Part 3

While we were waiting for the train she asked about the process of supplying the drugs, now that my fingerprints were on file. I told her that the baggies were pre-packaged and the dealer, or his assistants, used nitrile gloves.

They would come to me in a paper bag and I would transfer them to envelopes using tweezers and avoid touching the envelopes unless it was by the edges.

She then asked about the money and I told her that I was paid double what each baggie had cost me and that there were virtually no overheads.

I offered her the whole amount if she wanted it and she told me not to be silly as I needed to get myself a whole new wardrobe. That was not going to be cheap.

“Tonight, though, I will have to lend you something of mine to wear when we go out to the meal.”

I protested that it was her night out with her friend and she argued, “Of course I can’t leave you on the flat alone on the first night without the bracelet. What if you decided to do a runner?”

She did, however, deliver the last bit with a smile.

When we got home I showed her the electrical cabinet as we passed and I opened it. There was no money there and I didn’t expect there to be as the usual business was more towards the end of the week.

Up to our floor in the lift and we were both getting a little nervous. Our new door had already been fitted and a copper was waiting for us in the lounge. With him in tow we inspected the whole place to find exactly what we thought.

My wardrobe was open but the false floor was back down; the dressing table was somewhat worse for wear, looking as if someone had given it a few kicks. Sarah had lost her jewellery box and the cookie jar of loose change was empty. There were also some signs of a very angry person taking their anger out on the furniture.

Sarah said that everything that was damaged would be covered under her insurance and that the jewellery was all paste so no great loss. The only real things she had she wore all the time.

I, of course, had nothing obvious to lose. The only thing the copper was unsure about was that I didn’t look like the person that was supposed to live in the spare room and certainly not the person described in my docket.

I pointed out the various holes in my face and told him that the person described no longer existed. He signed off on a police incident report and gave us a copy for the insurance. We thanked him for his help and showed him out with much relief.

“Right, it’s time we started to get ready for our night out. You take that stuff off and get into the shower and then you can attempt to make yourself look good while I have my shower. I’ll put some things on your bed for you and you can use my vanity to attempt your make-up. I hate to think what you will make of it. I’ve never seen you in make-up since early high school and that was the bare minimum we could get away with.”

So I stripped off and had the best shower of my life, making sure that I shaved my legs and armpits and used a lot of shampoo and conditioner. When I got out with a towel around me I found an evening dress and full set of underwear on the bed and a nightie and dressing gown draped over the pillow.

This was, in my mind, the stuff that fuelled my wet dreams in an earlier life. I suddenly thought that the details of that life were getting a little hazy as the day went on. I was becoming Samantha with every passing minute.

No wonder the old guy had told me to be careful with what I wished. I slowly put on the lacy bra and panties and carefully rolled the panty-hose up, making sure not to snag it. I still had my well-trimmed fingernails and thought that working in a salon may be a blessing in disguise. Being twins we were the same size and the shoes that matched the dress fitted perfectly.

While Sarah was in the shower I sat at her vanity and looked through her collection of make-up. Knowing the dress colour I slowly styled my look to emphasise my better points and then brushed my shortish hair so it covered the tops of my ears to hide the fretwork. The Elastoplast was in the bin and the stitches disguised with foundation.

It was easier than I thought as I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I just had to teach my hands to move in the right way. When I went back into my room I put the dress on and felt right for the first time in my life.

I didn’t have a mirror in my room, having always hated looking at myself, so had to wait until Sarah was ready before I could see the finished product.

In the meantime I pulled all of my ‘bloke’ gear out of the ruined dresser and stacked it in the bottom of the wardrobe, along with the other pair of ‘bovver boots’. There wasn’t a lot in the end and would only need a couple of bags taken down to the charity bin.

When Sarah called that she was ready to see me I went to her room and her hand went to her mouth as she saw me.

“My God!” she cried “You’re beautiful! How on earth did you manage to get that look the first time out, it looks fantastic with that dress. I do try but sometimes I look at myself and something looks off but I don’t know what it is.”

I told her that I had studied for a lot of years about make-up but had never had the opportunity to put it into practice before. I then asked her to sit at the vanity and I made some subtle changes to her own make-up which brought out her eyes more and really made her smile.

We looked at ourselves together in her big mirror and I thought that I would look better when my hair grew a bit. She took some pictures on her phone and sprayed us both with perfume and gave me a coat and bag that matched my dress with some contents already there.

I added the lipstick I had used on myself and then went back to my room and put the disc in the bag. Before we left I told her that I wanted this to be on me as a thank you for her support. She opened the safe and peeled two hundred off and put it in her purse to pay the bill with.

We walked, arm in arm, to the restaurant, our heels clicking on the pavement. I was in another world now, a genuine woman, dressed to the nines and going out to eat.

All I now needed was a good man and I would be complete. The thought made me giggle and she asked me what I had thought of. I could only answer that the thought had been about a cock that wasn’t mine and I had been struck with the concept of being womanly for the first time in my life.

Actually, for the first time in Sam’s life as well. She commented that it was about time.

At the restaurant we put our coats in the cloakroom and went into the main dining area where Sarah saw her friend waiting for us at a table. Sarah had made the booking and it was set for three already.

He stood as we approached and Sarah hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning to me, “Roger, I don’t think you have met my twin sister, Samantha, before. Samantha, this is Roger the door man and a friend for some time through work he has done with the legal firm. We sometimes have to organise changes of locks for divorce cases.”

“I wondered who the third person would be and if it would be your boyfriend, Sarah. I must say that eating out with two lovely ladies is a real treat for me and I must get a waiter to take a picture of us together so I can brag to the guys at work tomorrow.”

He then thought a bit, “Look, I don’t want to talk out of place so please take this as a genuine question. I had been told that your crazy sister was trying to be your brother and was only living with you as a condition of parole. I don’t see anything other than the tom-boy haircut here, what gives?”

I laughed, “Roger, you are not out of line. If you had seen me this time last week you would have run out of the restaurant screaming. I am the crazy sister doing time but the conditions on my parole have been altered today and I start a job tomorrow. And no, I don’t want to be a bloke and was wondering if you had any brothers at home as handsome as you are.”

He smiled and said there were a few at his work who would be happy to be seen with me as long as it was a double date with him and Sarah. There!! The ice had been broken.

I could see Sarah smiling at him, “But only a couple of times, mind. I will want you all to myself sometime.”

We had a good meal with a couple of bottles of wine and we got a waiter to take pictures of us with his phone and also Sarah’s. It was a pleasant evening and we chatted about all sorts of things.

He did tell us that the police had been able to get an image of the guy they thought had broken in from the camera outside the front entrance of the tower. He had been carrying a box and looked a bit like a delivery driver.

There was vision a half an hour later of him with the box under his arm when he left again. I wondered if they had been monitoring it lately and had seen my meetings with the dealer, although I was sure the bench was far enough off to one side not to be fully in shot.

He walked us home and I went inside after giving him a kiss on the cheek. Sarah gave me the new key and said she may be a few minutes. We were all tipsy but I think she had other things on her mind.

Sure enough, when she did get to the flat she had a big smile on her face and her lipstick was no longer in evidence. I had put the kettle on and had made us a couple of mugs of coffee and we sat at the kitchen table to drink it.

“I hope you gave him a tissue to wipe his mouth with or else he’s going to get some odd looks on the way home.”

She laughed that he had the works van at the restaurant car park and his only problem would be if he got stopped.

We alternated with the bathroom cleaning our make-up off and using moisturiser, both in our nighties and gowns.

Sarah said goodnight and then added “It’s been a very strange day. I started off with a hooligan sister who wanted to be my brother and no boyfriend. I’ve finished up with a beautiful ex-drug dealing sister and a boyfriend and, you know what, it just makes me happy.”

“Tomorrow you start work, you will need to wear a simple shift and they will supply a smock. By the time Saturday comes around you’ll have some idea of what you need to get and we will go shopping with your ill-gotten gains. I will, however, bring home some more underwear for you which I will pay for with a bit more of your money. OK with that?”

What else could I do but give her a hug.

Part 4

If Sarah had thought it had been an odd day then what about mine! I had started out as a well-built bloke working in a warehouse who dreamt of being a woman and here I was, at the end of the day, an actual woman with a twin sister who I loved unreservedly for her support and courage.

Not to mention going from a totally clean record to one which ‘almost’ rivalled Al Capone.

I lay in bed and rubbed my hands over my new body through the silky nightie and fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Early on Tuesday morning I was up and out of bed with the larks and made breakfast for the two of us. Sarah was attracted to the kitchen by the smell and, when we had eaten and tidied up, we again alternated with the bathroom and her vanity.

She had pulled out a simple dress for me to wear today and paired it with some clean underwear and low heeled shoes as she said I would be on my feet most of the day. We walked to the salon and she left me to wait for the owner while she headed for her train.

It wasn’t long before the owner turned up and let us both in. She showed me where to leave my bag and where to change into the salon uniform smock while she put the kettle on.

We sat in the kitchenette out the back while she queried me on who had done my make-up this morning and looked a bit dis-believing when I said that I had done it myself.

She commented that she had been told that I was a female to male transgender, heavily studded felon with an attitude.

I laughed, “That’s all so last week,” which made her chuckle.

When the other girls came in she told them that I was to have been their new general cleaner and dogs-body but if my claim about doing my own make-up this morning was correct, I may have a better future.

She picked one of the girls who looked like she had done her make-up with a one inch brush and told her to go and clean off her face. Before the shop opened I was to redo her make-up with the other girls watching and then we would discuss my duties after that.

My subject, Ingrid, was very good and kept still while I worked on her. It didn’t take long at all as she had quite good looks but no idea of colour. The owner did let on that Ingrid was a very good hair stylist and would return the favour if I got it right.

I had to explain why I used the colours I did and any variations I would use to get a different result. When Ingrid looked in the mirror the joy was there for all to see.

I waited as they all looked at me and then Jacquie, the owner, made the decision for them.

“Premium customers, weddings and dinner dances. Samantha, you will get a chair in a separate room and I will need you to work late on Fridays and Saturdays if needed. I will give you a day or so off in the early part of the week so you can do your shopping. That OK with the rest of you?”

They all agreed and so I started my first day as the cleaner being promoted to specialist make-up artist. I still had to do general cleaning as we worked through the day, as did everyone between customers, but it wasn’t hard.

I ended the day with five make-ups on my own and every customer leaving a good tip that went into a shared pool. At the end of the day Ingrid gave me a quick spruce-up with some shaping that made my hair-do a bit more feminine, promising to keep it looking good as it grew out.

When Sarah came to pick me up I had just finished being given a manicure by Jacquie and now sported nails that were a bit longer than I had been used to and certainly a different colour.

The others had left already but Jacquie was reluctant to leave me sitting outside on my own. I think that she was a bit afraid of Mrs. Butcher. She told Sarah about my working hours and Sarah said she would arrange time off for a couple of weeks to help me shop.

As we were walking home she said that it would be a good arrangement because she wanted me to go with her to her office when we were in town again. They had all heard about the criminal tom-boy lout and she wanted to show them just how untrue the reputation was.

I thought about that and wondered just what the reputation of Bill Williams was going to look like before long.

I cooked our dinner that night. I had been cooking for myself for some years now and had often wondered what it would be like to cook a meal for a beautiful woman. Little had I guessed that the beautiful woman would be my own sister!

Afterwards she opened up the bags she had brought home and I was now the owner of several new sets of underwear, hose and nightwear as well as a couple of tops and skirts. Everything was beautiful and fitted like a glove. What else could it do with me having my own exact size model shopping for me? She had doubled up on a few items so we could go out in identical outfits and mess with peoples’ heads.

She said that she had ordered a new vanity for me to be delivered but that that I would have to channel my inner male and wield the Allan key when it got here. There would also be a new coffee table and sideboard which had both been well and truly kicked.

When we started putting my new things away she got a couple of big garbage bags and we filled them with the old Sam clothing, all of which would fit me but none of which I would wear in a fit. These were left by the door to be taken to a charity bin later.

That evening I had another new experience, taking off my clothes with my new nails. I was going to have to learn the technique quickly tomorrow morning when it came to putting my bra on.

I slept very well after running my new nails over my nightie and getting a bit of a shock when I grazed my nipples with them, having to go back and try it again several times to see if I could repeat the charge that went through my body as I did so.

Wednesday at the salon I had a visit from Mrs. Butcher, who was interested to see if I was up to scratch as a cleaner. Jacquie brought her through to my cubicle as I was tidying up after a customer and sat her on the chair.

“Just for coming in today, Madam, you will get a specialist make-over from our head stylist. I’ll leave you in Samantha’s capable hands.”

I put the cape on her and she looked very odd as I cleaned off her face and reapplied her make-up to suit the dress she was wearing.

“This will go with your dress today, Madam; I suggest that if you intend to go out tonight you should not change. However, if you are going to wear something special you should come in again so we can give you a palette to match the outfit.”

The look on her face was priceless when she saw herself and how her look worked with her dress.

As Mrs. Butcher walked out of the salon in a bit of a daze Jacquie couldn’t stop the giggles and it infected everyone else. She gave me a pat and said that if that wasn’t enough to shorten my sentence she didn’t know what was.

I was kept very busy for the rest of the day as it was a church dinner-dance that evening and we were inundated with ladies wanting to look their best. Sarah had to wait for a quarter of an hour while I made the Lady Mayoress look good so Jacquie gave her a quick hairdo to fill her time, chatting all the time about the effect I was having on the business with my sunny attitude and willingness to pitch in.

She related the earlier incident with Mrs. Butcher and the giggles bubbled out again so we were all in a good mood when she locked up and we went home.

Sarah had a couple of bags with some food so I cooked us up a different meal that night and we sat with the radio on as the TV had been kicked in.

I didn’t mind as the only time I used to watch TV was when there was a show with good looking women in it and that didn’t matter anymore. I wasn’t ready, yet, to start looking at shows to ogle buff guys.

I told Sarah that we had a full set of bookings for Friday and Saturday and that Thursday had been filling quickly as well. There was a civic do that the local hobnobs were going to and word had spread quickly about some new girl at Jacquies’ salon.

I had all day Monday and Tuesday morning off so Sarah could make her arrangements around that. I had been busy most of the day so I said goodnight early and went off to do my face cleaning and went off to bed, falling into a deep sleep.

I woke up in a start around midnight but everything was quiet. I tried to settle but felt that something was wrong.

Eventually the feeling faded and I went off into another deep sleep. I didn’t tell Sarah about it next morning as I thought that I must have had a bad dream that I had immediately forgotten.

Thursday was full on, the salon being a queue of non-stop customers with us having to stagger our lunches to suit. Once again Sarah had to wait while I finished with my eleventh make-over of the day.

Before we closed Jacquie totalled up the tip jar and gave us all cash for our share. I was only eligible for three days’ worth but it was still more than I thought it would be.

Sarah suggested that we could set up a new bank account for me with it and that any money in my old account would be transferred on-line with my wages following. She thought that we should work through the cash I had made with normal and clothes shopping and save my legal earnings.

Friday was a repeat with a steady line of customers being worked on. Even Jacquie had to do some of the work and the other girls were excited at the amount of business we were working through. A couple of times Jacquie had to warn about taking short cuts.

When Sarah came to pick me up I still had two customers waiting so she just said she would cook tonight and that she would be at home when I got there. When I finally got home and took my shoes off she had a meal almost ready to serve.

We sat down and as we began to eat she said “I had an interesting phone call today. A Fiona rang my mobile and wanted to speak to the friend who texted her and to thank her, or him. It seems that there was a bit of an altercation between the police and a guy who looks a lot like a rugby player.”

“That would have been about midnight to two on Thursday morning.”

She looked shocked as she nodded.

Marianne Gregory (C) 2022