Hi, Sofia here. Mary gave me permission to tell her story so here it is, picking up from when I asked her a question, but here’s a refresher of where we were when she told it to me.

I got a cab round to Mary’s so I could change back and sort out everything the male me needed for work next week. There were a couple of questions I needed to ask her so once the change had started I said, “Mary, there’s a couple of things you said and I wanted to ask you about it.” She told me I could ask her anything so I began….

I asked her, “You told me that if I had stayed a ten year old I would have grown up and lived a life from then. Does that mean my age, the previous 38 years of my life are, I don’t know, reset back to ten?” Mary looked at me for a few seconds, clearly thinking about what she will say next then smiled. She said, “Perhaps I should tell you a bit about my life to answer the question you really want to ask, but yes, you would live a whole new life.” I sat back really thinking hard with so many different thoughts running through my head at once. I looked at her but she held up her hand and told me she would explain why the medallion is both a blessing and a curse.

“I don’t remember much of my early life, well, none of us do but I learnt more later from my mother after father died. I don’t know exactly when I was born, for most people it just wasn't important or recorded but I do know it must have been about 1540.” She paused to let that sink in, before carrying on. “It seemed my father did some service to some Earl or Lord at a battle somewhere, it was never really important enough to me to try to find out and there were so many in those days it could have been hundreds of different ones. But that service somehow meant he moved to court from our home and my mother and myself moved with him. With so much going on I was unaware of most but it seemed he ended up working on the royal estate in the service of Henry VIII and we lived in what was basically a hut. I do remember seeing the King at least once, but what happened next was the part I remember the most. My father came home much earlier than usual, in fact I rarely saw him as he worked so much, but he ran in, talked to my mother and I was called inside. We packed a few things, literally just a sack and it was over my father’s shoulder and we started walking quickly away from our home. From what I learned later the king had died and in the upheaval and confusion of things, everyone at court was out for theirselves and those that could ran did, lest they end up in gaol or worse dead. I believe my father managed to get some silver things, but we walked for what seemed forever until we returned to his birthplace. His father was still alive and we lived in a small home which at least had an upstairs in Shottery, Warwickshire.

“My grandfather died shortly after we got there, and my father returned to working the land, something I did a few years after. And that was my life, I inherited the building when they died, worked the land, had a wife and as was the way then our children died young, my wife died and I grew old until I was too old to work the land. I suspected I would die alone in poverty in that home, really just a small hut with an attic room, but in 1613 I got a job tending a garden. I know the year this time, I would have been in my 70’s and a gentleman took pity on me, he was rich and had returned from London to live with his wife. He was nice man, very funny and liked the few stories I knew of seeing the old king while living on the royal estate. I must have made some of the things up that I told him, but William Shakespeare did that himself and he seemed to like my company. Yes, most people forget that his wife’s home is in Shottery not Stratford, but anyway, he was a nice gentleman who took pity on me in my final years and saved me in many ways. One particular evening I was complaining about being old and wearied with no family and wondering if I had wasted my life compared to him and he asked me what I would do if I could start again. Of course I said so many things, the things an old man regrets and he took something out of a secret draw in a bureau against the wall and pressed it into my hand. He told me it was magic, of course, we all believed in magic in this days, and said that this can make me young again and told me to put it on that night.

So I slipped it into my pocket, we drank more ale and when I got home I put it on as I went to bed. In the morning of course I was still me, we slept in our clothes and mostly only had the one set, but I kept it on and carried on going to work. About three weeks later there were some new clothes being delivered to Master Shakespeare's and I needed a new shirt, and there was one and he told me I could have it. It was much finer than anything I had worn, even had some embroidery on it, but I took it home and that night before going to bed I put it on. It was smaller than my clothes, too small for me really and clearly for a younger man, but I put it on and got into bed. Of course you know what the change feels like but I didn’t have a mirror so all I knew is that I felt great and strong for a change. In the morning I walked to master Shakespeare’s, you know it’s funny, even all these years later I still think of him as my employer. Anyway, I was being looked at I was walked along the track, and young Samantha the maid screamed as she didn’t recognise me, but Shakespeare did, he knew my clothes and told the maid to calm down and bring us ale. He showed me what I looked like now, how I had changed and we both examined the medallion, realising it makes you younger with younger clothes. It was quite a while later I learned the full capabilities of the medallion, but I felt great and he no longer wanted it. So he lent me a few coins in a purse, so in went the medallion with cions for safety and I left Shottery to start a new life. Not that long ago, well, not long to me but 20 years ago, I took the girls on a trip to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage to see where I worked and managed to find a car park where my old home was. I was never able to work out where the home on the royal estate was, our even which particular estate it was, but my memories of there were that of a child and I felt no particular attachment to them.

“Anyway, I had no skills other than working the land and I walked for a couple of days, buying what I needed in any market in the villages I passed through until I realised my money wouldn't last long at this rate, so I stopped in some woodland not far from a coppice and made some baskets that I hoped to sell, running from there as quickly as I could as the punishment for stealing the wood isn’t something I wanted to face. I did manage to sell them and I carried on doing this, sleeping rough and trying to make a few more coins on the way. I don’t know how long it took me, but I was now at the coast and managed to get some work helping fishermen bring their boats in, followed by somewhere to live and made myself a life, but I was reluctant to get married again. Although I knew I was a new person, I was just a younger version of myself really so still in love with my late wife. So I lived simply and saved my money until one day I was starting to get old again, so I made a change to a younger self again and headed for a another fishing village, somehow managing to avoid getting caught up in the civil war, well, the English one at least. But I did find the change was useful as I used it when smallpox visited our village and I was infected, having no idea if the change would cure me, but it did that for me twice.

“And so that was how I lived for quite a while moving from place to place until news reached us of the death of the king, George the First in the 1700’s and I decided to move somewhere completely new. You see, there was a ship leaving for the colonies and I asked for work to travel there. The journey on board was horrible and I suffered from sea sickness, which is no fun as there was no choice for me but to keep working while being sick. Anyway, it was a very different world there, and it was clear that there was already going to be a change before long, there was always talk somewhere of rebellion. I tried to stay out of all that as much as possible, but each side was always trying to get the other to do something, and I always had more sympathy for the Regulators, but of course I was also English so it was hard to be a traitor. Still, life was interesting in those days.

“However I once again took the change becoming a young man, now with a sizeable amount of savings, but this was now 1764 and as a young man in the colonies when independence was declared I had to pick a side this time, and found myself fighting for my new home. I liked it there and, yes life was tough but here everyone had a chance to become more than they were and I had fully taken advantage of that, now owning three fishing boats and employed there crews which I ‘inherited’ from myself so to speak. But I went to war and I fought against my countrymen for my new home, trusting the medallion to save me, keeping it close to hand at all times. There’s not much to share about it all really, there was a lot of marching and standing in line to fire a musket on command then either running forwards or running away, often changing regiments depending on how many survived the battle. Still, it happened of course, at the battle of Monmouth in 1778 I was hit in the shoulder by musket ball and taken to the hospital. It hurt a lot, and of course in those days you could expect the infection to kill you and I had an awful fever but no chance to get away from people to make the change to ‘cure’ myself.

“One of the nurses who changed my bandages tore up a brand new dress to make them and dropped it next to my cot when she was called away. I think you can work out what I next discovered as I used the discarded dress to wipe the sweat from my brow and was wearing the medallion. I didn’t expect it to work that way, Master Shakespeare certainly hadn’t warned me, but I instantly felt the change taking effect on me, slowly changing me into a young woman. I was very scared and tried to change myself back, but of course I had no idea until then that couldn't happen for 12 hours, so there I was stuck as a woman in a hospital in the dark where it was expected that many men will die of their injuries. Worse than that I was dressed as a man in bloody clothes, something that would be a serious risk to my freedom. My purse was still with me and I ran. The history books these days report what sadly happens to women following a battle and yes, a group of soldiers caught me and I was forcibly taken. I don’t know how long it lasted, but at dawn I was rescued by an officer who draped his cloak around me and took me to his tent. I was extremely shaken and I lost my purse but as the medallion is just bronze and looks worthless I still had it around my neck. The officer got his servants to look after me and I was cleaned up and given a dress, watching the women closely to try and copy them to avoid any suspicion, not that it was likely of course, they all knew what happened to me and were gentle. As I said, sadly in those days what happened to me was a common event for all women and it wasn’t the last time it happened to me. I hope it’s something you never have to face.

“The officer returned later that day and had retrieved my purse, seeing the gold coins I had and so thinking I was a women of substance he helped me, but I never had a chance to get away and change back to being a man. I think they thought I might be a spy for the English, and I had made up a story about looking for my husband, myself of course, they finally accepted it and after two weeks with the officer, yes he did expect something for rescuing me and I offered it in exchange for my safety, he finally let me go to return back to Boston. The journey there was not enjoyable, I was never alone to make the change and only had two dresses and of course wearing the godawful corsets we had to wear meant I didn’t want to risk changing while still wearing it. I was able to reclaim my money with letters I wrote to myself, but in those days I also couldn't have my fishing boats as I was a women and not able to own property so I sold them to the crew for a low price and tried to work out what to do next.

“Sadly of course the money couldn’t last and a very kind woman offered me work as a maid. She was the madam of a brothel and within three months I knew I could start to regain some money by switching professions, as it was still the most reliable way for women in those days to make money when there was no man to pay their way. Maybe you should look into something called Only Fans, just in case. Anyway, I ended up taking over that brothel when the madam retired, only occasionally working with the richer clients. I only had a couple of pregnancy scares in my career and the ladies taught me how to protect myself from them. The risk was still there of course, but I would have done anything I could not to go through the pain of losing a child again, I was very careful. Still, it was a lucrative business and I looked after my girls, handing the business over to my ‘niece’ when I needed to retire a few times. Eventually of course there was another civil war, American this time and I decided it was time to leave and return home. I hated how the south treated black people, and I still wish the US would treat black people better and as equals, but when the confederate at one point looked like winning coming so close to Washington DC, I couldn’t face it anymore and booked passage home. Plus of course having played a part in the underground railroad made me a target for those awful people, but the risk was just too great to stay. By now I had done very well for myself, running a brothel for a 100 years will do that for you, and I gave each of the girls an equal share in the business so that they had complete control and were able to make more money for themselves.

“I stepped off the ship in Bristol, I couldn’t face getting passage to Liverpool having met too many of their sailors who had fought for the south, and then tried to run home when things got tough for them, but the city was now very different to how I remembered it, more modern after the efforts of the industrial revolution. I used my money to buy property that I could rent, but of course as a woman it was still difficult for me but I saw no reason to change back to being a man. I had done ok for myself as a man, but as a woman I had done extremely well, so my fortune was used to make sure I didn’t need to work and could live a life of leisure. I made sure that my lawyers had instructions for what to do if I was missing when I changed into a younger woman so I could enjoy life and hopefully be free of any sexually transmitted diseases I might have picked up. I travelled, had a maid and steward who travelled with me and now I was free of any restrictions previously placed on me. You could say I had a lot of fun. You see, the victorians may have a very reserved and repressed reputation, but once people had retired to their room at night it was like musical chairs. Once at a country house, three gentlemen called at my room in a night and I don't think I slept a wink!

“That’s part of the curse of course, if you don’t change into a woman slowly as I did with you, well, you tend to get a bit sex obsessed. That first night when I was forced, I didn’t enjoy that part, but that’s not to say I couldn't appreciate what I felt and want a lot more of it under my terms. Anyway, I stayed young and travelled, sometimes staying at houses where the head of the house was now old and it was their grandson who visited me at night instead of them. Still, life went on, men went off to fight wars and for that I was grateful I was now a woman and didn’t need to go, but the young officers who courted me, bragging of how brave they will be always made me laugh as I saw plenty of braggarts cry and run in fear when the first shot rings out. Plus I always enjoyed beating them at archery, the bows were much lighter than I used as a young man, but no one was as good with a bow as me. That’s the advantage of being forced to train with with each week.

“Celebrating yet another new century seemed like nothing to me, but there was a growing movement I became involved with, and despite being around for so long, being a land owner and seeing so much, I still had never once cast a vote. So fighting for the right to do so seemed like the most natural thing to me, once again fighting for my rights. It was the second time I had taken up this fight but this time on a different continent and a different sex. But still, I wanted equal rights, even when I slept in a prison cell for fighting for that right, and when I cried when Emily Davidson died in effort to make people see how serious we were. Then off course there was yet another another war and the devastation of industrial warfare, making me glad I wasn’t called to fight again as no one wants to see warfare up close more than once. I’ve marched into a hail of bullets several times and no one should ever have to do that even once.

“But as sad as war is, they fought for us and soon I was able to walk into a polling station to vote for the very first time. It’s still strange to think that happened so late in my lifetime, but then, I am also the only person the planet to know what William Shakespeare actually looked like, so maybe not quite so strange. Still, I changed once again and this time I did volunteer to fight, eventually parachuting in France to be a radio operator as part of SOE, so yes, I was a secret agent for a while, but it was quiet where I was and soon after D-Day I returned home. I don’t have the medals anymore I’m afraid, they aren’t in my current name and in a museum somewhere I suspect. I never really feel much emotional connection to the previous lives I’ve led, this is always the one that matters the most. And so in the 60’s I made the change again and this is the life you see me living now. This is the life that matters the most to me. You see, for the second time in my life I feel in love. I fell in love with a man, and we got married and for the first time I wanted to be a mother. I knew at that point I would never change again, I just can’t leave my girls. I cried with them when their father, the love of my lifetimes died, and I will never leave them until death takes me. This is the end of my journey, and I knew that when I held Anita for the first time. I told them the stories about my lives, told them about how the medallion let me change again and again in the hope that maybe we could stay together forever, but once Anita found out it was real she made it clear she wants no part of that side of it, neither does Hannah and I wouldn't want to give it to them. They both said they would never want to be a man and I think that’s how they think it works. You see, the medallion has been very good to me, it’s made me rich beyond my imagination and the girls will be well looked after. So will you as well as I’m making sure that you have a few things as I think you understand that the blessing of the medallion is that you can enjoy all the best parts of life, regardless of your sex or gender. But the curse is you get to live that blessing over and over again until one day you fall in love and have children knowing you will never leave them by choice.”

Mary looked at me and put the Medallion of Zulo back into it pouch and handed it me.

“And now it’s your blessing, I hope you never have to face the curse part.”

I sat there dumbstruck, holding the medallion, now my medallion. I hope I use it wisely.

The End of the beginning