Bruce Finds His Rainbow. Part 5

That nights’ work seemed like a dream for Bree. All he could think of was that the rest of the guys had been thinking he was a girl the whole time he had been working with them. That explained why they were so kind to him, and even why he had caught Peter looking at him at odd times.

Saturday morning his mother told him that this was to be the first day of the rest of his life and to put on the rainbow top with the red jeans again as he had an appointment at the salon she always went to. They took the bus into town and when they walked into the salon they were greeted by one of the ladies and taken to two chairs side by side. “What happens now, Mum?” he asked quietly. She looked him straight in the eyes and said “You, my girl, are going to become Bree this morning and then we are going to see a Suzie from Suzies’ Secrets to get you some proper underwear. Then, if we have some time, we will see Joy and take a chunk out of that credit you have built up. Now sit back and let the magic begin.”

So, for the next two hours, Bruce melded into Bree in more ways than one. When they allowed her to stand and look at herself in the mirror she could see nothing of the old, grey, average, Bruce of the time before the orange shirt. What looked back at her was a tallish girl with flowing auburn hair and gorgeous eyes and ruby red lips. When she put her hand up to push a curl away from her eye she saw that she now had shaped fingernails that matched her lips and there were studs in her ears. The girls in the salon all gave her a hug and told her she was going to be a real guy-magnet in future.

At Suzies’ Secrets she had flutters of fright when walking in with her mother but was immediately given a cup of tea while being shown various items of womens underwear that she had never seen before outside the magazines that were scattered in the change room at work. Her mother took charge and chose some panties and a bra in her size, just plain white with centre bows. In the booth she had a bit of a problem with the bra but worked it out in the end. Her mother asked if she was all right and, when she said she was, the curtain was pulled back and her mother gave her a couple of silicon items to put into the bra cups. “These are the smallest they do” she said “we don’t want you walking around with a sudden pair of big breasts.” They bought some white, black and red bra and panty sets as well as matching garter belts and a range of stockings. Then they added full and half- slips, camisoles and six nighties with a couple of dressing gowns. Bree paid for it all with a cheque, realising that she had hardly spent any of her wages on herself before.

When they left that shop Bree was far more confident in her ability to present as a girl, even though it had never been consciously on her radar before. The thought of now being able to try on that cobalt blue dress was almost intoxicating and, when she did just that, she looked at herself in the mirror and wondered what Peter would think if he saw her now. She did only buy the blue dress but did stock up with a few pairs of skinny jeans in red, green, blue and orange, as well as a number of blouses and tops. They also added a fleecy winter jacket and a couple of denim skirts. There was just one more place to go and that was a shoe shop.

With yet another couple of bags with some boots and a pair of blue heels to match the dress, they took the bus home again to put much of her old clothes in bags and hang her new wardrobe. Her mother went through the boxes of goodies that the girls had given her and found that there was enough among it that she would not need to buy cosmetics or hair shampoo for a while. It was then that they realised that they had forgotten handbags and jewellery so they had lunch and went out again to rectify the error, Bree now in some new jeans and bright pink top with her new boots. She looked at herself in the mirror before leaving and wondered what the future held.

Monday morning she was woken by her mother who said that she should wear one of her new tops with a long denim skirt and to put her boots on as they had an appointment with her doctor later in the morning. With her mother she went into town again on the bus, thinking that the old bike would be awkward now and that she had better think of some other form of transport. At the doctors her mother remained seated when she was called in as Bruce Grayson. Her doctor had a double take when she walked into his surgery and sat down. “I think I can see why you are here” he said “go behind that screen, strip off everything and put on the gown you will find. I will arrange for a full set of tests to see where we are with you.”

After he had weighed and measured her he listened to her lungs, poked and prodded places where no-one had poked or prodded before and then told her to get dressed again. All the while he was asking questions and was told how it all started with an orange shirt, too many Bruce’s and that things just kept on happening. Bree admitted that she had never before considered being a girl but that everyone she met seemed to make the assumption she was, even if a bit of a tomboy. She took her forklift licence out of her wallet and showed him where they had approved Miss Bree Grayson to drive and look after forklifts. “I spent four days there in hi-vis and workpants” she said “and they still thought I was a girl.”

Eventually the doctor had finished writing on her record, added squiggles to the blood and urine samples and then called the receptionist to call Mrs Grayson to come in. When her mother had sat down he said “Now, I have examined young Bree as much as I could today and will recommend some other scans for later, but, I have to say that she would have never grown up to be a full-blooded man. The testes are almost non-existent and the penis is about the size one would find on a five-year old, not someone approaching twenty. Her body mass is similar to a pre-pubescent teenage girl and I fully expect the blood tests to come back with a minimal testosterone reading. I can only guess on the estrogen rating but it I can be certain that it will be abnormally high for a teenage boy. We can wait until we know for sure but I will give you a prescription today for testosterone blockers and a mild hormone supplement that will help in the female appearance until we can do more serious work. Once that occurs I would be happy to sign off on allowing you to change your name and sex on the birth records because I know that the best thing for her is to become a fully functioning female if she wants to lead a normal life.” He gave them the prescriptions and they thanked him before leaving the surgery.

She was quiet on the bus home and held her mums hand all the way. Sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea she finally broke down into tears while her mother held her. When she had cried herself out she said “Sorry about that, Mum, but it just became too much for me to take in. I am better now and I must face up to the fact that I am Bree and I will be the best daughter you have.” She then went up to her room to get ready for work. She wore the rainbow top again with the red jeans and sneakers; put her work boots in a back-pack along with her sandwich. Pulling on her usual jumper and riding jacket she thought that both will need updating to something more girly soon.

At work she went to see Mr Jackson and he gave her a new key. The receptionist showed her to the ladies change-room where, to her amazement, most of the girls were still putting on their going home clothes. The room smelt of soap and perfume and she realised that the girls just didn’t rush home in their normal clothes without having a shower. She was warmly greeted with hugs and shown her locker. The problem now was that she was in a room full of half-dressed women and had to strip off to change herself. She closed her eyes and just got on with it, stripping down to her new pants and bra then putting on the new yellow kit that was in the locker. The pants fitted much better, as did the yellow shirt with the reflective bars and Bree embroidered across the back in bright pink.

She clocked on and went to do her work for the evening. She found the guys were even more accepting of her than before and the evening went well. She noticed Peter was looking at her every chance he got and she giggled to herself that he thought her worth looking at. When she clocked off that night she made sure that she took a shower herself before getting dressed and said goodnight to the security guard as she was the last to leave. Tuesday morning she put on another new top, short denim skirt with leggings and boots and decided that whatever else she was going to do today, she would be coming home in a new jumper.

The week passed with everything going well, the work was good, the girls gave her another box of oddments and Peter spent so much time looking at her he was told off by Tom. The work-load was picking up as they got closer to Christmas with all of the unloading bays open now. Her shift worked into overtime on a few nights but it was good to be busy. On Friday she got a message to make an appointment with the doctor again for Monday. That Friday evening, when she clocked on, she noticed a poster next to the time clock advertising the work Christmas party at a large pub in the next town. She realised that as there was around fifty working in the warehouse, plus office staff and partners, it would be quite a big do if everyone went. They would earn the party as they would be working right up to the weekend before Christmas. There was also a note on her time-card telling her that Saturday work would start the following weekend.

That Friday evening Peter plucked up the courage and asked her to go with him to the works party and she thought for a moment before saying yes.

Marianne G 2021