After sleeping on it, my mind had not changed, I was going to become Jo for as long as the project went on, but I needed to ‘bite the bullet’ before I changed my mind, and phoned in to the salon.

"Hi Susie, is it ok if I am in a bit later coming in this morning, I have decided to take up the offer to Jo from the museum, and need to call them and sort it out. I will tell you all about it when I come in.”

"That’s fine Jo, I thought that you would come to that decision, you were so excited about the job, it is a wonderful opportunity for you, get in touch with the museum to confirm what you are going to do and I’ll see you later. The other girls will miss you, they have got used to having you around, but you have to do what you think is best for you. Just go for it girl, and don’t forget that is what you are now, you have to be committed to this.”

As soon as I ended the call to Susie, I took a deep breath and rang the museum before I had time to reconsider my decision.

"Good morning Jacqui, thank you very much for the job offer, although I knew it would be coming it was still reassuring to see it in writing. Everything is more than adequate, in fact even better than I expected, I will be delighted to accept, I am really looking forward to getting started as soon as possible and working alongside you and your team.”

“I’m really looking forward to you joining us and getting involved with this exciting project up at Ostia. Pop in sometime and I will tell you a lot more about what exactly we expect of you, what your duties will be and who you will be working alongside. We can go through the formalities, signing the forms, getting photos for your ID and the normal Health & Safety induction and things like that. I am a bit busy today, but tomorrow late afternoon looks good, is that fine with you?”

"That’s fine, see you about four, I’m really looking forward to joining you, and the sooner the better.”

I sat down for a while to settle my nerves before making my way to the salon and just got on with my work as normal until Susie and I were able to get together at lunchtime at the little deli/café next door.

"What convinced you to make the decision then, you seemed unsure, and it will mean a lot of changes for you. You will have to commit to being a girl full-time while the project is going on, you will have to look like a girl, act like a girl, and be prepared to be treated as a girl. I think that you will manage it, but are you certain that you can?”

"As a test of how convincing and passable I am, I had a night in with Jen and her sister Karen, you remember her from the café in the park, and I just mixed in with them and it felt almost like being with Josie and her friends at university, but even more so. Whilst I still don’t feel totally natural as a girl, I am comfortable with it and I think I will grow into it in time and not even think about what I am doing. I need to finish a bit early tomorrow, I am going to the museum to complete the paperwork and things, if you are happy with that.”

“Just get on with it Jo, and don’t worry. I suppose I had better start calling you Jo all the time now if that is who you are going to be for the next few years.”

"I have agreed with Josie that I will be temporarily taking over her ID as far as the authorities are concerned, and I will be using her identity, for tax, social security, official documents and things like that, she is just going to fade into the background as a stay-at-home mum. As far as anyone is concerned Joey is off travelling the world ‘finding himself’ and visiting most of the worlds major heritage sites and will be away for a long time. I will give it a short time as a trial and if it looks like it is going to be for the long-term I’ll have to do something to sort out the legal and official issues.”

"I am so pleased for you, you deserve it all, welcome to the world of womanhood, and if you need any help or advice, just give me a call, I’ll always be here for you. Come on now, let’s get back to the salon, for the next four days you are still going to be working for me.”

Now I had made my decision, I was much more at ease and just accepted myself as female and promised to be as natural and normal as any other girl, I had to banish all thoughts as Joey from my mind and just get on with life as Jo.

The discussions with Jacqui went well, the more she told me about the role I would have, the more excited I became and the happier I was with the decision I had made. She then presented me with the contract of employment with all the usual restrictions and responsibilities. I eagerly signed, feeling strange, as for the first time, with a loopy girly script, I had legally committed myself as Jo Johnson.

The next few days, after sorting things out at the museum, quickly passed in a blur. Friday afternoon, before I finished in the salon, Susie and the girls gave me a complete makeover, hair styled in soft waves, a full facial including getting my eyebrows thinned and shaped a lot more than they had done previously, my nails shaped and polished and my legs and arms waxed, not forgetting getting my ears pierced and fitted with studs, before taking me out for a farewell drink. I had only been with them all for a couple of weeks but felt that I knew them as friends and promised to call in to see them occasionally.

I saw Jen as I got on the bus and as I sat down next to her, she opened her local newspaper and pointed to a photo of me and Jacqui. Included in a feature publicising the roman finds and the project to find out exactly what was there and what could be done with it. When taking my photo for my ID badge, there had been a few more of the pair of us together welcoming me to the team, and Jacqui had obviously decided to include one of them in the press release.

"Hey, just look at you, you are now famous, at least in this town, it is a super photo of you. When you told us about your new job, you never mentioned that it is as important as this, you have done really well for yourself girl. If we can get a babysitter for Marianne how about you, me, and Karen going out tonight to celebrate.”

A few phone calls later and it was all arranged, their mum would look after Marianne, letting Karen have a rare night out.

When I got home I realised that I did not have a lot of choice of what to wear, most of the clothes I had been using were Josie’s. Now that I was committed for the next two or three years, I needed to get a lot more of my own and would have to do some serious shopping. It would hit my credit card quite hard, but with my new salary I would be able to cope with it.

I had quick shower, taking care not to splash my hair or face, so as not to ruin the work of the girls in the salon, powdered myself dry and decided to wear the blue and white dress that I had worn for my interview, but only after putting on the sexiest bra and pantie set that I had bought, and of course a clean padded-pantie to give me a fuller shape. If I was going to be Jo, i wanted to do it properly. All ready for my night out I called a taxi so that we could all have a bit of a drink and collected Jen and Karen on the way.

“Hi girls, you are both looking gorgeous tonight, you really must make an effort more often Karen, you look a different person.”

“Well, I knew that you would be dressed to kill and I couldn’t be shown up by you could I?”

I had decided to treat them to a meal at a little Greek restaurant which served traditional food and as we walked in we were welcomed by a grinning waiter, oozing professional mediterranean charm.

“Good evening beautiful ladies, you are lighting up my restaurant, I am Costas and it will be my pleasure to serve you tonight.” he greeted us in a smooth Greek voice, although later we heard him talking to the barman in a very strong local accent, we didn’t believe that he had ever been anywhere near Greece in his life, but he was good fun and very attentive.

The traditional starters of Dolmas ( stuffed vine leaves ) and Kolokythokeftedes (aubergine fritters) along with Tarmasalata (fish roe dip) and Tzatziki (Yoghurt cucumber and garlic dip) on a sharing platter went down a treat as the others had never had any of them before. We all ordered different main courses, Moussaka for Karen, Souvlaki (meat skewers) for Jen, and Seared Red Mullet for me, so that we could all try a bit of each of the selections. We all chose to finish of with Baclava, a gorgeous desert of filo pastry on honey and ground mixed nuts. Since I was paying for the meals the girls bought a couple of bottles of Assyrtiko, a white wine from Santorini to go with it all.

After all the meals had been served and tables cleared, the chef and waiters led all the customers in the Sirtaki (Zorba’s Dance) and a series of other traditional dances to finish off the night. Costas made sure that he was always with me or Karen and it felt strange, but comforting, to have his arm around my waist as we danced. We all had a super meal and an enjoyable time, particularly Karen as it was a rarity for her to go out. I was celebrating starting at the museum, Karen was celebrating being one of the girls again rather than a mum, Jen was just celebrating as young single girls like to do, but it was soon time for the taxi to take us all home again.

We dropped Karen off so that she could let her mum go back home, then Jen suggested that the two of us went onto a club. However I wasn’t sure that I was yet ready to go into the meat market of a night club and face the prospect of being approached by men. I might be looking and acting like a girl, but my brain was still definitely male, so I told her that I had to get back home too which disappointed her a bit but I promised that maybe next time I would go with her. She brightened up a bit when I told her that I needed to do major shopping for some new outfits over the weekend and asked if she would like to come with me to help me choose, which cheered her up again, and we arranged to meet in town Saturday lunchtime.

I had a long restful sleep and woke up feeling ready to go shopping with Jen, I had made my decisions and had now just got to get into the spirit of things in my new life as Jo. As Josie had told me, she couldn’t make decisions for me any longer and I had to learn to stand on my own two feet.

I didn’t really need to shave as I was not particularly hairy, but a close shave and moisturise soon had me ready to apply a light daytime make up, put on a clean set of undies and deciding what to wear. As I would be trying on clothes I decided that a skirt and top would be easier for changing that jeans, so I raided Josie’s wardrobe again and found a plain mid-thigh denim skirt which fitted me really well, and paired it with a loose cotton top which would also be easier to take off and put on again.

I moved all my bits and pieces into a casual shoulder bag which went better with my outfit than the formal one I had been using, thinking to myself that there were too many choices to take into consideration as a girl, what goes together, what suits me, the last thing on the list was ‘what is comfortable’.

When I met Jen in town she was raring to go.

"What are you after Jo? I know most of the decent shops, give me an idea of what you are looking for and I’ll work out the best place to start.”

"Most of my stuff is from when I was at university, and is probably too casual or sloppy for work. I need a couple of dresses, skirts and blouses for more formal times at work, some trousers and tops for normal daytime wear, and some jeans and heavy jumpers for when I am working out on site. That will be a good start and we will see if we come across anything else on the way.”

"I’m glad it will all be going on your credit card, not mine, I love shopping but have to do it in small doses, not on a big splurge like this. Come on , let’s get started, i am going to enjoy this.”

The next three hours was a mad rush from shop to shop, trying on a lot, buying some, giving a lot back to the sales assistants. Jen’s enthusiasm was beginning to rub off on me, and by the time we had found everything I needed, and a lot more that I hadn’t realised was necessary, we were both exhausted and sat down in the food court of the mall for a bit of a rest, some coffee, and a lunch.

She never stopped chattering away all through lunch.The date that I had helped Jen get ready for in the salon had turned into a regular thing by now, and she took great delight in telling me all the details at length and how wonderful her boyfriend was.

Most of the time when Joey was out with his mates, any discussion on girlfriends and how they were getting on was usually met with a big grin, a knowing wink and not much more, but Jen insisted on sharing an awful lot more that she should and I was beginning to get a bit uncomfortable. When I had been out with Josie and her friends at university, they did have long discussions about their boyfriends but kept the more intimate stuff for when they sent me to the bar for drinks, changing the subject when I returned. With Jen, I soon realised that I was now included in these discussions and would have to get used to them.

I dropped Jen off at her house and made my way home to unpack all the bags I had collected on the way. I packed away most of Josie’s stuff back in her room, except for the few bits and pieces that I wanted to keep using, like the dress I had worn for the interview and its mirror twin, and moved all my new stuff into the wardrobe and drawers that were now spare. Although I would not be using anything, I left some of Joey’s stuff where it was, just in case it was ever needed in a hurry.

The rest of the weekend I just relaxed and tried to plan out what I would need to do in my new job, and Monday morning soon came around when it would all become my new reality.

I was not sure whether I would be sent immediately to the dig site or whether I would be in the museum all day, meeting my new colleagues and getting instructed in my duties, so I decided on dress trousers, a loose blouse, and 3” heels to start with, but took a set of site clothes with me just in case.

"Hello, I’m Jo Johnson, I am starting here this morning.” I introduced myself to the receptionist with a big smile.

‘Oh Hi, I’m Michelle, pleased to meet you. Ms McGregor is expecting you, so just go straight through, up the stairs and it is the first on the right. Get yourself settled in and we can have a coffee and chat later.”

"Thanks so much Michelle, I’ll find out what I am doing first, depending on that, I’ll see you later.”

I quickly made my way up to Jacqui’s office, knocked on the open-door, and she waved me to sit down while she ended a phone call.

"Good Morning Jacqui, where do we start?”

"We are still trying to sort out exactly who does what, and when, on this project. For the moment, there is a desk for you in the next office along the corridor, sharing the room with Laura Lambton, our Head Curator. You will find on your desk a couple of files telling you more about the project and what they have already found. Get yourself familiar with it all and we will talk later. I have asked Laura to introduce you to everyone and show you where things are. I need to rush, I have a meeting with one of the project sponsors, trying to squeeze a bit more money out of them, so can’t keep them waiting. See you later.”

I easily found Laura and my new office, introduced myself, hung my coat on the stand and my bag on my chair and settled down for a chat with her.

"Don’t get too comfortable Jo, we have more important things to do, follow me and I’ll show you where the kitchenette is and we can grab a coffee and then have a chat.” I decided that I would enjoy sharing the office with her, she seemed to be very pleasant and easy-going.

"Tell me about yourself Jo, are you local?”

"Yes, born and bred about just a couple of miles away, went to the local comprehensive school, 3 years at university and now I find myself here. I share a house with my brother, Joey, But he has gone off touring the world on a gap year, or two, so I will have the house all to myself. This is my first real job since graduating, but I have been doing casual stuff to pay the bills, temping and such like, and am really looking forward to doing a proper job that I have trained for.”

"You’ll find that we are quite an informal sociable group here. I know that you will be out at the site a lot but we’ll make sure you are in the loop if we are planning anything. In some ways I would have liked to do what you will be doing, but the thought of cold wet autumn and winter days on site getting my clothes and hands really grubby does not appeal to me, but Jacqui says that you have done it before and are looking forward to it.”

"Eventually when the dig is finished and everything, I would like to be included in the team setting up the exhibition that will follow on from it, and maybe be involved in running it, that is unless I decide that I like being outside in the cold and wet making the discoveries in the future.”

We were interrupted by a lively tune of an incoming call on Laura’s phone, which she passed to me after answering it.

"It’s Jacqui for you, she hasn’t got your number programmed into her phone yet.”

"Hi Jacqui, what can I do for you?”

"I am going out to the dig site with Howard Shepherd, the CEO of a major construction company who is already one of our funding patrons. He wants to have a look at what has been found so far and he wants to meet our on-site representative, ie. you. I think I’ve convinced him to put his hand deeper into his pocket, but he just needs a final nudge. Get yourself out here as soon as you can, and make sure that you have a decent pair of boots on, it is a typical messy dig site.”

"I’m on my way, should be there in about 20 minutes.”

I soon arrived on site, put on my safety boots, hi-vis jacket and hard hat, that luckily I had decided to bring with me in the car, and I was ready to go and find Jacqui and Mr Shepherd.

"There you are Jo, come and meet Howard Shepherd, who is a major supporter of this project.” Jacqui called over to me.

"Pleased to meet you Mr Shepherd, I’m really excited to be involved in this dig, it could be very good for the area as well as filling in a lot of gaps in our local history.”

"If we are going to be involved on this together, please call me Howard. Along with the other funders we need you to be our eyes and ears on site, so we all need to give each other mutual respect, there is to be no ‘us and them’. Let’s go and see what the dig team have been up to.”

We spent an hour or so looking around the site. There had not yet been much excavation, the time had mainly been spent setting up the facilities for the dig team, The main items of interest were the aerial ground scans, which showed the possibility of an extensive network of buildings and paths down to the estuary. We were just about to leave when a familiar figure joined us.

“Good afternoon Professor, let me introduce everybody."said Jacqui taking the lead.

“Hello Richard, let me introduce everyone. This is Howard Shepherd who is supporting us with funding along with the grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and this is Jo Johnson, who will be the county’s representative on the project, and Professor Richard Carter who is the lead archaeologist.”

"Pleased to meet you all, particularly you Howard, I am really glad of the support you are giving us."replied the Professor, giving him a firm handshake

He then turned to me and smiled.

“Jo Johnson? Were you not in some of my lectures at the University? If I remember correctly your brother was also in the study group and was involved in one of my digs. What is he up to now?”

"As he has not found anything suitable yet, he has gone off for a gap year touring major archaeological sites around the world. He would have loved to be involved with this dig too, but never mind.”

"As I recall he always was a bit of a free spirit, so that does not surprise me.”

As soon as I said that I realised that I had now burned all my bridges, there was no way that ‘Jo’ could disappear and ‘Joey’ come back into the picture to take over.

I was suddenly startled by a camera flash and stepped back.

‘Don’t be shy Jo, when I am doing things like this I like pictures for our company blog and sometimes for our website, so usually have a photographer with me, no publicity is bad for you. Come back here and we will get a proper group photo taken.” Howard gently grabbed my arm and tugged me into the centre of the group.

I arranged with Professor Carter to return to the site on Wednesday to meet with him and his site team leader, Jake, to go through everything in detail and, as it was now late afternoon I just went directly home rather than returning to the museum.

I kicked off my shoes, flopped down on the sofa and tried to relax. Although the day had gone well, I had constantly been on edge, wary of being discovered. I thought again about having told Laura in the office, and Jacqui and the others at the site ,about Joey, and realised that I needed to keep my personal life as vague as possible, the more people knew about me, the higher would be the chance of something going wrong.

I was just about to go and change my clothes and get out of the body shaper and relax, when the doorbell rang.

"Hi Josie, a courier left a parcel for you this morning.” said Maggie Watkins, one of my neighbours, who had only recently moved in, as she passed me a large brown envelope.

"Thanks Maggie, sorry about that. I have just started work today and forgot I had placed an order. Next time I will arrange for it to be collected down at the depot. To save confusion with someone I am working with everybody is just calling me Jo now.”

"Don’t worry about it, I am usually at home and am quite happy to take things in for you. Besides, I read in the papers about your new job, and it sounds really exciting.”

"Come in and we’ll have a cup of tea and some cake while I tell you all about it.”

I told Maggie all about what had been found at the dig and what I would be doing and we chatted about all sorts of general things about what was going on in the neighbourhood. I thought to myself that this was the longest conversation with any of the neighbours that I had for a very long time, and that, as Jo, I would probably be involved with them an awful lot more.

"Where is Joey, I haven’t seen him around for a few days, is he on holiday somewhere?”

"Sort of, he has taken a year or so off and is touring around the world.”

‘Sally Williams’ son, Jack, did that, he came back a totally different person, much more confident and sociable, I hope Joey enjoys it as much. Anyway I have enjoyed our chat but I better be getting back. As you are on your own, feel free to call around if you are feeling lonely or need someone to talk to.”

As she left I thought that it was another person that I had lied to about Joey, and although she was a pleasant woman and a good neighbour, she was a chatterbox, and I was sure that half the neighbourhood would know what was going on within a couple of days. I also realised that I could not switch out of character as Jo, I always had to be prepared for someone, particularly Maggie, calling at the door. Jo would have to stay full time for the duration, no removing the breast forms or dressing casually in my Joey’s sloppy jeans and t-shirts, there was no escaping back to life as Joey for me in the near future.

To be continued.