At last ‘A life’
By Julie D Cole
Chapter 10 And still the weekend goes on.

OMG what to do? Should I try to sneak in and go quickly to my room or just be open? I had no choice really since Mum would have heard the taxi. I cursed my bad luck and struggled up the drive with my bag and opened the front door. I could hear music playing.

I looked upstairs and the landing light was on and then I heard voices. I was terrified thinking we were being burgled. I seemed to have taken root and didn’t move. Then I saw Julie, my sis, looking downstairs to see who had opened the front door, Mum or I. She shouted ‘ is that you Chris?’

She had obviously arrived home unexpectedly and somebody was with her. I ducked quickly into the kitchen and just shouted ‘Hi it’s only me’ whilst I panicked and looked around for some sort of escape route. Nothing obvious so what to do?

Then I heard her coming down the stairs and she entered the kitchen in her dressing gown. It was obvious I’d interrupted something.

I heard her mumble ‘Who in Gods name are you?’ and then she tried to stop herself in mid sentence as it registered with her that it was me. ‘Chris is that you? Why are you dressed like that? Is that my skirt and top? What do you think that you are playing at? What’s going on?’

I never got chance to answer one of the questions and just stood still like a dummy. ‘Chris please speak to me, What is going on?’
She looked at me and shook her head. ‘Wow!!! what happened have you had a sex change or something? ’

Finally she stopped for breath and I had chance to answer her. ‘Sorry sis I know it must be a shock but I’ve been on a wedding celebration weekend and the girls decided to dress me up. ‘Well they did a damned good job Chris, that’s all I can say.’

‘Come on Chris where is my hug? ‘ I moved towards her and she reached out and twirled me around for a proper look. ‘Really Chris have you had some treatment or not?’
We sat down at the breakfast bar and I got up to fill the kettle.

‘Does Mum know or have you been sneaking around’” she said barely giving me chance to answer before thinking of her next question. ‘How long have you been doing this?’
We made some tea together and settled onto the breakfast stools and I asked who was with her? She told me she’d come back for her boyfriends 30th birthday as a surprise to him and they’d been making up for lost time. I said I was sorry to interrupt them and she said it was OK since they already had seconds.

She had spoken to mum and so she knew I was away for the weekend and she’d given up on me. The she said ‘Why are you really dressed in my clothes? What is going on? Does Mum know? How long has this been going on? Are you gay or not? Has anybody seen you?

I was laughing at her by this time. She was like a machine gun firing bullets. So I told her the story of how it started and that I’d really enjoyed myself and had lots of wonderful experiences in such a short time.

‘Do you want to change sex then? What did you say to James? Do you love sally? What about work and this Jessica character?

I had no answers to any of her questions but I did then say that I’d more or less decided to go to work as Christine but I valued her opinion since Mum was not around. Mmm did I really say that?

She thought about it and then she said that she was really surprised how convincing I was and that she really liked the thought of having a sister. Then she said that I should try it and see what happened since my main work colleagues knew anyway. She got me to stand and twirl around and said I had better legs than her. Maybe my bum was a bit slim but she was sure that I would pass and maybe I should have some color treatment on my hair.

We were chatting away when her boyfriend Gary came through the door. Hi Jules who’s this? Julie and I looked at each other. ‘It’s my sister Christine.’

‘Oh I thought you had just the one brother and there were two of you.’
Julie said ‘No you don’t listen to me infact you never listen properly. This is Christine’

He said ‘Oh, I’m sorry but I didn’t ignore you I just misundertood’
So we sat together for about fifteen minutes whilst Julie made up some small stories about growing up together to put him off the scent a bit.

By now it was about 1am and I was bursting for the loo. Julie said to keep the clothes and went to her room and gathered a fresh nightdress and some underwear that she left on my bed.

So I showered and brushed my teeth and for the first time in my life felt at peace in my own bed thankful that I’d moved on and made a decision about Monday at work.

My next problem was whether or not I had the courage to turn up as Christine or not. I got a sweet good night kiss and message on my mobile phone from Sally so reciprocated and I was soon sound asleep.

I had to get up early since no quick moonwash and brush my teeth. I had to decide what to wear and present myself as well as I possibly could. Julie helped me to prepare and selected a few items to try on and we finally settled on a black skirt and white blouse with dark tights and some black patent kitten heels so I didn’t look too tall. She styled my hair with her curling tongs and then stood back to admire her handiwork.

Then she hugged me and said to be confident in myself and to go for it. They drove me to work so that nothing was spoiled and offered to meet me for lunch so they could have all the details.

As I approached the entrance to the office I looked up to the second floor to see Liz, Helen and Lisa waving. I swallowed hard and pushed the door open only to hear this voice shout ‘Christine please hang on, wait and give me a hand’

To be continued…..