his room in the elevator, Barry looks at his hand and for the first-time notices that he’s wearing a diamond engagement ring. Jesus, that's quite a rock on there. Brad must have the bucks.

***

Up in the room Barry looks around. It’s not overly spacious but is nicely decorated. The bed is made. There is a suitcase on the table and a pair of heels on the floor and a blouse is draped over the back of a chair. He picks up the framed picture and thinks this must be Brad. He looks a bit like a simpleton. Surveying the room Barry thinks that this is all his stuff now. He opens the suitcase and looks in. There’s a plastic bag containing laundry, a box of tampons and a book. He holds up the tampons, and says sarcastically to himself, "That is going to be fun."

Barry opens a dresser drawer and sees some panties and bras neatly placed within, as well as some pantyhose. He'll need to get a lesson on getting those on, as well as instructions as to when he’s supposed to wear them. The next drawer down has a nightgown neatly folded. In the closet Barry finds several dresses, skirts and blouses hanging neatly and two more pairs of shoes on the floor. Man, she needs shoes, that's a fact, he thinks. And I’m definitely a very fastidious woman. In the bathroom Barry finds a toiletry case and makeup. There’s a small bottle of bubble bath and a pink, circular pill dispenser containing birth control pills.

Uh, oh, he thinks, I bet I've skipped a pill. He sees eight pink pills in the dispenser followed by seven white pills. It must be eight days until my period, or seven now, he thinks. He'd better take yesterday's pill and so he pops a pink pill out of the dispenser and swallows it. Barry then laughs and thinks, but I'm not letting any guy touch my body, let alone screw me, so do I really need birth control pills? Barry sits down to pee again and while he’s in the bathroom, he examines the plumbing underneath the sink that is partly visible. Not the best work, he thinks to himself and then breaks out into a sweat wondering, how he knew that. Why does he feel like he knows exactly how that plumbing was done? He closes his eyes and realizes that if he had some tools, he’s sure that he can fix any plumbing problem. He must be a plumber, Barry thinks. That's an important realization. He'll have to look for a missing plumber. Of course, how will he know what he’s supposed to look like?

On the desk in the room Barry notices a manila folder and opens it to see that there’s an airline ticket for a flight leaving the next day to John Wayne airport in LA, as well as some information about a modeling agency and a list of phone numbers. At the bottom of the list of numbers is four digits, 2454. Barry retrieves Cathy's cell phone and types in the four numbers and to his amazement it turns out to be the password. There are a dozen messages indicated and he listens to the first one.

"Hey sweetie. I heard from the Barsky's and they're coming. So, the final, absolutely final count is 184 guests. Also, the florist called, and he can get the shade of roses you wanted for the bridesmaids. So, all is set now. I can't wait until you get back. I'm so excited. Give me a call. I hope NY has been nice to you."

A wedding with 184 guests, Barry thinks. There is no way in hell that he's going to let Brad touch him, let alone marry him. Ugh. A husband? That would not be his thing. He listens to the next message: "Hey, it's Brad again. I thought you'd be back by now. Having a real late dinner, are you? Give me a call. Love ya."

The next message is from Brad: "Honey, what's up? I'm starting to get worried. It's got to be 2AM your time. Where are you?"

After this message is one with a woman's voice: "Cathy, it's your mom. Brad says you're not answering your phone. He's such a worry wart. If you need to confide in me, give me a call."

The next message is Brad again: "I've been trying and trying your cell phone. My guess is that you've lost it. If you have, then call me as soon as you get this."

Barry laughs and thinks that Brad sounds more and more like a piece of work. The next message is once again from Brad: "I'm terrified. Please call me. Even if you were out with someone last night, I won't be upset. Just call. I need to know that you’re all right."

After this is a message from a woman who doesn't give her name but is apparently the maid-of-honor of Cathy's wedding: "Brad is a basket case now, so I 'm calling. He thinks you're avoiding him. This is my one and only time as maid of honor so don't blow it for me. Just kidding. Seriously, if you need to talk girl to girl, give me a ring."

The next message is from that morning, someone named Ben Devour: "Cathy, they absafuckinglutely loved you at the shoot. I've got work for you in Santa Monica in a few weeks. I hope that's after your honeymoon. Give me a call when you get a chance."

Barry looks through Cathy's wallet and finds a business card for Ben Devour on Wilshire Boulevard. This guy is her agent and she's a model. Unbelievable. The last message is from Brad again: "I don't know what I did. I've racked my brain for how I've hurt you. Is it about making you sell your house? Please let me know what I've done."

Is this guy an idiot or what, Barry asks himself and contemplates what his next move ought to be. He's got to fly back to his house at Seal Beach, that's for sure. He'll need Brad to pick him up at the airport. Then he'll have to let Brad know that the wedding is canceled. That will be a nightmare, but the sooner it's done the better. For right now, he'll give the dude a call, so he stops freaking out.

Barry dials Brad's number. "Oh my God, Cathy. Oh, thank God, Cathy it's you," Brad answers.

"Hi Brad," Barry says.

"Where have you been? What happened? I've been so scared."

"Calm down, Brad. I went to Jones Beach and my phone ran out of juice."

"Jones Beach? You went to Jones Beach by yourself?"

"Yes, Brad."

"Then why didn't you get home last night?"

"I fell asleep on the beach and didn't wake up until this morning. Then I had to get back to the hotel."

"You fell asleep on the beach?" Brad is beside himself with excitement. "Who falls asleep on the beach?"

"Apparently, I do, Brad."

"No one woke you up?"

"Obviously not."

"I'm sorry, Cathy, I've just been so worried."

"I'll see you tomorrow at the airport."

"Oh, sure, OK, Cathy. At the usual spot?"

Usual spot? Barry has no idea what that is but says, "Oh, sure. The usual spot." He’ll figure it out when he arrives. "OK, I'll see you then."

"What are you forgetting?" Brad says.

"Huh?"

"Cathy! How about an, 'I love you Brad'?"

"OK, one of those," Barry says and hangs up. Tomorrow is going to be one helluva day with this guy.

Barry decides to return Cathy’s mom's call and he dials the number on the paper he finds in the folder. The phone answers quickly with a man saying, "Hello."

"Hello," Barry says, wondering who the man is. His dad?

"Is that you Cathy?" the man says.

"Yes. Hi, Dad," Barry guesses.

"What did you say?"

"Dad?"

"What? You're calling me dad?"

Barry can hear the muffled sound of the man yelling, "It's Cathy and she's calling me dad!"

"Dad?" a woman's voice says in the distance.

"Why are you calling me dad?" the man now says to Barry.

"What should I call you?"

"Where does that come from?"

"You don't think it's time I rethought what I call you?"

"You're teasing me, Cathy. I never knew that you teased. Very funny."

"What do you think I should call you?"

"How about Uncle Milton, like you've been doing your whole life. Your dad, may he rest in peace, is your only dad. It's not funny to call me dad."

"Sorry, Uncle Milton," Barry says. "Can I speak to mom?"

"Why are you calling Uncle Milton your dad?" Cathy's mom says.

"I was teasing him."

"You've never teased anyone in your whole life. It's obviously pre-wedding jitters. It makes people say crazy things."

"Sorry, mom."

"Where have you been?"

"I accidentally fell asleep at Jones Beach and just got back to the hotel this morning."

"Asleep at the beach? I don't want to know about it. I'll let Brad do all the worrying for everyone. How did the shoot go?"

"It was great. I have another job in a couple of weeks in Santa Monica, I think."

"Please try and not miss your plane tomorrow by oversleeping."

"I won't mom."

"And remember that on Tuesday I'm picking you up for the last fitting of your gown."

"Yes, mom, I haven't forgotten. What time is that?"

"Ten in the morning I’ll be there. Boy are you ditzy. Anyway, see you soon."

Barry goes to the bathroom and looks at himself in the mirror and then at the makeup on the counter. I’m so pretty but yet I'm supposed to put on makeup. I've no idea how to do that. He sees the bubble bath and decides he ought to take a hot bath. He fills the tub and adds the foaming suds. Undressing in front of the full-length mirror in the brightly lit bathroom is a mind-blowing experience. He ogles his beautiful self in his bra and panty and then unhooks his bra and takes it off so he can admire his breasts. Then he slips down his panties and delights in his perfect vagina and rear end. It is just too too much. The weirdest part of it is his feeling that he’d definitely feel a rise in his penis with the view in front of himself, but there’s no penis to react. Instead, the lustful feelings seem to land in his vagina as a sort of wetness and warmth.

Fully naked, Barry settles into the hot water and relaxes. This is a delight. He slowly feels his breasts in wonder and once again feels a stirring in his vagina. So weird. He settles back and places his finger on his clitoris and feels it gently. It takes some practice to not poke himself with his long fingernails. Life is good, there is no doubt about that, except for the fact that he has no idea who he is and what he’s doing in a woman's body. He looks at his fingernails and sees one where the polish has chipped off. What is he supposed to do about that?

Chapter 10

At breakfast, Cathy has an opportunity to meet the other residents of the shelter, including the women. Holding a tray of food, she surveys the room and sees that most of the ladies are much older than herself. A couple of the younger ones appear to be women with drug problems and a couple of other ones Cathy thinks are former prostitutes looking to establish a saner life. Cathy sits across from one of the latter women who is eating by herself. She’s friendly and tells her that her name is Rose. She believes that she’s turned a new leaf in her life and is full of plans to take advantage of opportunities that Father Gonzalez is arranging for her. She’ll go to community college and try and get a fresh start. "He’s the best," she confides in Cathy. "You can trust him to be discreet and non-judgmental and to go the extra mile for you. This is the third time he’s helping me, and he’s never lost faith in me. I know I’ll get better this time."

Cathy tells Rose some of the outlines of her story, about having amnesia, but doesn’t mention that she’s a woman trapped in a man’s body. She can’t get out of her mind the fact that Rose is wearing a feminine dress of the kind that she would love to be wearing. She knows deep in her heart that she’s a woman and she feels an almost desperate desire to express her femininity. She can’t stand being seen as part of the male side of the planet. She wants back into the sisterhood and she’s intensely envious of Rose. By the end of the meal, it’s apparent to Cathy that Rose is more than attracted to her, obviously turned on by her handsome body. Cathy decides that somehow she’ll have to find a way to cut things off with Rose before she hurts her feelings.

***

Cathy joins Rose for breakfast every day and she becomes impressed by Rose’s resolve to better herself. After a week of getting to know her, Cathy feels like she can trust her with her secret. It’s a burden that she’s anxious to share with someone so that she won’t feel so isolated and alone with this truth. Once Rose knows Cathy’s secret, this should provide Rose with a way to give up her designs on Cathy without feeling like she’s been rejected.

Cathy says, "I told you that I have amnesia, but I need to share with you the rest of my story. You see, as I said, I don’t know who I am. They call me Mr. Jones, because I woke up at Jones Beach after spending the night there not remembering how I got there or why I was there or anything. But that’s not my only problem. The truth is, and I’m only sharing this because I really like and trust you Rose, is that I’m actually a woman, even though I look like a guy."

Rose reacts with surprise and Cathy hastens to add, "I’m certain that by some weird miracle I was placed inside this man’s body. I’m a woman through and through and the sad fact is that I woke up at Jones beach inside this guy’s body. I don’t know who he is, and unfortunately I haven’t come across anyone who recognizes him."

Rose stares at Cathy with an incredulous expression. "I may be half-nuts and pitiful," Rose says, "but why in the world do you think that I’d believe such bullshit?" Before Cathy can say anything, Rose adds, "You’re one of the crazy ones. Damn, I thought that you were sane like me."

Rose gets up to move away and Cathy says sternly, "Nothing I’m saying is bullshit, Rose, and I’m not crazy in the way you think. Whether or not I was placed in this body, the fact is that I know that I’m a girl. I have memories of a million girl things, but none of boys. I remember how happy I was when I got my first bra, though I can’t remember my mom’s face. I’m sure that I’ve been putting on a bra every morning for years and years now. I can remember having periods, and how to change my tampon. I know how to size dresses, put on pantyhose and walk in high heels. I remember wearing a very pretty dress at my high school prom, but I can’t remember the face of my date or his name. It’s the weirdest thing. I can do any girl thing you name, I’m sure of it. But I also can’t do any boy things. I’m sure I don’t know how to throw a baseball the way boys do or a football. I have no memory or instinct for swinging a baseball bat the way I see men do. I can’t recall ever engaging in an activity using a lot of strength, like changing a tire, or pushing a lawnmower. I don’t know too much about boy clothing, like tying a tie, but I could give you an expert description of women’s foundation garments if you wanted me to. I know how to braid hair. It goes on and on. I should also say that I’m pretty sure that I’m a model, and that I know exactly how to pose and walk in a photography studio."

Rose sits back down and says, "Okay, okay. You’ve made your point." Rose takes out a bottle of nail polish from her handbag and says, "Let me see you put this on my nails."

Cathy laughs and says, "Sure, Rose, that’s easy." Cathy then proceeds to perfectly do up Rose’s nails without mishap.

"OK, Cathy, I guess I can sort of see believing you. No man could do that unless he worked in a nail or hair salon, and judging from your workman’s hands you certainly don’t look like you have.

"That’s true, too. Also, I can put on makeup, perfectly."

"Okay, Okay, Mr. Jones, I won’t say you’re lying, but I also can’t just pretend that I believe in science fiction. So, what are you going to do?"

"I don’t know who’s body I’m in. I assume that this body wasn’t suddenly created."

"So even though you have this gorgeous, hunky body, you’re not into women."

"I’m sorry, Rose."

"This may mean that you’ve got the same interest in men that gay men have." This was a thought that Cathy hadn’t yet thought of. Now she could see that since she did find men attractive, she might have to consider looking for a gay man to date, even though technically speaking her feelings for men would be that of a woman.

"You’re right, I hadn’t thought about that."

"I’m sure that there are lots of gay guys who would flip out over you. We, however, can be girlfriends. That’ll be fine with me."

Chapter 11

As Barry gets ready to spend his first night in the life of Cathy, he contemplates whether or not he should wear her nightgown. It’s very feminine with a shear gauzy light blue fabric and lace and smells slightly of perfume. The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that he has no right to let his male prejudice affect what Cathy’s body is used to. Acting like a man while having her body is just plain crazy. If he wears Cathy's pretty nightgown, he’s not cross dressing. Rather, he’s being a gentleman. He puts on the nightgown and finds that he likes the fact that it’s pretty and that it makes him feel pretty. It’s actually nice feeling feminine and pretty. It seems like masculinity is no match for the power of a woman’s body and all its needs and requirements.

In the morning, after a good night’s sleep, Barry wonders upon waking if he might now be back to being himself. As soon as he moves his legs, however, he feels the soft fabric of the nightie and hears its rustling around his hips. Without having to touch it, he knows that he still has a vagina. It has not magically returned to being a penis.

To dress for breakfast Barry selects clean panties and a bra and then looks at Cathy's clothes to decide what outfit he should wear for the trip home. Not the sundress he had worn from the beach. He sees the blouse on the back of the chair and figures that Cathy has arranged it to be worn so he puts it on. It has buttons down the front, and he’s surprised to see that they are on the left side and not the right side. Barry particularly enjoys fixing the buttons one by one as they approach and go over his breasts. He goes to the closet and looks at Cathy's skirts. There are three skirts and since the blouse is an ivory color, it probably doesn’t matter which skirt he wears. He takes a grey skirt and steps into it and pulls it up to his waist. He has to stare at the hook to see how it goes and then zips up the zipper. Now he remembers that his girlfriends always have the zipper in the back or maybe the side so he swivels the skirt around and can see that now it looks pretty good.

He wonders if he’s supposed to wear pantyhose with the skirt. If so, he’s not sure he’ll be able to get them on. He thinks it through and decides that obviously women wear sandals on summer days when they’re wearing skirts or shorts. He has either the white sandals he wore from the beach or another brown pair he sees in the closet. He chooses the latter and goes downstairs to have breakfast. As he passes a mirror in the lobby, he sees that his hair is flying in every direction and he realizes that with long hair, he’s supposed to brush it every morning. He’s brought his purse with him and he remembers that it holds a brush, so he takes it out and stands in front of a mirror and fixes himself up. He’s going to need a lot of help in getting this routine down. Taking good care of a woman's body requires a lot more work than his man's body, whatever and wherever that is.

***

After boarding the plane Barry takes his seat in First Class for the flight back to LA. Next to him is Adam Stein who says, "What a small world! What do you think the odds are?"

Barry looks at him with a weak smile not knowing how he ought to react. Is this someone he knows well, or is he just flirting?

"Oh, hi," Barry says trying to be enthusiastic.

"On your way home now for the big day?"

"Oh, sure, the marriage. Yeah, I’ll be marrying Brad."

"How did your modeling gig go?"

"Fine. That was fine."

"Are you going to ask me why I’m heading back to LA?"

"Sure. Why are you heading to LA?"

Looking puzzled, Adam says, "You don’t remember me, do you?"

"Sure, I do."

"What’s my name?"

"I’m sorry, could you remind me. I have a hard time with names."

"Adam Stein, remember?"

"Oh, yes, of course. Hi Adam."

"Where did we meet?"

Barry stares at him and then says, "I’m sorry, I have no memory of where I met you."

"We met last Thursday on the flight to New York. To tell you the truth, even though you look the same, except for not having any makeup, I’d say you’re an entirely different person than the Cathy I met before."

Barry thinks of saying that he’s Cathy’s twin sister but decides since he’ll never see Adam again, there’s no reason to worry about it. "I’m sorry you feel that way."

"No big deal."

"No, I can see I owe you an explanation. The fact is that you’re right. I’m not Cathy. I’m really some guy who ended up inside her body,"

Adam says with obvious disdain, "OK, enough’s enough," and he turns away to read his book.

***

Barry has no idea what to expect with Brad, except judging by his experience with Adam Stein, it’s likely to be a disaster. Most urgent of all is finding Brad since he has no idea what the "usual place" is. When he wheels his suitcase from the baggage claim outdoors at the arriving flights level he looks up and back for someone who looks like Brad and doesn’t see anyone. He walks to the right until he gets to the end of the terminal and then turns around and heads back to the other end. He has no idea where Brad would be. He turns on his phone and sees that there’s a text message from Brad, "Has your flight arrived?"

He texts back, "Yes."

"Have you reached departures yet?"

"Just getting there," Barry types in, and hurries to go upstairs to departures. So that must be their special place.

He gets to the upper level and out to the curb and types, "At departures now."

Barry heads to the right again and doesn’t see Brad.

Another text comes in, "I can see you walking away from me."

Barry pivots and heads back towards the left. In the distance he sees someone standing next to a Jaguar convertible that could be Brad. When he gets up close, Brad runs over to him, saying, "Why were you going the wrong way?"

Before Barry can respond Brad throws his arms around him and plants his lips on his mouth giving him a long kiss. Barry feels like he’s going to be ill. "I'm so happy to see you Cathy!"

"That’s some kiss," Barry says.

"Let me give you another one!"

"No, no, that's OK. I need to get home."

Brad stares at Cathy and says, "I was so worried about you. Going to Jones Beach by yourself and then spending the night there? Wow."

"I fell asleep. I think it's due to a hot dog I ate."

"And it's so interesting to see you without makeup."

Barry had tried in the morning to put a little makeup on and then decided that no makeup would arouse less suspicion than weird makeup, so he had washed it off. "I didn't have the time to put it on."

Brad looks at her puzzled as if wondering how that could possibly be. They get in the XKE and head to the house at Seal Beach. "I missed you so much," Brad says.

"Me too," Barry says trying to sound as friendly as he imagines that Cathy sounds.

"There are a million things waiting for you. My cousin Isaac is no longer speaking to Edna, so he'll have to be swapped to another table. The orchestra suggests some changes and we need someone to fetch your great uncle Louie from the airport. Oh, and you look so beautiful today."

"Even without makeup?".

Brad either doesn’t hear him or ignores the remark. "It's so beautiful here." Barry ventures again. He has never been to California.

"You seem very quiet today," Brad says.

Barry wonders what Cathy would normally be talking about and says, "It was a long flight and I’m a little tired."

When they get to Cathy's house at Seal Beach, Brad carries the luggage to the front door. Barry takes out his key ring and sees that there are a half-dozen keys. He tries one key and then another and then another. "I guess I have to use the right key."

"Cathy, you're hopeless," Brad says. "It's the shiny silver key."

"Thanks," Barry says and opens the door.

"Sometimes I wonder how you survive without a man around the house. Well, we'll soon fix that problem."

They enter the house and Brad says, "I wonder if you could make a pot of coffee? I've been up so much of last night worrying."

"Sure," Barry says, having no clue where the kitchen is. Brad goes upstairs with the suitcase and Barry walks down a hallway with the dining room on the left and the living room on the right. Straight ahead through a swinging door is the kitchen. Barry sees a coffee pot and starts looking around for coffee. He opens and shuts a few cabinets without seeing it when Brad comes back.

"I need to go get some coffee. It looks like I ran out before I left."

"What are you talking about?" Brad says, opening up a pantry on the far side of the room. "You've got a few pounds here." He hands a bag of coffee to Barry who opens it up and sees that it is beans. "It's beans."

Brad says, "What has gotten into you, Cathy. Yes, it's beans. Use the grinder." Barry sees a grinder next to the coffee machine and pours some beans into it and grinds the coffee.

"Why so long?" Brad says. "You always do it for ten seconds. Not thirty seconds."

"I'm sorry. I'm just tired and jet lagged."

"I'm sorry, Cathy. How about we just go upstairs and have a little welcome home Cathy party?"

He takes Barry's hand and leads him upstairs to the bedroom. Barry is shocked by how little resistance he is able to muster in his arm. He is so much weaker than Brad, it is as if he has no muscles. Brad undoes his belt and lets his pants fall to the floor. Barry sees that he has a bulge in his underwear and then to his chagrin, he sees Brad pull down his underpants revealing his growing boner. His cock seems like it’s definitely going to be on the large side once its fully erect. Brad then sits Barry down on the bed, puts his arm around him and begins kissing him. The feel of a man's tongue in his mouth is freaking him out and though he tries to resist, even with relatively light pressure Brad is able to keep Barry from going anywhere. Brad then pushes Barry on to his back and climbs on top of him, lifts up his skirt and pulls his panties down. "Take them off," he says to Barry who doesn’t see how he has any choice but to obey and removes them. Brad pulls Barry’s blouse up over his head and takes it off, and then feels up Barry’s breasts over his bra. "Man, I missed these," Brad says. "I love your tits."

Barry calls out, "Brad, Brad, do you really think we should?"

"What do you mean?"

"Shouldn't we wait until after the wedding to reacquaint ourselves with our lovemaking? That would make our honeymoon night feel very special."

"That's a great idea, but let's start it after this fuck."

Barry wishes this would stop, but feels so overwhelmed by the novelty of having a tall powerful man controlling him that he is unable to see how he can resist. Besides, this is apparently the way Brad has been treating Cathy all along, whose inexperience seems to be why Brad is able to get away with such a one-sided encounter. "Here comes the big one," Brad says with evident pride. He stands himself up on his knees over Barry getting into position and Barry looks at Brad’s fully elongated cock. It’s a big one standing up at attention pointing at him, and he wonders how that’ll fit inside himself. Brad falls forward and holds down Barry’s arms with one hand, while he uses the other to aim his penis at Barry’s vagina. Once he’s in position, he uses both hands to hold Barry down, Brad pushes his penis into the opening. At first, it’s just a series of small pushes. Once Brad has established a beachhead, he wiggles his cock around a little bit and then pushes harder. Barry finds himself lubricating which begins having an effect on allowing Brad’s cock to begin sliding in and out a bit. Barry feels his vagina opening up wider and then all of a sudden, he feels Brad’s cock go sailing up inside his vagina. On the one hand he feels repulsed by having Brad's face in front of his own and on the other he can't help but be fascinated by the feeling of a cock being put up into himself. It’s a new sensation for him, to say the least. Despite his overwhelming strength, Brad is actually fairly gentle with him and to his amazement as Brad moves his penis in and out Barry begins to feel some pleasure in his vagina. The more Brad pumps, the more excited Barry feels. His nipples start to light up in pleasure and as if on cue, Brad uses one hand to squeeze his nipples. First one breast and then the other. Barry finds himself calling out a series of small cries of pleasure, and then Brad suddenly escalates the force and speed with which his cock is transiting in and out of Barry. Barry watches as Brads muscles across his chest and arms bulge and harden and his face gets intensely serious. He senses that Brad’s eyes are bulging out and he accelerates his thrusts and then he explosively orgasms, yelling about God and then collapses on top of Barry pinning him hard to the bed, unable to move. His vagina tingles with some pleasure as do his nipples and he has the sensation that he is filled with sticky liquid. Brad must have had a gallon of semen inside himself. Finally, Brad rolls to the side allowing Barry to breathe. He lies there wondering if Brad is going to show any interest in him now that he’s had his fun. It would be nice if Brad would at least finger him or do something else to allow him to have an orgasm also, but instead Brad swings his legs over the bed and stands up. Apparently, they’ll be no resolution for him. Just a sudden frustrating end to their sex. It’s clear from their intercourse that Brad is a selfish lover. It’s all about himself. Poor Cathy probably has no other data points with which to know how inconsiderate Brad is. There's no way he's ever going to touch my body again, Barry thinks. In fact, he feels like he will be having nightmares thinking about the way Brad has just used poor Cathy's body.

Brad gets dressed and Barry lays in bed thinking that he ought to go to the bathroom and figure out what he should do about the sticky fluid in his vagina.

"Tomorrow your mom is coming to get you for your wedding gown fitting."

"I know, we spoke yesterday."

"Just reminding you. Then, I'll call you tomorrow. I love you."

Barry smiles at him and pulls the covers up over himself. He hears Brad go down the stairs and out the front door. When Brad is gone Barry gets out of bed and goes into the bathroom to take a shower and wash out his vagina. He has no idea how far up inside it he is supposed to wash, but he does a reasonable job. When he gets back into bed, he puts a finger inside his vagina and feels around to see if he can give himself pleasure. It does not take him long to realize that indeed if he touches certain areas it leads to a strong sexual feeling. By rubbing harder and faster he brings himself to an orgasm that seems to be as intense as ones he had as a man. The key is the feedback loop that a man touching a woman's vagina will never be able to figure out. The touching he needs for the orgasm involves varying his finger between spots in just the right speed and intensity. If he ever gets a chance to be with a woman again, he'll have a much better idea how to pleasure her. It is clear that if he has to finger himself to have a climax, what is the point of Brad?

Barry wanders through the house familiarizing himself with Cathy's life. He looks out at Seal Beach from the window and sees how nice the surf is. He looks through the mail and financial records. He practices signing "Cathy Margolies", so it looks like her real signature. He finds her high school yearbook and reads the entries for everyone who has signed her book. He finds some photo albums to look through and a couple of diaries. They tell him something about how happy she was when she met Brad and how she enjoyed dating him. After he proposes to her and she accepts, the entries seem a bit darker. It’s like she’s trying to rationalize to herself why she should marry him. She writes that if she isn't climaxing now, will she ever with Brad? Brad's obsession with selling the Seal Beach house is clearly freaking her out. She doesn't want to live up a canyon, regardless of how big the house is. She likes looking out at Seal Beach every day and Barry cannot blame her for that.

Barry goes carefully through Cathy's clothes. He can't believe how many pairs of shoes she owns, and he feels helpless in deciding why he should wear one pair over another. He finds a drawer of bras and panties, all perfectly folded. He finds some shaping garments though why Cathy needs them he isn't sure. There is a drawer with a corset and some garter belts and stockings. There are many pairs of pantyhose, most of them in cardboard packages that have yet to be opened. There are many skirts and dresses of all kinds. Cathy has many pairs of shorts and jeans and numerous tops and blouses. Somehow, out of all these clothes he has to arrive at nicely coordinated and matching outfits. He finds a drawer containing jewelry. There are many earrings and he realizes that he has pierced ears. He puts in some earrings and admires the way they look in the mirror. It is actually kind of fun to see how he looks in the earrings. There are also necklaces and bracelets. He tries on various ones and thinks, being a girl has certainly got its fun parts.

The phone rings and Barry answers it. A voice says, "Hi Cathy! You're back!"

Barry says, "Yeah, I got in an hour ago."

"Great, well?"

"Well?"

"What's gotten into you, Cathy? You're acting like a regular shit. You don't call me at all for days. I'm just your take-it-for-granted maid of honor."

"Clara!"

"Who did you think it was? Boy, you're some friend Cathy!"

"No, no, don't be upset. I've had a few tough days and Brad has been needy and kind of a pain."

"Well that is quite a change in attitude!"

"It is?"

"You’ve never allowed anyone to voice the slightest critical thought about Brad. You’re always telling us how perfect he is."

"I know. I think that New York gave me a better perspective on things."

"That’s really freaky since it’s just a few days to the wedding."

"I haven't changed anything thus far, so don't worry."

"Before you do anything rash, you call me, and we'll talk it out. You can come see me anytime you want."

"I know. So, when can we get together?"

"What? You know that I’ll be with you tomorrow at the fitting. Did you forget?"

"Oh, no. I was thinking besides that."

"We’ll talk tomorrow. Get some sleep. You seem kind of jet-lagged."

Chapter 12

After a dozen days in the shelter, Father Gonzalez comes to the realization that Mr. Jones is not the typical client that he has come to expect. He increasingly believes that there is a feminine quality to Mr. Jones. He seems to weep a lot and he seems utterly pained when the staff has been trying to select clothing for him from their collection. He made a terrible face when he was given a pair of jockey shorts to wear. Among the female staff, such as Maybelline who is in charge of housekeeping and the food service, Mr. Jones seems to be much more comfortable than with the men. He has also observed him with Rose having amiable chats as if they are girlfriends. Finally, Father Gonzalez decides he has to broach the subject with Mr. Jones. "What’s going on? You seem very uncomfortable around men, at least as compared to the women."

"I’ll tell you if you promise to keep it between just you and me."

"Sure, I promise."

"I hope I can trust you Father Gonzalez with a great secret."

"Of course you can."

"You see, when I woke up on the beach, I found myself in the body I’m in right now, this man’s body, even though I’m sure it’s not really mine. I’m actually a woman and somehow, I got put here. I can’t remember enough details of who I am to know who I am, like my name and where I live, but I do know that I’m a girl. I have lots of memories of being a girl and none of being a boy. I know that I’m a model. I’m sure I know how to model. And I miss terribly all my pretty clothes and my makeup and my long hair." Cathy begins weeping and Father Gonzalez puts a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"You tell a fantastic story. Obviously, it’s asking a lot for me to believe you. Honestly, have you ever heard of such a thing where one person wakes up in the body of the other? And where is your original body?"

"No, I haven’t heard of this, which, of course, makes me seem like I’m crazy. And the fact that I have no idea where my real body is, makes me so sad. Where is my body? I want my body. It seems logical that a body swap took place on the beach. So that’s why I have this body, but it means that the man who goes with this body is in my body. How do I know he’s taking good care of it now?"

Father Gonzalez shakes his head slowly not knowing what he should possibly do for this poor mixed up person. "I don’t know how I can help you."

"Believing me would be a good start," Cathy says.

"OK, how can I believe you?"

"I can show you that I’m a girl. Actually, I already proved to Rose that I’m a girl. You can ask her. I put nail polish on her just the way any woman would. I could do her make up if she wanted. I know all kinds of girl things that you or any man wouldn’t know about. And when you look at my hands, which are those of a working man, you can’t just say that I’ve spent my life working in a salon or someplace surrounded by women. I can also runway model." Cathy struts back and forth in front of Father Gonzalez, stopping, posing and expertly placing one foot in front of the other.

"Okay, okay. You do make a strong case. So, assuming you’re a girl in a man’s body, what’s to become of you?"

"I hope this is not permanent," Cathy says, "and I really hope that I can find my body again. Maybe when that happens, I can swap back into it, assuming that I swapped out of it into this body in the first place."

"You have no way of knowing what the likelihood of that happening is, so I suggest that you plan for how you could live a normal life in the meantime."

"How can I do that?"

"The obvious thing to do is model. You’re very handsome and you have talent and even experience it seems like. So, model. I can make some enquiries to see if I can help you get a start in the field. The church has great resources and many parishioners of influence. We’ll see if we can get you some work and then a route toward self-sufficiency. That is one of the trademark purposes of our homeless shelter. Getting people back on their feet."

***

Father Gonzalez makes some phone calls and is able to set up a meeting with a local advertising agency that is looking for male models. When Cathy shows up to be interviewed, the account executive, Aaron, says upon first sight, "Oh my goodness, you look exactly like the man we’re looking for."

"I do?" Cathy says.

"Yes, we need a handsome, fit guy who has a working man persona for uniform ads."

"Uniforms?"

"Yeah, work uniforms. Jumpsuits, coveralls, any and all kinds of uniforms guys work in. Like at the airport, the cleaning crews wear uniforms. You’re perfect for that imagery."

"That’s great," Cathy says, surprised by how easy the process seems to be.

"You just have to show us that you know how to model in front of a camera." They fetch a bright orange jumpsuit with an insignia of an airline on it and hand it to Cathy. "Put this on, and you’ll find work boots in the dressing room. Pick a pair that fit you and come on out and we’ll see how you do."

Cathy goes to the dressing room and puts on the uniform and finds boots to wear and comes back to the photography studio. "Great, Mr. Jones. So now, let’s see you walk and pose."

Cathy effortlessly struts back and forth across the room, stopping in various poses. "Why so swishy?" Aaron says.

"Swishy"

"You’re doing a perfect imitation of a woman walking across the room. Where did you learn that?"

"I’m sorry, let me try it again."

"You evidently know how to pose. The strange thing is the way you walk."

"I’ll practice a man’s walk," Cathy says.

"Practice?" Aaron says, confused.

"You’re right." Cathy walks across the room again trying to be as masculine as possible.

"Okay, okay. You can walk like a gorilla. What about a man?"

Cathy tries again and Aaron says, "All right. That’s reasonable. Anyway, we just need you posing in uniforms and you look pretty spectacular as you are now."

Cathy is given a contract to sign and Aaron set up a series of appointments for Cathy to pose for various uniform catalogues. In the coming weeks, as she begins to earn some income from her modeling, and with the support of Father Gonzales, she is able to move into a small studio apartment in Hempstead that is not too far from the church.

Chapter 13

While Barry is increasingly doubtful that he'll go through with the marriage, he is hesitant to stop everything too soon. He should keep up appearances for a while, since it is really Cathy's wedding, not his, and he owes it to her to keep it going as long as is reasonable. If she really loves Brad and wants to marry him, far be it for him to kill it off prematurely, though he can also see the logic of ending it to protect Cathy from herself.

Barry spends an hour before Cathy's mom shows up desperately trying to figure out what outfit is appropriate for the trip to the wedding dress shop. He tries on many of her dresses and various skirts, after he first picks out a bra and panty that seems to be the kind that one would wear going shopping, though he really doesn't know exactly what he means by that. Barry finds that he enjoys selecting bras and putting them on since it gives him a nice excuse for playing around with his breasts. Each bra that Barry tries on gives him a different feeling, part of which is due to variations in where the bra holds his breasts. Some bras keep his breasts higher than others. Some keep them closer together than others causing enhanced cleavage. The pretty bras with pastel colors and lace he especially likes wearing and seeing himself wear in the mirror. Barry finally decides on a yellow dress that he thinks is kind of nice for a summery day and then has the problem of deciding what shoes to wear. He picks white ones with a middle height heel. He doesn't know which purse to take, so he keeps the one he has been using since New York even though Cathy has a shelf full of purses in different styles and colors.

Promptly at ten in the morning Cathy's mom shows up to drive Barry to the wedding dress shop. Taking a look at him at the door, she says, "Holy cow, Cathy, are you dressed for a costume party? Your shoes and bag don't match your dress, which you know I've never liked, and you admitted to me that you hate it also. So why wear it?"

"Sorry mom," Barry says.

"And no makeup? What happened to you in New York? You've always been so perfectly groomed wherever you go and now it’s like you're a guy trying to pretend he's a girl!"

"Ouch, mom," Barry says. "Why don’t you pick out an outfit for me to wear."

Cathy's mom tells him to take off the dress and she finds him another one: cream colored with some blue details. "This is much prettier. I don't see why you wear that old bra, Cathy, and your panties don't even match. That is so unlike you. Anyway, at the shop you'll have to change to a bustier and stockings. Now we need to take care of your makeup." Cathy's mom sits Barry down and applies foundation, mascara, rouge, everything she needs to do up his face. While she does it, Barry concentrates on remembering every step of the procedure, so he'll be able to do it himself in the future. When she’s done, she hands a lipstick tube to Barry and says, "Can you at least put that on?"

"Sure, mom," Barry says. He has seen his girlfriends do that in the past and he puckers his lips in front of the mirror and applies some lipstick. It’s going well until his hand slips and he has lipstick running out onto his cheek. Cathy's mom hits the side of her head with her hand and says, "Holy mother of God, Cathy." She gets a Kleenex and wipes up the lipstick off of Barry's cheek and then finishes the job. She finds a pair of cream-colored heels and has Barry wear them. They are a bit higher than the low heels he has worn before, and he now has to concentrate as hard as he can so as not to topple over. "How could you be a runway model, Cathy? You can't even walk on a high heel, can you? What has happened to my baby?"

"I'm sorry mom. I'm trying as hard as I can."

"What happened in New York? You can tell me."

"Nothing, mom. I ate a kind of strange hot dog and fell asleep on my towel at the beach and did not get up until the sun came up."

"And from that moment on you have no idea how to be a girl?"

"I know how to be a girl, mom. I just have gotten a little disoriented from my normal self."

"You can’t figure out what a nice dress is, and you can’t even make a nice choice in bra and panty. And matching your accessories to your outfit? Oh my God, you’re clueless. You didn’t even know who your uncle was, and you made lame jokes that my Cathy would never ever make. Pure and simple, you’re not Cathy and you’re not even a girl. Who in the world are you?"

Barry could see if ever there was a time to tell Cathy’s mom the truth, this was it. As he formulated his thoughts and was about to confess to her the truth, she said in disgust, "I’m sure that Brad will get to the bottom of this. For right now, they're expecting us at the wedding shop, so let’s go for the fitting."

***

At the wedding shop, Barry is surprised by a woman his age coming up to hug him and then realizes it must be Clara.

"Cathy, this is so exciting!"

"Thank you for coming," Barry says.

Cathy's mom says, "I'm so glad you could make it Clara. Cathy has been so ditzy since she came back from New York, I'll need all the help I can get to make sure she doesn't do something crazy!"

"Mom," Barry says, "I’m trying my best. Girls are complicated."

Both Clara and Cathy’s mom look at Cathy with bewilderment, wondering what in the world she is talking about. The proprietor of the shop brings out Cathy's gown for her to try on. "I think it'll fit perfectly, so let's have a look." She hands Barry a white lacy undergarment of a kind he has never seen before, as well as two white stockings. Barry looks around the shop wondering what he is supposed to do. Go to a fitting room? But where is the fitting room? "Come on," the woman says smiling at Barry. He starts to walk one way and the woman says, "Where are you going, dear? The dressing room is over there, and she points to a far corner of the shop that Barry cannot see because of several racks of gowns that block his vision.

"Sorry, I got turned around."

Barry wobbles over to the dressing room in his heels, trying to get used to them, while carrying the underwear and the gown and Clara goes with him. Thank goodness, he thinks, someone to help me figure out what to do. Inside the dressing room, he steps out of the heels and takes off his dress. He holds up the white undergarment which is made of a lacy material to get a good look at it. It seems to have a bra part, but it is much longer than a bra and dangling from the bottom are two garters on either side. Apparently, whatever it is, it is supposed to extend to at least his waist.

The way Barry is looking at the bustier prompts Clara to ask, "Do you need help putting on the bustier?"

"Help?" Barry asks. "Yeah, it’s pretty, isn’t it?"

"Give it to me," Clara says. "I think you definitely need some help." Barry watches as she undoes a row of clips on the side of the bustier. "Well, what about your bra?"

Barry looks at her, not understanding. "What about my bra?"

"Jesus, take it off, Cathy!"

"I'm sorry." Barry takes off his bra and then Clara wraps the bustier around his midsection and clips up the side.

"Get your boobs in the cups. You don't want me to do that, do you?"

It crosses through Barry's mind that he actually wouldn't mind it at all if Clara lifted up his boobs. He takes the bustier in each of his hands and wiggles it up higher on his torso and then places his boobs where they belong in the cups. The bustier seems to have a mind of its own in nipping his waist and amplifying his bust. He notices that the garters are dangling against his thighs and he figures that he now has to put on the stockings. He sits down on a bench and holds up one of them. He can see that it has a toe and heel, so he lines it up and starts putting his foot into it as if it were a regular sock.

"What in the world are you doing, Cathy?" Clara says. "That's how you put on your hose?"

"I'm sorry, I was spacing out here for a second."

Clara takes the stocking from Barry and uses two hands to roll it up so that she can then put it over his toe and then gently unroll it up his leg. "Clip the garters. Can you do that?"

Barry looks at the garters and clumsily tries to secure them on the hem of the stocking, until Clara gets frustrated and does it for him. "You have turned into an utter boob, Cathy." She takes the other stocking and puts it on Barry’s other leg and secures it with the garters. "Now for your dress." Clara takes it out of the garment bag and unzips the back, lifts it up over Barry's head and down past his shoulders. The dress is sleeveless and hugs his breasts. It has a wide, full skirt that is puffed out by many crinolines and goes down to Barry's knees. Clara adjusts here and there and then zips up the back. Barry looks in the mirror and is astonished at how pretty he looks. The pretty wide skirt with lace peeking out, the sexy bodice flat against his stomach and then arching out to accommodate his prominent breasts. Barry looks at his face and uses his hands to even out his hair. He is extraordinarily pretty. Such a sexy bride. If he could only be so lucky as to have a bride like this one day. Why waste such beauty on a creep like Brad, he wonders. The intense femininity of his image forces Barry to begin to question his own masculinity. For right now, anyway, he is this beautiful female. Not only the clothing but the womanly body underneath. He feels the beginning of an identification with this woman, as if it were really himself. He is not just a visitor in this body. It makes him wonder if, in time, he will grow to become a woman, not just in mind and body, but in spirit and soul and ego. To do so, he’ll eventually have to give up the sensation that he is male.

"Let's show everyone, Cathy. You're so pretty." Barry puts his heels back on and walks out to the center of the salon where Cathy's mom and the proprietor exclaim how beautiful he looks.

"OK, this is a winner," Cathy’s mom says. "It’s perfect in every way."

Barry, surrounded by mirrors, revels in his beauty from every angle. He can barely contain his joy in feeling so pretty. It makes him want to be feminine; to learn all that goes with being a girl so he can keep this glorious body of his in the best possible shape.

***

When they’re done at the wedding shop, Clara offers to drive Barry back to the house at Seal Beach so they can chat. Before they part, Cathy’s mother tells him to get a lot of rest and let Brad, Clara and his other friends take care of the wedding details. "All you have to do, Cathy, is show up at the hair parlor on Friday."

"Sure, mom," Barry says, "I won’t forget."

***

When they get to Seal Beach, Clara and Barry sit on a little terrace on the back of the house and share a bottle of wine and an avocado salad. "So, tell me what’s up Cathy," Clara says.

"What’s up?" Barry says.

"This is not a time for game playing. Out with it. It’s not just me that has noticed how strange you’re acting. You mom was just telling me about how she doesn’t think you’re Cathy, but perhaps some guy. Why are you being so weird?"

Barry debates in his mind whether or not he should share his secret with Clara. Finally, he decides that he has to take a chance, if for no other reason than to get some peace of mind. "Promise me you won’t call a psychiatrist or have me committed."

Clara is surprised by this request and says, "OK, Cathy. That’s a bit bizarre."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Actually, I’ve been carrying this big secret around with me for days now and I really need to share it with someone I can trust. You see, I’m not one hundred percent Cathy. Yes, I have her body, but my mind isn’t really hers. In fact, even though I can’t tell you what my real name is, I’m sure that I’m a man that has been placed inside Cathy’s body. I’ve been racking my brain for days to no avail, trying to remember who I am."

Clara’s face starts out with surprise and then ends up smiling and finally laughing. "My goodness you’re serious. This is like science fiction unless you’re pulling my leg?"

"I wish I was. But, of course, I need to prove to you that I’m not Cathy."

"Is that why you called your Uncle Milton, ‘Dad’?"

"Cathy’s mom told you? Yes, that’s very embarrassing, but I had no idea who I was talking to when I called Cathy’s mom."

"She’s not your mom?"

"That’s what I’m trying to say. I’m not Cathy, even though I’m in Cathy’s body."

"So how can you prove this?"

"Since I can’t prove it by claiming I don’t know things about Cathy, what I can do is convince you that I know things that Cathy definitely doesn’t know."

"For instance?

"I can tell you about plumbing."

"Plumbing?"

"Yes. I know that I’m a plumber. I can tell you anything you want to know about plumbing. If you give me some tools, I could fix any plumbing issue in this house."

"I don’t know enough to ask you anything."

"Do you think that Cathy would know anything about the plumbing layout of this house, that’s hidden by the walls?" Clara shakes her head. "Good. So now I’ll explain to you in plumber’s lingo what’s going on here." Barry launches into a technical description of where the water comes in, what kind of copper and galvanized iron pipes there are in different locations. In short order, Clara says, "OK, OK, I believe you. There’s no way that Cathy knows any of that. So how do you think it happened, and where is Cathy now?"

"I wish I had answers to these questions. What I remember is eating a hot dog and feeling a bit ill and then waking up on the sand in the morning at Jones Beach on Long Island. The hot dog must have made me fall asleep so heavily that I spent the night there. A garbageman found me and woke me up. If there was a swap between bodies, I have no way of knowing. I hope there is since it would mean that Cathy is in my body and there’s hope that we could reunite and straighten this out."

"So, you then just stepped into Cathy’s life? Shouldn’t you go to a hospital or something?"

"Since I knew nothing at all, I felt that I had to at least go where I would be safest. I’d have a life as against wandering around Long Island with no clue as to who I am and where I need to find shelter."

"Yes, I think you did the right thing. But what are you going to do about Brad?"

"Exactly, I’m supposed to marry him on Saturday, but I’m a guy and I don’t want a husband. Besides that, I find him to be creepy."

"You do? That’s interesting, because almost all of Cathy’s friends think she could do better than him. Yes, he’s handsome, wealthy, fit and pretty affectionate, but he’s also very dictatorial. He forces things on poor Cathy that she doesn’t have the moxie to stand up to."

"I’m so glad to hear you say that, because not being a girl it is a bit hard for me to make a fair judgement of how he treats her. I don’t really like the way he pushes Cathy around. Taking advantage of the fact that he’s so strong compared to her. Yesterday, when Brad dropped me off here from the airport, he basically forced me to have sex with him and he is a very inconsiderate lover. It is all about him. He held me down, had his way with me only making a superficial attempt to take into account how I was feeling. As soon as he felt like climaxing, he did without any regard for where he left me."

"I think Cathy was making a big mistake wanting to marry Brad," Clara says, " though one would never know there was any problems at all the way she talked about him."

"I found her diary and it definitely tells a different story. She has had a lot of doubts about him. She’s worried about his selfishness and she even has a comment where she wonders if she’ll ever have satisfying sex with Brad."

"How sad. I had no idea."

"Of course, most of all, she’s very unhappy about him making her sell this house. It breaks her heart. She loves looking at the sea."

"That I know about. You haven’t told any of this to Brad?"

"No, like he’s going to believe me."

"Are you going through with the marriage?"

"That’s one reason I’m talking to you. What do you think I should do?"

"Technically speaking, you’re not really Cathy, so he certainly shouldn’t marry you. On the other hand, to the extent you’re morally obligated to carry out Cathy’s wishes, then you should marry him. But you also have a moral obligation to the man you truly are who obviously doesn’t love him. So, I guess my opinion is that you should definitely call it off."

"I think we’re on the same page. But I do want to wait until the end of the week before deciding, since that gives Cathy a chance to show up and tell me what to do."

"How is Cathy going to show up?"

"I don’t know. If we switched due to a miracle, maybe another miracle will switch us back."

"Your body is probably in New York right now, so I think you’re going to have to go back there, to try and undo this and figure out what happened."

"You’re right. As soon as I can, I’ll go back east and see if I can find my body!"

"So, it’s settled. Brad is going to be devastated. You should probably figure out a way to tell him that doesn’t embarrass him in front of the wedding guests."

"You’re right. I’ll try and let him down gently if I can."

"I’ll do whatever I can to help you. You should probably be prepared for a lot of anger and I have no idea if Brad will give you up peacefully or not."

"Thank you, Clara, you‘re a great friend." Barry gives her a hug and would have done more if he could

"I feel terrible for Cathy. She’s lost out there somewhere, just like you. If she’s in your body, knowing Cathy, she’s probably terribly scared. She’s a very feminine girl, and I wonder if she could even cope with being a man."

"Speaking of coping, one thing I’m really afraid of is what I’m supposed to do when I get my next period. From Cathy’s birth control pills, I’m pretty sure that I’m going to have a period this coming Sunday. I don’t know anything about what to do when it comes. Could you teach me what I need to know?"

"Of course, I’d be happy to do that! What a strange problem. Of course, Cathy uses tampons, as do I. I might as well show you right now what to do."

"That’s wonderful of you Clara."

Clara gets a tampon out of her purse and shows Barry how to take it out of the wrapper. She leads him into the bathroom and tells him to lift up his dress, lower his panties and sit on the toilet. "Keep your legs a little bit apart. Hold the tampon with your thumb and middle finger so you can use your forefinger to push it in." She hands the tampon to Barry and directs him to line up the end of the plastic inserter over his vagina and push it in until his finger touches his skin. "Now continue to insert the tampon by pushing with your forefinger." She watches Barry follow her instructions. "You see how you now have the end of the string dangling out of your vagina. When the tampon is filled with blood, you can pull it out by the string."

Barry feels the end of the string. "That doesn’t seem terribly hard."

"Once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy."

"Do I insert the tampon after I start bleeding or before??"

"Before the blood flows, is a good idea."

"How often do I change the tampon?"

"It depends on how heavy the flow is. It could be a couple of hours or longer. You’ll have to experiment until you get it right. Just don’t go too long."

"I can’t thank you enough. You’re a wonderful friend, Clara."

"Make sure you keep me informed about Brad. You very well might need a lot of support once he finds out you’re not going to marry him."

Chapter 14

Vinny and Dave get Barry’s landlord to let them into his apartment to see if there are any clues to his whereabouts. Nothing special leaps out at them as they look around the place. Luckily Barry doesn’t have a pet since it might have starved to death over the few days that has passed since he is missing. "His plants need watering," Vinny says, and he and Dave take care of that.

"What about his rent and bills?" Dave says.

"Shit, I hadn’t thought of that. I guess we can pay that for a little while."

"Eventually we can store his stuff at BVD and move him out, if he doesn’t show up."

"Sure, if it gets to that point. We’ll see. I think that any day Barry might just suddenly turn up. Let’s give it some time before we do something drastic."

"We ought to also call up Ms. Murdoch. Maybe Barry hadn’t finished the job there and had to go back."

"Good idea." Vinny calls up Ms. Murdoch and explains how Barry is missing and asks if she has heard anything from him since he was there on Saturday.

"Oh, my goodness," she says. "I haven’t heard from him at all."

"It’s too soon to be worried, but we’re going to do everything we can to find him."

"Let me know if I can help."

***

A few weeks later, Vinny and Dave decided they had to be more pro-active in searching for Barry. "So, what should we do now?" Dave says, "I was thinking that we could put up posters like for a lost dog."

"How many neighborhoods could we cover before we got sick of it? It would be a one in a million chance of someone recognizing him and knowing where he is."

"Maybe we should at least show his picture around Jones Beach. Someone there might recognize him."

"You think he’s hanging out there?"

"No, but maybe someone there might remember something about the day we had the tournament. He’s got friends there."

***

Vinny and Dave go out to Jones Beach that afternoon. As they walk past the volleyball court, where a few people are playing, Vinny says, "We last saw him here."

They continue on to the beach and look around. They walk along the shoreline until, in the distance, they see a hot dog stand. "Barry knows the hot dog guy," Vinny says. "He’s mentioned him to me a couple of times." They walk over to it and Vinny says, "Your Frank, aren’t you?"

"Yeah, what can I do for you?"

"You know Barry, don’t you?" Vinny shows Frank his picture and says, "This is Barry who works with us at BVD plumbing. I’m Vinny and this is Dave."

"Yeah, he’s mentioned you guys to me. How’s Barry doing? I hope nothing is wrong. I saw him a few weeks ago."

"That’s what we wanted to know."

"Is anything the matter?"

"He’s been missing since then. The police found him running on the Causeway, but then he later ran away from them and he’s never been heard of since.

"No, shit? That’s terrible. Why did he run away from the police?"

"We’re not entirely sure."

"He must have felt threatened," Frank says.

"What’s really weird is that the cops say he kept claiming that he was a woman and he was constantly crying."

"A woman? Barry? That’s bizarre. Maybe he was on drugs or something."

"That’s not Barry. Maybe a little pot every so often, but nothing else."

"If he told them he was a woman, maybe they thought he was psycho and were going to send him to a mental institution."

"We thought of that too. Anyway, is there anything you can tell us about that day when you saw him?"

"Come to think of it, he had met some chick that afternoon that he was really falling for. Trouble was that she was from California and was engaged. I think he said the wedding was in a week. It was just one of those things. There wasn’t much he could do about it, but when you mentioned he was missing, the first thing that came to my mind was that the two of them might have eloped. You don’t think that woman has anything to do with this?"

"We have no idea."

"It’s a mystery and I hope you find him safe and sound. He’s such a great guy," Frank says.

"We’re just starting to look for him.

***

The futility of showing Barry’s picture at the beach convinces Vinny and Dave that they will have to disseminate his picture widely. "We could make up a billboard with his face on it and a caption, ‘Have you seen this dude?’," Dave says.

"Great idea, except it’s like ten thousand dollars to rent a billboard," Vinny says.

"Holy cow. Maybe we could get Ms. Murdoch to pay for it."

"Yeah. You go ask her for ten grand. Anyway, we need to hit a really large area."

"If he was a kid, we could put his face on a milk carton."

"Get serious. We need to get the TV news to care about his being missing."

"They’ll never run a news story: ‘Missing Freeport Plumber’."

"Maybe his listing as missing on the missing persons website will lead to something," Vinny says, but when they look at it, they see that there are so many missing persons on Long Island, that Barry doesn’t stand out in any way. "It looks like we’re going to have to wait until Barry contacts us."

Chapter 15

Brad calls Barry every day about the wedding, and Barry does what he can to resist seeing him. A couple of times Brad comes over and Barry has to sit with him and listen to an endless discussion of wedding preparations. When it is two days before the wedding, Barry insists that this close to the wedding it is bad luck to get together and so he finally prevails in keeping Brad away. On that day, a real estate agent knocks on the door of the house offering to be Cathy’s agent in listing the place for sale. "Who sent you here?" Barry asks.

"Brad Featherson," the agent replies.

Of all the nerve, Barry thinks. Where does he get off? He says, "You must be mistaken, the house is not for sale."

"What should I tell Mr. Featherson?"

"Tell him anything you like."

That evening Barry gets a call from Brad. "I’m sorry I sent over the real estate without asking you, Cathy."

"I’ll take care of my house in due time," Barry says.

"When will that be?"

"In due time."

***

The day before the wedding Clara escorts Barry to the beauty parlor to get his hair and nails done. The atmosphere around him is intensely feminine. Everyone in the shop is female and Barry allows himself to relax and meld into the atmosphere as if he is also a woman.

"Have you decided what you’re going to do?" Clara asks.

"I can’t go through with this, but I also don’t want to embarrass Brad in front of so many guests."

"Good luck, with that one," Clara says.

"What I figured out is that I’ll do the ceremony with him, but I won’t allow us to be officially married."

"How can you do that?"

"If I don’t sign the marriage certificate, then I’m not officially married."

"But Brad will know you didn’t sign it."

"Will he? We’ll see about that. You could help me, by being present when we sign it. Will you?"

"Sure, I’ll be there."

***

The day of the wedding, Cathy’s mom and Uncle Milton pick Barry up and drive him to the church. In the dressing room he is fussed over by his mom and Clara. They make sure that every aspect of Barry is perfect. His hair, his beautiful wedding gown, his stockings and heels, his makeup. It is all perfect. He gazes at himself in the large floor to ceiling mirror in the dressing room, and against all his knowledge of his prior maleness, he allows himself unbridled freedom to enjoy his femininity. To be so pretty, to have such a perfect female visage, makes him feel exultant. His beauty is manifest in the shapely bodice of the dress, the pretty skin of his chest and neck, the sweet feminine shape of the skirts that ark out from his hips in every direction, and his beautiful legs and delicate, white, high-heeled shoes. At the appointed hour, Barry holds a beautiful bouquet of roses in one hand and takes Uncle Milton’s arm in the other and walks with him into the chapel to begin the long trip down the aisle to a waiting Brad. The organ plays the wedding march and Barry finds himself choked up with emotion for being the center of attention of such a huge affair. He sees the guests smile with joy at the sight of such a beautiful bride. The men’s faces show a sexual longing and the women seem to be comparing themselves to the pretty bride in front of them.

After Uncle Milton deposits Barry at the altar, he turns and sits in a seat in the front row. The minister goes through the marriage ceremony and when it comes time to say "I do" Barry says it in a soft and barely audible voice. Brad thunders, "I do", they exchange rings and Brad plants a huge kiss on Barry’s mouth, and then they march up the aisle to greet the guests. After the last of the guests has filed out, the minister presents the marriage certificate to Brad, who signs it. When he is done, by prior arrangement, Clara distracts him by asking him a question about the catering while Barry takes the pen and signs "Minnie Mouse," in the place for his name. He then folds up the certificate and puts it in the envelope and hands it to the minister. It will take a day or two before the certificate is rejected by the County Clerk, after which time the shit will hit the fan. At least by going through with the ceremony, Brad is enabled to decide selectively which of his relatives and guests he would tell the truth of his non-marriage. Most of the relatives and friends rarely see him and wouldn’t need to know whether or not Brad is legally married.

Now that Brad thinks that he is married to Barry, he gives his new wife no opportunity to assert himself. Brad leads Barry around greeting guests at the different tables. He takes Barry out onto the dance floor for their first dance, where Brad forcefully leads him. It is hard enough wearing heels without trying to figure out how a woman is supposed to follow Brad’s aggressive movements. Clara takes it upon herself to stick close to Barry for most of the party so she can prompt him as to who many of Cathy’s friends and relatives are. Her efforts are essential in defusing what could have been a disastrous situation. As it is, even though a number of Cathy’s relations and friends are mildly confused by Barry’s apparent memory lapses, no one is aware of the larger pattern to be able to conclude that Barry is an imposter or crazy. By the end of the long day, Barry is exhausted, and his feet hurt from wearing heels for so many hours. He’d love to just go to sleep, but he sees that Brad has that look in his eye that says Barry is going to have to spend some time in bed with him that evening.

By prior arrangement, Brad and Barry plan to spend their wedding night at Brad’s place. Barry has packed a suitcase with some of Cathy’s clothes, with the plan to slowly bring more over day by day. In Brad’s bedroom, Barry takes off his wedding dress and hangs it up, while Brad strips naked in seemingly record time, revealing his boner, that he proudly shows off. Brad takes Barry’s hand and leads him to sit on the bed, still wearing the bustier and stockings. Brad says, "You can leave them on. You look so cute in them." He then guides Barry to lie down on the bed and as in their previous encounter, after pushing aside Barry’s panties, Brad launches his penis into Barry’s vagina. Initially, Brad acts like he intends to make sure that Barry’s feelings are important, but he soon casts such concerns aside and uses his strength to hold Barry down and have his way with him. In short order he yells a profanity and orgasms. "So nice, Mrs. Featherson," he says, and adds gracelessly, "Our first fuck as man and wife." He then rolls off of Barry and in a few moments is sound asleep.

Barry gets up, takes off the bustier and stockings and goes into the bathroom to clean himself up. His vagina is leaking Brad’s effluent and he has to wash it out. Imagine a life like this, Barry thinks. How many years stuck with this selfish moron? Brad is going to deserve everything he gets when he finds out that they’re not married.

***

The next day early in the morning, to Barry’s relief his period starts. He had been feeling some tenderness in his breasts in the early morning hours which Clara had told him could be taken as a signal that his period might be coming. He had inserted a tampon into his vagina in anticipation of his period. With the period also came a crummy feeling and some cramps in his lower abdomen. He finds it interesting that this is what women go through every month for years. When Brad finally wakes up, he wants to have another go at Barry, but is stymied when Barry tells him he’s having his period. "Bummer," Brad says. "You can just give me a blow job instead? Can’t you?"

"Is this what our married life is supposed to be like, Brad? My body is just for your amusement? I feel achy and not in the mood to make sure you have a grand old time."

"I’m sorry, Cathy," Brad says with little conviction. It’s clear that he isn’t particularly interested in what Barry is thinking or feeling. "Anyway, let’s have breakfast, Mrs. Featherson."

Barry gets out of his nightgown and puts on his bra and panties and a pair of shorts and a simple top. He’s getting used to dressing like a woman every day, and, in fact, there is a lot about it that he finds enjoyable. Besides the opportunity to manipulate his breasts or look at his vagina, he enjoys selecting an outfit from among so many possibilities and then making decisions about jewelry and even putting on makeup. It takes longer to get ready than it does for a man, but it’s fun to think how these choices make one feel more or less pretty.

"You’ll need to start packing your things to bring over here," Brad says. "I can drive you to Seal Beach, and then you’ll have your car. Return here anytime you’re ready to come back."

***

Back at his house at Seal Beach, Barry enjoys the time away from Brad. During the day, he answers phone calls from Cathy’s mother and from some other relatives and friends telling him how much they loved the wedding. In particular, Cathy’s mother says that Barry was so pretty and sweet during the wedding that she’s sure that whatever weird issues Barry was going through previously must now be gone. Barry calls up Clara and they speak for a long time, with much of it trying to guess how Brad is going to take the news that he isn’t married after all. As it gets toward evening Brad calls and wonders when Barry is coming to his place. "I’ve been on the phone all day long. Now I’ll pack some things."

When he gets off the phone with Brad, the phone rings and he says, "Hello."

"Hello, is this Cathy?"

"Yeah, who’s this?"

"You don’t recognize my voice?"

"I’m sorry, I’m a bit confused after the wedding."

"So, you married, Brad? Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"You still don’t know who I am, do you."

"I’m afraid not."

"It’s Lisa."

"Lisa?" Barry has no idea who she is.

"Remember me from last week. In New York? We modeled together?"

"Oh, my God, Lisa! I’m so sorry. Yes, of course. It’s great to hear from you." Barry is winging it.

"I’m flying out to LA, tomorrow on the gig I had mentioned to you. I really enjoyed meeting you in NY and I’m here to cash in on your invite. You still have the house at Seal Beach?"

"I’m there now."

"I’d love to get together with you. Either alone or with Brad. Whatever you prefer."

"I think we should get together, just the two of us. I’ll let Brad know. When can you come?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"Perfect. I’ll be here for the day."

"Great, I’m looking forward to it."

"Me too."

***

Barry takes some of Cathy’s clothes and possessions up to Brad’s house so as to preserve the calm before the storm. The storm will come once the marriage certificate is rejected, and then Barry will reveal the truth to Brad. Eventually a point will be reached when Brad will let go of him, hopefully without killing him, and then he’ll be free to figure out the next step of his life.

The large house that Barry owns is soulless, at least that is Barry’s impression of it. The rooms are large, ostentatious and distinctly not warm and comfortable like the house at Seal Beach. What in the world was Cathy thinking, Barry wonders? The poor girl has been pushed around in every way by Brad. Maybe God made the switch so that Barry could save her from herself. Barry is overjoyed that he is having his period which keeps Brad away, though Brad does beg for a blow job again. Barry compromises by giving him a hand job, just to get him to stop being annoying. It’s strange to hold a man’s penis, but by keeping his eyes closed he is able to defuse the hardest parts of the experience. Once Brad climaxes he becomes noticeably more docile and seems to have much less interest in hovering around Barry. What an awful, stark, life of subjugation Cathy would have been heading towards if she married this creep.

***

When the time comes to meet up with Lisa at Seal Beach, Barry tells Brad that he’ll be back later that night. "Have you decided to meet with the real estate agent?" Brad asks him.

"Oh, yeah, just about," Barry lies.

"When do you think the house is going to be listed?"

"Soon. I’ll try and get the exact date."

When Barry gets to Seal Beach, he goes through the pictures on Cathy’s camera until he finds the one of the two women sitting at a café in Manhattan. This has to be Lisa, he figures, and she is very beautiful. Barry particularly loves her dark hair. He makes a fresh pot of coffee and anxiously waits for her to show up.

When Lisa arrives, she gives Barry a hug and goes on and on about how marvelous the house is and about the magnificent view of the ocean. They sit out on the terrace and have coffee looking at the water. "You seem a little subdued, Cathy," Lisa says. "Aren’t you supposed to be walking on air now that you’re married?"

"I thought that Brad is right for me, now I wonder if I did the right thing."

"Whoa!" Lisa says.

"Are all men selfish and inconsiderate to women? Have you ever gone out with someone who is a perfect gentleman?"

"Why would you ask me that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why would I date men?"

"Don’t tell me you’re a Lesbian?"

"Jesus, Cathy. Where have you been? We discussed that in New York at length."

"I’m sorry, you’re right. Please don’t be offended. I’ve been so mixed up lately."

"You’re saying that you have doubts about Brad? You wait until after the wedding to admit to them? Is this about selling the house?"

"That’s just a part of it. Actually, Lisa, there are a bunch of things going on that I should confess to."

"OK, what?"

"I don’t know how to phrase this in a way that won’t freak you out, but I’m not actually, Cathy. Yes, I have her body, that’s true, but the person inside her is not Cathy. Rather it’s me who is a guy, in fact, a plumber. I’m pretty sure of that but I don’t know my name."

Lisa laughs so hard she chokes. When she recovers, she sees Barry’s face and says, "You’re not actually joking are you?"

"I’m afraid not Lisa. Did Cathy tell you that she was going to Jones Beach?"

"Yes."

"See, so she went there, and I assume that I went there also, whoever I am, and something crazy happened between us. I remember eating a hot dog and then falling asleep on the beach and then awakening the next morning inside Cathy’s body. So, I assume that she’s inside my body, but I have no way of knowing that."

"How did you know that you were in Cathy’s body?"

"I had the key to her locker on my wrist when I woke up. I opened her locker where I found her purse and wallet and discovered that my body at least is that of Cathy Margolies from Seal Beach. I also found the key to her hotel room where I found her airplane ticket back to here and the code to Cathy’s phone. To everyone who knows Cathy, I’ve appeared weird since I got back here. I called my Uncle Milton, Dad, on the phone which flipped him and my mom out."

"So maybe it’s just amnesia."

"The trouble with that theory, is that I know exactly how to be a man and, as I said, I know plumbing inside and out, which Cathy knows nothing about. I had this same conversation with her maid of honor, Clara, and I convinced her that this is true. If you doubt me, you should talk to Clara. Shall I call her?"

Lisa says that would be a good idea, and the two women speak for a while and when Lisa gets off the phone she says, "OK, whoever you are, I’m willing to believe you."

"Thank you so much, " Barry says, and gives Lisa a hug.

"So, one thing that really confuses me is why you went ahead and married Brad. You’re not even Cathy. Why marry him?"

"Well, I actually didn’t marry him even though I went through the ceremony with him. You see, I purposefully signed the marriage certificate as Minnie Mouse, so I’m pretty sure that our marriage is not legal."

Lisa breaks out into peals of laughter. "Minnie Mouse? That’s hysterical, but Brad will be finding out that the marriage is not legal. What’s he going to do?"

"I don’t know and I’m a little scared. I think what I did allows him to let everyone think he’s married, and then he can just confide in the ones he wants to that he’s not legally married. I think this is a lot better than embarrassing him in front of 184 guests."

"You’re probably right, but I also wonder why you don’t just tell him the truth?"

"I thought about that, but then he’d be searching high and low for Cathy, assuming he believes me, which I doubt. I’ve seen enough of Brad that I’d feel badly about helping him find Cathy."

"What has he done to make you feel that way?"

"When I got off the plane, he took me here and he was so horny that I had to have sex with him. He used his strength to make me do what he wanted and then when he was done, he wasn’t the slightest bit interested in whether or not I had been fulfilled. It was totally selfish of him. On our wedding night he did the same thing. I also think his house is big and ugly and I feel very uncomfortable there."

"So, what now?" Lisa says.

"I don’t know. I’ve been so preoccupied with getting out from under Brad, that I haven’t begun to think about my future."

"You need to find out some answers."

"How am I going to do that?"

"Wouldn’t the first step be to go back to Jones Beach?"

"What would I find out there?"

"Is there anything that you remember about that day, besides the hot dog?"

"I have Cathy’s camera and there are some pictures of Jones Beach on it."

"Let’s take a look at them."

Barry gets the camera and with Lisa they look at the photos. "There’s me!" Lisa says. "We were in Bryant Park with this very funny waiter who took our picture."

Barry shows her the picture of the volleyball tournament and then several at the seashore with many people in it including the pictures of Barry as he was going to and returning from the hot dog stand. Commenting on the last few pictures, Barry says, "I thought that this guy must be significant in some way. For all I know, he could be me."

"The hot dog stand certainly seems to play a role here. You really ought to get back to Jones Beach and do some sleuthing. If you don’t do it, you’ll have zero chance of solving this puzzle."

"I suppose you’re right."

"I’ll be back home next week, and you can come stay with me whenever you decide you can come, and then we’ll go out to the beach."

"I think any day now Brad is going to find out the truth and we’ll have a big scene. If I survive that, then I’ll plan on coming to New York in the next few weeks."

"It would be good if you could have someone with you when Brad finds out you tricked him."

"I agree."

Lisa and Barry have their coffee. Barry cannot take his eyes off of Lisa. "There’s one more thing I’d like to talk about with you, especially since you’re gay. I mean, you’ll probably have some good insights."

"What’s that?"

"The thing is, as I say I’m a guy. So, if I was looking at Cathy, her body would turn me on. Being inside her makes no difference as far as that goes, I can assure you. I find women to be totally desirable so I’ve essentially become gay, as far as anyone seeing me as Cathy would be concerned. My question is, would a real gay woman ever want a freak of nature like myself?"

Barry’s speech touches Lisa’s heart and she says, "you might be a guy and even a plumber, but I’m gay because I’m attracted to women’s bodies. I’m not gay because I could only fall in love with a woman. I have many male friends, and some of then I could probably fall in love with, if they happened to have physically been a woman."

Hearing this spurs Barry to tears, since he can see that it means that he won’t have to always be alone. Lisa gets up and takes Barry’s hand and leads him to a sofa in the living room. She puts her arm around Barry’s back and holds him and then kisses him on the lips. "You’re so very beautiful. I would love to get to know you better."

Their tender moment is interrupted by a loud banging on the front door. "Who could that be?" Barry says. Running to the door, he looks through a window to the side of the door, and sees that it’s Brad. "Oh, shit, it’s Brad and he looks angry."

"Let me in, Minnie Mouse!" Brad yells.

Chapter 16

Cathy is able to get steady work through the modeling agency including catalog work for a local department store that is making updates to its online catalogue. Most of her effort thus far is for the account of the uniform manufacturer, including coveralls for plumbers. In a recent shoot, they supplied a monkey wrench and took photos of Cathy posing with it. They also got the bright idea of having her pose next to a sink in the studio bathroom and in front of a kitchen sink showing her crouched in front of the water pipes.

Cathy’s abilities are head and shoulders above the local competition and the agency tells her that, no doubt, she will one day be tapped for some major runway work in Manhattan. "The big leagues, Mr. Jones. If you play your cards right, one of these days you’re going to end up in the big leagues."

Out of necessity, Cathy trains herself to walk and behave as close to a natural man as she can imitate. No more of the sashaying motions that she naturally gravitates toward because she is a woman , or her over the top simian-like trudging that caricatures her idea of how men walk.

A big challenge for Cathy is learning how to make full use of her amazing muscles. She quickly sees that she needs to be active physically, or her muscles begin feeling tight and uncomfortable. When she has a little extra money over what she needs to rent her apartment and buy food, she enrolls in a local fitness center where she can use the equipment and take some conditioning classes. Everywhere she goes, people are friendly to her. Many women seem to flirt with her and start conversations. Equally evident to her are men who check her out. She assumes they must be gay and are trying to get clues as to whether or not she is a gay man. Since she has no idea as to what the proper signals are between gay men, she is sure that she rapidly convinces them that she is ignorant of whatever message they are trying to communicate.

At the first opportunity Cathy shops for clothing for her new body. She isn’t overly familiar with men’s sizing and choices, but she’s able to figure out how to acquire a nice wardrobe for Barry’s body. Her longing for the women’s clothing that she remembers wearing leads her to carefully map out purchases of panties, bras and dresses that will fit her male body. It is difficult to accept the much larger sizes than she recalls having in the past and to not feel conflicted when she gazes upon her male form in the mirror wearing ill-fitting dresses. Nonetheless, she enjoys wearing dresses and women’s underwear when she can even though she has to limit that to when she is inside her apartment. Easiest to buy are pretty nightgowns that she can sleep in, and in the dark feel like she really is the girl she knows she is inside.

Ever since she found herself inside a man’s body Cathy has had to deal with the fact that hair is continuously growing on her face. Simply put, she feels it is horrible, an aspect of having a man’s body that distresses her as much as having a penis. Fortunately, she has clear memories and the necessary skill for shaving legs and a vagina, so that it is not terribly difficult to figure out how to shave her face. Every day as soon as she wakes up, she shaves. She also lets her hair grow much longer than it was when she first appeared in Barry’s body.

As the weather turns toward fall and it’s not going to be hot anymore, Cathy decides to shave her legs, chest hair and armpits. Having all this hair has been unpleasant for her and she feels overjoyed that she’s able to remove these irritations from her life.

***

Once she is established in her new apartment, Cathy makes a point of inviting Rose to come visit with her. Occasionally, she encourages Rose to spend the night, since she so enjoys having female company. When Rose first comes to visit, Cathy is too shy to ask Rose if she minds if she wears her women’s clothes. Eventually, when she grows more confident of their friendship, she asks Rose if she minds and Rose assures her that, all things considered, it’s a good thing for Cathy to blow off steam by wearing the clothes that match her gender identity. Cathy is elated to finally get some time to have girl to girl conversations. Sitting on the sofa talking as two women, is exactly what Cathy needs to maintain her sanity.

Rose also offers to help Cathy buy clothes in case she is embarrassed to do so. "The funny thing is," Cathy tells her, "since I know that I’m really a girl, I don’t care what anyone things about me buying girls clothes. Why should I feel awkward for doing what I should have every right to do? I do really miss not having breasts. That’s very hard on me. Also dealing with a penis is weird and I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it."

"From my perspective you’re such a delicious hunk of man. It’s really too bad you’re not into women."

"I’m truly sorry, Rose. I’ve always been into boys, so in fact, I guess I should really be turned on by my own body, which I am to some extent."

"It’s okay," Rose says.

Cathy thinks about things for a few minutes and says, "Actually, as long as we don’t kiss and we keep the lights low so that I’m not so aware of how much of a girl you are, I think it could be really good to have sex with you. I get the feeling inside me that this man’s body needs a lot more release from sexual tension than I feel comfortable doing by playing with myself. And since it’s sort of my responsibility to maintain this body in good shape, I ought to do something about it. Is this really crude, what I’m saying? If you get mad at me, I’ll understand, and I apologize in advance."

Rose laughs. "I’ve slept with men for all kinds of shabby reasons. Most often for money. To have you sleep with me so I can help exercise your penis properly, that sounds like quite a noble and selfless undertaking. So, I am happy to oblige. You’re so gorgeous, Mr. Jones, you give me goosebumps."

Cathy gets up and turns down the lights. "I have to confide in you that I haven’t yet really figured out how these boners work. I’ve gotten some but it’s scary to rub on them since I don’t really know what that will end up feeling like if it decides to erupt."

"You mean for several weeks now you haven’t orgasmed?"

"No, is that bad?"

"None of the men I’ve ever known can go more than a few days of abstinence. They always tell me that they get an awful feeling that forces them to beat off if they can’t get their wife or girlfriend or prostitute to take care of their needs."

"That’s all news to me."

"How about I give you a nice blow job to start things off. See how you like that. You can just shut your eyes, lean back and enjoy yourself. I’ll get as much pleasure doing it as you get receiving it."

"I don’t know. Are you sure?"

"I’m obviously an expert on cocks. You’re in good hands with me, so just relax."

Cathy does what Rose suggests and leans back on the sofa. Rose gets on her hands and knees in front of Cathy and lifts up Cathy’s dress. "I bet there’s a really nice prick in your panties." Rose pulls them down by the waist band and uses her hand to take out Cathy’s penis. "Your cock is as pretty as the rest of you." Cathy feels Rose put her penis in her mouth and begin sucking on it. The pleasure is intense and much greater than she remembers ever getting as a woman. She feels her penis hardening and getting rigid. The experience is almost overwhelming for the degree of pleasure that she feels. Rose is an expert in what she’s doing and in what seems like a matter of a few minutes, Cathy gets a strange new sensation that she’s about to get a huge increase in pleasure and then suddenly her pleasure goes off the charts and she calls out in ecstasy as she feels a spasming in her penis. "Oh, Lord," she calls out. When she catches her breath, she says, "I’m sure I’ve never felt pleasure like that in my whole life. As a woman I don’t think that I played with myself and I get the feeling that whatever boyfriend I had, did not bring me to any kind of orgasm. Certainly, nothing remotely like this one. I can’t thank you enough, Rose."

Rose gets up and sits next to Cathy and points at her mouth. "I have a mouth full of cum," she says awkwardly. Then Cathy watches as she gulps it down and smiles. "I love that stuff. I don’t know why. But it’s always been one of the things I enjoy about giving blow jobs. Like a reward for my effort."

"I have a vague feeling like I’ve given blow jobs in the past," Cathy says. "In fact, I feel pretty sure that I have, though I don’t remember swallowing." After a few minutes Cathy continues, "It’s so weird. I’m sitting here with this man’s body feeling like I’m the girl, yet with this body I’m supposed to hold you as if I’m the man."

"I hope we can do this again some time," Rose says.

"Actually, it wasn’t as hard for me as I thought it would be."

"We ought to fuck next time. You should definitely get to experience using your cock like that."

Cathy thinks about it awhile and says, "Sure, Robin. Let’s plan on that. If I’m going to be the caretaker of this body, I might as well let it do what it naturally wants to do. As long as we don’t kiss, or you ask me to feel up your breasts and vagina, then I think it doesn’t bother me too much."

"I’m glad. I’ll look forward to the day when we can make love together."

Chapter 17

Barry opens the door and Brad storms in. "Minnie Mouse? Minnie Mouse?" he yells. "We’re not fucking married! How could you do this?"

"Would you rather I have cancelled the wedding?"

"What are you talking about, and who is that?"

"That’s Lisa a modeling friend of mine from New York. What I’m talking about is that I decided that I owed it to myself to rethink whether or not I should marry you. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be happy with you. I’d be your little hand maiden and I don’t like it one bit."

"Is it about selling this house. We don’t have to."

"That’s only one little piece. The reality is that you’re a selfish lover, and a bully and it’s not part of your personality to take my feelings and desires into account. I’d be battling you my whole life for my identity, and I decided not to go through with it. I did the ceremony so you would save face. Now, you don’t have to tell anyone that we’re not married. Eventually, you can tell them we were divorced."

"You’ve got it all worked out!"

"Yes."

For a tense moment Barry thinks that Brad is going to hit him. Suddenly Brad starts to cry and gets on his knees in front of Barry and says, "I beg you, Cathy, please marry me. Please, please, please! I don’t know what I’ll do without you."

"Get up, Brad," Barry says, astonished by Brad’s performance. "I’m not in love with you. Marrying you under any circumstances would be a mistake for both of us. I’m giving you the freedom to find someone who would appreciate your special qualities."

Brad stands up and he wipes away the tears. In a nasty, harsh, rasping voice he says, "I’m not going to beg you to be my wife. You were always very lucky that someone like me is even interested in someone like you. But, seeing how generous I am, I’ll give you 48 hours to think over what you’ve done. If you apologize to me in that time, we’ll forget about this completely. Otherwise, don’t waste your time ever coming back to me."

With that, Brad turns and leaves the house slamming the door behind him. After the echoes of the slam die down, Barry says, "I think I’ve got a bottle of champagne in the back of the fridge. If ever there was a good time to celebrate, it’s now!"

Barry and Lisa sit side by side on the sofa and drink to his freedom from Brad. With a little champagne in them, and a chance to recuperate from Brad’s histrionics, the two of them resume the kiss that had been interrupted previously. As the afternoon wears on their kisses get more passionate and it isn’t long before they go upstairs to the bedroom. As Barry undresses in front of the mirror he still hasn’t gotten over the excitement of seeing his own naked body. Lisa comes up to him and unfastens his bra which falls away freeing his breasts.

"You’re so hot," Lisa says, gently holding on to Barry’s breasts.

"I’ll help you get undressed," Barry says and helps Lisa take her blouse off over her head revealing her bra. It’s black with a scalloped lace design. Next Lisa undoes her skirt and takes it off showing that she’s wearing matching black panties. Barry helps her off with her underwear and the two of them are then standing naked in front of the mirror. Barry is utterly enthralled by Lisa’s large breasts and well-rounded ass. Seeing their two shapely bodies together in the mirror is almost too much for Barry to bear. If ever he felt like he should be having a huge boner it is now, yet all there is between his legs is his moist pussy that seems to be slightly pulsating with pleasure.

Barry is a novice in Lesbian lovemaking, and he depends on Lisa to teach him techniques for fulfilling the lust they feel for each other. First, she has Barry lie on a sofa and she straddles him facing the opposite direction. They then suck on each other’s vaginas while occasionally feeling each other’s breasts. At one point, Lisa says, "I think your male desire for my body exceeds that of the women I’ve known."

"Do you really think that is surprising? To a man, your body is so hot it’s almost painful to look at. And to see you naked is to feel like I’m in heaven. So yeah, for a man, you’re going to stir up the strongest possible longing and desire."

"I think you supply the best of both worlds to me," Lisa says. "A hot body and a passionate male mind. If you’re willing next time we can try some other things. Do you remember having a penis and using it for sex?"

"I sort of do, though the memory is not specific."

"Then you might especially like using a strap on since it would allow you to feel like you have a penis again. And I really love the way they feel inside me."

"What we’re doing is so much fun right now. Please push your pussy hard against my face and slide it around until you cum. I want to hear the sound of your ecstasy," Barry says.

"You’re so sweet," Lisa says, and she resumes grinding her pussy over Barry’s lips until Barry feels the muscles in her legs harden into rocks and she quivers and lets out a cry and then relaxes. "Oh, my God, that was so much fun," Lisa says. "Now, you get on top and force your pussy into my face and see if you can cum."

They change positions and Barry discovers that it is not hard to manipulate his hips back and forth in such a way that he feels tremendous pleasure coming from his vagina. His clitoris is like a little hard penis that pushes into Lisa’s lips and tongue as it swings past. In short order, Barry convulses in orgasm and lies quietly on top of Lisa enjoying every aspect of the experience. Barry gets off her and swivels around and lies on the sofa facing Lisa. They hold each other and rest.

After some time, Barry says, "What happens if Cathy reclaims her body?"

"We can appreciate what we’ve had, and be happy that we’ve kept Cathy’s body in such nice condition."

Barry laughs. "You’re right. I do feel that our love-making has smoothed out my wrinkles."

"Seriously, I think that we unquestioningly must do everything we can to help Cathy, even if it means that we end what we’ve just begun here."

"I suppose you’re right, even though this is a magical experience for me!"

"I’ll be here a couple of more days, and we should get together again when we can. Then, you’ll come back to New York and we’ll go out to Jones Beach and see if we can come up with something useful."

"Now that I’m free of Brad, I guess I do have the freedom to do whatever I want. So, I’ll try to see when I can make it to New York. One thing I have to think about is how I’m going to go about getting some work to pay my bills. Cathy’s agent left her a message about another modeling gig. Do you think that I can do it?"

"That’s a great question. I suggest you should try it and see if you can do it. Though, I do warn you that they very well might not be forgiving if you don’t follow instructions and give them the kinds of poses they want."

"That’s good to know. If that fails, I suppose that I can look for a plumbing job, since I’m certain that I’m quite skilled at that."

***

After Lisa leaves for her hotel, the phone rings, and it’s Cathy’s mother. "What is going on, Cathy? Brad is an utter mess. He says you didn’t sign the wedding certificate so you’re not legally married. Is that true?"

"Yes, mom, it’s true. I don’t love Brad and I don’t want to marry him."

"This is just more of your weirdness, isn’t it? You are so not Cathy. I know my daughter, and this isn’t her."

"I’m sorry to disappoint you."

"Why did you go through with the ceremony?"

"So he could save face. I didn’t want to embarrass him by canceling the wedding or leaving him standing at the altar."

"You’re so considerate," Cathy’s mom says sarcastically. "What am I supposed to say to our relatives who were there?"

"Don’t say anything. How often do I even see them? A year from now, tell them we got divorced. That’s what I told Brad to do."

"You’re not my daughter. This is the last straw. Cathy would never in a million years do such a thing. The person who came back from New York is not my Cathy. Who are you?"

"Okay, you’re right. I didn’t want to alarm you, but I’m a guy, a plumber actually, who appears may have body swapped with Cathy. So, I think she’s in my body and I’m definitely in hers."

Cathy’s mom shouts, "You evil child!" and then slams the phone down. So much for the truth, Barry thinks. He’ll have to sit down with Cathy’s mom at some point and convince her of the truth. But then she’s going to go crazy worrying about where her daughter is. It’s much better to try and figure this out before letting Cathy’s mom in on the reality of what’s happened. Hopefully, when he gets back to New York he’ll have some luck in figuring out what happened and then perhaps save Cathy’s mom from ever having to know the truth.

Chapter 18

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Cathy’s life is not knowing if she has ever had a girl’s body or not. Granted, she feels like a woman and knows that she’s a woman, but did she come from a woman’s body? Has she been separated from herself? Is there a guy who belongs in Mr. Jones’s body? Body swapping like this is pure science fiction, so ultimately, it would seem to be far more likely that she is a cross-dressing man who through some accident develops a real woman’s persona that seems so natural that it makes her feel like she’s a woman placed inside of a man. That is one fascinating psychological condition and maybe one day, she’ll try and explore it with a psychiatrist. But for the moment, she is coping reasonably well with life. She has Rose as a friend and as someone to have sexual encounters with that have helped teach her a lot about the man’s body she inhabits.

Despite her enjoyment of Rose, Cathy maintains a sexual interest in men that seems to be a deep-seated part of herself. One of the side benefits of her new male modeling career is to be in close contact with many handsome men. As time goes on, she cannot stop herself from fantasizing about the men around her. She loves their good looks and their strong muscular bodies. She also, through the help of Rose, feels at ease with her male body, and gets a sexual feeling from looking at her naked self in the mirror. It’s very strange to feel lust towards oneself in that way and she figures it must be another aspect of the weird mind change that has happened to her.

From time to time she interacts with obviously gay men who are models, photographers and otherwise involved in the shoots she participates in. At first, she is oblivious to how she is regarded by her peers, however, as she becomes more sexually aware, she opens herself up to the possibility of getting to know gay men. Unlike the women who fall for her, such as Rose, she can see how she would be wide open to getting into a sexual relationship with a gay man. They would have a mutual attraction for their bodies.

At one of the shoots, Cathy can’t help but notice an attractive model, Rex, whose fine chiseled features and fit body give her a sexual twinge. It isn’t long into the shoot that she realizes that Rex, is flirting with her, and then she concludes that he must be gay. At the end of the day, they get to talking and Cathy feels herself drawn to Rex and is pleased when he proposes they go out to eat together. Her first date as a man. Though the outside world sees her as being gay, in her own mind she’s keeping true to her female sexuality even though it’s inside a man’s body.

Cathy and Rex meet for dinner and Rex invites her back to his house. She agrees out of reluctance to end the evening when it is still early, but she is not entirely sure that she’s ready to move their relationship to the next level. Sitting side by side on the sofa, Rex puts his arm over Cathy’s back, and she feels a growing passion inside her. Rex is a handsome and attractive man and she knows that she has a strong need for male companionship. To her amazement she feels a boner developing between her legs. Her feelings for Rex are those of a woman, but it shows up in her male body as a boner, a phenomenon that seems totally bizarre. Poor men, she thinks, they get this overt signal of their innermost feelings whether they like it or not.

Rex seems to notice Cathy’s boner and she is surprised when she feels Rex fumbling with the zipper of her pants and then opening it. As much as she wishes he would stop, since this really seems to be moving at way too fast a pace, she is also feeling an enormous desire for Rex to hold onto her penis and stroke it. She knows that she is red in the face and when Rex finally gets his hand inside her zipper hole and has cupped her boner, she gasps in pleasure and starts breathing heavily. "Oh, Rex, do you think you should be doing this?"

Rex laughs and says, "I love your innocent girl persona, Mr. Jones, it’s very erotic. Makes me feel like I’m sexually conquering you."

"I think you are, Rex," Cathy says, now relaxing and letting Rex grasp the shaft of her penis inside her underpants. "Oh, God, that feels so good!"

Rex now strokes her penis up and back and Cathy is near fainting with pleasure. It’s as good as Rose, that’s for sure. Being held by a man seems to jive with her memory of how she has had sexual encounters in the past. While she’s thinking about what she might have done in the past and is enjoying the growing feeling of pleasure, all of a sudden she climaxes feeling a sudden huge escalation in pleasure. "Oh, my God, Rex, that felt so incredibly good. Thank you, thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever had an orgasm with a man before."

"First orgasm with a man? Are you kidding me?" Rex says, looking at Cathy with puzzlement. "You’ve only just become gay?"

Rather than have to get into the complexities of her situation, Cathy says, "Yeah, that’s what I meant."

"You’ve just come out?"

"Come out?"

"Left the closet?"

"Oh, the closet? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m new to being gay. You’re my first."

"A virgin? How amazing, and you’re so handsome."

"Thanks."

"So, if you’re a virgin, then you probably would like the opportunity to give me a blow job? Wouldn’t you?"

Cathy looks at Rex and thinks of saying that she’d be happy to give him a hand job, but something in her nature is reluctant to disappoint him. If he wants a blow job, then she ought to give it to him. It might even be fun as well as help her remember the blow jobs she thinks she gave when she was a woman. "Sure, Rex, I’d love to give you a blow job. How do we do it?"

Rex unzips his pants and pulls them down his legs, then lowers his undershorts, and sits on the sofa with his legs apart. "Now, get on your hands and knees and give my cock a good suck."

Cathy is a little taken aback by Rex’s pointed order to get on her knees and suck on him, but when she looks at his face, he seems serious and self-assured as if he knows that Cathy has no choice but to do it. "Can I lean over across your lap instead?" Cathy asks. "It might be easier for me."

"Sure, if that’s more comfortable."

Cathy lies across his legs and lifts up his penis and puts it in her mouth. It rapidly swells up, responding to her tongue as she gently licks around the tip and underneath. In her mind she’s trying to remember everything that Rose did. She envelopes Rex’s penis in her mouth and uses her tongue to rub on it. Guessing that his cock will have the same sensitive areas as her own does, she puts most of her effort into locations underneath the tip. "That’s very good Mr. Jones," Rex says, as Cathy feels his boner getting ever more rigid. It is not long before Rex cries out in an intense climax that causes a fountain of semen to spurt all over Cathy’s face. She laughs and feels proud of her handiwork.

Cathy feels a strong desire to sit on Rex’s lap and have him hold her, but the logistics of it with her large male body makes it seem silly, so she resists the temptation. Instead she says, "I really enjoyed doing that to you, Rex. I hope you’ll let me do that again sometime."

Rex smiles and says, "You’re a trip, Mr. Jones. There is something naïve and cute about you that I find endearing. I also hope we can see each other again."

Chapter 19

With the wedding and Brad behind him, Barry calls up Ben Devour who gives him the details of where to show up in a couple of days for the modeling gig. Judging by the balance in Cathy’s checking account, Barry hopes that modeling will pan out into a needed source of income. It would be nice if Cathy had some substantial investments that could give him a cushion, but thus far he hasn’t found any.

From the moment Barry shows up at the studio to be photographed he feels like he’s in way over his head. At every step of the way he has to be told what to do, as if he has never modeled before, which is, of course, the truth. When he finally ends up in a dressing room, he’s relieved that there is a professional make-up artist to take care of that. He’s also able to figure out how to put on the dress and hose they give him to wear. The hard part comes when he’s sent into the photographer, where nothing he does conforms to the expectations of the assembled crew. His poses are amateurish and a caricature of how models pose. He doesn’t understand any of the terminology and the director of the shoot gets increasingly curt with Barry until he blurts out in frustration, "I don’t know what Ben was thinking, but you’re not a model. You’re free to go now. Goodbye!"

Barry can’t hold back from crying and he runs out of the studio to the changing room sobbing and miserable. It’s so hard being a woman, he thinks. Men treat me so harshly and I can’t fight back. I’m pretty sure that I was never this emotional before. I’ve got to learn to toughen up and not let them treat me so poorly! Now I’ve ruined poor Cathy’s modeling career. Will they give her a second chance, if she comes back and re-inhabits this body?

If I’m to earn money, Barry thinks, I’ll have to go into plumbing here in California. I wonder if there is some way I can get a chance to show my skill. In the meantime, he researches the local plumbing companies to see what ones would be a good fit for him.

***

The next day Cathy gets a call from Ben Devour. "Cathy, Cathy, Cathy! What happened to you? They say you were horrible. How can that be? It makes no sense. Were you on drugs?"

"I’m sorry Ben. It’s a very long story, but the main thing is that I need a little break from modeling. I’m not exactly certain how long that’ll be, but hopefully it won’t be too long."

"Does it have to do with your marriage?"

"Yes, sort of. Actually, I didn’t get married. It’s complicated and very emotionally draining, but the upshot of it is that I don’t love Brad and it would have been a terrible mistake to marry him. If you could apologize to the ad agency for me, I would be so appreciative. I should have pulled out of the job. It was wrong of me to take it."

"I’ll take care of it for you and I’m sorry to hear about Brad. Most importantly, don’t beat yourself up, Cathy. We’ll get you some more jobs once you tell me you’re ready."

"Thanks, Ben."

***

After a few interviews for a plumbing job that did not go anywhere, Barry decides to take a break from his job search to return to New York. Lisa has been reminding him not to let the scent grow cold, so he books a coach seat to New York. First class is out of the question. It crosses his mind that it would be very weird if Adam Stein was on the flight. From where he’s sitting, he isn’t able to find that out. Arriving in New York Barry travels to Lisa’s luxurious apartment in Manhattan, and they don’t lose any time picking up their relationship where it had left off at Seal Beach. Lisa is a lot of fun and full of ideas about clubs to visit and shows to attend. It’s a foreign world to Barry, but he allows himself to get the most out of it.

On Saturday morning Lisa and Barry take the LIRR and a bus from Freeport to travel to Jones Beach. When they arrive, they walk past the volleyball court, the bathhouse and to the shore. They stand in the sand and Barry takes out Cathy’s camera. "Here’s the last few pictures she took. They must be from here, judging by the position of the hot dog stand in the distance. This guy in the pictures is probably very important because Cathy took so many pictures of him."

"And she did so even though she’s engaged to marry Brad."

"If there were a swap, then it seems plausible that this guy is me. What other guy is singled out in any of the pictures?"

"We’ve got to find out who this guy is. Does anything around here jog your memory?"

"I’m thinking that we could talk to the guy who woke me up. Maybe he saw something unusual that morning that we should know about."

"Great idea."

Barry and Lisa make some enquiries and are lucky to find the garbageman who is about to finish his shift. "Do you remember me from several Sunday’s ago? You woke me up early in the morning. I had been locked out of the bathhouse."

"I sure do. You were wearing a pink bathing suit."

"Can you give me any more details about that day?"

"I don’t know what to tell you. Every day I come along the beach just before sunrise and pick up the trash in the garbage cans. There are over a hundred garbage cans."

"There’s nothing different that morning other than finding me?"

"Well, come to think of it, just before I got to you, I almost ran over some guy sleeping in the sand."

"What!" Barry almost yells. "Oh, my God! You did?"

"Why are you so excited?"

"What did the man look like?"

"I only got the briefest look at his face. He was totally freaked out. He jumped up and said something like, "No! No! No!" and then took off running through the sand toward the big parking lot. I figured he was on some serious drugs. Then I came upon you about a couple hundred yards down the beach."

"Can you describe the guy?"

"He’s athletic, for sure. Wide shoulders developed arms and handsome. Definitely the type ladies fall for."

"Cathy, show him your pictures," Lisa says.

"Yeah, that’s a good idea. Can you tell us if you see him in this picture?" Cathy shows him one of Barry returning with the hot dogs.

"Sure." The garbageman looks at the picture on Cathy’s camera. He studies it carefully and then says, "It’s definitely this guy here. I’m sure of it. I remember that face with the headlight from the truck hitting it as he jumped up. That’s your guy."

"We can’t thank you enough," Barry says, fighting back tears. When he and Lisa are alone again, he breaks down crying. "That’s my body. That’s me. I have a sense of recollection that’s kind of vague, but I definitely feel something special about that face. I feel my mind desperately trying to fill in the blanks, but I just can’t quite get there."

Lisa puts her arm over Barry’s shoulder. "It’ll come. We have to give it time. So now we have to find this guy."

They walk back to the place where the picture is taken and look around. There are many people there. They look at the faces hoping to see the mystery guy, but no one looks like him. "We can tell from the pictures that you went to that hot dog stand and came back with two hot dogs. So, you must have given one to Cathy and one to yourself. We should go talk to the hot dog guy."

They walk over to the hot dog stand. A middle-aged man with white hair is behind the counter. "What would you like?" he asks.

"We want to know if you’ve ever seen this guy?" Barry says, showing him the picture.

"You’re the one who took these pictures?"

"Yes, essentially," Barry says.

"So, you’re the girl that was with Barry."

"Barry?"

"Sorry. This guy is Barry, and he was here buying hot dogs about three weeks ago. He bought one for himself and one for you, right?"

"Yeah."

"I heard he’s missing. Do you know where he is?"

"We’re looking for him, ourselves."

"That’s really strange," the hot dog guy says.

"Why would you say that?" Barry asks.

"I thought that Barry and you had hit it off so well that you’d fall in love and give up the guy in California."

"That seems like quite a leap on your part," Barry says. "In fact, I was back in California, but the wedding basically didn’t happen, and I’m back here looking for Barry."

"I’m surprised. I don’t know if you want to hear it or not, but the way Barry talked about you when he was buying the hot dogs made me think that the two of you are soulmates. The fact that he’s missing is weird. I can’t imagine why."

"How did you find out he’s missing"

"His friends came looking for him. Two guys, about a week or so ago. They told me that Barry was picked up by the police running on the Causeway. He kept claiming that he was a woman …"

"A woman!" Barry says. "That’s our proof Lisa. That’s me!"

"What do you mean by that?" Frank says.

"Nothing," Lisa says. "So, Barry claimed he was a woman?"

"Yeah, and what we figure is that he was afraid he was going to be locked up in an institution, so he ran away and has not been heard of since. I certainly had no idea that any of this had happened."

"Do you know Barry’s last name?"

"No, I’m afraid I don’t know it. He’s a regular customer, which is why I got to know him. Apart from seeing him at the hot dog stand, I don’t know much about him, except he once told me that he was a …let me think."

"A plumber?" Barry says.

"Yes, That’s it. How did you know? And he told me when he was here last time that he was supposed to be playing volleyball but got here late."

"Cathy," Lisa says, "isn’t Barry in one of your pictures at the volleyball game?"

"You’re right," Barry finds the picture and shows it to the hot dog guy.

"Are any of these people besides Barry familiar?"

The hot dog guy takes a look and pointing to Vinny and Dave says, "These two guys playing volleyball are the guys who asked me about Barry."

"Oh, my God, thank you that’s fantastic," Barry says, and he and Lisa look at the two men. "Do you know who they are?"

"That’s the plumber’s volleyball tournament. Maybe they work with Barry. Come to think of it, since Barry is a plumber it sort of makes sense."

"There’s no way to identify them?"

"The team they’re playing has got a letter ‘A’ on their shirts, though the rest is obscured."

"Good eye," Lisa says. Sure enough one can see a distinct letter "A" that starts the name of the opposing plumbing company. "We’ll look up all the local plumbing companies starting with the letter ‘A’ and find the one that was playing this other company."

Chapter 20

The next time Cathy meets with Rex, it’s in her apartment. Rex says to her, "I don’t know what it is about you, but you’re different than any other man I’ve ever dated."

"Really? In what way?"

"It’s hard to describe. You have a kind of girl-like quality about you."

"Girl-like?" Cathy laughs nervously.

"A femininity that sort of comes out even though by appearances you’re so masculine and yummy. I’ve known a lot of effeminate men, but you’re different. You seem more like a woman trying to pretend she’s a man, rather than a man trying to pretend she’s a woman. For instance, the way you look at my body seems just the way that women tend to look at me, before they find out that I’m gay. Also, even though you have muscles and strength, you don’t seem to know how to use these qualities. Your movements are girl-like and not exaggerated. There is a definite delicacy to the way you move and use your hands. The closest example I have in my mind would be my mom or my sister. They’d hold things the same way that you do. It’s as if you really know how to be a girl. I find this all totally endearing. I’m not saying this to freak you out."

Cathy doesn’t know what to say. Should she confess or not? "I’ll admit that I do see myself as being a girl. In fact, I do cross-dress, and would even prefer crossdressing all the time if I could."

"Then you’ve perfected the female persona better than any man I’ve known."

"I’ll take that as a compliment," Cathy says.

"If you want to cross-dress with me, I don’t mind."

"Really? You see I feel incomplete without a bra and breasts and I hate men’s underwear. I so prefer dresses."

"Go ahead and dress up. I won’t hold it against you."

"You understand that with this body, I’ll not be the prettiest sight."

Rex laughs. "I think I can take it. I like the idea of you being happy. For me, I’m always the top in any relationship, so having you pretending to be a feminine sub is fine with me."

Cathy goes to her bedroom and puts on panties, a bra and breast forms that she has bought, as well as a floral sheath dress. She comes back into the room feeling shy, but Rex puts her at ease. "You look ravishing to me, Mr. Jones."

Cathy blushes and sits down primly on the sofa next to Rex. It’s such a relief to her that she has permission to be herself. She wants to be held by Rex and led into having sex with him. She wants him to call the shots, but also to make sure that she enjoys herself. Rex puts his arm over Cathy’s back, and they start kissing. Before long, Rex has worked his hand up Cathy’s dress and feels her boner. She does the same to Rex. As they get more and more aroused, Rex says, "Now it’s time we made love."

"How can we do that?" Cathy says, not knowing what Rex can be talking about.

"What do you mean by that?" Rex says, puzzled.

"How can we have sex like that? There’s no vagina here, is there?"

"We don’t need a vagina; we have bottom holes."

"What?" Cathy says, surprised. "You want to put your penis inside my bottom?"

Rex looks at Cathy. They are still holding each other’s penises. "What did you think that we were going to do?"

"I’m sorry, I’m new at this and I’m not really aware of what men do."

"It’s a lot of fun, actually. I’m sure you would enjoy it if you tried it."

"Won’t it hurt?"

"Only if we don’t go slowly. You just have to give me feedback and we can keep it pleasurable."

Cathy looks at Rex’s cock in her hand. "Look how big this is. How could it ever fit in my bottom?"

Rex laughs and says, "You’d be surprised. Your muscles back there are designed to open up, as you know. It’s just a matter of gently training them to open enough to take in my cock. Once it gets in there, you’ll feel a huge pleasure, as will I of course."

"I believe you Rex, but I think I need time to think about this. Could we not try that today?"

"Sure, Cathy. There’s no rush. You think about it. If you want to explore it further, you can buy yourself a dildo, a thin one, and start out seeing if you can get that one in and out of your butt. If that works, then you can try a larger one. You see, build up gradually. Get used to the idea."

"Okay, I’ll work on that. As for right now, I’d love to suck on your dick again. That’s so much fun. Do you mind if I do?"

"Of course, not. Have as much fun with it as you want, Mr. Jones."

By giving her inner girl a chance to express herself by wearing a dress, bra and panties, Cathy feels an overwhelming lust for Rex’s cock. She gets on her hands and knees in front of him, and eagerly withdraws his penis from inside his pants and undershorts and begins sucking on it. From her previous experience with it, she feels his penis is an old friend of hers and she delights in refamiliarizing herself with each inch of its straight, cylindrical projection from his delightfully round balls all the way up to the handsome cap on the end. If she had done this kind of thing in her previous life, whoever’s penis or penises they were, they were certainly not as scrumptious or desirable as the one in her mouth today. Rex is a nice, considerate man and Cathy feels that, even if he were never going to be the love of her life, it is still nice to go full into giving him the best blow job she knows how to give. As she slides the cock into and out of her mouth, she feels a desire to swallow ever more of it. Wouldn’t it be nice to get it all the way in so that her face will be touching his balls? In this state of insatiable lust, she forces her head harder and harder and deeper and deeper onto Rex’s rigid organ. Each time it pushes a bit further back into her throat so she can see his balls getting closer and closer to her. She has to take a deep breath before she takes the cock into her mouth and then fights the gag reflex by telling herself to relax and enjoy the experience. After a while she feels for sure that the cock is making its way a wee bit further down her throat and then at long last, she feels her lips brush up against Rex’s balls. Cathy loses sight of the sounds Rex is making in her passionate desire to absorb his entire seven-inch penis into her mouth and throat. When finally she is able to capture the whole thing every time she moves her head in, she concentrates on listening for evidence of Rex’s pleasure. In fact, he is moaning and convulsing with pleasure in a way he didn’t think he had ever experienced before. Finally, Cathy senses Rex getting close to cumming and then in a series of ungodly spasms he shoots his remarkable load into Cathy’s mouth and face. "Gee whiz," is all Rex can say, entirely spent from Cathy’s master class in how to do fellatio.

Cathy swallows what is in her mouth and throat and then uses her fingers to get the rest of it off her face and into her mouth. "I know I’ve never done anything like this before, Rex. I don’t know what came over me. I had such a hunger for your cock."

"I find it hard to believe that you haven’t done this before. I’m not complaining Mr. Jones. I’m one lucky dude, aren’t I? Now what can I do for you? What would you like?"

"Can I lie on the bed while you suck on my penis while you just rest your penis in my mouth?"

Rex laughs, "Of course I can do that, but I don’t think my dick is going to be able to do very much at this point."

"Oh, I’m not going to do anything more than let it rest in my mouth."

The two of them get into position and Rex finds Cathy’s penis inside her panties and takes it out. As he sucks on it, Cathy gingerly holds Rex’s flaccid penis in her mouth. It is a nice reminder of how much fun she had with it previously. Rex is also very good with his mouth and Cathy feels waves of pleasure careening through her erect penis until she finds herself shooting off. Between Rex and Rose giving her blow jobs, she feels they are both top notch and she’s hard pressed to say one is better than the other.

When Cathy is alone again in her apartment, she lays comfortably on her bed thinking about Rex’s suggestion that they have anal sex. While she herself might be curious enough to want to experience it, assuming that Rex would not let her get hurt, it occurs to her that she is a caretaker in this man’s body. Would it be fair to make a permanent change to it just because of her own desire for men? If I let Rex put his large cock up my bottom, I won’t be a virgin in so far as that goes, and that’s a permanent change that I just can’t see justifying. What if this man were to do things with my body? What if he got a tattoo or a piercing, or had my tubes tied? I’d be furious, so I had better leave well enough alone. There is plenty of pleasure in a good blow job so there is no real need to try anything more than that .

Chapter 21

Lisa and Barry look online for plumbing companies on Long Island whose name begins with the letter "A," and call them up one after another. First AAA Plumbing, then Abe’s Plumbing, neither of which has heard of the volleyball tournament. "Maybe this is going to go nowhere," Barry says.

"Be patient," Lisa says. "We’ve just started."

Barry makes the third call to Acme Plumbing, where he finds out that they had been entered in the tournament. "Great. Do you remember who you played?"

"No idea," the guy on the phone says.

"No idea?"

"Nope. I wasn’t there and the guys who were, are out on a job."

"What about your tee shirts. What color were they?"

"Why are you asking all these questions?"

"One of our plumbers is missing and we’re trying to find him."

"I’m pretty sure the shirts are an orange color."

"Thank you so much," Barry says.

Lisa takes over the phone calls and when she dials Apex plumbing, the person who answers responds to her question about volleyball by saying, "Not only were we playing, but we won the tournament."

"Congratulations," Lisa says. "I’m interested in finding out who you played, let me see," Lisa fumbles with the camera and then finds the time stamp on the photo. "It’s 2:15. What team were you playing at 2:15?"

The guy laughs and says, "That’s BVD. Barry was late getting there, and we played Vinny and Dave and destroyed them. Barry is like the best player in the league."

"So, Dave is a tall thin guy and Vinny is kind of muscular and Italian?"

"That’s them. I heard that Barry’s missing. Are you looking for him?"

"Yes, exactly. Where can we find BVD plumbing?"

"Freeport."

"Thanks. You’ve been incredibly helpful."

As soon as Lisa hangs up the phone, she looks at Barry and says, "You’re part of BVD plumbing. I guess you’re the ‘B’ in BVD, while the two guys playing volleyball are Vinny and Dave, the ‘V’ and the ‘D’."

Barry fights back tears until he can’t stop them. Lisa comes over and holds him. He’s Barry of BVD plumbing. There’s no doubt about that. He finally knows who he is.

***

Barry and Lisa take a taxi to BVD plumbing. Slowly walking into the shop, Barry looks around the room in wonder. He has an overwhelming feeling that he’s been here before, but he cannot remember specific details or incidents. He says to Lisa, "I’m sure I’ve been here before."

Lisa takes his hand and says, "Be brave. Let’s see what news they have about your body."

Behind a counter Barry and Lisa recognize Vinny from the photograph. He’s talking on the phone and writing down something. Entering the room from a back door is the tall skinny guy in the picture. He says, "What can I do for you?"

Barry is choked up and unable to speak, so Lisa says, "We have information about Barry."

"Information? You know where he is?" Dave turns to Vinny and says, "Hey Vinny" to get his attention. Vinny looks up at him and says, "I’m on the phone."

"They got information about Barry."

Vinny says into the phone, "I’ll call you back," and hangs up. Turning to Barry and Lisa, Vinny looks them over from head to toe. "Wow! So, what do you know? You know where Barry is? Is this what he’s been doing? Hanging out with models? Jesus."

"The two of you better sit down," Lisa says.

"What, is Barry dead?" Vinny says.

"Let me speak," Lisa says. "I’m Lisa and this is Cathy. Actually, she’s more than Cathy. But let me explain. As you know Barry went to Jones Beach a few Saturdays ago. Here, take a look at these photos." Lisa shows the pictures of Barry to them.

"Pictures of Barry going and coming from the hot dog stand?" Vinny says.

"Those pictures were taken by Cathy."

"So, you’re the woman that the hot dog guy says he saw with Barry?"

Barry nods his head yes.

"What you and Dave don’t know," Lisa continues, " is that your Barry spent the night on the beach and was woken by a garbage collector just before dawn. This same garbageman, a few minutes after he woke up Barry, came upon Cathy also sleeping on the beach and he woke her up. We know all this because Cathy here remembers the garbageman and we found him at the beach this morning. He told us about finding Barry, and that Barry ran off. We know that you already know about what happened after this - about Barry running on the causeway, getting picked up by the police, and thinking he’s a woman - because this part you told Frank, the hot dog guy. He filled us in on what you told him."

"So, Barry and Cathy here both spent the night on the beach after Cathy photographed Barry going to the hot dog stand," Vinny says trying to understand the implications.

"Yes. And note that they both had hot dogs, you can see Barry in the picture holding two hot dogs. But this is where you guys better be sitting down."

"OK, what you got?"

"As I said you already know that Barry kept saying that he’s a woman. What you don’t know is that Cathy here is absolutely convinced that she’s a guy. That somehow she awoke on the beach as a guy inside Cathy’s body. What’s more, Cathy here doesn’t remember her name, but she knows everything there is to know about plumbing."

"Are you saying what I think you’re saying?" Vinny exclaims.

"Yes, exactly. This is Barry here, only he’s inside Cathy and has some amnesia regarding who he is."

"It’s true," Barry says, "I’m Barry, even if I can’t remember my name."

"Holy shit," Vinny says.

"So, Cathy’s in Barry’s body?" Dave says.

"Right? They swapped bodies. Am I crazy?" Vinny says.

"It seems clear that they must have body swapped. It’s the most straightforward explanation for everything that we know happened."

"It’s mindboggling!"

All eyes turn on Barry and he starts to cry. Vinny comes over and takes Barry’s hands and looks in his eyes. "You’re Barry?"

"I must be Barry," Barry says, sniffling. "My memory is missing a lot, but the only explanation here is that I’m Barry in this body."

Dave comes over and says, "We’ve been so worried about you!"

"I’m sorry that I don’t fully recognize you two," Barry says. "You do seem vaguely familiar to me, but it’s all these kinds of memories that I seem to be missing."

"What’s it like having a woman’s body?" Dave says.

Barry laughs and says, "I better not say."

"So, you’ve haven’t had any luck in finding Barry’s body?" Lisa says.

"I’m afraid not," Vinny says. "We filed a missing person’s report, and no one has seen him. Cathy must have the same amnesia that Barry has."

"How would she survive all these weeks, if she started out with nothing," Lisa says.

"We wonder the same thing," Vinny says. "And how is it that Barry knows that he’s in Cathy’s body?"

"I had a key to Cathy’s locker at Jones Beach on my wrist. The garbageman saw it and told me what it meant. In her locker I found her purse and everything else."

Dave laughs, "So you had to dress yourself in Cathy’s clothes?"

"Yes, what else was I going to do?"

"It’s funny to think of Barry of all people wearing girl’s clothes," Dave says. "It’s kind of hysterical."

Vinny looks at Dave and says, "Stifle yourself."

"So, all we can do now is wait?" Barry says.

"It looks like that, and even if we find Cathy, what then? How can we put you two back the way you belong?" Lisa says.
"How did the swap even happen?" Vinny says.

"I’m pretty sure it’s the hot dogs," Barry says. "That much I sort of remember. Eating a hot dog and immediately feeling tremendously tired and falling asleep."

"Maybe we need to talk to the hot dog guy," Dave says.

"In fact, at one point he said that he could imagine Barry and Cathy eloping together," Vinny says. " Why would he even think such a thing, unless he had something to do with it."

"Let’s go pay him a visit," Lisa says.

Chapter 22

At the hot dog stand, Frank looks anxiously at the four visitors. "You’re all visiting me again? Together?"

"We think that there’s something fishy about your hot dogs," Vinny says.

"I assure you there is no fish in my hot dogs."

"Don’t be facetious," Lisa says. "We think that your hot dogs caused a body swap between Cathy and Barry. In fact, Cathy here, has Barry inside her and we have no idea where Barry is with Cathy inside him. And we think it’s the hot dogs. It has to be."

Frank scrutinizes Barry and says, "That’s you Barry?"

"Yes, it’s clearly me even if I have a partial amnesia. So, what happened?"

Frank looks miserable and says, "What’s happened is not at all what I planned. You see, when Barry came to buy the hot dogs it was so clear that he had met his soulmate. Barry and Cathy were so perfect together and yet, Cathy was going to go back to California and ruin both her life and that of Barry by marrying someone she didn’t love. I had only a few seconds to act, and I happen to have some vials of love potion, so I put a drop on Barry’s hot dog and a drop on Cathy’s. The way it works is that after they eat the hot dogs, they’re supposed to fall so much in love with each other that they’ll elope."

"Love potion?" Vinny says. "Do you expect us to believe that?"

"As a matter of fact, as I was telling Barry that day, hot dog venders are experts at romance, and we all stock some love potion. It’s rare that we actually use it, but when we have to in order to make the right people get together, we’ll do it."

"So, what happened here?"

"All I can think of is that Cathy ate Brad’s hot dog and vice versa. You see the love potion is specialized with one formula for men and one for women."

"Why would that cause a body or mind swap?"

"The love potion doesn’t work on the mind of the person, rather it works on their body. So, take Barry for instance. He desires women. When he took the women’s love potion, that would have made his body crave a man. So, his mind wants a woman and his body wants a man. Similarly, Cathy’s mind wants a man and her body wants a woman. The only way that nature can undo these two unstable mind/body relationships is to swap the minds. Then, with Cathy in Barry’s body, both mind and body desire men. The same with Barry in Cathy’s body. Both mind and body desire women."

"This has to be the most cockamamie theory ever," Vinny says.

"Oh, yeah? I think it’s obvious that Cathy and Lisa are attracted to each other. Cathy, because Barry is inside her and he desires women, and Lisa because she’s a Lesbian. Am I right?" Frank says.

"Yes, you are," Lisa says.

"So, Barry inside Cathy here is attracted to her."

"True," Barry says.

"Okay, so how are you going to fix this?"

"The answer is to give each a dose of love potion, which should restore them to the way they were. Then if I give them each another dose, they’ll be in love."

"You are one pushy hot dog guy," Lisa says. "You return them to normal and then if they fall in love, they fall in love. They won’t need your ridiculous love potion."

"Suit yourselves. Anyway, you had all better find Barry," Frank says.

"Easier said than done," Vinny says. "Now that we have all the facts, we could try and get the media involved. A story about the mistaken use of a love potion and the body swap it caused."

"Wait a minute," Frank says. "If word got out among hot dog guys that I let you in on our secrets, I’ll be blacklisted forever. I won’t be able to get hot dogs to sell anymore."

"You caused this mess," Lisa says.

"It wasn’t my intent. If it wasn’t for me, Cathy would be married to some guy in California and spending every day the rest of her life thinking about Barry."

"Well, I say we wait a few weeks and then try and get some publicity without mentioning hot dogs," Vinny says. "How’s that?"

"Let’s say by Christmas time, if we haven’t found Barry’s body by then, we’ll try and generate some publicity," Lisa says. "But it falls on you local people to look for Barry. Cathy has to return to California, and I live in Manhattan."

"Cathy’s body may have a house in California, but Barry has an apartment here. Dave and I have been trying to take care of his bills and water his plants, but it seems to me that Barry ought to have some say in this, even if he has amnesia."

"Sure, I should go to my apartment," Barry says. "Maybe it’ll jog my memory."

"We’ll take you there," Vinny says.

***

Standing outside Barry’s apartment building, Barry gazes up at the four-story building. "Is my apartment on the fourth floor, over there," Barry points to one end of the building.

"That’s it!" Vinny says.

"It’s so weird because I feel like I almost remember, but then I don’t quite remember."

They head inside and Vinny opens the door to Barry’s apartment. "Oh, I definitely remember this space," Barry says, wandering around the rooms. "The furnishings seem so familiar, like old friends." There are some framed pictures of Barry with his parents and other relatives and friends. "These people seem familiar, but I don’t remember their names."

When it is time to go, Barry says, "This is so weird because I have to take care of Cathy’s house in Seal Beach, but I’ve also got this apartment here in Freeport that is technically mine. I think it’s my responsibility to pay the rent for this place, so I want to do that. If we don’t ever find my body, then I’ll just have to move all this stuff to Seal Beach."

"You could still live here and sell the house in Seal Beach," Vinny says.

"That wouldn’t be fair to Cathy, and besides, Cathy has an amazing set up right on the water."

"The fact is that we need you as a plumber for BVD!" Dave says.

"When and if I can return to being Barry, in my own body, then I may be able to return to BVD. For right now, I feel like I have to do everything I can to help Cathy, since I believe that she’s doing everything she can to take care of my body."

"Every way we look at it, we can’t do much of anything until we get Cathy back."

Chapter 23

After tearful goodbyes with Vinny and Dave and then later with Lisa after spending a few rapturous days in her apartment, Barry once again flies home to Seal Beach. In the event that Cathy is found, then he will take the next flight to New York for their big reunion. In the meantime, Barry has his work cut out for himself. The two most pressing issues being that he needs to make amends with Cathy’s mom and find a job.

Clara picks Barry up at the airport and he confides in her the news from New York. In particular, that his actual name is Barry Alper. "You’re welcome to call me Cathy if that is what you prefer. I do have a favor to ask you. Would you be willing to go with me to Cathy’s mom’s house so I can straighten out the bad feelings she has towards me?"

"You mean you’re going to tell her the truth?"

"Yes. I either do that, or I’ll get her to hate her own daughter, which I don’t want to happen."

"Of course I’ll go with you," Clara says. "With you present, she’ll hopefully keep calm."

Barry then calls up Cathy’s mom and invites himself to come by in a few days to chat with her. "Just be honest with me Cathy," Cathy’s mom says, "and I’ll forgive you whatever terrible things you’ve done. I just can’t stomach the lies."

"I’m going to come by and tell you all the truth and even prove to you that I’m not lying. In fact, I’m going to bring Clara with me, since she can verify what I’m planning to say."

***

Barry resumes his search of plumbing companies in the Seal Beach area. In every case, when he calls up to ask if they are hiring, they’re surprised that a woman is a master plumber. When they ask for references, he’s unable to mention any, and so the phone interview ends. Barry decides that he has to visit the companies if he is to have any hope of getting a job. His first attempt is at Forbes Plumbing that has an especially high customer service rating. When he shows up and meets the owner, Mr. Forbes, it’s clear that he’s charmed by Barry’s beauty, so much so that Barry has to remind him to test his plumbing knowledge. When he does, he finds out that Barry is more than qualified, and he offers him a job.

When he starts work, Barry finds himself the center of attention among the plumbers. Behind the scenes they fight among themselves to work with him. When he’s out on jobs, the other plumbers are only too eager to assist him in anything he has to do. Anything requiring more strength than he has, the men rush to help him with. Clara notices that his working manual labor is beginning to show on Cathy’s pretty hands. "Don’t do anything to Cathy’s hands that are irreversible. She’ll never forgive you!" Barry takes to wearing gloves to protect his hands as best he can.

***

When the time comes to visit Cathy’s mom, Barry picks up Clara at her place in Long Beach and drives to her mom’s place in San Pedro. When they’re settled in the living room with Uncle Milton attending as well, Barry says, "I tried to tell you about myself previously and you got angry and slammed down the phone, accusing me of lying. But the truth is, what I was trying to say was true. I’m not Cathy. Rather, I’m a plumber from Freeport, Long Island, whose name I now know is Barry Alper."

Cathy’s mom acts like she’s going to freak out again and Barry says, sharply, "Please hear me out, before you get upset. Clara will vouchsafe for everything I’m saying!" Thankfully the woman calms down.

Barry proceeds to relate the entire story. When he’s done, he tops it off by saying that he’s gotten a job as a plumber in Seal Beach.

"Okay, okay, I believe you and I’m sorry for doubting you before. But what about my Cathy? We need to do something to find her!"

"We don’t know what we can do. Cathy’s inside a man and her one skill is in modeling. Will she be able to use this talent to support herself? No one knows. How and where she’s living no one knows. When we were back In New York we put our heads together and decided to wait to Christmas to give Cathy a chance to show up before we attempt directing some publicity to the body swap. We don’t want to unnecessarily cause Cathy and Barry to be regarded as public freaks of nature. We think a quiet solution to the problem would be best for them."

"I think you’re right though it pains me so much to think of my little Cathy all alone on the east coast fighting to survive."

"I think by running away from the police station, Cathy showed her independence and her survival skills. She didn’t want to be locked up and considered crazy."

"I hope you’re right. As a mother, it’s so weird having my daughter’s body here, but not her mind."

"Hey, that’s what teenagers are," Clara jokes causing everyone to laugh and feel thankful for the chance to relieve some of their tension.

Cathy’s mom says to Barry, "Now that I understand who you are, it leaves open the possibility that Cathy, my Cathy, might actually want to marry Brad if she can get the chance. We have no way of knowing what her preference is going to be."

"It might be a bit presumptuous of me to voice what Cathy wants, but I’m in her body and that gives me a certain degree of credibility. As Barry, I clearly couldn’t marry Brad since that would have been ridiculous. On the other hand, I didn’t want Brad to know that I wasn’t Cathy, because I was afraid he would then start searching for her. You see, I think that Cathy needs some protecting from herself. She seems to be very innocent as far as women go because her private writings about Brad suggest to me that she was being bulldozed into marrying him. He was so persistent and demanding that she couldn’t summon up the wherewithal to tell him no. She felt like she was just going to be stepping into the role of married woman and that she would grow to like it even if Brad had obvious faults."

"That’s the first I’ve heard of that," Cathy’s mom says.

"I can tell you from firsthand experience, Brad’s not thoughtful. He’s terribly self-centered and very likely to just lord over his wife. Cathy deserves so much better."

"I don’t know, you may be right, but ultimately it’ll be Cathy’s decision. I should say that I’m amazed that Brad never figured out that what he thought was Cathy was actually a plumber from New York. That does support the idea of how self-centered he is, and how he did not really care to get to know and appreciate Cathy for who she is."

Chapter 24

The fall turns into winter and Christmas comes and goes. Barry is surrounded by family and friends in Seal Beach and Cathy is with Rex and some other friends in Hempstead. Vinny, Dave, Lisa, and Cathy’s mom , in particular, are getting antsy that no progress has been made in finding Cathy. Any day now, perhaps the first week of the new year, they will release the full story of the body swap to newspapers, television and radio. But, as it turns out, there is no need for action, for on a fateful slow day at Forbes Plumbing, Barry is sitting in the office waiting for an assignment, when he picks up the latest issue of Plumbing Magazine. While perusing the pages, barely concentrating, he notices an ad for plumbing uniforms. The ad contains a color photograph of a man in a plumbing work uniform, kneeling in front of an open cabinet beneath a sink. Barry stares at the picture thinking that there is something familiar about the model. It slowly dawns on him that he is looking at himself. This is the face on the photos in Cathy’s camera. He’s sure of it. Excitedly, he tells Mr. Forbes that he has to run, and he drives home as fast as he can. Turning on the camera he sees that indeed this is the same man.

Barry calls up Lisa in New York and has to leave a voice mail for her to call him back. He then dials Vinny’s number and he answers. "Thank God you’re there!"

"What’s happening? Why are you so excited?"

"Do you get Plumbing Magazine?"

"Sure."

"Take a look at the latest issue."

"It’s in the shop."

"Go to the shop and get it! Call me back when you’ve looked at it!"

***

Twenty minutes later, Vinny calls Barry, "I’ve got the magazine. Is there an article about Barry? I don’t see it."

"No, no, no. Look at the ad for uniforms on page 26."

A minute later Vinny says, "Holy shit. It’s Barry! It’s goddamn Barry in the ad!"

"Yeah. I tried calling Lisa and she wasn’t in. You should try Lisa and we need to figure out how we find the guy in the ad. Maybe Lisa knows who to call."

***

It doesn’t take Lisa long to track down the ad agency that placed the ad in Plumbing Magazine. When she calls them to see if she can get information about the model, they say that the best they could do is to forward a message. Lisa does not have a strong feeling that she is being taken seriously. Evidently, it is common for women to want to get personal information about the handsome models. For plan B, Lisa calls her own agent who then makes a deal with Cathy’s modeling agency to allow her to work with them on a project. A time and date is arranged for a meeting a week hence in a conference room in the offices of Lisa’s agent. Barry arranges to fly to New York a couple of days in advance. He is so beyond excited that he finds it hard to sleep at night and to concentrate on his work.

***

When Barry gets to New York he again stays with Lisa. While they resume their passionate lovemaking, there is a sense between the two of them that this is likely to not go on very much longer. "I feel sad," Barry says, "that the wonderful times you and I have had together will probably end."

"It’s sad, but, on the bright side, if all goes well, at the end of the day I’ll have two great friends."

"I hope it does work out that well. What if we can never overcome our amnesia? Or recover our bodies."

"We should deal with those problems when they happen. There’s no use fretting about them now."

***

The day of the reunion, Barry, Lisa, Vinny and Dave assemble an hour before Cathy is due to arrive. Barry is practically catatonic and unable to speak. Vinny, Lisa and Dave talk among themselves to see who should say what to Cathy when she arrives.

Right on time at eleven in the morning, Cathy enters the conference room. Vinny and Dave jump to their feet and go up to gawk at Barry’s body. Cathy laughs and says, "Whoa!"

"Sorry, I’m Vinny and this is Dave, from BVD plumbing, and this is Lisa."

"Glad to meet you," Cathy says, smiling at the three of them. She then notices Barry and flinches at the sight of him. "Do I know you?" she says in a quaking voice. "There’s something about you! I don’t know what it is, but it’s making me nervous. I’m sorry. Have we met?"

Barry begins to cry, and Cathy says, "Why are you crying? Did I make you cry? Do I know you? I have such a strong sense that I know you." Cathy turns to look at Lisa and says, "What’s going on here?"

"You’re Cathy Margolies," Lisa says.

"No, I’m Mr. Jones." Cathy stares at Lisa and then looks at the others. "You mean that you know that I’m a girl?" Now Cathy is tearing up. "How did you find out?" Cathy now turns to look at Barry who has tears streaming down his cheeks. "Oh, my God, is that me? Is that my body? Is this his body? Am I in his body?"

Fighting a losing battle with tears, Lisa manages to say how Barry saw a picture of his body in Plumbing Magazine that led to this reunion. Lisa is crying too hard to say anything more and even Vinny and Dave are unable to stop themselves from shedding some tears. Barry gets up and walks over to Cathy and the two of them embrace. "Oh, God, I had given up hope of ever seeing my body again," Cathy says.

Barry says, laughing through his tears, "It looks like you’ve taken good care of mine. No missing arms or legs!"

Cathy laughs and says, "No tattoos! I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve been shaving your leg, chest and underarm hair."

"No doubt it will grow back."

"And it looks like you’ve taken good care of my body."

"Except your hands. My only skill is plumbing, so I had to take a job in plumbing, in California."

"California?"

"Yes, you live in Seal Beach, California."

"I do?"

"Yeah, you have a wonderful place on the water. I moved back there since with my amnesia it made the most sense to be with the people that know you and your body."

Lisa breaks into the conversation and says, "We think it best if the two of you get some private time to get each other up to date. We’ll wait outside the room." She, Vinny and Dave file out of the room to a nearby lounge.

Barry and Cathy sit down facing each other. Cathy says, "You seem to know much more than I do about our situation. How did you connect up with Vinny, Dave and Lisa?"

"When I woke up on the beach, the old guy collecting garbage pointed out that I had a key to a locker. So, I went to it and found your purse and clothes and the fact that my body was that of Cathy Margolies. I guess I was luckier than you because I had a way to figure out whose body I was in. You never had that opportunity."

"I discovered that you were on a modeling assignment in New York for a few days and had a hotel room in Manhattan," Barry continues. "You met Lisa while modeling, who later contacted me thinking it was you. I found your plane ticket to go home and that’s how I got to Seal Beach."

"Did the people there think you were me?"

"That’s a long story. For example, your girlfriend Clara and your mom both sensed that something wasn’t right, to say the least. They saw through me and I had to confess that I’m Barry, a plumber from Freeport, Long Island. Both of them are going to be beyond happy to find out that we’ve found you."

"This is so much to take in," Cathy says.

"Enough about me. We’re all dying to know where you’ve been all these months and how you survived."

"When I woke up on the beach, I was so scared that I just ran and ran. I was picked up by a policeman and brought to the station."

"We heard that you fled from there."

"Yeah, they were going to lock me up in an insane asylum."

"So, where did you go?"

"I jumped on a bus that took me to Hempstead."

"How did you survive?"

"A priest, Father Gonzalez, who runs a homeless shelter gave me a place to stay and helped me get a modeling job. It was kind of amazing that even though I had this man’s body, I felt so sure that I knew how to model perfectly. Once I figured out how men walk, which is quite weird I must tell you, the modeling agency started giving me work. Like that photo shoot for uniforms."

"Did you tell anyone that you’re a girl?"

"Yes. I made friends with a woman at the shelter and let her in on the secret. I must say, that so many women love this body of yours. I had to let her know why I wasn’t interested in a relationship. I should say that there’s one thing I’m feeling a little guilty about," Cathy says.

"What could that be?" Barry says.

"I was getting pretty lonely, and the thing is, since I’m attracted to boys, I figured out that my only hope for intimacy was to get in a relationship with a gay man."

Barry laughs and says, "I’m equally guilty! I was seeing Lisa, who’s gay, on those occasions when we were on the same coast at the same time."

"So, we both have had the same problem!" Cathy says.

"I hope you understand that your gay relationship will probably end if we can swap back."

"You’re right, I haven’t had time to process that. My boyfriend, Rex, and I have been close, but I’m not sure that it’s love. No, I think he would agree with me that it’s not enough to make for a lifetime."

"Lisa and I feel the same way. We love being together and to tell you the truth we love having sex with each other, but it’s not the basis for a long-term relationship."

"Anyway, the most pressing thing for us is that we’re hoping that we can undo the body swap, and then you’ll be back to Cathy in your own body and hopefully you’ll be able to get back into the life that you want to live. Is this okay with you? We haven’t given you any time to think about this thus far. But it’s pretty obvious that the direction our futures take depends on whether or not the body swap can be or should be undone. For myself, while I have grown to love your body," Barry says to Cathy, "I think that I really should go back into my own, if it is at all possible."

"I don’t need time to think about it. I feel the same way," Cathy says. "It’s what I’ve always been hoping for even though there are many nice things about being in your body. For example, while initially I found it hard to deal with your penis and all your muscles, as time went on I grew to appreciate them. All that strength in your arms and legs. In fact, I felt the need to join a gym so that I could keep your body in good shape. It seemed like the least I could do for you."

"That’s so sweet, Cathy. To tell you the truth, I had no problem getting into your body. In fact, I found your breasts and vagina so wonderfully attractive I constantly got myself horny just looking at myself in the mirror."

Cathy laughs. "What about my underwear? My bras and pantyhose. How did you deal with that?"

Barry laughs. "It was hysterical at the start." Barry tells her the story of the women in the dressing room at Jones Beach. "Later on, I got totally accustomed to putting on a bra every day and actually enjoying your underwear. I think there’s a lot of wonderful things that go with being a woman. The makeup, the wardrobe of so many styles and options, so many shoes it's unbelievable. I also like wearing nail polish and makeup. I’ve really gotten into it. It’s all fun and I will definitely miss it."

They are quiet for a few minutes and then Cathy says, "So what’s the story? Do you know how this happened?"

"Happily, we do," Barry says. "Let me bring in the others who can fill you in."

When they’re all together again, Lisa explains, "We’ll tell you what we know about what happened. The two of you met at Jones Beach." Lisa gets out Cathy’s camera and shows her the pictures of Barry. "You took these pictures of Barry heading to the hot dog stand and then returning with two hot dogs. It turns out that the hot dog guy, Frank his name is, knows Barry and after talking to him he put a drop of love potion on each of your hot dogs. One kind of potion going to you on your hot dog and different potion going to Barry on his hot dog. However, for some reason you switched hot dogs which led to the body swap. Frank has a theory for why this happened, but it’s only a theory."

"But why did the hot dog guy put love potion on the hot dogs?"

"He claims that he could see that the two of you are soulmates."

Cathy and Barry look at each other in surprise. Their amnesia prevents them from knowing what the truth is.

Lisa continues, "And when he found out that Cathy was getting married to someone in California a week hence, he felt he had to do something drastic to keep you two together."

"I was getting married in a week?" Cathy says.

"To Brad," Barry intervenes. "You obviously don’t remember that. Let’s just say that I did not marry Brad and he wasn’t too happy about that, but then he doesn’t know that I wasn’t you. You probably can restart that relationship if you want to, but to tell you the truth, my personal experience of him is that he’s kind of creepy. It’s a long story and I’ll tell you later. Your diaries seems to say that you also had a lot of doubts about him. "

"The good news is that Frank is pretty sure he can get the two of you back to your original bodies," Lisa says.

"How?"

"You’ll each have to have another drop of his love potion."

"And then we’ll be back to normal?"

"Hopefully."

"I don’t see what choice I have. What about you, Barry, what do you think we should do?"

"My hope is that we each have another hot dog; we go to sleep and then wake up back in our bodies. After that, we’ll see what we see."

"Okay, I’m in!" Cathy says.

Chapter 25

Though it’s winter, Jones Beach park is open year-round, and Frank is at his station. He is excited to see Barry again. "You found him! I’m so relieved."

"Yes, we did, only it’s Cathy in Barry thanks to you," Vinny says. "So now that we’ve got the two bodies together, do your thing."

"Right. I think this should work. I should say that you two are the only couple that switched hot dogs on me."

"How often have you used your love potion?" Cathy says.

"Very, very rarely, I assure you. Nature almost never needs an assist from a hot dog guy, but sometimes things are just a bit wrong and we have to step in to save the day. Of course, we take seriously whose hot dog is whose. Too bad some customers don’t eat their assigned hot dog."

"Yes, we know," Vinny says. "Now let’s get them untangled!"

"Okay. I’m going to make two hot dogs. First is for you young lady," Frank says to Barry. "What do you want on it?"

"Mustard and relish."

"And you Barry," Frank says to Cathy, "what do you want on it?"

"Mustard only."

"Okay. So, the mustard only hot dog gets a drop of the man’s potion. The mustard and relish gets the woman’s potion. Now don’t mess up here. Eat your correct hot dog!"

"Then what?"

"You go sit on your blankets, eat the hot dogs. You’ll fall asleep, and then tomorrow morning we’ll know what happened."

"In case you haven’t noticed, it’s winter," Vinny says.

"Good point. Take the hot dogs to someplace warm and eat them there."

***

They all drive to Barry’s apartment and Lisa, Vinny and Dave depart for the evening. Vinny has invited Lisa and Dave to spend the night at his place, where they down a couple of bottles of Bordeaux. They’ll come by in the morning to see what’s happened to Cathy and Barry.

After the others have left, Cathy and Barry sit down at the dinner table in the kitchen. "Well, I guess we eat our hot dogs," Cathy says.

They munch on their hot dogs and in a short while they both feel pretty crummy and then utterly exhausted. Barry changes into a pretty nightie and crashes onto the bed in the bedroom while Cathy puts on pajamas and lies out on the sofa. They both fall into a deep sleep.

***

The next morning, very early, Cathy is the first to stir. She has to pee badly, and she stumbles to the bathroom in the half dark and stands in front of the toilet. She can’t quite figure out why things feel different to her, and then thinks that she must have gone to sleep without her pajama bottoms. She lifts up the toilet seat, pulls down her underwear and reaches for the penis that she’s been using for the last few months and begins to pee. Her hand suddenly feels the warm pee and she is jolted fully awake yelling, "Where’s my penis? Where’s my penis? Oh, my God. I lost my penis!" With pee scattering around she stops and turns on the bathroom light. "Oh, my God, I’m Cathy, I’m Cathy. I remember everything. I remember!" She sits down on the toilet. "I can pee like a girl again! Oh, I have a vagina! I have boobs!" She feels her breasts inside the pretty nightie she is wearing. She admires her pretty arms. She gets up and looks in the mirror. "Look at my beautiful hair!"

The sound coming from the bathroom stirs Barry lying on the sofa. His eyes open and he finds himself thinking about his parents taking him on a trip to Crescent City to see the redwood trees. As he’s thinking about this, he suddenly gets a thought that this is weird. How does he remember the names of his mom and dad now? How come he remembers all these details where everything has been so hazy. Then he starts laughing thinking about how odd it is that he put on men’s pajamas last night when he went to bed. He could swear he had put on a pretty nightie like he always does. And whatever happened to his boobs? They seem to be missing. His eyes open up and he reaches a hand inside his pajama bottoms and feels a penis. "Oh, my God. I’m Barry again. I’m back in my body! Hey Cathy!" He calls out.

Cathy comes from the bathroom and sees Barry. "We’re back. Can you believe it! Back in our bodies again! It’s incredible."

"Oh my God, not only do I remember my old life as Barry, but I remember my time in your body. I remember being a woman every day for months."

"And I remember that I’m Cathy but also that I’ve been in your body. It’s so weird I remember having your muscles and your you know what."

"I had to take care of like four of your periods. That was so interesting. I got pretty good at putting in a tampon. But I wasn’t fond of the cramps!"

"I wasn’t going to say it, but what about boners? That is the weirdest sensation when all of a sudden, your penis develops a mind of its own and starts rising up. And then when it’s rock hard. Totally crazy. I don’t think I was ever going to get completely used to that."

"What’s really weird is that I fell in love with your body. I loved your breasts and vagina and all your female femaleness. I actually loved being in such a beautiful woman’s body. And I liked wearing bras and panties and dresses. I kept feeling like I should get a boner, but I didn’t because there was no penis there."

"I was initially freaked out by your body. All that strength was bizarre, and your chest hair and I missed having breasts and a vagina. But eventually I made my peace with it and thought it was pretty cool to have a nice male physique."

Barry laughs. "Boy, this is so strange. Turning serious, he says, "Do you remember that day on the beach when we met?"

"Of course I do. I was supposed to marry Brad and I was so conflicted by the fact that I liked you so much. Even more, you were so relaxed, and I loved that quality about you."

"Yeah. As I said, Brad is out of the picture now, unless you want to get him back. I should say the worst thing about him was that he basically expected me to have sex with him whenever he felt like it. Twice he got super horny and forced me onto the bed and he was too strong for me to resist and I ended up just letting him have at me. I didn’t know how to make him see that I wasn’t interested in sex. The ridiculous thing was, even though I let him have sex, he didn’t care if I got satisfaction from it. On our wedding night as soon as he came, he rolled over and went to sleep."

Cathy eyes seemed to be tearing and she said, "That’s the way I remember him too. I was helpless around him. I guess I’m so lucky that I met you, because I just didn’t know how to say no to Brad or to get my voice heard. He built a cage around me and I was going to be his little playmate for as long as he wanted."

"I’m glad you’re not planning on getting back with him."

"After meeting you, how could I ever do that? Tell me how Brad took it when you called off the wedding?’

"I didn’t call it off. Instead I only pretended to sign the marriage certificate so the wedding never became official. There were 184 guests, and probably most of them still think you’re married to Brad. I must say that I loved wearing your wedding dress. It was so pretty and I felt unbelievably beautiful. Way too beautiful for a guy like Brad."

"I want to thank you for being brave enough to do that for me. I appreciate it. You know, on the beach when I met you, I kept comparing you to Brad and I felt a great attraction to you."

Barry and Cathy grew silent thinking about what each other had said. Finally, Cathy says, "I remember thinking on the beach that if given a chance, I’d probably be able to fall much more in love with you than I ever could have done with Brad."

"I had this feeling on the beach that there was no limit to how much I could end up loving you. That’s what Frank at the hot dog stand picked up on. He knows me well enough to see that I was having an overpowering realization of how special you are and how much I would be able to love you. He says that he could see that, and he gave us the potion in order to rescue us from a major mistake."

"I guess, even though we’ve had a lot of trauma because of his love potion, at the end of the day it brought us together like he wanted it to."

Barry got up and walked over to Cathy and stood in front of her. They looked into each other’s eyes and reflected upon how much they had gone through over the last few months. They could see deep inside each other’s minds and especially the bodies they had occupied. Cathy felt a deep swell of affection for Barry. He recognized the emotion and he put his arms around Cathy and brought his lips in and they kissed. They each felt their hearts bursting with the special love that soulmates have for each other. Time stopped and they each knew that they were in love and would never leave each other.

***

While Barry and Cathy were kissing that morning, Vinny made Lisa and Dave pancakes, and when they were done with breakfast they headed over to Barry’s place. "I’m totally freaking out," Vinny says. "What if this didn’t work?"

"Yeah," Dave says. "Who gets the house in Seal Beach? Cathy’s body or Cathy’s mind?"

"Let’s expect the best," Lisa says. "We’ll soon find out what happened."

When they get to Barry’s apartment, Vinny rings the doorbell. Inside Barry and Cathy break apart from their kiss and Barry opens the front door. He stares at Vinny, Dave and Lisa and they stare back. "Well?" Vinny says. "Are you Barry or Cathy?"

"I’m sorry I missed the game, Vinny," Barry says. "Ms. Murdoch gave me an extra two hundred bucks to unclog her line."

"Holy shit. You’re back! Barry’s back!"

Lisa rushes up to Cathy and says, "You’re Cathy now?"

"Yes, Lisa. Lisa from Huntington, Long Island!"

"Oh, my God!" Lisa says and hugs Cathy.

"Only two hundred bucks for losing the tournament!" Vinny says. "You owe me big time."

"I’m so sorry for all the bother I’ve put you through," Cathy says to Lisa.

"You didn’t put me through any bother. I hope you can forgive me for enjoying your body while Barry occupied it."

"If it gave the two of you many sweet memories, then it makes me happy."

"And I derive great happiness knowing that you and Barry can now be together," Lisa says.

***

In the spring, Barry and Cathy are married on Seal Beach in front of Cathy and Barry’s house. It’s a small ceremony with Lisa, Vinny, Dave, Rex and Rose, besides Cathy’s mom and Uncle Milton and Clara as witnesses. The young couple, to express their appreciation to Frank, tried to convince him to fly out for the wedding, but he had to man his hot dog stand and couldn’t get away. Clara made sure that the wedding certificate was signed correctly.

Among the things Cathy had shipped to Seal Beach from her apartment in Hempstead were the women’s clothing that she had bought for Barry’s body. She encouraged Barry to dress like a woman when he was home, since she knew how much he had grown to love being in her body and how much he had enjoyed being feminine. "I’m happy to be a man, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t miss feeling like a woman. Thank you for being so understanding!"

In contrast, Cathy does not miss wearing men’s clothing, but she does feel some regret about giving up control of Barry’s penis. "I learned that penis’s are fun. Besides the pleasure I derived from your penis, I loved the mechanics of how it changes size, shape and usage. That I could both pee and squirt semen with it was amazing." Fortunately for Barry, Cathy is only too eager to continue her relationship with his penis. The fact that he has taken control of it again notwithstanding.

The End