Ricki continues her swimming and her belly dancing. She also finds a job. The news she and Laura feared is confirmed, their Dad is dying. Madeline, Laura and Ricki's Mom, finds out about Ricki. Timely intervention prevents a rape. (Not in extreme detail. The scene should not be overly distressful.)

Shimmy

by

Paula Dillon

Chapter 20

Ricki was up early she cleaned up and took care of her needs. On her way downstairs, she took her dirty things and linen down to wash. She fixed breakfast and coffee, and had it ready when the girls came down. Some people take things for granted, when it is provided without their having to think about it. This was not so with her sisters. They never took this blessing for granted. Ricki allowed them the opportunity they needed, to do what they needed to do. They gave Ricki their hugs and kisses, for her selflessness.

Ricki began her cleaning routine after the girls left for class and practiced her belly dancing while she did her cleaning.

Laura was in her French lit class, when her phone rang. She got up to leave the classroom and answer it. She hoped it was her mom, none of her other friends would call during class.

“I am sorry; it’s my Mom, Mrs. Boucher. I have to take this,” Laura said, getting her things and leaving class.

(The Following conversation took place in French. I don’t know French, but Madeline Davis is French Canadian. She does speak French and Laura does too. So I had to use an online translator. Any errors in the French translation are the translator’s error.)

"Bonjour," (“Hello,”) Laura said, in French.

"Bonjour sueur." (“Hello sweaty.”) Madeline replied in French. "Vous voulez avoir cette conversation en français?" (“You want to have this conversation in French?”)

"Oui maman, je suis á  l'école. Comment áªtes-vous? " (“Yes mom, I am at school. How are you?”)

“Je suis en train de faire amende chers. Sauf pour… oui je sorte de s'attendre á  vous voir. Oui votre papa ne va pas bien. " (“I am doing fine dear. Except for… yes I kind of expected you to see it. Yes your Daddy isn’t well.”)

"Quel est le problá¨me avec lui maman?" (“What is wrong with him Mom?”)

"Il a un cancer chers. Il était hors d'usage quand il a été constaté. Votre pá¨re est vieux et il n'a pas envie d'essayer la chimio-thérapie qui avait seulement 5% de chance de ralentir le cancer, non pas de tuer le cancer. " (“He has a cancer dear. It was inoperable when it was found. Your father is old and he didn’t want to try chemo-therapy that only had a five percent chance of slowing the cancer, not killing the cancer.”)

"Pourquoi ne pas-il nous dire, maman?" (“Why didn’t he tell us, Mom?”)

"Vous n'avez pas venir courir chez vous, si vous savait qu'il était malade. Cela aurait interrompu vos études et il ne l'a pas voulu. Il n'a pas envie de voir tel qu'il est maintenant. Je n'était pas d'accord avec lui, mais il a été sa décision. Il a voulu vous les enfants á  se souviennent de lui comme il l'était son ancien… en bonne santé soi-máªme, et non pas le shell de l'homme, il est maintenant." (“You would have come running home, if you knew he was sick. That would have interrupted your education and he didn’t want that. He also didn’t want you to see him as he is now. I disagreed with him, but it was his decision. He wanted you kids to remember him as he was… his former healthy self, not the shell of the man he is now.”)

"Mais maman, nous avons besoin d'avoir l'occasion de dire au revoir á  lui." (“But Mom, we need to have the opportunity to say goodbye to him.”)

"Je suis d'accord avec vous Laura, mais il n'est pas á  moi." (“I agree with you Laura, but it isn’t up to me.”)

"Ensuite, nous arrivons á  l'endroit oá¹ vous áªtes." (“Then we are coming to where you are.”)

"NON! S’il vous plaá®t ne le faites pas, il pá¨res de briser votre coeur. Il est un homme fier, trop fier. Il vous connaá®t deux amour et il veut que tu sais qu'il aime vous deux profondément. " (“NO! Please don’t, it would break your fathers heart. He is a proud man, too proud. He knows you two love him and he wants you to know he loves both of you deeply.”)

"Combien de temps at-il?" (“How long does he have?”)

"Un mois, peut-áªtre deux. Nous n'allons pas faire de retour, je suis peur  » (“A month, maybe two. We won’t make it back, I’m afraid,”) Madeline said, and then she tried to change the subject to a less painful topic. "Alors, comment Ricky est en train de faire?" (“So how is Ricky doing?”)

"Elle a fait grand maman," (“She is doing great Mom,”) Laura gasped as soon as she made her faux pas.

"Elle?" (“She?”)

"Je veux dire qu'il fait bien." (“I mean he is doing fine.”)

"Dites-moi la vérité Laura, je peut l'entendre dans votre voix." (“Tell me the truth Laura; I can hear it in your voice.”)

"Maman, c'est une longue histoire, mais Ricki que l'habillage est une fille, et je n'ai pas jamais vu son heureux." (“Mom, it’s a long story, but Ricki is dressing as a girl, and I haven’t ever seen her happier.”)

”J'ai toujours pensé qu'il était trop beau pour áªtre un garçon. Ne vous méprenez pas, il n'est pas quelque chose de mal avec les garçons, mais Ricky avait un tel esprit doux sur lui… Est-elle assez? " (“I always thought he was too nice to be a boy. Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything wrong with boys, but Ricky had such a sweet spirit about him… Is she pretty?”)

"Oh maman, elle est tout simplement magnifique et elle a probablement un fiancé. Je crois qu'elle est en amour avec Susan une fille qui vit avec moi. Deux d'entre eux sont si heureux qu'ils sont ravis." (“Oh Mom, she is simply gorgeous and she probably has a fiancé. I think she is in love with Susan a girl that lives with me. Both of them are so happy they are ecstatic.”)

"Le temps nous dira fille, donnez-lui tout le soutien que vous pouvez Laura. Ne pas dire Ricki sur la derniá¨re partie de notre conversation, mais dites-lui que nous aimons chá¨rement lui. Donnez-lui un cá¢lin pour moi et votre pá¨re. " (“Time will tell daughter, give her all the support you can Laura. Don’t tell Ricki about the last part of our conversation, but tell him we love him dearly. Give her a hug for me and your Dad.”)

"Tenez-moi informé de papa, nous manquera quand il passe." (“Keep me informed about Dad, we will miss him when he passes.” Laura cried.)

“Je sais trá¨s chers, je l'espá¨re, pour voir mon autre fille, un certain temps dans l'avenir. Je t'aime tant de fois. Au revoir, my Sweet fille." (“I know dear, I hope to see my other daughter, some time in the future too. I love you both so much. Bye, my sweet daughter.”)

Nous vous aimons trop maman. Au revoir." (“We love you too Mom. Bye.”)

Laura made a call herself.

“Hi Laura,”

“Hello Rebecca, It is just as I feared.”

“How long?”

“Two months, maybe less.”

“I am here for you both. You know that don’t you.”

“Yes I do. Thank you. Bye.”

“You take care of yourself sister. Bye.”

Laura just sat on the couch outside the French classroom and cried quietly for a few minutes. She gathered her things and headed to the nearest women’s restroom to fix her face.

Ricki finished her work and her DVD belly dancing lessons early, so she got in her bikini and went out to the pool. It was fun always having a pool convenient. She swam in the pool for about two hours. Even with the sunscreen, Ricki was developing a golden tan and the requisite tan lines from her suit. The tan looked good on her, but it seemed a little bit off she thought. Ricki would have to show Susan and see if she had any ideas to make the tan lines look a little more like what it should look like.

They girls got home and studied for a bit before dinner. Ricki fixed hamburgers, fries and a banana pudding for dessert. The girls loved the burgers, but Ricki had to fight them to keep them from devouring all the pudding. It was just loaded with calories.

When it came time to get ready for belly dancing class, Ricki took Susan up to her room and showed her the tan lines.

“I can fix this when you get home. I need to get some things first, honey.”

Ricki and Laura wore their coin bras, belts and jewelry to class. Ricki worked with Mrs. Lively on the routines they had practiced on Saturday. She then had Laura join Ricki and do the routine they were choreographing themselves. Mrs. Lively loved the creativity of the Davis sisters; they were a good addition to her belly dancing class.

On the way home Laura stopped and broke the news she had from her mother.

“Ricki, Mom called me. It is just as we suspected. Dad is dying.”

“It can’t be. He just can’t,” Ricki said crying.

“You know it is true. You have seen it in the pictures.”

“We have to go see him, Laura.”

“You don’t have a passport and although we have an itinerary, it will still be hard to meet up with them.”

Ricki leaned on Laura’s shoulder and cried. “We will be there when they get home then.”

Laura was in tears herself and was hurting inside, “He probably won’t make it home. Ricki Dad wants us to remember him when he was healthy and vigorous. He doesn’t want us to see him waste away.”

“I never got to say goodbye, Sis.”

“I know. I didn’t get to say goodbye either.”

“We have got to call them, then.”

“I will try to Ricki. That is all I can promise.”

They held onto each other and had a good cry, before they cleaned up their faces and continued their way home.

Chapter 21

Tuesday, Vanessa had lunch with a professor friend of hers. Janet Wilkins was a professor of psychology. After they exchanged pleasantries and placed their orders, they sat to talk.

“Janet, I have a question about transgendered guys.”

“You mean girls that believe in their heart they are guys, or guys that believe in their hearts that they are girls.”

“Guys that believe they are girls.”

“Well, you don’t ask easy questions. There is a lot of information on that topic and the amount is growing daily. Transgendered is sort of an umbrella definition. There are different types of transgendered out there. This is just the nickel explanation for you, Vanessa.”

“Some people want desperately to be the other sex, even to go so far as taking hormones and seeking Sexual Reassignment Surgery. They are so desperate, they may fall into depression if they are prevented from doing so. These people are the ones who sometimes commit suicide if they can’t find release, or they lack emotional support from those around them.

Others are those that just want to look like the other sex, to whatever degree they can, some of the time. The rest of the time, they are comfortable as who they are. Others may take hormones to help with their appearance, but forego the SRS surgery. Some are happy to be half and half, so to speak. Still others dress for the sexual thrill. To be able to understand the differences, a psychiatrist or psychologist, spends many hours getting to know the person. It takes a minimum of one year of counseling to resolve where a person falls, before the mental healthcare provider will sign off on surgery. Some may be in therapy for years before they reach that point.”

“How young can they begin?”

“They can begin dressing and believing they are different as young as they can. Some may begin before grade school, at age three, four or five. Some when they approach puberty, while others a lot later in life. There is a quandary in the psychological community on this issue. The issue is, on when to start HRT. HRT, or hormone replacement therapy, can either feminize a boy who wants to be a girl, or makes a girl who wants to be a boy become masculine. The younger a patient begins hormones, the better the results. The difference can be rather dramatic. The big question is, how to be certain the patient is certain that that is what they want and need? At what age do we act on that feeling? It would be nice for them if at the age of eleven or twelve, we could begin HRT. They could develop along with their peers and they wouldn’t have to overcome what the natural hormones have already done. But what eleven or twelve year old is certain of themselves? They could change their minds and after four or five months on, HRT, the die has already been cast, the chance to change back to what they could have been has been greatly diminished.”

“Right now, the age is eighteen, although in some cases we can prescribe hormone blockers at twelve to fourteen. This will keep guys from growing beards and Adam’s apples, and girls from growing breasts, hips and such. The question is then, how long can they safely take the blockers. Surgery is an iron clad eighteen, because of its implications, and they should be as grown as they are going to be. Hormones are eighteen,”

“I know a guy who is comfortable with himself dressed as a girl. I don’t think it is for sexual pleasure. He appears so natural. I would swear he had surgery, but he is only sixteen.”

“I can’t give you a diagnosis. He sounds like a boy that believes in his heart that he is a girl. It would take a year in a Real life test, one or two years of counseling, and age eighteen before anything irreversible is done. If she has been living for a year as a girl, it is easy to see why she is so comfortable in her role. I doubt she has had surgery.”

“But he looked so natural in a bikini. If I hadn’t known him before, I would have sworn he was a girl.”

“What did you do, before you grew your boobs to look like you had them?”

“Stuffed my bra with tissues and other things.”

“They have gotten pretty sophisticated in this area, silicone breastforms, hip pads, gaffs to hide their penises and fake vaginas and such.”

“This person doesn’t know I know. What can I do for him? What do I refer to him as? How should I treat him?”

“Treat him as he appears. If he looks like a girl treat her that way. Use feminine pronouns and such. Treat her like any other person. Don’t ‘out’ the person to others, they have a hard life as it is. That can be real hard, because you know the truth. Try not to accidentally let that knowledge slip. You may have to go so far as to distance yourself a bit, till you are sure in your heart that you aren’t going to let it slip. Don’t go out of your way to let them know you know. You can make it more likely she will slip, force her to run away, or scare her half to death. If you see her in a ladies rest room and she is behaving properly for her appearance, treat her like any other female. You can do wonders for people like this by treating them like they appear. Be their friend if they ask and be friendly to them even if they don’t. Be there to protect her if she needs it. There are many people that target the transgendered for violence.”

“Girls who are transgendered have a different kind of a challenge. But that will cost another lunch. If you really want to know more, there are some college courses you could take.”

Ricki and Laura were in a brown funk for a few days; everyone around them could see it and were supportive of the girls. Laura was almost back to normal the next day. Ricki was taking it hard. Candace even made a house call to talk to Ricki. Candace now understood why Rebecca had contacted her, although she still had questions. She was taking grief counseling as part of her Master’s studies.

Thursday, though she had begun to come out of her malaise. Susan had been so good to Ricki and slept with her every night, just holding her as she slept.

The one spot of happiness was at the dance studio. Ricki threw all her pent up emotion into her dance. Thursday night had been a real awakening as she danced. Even though the thought of her Dad dying still distressed her, there had been a lot of love in their relationship. Thursday in her mind she danced for her father, she threw herself into the dance. She wore her biggest smile as the tears fell.

Mrs. Lively saw the emotion Ricki was putting into the dance and was entranced by the young girl. She was doing everything better than she had ever done. When she was done the whole class erupted in applause.

Ricky was embarrassed but the other students just smiled at her. Mrs. Lively asked Laura and Ricki to stay after class for a few minutes.

“Ricki you were wonderful, but what was all that emotion you were pouring out.”

“My Father is on a Mediterranean cruise and he is dying from cancer Mrs. Lively. We may never see him alive again.”

“Oh you poor child, I know how you must feel.”

“Even though he wasn’t here I was dancing for him.”

“How long does he have, Ricki?”

“A month, maybe two.”

“Do you feel better now?”

“Yes Ma’am, I feel a lot better now. That dance was cathartic.”

Mrs. Lively gave Ricki a warm hug and said, “I see, I feel for you, Ricki, I lost my father many years ago in Vietnam. He was a pilot. I also lost my husband, about ten years ago, in an industrial accident. If you need to talk Ricki, I am available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I hope you can dance with that same intensity, on the fourth Ricki. I just can’t believe how beautiful and graceful you looked.”

Chapter 22

Friday, Ricki was surprised, while she was swimming at school. She had just made her turn at 500 meters, when another swimmer splashed in the pool in the next lane. It was Coach Adams. Vanessa matched Ricki’s pace for the next hundred meters. Then she began to push a little faster. Ricki kicked it up a notch and kept pace with her over the next two laps. They then slowed for two laps and rested for a bit.

“Hi Ricki, how are you doing today?”

“Ok, and how are you doing, Coach Adams?”

“Very good. Let’s do the next hundred doing the butterfly.”

“Ok,”

Coach Adams pushed off and Ricki matched her moves, about two meters behind her. Ricki watched how she was swimming. Vanessa’s form was just a little different. It looked like she was a little more efficient in her strokes. Ricki tried to adapt her stroke a little. It is one thing to have a coach tell you what you were doing wrong and another to see how one might be able to see how to do the same thing a little more efficiently.

Ricki had already learned to swim better, with her forward appendages attached. Her and her belly dancing had really helped her. She was significantly stronger in her abdominals; this helped her more than she knew. At the turn, Vanessa was in the lead and she had a pretty good turn at the wall, but Ricki’s turn wasn’t good, it was great. She caught up and was side by side with the coach after twenty meters.

Their paces picked up significantly, in the last twenty-five meters, to almost competition speed. Coach Adams wasn’t trying to beat Ricki, she just wanted to push the kid a bit. Ricki’s youth and vigor were beginning to show, in the last 15 meters. Vanessa couldn’t have won at that point, even if she had wanted to, Ricki pulled from even, to three quarters of a body’s length ahead in the last ten meters and touched first.

“Wow that was some burst of speed you put on there, Ricki.”

“Thank you coach,” Ricki said, smiling brightly at Coach Adams.

“You seemed to have a little more power in your stroke. I saw the changes you made. Is it easier doing it that way?”

“Yes, it was much easier, and I always save a little energy if I can, for a last minute burst of speed.”

“That is good, if you can keep in range.”

“Yes ma’am, it is.”

“Ok, let’s just swim some more laps.” Vanessa said, smiling to herself, as she pushed off the wall.

Coach Adams swam another five hundred meters, her joints began to complain a bit. The injury to her back, which she had sustained four years ago, took away all of her Olympic hopes, began to tell. Swimming helped her flexibility a bit, but she could never get anywhere near where she had been. So she hopped out of the pool and dried off, while she watched Ricki.

Ricki felt good and swam another eleven hundred meters. It was funny, she hadn’t really considered belly dancing an aerobic exercise before she had started. That misconception was dispelled the first time she had tried it. The biggest benefit Ricki saw, was the strengthening of her core, her chest, abdominals, glutes and legs. This helped her in swimming more than anything else she had tried. She also noticed that she had a little better, no make that significantly better stamina now. She would swear that her ribcage was a little broader.

After her shower, she dressed and did her makeup. Her sisters were still studying, so she walked around campus. She smiled when she saw Candace.

“Hi Candace.”

“Hello Ricki, how are you doing?”

“Better, I know my Dad is dying, and there isn’t anything that I can do about it. But I also know that life goes on,” Ricki said, as she began walking.

Candace walked with her friend and they talked, “Don’t forget to take time to grieve Ricki. Grief can be cathartic, as long as one doesn’t live to grieve. You spent seventeen years loving your father, when he goes, you can’t just bottle up all those emotions and feelings that you had for him. It just isn’t healthy.”

“I am learning that and thank you for being such a good friend.”

“Ricki, I have something to ask you. Now don’t be afraid, I will always be your friend, but I have noticed some things about you. Are you transgendered?”

Ricki swallowed a bit, when she heard the question, but Candace had been a good friend. “I guess I am. I am just not sure. I was a happy boy. I guess, that is a somewhat happy boy. Since I have dressed as a girl, I have felt that life couldn’t get any better.”

Candace smiled at her friend. “I though so. Don’t worry, you aren’t broadcasting I am a boy to the world. Far from it, I find it hard to conceive of you being a boy. It was just a few little things about you, when we first met. Over the time I have known you; they have all but disappeared. I am studying to be a psychologist; I think that is why I picked up on them. So tell me, what brought out this transformation?”

Ricki told Candace the story of how all this had taken place. Candace listened intently to what the girl was saying; only taking time to stop her to ask a question about something she had said.

“If I were to guess Ricki, I think you are finding it increasingly difficult to think of yourself as a boy,” Candace stated.

“You are right, Candace. Everyday that I have spent being a girl has been a lot more real to me, than my whole life as a Richard. Look at me. Genetics has left me looking like this. I am as big as I ever will be. I am bigger than my father and my father’s father, yet I am smaller than many of the girls on this campus. Back home, Richard had a few good friends; here, Ricki has a lot of very good friends. Richard was more than a bit of a wallflower, he was almost a recluse. Ricki though isn’t afraid to get out there and live. It was like I was waiting for this moment my whole life. Everything just seems to fit.”

“Being a girl won’t always be a bed of roses, you know that don’t you.”

“Being a boy wasn’t bad at times either, Candace. I know that. It just seems to me that I am brighter, more confident and happier. I don’t know if I will always feel this way.”

“How far do you think you want to go on this road, Ricki?”

“I don’t know. I want to have kids. I know that I could never have them, if I did the wrong things. So I don’t really know what I want to do. I do think that I would like to have breasts of my own and I have no problem with camouflaging my hips. Although, I guess I would like to have wider, rounder hips too.”

“Well you are still young, and any fork of the road is still years ahead of you.”

“Do you know anything about it, Candace?”

“Some, all students looking to become psychologist have to take courses dealing with gender issues. Anybody who wants to change sex is looking down a long road with many years of counseling. It takes a psych to sign off on any surgery, Ricki. The big one is, you need to live a year minimum as a girl, for a year and during that year you will have to be in a treatment relationship with a Psychologist, or Psychiatrist. You will need to learn about hormones and what they can and cannot do, what cannot be reversed, if you take them. It is a big step taking hormones and it is an even bigger step, to have surgery. All of what I have just said is an over simplification of the process.”

“You seem to know a lot more than I do.”

“Like I have said, I have had some gender studies. Well I have to go, Ricki. I will always be your friend, call if you need me.”

“Thank you Candace and I will always be your friend too.”

Chapter 23

Saturday was a big day for the girls in the belly-dancing troupe. They had just four more days after today, before the Fourth of July. Ricki and Laura brought their costumes with them to the lesson. They were early and so began to change.

When the other girls came in, they each received a garment bag and a sack. Ricki and Laura helped the girls with their costumes, as they came in. All the skirts they saw were equally fabulous; there was a sea of blues, whites, greens, yellows, and pinks, with contrasting layers of color. Each girl treasured her skirt, they were all so beautiful, but Ricki liked hers and Laura’s the best. Soon there was a loud cacophony in the changing room as they donned their bras, belts and jewelry.

The girls were shaking and shimming, out on the dance floor, when Mrs. Lively brought them to order.

“Hello girls, I see that all of you are enjoying your costumes. Shake and shimmy for me and listen to the sound that you are making.”

The girls spent about twenty seconds doing various movements. They all smiled, as they shook and shimmied.

“Ok girls, that is enough. Let’s begin and while we dance, listen to everyone.”

Once the girls all started dancing and were totally in sync with each other, they all noticed a difference in the sound. The sound was louder and sharper. They smiled, as they came to this realization.

“Yes girls, it makes a difference when we all dance together. There will be a time for everyone to do their own thing in a dance, but when we all move as one; the dance will be perceived as stronger and more powerful,” Mrs. Lively said, as they danced. “Every movement has its own sound, its own texture and its own feel. Listen to the music you make and go with the flow.”

For the first time the girls all saw all of the individual routines, the girls had worked up. Everyone was appreciative of all the girls’ efforts and applauded appropriately.

Ricki really liked the routine that she and Laura worked up. She couldn’t wait till they had the opportunity to perform it for an audience. They got their share of applause when they finished.

They did the whole show three times, getting all the timing and movements perfectly synchronized. They critiqued each other and were critiqued by Mrs. Lively.

After they finished, Mrs. Lively meet with each of them and gave them each of them Salon appointments. Only Ricki’s and Laura’s were for the same time and day. They had to go to the salon on Wednesday, at nine in the morning.

When Ricki and Laura got home, they put their garment bags in the hall closet and headed up to their rooms to clean up, put their makeup on and to get dressed up. Susan had gotten them reservations at nice restaurant. Cindy helped Ricki with her makeup a bit. She had gotten good at her everyday looks, but her sisters really wanted her to shine tonight. Susan had even gone out and bought her a really nice dress as a surprise.

The dress was looked like a liquid metallic silver halter dress that came just above mid thigh. It had matching three quarter sleeve bolero jacket that came with it. She bought matching shoes, they were silver sandals with four and a half inch heels and handbag. Ricki got to wear some fabulous silver, chandelier, ruby earrings, a silver ruby cocktail ring and a three tier, silver and ruby necklace. The rubies were created rubies, Susan told Ricki, but they were still fabulous.

Lastly, Susan and Cindy worked with Ricki’s hair, to get it looking just right and a splash of perfume. Ricki had been in LA for four weeks and had yet to get out to do any sight seeing, she was still happy for her time here, anyway.

Before they left they had to ogle each other. They were four very beautiful young ladies. They stood side by side, as Laura set the digital camera’s shutter delay, so they could take a group picture. She took eight or nine pictures, to make sure she got it right and then reviewed the pictures before they headed out.

“I have to send this picture out to Mom,” Laura thought to herself.

They found a parking structure near Hollywood Blvd and La Brae, and then walked to their destination. Ricki had to stop and photograph Elton John’s, Mickey Mouse’s, and William Shatner’s stars, among the others they saw on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They followed the stars, looking at the names on them as they went. They came up to Grumman’s Chinese Theater next and had to stop and photograph many of the stars’, hand and foot prints. Ricki was very excited. She found Marilyn Monroe’s hand and foot prints, among a whole host of stars that had left their marks there.

The place they were going to eat, was a dinner theater. You know, one of those dinner and a show places.

At the restaurant, they were just four beautiful women among a sea of beautiful women there. They did receive more than their fair share of glances, from those around them. Hollywood is one of the most image-oriented communities in the entire country. It is a city where everyone is trying to impress the right people.

The maá®tre’d led them to their table. Several waiters seated them and handed them their menus. They noticed that they had a really great table; they were seated center stage, front row. After they ordered drinks, the girls began to browse the menus. Cindy was the one who knew the least about the items on the menu. Laura, Ricki and Susan helped her identify the things that were there.

One of the other patrons sent their table a nice bottle of wine; Laura turned it down, because they were all underage. She also told the waiter to tell the sender politely, that one of them was jail bait and none of them were interested in company.

“That won’t put them off Sis. There are enough perverts in this city that like underage lovers. That might even give them more thrills.”

“You might be right Ricki, but they will just have to take no for an answer. Besides, you are spoken for, I think,” Laura said.

“You bet your booty, she is spoken for,” Susan said, giggling.

After they ordered, they looked around to see who was there. Susan and Cindy swore they saw Nicholas Cage and Ricki thought she saw Sara Jessica Parker, but there were so many star look-a-likes about, one could never be totally certain. The place wasn’t an A-List exclusive establishment, like some of the Beverly Hills restaurants, but you did occasionally see ‘A-Listers’ here.

Their meals arrived at their table and they set about eating. Ricki had gotten chicken parmesan, and asparagus, with a side dish of curried rice. An odd combination, but Ricki liked her dishes.

Ricki learned a lesson; never eat curried rice when Susan was telling a slightly raunchy joke. When Susan got to the punch line, Ricki snorted a mouth full of the curried rice, up into her nose. The other girls were laughing as much as Susan, as was Ricki trying unsuccessfully, to gracefully recover.

As they continued to eat, the house lights dimmed and the curtain opened, to reveal the entertainment for the night. On stage, in a Tuxedo, was a magician, he had suddenly appeared in a flash of light and smoke.

“I want to welcome you all tonight. I am the Great Ramone Donotello, Master Illusionist.”

Donotello was a very technically proficient magician and a very good showman. He went through many illusions over the next twenty minutes. He was not into the grand illusions as David Copperfield and Chris Angel, but he was on par, sort of, with Mac King, David Blaine and Johnny Ace Palmer.

“I need an assistant for the next illusion,” he said, slipping into a mentalist routine. “I see a young lady, who has just had her seventeenth birthday.”

Spotlights started to scan the audience and Ricki looked crossly at Susan, who just smiled innocently, too innocently to actually be innocent.

“I see silver, lots and lots of silver. Oh yes, a lovely silver dress and shoes.”

The spotlights panned right through Ricki, passing her. They stopped on the floor beside her; then slowly came back and stopped on her.

“Madame, will you do me the honor of being my assistant, for the next illusion?”

Ricki looked crossly again at Susan’s Angelic expression, causing those who could see, to laugh and applaud. Ricki then gave a genuine thousand-watt smile, stood and walked to the stage.

The month of belly dancing lessons had given her a natural hip roll, as she walked. She couldn’t help herself; her hips just went into motion naturally. The spotlights followed her as she walked. The drummer in the band, that supplied music for the show, picked up on it and gave a, ta-tat, ta-tat on his snare drum, as she walked to the stage stairs. She stopped and gave the drummer a stare that could melt lead. She then gave him one of her biggest hip thrusts. The drummer went over backwards and knocked over his top hat, causing a tremendous clamor.

This nearly brought the house down, as everybody began laughing and applauding.

The Magician was never one to miss an opportunity said, “I see that I am not the only one here tonight, that is able to do magic. I think those hips should be registered as lethal weapons.”

Even Ricki had to laugh at that joke. The curry that she had inhaled up into her nose, took that time to cause her to sneeze.

“Ah, pretty one let me help you with that.” Donotello was never one to miss an opportunity to adjust his routine. He grabbed a bucket and a silk hankie as he palmed an amazing number of coins. He held the hankie to her noise and the bucket beneath it and said. “Come on dear, just give me a blow.”

Ricki blew her nose as loudly as she could into the hankie and as she did, a lot of coins fell from her nose into the bucket.

“A couple of more times, my Lady.”

Ricki blew her nose twice more and at least forty silver dollars fell into the bucket.

“Ah no wonder you sneezed, fair maiden,” Donotello said.

The crowd applauded, Donotello bowed and Ricki curtseyed as much as anyone in her dress and heels could.

Donotello thought this girl was a natural.

“Now Madame, what is your name dear?”

“Ricki Anne.”

“When was your birthday, my pretty little flower?”

What a ham, Ricki thought, “This past Monday.”

“And where did you get such lethal hips.”

“I take belly dancing lesson,” Ricki said, giving Donotello a chest camel and a cabaret shimmy. It was a little harder up on her stilts, but she was oh so sexy doing it.

Donotello scanned the crowds and said. “Someone please call the paramedics. I think there are a half dozen men having heart attacks out there.”

After the laughs and applause died a bit he said, “Now Ricky, on my magicians stand are a half dozen sealed decks of cards. Is there not.”

“There is.”

“Select one deck, my lady, open it and inspect it, make sure there is nothing funny about the cards.

Ricky picked one and found a good use for her longer nails. They easily sliced through the cellophane and seal, on the deck. She took out the jokers and the insert, and inspected the deck. All the cards appeared normal to her and nothing looked faked.

“Okay, select a card my lady and show your friends and the audience, but don’t let me see it.”

She did this.

He asked her to sign the card, insert it anywhere in the deck and to shuffle the cards. When this was accomplished, he asked her to stand on the stage about ten feet away and to loft the cards towards him. He now had a rapier in his right hand. She lofted the cards towards him. The way she threw the deck, they didn’t spread all that much in the air. He made a lunged with his rapier and stabbed at the cards. When all the cards hit the floor, there was one card was stuck on the sword’s blade.

“Is that your card, my lady?” he said, pointing the sword in her direction.

Ricki looked and hopped excitedly as she saw that it was indeed her card.

“Yes it is. How did you do that?” Ricki asked.

“A good magician never reveals his secrets. You may have the card. Please take the card as a souvenir. Give it to your friends and come back on stage.”

Ricki pulled the card off the sword and gave it to Susan to hold. She then went back up on stage. Donotello really only wanted an assistant for one illusion, but his mind started to click a new series of illusions, with this girl involved.

Donotello then pulled out the zigzag lady box, he whispered to Ricki, “just turn sideways to the right of the box, as the door is closed.”

Ricki had seen the trick before and kinda figured it out, but went along with the illusion. Donotello shut the door and she turned sideways after putting her face in one window and her hands in two openings and her feet in another. He then pushed two wide blades into the box, cutting her into thirds. Ricki gave a yelp as if in pain. Donotello then pushed the middle of the box to the right, so her mid section was no longer beneath her head or over her feet.

Ricki smiled, shook her head, wiggled her feet and waved to the crowd.

Donotello bowed to the applause and started to walk away and do the next illusion.

“Ah sir… sir… SIR! Could you please… ah… put me back together again. I can’t feel my toes.”

Donotello thought good girl, she was playing to the audience again.

Ricki was on the stage for fifteen minutes, as she participated in a half dozen illusions. She only knew how one was performed, but she wasn’t going to tell. She and Donotello had to bow to the crowd four times, before they let her return to her seat. Everyone was ecstatic. The management was so happy; they picked up the check for their table.

At home, Susan and Ricki spent half the night kissing, touching and cuddling with each other, before they fell asleep in each others arms.

Chapter 24

It was ten o’clock before Ricki and Susan got up. Cindy and Laura, were up and studying together. They received smiles and good morning sleepy heads, as they came down.

“Did you enjoy last night, Ricki?”

“It was fantastic. The dinner and show that is,” Ricki said somewhat embarrassed.

“What was I last night, chopped liver,” Susan said, feigning contempt.

“You were better than fantastic Susan, although we didn’t do ‘IT’,” Ricki said.

“We know that Ricki. Don’t worry. Susan is a screamer, as worked up as she was, they would have known in San Diego,” Laura said.

Susan stuck her tongue out at Laura, who returned the favor.

Laura got Ricki’s laptop out and ran the video and pictures they had captured at the Dinner theater. Ricki was amazed at how natural she looked on stage, as she played to the audience. She had intentionally hammed it up, but it came out so naturally, it was hard to tell that she wasn’t the magician’s full time assistant.

Laura had already emailed many of the pictures and the video they had taken to her mother that morning and received an email back in reply.

“Oh my, she is beautiful and so talented,” was all that Madeline could say. “I am trying to get Dad to give you two a call. I love you both so dearly, Love Mom.”

Monday, while she cleaned and practiced her belly dancing, Ricki received a phone call.

“Hello,” Ricki said.

“Hello, this is Freddy Dawson. I am looking for a Ricki Anne.”

Ricky recognized the voice as being from Ramone Donotello. “Yes that is me, Mr. Donotello.”

“Good, you know who I am. Ramone Donotello is just my stage name.”

“How can I help you, Mr. Dawson?”

“I was wondering if I could talk you into being my assistant full time. I was very impressed with your stage presence and timing Ricki. It almost looked like we had worked together for at least a year.”

“I have a lot on my plate right now. Mr. Dawson. I don’t think I can fit something else in.”

“Please give it some consideration; right now I have five acts a week, two shows on Friday and Saturday and one on Sunday. I could pay you one thousand a week, as my assistant. The time you would be committed to would be about ten hours a week for rehearsal and twelve hours for the performances and prep time.”

“I don’t know, Mr. Dawson. I also spend a lot of time in practice at belly dancing. We have a show on the Fourth of July that we are working hard on. I would also have to have permission from my sister also. I live in New York and I am just staying with her for the summer.”

“Hmm, I still could use your help the last three weeks of July and all of August. Please give it a lot of thought, Ricki. I think that you were awesome for just someone I pulled out of the audience.”

“I will Mr. Dawson, but I don’t think it will be possible.”

“Well let me give you my number so that you can call me back later then,” Mr. Dawson said, and then gave her his number.

“I can’t say I will do it. In fact I may be too busy, but I will think on it and talk to my sister.”

“That is all that I can ask of you, Ricki. Thank you and take care.”

“Bye.”

Ricki sat and considered the offer, four thousand a month, for eighty-eight hours of work. It was fun work too. Ricki had really enjoyed being on stage Saturday night. She had fun working with Donotello and enjoyed the audience’s reactions and applause.

After she completed her cleaning and belly dancing, she went outside to swim for an hour. The swimming relaxed Ricki and she was picking up a nice golden tan, from being in the sun so much. Living in LA was certainly better than living in New York. They both had air quality problems, both had high humidity, but she just liked LA better.

After showering to wash the chlorine out of her hair, Ricki considered what she wanted to cook for dinner that night. She began to get a hankering for Gumbo, so she texted her sister to stop at the grocery and pick up some fresh okra, among other things. She then began her prep work on what she had. She selected the seafood she wanted, set out the spices she would use and chopped what vegetables she was going to add. She was lucky that Laura had a huge collection of spices. There was everything she would need to make the dish.

Lastly just before her sisters were to arrive, she made some snacks for them and set them out on the table. She received a text message back that said that Stacy, Carrie and Rebecca would be with them. Ricki made sure she had enough of everything for them and tried to make sure there was room for everyone to study.

Stacy, Carrie and Rebecca were the first there. Ricki set out some drinks for them and they got down to business, after they admired Ricki’s appearance.

Susan, Laura and Cindy arrived and Ricki took the groceries from her and started working on dinner. She chopped the okra into small bits and started to boil them with some spices. They take longer to cook. For the next hour, she got everything together. Her sisters cleared and set the table for dinner. This was a first for some of the girls; many had never had a Louisiana Seafood gumbo before. It was quite spicy and some of the girls made faces as they ate, but after the initial reactions to the spices, they smiled hungrily and dug into the gumbo.

Ricki had thought that she had made enough gumbo for ten, but the girls devoured it all.

“Where did you get the recipe for that dish,” Stacy asked.

“I watched Emeril on TV back in New York. Mom made it a couple of times and I really liked it.”

“I am not one for spicy food,” Carrie said. “But if you make that again, you had better invite me over. That was delicious.”

“Oh Laura, that magician called me today.”

“How did he get our number?” Laura asked.

“He must have gotten it from our reservation. I had to leave my number with the reservation desk,” Susan said.

“What did he want, Ricki?” Laura asked.

“He wanted me to work as his full time assistant. He offered me a thousand dollars a week, for twenty-two hours work, till I have to go home.”

“What is all this about a magician and her being his assistant?” Stacy asked.

“Oh, you don’t know,” Laura said. She got Ricki’s Laptop and hooked it up to the HD TV.

She first showed the pictures of Ricki and the three of them with her. Stacy, Carrie and Rebecca couldn’t say enough about the appearance of their sisters; they were all flabbergasted to say the least. Then she played the video they had taken at the dinner theater. They laughed till they cried, as they saw the antics of the magician and their sister.

“How did he do that trick, Ricki?” Stacy asked, seeing her in the zigzag box.

Ricki just made a motion like a zipper across her lips. “My lips are sealed. Anyway, it was an illusion, not a trick; tricks are what hookers turn. A good magician never reveals how they do their illusions.” She had heard those things somewhere and they seemed appropriate.

The girls cleaned up from dinner, as Laura and Ricki got ready for belly dancing. They just wore their coin bras, belts and shorts, to go to class in.

Mrs. Lively just spent the hour and a half, polishing the routines that Ricki was involved in, as Laura worked with the beginners. Laura couldn’t help but sneak peeks, at how her sister did. It was apparent by her smile, that Ricki was doing very well.

On the drive home Laura asked, “So what do you think about the offer that Donotello made to you.”

“I don’t know Sis, I would have to go over to his place to rehearse and then my Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays would be locked up. I really liked doing it, but I like being with you girls better.”

“Well just think on it till after the show, on the fourth. You could do much worse than working for him. I think.”

Tuesday, Rebecca gave Ricki a lift to campus. There they met Candace in the Student Union and talked. Ricki had to retell all that had happened on Saturday and Monday.

“I would like to see that sometime,” Candace said. “That had to be quite an experience for you Ricki. Did you have fun?”

“I loved it, Candace, but I don’t know if I want to do it all the time.”

School was out from Wednesday till Monday. Ricki and Laura dressed in shorts and T’s as they headed to the salon. Mrs. Lively was there and they discussed what they wanted to get done with the technicians there.

“I would like to add extensions to Ricki’s hair till it comes to the middle of her back. I like her color, so that is not a problem. Give her hair nice wave, but not curly. Her brows are a little thick; thin them out and give them a more pronounced arch, work on her lashes and nails. Do you need waxing Ricki?”

“No I depilated my legs last night.”

“What about your bikini line?” The technician asked.

“I took care of that last night,” Laura said. “She just has a narrow strip up the middle.”

“How does that sound Ricki?”

Ricky looked to her sister who just gave her a little nod.

Sarah then discussed what they wanted for Laura. She was to have masses of long curly hair. She was asked if she wanted her hair to be colored to match Ricki’s. She looked closely at Ricki’s hair. She really liked the way it looked on her. Her hair was the same Mousy brown that Ricki’s had been. She hadn’t really been leaning to darker or red, till she had seen her sister’s hair.

“Do you think it would look as good on me?” Laura asked the technician.

The technician had Ricki stand next to Laura and draped her hair over Laura’s shoulder.

“You two are so alike, that yes I think it would look lovely on you Laura.”

It was a big step for her. She loved her sister’s hair and often thought about how they would both look with the same coloration.

“Yes, I think I would love that.”

Brenda was the technician/stylist that worked on Ricki. She first trimmed Ricki’s hair to make blending the extensions into her hair easier. Then she gave Ricki’s natural hair a wave. The extensions she would use already had a wave to them. Other people came around and did other things to Ricki. Her old acrylic nails were removed and she was given a new set of premium gel nails.

Ricki’s brows were waxed and individual false eyelashes were added, while Brenda worked on her hair. One technician used a temporary lip plumper on her lips. She felt her lips begin to tingle and felt them get a little puffy. She received a second treatment, before another lady began her makeup.

The makeup job was a glamour style, which really brought out the best features of Ricki’s face. She couldn’t believe how sexy she looked. She didn’t have quite a showgirl look, but she wasn’t far from it.

After four and a half hours, every thing came together and the girls were allowed to see what all the work accomplished. Ricki almost cried when she looked in the mirror. She was so happy; she couldn’t see a trace of her old self. She couldn’t find Richard anywhere in the mirror. No matter what road she would eventually take, she knew that she wanted to be this Ricki.

When the girls were allowed to see each other, Laura knew it too. Laura saw an incredibly sexy, confident, young woman, as she looked at her sister. Her long wavy hair did in fact come to the middle of her back. Her eyes looked huge, not anime huge, but large by human standards and expertly done up.

Ricki had on her biggest smile, as she saw Laura. Laura was more beautiful than she had ever looked. Her long curly auburn tresses, extended below her breasts. Her dark auburn hair looked simply divine. Her eyes were incredible. The new lashes they both had, were extremely long and beautifully curled.

“You know little Sis, that it is going to take an incredible amount of time, to get our hair in shape everyday now, don’t you.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.”

The two girls were taken into another part of the shop and they were given glamour shots. The photographer spent two hours taking shots in various clothing and poses. Their favorite, besides the natural headshots they took, was of them dressed as western bar room dancing girls. It felt like they were fashion models during this time.

Ricki and Laura had fun, but they didn’t drive two blocks, before they found a fast food joint. Neither of them had eaten since breakfast. The person at the register had a strange look on his face, as the girls ordered, both because of the way they looked and for the fact that they ordered enough for four people. They didn’t eat it all, but what was left wouldn’t feed a mouse.

The girls had to repair their faces after they ate. Laura had to get the lipstick and lip gloss right, on Ricki.

“Ricki, your lips look so big, what did they do to them.”

“They put this on them,” Ricki said, as she pulled out a tube from her purse. “I am supposed to use this in the morning and a couple of times throughout the day.”

Laura looked closely at her sister, “Well it looks good on you.”

When they finally got home, Susan and Cindy were beside themselves. They took pictures of the girls, made them dress up and took more pictures. They took separate shots and shots together from various poses. The two felt like fashion models all over again. Laura later emailed these pictures to her Mom.

When it came time for bed, Susan and Cindy braided their friends’ hair and reluctantly, they took off their makeup.

Chapter 25

Laura and Ricki had to be at the studio at two o’clock, for the seven o’clock show. They stretched and did some warm up exercises. When they got to the beach at about four twenty, they carried their costumes into one of two motor homes that were being used as changing rooms and makeup rooms. Mrs. Lively supervised the makeup for everybody. They went for an extreme glamour look;

Nine women, changing in a confined space, can be a zoo. Ricki and Laura changed in the bedroom, with another girl. They had to help each other a lot, because of the confined space. The other girls gave no notice to Ricki as she dressed.

They each had a yoga pad to do their stretches. They took a lot of time to get their muscles all loosened up. They could hear the audiences’ reaction to the act that came before them, a bunch of guys breaking blocks of ice, stacks of cement bricks, handcuffs, bending iron bars over their heads and such. This was Venice Beach after all.

After last minute checks of makeup and costume, Mrs. Lively parted the curtain and went on stage. They could hear the catcalls, whistles and applause as she appeared on stage to introduce them.

The stage was a 20’x20’ plywood covered deck with another 20’x’20 towards the audience of sand covered beach. They would be dancing on the deck and on the sand, a first for most of the girls.

When they were called, Ricki and Laura were first out, side by side. They both put on their biggest and brightest smiles, as they came out from behind the curtain. Then four more girls came out as their names were called, followed by the last two girls. They went to their initial position and took a ready pose, waiting on the music.

When the music started, they began slow hip pistons (a hip piston is a sharp side to side movement to the L or R but the hips stays in the same plane vertically and horizontally and can build up speed into a cabaret shimmy) left and right holding their upper body pose. After an eight count and two left and two right pistons they stepped, hip thrust, step, hip thrust their way forward till Ricki and Laura were two feet from the sand.

Their opening number went for five minutes, their timing was very good, and their movements were sharp and graceful. Toward the end of the fist dance, the girls formed a circle and began circling and turning at the same time. This is a very complex movement to synchronize with eight participants. The circle went around twice, till Laura and Ricki were again at front. The circle broke with the girls taking a diagonal for three steps and a hop.

They were roughly in a U shape, with Ricki and Laura about fifteen feet apart. The two did a hip thrust, quarter turn to face each other. Everyone went still, as the music stopped.

Ricki then went beautiful eyes looking at you, with her left and right arms towards Laura. Her movements were fluid and graceful.

Laura returned to Ricki, long wavy hair.

Ricky returned beautiful face.

Laura started L and R hip pistons and gave her heart away towards Ricki. Ricki started her hip pistons and took her heart back.

They both began pulling (making pulling motions with the arms, not actually grabbing and pulling) each other towards them, they then began step, hip thrust, and M&M mirroring each others movements, their paths towards each other were ess’s.

When they were three feet away from each other, they did hip pistons and snake arms. The pistons turned into a cabaret shimmy and chest camels (the chest dips, head stays up and the belly undulates) towards each other. After the third chest camel they did a hip thrust and quarter turn and now faced the audience as the music stopped.

They started hip circles and figure eights, chest circles and figure eights, head slides, L arms, dipping and turning for about forty seconds. Laura kept herself well within Ricki’s ability.

They then took off on a divergent diagonals out on the sand, one step, two, three, hop, hip thrust and three rounds of left and right M&Ms. They then did hip thrusts quarter turn, one, two, three, hop on convergent diagonals towards the crowd, followed by cabaret shimmies and chest camels.

Hip thrust, quarter turn to face each other, shimmy, camel, rotate a quarter repeat, repeat till they had traded places. They then retreated on the diagonal; doing their previous steps, hop hip thrusts, M&Ms, then back to mirror their starting points.

They turned and bowed, turned and two sets of one, two, three, hop to the back of the U. Their routine lasted over four and a half minutes.

For the next twenty-four minutes various groups did their routine for the crowd. Laura danced with two of the groups and Ricki danced one more routine.

Given the temperature was in the upper eighties, all the girls were drenched in sweat by the end.

Mrs. Lively then came out and did a routine herself. It was easy to see why she taught; she outshone all her students, as she was a true Mistress of the Belly Dance. At one point she balanced a saber (Single edged, curved sword with a rounded edged opposite the sharp edge.) on its rounded edge on her head. She danced with it there for two minutes. The last twenty seconds, she twirled like a dervish with the sword balanced.

She turned towards Ricki and began pulling her to her. Ricki hadn’t rehearsed anything with Mrs. Lively but she came towards her, even though her abs were screaming. Ricki did hip thrust, step, and M&Ms toward her. It took her six repetitions to reach Mrs. Lively.

They then did follow the leader, with the dance moves, with Sarah doing the leading. When Ricki couldn’t do much more she then twirled around Sarah in a clockwise direction, while Sarah spun in a counter-clockwise direction. After fifteen seconds, the girls came from the back and rotated in a circle counter-clockwise. They stopped on the beat of the drum they kept their time with and bowed to the crowds.

The applause was deafening, there had been a lot of catcalling and wolf whistling when they first came on stage but they had silenced them with their skills at the dance. Now there was genuine applause of appreciation. It took nearly ten minutes for the applause began to die.

Behind the curtain the girls gave each other exhausted but enthusiastic hugs. They each wanted to get out of their sweet soaked skirts though; the humidity had kept them from drying. They also drank copious amounts of water for the next twenty minutes as they dressed in what they had worn earlier.

All of Laura’s sisters that were in town, were there to great Laura and Ricki as they left the enclosure, formed by the two motor homes. They were relieved of their burdens, till they locked them away into the trunk of Laura’s car.

The troupe of sisters then found a good place to observe the fireworks show that took place after sunset. The sorority threw a party right there on the beach. Laura and Ricki found all their needs met by the sisters. They really were sore and exhausted but they loved being there with their friends.

Ricki and Laura had both seen really large fireworks shows, having lived in New York and this show tonight would be hard to measure against the previous shows they had seen. They all oohed and ahhed as the star shells bursts in rainbows of reds, blues, greens, golds and silvers.

Susan and Cindy helped their room-mates to the car and Susan drove the sisters home. Laura and Ricki headed up to their baths to take a nice long hot bath, while Susan and Cindy took their skirts, shook out the sand outside and hung them and their bras to air out from the staircase banister. They would definitely have to go to the cleaners tomorrow.

Susan came into the bath to shampoo and condition Ricki’s hair and to scrub her back. Ricki was beginning to learn that long hair can be a pain in the a**, to deal with. Susan put the wet hair up in a turban and rubbed a lotion on Ricki's skin. Ricki took two ibuprofen and collapsed on her bed naked. She was asleep before Susan could cover her.

Chapter 26

In the morning, Ricki took another warm bath and spent an hour stretching the kinks out, before she began to feel a little bit better. She drank two glasses of OJ and a glass of milk with her breakfast.

Susan then had her sit down and first detangled her hair and then gently brushed it out. Ricki was purring like a cat from the attention that Susan was showing her. Susan then braided her hair and tied it off at the bottom with a red and a gold ribbon. Cindy did the same thing for Laura’s hair.

After dressing in swimsuit bras, t-shirts and shorts, Laura and Ricki then inspected their skirts for stains. They were still heavy with sand stuck to them. They then took their skirts and bras to a reputable dry cleaner. The proprietor had already received two other skirts to process.

“I caught your act down on the beach. I have never seen anything so sensual and beautiful in my life. You guys really did a great job. I will personally make sure your costumes get the best treatment, girls.”

Ricki and Laura thanked the man.

Laura then drove Ricki to the address Mr. Dawson had given them. Mr. Dawson had an office and a warehouse, in a decent part of town. Freddy greeted the girls and he gave them the nickel tour of his warehouse. The warehouse was full of the stage props that he used as the Great Donotello. He also had a small stage set up in the back.

“This is where I rehearse my act before a show Ricki. I really hope that you will be a part of my show. I saw you and your sister last night at the beach. I knew there was going to be belly dancing and took a chance that it was your school. I think that you two have a future in entertainment, and I am not just saying that just to get you to work with me as my assistant. I really mean it.”

“I just don’t think I am right for your assistant Mr. Dawson.”

“Au contraire Ricki. You are just the person I need. First you have a stage presence that is outstanding. It includes a comedic sense of timing, which is very important in our business. Second your small size is an asset in a lot of my illusions. Third your outstanding flexibility and agility make you a perfect choice.”

“Will she have to join a group like the Screen Actors Guild, Mr. Dawson?” Laura asked.

“Yes she will have to join SAM and IBM (Society of American Magicians and International Brotherhood of Magicians). I will pay your first year’s dues to those organizations for you. I will also require you to sign non-disclosure agreements for anything you learn from me. You can use what you learn with another magician, if he has the same illusions, but any that are unique to me, mum’s the word.”

“So if another magician has a box like you put me in, I don’t have to act dumb, but if you had a grand illusion like David Copperfield does, I can’t say a word.”

“Yes Ricki, that is exactly right. That illusion you did is called the zigzag lady; you can add that illusion to your resume by the way. Keep up with the illusions you take part in and add them to your resume. If you seek employment in Magic they will want to know what you know.”

“I am not eighteen, will that make a difference?”

“Yes, but not a big difference. I would need the signature of a parent or guardian and they would have to sign everything you sign. They would be bound by the same agreements.”

“I have guardianship over Ricki for this summer; our parents are on a Med Cruise. They signed a document of Guardianship, is that enough?”

“As long as there are no limitations that would affect the signature on any legal document, it will be sufficient.”

Laura opened her purse and handed Mr. Dawson the letter of Guardianship. After he read it he said. “Yes, this is quite sufficient I believe.”

“How about I give it the rest of the month as a trial run Mr. Dawson. Would that be acceptable?”

“I think that would work out nicely. It is my belief that if you give it that month, you will want to continue working with me.”

Mr. Dawson led them to his office and called up the .doc files he needed. He filed in the in the blanks using Ricky’s school ID and social security card for Identification.

Freddy then went over several illusions he was considering using this weekend. He wasn’t afraid Laura would talk, as she had also signed and was bound by the non-disclosure agreements. Somehow he roped Laura into working with him too. Having two beautiful assistanta on stage with him was better.

“What about costumes, Mr. Dawson,” Ricki asked.

“I have thought about that. If you are just working this weekend, then I like what you wore last weekend. If you stay on with me, Monday you can visit my seamstress.”

“Ok, that sounds good.”

Ricki and Freddy rehearsed for an hour and a half; tonight they would do the ‘pick the volunteer from the audience’ routine again. Saturday they would introduce Ricki as his new assistant. Freddy told her that her girlfriends could sit out front with her tonight, but Saturday and Sunday.

Ricki then had to get home to begin getting ready. At home, Susan and Cindy were very excited and wanted to hear all the details. So while Ricki was in the bath, Cindy sat on the toilet and Susan sat on the edge of the tub. Ricki told them what she and Mr. Dawson had talked about, while she bathed.

Susan worked on Ricki’s face applying makeup, giving her a dramatic appearance, not quite as heavy as when she did her belly dance. Cindy worked with her to get her hair just right; her new longer hair was more difficult to work with. Laura got all of Ricki’s clothes set out. Ricki got dressed, after her sisters finished with her makeup and hair. The previous weekend, Ricki had not worn stockings or pantyhose, but for tonight, Laura selected a pair of shimmery silver pantyhose. Ricki loved the way she looked, she checked herself out in front of her mirror for several minutes. Ricki’s sisters then rushed to get themselves ready.

They got to the dinner theater two hours before the show. They met with Mr. Dawson behind stage, and he went over the show again with Ricki. An hour before the show, they went out front to their table. They weren’t up front this time; in fact, they found themselves seated all the way to the back, by the bar. Their dinner and drinks arrived shortly, as they took their seats.

Many of the wait staff recognized Ricki and her sisters; they took time to compliment her for her performance last week. Looking over the crowd, the girls recognized a few patrons that had been there the previous week.

The light dimmed and the show began. The Great Donotello came out on stage and bowed for the audience.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight in the audience we have a special guest. Last week we were enchanted to have a lovely girl, become my assistant. I am trying to convince that lovely young lady, to be my assistant full time. So with your assistance, let’s bring that young lady to the stage in style.”

The spotlights were dancing over the crowd searching for Ricki. They knew where she was, but all of this was for dramatic effect. One spotlight settled on her and then the other two caught up to the first. The crowd applauded her quite loudly, as she stood up and began to make her way up to the stage.

The drummer again was doing his bit, and when she got to the foot of the stage she gave him a ten second hip shimmy to a drum roll and a hip thrust. This time there was a planned catastrophe that was even louder.

“Those hips of yours need to be registered as lethal weapons, young lady. I would like to introduce my assistant for the night. Ladies and gentlemen would you welcome Ricki Davis.”

The audience went wild with applause and whistles.

“Ricki Davis is just a high school student, who just happens to be quite an accomplished belly dancer. Any of you that might have been on Venice Beach for the Fourth, may have caught her performance.”

“I would also like to introduce Ricki’s sister Laura Davis. So give it up for Laura Davis.”

Donotello waved for Laura to stand and come up on stage. She didn’t want to be upstaged by her sister so she hammed it up on the way to the stage. The drummer gave her a cadence and she danced her way up.

There was another round of applause from the audience and after bows they went into their routine. The main illusion for the night was a blade box routine. Ricki walked up some clear Lucite steps and into a box that was up on a platform. Laura and Donotello spun the box for the audience to see all around it. The Great Donotello then helped Ricki into the box and closed the door. The box appeared small enough that there was little wiggle room for anybody, much less for Ricki. He then took swords, which Laura handed him and began to thrust them through the box. After the first sword went through, there was a shriek that came out of the box and some silvery material could be seen hanging from the sword. Donotello went to the other side of the box and pulled enough silvery material to have made up Ricki’s dress.

“Give me back my dress Mr. Donotello,” Ricki said, in a very indignant voice.

That really broke up the crowd and raised their level of anticipation. They giggled, laughed and oohed, as they hammed it up. The Great Donotello, with great showmanship, then plunged eight more swords through the sides and three more through the front. He then spun the box around, so the audience could see that there was no way possible for Ricki to still be in the box uninjured. He then began to withdraw the swords one by one.

When the door was opened, the crowd was half expecting to see a naked lady that was bleeding form numerous points. Ricki came out wearing a pair of harem pants and a coin bra, she danced around the stage for a couple of minutes, to the audience’s riotous applause. Freddy had thought about this that afternoon and had prepared ahead of time. The outfit had been easy enough to change into in the amount of time Ricki had, while the illusion went on.

The first show was an overwhelming success. The audience had loved Ricki and her dancing, along with the illusions that Freddy had done. Ricki dressed back into her silver outfit, it hadn’t really been her dress that Donotello had pulled off of the sword after all.

The second shows major illusion was similar but instead of a blade box, it was the wicker basket illusion. Ricki stepped into the basket from a portable stairs. It was a great trick getting into the basket, without giving the audience a different kind of show in her dress. Ricki knelt down in the basket that was just tall enough for her to kneel in. Laura then handed the Great Donotello his swords, after he placed the lid on the wicker basket. The first sword didn’t snag Ricki’s dress, this time. After a dozen swords pierced the basket, the audience couldn’t see any way anyway for even a small child to have survived in the basket. Laura and Donotello turned it, so the audience could see it from all angles. After all the swords were removed, Donotello took the lid off the basket and Ricki appeared in her harem girl costume.

Another audience member was called up on the stage and Donotello was bound with three pair of handcuffs and a belly chain that was padlocked in back of him. Laura and Ricki held up a curtain to hide him up to his neck. Laura held the right corner and the middle, Ricki held the middle with her hand next to Laura’s and the left corner. They didn’t have the curtain up five seconds when Donotello reached up and pulled it up a little higher. Another ten seconds found Ricki and Laura wound up bound at the wrists by a pair of handcuffs.

They ended the show with Donotello doing a disappearance act and a more compact version of the dance the girls had done at the beach.

Mr. Dawson was thrilled by the audiences’ reactions; the management of the dinner theater was very thrilled with the new arraignment. Freddy at first, had wanted Ricki to be dressed in a classic assistant’s costume. You know of those beaded, sequined leotards, with extremely high cut legs, but he had gone with the harem girl costumes, because of the girls’ dancing abilities.

The Great Donotello wasn’t in this business for the money, although he earned five thousand a week at the theater, it was the fame and the applause that he lived for. The girls brought a new dimension to the stage that he liked. He really hoped the girls would join him on a permanent basis. He really thought that Ricki could be a great magician, better than he was, if she put the effort into it. This didn’t cause him to be jealous of her, just protective.

Ricki and Laura became Mr. Dawson’s assistants that night. Laura didn’t think it was something she wanted to do at first, but once she got on stage and heard the applause, she really liked being on stage.

Magic is sixty percent stage presence, thirty percent skill and ten percent props. You could have all the right props and know how they work, but what separates the good from the great, is their stage presence. Knowing how to get people to believe in magic.

The next week was incredibly busy; all the girls had finals to deal with that week. Laura and Susan passed on going to belly dancing classes this week. Mrs. Lively agreed that school was more important.

Ricky and Laura did make time to go to the seamstress that Mr. Dawson had told them to see. The seamstress revealed the costumes he had come up for us. He seemed to like the belly dancing theme and the costumes were just different variations of them. The major difference was they were to be easier to get into and out of, a must for some of the illusions.

Chapter 27

After the show on Sunday, he had given the girls a check for their services. Mr. Dawson had paid them both about eight hundred dollars, after taxes and such.

At home, Ricki did everything she could to make it easier on her sisters to study. She had virtually taken over keeping the house clean, and providing their meals. Doing anything and everything that would help them.

She did take a taxi to Mr. Dawson’s office and rehearsed with him. He had taught her some more of the illusions and gave her a book and a set of DVD’s with some manual dexterity exercises for her hands. It included things like exercises with a deck of cards, palming various objects, flipping a coin across the back of her fingers, back and forth and ball exercises, like controlling small balls between her fingers. He spent two hours with her, showing her what he wanted her to learn from the DVD’s.

On the way home, Ricki had stopped at the mall and spent some of the money she had earned. She had found a couple of dresses she just had to have, including a gorgeous cocktail dress in lavender chiffon. The dress was low cut and just hung on the edges of her shoulders. She didn’t need a corselet for her waist, the dress fit her there nicely, it was her breasts. The breastforms weighed too much to just go braless, at least for her. So she found a strapless, lavender corselet, in the lingerie section, that helped give her chest lift and support. It just showed a hint of lace in her cleavage.

She then hit a shoe store and found a pair of heels that closely matched the dress. They were open toed, had a t-strap and four inch stiletto heels. The lady at the shoe store let her go into the back and helped her change into the dress, to make sure they worked together. She hid the dress from her friends; she wanted to surprise them.

Thursday finally came and all the sisters were planning a party at Laura’s house. They all wanted to unwind, because come Monday, many of them would start the whole study process all over again.

Ricki had planned the menu and party needs for the girl’s, and with Susan’s and Rebecca’s help, had gotten all the food lined up. She had already prepared a lot of the food, bagging it for storage in the refrigerator.

So after doing her belly dancing DVD’s and then doing her dexterity DVD’s, Ricki began to seriously prepare for the party. She began fixing ten pounds of spicy chicken wings, five pounds of meat balls, laid out three large sandwich platters, made five gallons of punch, (only a hand full of girls were over twenty-one and they were BYOB) diced and cut four different cheeses, cooked twelve dozen tarts, and five vegetable platters.

She had help at various times throughout the day, as her sisters finished their tests for the semester. Laura, Cindy and Susan arrived and Ricki directed their actions, till everything was as ready as she could make it.

They then took time to prepare for the party. Ricki had a hard time getting the corselet on by herself, but she didn’t want help. She did her own hair into a French braid that started at both of her temples and into a single braid at the back of her head. She painted her nails in lavender and added lavender lipstick to her makeup. Ricki had really learned a lot about makeup in the six weeks she had worn it. She displayed a lot of skill as she did her eyes. She expertly applied eyeliner and eye shadow and went for a glamour look that gave her smoky eyes with hints of lavender.

She then put on some suntan pantyhose and her new heels before donning her dress.

Laura, Cindy and Susan were beginning to wonder about their sister, but they heard her scurrying around in her room. She had locked her door, which was strange for her, so they couldn’t peek in and only responded with, “I am busy!” when they knocked.

Some of the other girls were already arriving to help, but found that their help was only slightly needed.

Things ground to a halt as Ricki made her appearance. The first sister that saw her almost dropped the party tray she was carrying. The others looked to see what had startled her and mouths hung open.

Susan said, “Oh my god,” when she saw Ricki.

Ricki glided down the stairs to the exclamations of her sisters.

“Well, how do I look,” she asked.

Susan ran over to hug her lover, she wanted to kiss her, but that would ruin her makeup job. “You look marvelous dear. I am going to have to eat you up tonight,” Susan said, with an evil grin on her face.

At seven the sisters and their dates began to arrive in earnest. All of them had taken a lot of effort to get their appearances just right, but they paled in shadow to Ricki.

The one thing about a large party at a multiunit condo is, that it is hard to just keep it to guests. Several guys, who had lived there, had seen the party, had hurriedly dress up and invited themselves. The girls didn’t mind, as long as the guys behaved themselves, as there were a few of the sisters who didn’t have dates.

Ricki was getting hit on quite a bit, but she made it clear that she was spoken for. Most of the guys reluctantly moved on, but a couple had persisted. One guy in particular was the guy who had called her a lez bitch at school.

Ricki didn’t like to cuss, but she told that guy in no uncertain terms to, “Get the F*** out of my face.”

Sam Dresden didn’t take that from any girl, especially one as hot as this chick. He saw a friend of his and passed the guy a twenty-dollar bill and received a small bottle from him.

Sam had some smooth moves, he had dosed many chicks to get what he wanted and while Ricki’s attention was occupied elsewhere he had poured the contents of the bottle into her drink. It was a double shot of GHB, so he had to be ready when she started to show its effect.

Ricki finished her drink and had moved around the crowd a bit, when she began to feel strange. An arm wound its way around her waist and gave her support.

Sam supported his conquest for the night. He tried to move her out to his place, but there were girls at the front and back doors, greeting the girls as they came in and went out.

The sorority had suffered from the effects of date rape drugs several times and had banded together to help each other out. They didn’t let any girl leave their parties unless they appeared clear and lucid.

Sam was undaunted and helped Ricki up the stairs to one of the bedrooms.

The sisters usually had a girl at the top of the stairs too, but she had gone to use the restroom.

Sam had maneuvered Ricki, who was rapidly falling unconscious at this point into her room. Sam threw the bitch on a bed, locked the door and began to undress himself smiling.

Susan had lost sight of Ricki, it should have been hard in that dress, but she had gotten involved in a conversation with some other sisters and had missed the action. She began looking for her lover. She checked at the doors and found that Ricki hadn’t left the building. She wasn’t in the downstairs half bath.

Laura had seen the worried expression Susan wore, “What’s up Susan?”

“I can’t find Ricky anywhere. I saw that she was getting hit on a while ago, but she seemed to be handling things well.”

“Did she go outside?”

“I don’t think so.”

Laura, Cindy and Susan went upstairs to check the bedrooms. Laura’s was occupied, but not by Ricki. Cindy and Susan’s room was also occupied by necking couples. Ricki’s room was locked. They had made it clear to Ricki that that was a no no at their parties, so they knocked.

Sam had gotten naked and had put on a condom. He hated using them, but with the state of DNA testing these days it didn’t pay to leave evidence. He flipped Ricki over to face him and began mauling at her. She was quite a babe and he was going to make her a woman tonight.

He heard the knock but just froze, not making a sound.

Laura was pissed, if Ricki was in her room and not answering the door, she had better have a good reason. She kept a tool on her key ring to pop all the bedroom doors open. She went to her room and got it. Back at Ricki’s door, she quietly inserted the tool and jiggled it a bit and the door unlocked. The three girls opened the door and entered.

Sam had just hiked Ricki’s skirt up and was pulling down her pantyhose when the door opened. What followed in the next few seconds was confusing to him.

Cindy had a black belt in WuShu, when she saw the guy getting ready to rape her sister she pushed past Laura. She hit the guy five times, not very hard but it was where she hit that counted. Each hit went to a specific nerve bundle that either caused pain or temporary paralysis to his arms and legs. He fell down on the bed landing on his erection with Cindy’s weight coming down on him. The impact to his erection caused it to bend at an awkward angle and damaged the blood vessels that feed the erection. He immediately deflated.

Cindy had landed right in the middle of his back with her knee. She maneuvered his right arm behind his back and into a wristlock.

“Susan, call 911!” Laura shouted, as she rushed to check her sister.

Ricki was out of it, but she was still breathing.

“Tell them we need the police and EMT’s.”

Bill Evans heard the commotion and took this time to quietly leave. His buddy, Sam, was knee deep in sh** it seemed. He didn’t want to get any of it on him.

All the sisters rushed to upstairs. They herded their guys downstairs except for one, who was the star cornerback for their football team. He knew Sam for the slimeball that he was, and took over from Cindy in keeping him occupied.

Candace who was also at the party, pulled Laura aside and spoke to her about what to tell the EMT’s so Ricki’s secret wouldn’t get out.

Chapter 28

Ricki woke to a beeping sound. She looked around and saw what she thought were doctors and nurses. Looking toward her chest she saw that it was flat and she wore a hospital gown.

“She is awake doctor,” a voice said.

She looked to the side and saw Laura. Ricki started to ask what had happened, but Laura held a finger to her lips.

A man in a white coat approached her.

“You are a very lucky person. I am Doctor Williams. You are going to be alright. How are you feeling?”

“I have a massive headache and my stomach is at war with the rest of my body.”

“We suspect you were given a date rape drug, possibly Gama-hydroxybutarate. That would go along with what you are feeling. We have some police that want to talk to you.”

“Not like this.”

“What in the hospital?”

“No, I want my clothes.”

“You’re perfectly decent, but your clothes have been taken as evidence.” the doctor said, not understanding Ricky’s reluctance.

“I want my bra and breastforms.”

Laura opened a bag she had and pulled out a bra. She took the breastforms that she had been given and set them on the bed.

A female nurse shooed the Doc away and closed the curtain.

“If you are going to put the breastforms back on, I need to move one EKG lead. We want to monitor you for a while more. Your pulse rate fell dangerously low for a bit,” She said, as she took the lead off one patch and moved it. Ricki put the bra on and placed the breastforms in the cups. After she was decent, they the called the doc back in with a female Police Officer.

“I am Mary Post. I am a detective in sex crimes. Do you understand me?”

“Yes ma’am,” Ricki said still confused about what was going on.

“Can you tell me your name and age?”

“Ricki Davis and I am seventeen.”

“Full legal name Ricki.”

“Richard Allen Davis, but I prefer Richelle Annette Davis.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“I don’t know, I am very confused right now. I know I was at a party and… I can’t remember anything else.”

“That is very understandable right now. Date rape drugs do that. Are you a transsexual?”

Ricki was a little nervous and afraid and it really showed.

“You don’t have to be afraid Ricki,” Mary said. “I have dealt with a lot of people like you.”

“Yes I am. I don’t know what kind, because I am just learning about myself.”

“Did you voluntarily take drugs?”

“No Ma’am.”

“Did you voluntarily consent to sex?”

“No Ma’am and I am still under eighteen.”

“Do you know Sam Dresden?”

“No Ma’am.”

“Did you consent to have sex with Sam Dresden?”

“No Ma’am.”

“Do you see anyone you know in this photo spread?” Mary said handing Ricki a card with six pictures on it.

“Yes Ma’am, number three was hitting on me earlier tonight. I told him to get F*****. He also has called me a Lez bitch and among other things.”

“Did he know you were transgendered?”

“No Ma’am, only my sisters know that.”

“How many sisters do you have? I thought only Laura, was your sister.”

Laura spoke up, “I am his only biological sister. The girls she is referring to, are my sorority sisters, we kind of adopted her.”

“Ok, thank you for your time.”

“I still don’t know what happened,” Ricki said.

Laura turned to Ricki and began to explain, “We lost track of you at the party. Susan got me and Cindy, and we started looking for you. We knew you didn’t leave the condo, because we put girls at the doors keeping up with each other. Something has happened like this before Ricki. Anyway, we went upstairs looking for you. You were in your room and a naked guy was pulling down you panties, when we entered the room. Cindy took care of him. You should have seen her.”

“That’s all I need for now,” Mary said. “We will need a formal statement from you tomorrow, or the next day.”

Ricki turned to the doctor, “Can I go home now.”

“We would like to keep you overnight.”

“I don’t want to stay here overnight. Am I doing alright?”

“You are recovering.”

“Then I want to go home.”

“It would be against medical advice and I would need a guardian to sign for you.”

“Laura, sign me out.”

“But…”

“Laura, please sign me out.”

“Ok.”

She had to leave with the Doctor. She had to prove guardianship and sign the papers.

The nurse helped Ricki by removing the EKG leads and pads. Ricki started to get up.

“Slow down girl, I got lots to do before you can get up.”

She had to remove an IV line and a Foley tube. Ricki was embarrassed and upset.

“Where is my… padding,” she said.

“Sorry we had to cut that off.” The nurse went to the bag Laura left and saw the clothes in it. “I guess these are yours.” She then proceeded to help Ricki dress.

Ricki took her panties out and pulled them on. She massaged her testicles into her body cavity and pulled her panties up tight.

The nurse found a padded brief and handed that to Ricki. Ricki smiled; at least she will have some curves. The rest of the clothes were a pair of mid thigh shorts and a pullover top.

Lastly the nurse handed Ricki a card and said. “Honey if you need to talk, this is a rape counselor that has worked with transgendered rape victims.”

“But I wasn’t raped.”

“It doesn’t matter, dear. You can still suffer emotional trauma from this.”

Ricki left the cubicle in the ER. She was a little shaky at first, but joined her sister at the desk. She signed the release form, received instructions from the doctor and they left.

In the waiting room, just outside the ER, they found all the sisters and many of their dates waiting. Susan, in tears, flew into Ricki’s arms and held her so tight, she so couldn’t breathe.

All the girls waited their turn to hug their sister.

Chapter 29

They left the hospital by midnight. Laura drove the five of them home. There was Ricki, Susan, Cindy and Candace with them. Ricki, Candace and Susan rode in the back seat.

“So where is that shit head?” Ricki asked.

“He is in the hospital too,” Cindy said. “He fell on his erection with all his and my weight on it. I imagine he won’t get too many hard-ons in the future, or ever. He may vascular damage to his penis.”

Ricki didn’t know how she felt about that.

As they pulled to a stop at their condo, Candace asked the others to go on in and let her and Ricki have some time together. They left the two there.

“I know you think you are ok and maybe you are. Girls, who are drugged and raped, usually don’t feel the same disgust that other girls that aren’t drugged do, but Ricki some do. If you ever need to talk about things, call me please, or find someone else to talk to. Don’t try to be strong and hold it in. We all love you very much. Help Susan too, Ricki. She has just been beside herself with grief over this. She blames herself for losing touch with you.”

“This wasn’t her fault.”

“I know that, you know that and maybe on some level she knows that, but she is still hurting inside. Let her take care of you and talk to her. That is important, please talk to her.”

Candace and Ricki headed to the condo. They could see crime scene investigators at a condo a couple of doors down from hers.

“That is where Sam Dresden lives Ricki,” Candace said.

“Oh really.”

“Yes, I wonder what they are finding.”

“No telling.”

Inside Ricki joined her friends. They all talked about it for an hour or so and then they all headed to bed, or home. Ricki grabbed Susan’s hand and pulled her into his room. He unbuttoned her blouse and shorts, then unzipped them, letting them drop to the floor. She stepped out of them and returned the favor undressing Ricki.

Ricki stopped her from unhooking the bra, or taking the brief off.

“They cut up the faux vagina and took my breasts off Susan.”

“Do you still want to wear those things?”

“Yes Susan, I love looking like a girl, almost as much as I love you.”

Susan wrapped Ricki up in her arms and cried on her shoulder. “We will get another one then. I was so afraid that you wouldn’t love me anymore. Ricki, I love you so much it hurts.”

“I love you too, Susan.”

“Wait right here,” Susan told her. She went back to her room, wearing just her panties and bra. Ricki went ahead and got a sleep shirt on.

When Susan got back to Ricki’s room she took Ricki’s left hand and put an engagement ring, on her ring finger. She had to work it a bit to get it over the last knuckle, but it fit her finger nicely, saying, “Ricki will you marry me?”

Ricki began crying as she looked at the ring. It wasn’t that the diamond on the ring was so big (it was) or that she didn’t love it (she did), she cried because she was so happy. She threw her arms around Susan’s neck and kissed her. Then she ran off shouting for Laura.

“Laura! Laura! Come quick, you have got to see this.”

Laura came running, thinking something bad had happened. Seeing Ricki in tears scared her. Ricki nearly stuck the ring up her nose. It took her a few seconds to get things straight in her mind.

“Oh my god, oh my god, look Laura, look at it.” Ricki was jumping up and down, nearly injuring everybody around with the ring.

“Oh my Ricki, are you engaged?”

Ricki in answer, just hugged her sister to her chest. She then showed Cindy the ring, nearly putting her eye out.

Susan stood in the hall half naked, with her mouth hanging open in wonder. Ricki was such a girl, she thought.

After hugs and kisses, Ricki grabbed a hold of Susan and wouldn’t let her go to her room. She pulled the girl into bed with her. They hugged and cried and then they talked.

Ricki’s head rested on Susan’s shoulder. Susan stroked her hair and held her tightly.

“Ricki, are you going to go all the way with this girl thing?” Susan asked.

“Do you want to have my babies?” Ricki asked.

“Yes, I want to have your, no make that, our babies.”

“I want us to have lots of babies; we have so much love to share.”

“So how far are you going to go?”

“I want to have our babies naturally, Susan.” Ricki said, grinning at her fiancé. “I want my own breast and hips though too. I would love to be able for you to do this.” Ricki moved the strap of Susan’s bra off of her shoulder and began to gently suck on her nipple.

Susan felt an energy jolt, as Ricki began to suck and play with her nipple. She couldn’t understand how Ricki had this effect on her.

They hugged and kissed for hours. It was almost five AM before they drifted to sleep. As much as both of them wanted to make love, needed to make love, or hurt for a good screwing, they behaved themselves. That didn’t mean that they didn’t orgasm. Ricki manipulated Susan’s clitoris through her thin panties and Susan stroked Ricki’s hardon through her breif and took care of her needs.

When Ricki started to come, she had to bite down on Susan’s shoulder to keep from shouting. Ricky wasn’t unfamiliar with Thumbelina and her four sisters, but it had never felt so incredible. Susan did shriek at the pain that sent her into one after another, incredible orgasm. The other girls woke, but recognized the sounds; they had heard them before.

Chapter 30

Ricki was actually the first up at nine thirty. She had to take a quick shower; her panties were virtually glued on her.

It had bothered her that someone had tried to take something from her she didn’t want to give, but she wasn’t morose about it. She just didn’t see the worst of it. It didn’t feel like anything bad had actually happened to her.

She cried that she lost her pretty dress, she had found out they cut it and her corselet off, along with her faux vagina, but those were just things. She had her life and people that loved her.

She thought the ring was simply beautiful. It looked old. Susan had told her it belonged to her grandmother, on her mom’s side. She was never going to let it out of her sight.

Ricki dressed in her panties, brief, jeans, a chiffon blouse, and her lavender heels. At least she still had them. She sat at her vanity and did her face. She chose to look sexy. She didn’t want some guy taking the need to feel beautiful, away from her.

She kissed a sleeping Susan and left her lip prints on the girl’s cheek, and went downstairs. She passed on her belly dancing; she wanted to get her hips back first. She looked ok, but the padded brief seemed more phony, more impersonal to her.

She had a bowl of cereal and started a pot of coffee.

Laura is a coffeeholic; her nose can track a coffee pot at three miles. She was drawn downstairs by the smell.

“I am surprised to see you up already. Did you two…”

“Nope.”

“But…”

Ricki just held up her fingers and wiggled them, “I am saving myself for my marriage.”

“You must have some talented fingers.”

Ricki just smiled. “Susan has some fabulous fingers too.”

“Speaking of fabulous, you look FABULOUS too. This hasn’t turned you off of dressing has it?”

“Nope. I could have been attacked anyway. In fact I was, at high school several times. Not to be raped, but…”

“I know, Mom told me.”

“So, you are going to stay my sister then.”

“I think this is the real me, Laura. Susan and I talked about it last night. I am not going to go all the way, I don’t think, but I need to look feminine. I want my own breasts, hips and butt.”

“Tush, buns or derriá¨re dear. Girls don’t call it a butt.”

“Whatever, I just need to be beautiful. If you know what I mean.”

“I know what you mean, but even real girls aren’t always beautiful. They grow old, they sag and their faces show their ages.”

“I know, but Mom is still a looker. Grandmother was too, at seventy two.”

“Pop is a pretty handsome guy too,” Laura said. She started to cry as she thought of their dad dying.

“I love him too, Sis,” Ricki said, as she began to cry too.

Ricki and Laura sat and talked about what they loved about their Mom and Dad. They talked about the good times, which were many, and the bad times, which were few and far between.

About eleven, Cindy and Susan got up and both tried to get into the same bathroom. Cindy looked, and saw Laura and said, “I am going to your bathroom, Laura.”

Laura nodded and smiled.

Ricki headed to the kitchen and began a light lunch for everybody. There was plenty of left over sandwich meat from the party.

Susan hurried down the stairs and exclaimed in a loud voice, “Look what that little minx did to me,” with false indignation.

She stood before Laura naked, just holding a towel and pointing at her shoulder. Susan sported a really nice hickey on her shoulder, where Ricki had bit her.

“We are going to have to start calling you sister FANGS.”

Ricki giggled. She came over and gave Susan a kiss that could boil water, and brushed the little mound of hair between her legs lightly with her fingers.

Laura could smell Susan’s arousal, at that light touch.

“Geez guys, no fair. Susan, go get dressed.”

Susan stuck out her tongue and, “harrumped” her, before heading up towards the stairs.

She didn’t make it to the stairs before a knock, was followed by the door opening. Stacy and Rebecca came in the door. They looked at Susan and just arched their eyebrows and shook their heads.

Ricki stood and gave Stacy a hug. A glint off of the diamond, caught Rebecca’s eye.

“Oh my, look Stacy,” Rebecca said.

Ricki just smiled and showed Stacy her left hand.

“Oh my, does this mean what I think it does? Of course it does. You and Susan?” Stacy asked.

Ricki had a thousand watt smile and nodded shook her head. Stacy and Rebecca mobbed Ricki with hugs and congratulations. Rebecca then began texting the sisters, as Ricki told them about her engagement.

Susan and Cindy had taken time to dress up right. They had expected a busy day, with lots of visitors. They came down dressed in nice dresses, pantyhose and heels. Susan’s dress just had spaghetti straps. She wore a strapless bra under her dress; going braless with her big boobs, was a definite no-no. Her makeup was flawless and sexy, but she didn’t try to conceal her lover’s bite. She was proud of her girl.

Sisters began coming out of the woodwork before one o’clock. They all wanted to see the ring and hear Ricki’s story. Just before two, Carrie and Candace came in, carrying a garment bag and a shopping bag.

Carrie looked at Ricki and said, “Laura told us that they cut that lovely dress and corselet, among other things off you. You looked so beautiful and alive in that dress so we have a surprise for you.”

Candace unzipped the bag and Ricki shrieked as she saw the same lavender dress she had worn. She jumped up and down and hugged all her sisters. From another bag they pulled a matching corselet and from a third bag another faux vagina. This one had a small patch of hair right up the middle that matched Ricki’s chosen hair color.

Ricki had to give double and triple hugs to everyone there. The girls locked the door and took off all of Ricki’s clothes and began to dress her. They re-attached her breastforms and then worked the faux vagina up her legs. This one fit tighter and was better padded than the other one.

Susan reserved the right to tuck “Junior” away. She gave him a tender kiss and told him that she would be seeing him again later, as she slid him into his sheath and tucked his two friends away. The girls then gave Ricki an all over spray tan after making sure all the edges of the breastforms and vagina were securely tacked down. They then strapped her into the corselet; this one was a size smaller than the one Ricki had bought. It made her boobs stand out a little more and took off another two inches from her waist.

Carrie had found some stockings, which matched the corselet. The sisters attached the garter straps to the corselet and the stockings. They then helped Ricki into a pair of matching lavender panties and her heels. They then tag teamed her on makeup and hair. They took out her braids, but gave her ringlets, that framed her face and brushed her hair till it glistened. Carrie and Rebecca then redid her makeup to go with her outfit.

Chapter 31

At about four thirty, Detective Mary Post came by the condo. She was surprise to hear a party going on. She knocked and was admitted. When she saw Ricki she had to gasp. She hadn’t seen the TG girl all made up. The doctors had cleaned her up, after taking pictures of her, but before she had seen her, but she recognized the dress that was being held in evidence.

“Ricki Davis?” She asked.

Ricki smiled and shook her head, and held out her left hand.

Mary was nearly blinded by the dazzling rock on her finger.

“Who?”

Ricki walked over to Susan and left her lavender lip prints on her cheek. Susan just blushed.

“What can we do for you, Detective Post?” Laura asked.

Mary had forgotten what she had come over here for, “Oh, I need you to sign your statements, girls. I was going to have to track most of you down, but all of you seem to be here.” She called the girls names and had them sign their statements.

“Also, I have news for you girls. Sam Dresden is in more trouble than just for the poisoning and attempted rape. In his home we found his cache of souvenirs. We are now certain that he was involved in maybe ten rapes and numerous stalkings. In fact, he had a collection of pictures of most of you girls. We think he was going to attack one of you three, Laura, Cindy and Susan. The dates on the photos showed he had been actively stalking each of you. Apparently he changed his mind when he saw Ricki.”

Everyone there gasped, as Mary told them that. They all knew how easy it was to commit rape under similar circumstances.

Ricki’s face went ashen, as she thought about the possibility of one her sisters being attacked, and gasped, “Shit… I am glad that he did choose me then. I wouldn’t want any of my sisters to be raped.”

“Nobody, Ricki, and I mean nobody, should have to go through a rape. Not even you,” Mary said.

“Does he know about me?” Ricki asked.

“Not yet, but that isn’t something we can hide from him and his attorney, if he goes to trial. We are hoping we can plead him out. Even if he pleads out, he will spend a very long time in jail. Twenty- five years on the rapes and another five to ten on the poisonings. We are using your case to hold him Ricki, but we are going at him for the other rapes.”

“Poisonings?” One of the sisters asked.

“Yes, the use of GHB on an unsuspecting victim, is considered a poisoning, which is considered an aggravated assault. The same if anybody gave someone drugs, without their knowledge. If the prosecutors plead this out right, he will serve one term for all the rapes and have the poisonings tacked on consecutively.”

“He is currently in the lockdown ward, at the hospital you were at. He will be remanded without bail, when he gets out of the hospital as a serial rapist. I am told that because of the vascular damage he received, that he will need penile implants to get an erection, in the future. Even then he will have a pronounced starboard bend that will make sex difficult for him,” she said smiling.

Mary had scarcely taken her eyes off of Ricki’s eyes, “So Ricki, is this how you like to live your life? Are you happy?”

“Yes Ma’am, I am very happy. I do love living like I do.”

“And these girls didn’t force you to do this?”

“No Ma’am, I did this to myself. The girls just helped me to create the best illusion I can. Sit down and kick off your heels for a bit Detective Post,” Ricki said. She found the DVD they burnt of the belly dancing that she and her sister did and of her working with Mr. Dawson.

Mary could see no hint of deception; Ricki looked proudly into her eyes, as she said those things.

Detective Post did sit down, but she wasn’t wearing any heels to kick off. She was fascinated, while watching the DVD. Ricki looked extremely natural and very comfortable with her body, in the dance portion. She also showed a lot of poise when she was doing the magic show. She knew many real girls who couldn’t do what this transgendered girl could do. As she saw Ricki doing a shimmy, she thought, “The hell with the some of them bit, most of them couldn’t.”

She didn’t know how she felt about people like Ricki. Most folks would call her a pervert. Mary didn’t think that way about Ricki. She was moved by the fact that she was a victim, but Ricki seemed to be handling that well. Nobody deserved what that guy Dresden subjected his victims too.

Ricki was making her reevaluate how she felt. She tried to look at things from the eyes of the transgendered. She couldn’t understand what made them feel that they had to do, what they did. She realized that she really didn’t have to understand the why; it was probably pretty complicated in the end. Mary wondered how many of them actually understood why they felt the way they did. She did have to try, to the best of her ability, to treat them no differently than she would anybody else. She knew many of her fellow officers didn’t feel that way.

Detective Post was a little surprised, when Ricki came over to her and gave her a hug, as she got up to leave and more surprised, when the rest of the girls followed suit. It was rare in her business to receive such affections.

“Ricki, if you ever have any problems with other LA Police, or which I can help with, call me. Ok.”

“Yes Ma’am. I will.”

Ricki and Laura then had to change and get ready for tonight. Ricki would have loved to have remained in her dress, but it wouldn’t work. It would take too long to change out of, during the show.

Some of the girls, that hadn’t seen Ricki or Laura in the magic show, had made reservations for the early show. They would receive a good show tonight, Ricki thought.

Mr. Dawson wanted to do several major illusions this weekend. He never repeated the same illusions, on the same day. So Ricki had to learn about six major illusions, for the five shows and both girls had to learn how to assist him, in doing the rest of his illusions.

At the theater, Mr. Dawson actually let the girls open for him, doing their belly dance routine. He watched them from back stage. At an appropriate time, he appeared on the stage with a flash of light and smoke. His first illusion, was his appearance.

He smiled to himself; he had to work harder to keep his lovely assistants from upstaging his act. Ricki and Laura did their jobs wonderfully. The major job for a magician’s assistant, was misdirection. The audiences’ attention would be split between what he was doing and what they were doing. The prettier, more poised and skillful the assistants were, the more he could get away with.

(continued)