Chapter 5
We spent the afternoon lazing around the hotel pool and being well looked after by the staff as well as being chatted to by several tanned and fit young men. The band had been spending the day in interviews and we all had dinner in a separate dining room.
Of course, we all had to look good, so we were all in cocktail dresses and were joined by several our other passengers. I found myself sitting next to Lesley and she told me about the funny things that had happened during the day. She got around to asking me what I thought about being chatted up by the TV lothario the night before and I told her that I enjoyed it, not because I was fooling him but because I was fooling myself.
When she looked at me quizzically, I went on. “Lesley, if I can’t fool myself into thinking I am female, how am I going to fool anyone else? That guy thought I was a woman and it made me bolder, I played the part as if I was genuine and the more he chatted, the more I felt empowered. When he gave me his card and kissed my hand, I was almost wondering whether he could make love as well as I do and, strangely, what he may look like without the suit. That is something I had never contemplated before. Hell, I had never contemplated even contemplating it.”
She laughed and told me that I was thinking like a woman, and I had only been playing the part for a couple of weeks. She wondered what my thought processes would be like after a couple of months or more. I was wondering that as well.
We spent a lot of the rest of the evening giggling together as we graded the male passengers and even the hotel staff. When we agreed that one of the waiters was a real hunk and she told me that it would be interesting to find out what he would feel like inside. I suddenly felt sad that I would never be able to experience the ultimate sensation of womanhood and I found my eyes tearing up.
That was a wake-up for me. Was I going queer or was I becoming more like a female? Suddenly I felt afraid of what I had become, and she must have seen the fear in my eyes because she hugged me and whispered “It’s all right, Chris, there is no problem with looking at guys and wondering what they would be like in bed. We girls do it all the time, even if we do think we are lesbians. You would be strange if you didn’t feel some of this, seeing how you are dressed and how men now treat you. You look, and act, good enough to be attractive and most guys probably look at you now and wonder what you would look like naked and gasping as they pin you to a bed with their dick.”
That made me start. I gasped “Who, me?”
“Yes, you, sweet CeeCee. I’ve heard some of the guys in the cabin talking during the flight and they spoke about you as a possible conquest. Don’t be surprised if you get asked for a dinner date before too long. You should, if you really want to keep up the role, accept, have fun, perhaps dance a little and then let him kiss you. Once you do that you will not be fooling yourself any longer and you will be more ready to love me instead.”
We all went off to our own rooms at a reasonable hour and I had a strange dream where I was confronted by the waiter, me wearing just a bikini. He stood there with just underpants and a huge bulge in them. As I looked it got so big that the pants tore in half and fell off him and I woke up in a sweat with my nightie bunched around my neck.
I went to the toilet for a pee and sat there wondering about my dream. Was it a dream or just a nightmare? Right at this moment, with the final picture of his enormous dick in my mind, I should be thinking that a nightmare was right but then decided that it could be just a dream after all, but one I will keep to myself
At breakfast everyone was getting excited about the show today. The band all said that it was just another show, but I could see that it was the first step in their countdown to retirement. After all, they had been in the charts for nearly twenty years and a couple of them weren’t that much younger than me.
Lesley would have to be pushing forty and had been a child star on a TV talent show. I had to smile as year for year, our cabin crew were younger than any of them. The local morning paper was full of pictures of them being interviewed yesterday but the one that took my eye was a long lens shot of us coming in over the mountains with our bikini clad beauty shining against an early morning sky. I took the paper to the reception and asked if they could order a big print of that one to be charged to my room.
I then got my phone out and sent a text to Bronwyn asking if she could get a big print of the one of us taking off as well and to hold it until I got back. Ten minutes later she sent back a message saying it had already been ordered for the office lounge, along with several from the launch. Terry had asked for one of Lesley and me standing together in our long dresses because he thought that when I sat at his desk, it should be on the opposite wall to remind me not to get too macho.
When I got back to the table, Molly had told one of the band members that we called the plane Betsy because of the designation letters and there was a discussion going on about actually giving our painting the name of Betsy.
The promotion guys thought it was a great idea and so the tour suddenly got a new name – Betsy Conquers the World Tour was born that morning and from there on in Lesley would joke on stage as being the leader of the ‘Betsy Band’.
The promo guy went off to reception to order a number of the prints and that ended up with the amateur photographer who took the shot getting a ringside seat to the last concert here as well as a good payment for the copyright of the picture
Today was not a day for lazing around the pool. Today was a working day, starting with my crew all going to the hotel salon for a maintenance check. The girls did not need long but I had a session booked to be defuzzied and was told that it would be better if I had laser treatment on my body to match the one that was done on my face. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would and they redid my nails as it progressed. We would be back in after lunch to get the hair upswept and the dramatic make-up and after that the band had the rest of the afternoon as they would be opening at eight.
We had a private lunch with me and my crew just wearing our undies with a thin gown over the top. Then we were back in the salon before going to our rooms where the tour dressers waited for us with our long dresses and heels, each of us wearing a colour that matched one of the band members in the first half.
We left the hotel and were taken to the Aloha Stadium in a couple of limos, feeling like stars. At the Stadium we were brought back to earth with a thump. The show manager took us around and showed us the entrances and exits, the ‘good’ seats where the dignitaries we would be hostess to would sit, the best routes to the toilets and, last of all, the way down to the dressing rooms and the big gym area (now cleared) where there will be food and drinks in the break and after the show.
Each one of us had a group of around a dozen of the main dignitaries to look after, the others getting regular show hostesses. We were expected to sit with them during the show and make sure that their needs were met.
I was getting the Governor and her party for the first night. Down in the gym area we met up with the back-stage manager, a guy I had met several times with other tours. He took a look at me, then at my company badge and then back at my face with a big smile appearing on his.
“You really have done the deed for this one, Chris” he guffawed “You were pretty convincing as the poofy boy band follower in the pink shirt, but this takes the prize. Thinking back, I must say that you were not convincing as a hard rocker biker a couple of years back. Today you look so good I could kiss you.”
The other girls were grinning, so I said, “Why wait, Jack, her I am with my lips pursed.”
He couldn’t back down now, and he closed his eyes and came close so I grabbed his head and gave him a huge smooch, much to the enjoyment of the rest of my crew and even more hooting from his own staff, also watching the boss get his come-uppance.
If my reputation was going down the gurgler with every passing day, I could, at least, take a few loudmouths with me. Oddly enough, it felt good to finally break the shackles and kiss a guy and, on top of that, my standing with my crew went up several notches as well, they having to put up with macho idiots all their lives. The oddest bit was that, during the kiss, we played tongues and I think that he may have liked it.
We all had a light tea while we were down there and then equipped with ears and throat mics so we could hear the show director as well as conveying any problems upstairs. Then it was our show time.
We went back up to the main entrance to await our charges, the chatter over the ears sounding almost like a control tower conversation. There were spotters on the road outside, so we got a heads up when our particular parties were arriving and it started to get busy.
When my party arrived, I was there to greet my guests in a proper fashion, gather them together and lead them to a side-room where they could have a couple of drinks and mingle. By the time the last of my crew ushered their crowd in there was about a hundred of us talking.
The Governor was a very nice person to talk to and her husband was ex-USAF, so we had a bit in common with planes. We got the call to get our groups seated at about seven thirty so ushered them all out and showed them to their seats.
I was in a row behind between two burly security guys and felt very safe. Well, I thought I was safe but during the first half with a lot of romantic songs, one of the guys took hold of my hand and wouldn’t let go. I gather that news of my real identity had not been sent to everyone.
The first half was lovely, the girls all sang beautifully and there was a small orchestra backing them up. My dress was matched by Lesley, and she spent some of her time singing love songs to me, although it could have been just to the ‘best’ seats.
I got the call to be ready for the break so wrested my hand from my smiling companion and whispered that we were up next. At the break we had a way out almost directly in front of us, so I made sure my group was behind me as I led them down to the food and drink.
The band had come off stage and was waiting for us, Lesley giving me a hug and a kiss in front of everyone. They stayed for several minutes before having to go and change into grunge rockers for the second half and I found that my security guy was now making sure that he stayed away. Perhaps it was the kiss that Lesley gave me that changed his mind.
We had about twenty minutes before we got word to wind it up and get seated again. It took a little while to pull them all away from the food and drink, especially the drink, but we did get them all back in place before the second half started.
This was all electric, the orchestra having gone home. It was loud, proud and very confronting if you were a total straight, bible-thumping conservative. Most of the audience were total opposites but I could see a few of my group looking uncomfortable, especially my previous hand-holder who sat as far away from me as possible. Perhaps he thought I may infect him with queer girl cooties.
At the end of the show I was to guide my crowd down to the gym area again but the Governor and several of her party said that they needed to be going so I called on the show controller that I was sending some of my group down with the remnants of other groups and he quickly ordered half of my crew to take the ones who wanted the food and drink while I and the others led the dignitaries back to their limos.
It was the four of us that waved the confronted conservatives off and then had a bit of a laugh before going back to the gym area via the toilets. The hard part was over for us and it was just the after party to get through.
Back at the gym we had the comms gear taken away and were free to enjoy ourselves. The band was happy to have the ice broken and it was pretty good for everyone there, the show people now outnumbering the visitors.
That’s how the tour progressed, those who didn’t know what they were in for either loving the second half or hating it. Everyone loved the first half, though and I wondered if Lesley could finish off her career as a solo singer of love songs.
Eventually we managed to say goodnight to the last of the visitors and make our way back to the hotel in a bus. Lesley and I sat together, and she asked me about my reaction to the second half.
I told her that when I had seen DVDs of the show before I had not understood it and had been more interested in the reactions of those around me to think of how I thought about it myself. I told her that I now got the lyrics to some of the songs, having experienced womanhood for a while, now. That night we were all in our own rooms, it had been a big day in more ways than one.
Marianne Gregory © 2022
