Curtain Fall - Chapter 03

Carol piloted the car carefully into the morning daylight. They began to see increasing numbers of people coming out of buildings. Most seemed to be cautiously exploring the nearest wrecks. A number, however, were just looking up into the morning sky. Curious, Gill craned his neck to look up out of the car as well and let out a curse, “Holy crap! Giant bubbles are way up in the air!”

Carol stopped the car quickly and opened her door to look herself. Far above the city, gently floating, were tens of thousands enormous transparent globes. They visibly shivered and shimmered as if they were giant iridescent soap bubbles in a wind. Their directions of movement weren’t entirely uniform, however. Occasionally they could see two intersect, merge, then separate back into two or more bubbles. “What the hell!?!?”, she exclaimed.

“They look a lot like the curtain. I’ll bet they are fragments from it.” Gill guessed. “They don’t seem to be coming lower at the moment, so I think we’re safe from them for now. I suspect that’s why the radio told us to stay indoors though!”

“Do you want to continue?”, Carol asked, and with Gill’s cautious ascent, they proceeded onward.

Seeing the ‘bubbles’ brought the changes he felt he was going through back to his mind. His now obviously female body felt both natural and profoundly wrong, at least to his emotional expectations. Feeling breasts was was constantly jarring. He was also still reeling from his sudden awareness of Carol’s emotional state and the state of others. Once he’d noticed it last night, it had become something he wasn’t able to ignore. In fact, he’d found himself having work on differentiate his and her emotions; if he didn’t, he found himself unconsciously adopting them! ‘How the flip can I feel her and others?!? How much of a freak have I become?’ he fretted. To distract himself he focused outward.

In the morning light they could see more clearly the effects of the curtain. Most things around them seem untouched’ but they did see occasional evidence of structural damage in the buildings or ground they passed. If Gill were to take a guess, in some areas the curtain broke into discrete forms that could riddle what ever they struck like shotgun blasts, though on a much grander scale. They also began to see clusters of troops working to clear the worst of the wreckage from the roads. Finally the two drove past an eighteen wheeler that seemed to have had about a third of its trailer simply erased and into sight of bar they’d been to.

As expected the signage and lighting of “Burtha’s Buckles” was out and they made their way into the partially empty lot. Once parked they hopped out and proceeded to the entrance. Being unlocked they opened the door and started to enter when they heard a shotgun being chambered. “Hold it right there folks. I’m letting any more looters in! Just leave and no one gets hurt!”, came a voice in the dark interior.

The two friends immediately froze and while they couldn’t see who spoke, Gill found he could feel strong but not angry energies radiating. Carol immediately backed out, but before Gill moved he called out, “We’re not here to cause any trouble mister. We were here last night when “It” happened. We’re just here looking for our friend Tom!” He looked around the room, “Is anyone else still here?”

The voice, grunted hoarsely, “Look lady, no one but me’s in here! There’s a couple of strange lumps of something but no one else.”

Gill winced but pushed on, “Did you see him leave then? You couldn’t miss him, he’s a huge blond man. Looks a bit like a Viking.” Unfortunately, the man in the bar continued to deny seeing him and Gill could feel what felt like the truth of his declaration. Disappointed, Gill left the building only to be confronted by Carol who was fretting outside.

“Are you CRAZY?!?” Carol raged, “I don’t believe you are so stupid you’d argue with a man with a loaded shotgun!”

Gill stiffened but replied quietly, “He wasn’t planning or interested in shooting us! I could tell he jus-“

“You could tell? You could TELL!?!?”, Carol barked, “Sooo, not only did you change from a guy into a hot chick, but you also became the AMAZING RANDY!!!??!?!” By the end of the tirade Carol was shrieking with fury.

Carol’s anger combined with the bar owner’s “lady” reference and her “hot chick” description pushed Gill’s buttons and he heatedly retorted, “Yeah I could tell! I could feel he didn’t want to shoot, OK!?” In an effort not to let the radiating anger fuel him further he turned away and stalked into the lot where he quickly spied Tom’s car, still there.

Carol wasn’t letting up, however, and started after him. “What the hell do you mean, you could tell?” As she caught up to her friend she snarked, “What? Are you psychic all of a sudden?!?”

With a stricken look on his face as he stared at Tom’s abandoned vehicle he replied quietly, “Yeah.. I think so..”

As Carol spied the car she slowed and muttered a sad, “Oh boy.” Then Gill’s admission hit her. “Wait, what?!”, she asked shocked.

“Yeah. Last night I wondered why I was all over the place emotionally. I began noticing I was feeding off the emotions you were having. It’s like I can almost see them as well as feel them.” He sighed sadly, “That’s how I knew the owner didn’t want trouble and how I know you aren’t expecting us to find Tom. You’ve already put him in the ‘vanished’ group in your mind.” He paused a second and still not looking at his friend continued, “You don’t want to believe me; but you’re beginning to...”

Carol, stood there utterly dumbstruck. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Can you actually read minds? My mind?”, Carol asked in slightly creeped out amazement. She wasn’t sure how she’d deal if Gill could read her every thought.

“Not thoughts.”, Gill replied quietly, “only emotions. But I can often draw conclusions from what I feel.” His attention focused more fully on his friend, even while he continued to look at the car. He was getting better at distinguishing his emotions from others and he could now ‘see’ Carol shift from shock to distrust and umbrage, to fear. Then as he waited, it blurred into embarrassment, then sympathy. Finally, he could sense Carol pushing down her fear and with effort replacing it with a sense of conviction and guarded trust. Gill, closed his eyes, and slowly relaxed. “Thank you. For not thinking I’m a monster...”

Carol, started once again. ‘This is going to take getting used to!’ She thought to herself shakily.

Gill gathered himself and turned back to Carol, “Let’s go. Maybe he’s at the hospital!” With that he started for Carol’s car.

Carol followed and by the time they arrived at the car, she approached Gill with a question that had been building. “I know it’s important to you to find Tom, I get that. Why though? He’s just a work friend isn’t he?”

Gill smiled sadly and said, “He started that way, but a couple of years before you joined the company he helped me through some very hard times.” He looked in her direction but he was looking into the past, “I was actually engaged to marry you know? My Janice was a new RN who actually loved me, in spite of my lack of social skills! I think she could see past my shyness and see the real me..” Pain filled his eyes as he continued. “We were going to meet for a dinner you see, Janice, my parents and Tom, because he’d offered to give me a lift because my car broke down just as I was about head out to them..” he laughed harshly, “Hey, he was going to get a free meal out of it!”

The remembered grief grew as he continued, “Because of the delay we missed the excitement. Apparently, a man driving on the street near the restaurant suffered a heart attack and lost control of his car as Janice and my parents were seated at a window table. H- he plowed right through the window and over my family. They were killed instantly.”

Gill focused on Carol again, “Tom was with me when we got there.” He chuckled sadly. “You know Tom. For all his size and ability to intimidate, he could never turn away from a person in pain. He stuck with me through the hospital and then funeral.” Gill smiled, “He became almost like brother to me...”

Hearing the story, Carol’s eyes filled with understanding. No wonder Gill held onto finding Tom so strongly. Tom was almost family and with the losses he’d suffered already... She quickly unlocked the car doors and they drove to St. August General, the closest hospital they could find.

As they approached they saw that the hospital was a madhouse. The lot was full to overflowing and they could see police and soldiers moving about the grounds. Military and civilian ambulance vehicles were constantly arriving to bring in those in need. As Gill and Carol were easily moving under their own power they passed the rush and entered the Emergency room.
Inside, the madhouse evolved into an almost surreal carnival. Litters overflowed into the waiting area where exhausted doctors and nurses moved about, examining the patients. Some they simply moved on from; by some they called orderlies over in order to arrange more immediate help.

What was most shocking were the nature of the patients; while many had understandable injuries (burns, lacerations, etc) others were more bizarre. They could see people with disturbing changes. One woman had somehow gained multiple sets of arms. Some were placed on her torso like that of an Indian Goddess; another grew out of a thigh. Another patient’s skin had been replaced by a transparent covering; making her into a living “Human Body” model with muscle, ligament bands and more clearly visible to all.

“Oh my god!” Carol exclaimed, horrified, “What happened to them?”
“The curtain happened.” Gill said grimly as he fought the waves of pain, despair, fear and even anger that tried to overwhelm him. Before he could comment more, however, a harried nurse approached.

Focusing on Gill the nurse spoke, “You’re moving on under you own power. Clearly you’ve been affected, however, Miss. Are you in pain somewhere?” Dazedly, Gill shook his head negatively. “I’ll have to ask you to leave then. As you can see can only treat those seriously injured.”

Carol butted in then, “We’re looking for our friend, Thomas Miller. Is he here?”

“Look lady, we don’t know who all is here yet!”, the exhausted nurse replied, “If you don’t need immediate help, go home and authorities will contact you as soon as they can.”

Carol stuttered and would have pressed further but the nurse had already turned away and with an MP in the room beginning to take notice they moved back out of the building.

As they walked back to their transport, Gill turned to Carol. “I don’t think going to Tom’s place is going to help. How would he get there? Things are crazy enough that I don’t think we’ll find any info on him until the authorities get things more under control.” ‘If he hasn’t been vanished...’, crept into his mind.

A pensive feeling came from Carol once they were in the car again. “Would you be willing to stay with me until things calm down Gill?” She asked. “What with how you’ve changed, you’ve no ID that fits so you won’t be able to get around easily and you might have problems in your apartment building. I’d... I’d also appreciate company till things settle...”.

Gill, could feel the shock Carol was feeling (from seeing some of the things in the Emergency Room he suspected) and easily sympathized. “Sure! Strength in numbers, right?” And Gill really did have growing problems he realized. Carol was right. Right now he was a non-person. He had no identification that he could point to. No job, unless his work was willing to accept his say so; no personal access to his bank, nothing!

As Gill and his friend were occupied with their thoughts, they slowly drove toward a moderate sized crowd of 50 or so who milling about in one of the neighborhood micro-parks where a man was standing on one of the park tables. He was speaking to the assembled. Carol slowed further to try to catch was he was saying,

“Brothers and sisters! Hear me! We are all filled with fear and uncertainly. We’ve seen many vanish before our eyes. Friends,” he paused searching out individuals, “loved ones! Don’t you see it?! We’ve known it was coming. Revelations describes this exactly. It tells us they’ve been raptured! Taken up to stand with him!” He paused and looked stricken. “What does it mean for us? It means we are the Left Behind! Those who were deemed unworthy.” The crowd was visibly growing frightened and surly. “But I say to you; we are NOT irredeemable! This is our time of cleansing!”

“Holy crap!” Carol muttered as the car pulled past and away, “Who was that guy?!?”

“During times of uncertainty, many will turn to any ‘strong’ voice.” Gill responded. “Let’s hope we don’t run into many others like that. Let’s just get back to your place...”.

They arrived and went up to Carol’s floor and settled back in. Over the rest of the day they met with the others and were pulled in to help where needed. With Gill’s reluctant agreement, Carol introduced Gill as her friend “Jill” to save him from the inevitable confusion that would arise. Aside from stares and questions of where she came from (due to his very exotic appearance) most were friendly and grateful for a strong arm. The majority of people they helped were for minor issues relating to the lack of power. A few, however, involved dealing with people who’d suffered some sort of change. One person’s skin had even become scaled like a lizard. Most were less obvious. At one point they found and convinced the building super to help them investigate the ‘quiet’ apartments and on two occasions found dead bodies. Changes had occurred that killed the victim.
By nightfall they joined community in the hall and successfully worked to cook a communal meal. Eventually all retired to their apartments and Carol and ‘Jill’ settled down to unwind and listen to the radio while they drank the only alcohol Carol had on hand, a bottle of red. They found to their pleasure that actual news broadcasts by a local station had come back on the air! They sat and listened to the announcer detail what they already knew but were now forced to acknowledge as a widespread situation:

1) The event had affected the whole nation, perhaps world.
2) Large numbers of people were simply gone.
3) A smaller percentage had been physically altered, often to their detriment.
4) While not nearly as common, non-biological things had also been affected by the effect.
5) At the same time the “Curtain Fall” occurred operating electrical equipment failed, not unlike an ‘EMP’. While not a totally destructive effect, significant damage to the power grid and electronic infrastructure had occurred. Repairs were in progress.
6) To Reduce looting, a “Sundown to Sunup” curfew was in effect.
7) The “Bubbles” viewed by the populace high in the air seemed to be fragments of the Curtain. All air flights were grounded to avoid re-exposure to the Bubbles.

“What am I going to do Carol?” ‘Jill’ asked, “It’s been, what- 24 hours and everything I’ve known and lived has been wiped away.” His eyes shimmered with unshed tears, “And with what’s happened to the world I don’t think it will give a ‘flip’ about my problems.”

Carol looked at her friend. She, and Carol found it increasingly difficult to view her otherwise, sat on the sofa looking lost, and painfully beautiful. Carol’s heart wrenched a bit, and she realized she was becoming increasingly actually to her friend. Listening, she thought, ‘She’s, uh he’s right! Only one day has passed and everything she was and knew has been turned upside down! I don’t know if I’d be able to deal it all if I were in her shoes.”

Carol was moved by the load Jill bore and the strength and self control she displayed to keep it together. This interest and budding admiration had Carol off balance. It was only a day, and Carol could feel her attraction to this new woman growing. ‘I’m going to have to be VERY careful’, she thought, ‘If What I think I’m beginning to feel isn’t real, it wouldn’t be hard to either take advantage of or really hurt her.’ With that realization, she vowed to herself that she would do all in her power to keep Jill from harm.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do long term, honey,” Carol responded aloud, “but you aren’t going to be doing it alone!” With a sarcastic grin she continued, “After all, I’m not about to give up on my best porn cleaner!”

Gill barked a choked sound that was both a sob and laughter. “Oh fuck!”, she exclaimed in frustrated tears, Why can’t I seem to control this crying?!?”

Carol move over and enfolded Jill in a hug. “You’re a woman now honey,” she said, I suspect right down to your new genes. I think women are naturally freer with our emotions and you don’t have any practice dealing with them or the hormones.” She kissed her friend’s hair. “I think while we get on our feet again, we’re going to have to teach you all about being a woman!”

Petulantly, Gill/Jill? whined, “But I never wanted to be a woman!”

“I don’t think life gives a flip what we want honey. It’s just up to us to learn to deal with and grow from what shit is dumped on us!”

He barked out with more sniffles/laughter. “Damn you bitch! Stop making me laugh!”

Carol chuckled softly, “Sorry babe! It’s just part of my charm!”.

______________________

Over the next few days, Carol started to do exactly what she promised. Her first lessons revolved around how to dress.

“Why does it matter how I match my shirt and pants?” Gill asked crossly, “I never used to have to worry about it!”

“Because, honey,” Carol said with exaggerated patience and a deep breath, “there are different expectations for women and men.” She thought for a minute, “When you used to have an important meeting with upper management what would you wear?”

Purposefully obtuse he responded, “I never had a need to to that!”

Carol rolled her eyes, “Humor me! You would have put on one of your Better suits, right? Why? Because you wanted to communicate competence in a way your bosses would understand, even non-verbally.

It’s the same for a woman, only more so. Women have a far larger range of clothes available to them; a larger library of messages they can send. If you don’t make an effort and just throw any mismatched set of clothes on, you send negative messages that other women and to a lesser extent men will see and treat you on the basis of!”

Seeing that ‘Jill’ was still resisting, Carol had an idea. “OK. Just sit here on the sofa; I’m going to give you some examples!” With that, Carol dashed into her bedroom and dressed up in an L.B.D. and high heels. When dressed she stepped back into the living room. She walked up to Jill and asked, “Describe me and how you see me.”

Jill flushed with embarrassment and said, “Dang! You’re hot!” He coughed a bit and continued, “You’re also a bit intimidating...”

Carol smiled at the description and compliment. “Thanks hon! I dress this way to look and feel sexy and powerful; a huntress.” She let that sink in a bit, then she asked, “What would you think if I wore this to teach kindergarten?” Carol watched the surprised and slightly outraged look cross Jill’s face. Nodding she continued, “It would be completely inappropriate wouldn’t it? It would communicate the wrong things in that setting entirely! Now wait right here...”

Carol went back to her room and this time when she returned she wore plum silk slacks and a green and gray plaid flannel shirt. “Now what do you think?”

Jill eyes widened and he actually let out a small giggle. She said, “You look like a goof!”

Carol smiled triumphantly, “Exactly! You can’t take me seriously. It’s funny because this combination is purposefully absurd and makes no sense. If I wanted you to listen to me about something serious this would totally distract you. It would send the wrong message!”

She earnestly looked at Jill, “Now this setup was an extreme example but dressing in properly coordinated clothes accomplishes the same thing. What you choose to wear can have a direct effect on how people perceive and deal with you. If you mismatch, you loose power.”

Gill, still snickering, conceded Carols point, “I think I understand what you’re saying now. But it really shouldn’t matter that much.”

Carol, giggled, “Oh honey, it’s not fair, but it really is more important with women! These are rules and skills, you’ll just need have if you want to be taken seriously.”

After that explanation he began to truly try to learn the rules and over a period of days, even though she still hadn’t gotten Jill to wear a dress, Carol finally declared Jill no longer a total embarrassment.

While this was going on, Carol also instructed Gill on how to sit and present herself a bit more femininely in order to blend in better. With some effort Carol convinced Gill to let her shape her ragged nails down to neater and more shapely ovals; although she was unsuccessful with the efforts to apply polish. Gill’s slowly diminishing masculine sensibility wouldn’t allow it. She even convinced her friend to occasionally wear low heels in a effort to break her of walking like a “male rugby player”.

It was during these days that Gill finally forced to examine himself in mirrors. His sense of self was really assaulted by the almost ‘otherworldly’ woman he saw. He could see nothing of his old body and we was increasingly wondering just who he/she? was.

The fourth day also saw at least a partial return of power. Carol and Gill decided to celebrate by trying to find some place that might have fresh food they might buy. The radio informed them that one of the major markets would be opening today with fresher food trucked in by the army so they dashed there. As expected there were enormous lines that they had to work though and when they got into the market the food available was limited. In spite of the lack of choices they were able to get a little chicken and enough picked over vegetables to support the two of them for a couple of days at least.

On their return a necessary but less pleasant need was being dealt with; that of the removal of the dead bodies that had been found. A military truck had arrived and troops had entered and were going through the apartment building for this purpose. The troops were efficient and it was relatively painless until a corporal came up to Gill and crudely propositioned her.

Gill was shocked and repulsed by the soldier’s suggestion, as well as the attraction mixed with disgust he was projecting, but before things could get more ugly a Sargent called the soldier away and gave him a dressing down. Disturbingly muttering was overheard as he was leaving about the F’ing “Fallen” whore and how he could just tell she wanted and deserved it. ‘What the heck was that about?’, he wondered a little shaken.

Day 7 saw a return of land and cellular lines and in the early afternoon Carol received a call from work. They were trying to contact all employees because they were going to try assessing the damage and how much time and money it would take to bring the factory online again. With leading questions Carol learned that many employees had not responded to calls and they were going to have to start with a skeleton crew and in a flash of inspiration, Carol said she had a visiting friend who was a tech who could help if needed. Her boss was thrilled and recommended she bring her friend the next day for a possible temporary position.

Filled with excitement at the possibility of some return to a normal life Gill and Carol made plans for the next day…

______________________________

Carol woke Gill much earlier than he expected and when he complained was given an earful about having to prepare for work. Remembering Carol’s lessons, Gill grumped but showered and then actually spent some effort deciding what to wear.

He settled on burrowing newer jeans (jeans because a tech might be required to be getting under tables) and such and a nice but not frilly red blouse. The blouse was a bit lower cut in the front than he was comfortable with but there weren’t a lot of choices for him. Rebelliously, he chose sneakers instead of more professional shoes.

When he presented himself to Carol she eyed him critically but declared it acceptable. She did, however, push in another area that freaked Gill out: makeup.

“Now I know you don’t want it, but you need at least a little makeup!” Noting her friend gearing up to deny it she pushed on quickly, “Remember, women are expected, at least in professional environments, to look their best. It will be assumed that you will be wearing at least a little!” Ignoring his objections, she forced him to sit at her dressing table and she carefully applied it lightly. Gill’s complexion was subtilely evened out and a light warm eyeshadow applied. Finally she just applied a lipgloss. “There! Just enough...”

Gill looked into the mirror and was shocked while he’d begun to accept if not be happy that he presented as a very attractive woman, was quite unprepared for the difference even a ‘little’ application could make. The makeup turned his exotic and lovely features into something truly arresting! ‘Oh boy... I’m in trouble!’, he thought.

Once done, Carol gently dragged Gill down to the car and they drove to work. Looking about as they pulled into the parking lot of Amalgamated Automation they again noted the reduced number of cars. “It looks like almost a third haven’t reported yet.”, Gill remarked with dismay.

“hopefully they just haven’t been successfully gotten ahold of...”, Carol replied as the entered. Carol walked Gill into the building and past the receptionist, whose eyes widened at seeing Gill, with the explanation that her friend was expected by the VP for HR.

They knocked and entered the executive offices and approached her boss’s secretary. “We’re here to see Bob,” Carol informed her, “He wants to meet Jill about possibly filling in for needs in Tech!”

Sally, the woman seated behind the desk, nodded at Carol then looked at Gill. Her eyes narrowed slightly and more coolly told them to take a seat and the director would shortly see them. Gill fought to school his expressions as he felt a level of hostility and even jealousy radiating from Sally. This was a new experience to him. When he was a man, he’d been largely ignored at best or looked down on as a “nerd” at worst. He’d never experienced jealousy before! With a bit of shock he began to understand what he’d heard about some women in the past. Some viewed physical attractiveness as social weapon. One he could feel Sally felt she was on the loosing side of.

Sally didn’t let it interfere with her professionalism, however, and shortly she ushered the two into the VP’s office.

Robert ‘Bob’ Grant was a man in his mid 50’s, his college basketball physique having long ago faded to a gentle beer belly. He was none the less a jovial looking fellow, in spite of. He stood with only a bit of fatigue drawing his features, due to the upheavals of the last week and smiled at Carol. “Care!”, he said warmly, “I’m glad you’re OK. So this is your ‘geek’ friend?” He took in the beautiful figure standing beside Carol a bit skeptically. “Forgive me, you aren’t what I expected when Carol told me she knew of a Tech who could help.”

Gill, suddenly realized that he/she didn’t look anything like a geek and she would have to prove him/herself. Forcing ‘herself’ to ignore the restrained wave of non-professional interest that was washing over her/him , Gill pointedly glanced at the nameplate on his desk and reached out her hand, “I’m not surprised, Mr. Grant. I had the same problem all through my time at Purdue’s A.I. and automation labs! I’m Jill. Jill Neveah.” He smiled politely. “If you’re concerned, perhaps you might have one of your departmental managers ask me a few questions?”

Mr. Grant nodded and agreed that might be a good idea, since he suspected that she hadn’t had time to gather and prepare a resume. With bit of hidden nervousness Gill nodded. While they waited they exchanged small talk, largely dealing with the insanity of the last few days. Bob was amazed to hear about their experiences at the hospital and he sympathized about the dead body discoveries. There was another knock at the door and a man Gill recognized to be one of his managers in the A.E.D (Automative Engineering Department) came in. Gary was an ambitious “up and comer” who was competent but a bit conniving. As a result he wasn’t well liked by many of those under him.

Gill, now Jill, fought to keep his face neutral as a spike of lust flared at him from Gary. Bob introduced ‘her’ to Gary as a recent graduate from Purdue who might be coming on board for a bit to fill in. “Purdue!? My old alma mater! How did you like Professor Calder then? I suspect was such a misogynist that you’d have had a hard time with him!”

Fight down panic, due to Gary’s familiarity with Purdue he coughed, “Well.. I was a lot less memorable back then. He didn’t bother me too much. The last week I’ve had some, uh, big changes.”

Gary chuckled, “I see that! Well, let me present you a few problems, then...”. He then peppered Gill with a few softball questions that Gill easily answered. It seemed he didn’t expect much from Gill.

This increasingly annoyed Gill until he decided to push a bit. Gill inquired as to their plans and efforts to determine the extent of the EMP damage and what the plans to salvage undamaged components were in place. Had they looked into data recovery yet for damaged programs and files? This caught Gary a bit off-guard and he began to re-evaluate his initial opinions of the ‘coffee fetching eye candy’.

A few minutes into more substantive technical discussions, Bob broke in announcing that since she could keep Gary engaged, she must be a potential. Since that was the case he’d arrange for her start through the system. He then instructed her to go with Gary and he’d get her started.

Gill was then led down to the research wing and Gary introduced her around as temporary help and got “her” started on some of the ideas they been discussing. Most of the work by the teams was damage assessment and control and kept them very busy. If it weren’t for the curfew still in place they’d likely have pressed her and the others to work late into the night. As it was, “Jill” left at 5:00; physically spent with Carol and the returned to the apartment.

Even warned by Carol, Jill had been surprised by the blatant chauvinism and need to prove herself. Gill had also been quite bothered by the interest the men had radiated. It had been a real assault on her increasingly battered male image. The women she “introduced” herself to were also an experience. Most who met he initially felt very threatened by her and it took a while for Gill to make any inroads. As it became apparent, however, that “Jill” showed little interest in the men as objects of interest, most began warming to “her”. Since it was well known that Carol was a lesbian, their ‘friendship’ quickly led to knowledgeable nods and looks.

Carol and her friend talked of the day as they settled for the day. Gill didn’t comment on it, but he felt the conflicted feelings his friend felt from the ‘special friendship’ Gil described coworkers inferring. Analyzing it, he could see that Carol’s physical appreciation of his new body might be developing slowly into more but he felt too confused right now to reciprocate. Maybe as he worked out who he was becoming he might consider more, but what he felt he needed and could offer was just companionship. He had to be careful. Things could get sticky...