The Car

Robert was like any other middle aged man. Over weight and past his prime. He had some interest in sports, but the lure had faded over the years. Years with family life and a job that was exciting until he moved into middle management. Now after a divorce he was still trying to understand here he was doing the only thing his ruined finances could afford. The cars were an outlet and didn't cost him more than the bottle of water he carried around in the hot sun. He wore a loose polo shirt and shorts that his grandfather wouldn't have worn. Well he might have on the golf course. Robert sighed not out of boredom, but with a satisfaction that the cars he was observing were exciting yet since he couldn't even afford to touch.

From the late 1800s all the way to modern monsters were present on the large parking lot. Many cars he would have drooled over and other hurt his heart that he would never get an experience to drive them or own. His own beat up Chevy had seen better days twenty years ago. Gone were the company cars and the nice car he could afford every five years once the company car went away. Child support barely left him enough to get a decent apartment. Not that his ex wife needed the money as she made as much or even more and that their kids were off on scholarships that covered everything. In some states he could have gotten her to pay alimony since she made more than he did. His daughters never thought to ask her for money for this or money for that, but they asked him and he would break down and give it to them causing many a night with cheap TV dinners instead of the nice meals he had liked to cook.

He even had saved up for a newer car only to have to help fix his daughter's car and later find out it was covered on warranty, but he didn't get the money back. Car after car reminded him of the classic car he had spent fifteen years in top shape only to lose it to his ex wife. She couldn't even drive it as she never learned how to use a manual transmission. He was furious that she had sold the car for less than a thousand dollars when it was worth fifty. That was the closest he had ever thought about just killing his ex wife. How stupid was she? Well not that stupid as she had hire a very smart lawyer. She really had it made with him. He cooked, cleaned, took care of the kids after work. Didn't bother her for sex or even worry that they were no longer attracted in that way. Sure every now and again they would make love and he wouldn't have minded it happening more than once or twice a month, but he and she had seemed content in just being next to each other.
Robert stopped in front of a car he had no idea what to make of it. His sad thoughts vanished as he tried with his extensive knowledge of nearly every automobile ever made. He saw dozens of markers that told him the make and model of the car. Yet each conflicted with the other. The only thing he could see was the basic style of the mid nineteen thirties.

“She is a gem isn't she.” a very old man remarked. Easily in his nineties.

“He sure is.” The car appeared pink and purplish in its patina of age, yet Robert felt it was a he not a she like most cars.

“Bet you are wondering what she is?”

“I have no idea. 1937 something.”

“1937 is right. What you are looking at is the 1937 GEN-6ER. One of a kind. Only one ever built.”

“That is a rare car indeed. Priceless.”

“A rare Princess she is. Never let anyone other than me drive her. Though she drives best with two, but my wife has gone on.”

“Sorry to hear that.” Robert felt bad that the man really missed his wife. He was too timid to ask anything more. He circled the car as the man watched on preventing him from revealing more of his wife. He didn't want to be reminded of his failure to see that his own marriage was failing.

“Want to go for a ride?” Robert stopped and a sudden urge hit him at the same time fear hit.

“As long as I can drive.” He saw the frown and knew that he put the decision in the old man's hands. He also knew that the old man would never let him drive after what he said earlier. As much as he wanted to experience the car he couldn't live with himself by just riding, so his fear had made him bold. The old man suddenly smiled and this made Robert blush.

“Why not, but only if she will start for you, and if you make it thirty miles without her shutting down lunch is on me.”

“No I couldn't I was only joking. I couldn't drive him.”

“Sure you can. Not hard at all. She only has two gears, slow and fast. However only if you can get her running.”

“I would fear having an accident.” Robert thought of half a dozen other excuses that never made it passed his lips as a glimmer of hope grew in his heart.

“Let me open the door. At least sit inside. Can't hurt anything just by sitting.” The old man opened the door and looked to grow happier and happier each time Robert glanced at him. Then he was in the driver's seat and the next glance he had his hands on the wheel and his feet on the pedals. It was uncomfortably tight as his knees touched the dash and his belly rubbed the wheel. The door closed with a finality that made him jump a bit and his heart beat faster. The old man hobbled around to the other side and got in. He sat with a lot of room and no matter how much Robert searched he couldn't find the lever to move the seat back even with the passenger seat.

“Now we pull this out and then you pump the pedal two times. Hold it and turn this switch.” Robert didn't move until the old man pressed on his knee. He didn't even notice that he had started the car until the old man's sharp intact.

“Well I'll be a chucklehead. Okay you take and press in that doohickey and then let the clutch out.” The old man was sure he would stall out. Just because she let herself start she hadn't allowed him to adjust the seat. “Jeepers.” Again he was wrong as the man pulled forward slowly and with perfection drove into the tight lane and in no time they were on the beach road. He had even turned in the right direction. His baby doll in eighties years had never let anyone ever drive her. That she was acting like a hooch hotrod to boot. The old man grinned as he though back over his life.

Having someone else drive was very nice. Reminded him of his father so long ago. Yet this man didn't. He was bald and not hiding that he was a queer fruit. As the hint of things a man should never need to be worn was being wore by him. The loose polo just made it even more obvious in his book.

That he just felt like a dolly who had her world taken away. That she was on her last hope he could see like he had seen many other times though never from the passenger seat. Everyone he had ever given a ride was changed in some way. The only one who never changed was his departed wife. Slowly he noticed the bald fat man getting smaller the faster he pushed the car. This bothered the old man slightly as he never felt anything different when he drove the car. The change would have come on the man regardless if he had been driving or not as this dame was one special car.

The man slowly changed the farther they went. Halfway to the diner he had hinted at and it was hard for him to tell if the man was a man as he now fit comfortably in the seat and that his hair had grown back flying in the wind getting longer with each gust of wind. His face had softened and the beard thinned out until a baby face shined brightly with a wide grill of white teeth that had replaced the yellow and black teeth from lack of care. The wrinkles had smoothed out as the face rounded into a heart shape. A few minute longer and he look more like the baby doll he saw hidden behind the mask of the man she had been not twenty minutes ago.

She was giggling as she pulled into the parking lot of the dinner knowing this was the spot without being told. Her long light brown hair settled around her and burned in the sun. It covered the breasts that had just moments ago didn't exist. Not too small and not too big. She turned to him as she shut the car off and her face was a balance of cute and beautiful. Life restored to one that had been so dead to the world. He had seen plenty of transformations over the years, but none as beautiful. It made his heart beat strong and sadly painful as she reminded him so much of his wife when they had first laid eyes on each other. Like others his sadness was blown away that the dead man had reawakened as the girl he should have been and denied his whole life. He scrambled to the other side of the car and opened the door to take her hand as her legs drew his attention as she stepped out.

“You naughty devil. Shame on you for looking.”

“I didn't mean to, I truly am a gentlemen.”

“I hope you are.” The man grinned at her hotsy- totsy mood. He held her hand guiding her to the door he opened and even pulled out her chair at the table she had chosen. The whole time they talked and then later ate he was amazed. That even with the hamburger he always order he thought it was the cat's meow. It wasn't until they finished and he paid that he felt he was holding a torch for her. The feeling made him feel so much younger. However the looks some gave him made him feel embarrassed as he could see they thought he was a dirty old man. As they got to the car she moved to the driver's side again. He strangely didn't follow as they got in at the same time. She turned the key and put it in gear before heading back to the car show. She had worn shorts and a simple blouse in the diner and now they began to change on the way back. By the time they parked she was wearing a dress that was stunning. Her heels clicked on the concrete as they walked to the front of the car.

The old man again felt shame as everyone stared at them. He felt like they wanted to eat him, yet at the same time it was intoxicating. That a few people started taking pictures and he giggled as they stood next to each other and grinned into the cameras. This is when he noticed that things were just not right. He was the same height as Hanna, and that he strangely wished that his breasts would be like hers. Just perfect and teasing with a perfect decollete like hers. He looked down and saw breasts peeking out of a tight summer dress that waved in the breeze cooling her smooth legs. The heels on her feet were a bit shorter as if she had just learned how to walk in them. This made her wonder if she should try on Hanna's heels as they were nearly the same size. Then the first time she rode in the car so long ago came back to her. That she had grown up as a girl and the car had changed her into a happy man. That she was this girl again was a shock, but a nice one.

Katie looked up into Hanna's eyes and they both grinned like they ate the canary and didn't get caught. Katie felt like she was family like she was Hanna's daughter, but that didn't feel right. Her sister felt right, but not by blood. Katie turned and saw this other girl waving at her and she walked over to her.

“I have been looking all over for you.”

“Sorry I just couldn't pass up taking a ride in that car. It was a dream.”

“You and your lust for cars. If you drooled over some boy you would not be single right now.”

“Ew, why would I want some boy. Cars are just as sexy, don't act like apes, can't get you pregnant, but make your heart race just the same.”

“Oh gross. Now come on.” Becky pulled Katie as she waved at Hanna. Only a slight glance was given to the car and for the life of her she couldn't understand why she felt she knew that car. As she turned away Hanna dropped her hand and turned to the person admiring her car. Not everyone could say they owned a GEN 6ER super car. That they had only made one was a shame. However she could at least give a few deserving souls a ride of their life. She looked at the boy that was trying so hard to pass as a girl. That no one else had clocked her was surprising with her poor makeup and fake wig.

“Wanna go for a ride?” The girl boy jumped and suddenly looked scared to be noticed. Hanna looked up into his/her eyes with her cutest smile. The girl/boy giggled and then nodded excitedly.

“Then get in and put your seat belt on.” The girl/ boy didn't waste a second getting in. Hanna turned the key and the sixteen cylinder motor rumbled to life causing several people to jump away.

“The seat doesn't fit.”

“Don't worry your body will fit you soon enough.”