After the interval, or chapter 5, the author returns to her keyboard having enjoyed a couple of weeks’ “R&R” away from it all. Some development of the storyline has been conceived in her mind and she hopes her readers enjoy getting further into life in this sleepy, but quietly boiling, English country village! Some readers’ comments have helped a lot!

Chapter 6 — back in the bar, and beyond

Astrid loved to pee sitting down so she lingered. There is something very feminine about just enjoying the feeling of pretty panties around stockinged ankles. Something very tempting to gently fondle and re-arrange the contents of a matching lacy bra. Something delicious about the thought of refreshing her lipstick, petting her hair, and an admiring glance in the mirror before returning to the world. Andy was revelling in this. In his disguise as Astrid. He resolved to be more flirtatious when she returned to Christopher who was waiting in the bar.

By the time Astrid emerged from her cubicle, Jenny was already out of the traps and ready for the race back to their shared table. Astrid studied her briefly in the mirror as she fixed her own hair. Jenny looked to be very confident in herself. Jenny was an attractive woman. Even as Andy, he would have fancied her. Her blonde hair was arranged casually in an above the shoulder ‘flip’, not naturally blonde but well maintained. Her make-up was quite pronounced, perhaps in keeping with her liking for amateur dramatics. Astrid would later find out just how much enjoyment Jenny got from her drama. She was casually dressed for the visit to the pub and a meal with her husband.

“You would like it here if you visited more often…..”, said Jenny to Astrid. “Funny that your brother and his wife go out when you do arrive, isn’t it?” She was probing, perhaps not hiding that she found the situation more than unusual.

“Not really….” Astrid answered, “…. We’re quite different people, it’s more unusual that his sister should get on with Chrisine’s brother, if you ask me….. We just hit it off when we first met, before Andy and Christine were first married.”

“Ah, yes, well, we mustn’t keep the others waiting. I’m only halfway through my meal.” Jenny closed the conversation and opened the door back to the bar, inviting Astrid to go in front of her. Astrid didn’t know, but Jenny took the opportunity to study Astrid quite closely. Her white sweater fitted her closely, covering her bust that was of normal proportions for her height. Her floral skirt was quite girly and right for the occasion. Her footwear was simple, summer style trainers. Her walk across the bar was a little direct, but most people wouldn’t have noticed it was a little boyish. Jenny didn’t make any conclusions but thought that Astrid could be an interesting friend. Not that she knew Andy and Christine well.

While the two ladies had been away, Christopher and Peter had been talking, though it must be said, Christine confessed later, she had done almost all the talking. Peter was a very hard nut to crack in the conversation department. One word answers, no questions in reply. Christopher had found herself in danger of prattling on, just to cover the possible silences that would have developed if Peter had been the one to push the talk. He just didn’t have the skills. Christine wondered what he would be like ‘in the sack’ and smiled at the thought that followed.

“Well, we have to get the bill and make tracks now.” Christopher said in his best masculine tones. “Enjoy the rest of your meals. Come on Astrid, we have places to go and people to meet. Goodbye now.” He led the way and astrid followed. They paused at the bar to pay for their meals and drinks. Bev, the Barmaid, was back on duty and was full of good cheer. “Do come back! It’s been delightful to see you here…”

“Not half as delightful as you my dear.” Said Astrid, Andy’s eyes falling on the cue to Bev’s ample breasts. Christine noticed and immediately slapped Andy on the bottom and said “Come on, my girl, it’s time to go!”

As they left the building, Andy looked at Christopher and, seeing his wife dressed the way she was, enquired, “Now, my Mister, did you make it with lover boy while I was having a pee?”

“Not a chance, and not a wish either. You can keep him if you want him.” Christine answered.

“Me neither, not my type… and not anybody’s type I’d say.” Came Andy’s reply.

“So, we have one part of the pairing that we might both like to get our hands on, am I right?” said Christine quickly. “I would say I’m in with a chance with her. What about you?”

As they turned the corner waling away from the pub, Astrid answered, “Why, I don’t know what you mean, my darling. As if there was a possibility that a blonde like her would like a little girl like me.”

“You under-rate yourself, my wife….. You look wonderful to me, and I’m sure she owould see the same in you as I do. So, do we invite her for dinner next time we see her… and put up with poe-eyed Peter tagging along?”

“Oh, no! He’s the problem. We would have to get her on her own. But maybe she would like three girls in a bed? You, me and her?”

“Hmm maybe…..” Christine was lost in thought. They had never had such an experience. Where was today leading??

--oo00oo–

The afternoon was a typical balmy English summer day with gentle breezes cooling the warmth of the sun. The couple were bathed in sunshine as they crossed the lane towards the village shop where, as they passed the door, they were met by another couple of the village’s residents. Andy, particularly, loved the feeling of Astrid’s wearing a skirt that flowed with the breeze.

Pammie and Jack were a couple that did not take a second glance to ‘read’ for what they were. Pammie was tall and exceptionally thin. Dressed in dark colours even on this bright summer’s day, she looked as stern as she had been described when Astrid and Christopher had talked last night. From the top of her near-blue/black coiffure, to the tall strappy shoes that encased each calf in straps of black leather that she wore — totally inappropriate for country living — everything about this woman shouted “I’m in charge!”

Jack, however, looked anything but intimidated by this vision and had clearly developed a “F*** you” mentality that meant newcomers such as Astrid and Christopher would have to take as they found him. His clothing shouted “money!” and he obviously expected admiring glances. They strode past the crossdressed lovers without such as a second glance.

“There is more going on there than meets the eye!” said Astrid.

She went on, “Last night you said you thought she was so much in control that she would use a strap-on on him. Now you’ve seen them closer, do you stand by that?”

“Well there’s only one way to find out….” Said Andy turning on his Astrid-heeled shoes.

Calling after the dark and mysterious couple, he called in his best Astrid voice, “Excuse me, excuse me….. heelo!......” Gaining their attention, the couple looked back towards her. “What do you want?” Pammie asked bluntly. Astrid saw deep into her heavily-mascara-ed eyes and felt penetrated even by the stare.

“I was, er, wondering….” Astrid said, “… if you knew Andy and Christine up at the cottage… up there….?” Andy knew full well that the couples were only on the barest of acknowledging terms when passing in the street.

“No, hardly at all, they keep themselves to themselves…. Why do you ask?” demanded the blue/black rinsed woman. Pammie flicked her hair back to get a good look at Astrid.

Andy noticed that the woman’s hair was lined with grey roots, only short ones, but nevertheless, betraying her age. With the blue/black hair she looked ten years younger, but with roots showing, she was fully 45 or even nearer 50 years of age.

“Oh, nothing really, no reason, except that we’re staying at their place while they are away and they suggested that we talk with people in the village while we’re here.” Astrid was finding it hard to keep up the voice she had been practised in using for the whole day. Perhaps tiredness was setting in and her tone had dropped a couple of octaves.

Pammie looked at her. As if, almost, she was looking through her…… Astrid felt a little shiver. Jack still said nothing, struck dumb maybe, because of the over-powering strength of his woman. Another lamb to the slaughter? Thought Astrid. Perhaps he’s encased in leather straps under all that conventional, but expensive, male couture?

“My name’s Pam by the way, and this is Jack…….”, she said looking at Jack like he was a worm or something. ”Well, we do wish we knew them better…..”, said Pammie, “…don’t we Jack?” she looked casually at him to make sure he was paying attention. Nothing was said by Jack. “Don’t we, Jack? I said, Don’t we?” Andy got the feeling that Jack might be in trouble when he got home. Jack nodded in a superior sort of way, clearly not engaging with these lesser mortals.

Christopher had become a little fixated on this woman’s hair and the age that her greying roots betrayed. Was she really older? Everything about her, apart from that, suggested she was more their age — late 30s — with all the energy that rampant sex would demand of her. Oh, yes, Christine was sure she was up to that! As Christopher, she was going to have to try to get closer to Pammie. He was equally fixated by the dark stockinged legs and the strappy shoes she wore.

“We’re staying for a few days, that’s all at the moment but getting together would be nice” said Astrid, still working on the feminine voice that she didn’t now believe was at all believable. She felt good as a girl, but the effort in completing the vision of being a woman was proving hard to manage. She loved every minute. She felt good as a girl. She felt more confident with Christine beside her wearing her manly gear and being so confident. They made a great ‘reverse’ couple.

“I’m sure they’d like to get to know you too…. Jack, where exactly do you two live?” asked Astrid, making polite conversation, and trying to involve the taciturn husband in the conversation.

“Ah, we’re up there on the right of the main street in the dark older cottage”, answered Pammie. “Everyone knows it as that. the dark one….. People told us it was haunted when we bought it but we’ve never seen any ghosts! But it is a little dark inside…… which doesn’t bother us at all because we like things that way. Don’t we Jack?” Jack said nothing “It’s worth mentioning though, as many people might find it a bit creepy… especially in the cellar under the kitchen. It’s huge and there’s plenty of space for doing things down there.”

Astrid and Christopher looked at eachother, both having the same thought at the same moment. What goes on down there then?

“Oh, right,….” said Astrid, in a whisper. “Interesting….. “

“We must get on… Nice to meet you both.” Said Peter, making his only undemanded contribution to what had been said all the time they had been together as a foursome. He clearly wanted to get away, or to imply that he had better things to do than talk to these two peasants in the village street.

As they separated and went on their different ways, Astrid and Christopher would not have seen Pammie smack her husband’s bum. More control being enforced. Pammie and Jack, if they had turned to look, would have see Andy and Christine walking away, hand in hand, like boy and girl, Andy’s skirt swinging in the breeze and her hair ruffled by the same zephyr. They would have seen Christopher stop their walk and pause to kiss her wife.

--oo00oo–

This was turning into a far better day than either Andy or Christine could have hoped for. There had been plenty of time to relax into their roles as wife and husband. Plenty of time to assume the gender of their alternative roles. Enough opportunities to have been “read” for what they were.

All of this made them, without a word spoken, both to feel emboldened. Ready to take more of a risk even than having a meal in the pub had been.

They reached the village store and Christine said “Shall we?.....” To which, Astrid replied, in what could best be described as a “faux Southern Belle” voice “Why, honey, why not!?”

The store was evidently in the front room of one of the cottages on the High Street of the community. It had been a shop for many years and it turned out that the shop had been owned by the parents of one of the (now) proprietors. Continuity, that’s what villages like this one approve of. Christine led the way into the shop, opening the door and ushering his ‘wife’ through. Astrid found herself in something of a ‘time warp’ where produce was displayed in random fashion all over the room. There was a small counter at the end, behind which stood the lady who, with her husband, were the owners. It would have been ‘fusty’ if it were not for a bright halogen lighting system which was the shop’s only consideration to the 21st century.

The lady was a stunning Asian woman with long, very dark brown hair and wide, large eyes. She was dressed in a brightly coloured sari costume and a hue smile. Her lips were an understated red and her eyes were outlined in a liquid liner. Her dress did nothing to hide her ample breasts. Astrid noticed them instantly, leading Christopher to become bored with his wife’s growing breast fixation. “I’ll kill you when we get home, if you don’t stop!” she said.

The shopkeeper’s husband or partner was nowhere to be seen. Wanting to appear as helpful as she could, the lady offered assistance, “Can I help you find what you need? We have most everyday things people want.”

“Yes, yes, we need some bread and eggs and some milk too. And my husband wants some beer to take in. We are only here for a few days so we need to know what else you can provide…..” said Astrid as she walked around the small room.

“Will you be here for long?” the woman asked. “And is there anything you need to know, or we can help with?”

“Not just now, thank you, …” said Christopher, her manly tone seeming sufficient for the situation even though Astrid did look sideways at Christine thinking that the manliness was wearing off, like his own feminine tones. “….. we are staying at Andy and Christine’s place for a few days while they are away.” There was nothing to indicate, as they had thought the night before when talking about the various people they were to encounter, nothing at all, to suggest that this little shop might be a source of cannabis weed for a quiet smoke. Perhaps the husband was out at the back tending the plants! Andy thought.

“Well, we are always here for anything you need. My husband’s parents owned the shop for forty years before we came in and saved them all the hard work. We stick by everything that kept them in business all that time. Whatever the customer wants, we’ll find it.”

Whatever? Anything?!! Astrid’s eyes widened in surprise but that was all. Nothing more was say apart from the payment for the goods they bought and Astrid and Christopher left the shop.

“I’ll bet we could surprise them with some of the things we might like them to find for us, don’t you think?” said Christopher to his wife. Then, as he finished his sentence, he spotted another place they could call in across the street.

“I just forgot, even last night, there’s another service business that Astrid might like to visit! The little hairdressers that I’ve been to before.” Christine said. “Little Heidi in there is a superb hairdresser and you’ve never ever had your hair set professionally, have you my darling? I’m sure that Heidi could do you a cool job if you just let her”.

Astrid’s eyes flashed at the thought. Could she carry off the pretence of being a woman in the intimate environment that involves one woman getting so close to her as to lay her hands on the very hair that grows from her head? How much more intimate could it be possible to be…. Outside of the bedroom?

Find out how Astrid and Christopher get to know other members of their community in chapter 7.