Uplifting Eight

We were up, bright and early, on Monday morning. After a cup of tea Margo kissed me and went back to her own quarters to shower and dress for the day. She had decided that she would be with me when I met Keith for breakfast.

I showered and put on my gaff and underwear, adding a pair of panty-hose that I was getting pretty good at putting on now.

I sat at the vanity and brushed my hair. Now I wore it to frame my face I could see what everyone else had thought before this weekend. With the deep black I was quite pretty, for a boy, and it made me realise why so many times in the past I had been treated in a less than manly way.

I had absorbed a lot of what Margo had said and what I had seen a professional do, so I tried to do my own make-up this morning.

It took a couple of tries but I finally figured out that the secret was a steady hand and giving it support worked the magic. I had the wild thought that most good make-up artists would make good darts players.

I picked out a grey business suit that had been hanging with a plastic cover over it. It looked brand new and never worn. I thought that Keith would never have seen Justine with it on, that would have been terrible.

I knocked on the door of the other apartment and Margo opened it, saying that she would be ready in a couple of minutes and then “My, don’t you look the business today.”

We walked around the corner towards the café and could see Keith inside, at a secluded table. When we walked in he stood up, “Margo and Tatiana, two of the most beautiful girls in town; what a pleasant surprise. Where’s Gerry, have you seen him this morning?”

I said, quietly “Keith, you’d better sit down because I am not Tatiana.”

His bottom hit the chair with a thump and he gaped at me and said, in a strained voice

“Gerry, is that you. My god, is that apartment jinxed? Will I have to get a priest in to wave a cross around?”

We sat down and I started by telling him that Friday night the girls had invited me to a dance club and, because I looked so much like Tatiana without make-up, I was to attend as Tatianas’ sister.

Margo showed him the picture of us together and he agreed we did have similar features. She then took over and told him about Babs and the consequences of meeting her with Tati and I dressed alike.

She then pulled up that picture and he gasped, “You look like twins!”

That led to me telling him of the photo shoot and the results which now allowed me to take over the apartment as a fully paying tenant if he agreed.

He nodded quickly and then whispered, “What about, you know?”

Margo told him straight out that he could discuss the fun room as Justine had told the girls everything and they had even been inside it with her. He was having a hard time getting oxygen by this time so we got him to drink a glass of water and settle down.

“How long have you known?” he asked.

“About a couple of years, I think” she replied.

“My god, I had no secrets, even though I tried my best to keep it quiet. Did Justine tell you what it was used for?”

Margo just nodded . “We’ve all been hoping that you would grow out of it some time. I guess that poor Justine dying has brought it all to a head.”

“That and something else” he whispered.

I said quietly “Like finding out that your fetish was not as much fun with a strange man.”

He nodded and tears formed in his eyes.

“I realised that it was just between me and Justine, something that bound us together, if you can excuse the pun. Although you did your magnificent best, it just wasn’t the same. I went home and told my wife everything and she has been helping me get over the whole thing. Our lovemaking has been much better now I have decided to be a man, just for her.”

Our breakfasts arrived and we were quiet for a while. As he ate he seemed to sit a bit stiffer, more in control. He invited us all to the funeral and told us the where and when.

“I’ll take you to the office after this. I’ll instruct Maureen to give you three months’ rent free if you promise to dismantle the fun room quietly and redecorate. You could sub-let if you like.”

I told him that we would do what he wanted but sub-letting was out of the question as Margo and I would share the apartment as a couple.

He then told me that if I went through Justines’ things and pulled out all of her personal papers, photos and the like, I could do what I liked with her clothes and jewellery.

Then he asked if we could deliver a yellow sundress with buttons up the back to the funeral director as that was one of her favourites. Margo said she knew which one it was as she had seen Justine in it several times.

When we finished the meal he paid the bill and we went to his car. At the office Maureen was a bit nonplussed at seeing the three of us walk in and made notes when Keith told her that “these two ladies” will be taking over the apartment on a full lease immediately but that payments were to be postponed for three months.

He told her to organise a couple of extra keys for us and then he bade us cheerio and strode out of the office with his old posture and style.

Maureen watched him go, “I’m glad to see that he has got over poor Justine so quickly,” before turning to us.

“Now, while it’s a pleasure to work with you two regarding the apartment, I want to know if Gerry is aware of all of this as we have already got a tenant in his old flat and there are no more vacancies.”

I finally had the chance to say “Maureen, dear heart, I’m not Tatiana and, yes, I am aware of all of the things going on around me, I think.”

“Gerald?” she gasped as she sat down heavily. I seem to have that effect of people this morning.

“No. Not Gerald. From the weekend it is Geri, with an ‘I’ like Ginger Spice, and this is me for the foreseeable future; a future I plan to share with Margo. I had a weekend like no other and I started as meek and mild Gerald Halliwell and came out of it as Superwoman, all without the need of a phone box.”

Margo said she had to do some shopping and left us so I got all of my files open and made notes.

Maureen kept glancing my way, “If you have any questions, Maureen, feel free to ask and I’ll evade any I consider too personal.”

She sat up, “Did you do this sort of thing before as you look too natural as a female?”

“No, never; and never even considered it.”

“Your message said that you were taking time off, will you be resigning?”

I told her that I was as I had another job and had even signed a contract and, yes, it would be as Geri and she would see me in so many places she would probably want to throw darts at my picture.

I showed her the picture of Tati and me looking like twins and told her that we would be together on billboards before long.

Just then the office door opened and young Jackson, from the main office, put his head in.

“The boss told me to come around and that I would be told what to do when I got here.” We told him to come in and sit at my desk.

I started by telling him that he was going to be permanent as the Property Manager if he could do it and that the two of us would take him through his paces this week. I realised why they had sent him as he just wasn’t an accountant and should have gone to trade school instead. This, however, would be an advantage with what we had to do and that I thought he may just be the perfect fit.

I began by describing what our usual day was and assured him that Maureen did all of the books which left him to look after the tenants. He was a personable young lad and I could see him getting on with everyone.

We worked through the files and I described all of the properties and told him the usual problems that arose, and why. I took him through the list of our contractors and told him that he needed to visit them all to introduce himself, just as he was going to have to at all of the properties.

He started asking pertinent questions and I answered as best I could.

The last one made Maureen snort.

“I was told that Mr Halliwell would be here to tell me all this. I certainly don’t mind sitting next to two gorgeous girls all day but where is he.”

I smiled. “All you need to know, Mr Jackson, is that Mr Halliwell has left the building, for good, so you will just have to put up with us.”

Margo came back and said that she had done her shopping and taken it back to the apartment. I asked Maureen if she would be OK looking after her new partner and she said she would.

I then turned and asked the lad if he was happy with what he had so far and he said he was. I told him that I would be picking him up, here, at ten on Tuesday and will take him to all the properties he would be looking after. I told him that his homework would be to find all of the properties on a map and work out the best way to see them all in the shortest time.

I then told Maureen that I would be going to the main office in the afternoon but now I needed to go clothes shopping.

I found out, that day, that shopping for clothes can really give a girl a lift.

Marianne Gregory © 2022