“Hiya Gab” Mad greeted when she opened the door.
“Hi Mad”
“You okay?”
“So, so I guess”
“You staying for tea Gaby?” Mrs P asked from behind her daughter.
“Dad’s not expecting me straight back”
“I’ll take that as a yes then” she countered
“Come on Gab,” Maddy started pulling me upstairs, “Dad’s got me a mobile for my birthday”
“I thought your birthday was Monday?” I managed as I was dragged into her room.
“It is but we went to get it today, that’s why we were out earlier”

I breathed a sigh of relief.
 
Mad’s new bit of 21st Century hardware was a dinky little pink and white thing that made mine look like the incredible hulk!

“Have you rung the others yet?” I asked
“No, I was just putting everyone’s numbers in first”
“Dad wants to know if any of you guy’s want to come in the morning”
“Where are you going?”
“I’ve got a ten in the morning, Dad mentioned going to the coast afterwards”
“I’ll ring the guys to find out” Mad enthused, immediately reaching for her new phone.

Well you know what the female of the species and phones are like! Three calls and two of them were over ten minutes to ask one question and give out one number! Sheesh, I hope she’s on a good tariff.
 
“Well apparently Rhod and Ally are going to Ally’s Nan’s but Bernie’s up for it, I said I’d call her back with times and stuff.”
“Rhod and Ally are seeing a lot of each other” I mentioned
“Hmm like us I suppose” Maddy stated draping herself around me and kissing my neck. Hmm that was quite nice.
“Give over, what if your Mum comes in?”
“Spoilsport” Mad pouted
“Anyway have you got the remover?”
“Here you go” she reached behind her and retrieved the bottle.
“You doing that here?”
“Well I was planning to. And I’m never doing it again” I told her
“What? Sticking them on?”
“No, this whole Gaby thing.” I replied
“What? Never?”
“Never” I affirmed
“Why?” Mad asked calmly
“I’m just not comfortable with it, I never was really”
“But you’re so good at it” she stated
“That’s part of the problem, even when I’m not trying people think I’m a girl”

I’m sure Mad was going to say more but Mrs P called us to tea just then.

“I’ll get changed after tea”
“Yeah, ok” Mad answered
 
We joined Mad’s Mum and Dad in the dining room where Mrs P had a terrific spread waiting. Salad but not your bog standard variety, no sirree, there was mashed potato, various cheeses, cold cuts plus the usual lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber and so on. To be honest I was still a bit stuffed from that monster breakfast, so I was glad this was self-service.

I can’t remember whether ‘Gaby’ had met Mr Peters before but he addressed me in the femme, as did Aunt Carol. I helped Mad clear up afterwards and then we returned to ‘home of Maddy’

“I’d best change” I started
“You need any help?” Mad asked
“I think I can manage, I’ll use the bathroom”
“Okay” she agreed

I was just disrobing when I heard Mad at the door.

“Drew?”
“Yeah”
“You really mean it? About being Gaby I mean”
“Yep, you’ve seen the last of Gaby Peters or Bond or whatever”
“I’m gonna miss her” Mad mentioned then went quite.

I finally got the breast forms off and after a quick wash I started to extricate myself from the gaff.

“Drew! What about Obicon?”
“What about it?” I naively asked
“You are coming still?”

I was concentrating on washing my nether regions so I was not paying all the attention I should have been.

“I guess so”
“What about your costumes?”
“What about them?”
“Well they are all sort of Gaby costumes” Mad hinted
“Yeah?” I replied as I pulled my jeans up
“Nothing” Mad mentioned

I emerged a couple of minutes later now fully Drew, I’d even remembered to remove the earrings.

“That’s better, what should I do with these do you think?” I hefted the bag with the breast forms in.
“Leave them here, I can probably find a home for them”
“Well I might as well leave the bra and stuff too, I won’t need it again”

 
I left just after nine to walk home. ‘Yes! That’s it. No more Gaby! No more dressing up as a girl! Just me, Drew Bond. I’ll tell John the truth on Tuesday and I’ll email Britney and lay it out for her”

 
“Where are we off to?” Bernie asked
“Up near Grimsby I think, Dad?” I queried
“Yeah not far away, it’s a place called Great Limber”

The girls exchanged a look of incomprehension; I have to admit I was no wiser. Although it was further round, Dad elected to go via the motorways, A1(M), M18 then M180 most of the way to our destination. The day was fine, just a few high clouds sullied an otherwise clear blue sky and a gentle breeze stirred the treetops. We arrived at the village hall headquarters with plenty of time to spare so we had a walk up the village before I got ready. The start was a fair walk away so Dad and the girls drove up while I rode the three-quarters of a mile.
 
“Three, two, one, go!”

I pushed down on the pedals and barely glimpsed my supporters as I tried to make the most of the slight downhill start. I was soon into my stride and almost overcooked the very sharp right hander that we were warned about at the start! That fright over I regained my cool and settled down with a slight crosswind on my left shoulder.

The course is fairly flat, and straight, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a fun ride! I kept checking my computer, I had gone four miles before I was overtaken by number forty starting a minute behind me. I could see riders coming back towards me, and recognising a couple I knew the turn couldn’t be far off.

“Come on Drew, over half way” Dad shouted as I approached the roundabout that formed the turn.
“Go, go, go!” Maddy shouted to the accompaniment of “whoo, whoo, whoo!” from Bernie.

Number forty was just exiting as I went onto the island, I checked my clock at the same point, he’d made twenty-five seconds on me. My supporters club shouted encouragement again when I crossed them and I got back into my stride, now with a slight headwind from the right. I started doing race arithmetic, ‘my thirteen minutes to the turn was not terrifically impressive, but it was the longest leg. If I can keep this pace though I should get a short twenty five or long twenty four’

The breeze was more of an annoyance than anything else and I kept plugging away, then, catching me by surprise again was the sharp corner, the finish was less than a mile to go! The change in direction put the breeze over my right shoulder and I could feel my pace quicken some. The chequered board hove into view and I made my last effort to the line. Somehow my support squad were there already, I’m certain I didn’t see the car go past. I’m not sure what they were shouting, I was going into red fog land but finally I crossed the line.

“Thirty nine!” I gasped

I freewheeled along for a bit before changing to a low gear to ride back to the village. I arrived at the same time as the car; they must have come the other way round. I parked my bike and collapsed on the grass overlooking the village pond.
 
“What have you done?” Bernie asked
“Erm, I’m not sure, I forgot to turn my clock off.”
“You must have some idea”
“I think it’s a short twenty five”

Mad was unpinning my number after propping me into a sitting position.

“What do you want to drink Drew? I’ll fetch it for you” Mad offered
“Orange or lemon if they’ve got it”
“Well done Drew” Dad said when he joined us
“Have you seen my time yet?”

We were interrupted by excited squealing coming from the hall behind us.

“Drew, Drew” it was Maddy making all the noise
“What’s up?” Bernie asked as Mad appeared
“24.31!” was all the reply we got
“Who?” I can be so dumb sometimes
“You of course!” Maddy advised, “here you go” she handed me a plastic cup of weak orange.

I put the cup down after a quick taste revealed it was as bad as it looked. Both girls hugged me much to Dad’s bemusement and onlookers’ amusement. Five minutes later I was able to confirm the news, ’39, A Bond (juv), 24.31 (PB)’ a whole ten seconds off my best!
 
We hung around after I’d changed just to confirm that I had also got the prize for second juvenile, it might not seem much but it’s worth five pounds.

“Okay kid’s, the coast?”
“As long as it’s not Cleethorpes” I put in
“I was thinking more like Mablethorpe or even Skeggy”
“Skegvegas!” I pronounced as my choice
“Girls, that okay with you”
“Anywhere’s fine” Bernie suggested
“Skeggies fine” Mad agreed
“Skeggy it is then” Dad agreed as we got into the car.

It’s just as well that I spent the drive down the coast reliving my ride, as there was nothing to see. The sea wall stops you seeing the sea and the country is an unrelieved expanse of flat fens. We bypassed Mablethorpe and Chapel St Leonard’s and finally arrived at the bustling town that is Skegness.

Dad claimed that when he was a boy the beach only went to the end of the half-mile pier, but as we walked past the ‘sea front’ amusements, we could barely make out where water and sand changed. Rather than sitting in for a meal we settled for gritty burgers from a kiosk before heading into the low dunes to do some sun bathing. For a change everyone, including me, had come prepared with sun block, towels, swimming costumes and Dad even had a big umbrella!

The girls slipped off their skirts and tops to reveal their costumes, I was soon down to my cozzie and with some haste we applied the factor 30. With Dad looking after our stuff, the three of us went in search of the sea. We eventually reached an inlet where we joined a few other like-minded souls, paddling and generally larking about. It was the on shore breeze which eventually forced us back to the dunes where we found Dad dozing under the umbrella.

The three of us larked around with a Frisbee for a while then we joined Dad on the sand and sat and talked. Dad eventually woke up and checking his watch announced that it was time to go. We reassembled our clothing and made our way back to the car. The girls made an excursion to the ladies to change out of their swimsuits and by the time they returned giggling the car was otherwise packed and ready to go.

We stopped just outside Horncastle to eat; after all we hadn’t really eaten since breakfast! It was about an hour from there back to Warsop and the girls and I spent much of that dozing.
 
“Drew?”
“Um, yeah” I replied stretching
“You are coming tomorrow?” Maddy asked
“Course I am, two o’clock right?”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a bit earlier” she advised
“Who else is coming?” I asked
“Well I’ve invited about twenty” Mad replied
“Any boys other than me and Rhod?”
“There’s a couple, if they come”
“We’ll have you two at our mercy!” Bernie gleefully mentioned

Oh boy!

We dropped the girls off at home and arrived home just before eight.
 

As I lay in bed later, I reflected on the weekend’s events. Seeing Mum off at the Airport was a low but that was countered by my ride today. Another ten seconds! Then this afternoon at Skegvegas – Rhod and Ally would have enjoyed it. And Gaby. But Gaby is gone now, for good! No more wearing dresses! I guess it was fun sometimes but I never really wanted to do it. Perhaps now I can live a normal life?

I’ll have to wrap Maddy’s presents in the morning, probably just Rhod and me with twenty girls at the barbecue! Ah well!
 
Maddy Bell 05.12.03