Beth was confused, hurt, and somewhat angry at her mother's strange remark. She did not have very long to ponder what it could possibly mean as the priest walked in starting the long funeral. Beth had an excellent view of her Grandmothers coffin. It was a symbol really since her grandmothers ashes were inside and a picture of her when she was much younger was on display over the coffin.

As the funeral proceeded with the old pipe organ giving the queues when to sing Beth did her best to follow along in the booklet. Everytime she sang loud enough for others to hear her, her mother would give her a gentle nudge and she would look at her mothers upset face. With a roll of her eyes she would tone it down a notch. She had sang once in the church choir with her clear soprano voice. Singing in the choir was easy as the music was practiced before hand. This was different as many of the hymns were never sung by the choir. She couldn't remember the last time she had been to a funeral in the church. Most of the few she had been too had been in the more modern funeral homes in the city.

It seemed that part of the service also included communion but before Beth could rise her mother clamped onto her arm. Bewildered once again she looked back to her mother who shook her head side to side. Beth would have asked why had it been anyplace else. She had gone faithfully up each time after her first communion and to not be allowed to go seemed wrong. Honor thy mother and father was never so difficult for Beth as it was during the service. She stood when others did and uttered the amens at each point.

Her part time pastor uncle Joe passed on a few words of her grandmother and her life experiences. Her name was omitted when he listed the grandchildren and she was puzzled as to why. She was sniffling and when her mother burst into tears it was she would hugged her mother while she shed many of her own tears. Her father said nothing but he looked very upset throughout the whole funeral service. She could not tell from her father what her mother's problem was because he, as usual, was not the best person to read. While her and her mother's face could tell novels worth his was stone.

She opened her purse and grabbed a few tissues which she tried to give to her mother but she refused them from her. That little rejection hurt Beth and her eyes leaked more tears of her own pain. Still no matter what they did to her she was still the dutiful daughter they had raised and she did her level best to help her mom throughout the funeral.

After the funeral when everyone stood up she resisted the urge to stretch out the small kink in her back. It was unseemly for a woman to do so in the church, her Aunt Macy's new husband was not so inhibited and stretched with a yawn. Nobody thought this out of place and for the hundredth time Beth felt a pang of longing for such freedom. She remembered her own last yawn at church. She was about 7 in a two toned pink dress. The lighter pink dress itself was set off quite prettily by her dark pink collar, short sleeve edging, and sash. The white petticoat and lace socks had tickled her as she walked to the church behind her mother. She had sat through the service then not yet allowed to do communion and had yawned part way through. Her mother had chastised her for her rude behavior in her stern but low whisper.

She cleared the pew and waited for her parents as they exited her mother turned up her nose and walked forward instead of holding her hand like normal. Her father just motioned her forward with brisk movements of his hands. She felt like a little girl being punished again even though she did not know why.

Following the rest of her extended family and the families friends she made to stop to pay her respects to her grandmothers image but the rough grip of her father on her hand prevented her from doing so. No sooner had they passed into the assembly hall behind the church that her father returned his grip to her arm along with her mother and they escorted her down the small stairs to the lower area where people would normally come in from outside.

As soon as she could she jerked her arms away from her parents. She was a grown adult woman and did not need to be treated like a naughty little girl. She had done nothing wrong and such treatment was beneath either of her puzzling parents. Her father closed the small door behind them she rounded on them both for an explanation.

"Okay mom, dad, what gives? I come for the funeral as you asked. I even wore my best dress and as soon as I get here you act like you don't even know me? Tell me please what is going on." She pleaded before either could start.

"I could ask the same of you young man. What is the meaning of showing up for a family funeral dressed as a woman. Gods, the embarrassment you have just... What were you thinking?" Beth's mother got out.

"This young woman is Eric? Are you sure Bev?" Her father was upset and obviously confused.

"Yes Henry this this thing is your son Eric." her mother stated while Beth just stood there opened mouthed in shock.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Beth almost shouted." I'm your daughter Elizabeth Marie Tanner. I have always been Elizabeth and your daughter. I'm not some transsexual. My name is not and has never been Eric. Please tell me what is going on cause your scaring the crap out of me!"Beth's face would have been very white if not for her makeup hiding it. She was starting to breath fast as her parents, the parents that had raised her from a little girl were starting to sound like they were not her parents.

"Hold on a minute dear." her father started stopping her mother from what no doubt would be a heated reply."Elizabeth perhaps you should tell us what you remember." He father was trying to be reasonable.

"I remember as a little girl mommie scolding me for yawning in church while wearing my pink dress. I remember joining girls scouts at age 7. I remember trying to do gymnastics in a pink leotard with black tights and leg warmers. I remember my room with its pink walls and rose flowers at the top. The cheap white vanity with the mirror that was always a bit crooked. I remember my canopy bed with the white lace trimmed canopy that had a loose piece of lack near the right front edge on the inside were it overlapped just a little." She started.

"I remember how soft my bed always felt and warm with the frilly edged quilt that gran Tante had made for me along with the matching pillow cases. I remember my barbie doll house that you made for me along with all my barbies. I remember my stuffed toy kittens and unicorns. I remember you and mom both putting me to bed often at night and how you stayed with me as a little girl to keep the closet monsters away. I remember Christmas mornings in my thick winter nighties where you got me all those wonderful presents. I remember the Christmas wear I always wore a pretty dress with a Christmas theme even when I got into highschool. I remember helping mom bake pies for thanksgiving and butter tarts for Christmas." she paused for a moment to lick her lips.

"I remember how proud you both were of me in highschool where I was a cheerleader. I remember how mother would cry seeing me in my proms dresses. I remember how you only let me date boys when I was 15 and my first boyfriend Jason you sat on the couch in the living room and grilled for an hour while mom kept me in the kitchen in my black skirt with the side slit fretting the whole time that you would ruin it for me. I remember how you both were upset that I decided to go to university and how dad got grandpa's old Diplomat fixed up just for me to take there. I drove that here my bags are in the back and I so wanted to spend a night at home in my warm soft bed but that won't happen now." Beth burst into tears as her legs gave way. Her father caught her and carried her over to a chair to relax in.

"Fascinating." her father spoke out while raising his eyebrow.

"Gods I even remember that Spock eyebrow of your and how it annoys mom to no end."Beth's father actually chuckled at that last comment of hers.

"I.." Her mother hesitated before continuing." I remember bringing my son home for the first time after an agonizing wait in the hospital. You had been born premature due to complications and were in an incubator all yellow from jaundice with a big tube in your tiny leg. I remember how your father had painted your room blue while I was recovering in the hospital with you. I remember changing your diapers and your tiny penis squirting all over my bib. I remember watching you grow from a toddler who could barely walk into a young man that would fight with me to wear your suits to church." she sniffled a bit before she sat down opposite Beth at the small table.

"I remember how you always wanted to be just like your father from an early age and would pout and complain if I asked you to play nice with your girl cousins on visits. You never showed any interest in boy scouts but would often come home with cuts and bruises from trying to climb trees. I remember how you were actively in sports all through highschool and would never help around the house keeping your room a veritable pigsty. I remember how you had worked for a year pumping gas at the gas station saving all your money just so you could go to university. I remember how you and your father would come in after spending hours cleaning out and doing who knows what to that old Diplomat. You would both come in dirty from head to toe and make a big mess out of my kitchen sink. I'm sorry but I do not have any memories of ever having a daughter." She finished and burst into her own tears. Beth felt horrible for making her mother cry but she was wrong she had never pumped gas at the station she was a waitress on the rollerblades at the pizza restaurant on main street. Her father moved to comfort her mother who was in obvious distress. Beth looked to her father to see if he would say what he remembered.

"I'm sorry Elizabeth but that is what I remember as well." This broke her heart. Her life had been reduced to nothing and it felt like her family had been wrenched away from her. Her sobs grew as her shoulders heaved she knew without a doubt her carefully applied makeup was ruined. Waterproof makeup held up against the occasional tear but when they were this bad nothing would stop the mascara from making her look like a clown. She made a decision to leave as these looked like her parents and felt like her parents but they were not her parents. Her being there was hurting them just as much so it would be best if she left and went to her room at the sorority. Maybe her sisters could help her figure out what had happened.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to cause either of you any pain. I can see it was wrong of me to come here but I wanted to see both of you so bad. I missed you so much but oh." and her tears returned anew causing her stop speaking as her throat had closed up while she choked out the sobs.

It was her mothers gentle hand, a hand that was as soft and delicate as her own that made her look up. The face she saw was that of her mother, loving, warm, caring just as she would be at a time such as this. Beth wanted so badly to believe this was really her mother. She really needed a hug and for her mother to say there there it will be ..

"There there my sweet. I do not know what is going on but we will find out. It will be alright you'll see." and Beth got her hug that she returned. The two women were hugging and crying into each other as the priest's aide walked in to check on them. A wave from her father sent the man on his way and he looked at the two women in his life. For once the stone face cracked a little and there was a hint of a smile on his face that neither of the women saw.

"I must look a fright." Beth suddenly stated from her mother's breast where she was warm, loved, and comfortable.

"You and me both kiddo." Her mother suddenly laughed through her tears.

"Right. Bev you and E go do whatever it is you women do in there and I'll go see if anyone has something better than punch to drink."

"Daddy!" Beth moaned.

"Henry!" Her mother groaned.

"Oh noes I'm double teamed now. Daddy hmmm. I could get to like that. I always wanted a daughter to spoil rotten." Her father joked with a deadpan face making it all the more funnier. The two women giggled in spite of themselves before shoeing him off. Her father chuckled once as he moved to go upstairs and join the rest of the somber crowd.

Beth lead the way both upstairs and to the ladies room with her mother only hesitating as she followed her new found daughter inside. It was not a very large bathroom having just two stalls and a small counter it was however alone. The two women made a b line straight to the stalls to relieve their over full bladders. Beth thought nothing of using the tissue paper to clean her vagina before rising to flush and pull up her panties. Her mother in the stall next to her was a little surprised to hear her do such a thing.

Beth exited the stall a moment after her mother only because her slip had gotten snagged on the edge of the garter belt clip and she had to spend a moment straightening it. Her mother was standing there before her not yet fixing her own makeup as she fully took in her daughter. Beth seeing this did a slow twirl to show off how her figure had filled out since she had last seen her mother. With a smile on her face she waited for a comment from her mother.

"Well you certainly don't look like a boy in a dress." Beth's smile again dropped as did her shoulders at the caustic remark. Her mother noticed and put her hand to her mouth.

"Oh I'm sorry E! It's just that this is going to take me a bit to get used to."Her mother stated. She knew this to be true as her mother, like herself, could not lie worth spit because of her expressive face. Beth sighed to no one in particular. It was not the complement she was hoping for at all.

"This was not what I expected either. I was kinda hoping you would be proud of how my figure had finally filled out after being such a stick pin during highschool. I'm so tired of being your little girl and was hoping you would finally see me as a grown woman. I guess it was a bit much to ask for."

"Oh sweetie that is not what I meant at all. I do see you as a grown woman but I also can't help but see my son Eric there at the same time. This really is very hard for me. I just need time please give me that. No matter what I can tell that you are without a doubt my child boy or girl." She paused a moment to turn to the sink and start cleaning off the smeared sections of makeup.

"When you called each month from that horrid payphone I guess I never noticed how your voice was really now that of a girls. I was just so happy to hear from my baby. When I had invited you for the funeral I had even talked to that nice Angela girl you used to date and was hoping the two of you could maybe work things out."

"Mother! Angela was one of my good friends. We used to work at the restaurant together some shifts. I even went to her sleepover when I was 16. I just don't swing that way at all mother dear." Beth said with some heat to her voice shocked at the revelation.

"Sorry sorry. I'm making a big mess of this ain't I?"

"A bit."Beth sighed."This is so weird. You have different memories of me growing up than I do. It is making the usual light conversation difficult for both of us. Oh that's a nice color where did you get that lipstick?"Beth asked as she noticed her mothers lipstick tube. She had already fixed the few runs of her own mascara easily enough with some tissue and her powder compact.

"Avon actually your aunt Marie is a representative and she showed me this new color a week or two ago. I think it really matches my coloring well."

"That wench Jenny is holding out on me!" Beth exclaimed to her shocked mother almost putting a smear onto her face.

"Sorry Mom. Jenny is my avon rep and is a sister at my .." The two women had found the ice breaking topic and spent more than a few minutes discussing the pros and cons of Avon makeup. It was a much more relaxed duo of women that exited the washroom still discussing Avon products. To Beth it was like coming home as she had fond memories of her mother first teaching her the mysteries of makeup when she was a young and overly made up girl of 10.

The two woman began to circulate with Beth following her mother in the old pattern of the dutiful daughter. She found it strange and more than an little unnerving that none of her many uncle, aunts, and cousins recognized her at all. Many treated her like they had seen her for the very first time. While a few gave her the weirdest wide open eyed look she had seen in ages. She was complimented on being so pretty a few times and she could feel the eyes of more than a few of the men follow her.

Often her mother would be pulled aside by a few of the women for a whispered conversation that she was not privy too. She would stand there with her hands in front of her trying to not look as out of place as she was increasingly feeling. The small sandwiches she nibbled on later were hardly tasted as she got the chance to get off her feet and sit. She made extra sure to sit as gracefully as her mother had once taught her but she still felt like others were seeing her making a mistake of some sort. It was eating at her nerves and when the priest came to announce that it was time they all filed out of the assembly to get their coats from the cloak rooms. Beth still felt as if she was on display but less intense than before.

Beth was glad to pull on her faux fur black coat and escape the attention of the other women. While she was used to the unspoken competition women always had, this was different. It wasn't as if they were comparing her but more like trying to take her apart and find a fault of some sort. Not with her appearance as she knew she looked far better in her black dress than most of them but more with her as a person. It was creepy in a whole new way to her. Beth waited in the vestibule now missing the podium and sign in book for her parents. Her mother soon joined her showing her a strained smile. When her father walked out still putting on his grey tweed winter coat and noticed them his face broke into that fake smile both knew so well as his eyes did not smile at all.

Beth put her fingers to the bridge of her nose to collect her thoughts and starve off what was sure to be a wonderful tension headache developing. Unknown to her, her mother did the exact same gesture in the same exact way at the same time but for different reasons as she already had the headache. A few people noticed this and knew without question the two were mother and daughter. Even though many did not remember her mother ever having a daughter. A few of the younger boys didn't care as they found the new girl to be quite attractive to their overblown hormone controlled minds.

A frightened and lost little girl caught Beth's attention as they started to walk out of the church. Beth recognized the girl as her little cousin Emily. The girl had grown since she had last seen her but was still the same girl she remembered baby sitting. Beth knelt a little after shoving her purse into her mothers arms. Beth did not expect the girl she had changed diapers on to shrink back from her as she opened her arms to the girl for a comforting hug. The young girl of 5 hesitated before she moved forward into Beth's arms for a hug with the strange girl.

"It's okay Emily. I'll help you find your mother." Emily smiled at her which warmed Beth's heart that at least one person had recognized her finally. She stood up and offered her hand which Emily took and the two braved the cloak room again to find Emily's mother. Her mother Beth's Aunt Mary was in the far back huddled with a group of women as she approached.

"Aunt Mary. I found Emily wandering out in the hall looking all lost and scared."Beth smiled at her collection of Aunts as they turned en mass to see her and Emily. Her Aunt instead of smiling in return looked at her with horror in her eyes. She turned her gaze to Emily and hurried forward to all but rip the girls arm off causing the sweet little girl to cry an utterance of pain.

"Leave my daughter alone you you freak!"Her very upset Aunt said to Beth's complete shock. One of her older Aunts stepped in front of her Aunt Mary and Emily blocking them.

"Leave now Eric."Aunt Jane said to her. Breaking out in new tears as the words had poured into her heart like molten lead Beth ran from the room into her waiting father's arms. She did not see what his face looked like but if she had she would have also seen the women instantly shrink back from the normally stone face a mask of rage. She did however see the daggers of her mothers gaze. She knew full well that whoever was on the receiving end of that gaze was in serious trouble with a capital T. She only saw that as she had reached for her purse and the tissue within before her face was again ruined. It was in her fathers protective arms that she and her family followed the others to burying of the brass canister that was once her grandmother. She was buried beside her grandfather in the family section of the old graveyard. Many of her great grandparents with the last name of Tante were buried in this plot.

Her father did not let go of her once. Not during the burying nor during the walk back to the cars. Beth was doing her best to control her sobs and shaking but she knew she was in no shape to drive. When her father brought her back to the good car with her mother and opened the passenger door she understood that he knew she was also in no shape to drive. She wordlessly handed over the keys to the Diplomat before closing the door for the silent drive to the house she grew up in on the other side of town.

Beth was staring out the side window of her parents Ford Focus as they drove up to the house she grew up in. In the driveway with a puddle under it sat her grandfathers old Dodge pickup. The one tire was raised so it looked as if her father was trying to fix something even in this cold weather. Beth did not really care about the old truck all she wanted to do was go to sleep in her soft bed and wish the day had never happened. She could see it all in her mind exactly what she wanted to do. Go in the door take off the heels she was still wearing slip upstairs to her room with its pink walls, white antique dresser that should have a nightie in it. Slip into the nightie and crawl under the quilt her grandmother had made for her snuggle in with one of her stuffed kittens and that would be it. The nightmare that was today would be over and she could recharge her batteries so to speak.

Her father had followed behind them and parked her Diplomat off the side partially on the grass as the truck was in the middle of the driveway. She waited in the focus for a minute before opening the door and sliding her legs out to stand. Although her mother said nothing she knew that her mother was proud that she had remembered her young lady lessons well.

Beth walked to her car to help but her father shooed her away saying he had her bags for her. Shrugging she went to the door, now open because of her mother, and stepped inside. From the looks of things the small living room had a new television in the form of a 40 in flatscreen. The dvd player and the vhs where she had played her Disney video tape in till they were all but worn out was still there but it looked unplugged as the timer didn't flash. The amount of times she had watched Beauty and the Beast or Little Mermaid was uncountable. The still watched but less so Ferngully probably survived.

Beth still knew each and every scene of her two favorite movies by heart and could see them in her mind any time she thought of them such as now. Aladdin was also a good movie but it had come later and on dvd. Her eyes scanned the walls looking for her picture. She did not see any of them. The picture on the mantel should have been of her in her cheerleading outfit with both her mom and dad beside her. There was no such picture. Nor was there one of her graduation in which she wore the strapless silver taffeta gown. In fact none of the pictures there had her at all. Not her baby picture, not her girl guide pictures nothing.

In their place was a boy holding a fish with her father looking over him. A picture of a boy holding a trophy for something. Another picture of the same boy much older with the school gown and hat. A grad picture but the man had a mustache on his face and looked quite happy. There was even a picture of the same young man standing before this mantel in a suit very much like one of her fathers.

Beth breathing hard now looked to the movie case. There was a Cinderella movie and the Aladdin movies but her favorites were gone. She almost panicked before she remembered they were at her room in the sorority. She started to look around the house. Nothing much else seemed to have changed that much. The closet near the garage had one pair of white skates but two black ones and some hockey equipment. Her figure skating skates seemed to be missing.

Beth walked back into the living room almost afraid to go upstairs. Her mother now wearing black ballerina slippers on her feet came over and tried to calm her. She flinched at the touch. Beth had to know so with a deep breath she stepped upstairs still in her heels holding the side of the skirt of her dress as she did so. At the last step she realized she did not even remember taking off her fur coat and looked back to see said coat laying on the edge of the couch.

The door to her room loomed large in her vision just down the hall. Opposite that room was the quest room and then further her parents bedroom. The door to her room was closed. With her heart pounding in her chest she closed her eyes and wished to herself that inside it would be just like she remembered. Her hand slick with sweat turned the knob and the door opened.

It was not her room. Her mother had come up behind her silently as Beth stared open mouthed into the room that should have been hers but wasn't. Gone was her room and everything she had grown up with. Her mother touched her arm gently and Beth jerked her arm away.

"What have you done?" She screamed at her mother.

"What do you mean E? It's just as you left it, well a little cleaner perhaps but."

"That's Not My ROOM!" Beth stressed each word hard to get her mother to understand."My walls were never blue. You threw away my bed, my dresser, all my fluffies, my barbie house and barbies. OH god you didn't?" Beth rushed into the boys room and opened the folding closet doors with enough force that the doors clacked together loudly. On a hanger or two was a boys hockey shirt and winter coat. There was a men's suit, the same suit from the picture downstairs. Gone were her three prom dresses. Gone was her girl scout uniforms. The first communion dress and the Halloween dresses she had worn when she was a little girl. All of them gone.

"What have you DONE!" Beth screamed out loud as she backed away from the offending closet. She kept backing away till she was out of the room and across the hall in the quest bedroom. She backed up till her knees hit the bed forcing her to sit down heavily on the bed. She hugged herself rocking back and forth as the tears came. At first just a tiny trickle from each eye but as the whole day caught up with her more came. As more came she started to heave her breasts bouncing as she did so. Her mother came into the room after closing the door to the boys room that was no longer her own. Her mother sat down and held Beth from the side. As the shakes came and the heaves continued she turned her head and buried her face into her mothers chest sobbing and no longer caring if she smeared all of her makeup into her mothers dress or not.

Beth cried long and hard into her mother before exhaustion overtook her. It was to see Beth asleep but still half crying into her mothers loving embrace that her father brought the bags up the stairs at last. Not knowing what was best he put the bags into the quest room for now and closed the door on the two women.

Henry removed his suit and shirt in the master bedroom before he put back on the clothes he had worn yesterday to finish the work he had started on the truck. He passed the door to the guest room and heard some movements but thought better of opening the door as he nothing to say that could possibly help. He walked down the stairs thinking about the days events and how the Diplomat sounded like it needed a bit of a tune up since it was not quite running right. The touchy feelie things were never his strong suit especially when it came to their son. His son. Henry paused with that thought as he remembered how Eric had sunburned rather badly with his shirt off on the lake the one day when he was 10. The boy was all arms and legs at the time but smiling ear to ear as he had casted without snapping the hook off the line.

Henry remembered how his son and himself had worked for days to get the old Diplomat to run again. He never told his wife but they had had to unseize the engine a little. It was Eric with the long pipe on the 1/2 drive ratchet that had worked the old 318 to turn over a little at first. They had put diesel fuel into the cylinders and turned the engine over manually a couple of times the next day before using the starter and battery. They carb they had carefully cleaned up from the salvage yard with a new kit into it. The same kit still sat on the workbench in his garage right where Eric had left it. While it was an older carb it was, at least in his opinion, a much better one that original. Still a Dodge carb but a better one. The car and snorted and farted draining the battery twice before they changed the spark plugs one last time. The huge cloud of black smoke that came out of the car as the y pipe exhaust totally blew out dirtied them both along with the front ceiling of the garage.

But it stayed running. As surprised as he was it ran until they shut it off 10 minutes later and changed the now very dirty oil. The new exhaust took care of the mice nest that was apparently in the original muffler system blocking it all. They drove the car, unlicensed, around the block a few weeks before they changed the now black oil once again. Nobody was more surprised than him when his son had licensed the car and drove it for a long road trip and back without a single problem. The road trip had been to the collage he was later to go to in the city. Even now on the drive from the church the car ran smooth and quiet. It was only at idle that it seemed a little rough. He suspected that his son. No correction now daughter, had not done any maintenance on the poor old car in the last 2 years. It was past time for an oil change and filters.

Henry flicked on the light in the garage as he walked in. The Diplomat took the same filters as the truck so he checked to see if he had any. Oil filter yes, fuel and air filter no. He had 1 liter of oil left too so he would see if E..make that Elizabeth might want to come with him tomorrow to get some oil and filters for his uh her car. When he had driven the car back he had opened the glove box to check the registration and was more than a little intimidated by the mass of tissue, feminine products he wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, and what looked to be some makeup thing or another. That more and the fact that the inside of the car was spotlessly clean told him it was a girls car. The stuffed fairy in the back window beside another kleenex box was just window dressing.

He had grabbed the heavy suitcase from the back along with the smaller one and the bag from the front seat and brought them into the house. Nobody had been there as he took off his now dirty dress shoes. It was the crying upstairs from the quest room that alerted him that something was off. He found his wife and new daughter sobbing away on the bed and put down the bags with relief as his back was starting to act up a little. Old age was not something he would surrender too.

Henry stared down at his hand on the removable and portable top of the tool chest. In it were wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, sockets, wrenches, and ratchets. All the tools and a few bolts he needed for the truck. The new water pump was in its box on the table all ready to go. Henry picked up the tool tray and closed the door to the house before hitting the button for the garage door opener. The rush of cool air hit him with a refreshing breeze. This focused him as he went out to start the work of replacing the old water pump.

Henry was cold before he finished by the use of the trouble light on the truck as the late fall evening the sun set fast. The pump was in place, glued, all the bolts tightened, and the radiator stop cock was checked to be closed. All he had to do tomorrow was pour in the antifreeze and start it up to check for leaks. A simple job but he was tired, hungry and a little too cold to do that tonight. He cleaned up after closing the garage door. The garage, while not heated, managed to stay just warm enough with the small heater switched on. With the tools put away in their respective places and no extra bolts left over Henry switch off the lights in the garage before opening the door to the house.

Beth woke up yawning with a stretch under the warm covers of the guest bed. As she looked around the bedroom she saw her dress, the short jacket for the dress, and her silk half slip sitting on the antique chair not far from her. She realized this meant her mother had therefore seen how naughty she had been with her lingerie choice. Beth blushed as she realized what her mother might be thinking. She knew that she didn't want to put the dress back on at the moment thought. She spotted her bags sitting by the door and hauled her lavender suitcase onto the bed. The combo lock was not hard to undo but there was this tiny trick to it. The double zippers opened all the way to the base before you flipped open the top onto the bed. She sorted through her clothing to find a comfortable pair of jeans, They didn't cling to tight to her legs as they were an older pair. She also selected one of her university sweaters. The white pullover sweater with the university name in gold trimmed in black was warm and two sizes to big for her. She liked it. The fact that it once belonged to one of her old boyfriends was just a bonus. She also selected a much more less confining and comfortable bra. From her side pocket she removed her pink ballerina slippers for her feet. She debated on the garter and stocks and decided to not too.

Sitting on the bed she removed the clips from the stockings and slid them down to her calves to remove from her feet exposing her lavender, and badly chipped feet. A pedi would have been nice but she had not gotten as good at tips this week so she passed. She also removed the garter belt and the strapless bra leaving them on the bed to be hand washed before she slept. The release of her from the bra was nice. It wasn't that it was tight but she had been in it long enough that marks had formed in her skin and it felt so much better to be out of it. The comfy bra being white didn't match her panties but she was long past caring. Tonight would be about comfy after the day she had.

Beth slide into her jeans with practiced ease and the sweater was a bit big around her slim neck exposing one of her bra straps. She grabbed her makeup case from the floor and slipped out of the room into the hallway bathroom closing the door behind her. With the case on the counter she unfastened the jeans again to empty her bladder. Being female and having a tiny bladder was an annoyance she had grown up with. She was still envious of the guys and their limitless bladder. She was lucky to not have to run to the girls room during the middle of a movie. With the pressure done she wiped front to back flipped the paper and did so again just to be sure. She had a small infection a few months back and had unfond memories of the experience.

She stood up onto the carpet in the bathroom on the throw rug and used the cleanser from her kit along with a moisturizer. Her eyes looked like hell and she was tempted to use a few bits to hide them. It wasn't like her parents hadn't seen her with red eyes before over the years as she had cried often. Whether it was a skinned knee or ruined outfit or boys she remembered her eyes would open up and she would run to mommie for a hug and kiss on the forehead. She brushed out her hair and put it in a high ponytail with a squishy. Her earrings stayed along with her necklace for now. Feeling more presentable she stepped off the carpet onto the cold tile floor with a shock. She had forgotten to put on her slippers.

After depositing her makeup bag in the guest room, and putting on the missing slippers, she exited the room but saw that door again. It was closed. She prayed it had returned to normal and all was well again. The room was unchanged as she flicked on the light. This depressed her as she really liked those dresses and their loss really hurt her. The tough industrial carpet on the floor was an unassuming blue color darker than the walls. There was a newer, and apparently much cheaper, dresser where her old one used to sit. Its drawers were nothing like her old ones as a few didn't even want to open. Others revealed disgusting male underwear that she wanted nothing to do with and she shut the drawers hastily.

The bed was also where hers used to be. She tested the feel of it and it was hard. Not something she would be able to sleep on as she much preferred a soft mattress. The woolen knitted bed cover had woven patterns of blue and purple in it. It was probably warm but wool had a tendency to irritate her sensitive skin.

Beth stood up and walked around the room looking for any hint of her former room. For a moment she thought that there was some pink exposed paint beside what was a worktable of sorts in the corner. It turned out to be some spilled grey paint splashed in that one spot. The matching splotch in the metal wastebasket beside that. The table was where her barbie doll house used to be. The wall where her vanity used to be had a small stand of some sort. Not a shelf like on the wall where she used to store her stuffed kitten and unicorn collection but almost like a badly made birdhouse table. It was not something she would ever be proud of but the boy whose room this was apparently was. There was a picture of the boy with his arm around Angela. It looked like the two of them were out on a date of some sort.

"Does any of this bring back some memories for you?" Her mother asked her. She had not noticed and stood up from her leaning with a start a hand to her chest.

"You startled me!" She admonished her mother.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you but you looked so intent at that picture."Her mother picked up the picture and caressed it lovingly just as she remembered her once doing to one of her old pictures of her first day as a girl scout when she was 7.

"This picture was taken a week before your graduation. The two of you seemed so much in love at the time and I was hoping you might tell me you had plans to marry. Alas the two of you got into a fight the night before grad and it was over. Your prom night was a sad day indeed as you mopped about the house." Her mother placed the picture back to its spot.

Beth remembered her own Prom night well as she had been the date of Bradly Thomas at the time. Her red satin gown with its v neck showed off the cleavage she had created with the gel breast enhancers under her own small breasts. The diamond necklace and earrings having been borrowed from her mother. She remembered the feel of the corsage around her wrist as they danced the night away. Her mother had gushed at how beautiful she was. Of course she had done the same at the other prom nights she had gone to the previous two years as well but she let that pass as she preened in front of the camera on her special night 4 years ago.

"I'm sorry but no. This is not my room and I am not your son. I'm sorry mother." She actually felt her eyes start to water again as she suddenly started to grieve for the brother she never had. Her mother just nodded twice saying nothing. Beth saw her mother's eyes start to water and she gave her mother a hug.

"Perhaps it's for the best as I get a new and pretty daughter to get to know instead."

"I always wanted a daughter." The two women said in unison. They then giggled like naughty school girls after.

"Come supper is ready as I'm sure your starved. If we can just get your father to come in we can eat." her mother with Beth following closed the light and the door before stepping into the hallway." We can discuss your choice of lingerie later." Her mother said.

That was something she knew her mother would say to her and Beth smiled. Even though she should feel naughty it somehow made her feel quite the opposite. Warm, loved, and much more at peace. She followed her mother down the stairs with a smile on her face and was just in time to see her father step out from the garage his hands an awful mess along with an older shirt. She didn't remember ever seeing her father that dirty before.

"Did you finish playing with your truck then dear?" Her mother, displeased, asked as her father used the dishsoap to wash his hands in her sink.

"Yep the new pump is in. I'll put the antifreeze back in tomorrow. I was thinking that Er..uh E could perhaps come with me to get a few things for his, I mean , her car." Her father finished washing his hands in the sink reached for the dishtowel to dry his hands. Never once turning around to face her.

"Not on my good dish towel! Use the old towel under the sink!" Her mother stated while running forward before crouching to get said towel from under the sink for her father. Her mother hand changed into a light blue flower patterned house dress. Beth stood there as she admired this new side to her father that she had never seen before. He had always played at fixing things around the house but the truck and her car was new. Beth decided that she kinda liked it.

"I didn't know you could fix cars!" Beth blurted before she covered her mouth with both hands her eyes wide as she wondered if she had offended him.

"I didn't used to but you got me hooked a few years back when we got that Diplomat going and I found I actually enjoyed getting my hands dirty with a few things. I was never so glad that you took that course in mechanics..." her father trailed off when he noticed Beth eyes had started to water. The mention of her doing things she never remembered brought back the pain she had felt earlier. She was not Eric and she had never been a boy.

"Sorry E.. it's just that you feel so much like him and you look so. But I guess your not him. Still uh would you like to maybe let me make it up to you." her father said while his eyes showed the sadness he felt. Beth lowered her hands and arms to her side.

"H...how so" She got out of her tight throat not sounding to bad she thought.

"Well I was thinking of going to Marksville and getting a few parts for your car. I'm guessing that you haven't done any maintenance to it while at university." Marksville was the next bigger town over about 12 miles or so and a 15 minute drive down the 12.

"I wash it in the summer while I work on my tan in my bikini. I also vacuum it and wipe down the inside." At the word of her bikini both of her parents had flinched.

"That's a no then. So how about it sp..weetie wanna go with your old man tomorrow?" She could hear the unspoken sport as if she was boy but he had tried.

"So this is like shopping then?" Beth asked her father.

"Yeah I suppose it would be like shopping I guess..." Her father had not realized what that meant to a girl. Her mother's eyes opening wide on the other hand let her know she knew exactly that it meant. Beth smiled with a genuine wide smile on her face. Retail therapy was just what she needed.

"I would love too."

"Oh lord! Now you done it Henry." her mother exclaimed while she got a casserole dish out of the oven.

"What did I do?" he asked sounding genuinely puzzled.

"I'll explain it later when we go to bed." Beth giggled at her mother's remark. Some things don't change. Beth found the cutlery and plates where they always were and placed them out on the table like she always had. Her mother looked at her for a moment before putting the dish on the pot holders in the middle of the table. Beth brought over the spoon she figured they would need if it was what she was thinking it smelled like. As her mother removed the tinfoil top she saw it was the leftover casserole. She could never get leftovers at the sorority to make such a casserole. She found herself actually missing it.

Beth and her parents sat down for the small grace before dinner and dug in. Beth told her parents of a few of the things she had done at university and about of few of her sorority sisters. Her parents listened as best they could. Then her father let her know of the projects he had accomplished since she had been gone. Only once referring to her as Eric and then apologizing. Beth asked her mother questions about some of her old girlfriends from highschool and if she knew much about them. Sadly her mother admitted she had not kept track of the girls for her.

When the meal was over Beth helped her mother washing the dishes while her mother dried. It was the way she had remembered doing it. Her mother thanked her with a kiss on the cheek before they joined her father to watch the movie for the evening in the living room. They had not left her room on the couch to snuggle in so she cuddled into the chair to watch the movie.

Beth volunteered to make the popcorn when her father asked about it so her mother wouldn't have to. Both her mother and her father told her the popcorn was good but a little surprising. She did not know why as she always made it the same way. Beth found herself falling asleep towards the end of the movie. It was just going past 10 according to the clock on the wall and she got up to tell them she was going to sleep. Her mother got up to give her a hug goodnight but her father did not stand up as well to give her her customary forehead kiss goodnight. Feeling a little dejected Beth went upstairs to change into the one nightie she had managed to pack before going to the bathroom. She searched under the sink and found the box of Woolite and washed her delicates before setting them to dry on the over the shower bar like she always remembered doing before she slipped back to her new room and under the covers clutching her fairy to her.

As Beth lay there she couldn't help but to recall the days horridly strange events and wonder what it all meant.

Beth woke to feeling warm and comfy in her bed. She stretched her arms above her head as she rolled over onto her back still under the covers. The spagetti straps of her purple nightie had bit into the one shoulder while she slept and she felt the strap loosen as she turned letting back in oxygen to that one spot. She had a smile on her face as she felt more than saw it was light outside and knew she was home.

The smile disappeared as she opened her eyes not to the bottom of her canopy bed but to view of the ceiling. She sat up in bed the covers falling from her and looked around the guest room in puzzlement before memory of yesterday's horrific day. With a sigh Beth swung her legs out onto the floor searching for her slippers. Her suitcase along with her dress from yesterday and the clothes she wore last night were still on the chair. She had not thought to bring a housecoat as her bedroom should have had the fluffy white one.

She shivered a little crossing her arms under her breasts as she ran to the bathroom. Her lingerie was dry to the touch and could be put away along with her things. She sat, did her business and wiped before going back to what was now her new room. She looked around the dull room. Aside from the bed with its now messed comforter in grey the floor carpet was grey and there was an old chest in the room but no dresser. The closet had few hangers for her to hang up her clothing but at least her dress would not get wrinkled. The plain steel hangers, left overs from dry cleaning stores, needed a little bending to support the straps of her dress without creasing it. These types of hangers seemed to be the norm for most houses and Beth was sure her mother had extra's stored somewhere.

Beth went to her suitcase and looked over the top of the chest. It was not a dresser as such but more of the type one would have stored extra plates and other odd kitchen wear in back in the day. So the top was flat wood with old varnish on it. This piece having never been repainted or refinished still had the old knife marks from years of use as a cutting board. Her mother and father liked to refinish old furniture like this once and awhile. The kitchen dining room table, chairs and china cabinet had all be refinished. A bit of wood stain on the newer wooden pieces to match the natural stain of the older wood plus a lot of clear varnish. And the pieces not only looked really really good but expensive.

Beth used a tissue from her purse to check that the top was dust free enough to sort out her clothing. She should have known it would be as her mother was the one that taught her how to clean house when she was a little girl. Her mother's habit of using a tissue to check for dust was ingrained as part of that process. Beth could still remember her mother always testing her doll house to see if she had dusted it properly. Her dresser and vanity were always perfect. The dollhouse on the other hand usually had some dust on it somewhere.

When she was younger and played more with the dollhouse and not the vanity it had been the other way around but as she got older the vanity was clean but the dollhouse not so much. She remember the times as a young girl she would be sitting there playing with her barbies and her mother would come in to check on her from time to time. She found she actually missed those days. As she though back to the previous day and how her room was gone she felt a bit of pain in her heart at the loss. She didn't think it would hurt so much after having been at university for 2 years. She had expected them to rearrange some things in her room such as giving away the doll house to Emily along with some of her stuffed animals and barbies. But not her whole room and then to replace it all with..That.

Beth found herself getting angry at her parents for such an action and calmed herself with deep breathing exercises. Angry would not help her parents remember nor return her room to its former glory. She had to find a way to make her parents remember her, and just as important, find out why they thought differently. Beth sorted through her clothing and wondered what she should wear today. She wanted to look nice but not too nice. She selected her knee lenght tan Khakis at first but remember how cold it was outside and switched to a pair of her black leggings instead. She coupled this with her old school sweater that came to the bottom of her butt. The sleeves were a bit long on her arms but it would do. Comfy yet it would look attractive without showcasing her breasts to the world.

She decided on tan leg warmers and thick thermal socks for her feet. While more of an 80's retro look it was functional, warm, and knowing her fathers truck, not something she cared too much about if it got dirty. That decided Beth went to the bathroom via her makeup bag for supplies and got the beige tub going with some hot water, a handful of salts, and a touch of her favorite lavender bubblebath. She really needed the bubblebath this morning. While it was filling she checked the hall closet for some fresh clean towels. She didn't spot any of the ones she remembered from her childhood but she did find a large beach towel that was somewhat fluffy and that she could wrap around herself. There was also another towel that she would use for her long hair.

Another trip to her room got her soap, body wash, and bath sponge in its bag. One thing about living in a sorority with 20 other girls was you learned that certain items such as your soap and body wash did not get left behind. The other girls preferred the plastic poofy ball things but Beth was more old fashioned and liked the sponge as it made her feel more clean. Thus set she got back to the bathroom just as the tub was threatening to spill a mountain of bubbles over the edge. She put down her towels on the counter, removed her earrings, nightie, panties and set them to soak in the sink with more Woolite. The bubbles tickled her all over as she entered making her giggle like she always did as a little girl. She used her toes to turn the hot water knob as the tub wasn't quite warm enough for her yet.

Beth was relaxing back in the tub starting to almost drift off when the bathroom door banged open causing Beth to shriek. Her father still in his pajama bottoms stared with wide open eyes at the half naked girl who's breasts were just peeking through the bubbles. He hastily closed the door while muttering apologies. Once Beth's heart rate returned to normal she exited the bathtub leaving a trail of bubbles behind her and locked the door. She had grown used to being around girls all the time in a shared bathroom. With the door firmly locked Beth returned to her bath and washed quickly. Her hair now free of the stiffness of hairspray and mouse felt cruddy so she washed that with the shampoo and conditioner on the shelf. Not her Laurel for sure being a generic brand bulk but they left her with clean hair. She knew without looking that there would be a few knots from that. After draining the tub of the water she closed the shower curtain and ran the shower to rinse off paying attention to get her hair to flow freely down her back.

Once rinsed off she exited the bathtub and rubbed herself dry in a few places to exfoliate and pat others to prevent redness on her sensitive skin. Her skin still felt clammy since the bathroom did not have an exhaust fan and had to skip the moisturizer. She wrapped a towel around her head and the other around her breasts before picking up her damp lingerie. Upon returning to her room she hung up her damp lingerie in the closet on the last hanger to finish drying.

Beth then engaged in the morning ritual of getting ready. Moisturize, check eyebrows pluck 2 hairs, apply powder touch up toenails while changing the color of her hands to match with her preferred color. She only wore red on her fingers for special occasions that required her to dress in the LBD. Start on her face with foundation loose powder white and dark powder around her nose, outline her eyes a touch before curling lashes and putting on a muted brown eyeshadow up to eyebrow before the translucent blue over the lid itself. A touch of blush on the cheeks for color and Beth changed into her outfit for the day. She put in some simple gold small hoops and a nice plain gold chain for her neck.

Her hair now partially dry from and freed from the towel required only some careful brush drying as she put it into a high tail again. The Daddy's girl look was evident even to her. The slippers were back on her feet as she checked the bathroom to make sure she left it mostly as she found it. The tub got a rinse and she retrieve the earrings and necklace she had left behind.

It surprised Beth to smell bacon, eggs, ham, and toast being cooked. Usually her morning breakfast had no smell being grapefruit and juice. Intrigued Beth followed the smell to the kitchen where her stomach announced her embarrassed presence to her parents.

"And a good morning to you too!" her mother laughed at her from the counter putting down her cup of tea before she turned to get a plate for her.

"No mom it's okay I can do that myself. You sit and enjoy your breakfast." Beth smiled at her.

"Who are you and what have you done with my son?" Her mother joked at her. The plate Beth had just pulled from the cupboard dropped to the counter with a clank.

"My name is Elizabeth and I'm your daughter not your son."Beth choked out of her suddenly sore throat. She turned to run upstairs when her mother intercepted her.

"I'm sorry E. That was a horrible mistake on my part." she said to her as she pulled her into a hug. Beth sniffled trying to hold back the tears.

"It's just that you don't understand how hard this is for me. I know your trying and all but you treat me like I'm more your son suddenly changed to a girl like a transsexual. I'm not. I've always been a girl you raised me that way! And an.. this is all really scary." Beth felt the tears run down her cheeks before her mother pulled a paper towel to blot them.

"Hey hey. You wouldn't want to ruin that pretty face of yours after you did such a nice makeover on it this morning now would you?"her mother said softly to and only for her. Beth shook her head. "Okay then lets get through breakfast and we will talk while your father is outside playing mechanic." Beth nodded as her mother picked up the plate and expertly spooned in some ham and eggs. Beth felt happy that her mother remembered she didn't like bacon.

Beth sat down at the table and used some of the toast there to sop up the soft yoke from the eggs. She loved to eat eggs and ham this way, the same way as her mother. Her father always find out a bit gross as he liked his hard. He finished up leaving his plate behind. Beth and her mother spent a few minutes peacefully eating their eggs before Henry, now in the same dirty clothes from yesterday, open the door tot he garage letting in a chilled breeze that both women complained about. They did not see his smiling eyes as he closed the door.

Beth joked to her mother that should could feel her dress size increasing because of her efforts before her mother shushed her. The two women giggled and laughed all during the time they washed up breakfast. Her mother almost pushed her out of the kitchen when Beth wiped down the table telling her she was the quest.

It was with a smile that Beth followed her mother down the stairs into the basement. Her mother casually went to the dryer in the basement to remove a load of clothes and towels. Beth walked over to assist her with the folding when she saw there was a metal clothes line and her mothers lingerie was drying on it.

"How...How long has that line been there?" Beth asked as a hint of fear crept into her voice. Her mother looked up from the dryer door opening to see what she was referring to.

"Oh that! Probably as long as the house has been here I think. It was here when we moved in." Her mother went back to pulling the load out.

"You would have taught me to hang my lingerie to dry here right?" Beth asked again.

"I suppose I would have why? Did you need to wash your lingerie? There is Woolite in the bathroom sink upstairs.."

"I did that last night and I found the Woolite thanks. But I left them to dry in the bathroom. I did not even remember this line being here to hang them to dry. I still don't. And it would have been here regardless of what sex I was born as."

"Oh sweetie it's not that big a deal. I've done that a few times over the years."

"No mother it is a big deal!" Beth backed away from her mother." I would have known this. I should have known this! There is something wrong with me. Is my whole life a lie? What happened to me!" Beth screamed out loud at her stunned mother.

Beverly ran to her daughter leaving the clothes half in half out of the dryer. She grabbed the hysterical girl and hugged her as hard as she could. Beth struggled at first then the tears came hard and fast as she cried into mothers shoulder.

"It's not you guys." She sniffled"It's me! Something is wrong with me!" Beth sobbed into her mothers shoulder. Her mother could feel actually feel the heart of her daughter breaking before her.

"Honey sweetie, what do you do with your lingerie at your sorority?" She had to try to salvage her daughter with hope.

"I.. We have line across the basement that we hang it all on. There is a washbasin right there for us to use."Beth mumbled out.

"And when you visit someone where would you put your delicates?"She asked in that soft voice that all mothers use.

"I guess I would have put it on the shower rod or in my bedroom." Beth sniffled out.

"And your sorority has been home for 2 years without visiting us?"

"Yeah I suppose." Beth still sniffling stood up a bit from her mother.

"You came here and got hit with something so horrid that is it any surprise that you would have forgotten something so simple and just reacted like you would as a guest. After all you are sleeping in the guest room."Beth could understand what her mother was saying. And it really made sense in a way. A part of her still thought something was wrong but it was no longer crushing her.

"So your saying I overreacted?"

"Just a little. I can't imagine how hard this is for you. I know how hard it is for me cause when I see you I see two people. The son I raised with my husband and the daughter I have always wanted but never had. I want to hold you so close and make everything better. I want to share everything I ever dreamed I would share with my little girl growing up. But I feel like that would kill my son in the process or betray his memory." Her mother was now crying just as much as Beth.

"I think. No I believe that your father feels the same way. Well almost as he wouldn't have the mothering stuff to share being a man and all." her mother actually smiled a little at that thought. Beth could see her big father trying to teach her how to take care of her dolly like a mother. It just wouldn't work no matter how hard she tried to imagine it.

"Yeah I can just see daddy trying to teach me about feminine hygiene." Beth said with a straight face. Her mother looked at her sharply with her tears still going down her face. The two women stood face to face trying not to laugh before they both broke down in laughter at the thought.

"Oh Elizabeth! That was.. OH god my sides are gonna hurt." Her mother said to her. The first time she had heard her mother call her by her real name since they met at church yesterday. Beth now started to shed happy tears as she also tried to control her laughter.

"Please call me Beth."

"Yes I can see that. It fits you Beth." her mother smiled at her through her own tears with a hand on her heart and another held out. The two women clasped as if meeting for the first time.

Beth and her mother emptied the washing into the basket before they put the basket ontop of the washing machine. Each took an item out of the basket and started wordlessly folding. Nothing more needed to be said as both stood there for a few minutes folding clothes neatly smiling a smile that said all was right.

Beth was giggling as her mother had just slapped her butt gently. She was still giggling as she exited the basement holding the basket of now clean and folded clothes, her mother right behind her. It was to this scene of two happy smiling women that her father opened the door to.

"It lives!" He cried out in his own way. Both women looked at him, he was obviously like a kid who had accomplished a great feat of putting a puzzle together expecting praise.

"That's so wonderful dear." Her mother said. It was not the hope her father had expected as his shoulders dropped just a little. Turning to Beth her mother took the basket from her hands and before she could protest told her.

"You should go gather your purse and get ready. Your father wants to take his daughter out to show off now."

Beth giggled at this inside joke and bounded to the stairs as she heard her father and mother talk.

"Did I miss something?"

"It's a girl thing dear. I explain it to you later in bed." Beth snorted as she reached the foot of the stairs trying to not choke on her laughter.

"Women!"Her father exclaimed as she climbed the stairs up to her new room. Beth had a smile on her face as she grabbed her purse before stopping at the bathroom to fix herself up.

It was as she was putting on her lipstick that Beth wondered what it would be like shopping for parts for her car with her father. She had no idea what these would be, having never even known how to check her own oil till Tammy showed her last April. With her daddy's girl look restored Beth exited the bathroom and tried to not bounce down the stairs in her excitement.

Her father stood by the door to the house and not the garage with a coat in his hands. It was not one of her coats. The older style looked warm as it bulged out a bit even in his hands It was a dark pink but with violet blue yellow splashed and bits all over. It looked cute. He held the coat for her as she approached. With little girl glee Beth slipped her arms into the coat feeling the soft silky lining caress her skin. She looked to her mother in coming out of the kitchen.

"Whose coat?" Beth asked.

"It's one of mine as I didn't think you wanted to wear that long faux fur one around." Beth looked down at the coat feeling it. It really was a nice coat. Not quite her style but it fit in with what she was wearing quite nicely. Beth was about to ask why not her white coat but she remembered that that coat, along with her other clothing, was no longer in the house. Beth put on a smile for her mother and gave her a hug with a whispered thank you.

"We should head to the store for that oil and filters." that type of statement was typical for her father. He was not the most patient of people when he had his mind on a project. With a final hug goodbye to her mother Beth swung her purse up to her shoulder with practiced ease and left the house ahead of her father. When she got outside she noticed that her father had left the truck running. She was amazed at how quiet it seemed to be running.

To her memory the old truck had run poorly belching black smoke every once and awhile when it coughed. At best it would only stay running if her father kept his foot on the gas. Beth approached the old truck with awe. While it had seen better days with most of its paint gone and replaced with whatever cheap paint her father had it had a few small rust spots. Overall it looked different but better than she remembered it. For one the tires were full of air and not flat. They even looked fairly new.

"What you think?" he asked with his smiling eyes.

"It's different. I can't believe you got it to run so good." To Beth's memory this truck had once smelt so bad from running she had trouble breathing. She also remembered another small factor. It had no heat whatsoever. Anticipating a cold ride Beth opened the passenger door to be engulfed in warm hot air.

"You fixed the heat!" She exclaimed.

"I got a good deal on a heater core. Took me most of the summer to figure out how to get the box in and out but I did it. Pretty cool of your old man eh?" again with the smiles as they climbed in and sat on the bench seat.

"Way cool! Or should I say hot?" Beth giggled at her remark.

"Thanks! Err if it gets a bit too warm roll down your window. I haven't figured out how to hook up the controls yet." He said while buckling in. Beth rolled her eyes at this revelation before she clicked her own seatbelt.

The truck slid into gear with a bit of a clunk and they were off. Among other surprises was working brakes and lights on the truck for Beth. The ride was to be a few minutes long and Beth wondered about what to talk about with her father. An idea occurred to her and she debated whether she really wanted to know. After a few minutes she looked up just as they left the town itself and pulled onto the highway. Beth bit on her bottom lip for what she was about to ask might hurt her.

"Daddy tell me about Eric."

Beth's father just stared out the windshield. His hands tightened on the steering wheel but other than that there was no sign of his emotions. He said nothing for a few minutes. The only sound was the heater fan and the quiet hum of the engine. Beth just looked between her dad and the floor of the truck as she sat in her seat, hands in her lap. The truck drove along silently with neither of them saying anything for what seemed like hours to Beth.

"Daddy. Please. I have to know."

Beth's father was silent for a minute before he let out a breath he was holding. She stared intently at her father as they drove along. The tale he told her of a boy that was always cheerful as he grew up didn't quite shock her as she thought it would. Eric became more of a real person to her as she listened.

Eric has grown up always interested in anything he could get his little hands on. From a young age when the young boy had dismantled the bottom of the refrigerator in the kitchen to the small heater near the entrance that he got working for his father when he threw a hammer at it. The picture of a little yellow plastic hammer sailing over her fathers should hitting the infernal thing and it nosily whirring to life was pictured in her mind causing her to giggle.

Eric had continued through childhood always trying to help his father fix things. Some of the parts were hilarious and Beth found herself trying to desperately not pee her panties. Such as the time he fixed the Christmas tree lights and setting the tree on a very quick flash fire. Her father's description of the boy looking shocked with the cord in his hand and no eyebrows sent her into a giggle fit.

He described a boy who was fit but not all that big in size or shape to her. He always tried out for whatever sport turned his fancy at the time. It seemed he always tried and was never quite good enough to make the teams in school. The boy just loved to play sports, and according to her father, would have been good if he could just be patient at some of them.

As Eric moved through childhood and into teenaged years he continued with trying to fix things. Apparently at the back of the yard once stood a nice tree where Eric had proudly built a treehouse. Her father said that the nails into the tree had somehow managed to kill the tree and it fell over after 2 years. The two of them, with assistance from her grandfather, had removed the tree and tried to build a small shed for Eric to play on his stuff.

Eric burnt down the shed in 4 months when he found out about gasoline. Her father said it was perhaps the only reason they had a new push mower for the yard. Beth had no memory of a tree or shed in the yard but then she didn't really spend that much time looking at trees when she was a little girl so she probably wouldn't have noticed it that much. The new lawn mower she did remember. However to her memory her father had gotten tired of it and traded the old one in for a new one at the shop he got it fixed at. She did not mention this to her father however.

He told her how when in junior high her grandfather had passed away. It was Eric who had found the old car buried under newspapers and a very thick coating of dirt. The car would not move or even turn over her father said though the two of them had tried for the better part of a day. They had eventually rented a u haul car trailer and brought the car to their house. Eric had pleaded for her father to let him work on the car. Amazingly the car had escaped having mice in it. However it was looking to be in sad shape.

Eric spent every weekend he could on the car. He first washed the car with soap and water which did nothing to remove the grime. Her father had been surprised when the boy had washed the car with gasoline. He told her that Eric had explained how his teacher in mechanics shop had told him how washing it would remove the grime without harming the paint. And it really did. After that the boy washed it down with some soap and used some turtle wax and a hand polisher to buff up the original paint to looking like new.

Weekend after weekend the car started to look less like a wreck and more like a new car. The boy had cleaned inside and out. The wiring on the car was pulled and checked over in his shop class. There was a few small changes made along with a different aircleaner but otherwise it remained original.

Her father told her of how he came out of the house to find the hood of the car open one weekend and the boy had his wrench on a socket deep under the hood with a very long bar on it. Together they got the engine to move a bit at first. They poured diesel fuel into the engine via the carb. Beth didn't ask what a carb was as it would interrupt him.

The engine had sat with a gallon of diesel fuel in it for a week before they had tried the next weekend. The engine at first didn't want to move at all. Eric removed the spark plugs and tried again the engine turned over by hand without too much trouble and the boy had spent the remained of the day turning the engine by hand. It was oiled again before night and the two tried the next day to start the engine. It would not start.

Her father told her how the boy would not give up and removed the old carburetor to take to school with him. Apparently Eric, with the help of his teacher and her father located a better but older style of carburetor at a salvage yard. The three of them spent a night, with her father admitting to having more than a few beers with the teacher, and rebuilt the carb with a kit of some sort.

That weekend the boy had used a Gerry can, whatever that was, and some hose along with the rebuilt carburetor and three batteries. He got the car started amid much smoke. It knocked for a few minutes at first he said until the oil got to the lifters. Again another term Beth had no idea what it meant.

The way her father described it was like the engine coming alive brought the whole car to life as well. She was impressed in spite of herself. This Eric sounded like a guy she could really like. If she had a brother she wanted him to be just like that. He sounded so handy with his hands.

After the car engine was running her father got really involved with getting the rest of the car into shape. It was their plan to have the car done for his sons big graduation. They had worked tirelessly all over the car changing fluids, brakes, other brake part items she didn't even have the smallest clue what they meant, and even the gas tank got removed and sent someplace for, what she could only assume, a proper cleaning.

Nobody was more upset that the car didn't pass than her father. It was such a stupid thing as the windshield washer fluid had leaked out of the car from a hairline crack. Even Beth agreed it was stupid. The second time it passed easily as everything else was fine just not that as they had managed to find a new one via a dealership.

By this time Beth was surprised to see that they had already pulled into the parking lot of where they were to get parts. Or as her father put it, the good parts. Beth having never even been to an auto parts store before let alone know what she was looking for followed her father into the store. The simple glass doors with the tint on them made looking in from outside difficult but as she stepped through she saw something she was not expecting.

Beth, like most, grew up watching television so her idea of a parts store was of a grimy looking rude fat man with a cigar behind a wooden counter. What she found was a store with a white clean floor with a strange double yellow and red flag on it. No doubt holding some meaning to someone. The store had chrome seats with big round black seats on them. The counter itself was a cheap marble imitation with loads of books in the center on a rack and 4 different terminals evenly spaced along the store wide counter. At one end was a flip up counter top to let people in and out.

The people behind the counter were of about her age. There was three guys and a woman all wearing a black tennis shirt with a logo over the left breast. The guy in the center to where her father was walking was about 5'10" clean shaven and he had a handsome face. Beth blushed as he looked at her. There was little doubt he was cute and he probably had a girlfriend already. He even had nice straight clean teeth as he smiled at her. Beth felt her panties get a bit warm at that smile. Actually the store itself was warm and Beth had to undo her coat.

Her father, of course, noticed nothing about this as he talked with this young man. It seems his name was Ken. Beth entertained mild thoughts of snuggling up to Ken before her father called her forward. Shaking herself with a mouthed "down girl" she approached the counter.

"This is my daughter Elizabeth. We need some 10/30 and a PH 8A filter for her Diplomat."

"Hi Elizabeth Welcome to Napa." Beth felt her panties getting moist at the sound of his sexy as hell voice.

"Call me Beth." she purred back with an eye flutter. That got her fathers attention as his head whipped around and looked at her flush face. His eyes opened wide when he saw the stupid smile on his daughters face.

"Ken get the oil and filter please." her father droned out interrupting them both.

"Oh sure. Yeah be right back Harold." And Ken walked away with the look back at Beth.

"Absolutely not E."Her father said as he looked at her with his eyes squinted.

"But.."

"I said no and that's final."

"Yes Daddy." she said looking at the floor and feeling like she was a 7 years old girl again.

Ken came back to the counter with the smile on his face still carrying a jug and a small red box. Her father looked at the jug and then at Ken who was still looking at Beth as she giggled.

"I said 10/30 not 20/50."

"What! Oh I don't.. I'll get the right one sorry about that be right back Beth." Ken said still looking at Beth.

"Don't bother."He said obviously annoyed." JAMES" He thundered out.

An older man about her fathers age came out of an office that was behind the counter took one look at Ken staring at Beth as she giggled.

"Ken go sit in a snowbank."

"But.."

"Now!" James said in a no argue tone.

James got the order fixed up for her father that also included two other filters. A set of small tiny boxes that held spark somethings, and some metal top thing which was put into a box that her father handed to her. Beth held the box containing everything but the jug as her father paid for it all. When it was all paid for she saw Ken come inside from a back door and she finger waved to him. Before her father turned her around and they then went outside to the truck.

Once inside the old truck and belted in her father turned to face her. He tried to speak a few times but stopped himself. Beth had a pretty good idea what was bothering him so she waited as he started and stopped a few times. She had a similar experience when she was 16 and was allowed to date. It was at a restaurant where she saw a nice boy. It was a father daughter lunch thing on a Saturday. In the car afterwards he father had given her the failed birds and bees talk. Beth tried to keep herself from giggling as it was obvious that her father was trying to do the same thing again with her. Seeing that he wasn't going to get anywhere fast she used her hands as she said "What?"

This got him to sit with an open mouth before muttering "Nothing." and that was the end of it. They drove around for a bit as Beth looked outside seeing some familiar places with new stores in them. She saw a nice outfit for a 50's sock hop in the window of one store as her father pulled into a parking spot on the street.

As they got out Beth was surprised there was no meters close by. In the city she had gotten used to seeing the new solar meter things everywhere. Here it was free parking which was not what she was used to. Beth stared at the outfit in the window of a store that just said Rosy's. The rest of the window display showed various items including purses that must be rock hard if they were from that age.

Beth tore her eyes from the window to follow her father into a restaurant with the meaningless name Salisbury House on it. This far from the city it would not have exactly the same items as the city. The menu would be the same but the food would be better since her father was taking her there. As they sat waiting for the waitress to take their order her father asked her about her dating life. She admitted it was not that great as she was saving herself for marriage and the guys at college wanted more than she would give them. This seemed to please her father.

Beth looked up as the waitress approached she looked familiar to Beth so she stared at her for a moment or two before it dawned on her.

"Angie is that you?" Beth asked with a small voice. This totally derailed Angela's opening line.

"Yes.. and what would you like .. uh do I know you from somewhere?" Angie was squinting at her trying to place her. Beth had not really changed that much she thought.

"It's me Ang. Its Beth. Beth Tanner from highschool." At her still blank look." We were on the cheerleading squad together, went to Mandy's sweet 16 slumber party where Tris got her bra frozen." If nothing else it should jog her memory.

"Tanner? But you say your name is Beth?"

"Yes." Beth sighed." Elizabeth Tanner." We took chemistry, english 100 and 200 together."

From the look of Angie's suddenly big eyes Beth thought she had finally gotten it and remembered her.

"Eric! Oh my god your a tran..uhm." Angie looked around hurriedly as Beth's mouth dropped open. One of her best friends in highschool didn't remember her at all. Worse she though that she was Eric. Beth was near tears.

"Excuse me Miss. But this is my daughter Elizabeth and she is most definitely not my son Eric." her father spoke up." I would prefer to place our orders however if you cannot do so without making a fool of yourself I will be happy to talk with your boss about our differences." Beth gazed lovingly at her father.

"Oh uh.. Sorry it was my mistake... Uh perhaps Er..lizabeth we could talk later and get uh well just talk. Sorry sorry sorry!" Angie was almost in tears herself. Beth guessed she really needed this job."Can I take your orders please?"

Beth and her father placed their orders. Him a Big Nip burger with poutine and her seafood salad. Her father placed his hand on hers when Angie left and comforted her. Beth was devastated on the inside but put a smile on her face for her father. She could not figure out why nobody remembered her but they remembered Eric who did not even exist. She knew of scifi fiction that had mentioned different worlds but this was not fiction.

The meal was served by another person who she did not know. She almost felt insulted by her once friend. But she knew from her own time of waiting tables that if you got a break you took it as there was never very many. The meal was good and Beth found her stomach was full long before she could finish the salad. Her father raised that one of eyebrow at her when she pushed the plate away from herself.

"What? I'm full!"

"Bev's gonna love feeding you. Whenever Eric was around we couldn't keep the pantry full long enough." Beth was unsure if that was a complement on her or not. Still the comparison hurt her.

"I'm not Eric." she said to her lap.

"Oh Beth. I'm sorry but you can't expect me to be used to having a daughter in just a day."

"I know it's just.."

"Just what?"

"I was hoping that there would be someone who remembered me. Not well this. It really hurts. I can't explain it. I'm sorry."

Beth heard more than saw her father move around to her side just as the tears started to fall. As soon as he was sitting beside her she leaned into him and his wide chest and cried. Beth was unaware of the waitresses that came by at the sight of a woman in distress but her father just waved them away before anyone got close. Beyond the sight of either of them hidden behind a fern was Angela who watched it all.

Beth, like all women everywhere, eventually cried herself out in her fathers loving embrace. She thanked him before asking if he could let her go freshen up. Her father long used to such a thing from his happy marriage to her mother nodded before going back to finish his now cold burger.

Beth entered the door marked ladies and proceeded to a stall after she grabbed a paper towel with water on it. She always wiped both sides of the toilet seat before she sat to do her business. When she exited the stall she was surprised to find Angie standing not 4 feet away with tears on her own face. Beth still mad at her for the hurt tried her best to ignore her. She got her compact out and leaned into the mirror checking the damage.

"Your dad says your not Eric."

"Correct."

"I don't remember him ever having a sister."

"I don't remember having a brother either. Before you ask I have been as I am all my life. I grew up a girl doing normal girl things. Going to girl scouts, communion in a dress, prom in a gown. So no I'm not Eric and never have been."Beth turned around and rested on the counter edge with her back to the mirror.

"Are you adopted or something?" Angela asked with her arms crossed in front of her.

"No. They really are my parents. I remember my mom teaching me how to cook, clean, and how to sit in a dress quite clearly."

"And they remember you?"

"I wish I could say yes to that more than you can guess. But no they don't. It was a bit of a surprise to us all yesterday."

"I can't imagine how tough this is for you. I mean like how is this even possible?"

"I don't know but I hope, no I will find out."

"I.. Look I really am sorry for what I did earlier. I was wrong of me to say that."

"In your shoes I guess I would have done the same." she raised her eyebrow in a gesture copied from her father."Did you really date my brother?"

Angie moved to stand beside Beth leaning against the same counter top.

"Yeah I did. At first it was more of a puppy crush thing. I mean have you seen pictures of Eric."

"Yes one in particular with you in his arms."

"I remember that. I was so sure he was the one you know. It was going great till the week of prom. Then things at home changed."

"Changed how."Beth asked strangely concerned for her friend.

"It.. no it really started before that. A few months beforehand one of my cousins came out as gay. I mean you hear about lesbians, gays, and transfreaks on tv but to actually have one in your own family. Well it shook the family to the core. My dad kinda blamed it on my moms brother who is my Uncle Clarence's dad. It created a wedge between them. By the time I was to graduate dad was not always sleeping at home. The weekend before prom he and mom got into a huge fight. I tried to stop them but I couldn't." Angie broke down in tears at what happened her hands to her face as the memory went through her. Beth moved closer and put her arm around Angie.

"Thanks. He .. hit her. I can still see the shocked look on her face as it happened and hear the scream from mine. He left after what he did. I haven't seen him since. It's just mom and myself now trying to get the other three through school. Jason wants to help but mom is right he has to complete school first with good grades. Mom has always been like that."

"So you broke up with Eric because of your dad leaving?"

"Kinda. I mean he was there for me but I needed to help mom more. I didn't go to prom because I returned my dress for the money." Angie whispered.

"That sucks. I can't imagine how that feels either. I had three prom gowns myself. My prom in the red satin dancing arm in arm with Bradly was like the best thing ever. To miss something like that would kill me."

"Bradly? As in Bradly Thomas?"

"Like duh who else would I mean."

"Oh gods he was like so much a hunk back then."

"Like I know! All us girls on the cheer squad had a thing for him."

"And you landed him? Fuck girl I'm so jealous!"

"Don't be his hands were all over so were his eyes."

"I mean like still Bradly Thomas!"

"It was just for prom. I kinda wanted more but it never happened he was pretty steady with whats her face with the pink hair streak."

"Melony. Yeah he was but she went with that rich guy instead who turned out to be more interested in guys if you know what I mean."

"Rick was gay?"

"Apparently."

"Damn."

"Yep. So you said your name was Beth and we were on the cheer squad together?"

"That's the way I remember it yes."

"Do you do the cheer still?"

"Gods no! Just the stretches when I do my aerobic workout."

"I should do the stretches. Maybe... oh you wouldn't want to."

"Doesn't hurt to ask."

"Maybe...we could get together and like you know go through the stretches some time."

"Maybe. And maybe we could chat a bit more about this brother of mine."

The two girls exchanged emails with each other. Beth remembered Angie's phone number which hadn't changed and neither had her mom's. Her sorority didn't have a phone as most had a cell which Beth didn't. But then neither did ether of her parents. She couldn't explain it but they just didn't like cell phones. If someone wanted to get a hold of her that badly they could wait till she was near a real phone. It did not take either girl long to fix themselves up. They gave each other a hug of friendship before leaving the bathroom. Her father was impatient as always and was waiting with her coat as she exited the bathroom.

While Beth mourned for the lost friendship she once had with Angie in school, she also smiled at the possibility of a new and even better one. It was with this happy thought that she exited the restaurant with her father.

Beth was once again staring at the 50's outfit in the window of Rosy's after exiting the restaurant. She didn't know why but she found the outfit calling to a part of her somehow. The long wide skirt with its white lace trim and silly little bear picture on it just looked so special. The white pullover sweater with its deep v neck opening and puffy sleeves in a material that was no doubt itchy to wear as it looked fuzzy. The skirt had a wide waistband and the mannequin had a gauze scarf in light pink with sparkles around its neck. On its feet were short ankle socks with lace trim in red strapped sandals. Beth stared with longing at the outfit in the window not hearing her father step closer.

"Maybe you should go in and try it on."he said close to her ear. The fact that she was sorely tempted to do just that warred with her sense that it would be improper to do so. They were here to get parts for her car not to window shop. She didn't have the money to spend either which would just make it all that more painful if it actually fit her.

"Please Beth do it for me."

Well that changed things so with a squeal to her father and a hopping style hug she left him standing bewildered on the sidewalk as she dashed into the store. The inside of the store did not have many items on display but what was floored Beth's senses. There was dresses from what looked to be a Victorian age thru to the 1980's. Just about anything you would see in a movie somewhere was on display to Beth's poor eyes. She wanted everything, she wanted to feel each dress, to try it on. To see how they felt. There was even a maroon dress that looked to be just like the dress Rachel McAdams wore in Sherlock Holmes opposite hearthrob Robert Downy Junior.

Beth was hopping up and down on the balls of her feet in excitement looking at everything. A woman from behind an all glass counter stepped around to ask her why she was here and what she was looking for. Beth gushed about how beautiful the store was and how everything just called to her. The woman who introduced herself as Anne smiled and explained that her Aunt, who owned the store, created much of what was on display. While not authentic reproductions of the era they were much sought after by film company's to use in movies, adds, and commercials.

Anne said that much of what they sold was done via online ordering and the store was mostly a place where some buyers would come to browse. While a few women came into the store very few would ask to try on many of the items simply because they believed them to be far to expensive. Anne said she believed that many walked away for the same reason. Beth agreed as she felt she could not afford any of the items even if she saved for months. Anne asked her what she thought about the window display and she responded that it really caught her eye.

She had come into the store to try on the outfit in the window but she admitted that it seemed like a foolish idea now and was prepared to offer her apologies and exit when Anne moved to a rack and pulled out a skirt similar to what was in the window. Beth stopped and approached her hand feeling the soft rich feel of the fabric. From another rack Anne pulled out a petticoat that would go under the skirt it was that piece that showed the hint of lace. Beth followed behind Anne entranced as the girl pulled item after item from spots here and there. Some almost magically until she got close enough to see it was really a corner style box invisible unless you knew it was there.

Anne continued with her now armload of stuff as Beth followed her to a curtain. The curtain opened to reveal a standard change room not really that big. There was a large flat Mirror opposite it on the wall. Anne put the items on a hanger inside and asked Beth for her coat. Beth was out of the coat and into the cubicle with the curtain closed before she remembered she wanted to refuse.

Beth turned to open the curtain when she caught sight of the skirt before her and stopped. She had to try it on. That was all there was too it. Her sweater and leggings came off quickly leaving her standing in her panties and bra. The petticoat was pulled out but Beth looked to the skirt and pulled the skirt first which she put on. It was a simple hook and hidden zipper design on the side. Without the petticoat the skirt draped to her mid calves. The petticoat was then drawn under the skirt and she pulled the strings to tie it around her waist settling the skirt overtop with much movement and crinkling. She had expected the outfit to be uncomfortable and was surprised to find it not only very well made but comfortable as well. The petticoat had a long satin lining.

The top Anne had chosen was different from the window. This one while white based had silver fuzz on it giving it a more slight blue look. The inside of the top was carefully and cleverly lined. Beth smiled at this ingenious idea as it would make the top less of a chore to wear. She slide it over her head and pulled it over her breasts almost squishing them tell they settled into the cups of the liner with room to spare. Beth used the compact from her purse to check and yes her shoulder straps were showing. With a few adjustments she was able to hide the straps under the edges of the top.

With a grin she undid the scrunchy in her hair shaking her head to have it settle around her face. She used the scarf first under then over her head tying it into a bow that she settled over the left side of her head. With her mirror and the pencil nub she kept in her purse for the few times she ever outlined her lips she created a tiny beauty mark near her nose. Complete she tried to gracefully exit the change room with a smile on her face.

Anna was waiting for her as she exited the changeroom and helped her straighten out the back of the skirt where it had hooked a little on the petticoat. Satisfied she let Beth look over herself in the mirror. Beth twisted back and forth checking herself from side to side. Her breasts were noticeable, very noticeable without really being on display because of the hiding effect of the lining. Her cleavage was visible but also not over the top. Her waist looked delightfully slim to her eyes.

"Wow!"

Beth turned at the sound of the wow to see her father's mouth still slightly open. His eyes were wide open as he stared at her causing Beth's smile to get that much bigger. She sauntered over swinging her hips causing the skirt to dance playfully as she walked.

"Hey there handsome. I hear that the Big Bopper is playing over at the base. I don't suppose you could give a girl a ride there could you?" Beth playfully said to her father in a mock seductive voice.

"If this was 1950 and you were my daughter. I would nail the door on the house shut with a shotgun ready to shoot the boys if you wore that out of the house young lady."

Beth's smile was quite genuine and heartfelt as she went up to hug her father. It was the nicest strangest thing that had been said to her all day. Anne was trying to not giggle and failing at it. Beth twirled once more before heading back to change. She passed the Irene Adler dress and stopped to admire it. She knew her father would not buy her either outfit but it never hurts to just look sometimes. With a sigh she got changed returning the skirt, petticoat, and top to Annie. The scarf was still in her hair forgotten until Anne mentioned it. Beth, embarrassed as such a slip, removed the scarf returning it as well. Anne brought up the total for the ensemble which came to a surprising $134.00. Far out of Beth's price range however it was her father that asked if it was possible to put away the items.

Anne did say that they had a 30 day layaway plan available and her father put the $5.00 deposit on it despite her objections to the contrary. Beth wrapped herself around her fathers arm as they left the store content and quite happy with herself and her father.
The ride back home was mostly uneventful as they left the town. Once again on the highway her father described to her how Eric had taken the car on its first long trip to see her university and the car performed perfectly fine.

Beth felt obligated to tell her father of her own memory of the car. She remembered that her father had gotten the car towed to a garage from her grandparents. Once there it sat for over a year while he made payments to get the car restored. She told him that the first time she saw him drive it into the driveway she had kinda insulted him. She remembered how she thought the front end of the car was really ugly and had let it slip out. Her father had been slightly upset with her about that for days. The interior of the car was grimy but not overly dirty and it was she who spent 2 days scrubbing out the inside of the car making it look quite clean. When it was at the shop someone had used a special oil on the dash making the old dash soft and pliable. It also attracted dirt like honey attracts bees.

Her father told her that he remembered Eric and him cleaning the inside out with some chemicals and that the oil for the dash was this small bottle he would show her later. He explained that you made sure the dash was nice and clean first before you poured a bit of the liquid onto a paper towel. Once the dash had a good coating of visible oil on it you left it sit in the sun where it would soak into the material softening it. He explained this was a good method of preventing the dash from cracking and looking awful.

Beth told her father how her and her sisters at the sorority had cleaned it over the summer with a vinyl cleaner called Armor All. Her father told her rather heatedly that this was not to be done ever again as the Armor All product did more harm than good. Beth promised him that she would not do so again. They continued to chat about this and that with the car. Beth would explain what she had done or not done concerning the car. Such as getting the oil changed. Her father seemed less than pleased she had not had this done since she left home.

When they arrived at home again her mother was waiting in the house with drinks for the both of them. Beth argued with herself when she found out her mother was going to go do some grocery shopping. She wanted to spend time with her father but also at the same time wished to go with her mother like she used to. It was her mother that taught her the ways of grocery shopping. Just because something was marked on sale did not mean it was actually cheaper. Sometimes another brand right next to it was cheaper at regular price. Other times to get the sale you had to buy bulk. That was a good thing which is why people have pantries for groceries her mother had said to the 13 year old girl when she had asked her. If it was a regular item you bought such as a condiment that was well used saving half the price now when it would surely cost more later was a huge savings.

She was standing in the door thinking about this when her mother patted her on the cheek and said she should stay to watch over her father. The decision now taken from her she felt relieved but she did tell her mom they should go shoppin next time she visited. Shoppin was code for browsing thrift stores for good deals. Not all the items in thrift stores were donations from people, sometimes there is donations from superstores or other businesses. One in particular that Beth knew of in the city bought discontinued stock from other businesses at wholesale slashed prices and sold them to customers. They never advertized and were off the main streets. Much of Beth's current beauty supplies was from there. She had 4 cans of hairspray, label removed, that she got for $2.00. Her expensive looking hairdryer, hair irons, and makeup brush kits came from there as well.

She gave her mother a hug before she left. Once her mother was gone she found out her dad had found her a thick coverall to wear over her clothing. The sleeves were a little long as were the legs. A few quick pins took care of that. The coveralls were just warm enough for her to watch her father. He started to explain in detail about the different parts of the car under the hood. He gave her the tools she needed to change the spark plugs. She was thrilled to be able to do this and often smiled at her father as she worked. She made a few minor mistakes that resulted in a few of the old plugs being broken and mixed up two wires. The fuel filter and air filter were not that difficult to change as well.

The mysteries of how to drain the engine oil and remove the grimy filter however her father would not let her know at this time. She did get to fill the oil filter with oil and put the oil into the engine, after her father showed her where to put it and not into the brake fluid or radiator. While the engine oil was being done her father had sprung a leak in her rad to drain the fluid. She was horrified at first till her father had her crawl underneath the car. There was this little fitting on the bottom of the radiator just for that purpose. He even showed her that when you turned it clockwise it closed up.

Her father removed the hose from the engine to the radiator and a little cap off the engine. That was where the top thing from the parts store was to go. He made her clean off the bolts and use some silicone from a tube on them as well as the cap thingy. Her father bent over the engine and she tried to watch as best she could but from the way he was moving and touching here and there around and in it she guess it was a trick of some sort.

Once the antifreeze was back in the car with some new stuff from a jug her father let her start her car. At first she was alarmed as the oil light came on but after a few seconds it was off and her car actually seemed to run much better. Her father took her to the back of the car where the exhaust was and explained how you could listen for engine problems just by listening to this. If it was steady with no hiccups, or misses as he called them, it was good. If there was a hiccup there was a problem.

Beth started to wipe down all the tools as a favor to her father. He was surprised and seemed quite happy as she did so. He gave her a small hug for it as her hands were full. When he was satisfied that the car had no leaks of any kind he turned off the engine and checked some other fluids on the car. Her windshield washer fluid was low and he told her to buy some the next time she put gas into the car.

They went around the old car a few times with her sitting in the car pressing the brake pedal or putting the car in gear. Her father found two of the light bulbs burnt out and showed her how to replace them. The first one she tried to remove and it broke in her hand. Her delicate skin bled from a small glass sliver quite well. She waited with her dirty hands away as he went into the house for a pair of tweezers and removed her sliver. He then put her finger into his mouth and sucked on it. She protested but he assured her it was the best method of cleaning it.

True to his word it did not bleed for very long and was surprisingly not painful either. He said it could have been worse and to not worry about it. She was touched by the affection he was showing her. Her father was still sucking on her finger when her mother pulled up in the Ford Focus with the groceries. Her mother was out of the car with the engine still running as she hurried up to see what happened. Her father explained what happened to her as Beth felt herself blushing. When she and her father offered to help bring in the groceries her mother admonished them both for their filthy hands. This spurred them to run to the house, Beth laughing behind her father, where they washed their hands in the kitchen sink. Beth's mother was there to hear her tell her father to use the grubby towel. Her mother giggled at her father's comment of doubled teamed.

They got the groceries inside and with the coverall removed Beth helped her mother put away the groceries like she remembered always doing. Her mother thanked her for the help. The comment about how Eric never did not really impress Beth all that much. She talked to her mother as they worked to prepare a supper of chicken sandwiches, a salad, and some quickly made chocolate chip cookies that she made. Her mother watched her but said nothing as Beth prepared the oven and batter in a very short time. When the oven was at a proper temperature she spooned out the cookies on a buttered bake sheet. After 10 minutes she checked the cookies finding them just right she removed them onto an old cut up paper grocery bag to cool and spooned on the next helping scraping the bottom of the bowl in the process. When that batch was just finishing her father came in to dirty the sink again.

He had finished up with bulbs and putting away the tools. He pronounced her car ready for another year to her mother. Once he finished washing his hands Beth ran some water into the bowl she had just finished licking clean with her finger and rinsed out the bowl along with a few of the utensils she used. She turned around to find her mother and father each with a still warm cookie in their mouths.

"Hey those are for after supper."

"These are so good. I didn't know you could bake." her mother said while trying to not spit out the half chewed cookie.

"Mom it's chocolate!" like that should explain everything."Besides you taught me. It is your recipe after all."

"Mmm mine are never this good. You must tell me your secret!"

This prompted a comparison of ingredients and a check of the cookbook where Beth explained what she did and why to her mother who listened avidly. Her father stole away with another 4 cookies as they did so.

"Beth you are wonder. It makes me wonder what I did without a daughter all this time." her mother exclaimed with a smile on her face.

"But I always have been here." Beth said momentarily confused before her smile slipped off her face. Her mother noticing this hugged her tightly.

"It's okay Beth I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's not that mom. I am beginning to wonder if I really am myself at times."

"What on earth do you mean Beth?"

"I'm not quite sure myself. Lets talk about this later for now lets feed daddy's bottomless pit called a stomach."

And feed him they did, mostly because her mother was not used to her daughter's smaller appetite and had prepared a bit too much. What Beth didn't eat her father did. So much so he said he needed a nap after supper. The two women giggled as the now over full man stumbled to the couch for a much needed after dinner nap. They packed away the many leftovers into the fridge and froze a number of the cookies in small bags that Beth made. When the kitchen was nice and clean, according to her mother in record time, the two women went into the living room. Her mother lay down with her father on the couch while Beth snuggled up in the same chair as the night before.

Her father would occasionally snore as they watched a soap opera type evening show before the main movie was to come on. When the movie came on Beth sat up as she loved this old movie. She could remember every part of it as she had watched it a number of times singing along to it.

Beth sat eyes glued to the tv as the first part of the movie played. She silently mouthed along with most of the film until her favorite part came up. It was then that she stopped being silent.

"Doe a deer a female deer. Ray a drop of golden sun. Me a name I call myself. Fa a long long way to run. So a needle pulling thread. La a note to follow so. Tea a drink with jam and bread."

She paused while the tv played out the chorus with her eyes closed. She no longer needed to see the movie to know this song by heart. She unconsciously nodded and tapped her foot in time with the music that she felt in her heart. She joined in in perfect timing with the movie at the next part.

"When you know the notes to sing. You can sing most anything."

Beth sighed to herself as the channel switched to a commercial. She was a little taken aback when she opened her eyes at last. Both her mother and father had switched positions on the couch as both were sitting up staring at her.

"What?"

"That was beautiful." her mother whispered not wishing to ruin the mood. Her father simply nodded to agree with her. Beth blushed furiously at this remark. She was never very good at singing.

"Thanks but I'm no singer I don't have the voice for it."

"I find this hard to believe it's me saying this. But yes you do."if it was anyone else but her father that said anything like that she would have dismissed it. Her father, however, never gave out a compliment like that unless he really meant it. Beth was a bit taken back but the remark. The commercials didn't last very long and The sound of Music came back on. Beth tried to watch the rest of the movie without singing along. A part of her so wanted too and she had to consciously fight to not burst into song. She caught the occasional look from both her parents.

By the end of the movie her cheeks felt like they would be permanently red at the amount of blushing she had done. When she announced that she was going to get ready for bed her mother came to give her a hug but it was her father who gave her the final kiss on the forehead that she had longed for last night. With her heart singing along to the love of both of her parents Beth went up to the washroom to clean off her makeup and get ready for bed. Her lingerie would not be needed for tomorrow.

As she laid in her bed in the guest room she spent some time planning what she would wear to church tomorrow as her family would, like always, surely want her to go. Her eyes were closed as she planned this however and she was not quite asleep as she felt the door to her room open.

"Henry she is so beautiful. How did we produce a child like her?"

"I do not know Bev. I do know she is all girl as far as I'm concerned. There is no part of her that is Eric."

"I know what you mean. A part of me knows she is somehow our son but she is so unlike him and a real girl through and through. I do not know what happened to our son. I feel like I should grieve for Eric but I can't somehow. What are we going to do Henry? I don't want to loose such a precious girl."

"I do not know Bev but there has to be answers."

The light against her eyelids went dark as the door closed once again. She did not move from her spot as sleep finally claimed her. It was with the thoughts and concerns of her parents that her dreams started.

Unnoticed by anyone, least of all the now sleeping Beth, a single tear rolled down her hairless cheek.

Beth woke up groggily. She felt trapped for a moment before she realized that during the night the sheets had wrapped around her tightly. Having all the sheets including the bedsheet wrapped around her had caused her to sweat quite a bit as well as her nightie clung to her skin like glue. She knew it meant she had had a bad night. While she couldn't recall any of the dreams she did feel a little less that refreshed that morning. Once out of bed she put the bedsheets into the clothes basket by the door that already had the clothes she had worn the day before in it. From her suitcase she extracted her last clean nightie along with her makeup bag.

The bath that morning made her feel so much better and the feeling of a clean nightie on her clean body brought a smile to her face. It did not take her very long to lay out all she would wear that morning. Church, even in this small town, had etiquette rules for women. It was expected that a woman always present nice and feminine. Her mother had always had her wear a dress to church even as she got older and she saw no reason to change that. Indeed her on print dress had been packed for just that reason.

While still in just her white full slip she stole into the bathroom to utilize the mirror to fix her hair and makeup. The hair was done conservatively without any bows or ponytails. It just fell to frame her face nicely. Her makeup consisted of all earth tones to complement her skin while giving her the barely any makeup look. Satisfied all was as good as she could do with her limited supplies, she had this great powder in her dorm room that would be perfect, she sneaked back into her room to finish getting dressed with the pullover dress and its tie in the back sashes. Her shoe choice was limited to the flats as the only other shoes she had, again at the dorm, where open toed slingbacks. Grans necklace and simple studs adorned her for jewelry and she skipped anything on her wrists or fingers.

From what she understood from her mother's cryptic remarks the day before there was to be an informal gathering later on today. This was to be held at their house. Beth's wardrobe was limited as she didn't think her church dress would be appropriate nor would jeans. That left her with the 2 skirts she bought and a few tops she had not yet worn. She was still busy trying to decide when her mother knocked on the already open door. She looked up and waved her in to preoccupied with choosing the right outfit.

"What are you doing dear?" her mother asked.

"Trying to find something to wear later. Slacks would be perfect but I didn't bring any with me. My jeans and sweaters are all dirty but they wouldn't be proper anyways. I was thinking of maybe my black skirt with the side slit or the grey one. The grey one goes well with the white lace trimmed knit top but that might be a bit girly. On the other hand all I have for the black one is my red blouse that needs a quick ironing or the light pink top. However the top might show a bit too much cleavage. To wear the blouse I would need to put on my heels. I just don't know if I can look good enough without being over feminine. I don't want to upset them at all. Especially after the reception I got on Friday at the funeral."

"Beth I'm sure anything you choose would be fine. I would like to see you in that grey skirt and this knit top looks great. However the black skirt and blouse would be far too formal. The pink top does look a bit too daring. You could always wear your dress as it looks fine on you. I must say you look quite pretty. Trying to put your old mother to shame maybe?"

"Mother! It's a church dress I couldn't wear that what would they think? And no you look far better than me in that.. is that a new skirt suit? I love the color and style."

Indeed her mother's tailored skirt suit was a recent addition. Being made of a dark brown fabric with lots of black flower patterns lined with gold it looked really beautiful on the older woman. The double breasted style may be more in line with the 1980s than today but it still made her mother look amazing.

The two women discussed where they had purchased their individual outfits as they exited the room and were still deep in discussion on fabrics, cuts of styles, and even possibly getting together to make some outfits or at least start on some ideas with the many patterns her mother had gotten over the years.

Beth remembered that her mother had once sewn her princess gown when she was 8 for Halloween. She remembered every detail of the dress and even how it felt as she went from house to house getting many compliments. However she began to wonder just how real these memories were. Beth couldn't shake the feeling that, however much she felt whole and real, that something was wrong. What happened to her brother Eric. If she was Eric why did she not even have the smallest memory of being him. Surely there would be something. As hard as she thought on the ride to church she couldn't recall anything.

This time the trip into the church was different. Last time she had been so sure of herself and who she had always been. This time she was not entirely sure as she put her coat beside her mothers. She followed just like she always had before sitting with her knees together like always. It was maddening to not know what happened to poor Eric.

Beth's worries were not lost on her mother as she held Beth's hand at the beginning. Beth smiled grateful for her mother and relaxed. Beth sang when other did this time not being restricted by her mother as she sang. Her wonderful soprano blended in nicely with all the other women. Many of the women may have stared at her but it was more of the who is she stares than anything else.

In the vestibule she stopped and chatted with a few ladies who all wanted to know who she was. Beth found it strange to have to reintroduce herself to many of the women she had once babysat for but that was nothing to the stares she got from former classmates who wondered who she was. Becky Morrison, one of her rivals in highschool, didn't recognize her at all. Nor did Jason who took out a very shy 15 year old Beth on her very first double date.

To Beth it was just another reason to find out what happened to Eric and where she came from. One thing was for sure. She was a girl always had been. Now what happened to Eric, and who was she really? Beth pondered this for the entire ride back home. She was a little surprised they stopped off at the town pub. Then she remembered that one of the things they sometimes did was stop for breakfast/lunch here after church. Inside the place looked the same as it did when she was a little girl. Nothing had changed. Still the plywood covered sign by the door with the painted Open sign on it. She always thought it was cheesy.

It looked alright painted white with a red trim cut in an oval but still up close you could see it was plywood. The back said closed of course. Held by two simple chains on hooks. Same brown vinyl seats that always stuck to her thighs like glue. She was glad to be wearing the pantyhose because of that.

Beth followed her parents to a table that was open. Both her parents took the one side while she sat on the other side her mother's, father's, and her own fake fur coat were neatly piled beside her on the bench close to the wall. They had not been sitting long before the waitress ,Ms. Blitz who everyone called Shirley, came to take their orders. Her real first name was Bethany but for some reason the nickname Shirley had stuck with her. Something about her habit of saying "surely you jest".

"Hey Shirley!" Her father called out as she approached coffee pot in hand. She deftly poured her parents two cups of coffee without asking.

"Hey Bev, Henry and uh..."

"It's me Elizabeth Shirley." Beth exasperated. Shirley just looked at Beth for a better explanation. This was getting old for Beth and more than a little annoying. Did no one have any memory of her at all?

"This is our Daughter Shirley. Did you perhaps forget about her in your old age?" her mother deftly put in with a small smile. Shirley was not really that old but the jibe to her age were sure to provoke a reaction. Beth bent her head down to hide the smile on her face.

"Me forget your beautiful daughter? Surely you jest! Nice to see you hun just popping in for a visit?" She replied smoothly.

"Had to come back for gran's funeral. I kinda miss my sorority sisters at University though." Beth tried to pretend all was normal even though deep down she knew something was wrong.

"Woo big city collage girl!" She smiled widely as she said this then patted her hand." Still nice to see you back. What can I get Y'all." Beth could tell the Y'all was a play on the American mispronouncing of you all. It was something of a joke around town to hear that. The fact she said it in the restaurant meant she was relaxed enough to do so.

Beth knew exactly what she wanted and so did her parents. They ordered the waffle and sat waiting passing the time while their orders were cooked with idle chit chat about weather, the car, the house and other minor things. Beth was not disappointed when the orders came. The one thing this particular restaurant was really good at was the waffle. Aside from being as big as the plate a good 12 inches around it was also thick. Add a coating of real butter and the house syrup and it was heaven to eat. Beth savored every bite.

"You have no idea how much I missed this." Beth exclaimed in between bites." They have nothing like this in the city! I can't even find a waffle iron that can make them this size anywhere and I've looked really hard. The Belgian waffle makers are big but nothing like this."

Although she was careful to not get any syrup on her dress or her face she knew she would have to make a quick pit stop to check. All the years she remembered eating these she always managed to get a little on her face. With her mom along in the ladies room the two women repaired themselves, she did managed to get a spot on her nose, before they left to go back home.

Once they were home her mother got changed while Beth puttered around cleaning here and there still in her Sunday dress. It wasn't much as her mother kept the house in good shape but putting away things like a magazine or the trash mail into the recycle bin. Little things like that. Checking the bathroom sinks and changing the towels for fresh ones. Her mother came out in a nice skirt and blouse combination. The brown simple blouse and long black skirt were comfortable looking while not being over the top. Beth asked why she didn't put on pants and her mother replied that since her daughter would be in a skirt it would only be proper that mother and daughter wore similar clothing. Beth hugged her for that.

Beth went to her room and changed into the knit top and grey skirt slipping her feet into the grey flats that went with it. For her hair she changed it to drape gently down the side of her face on either side for a more adult look. It took a bit of brushing and a small amount of hairspray to make sure it stayed the way she wanted it.

Beth returned to the living room after a quick stop by the mirror in the bathroom to check herself to help her mother setup the now thawed cold cut platters on the sideboard. It was an antique sideboard they had redone with two sides that folded down or in this case up to extend the table. The white cheap plastic table cloth went over top and then the plastic trays with the meats, vegetables were set up. Beth removed the plastic from the small styrofoam plates and started to fold the paper towels into napkins. It did not take her all that long to fold 50 of them as she had lots of practice during her years as a waitress.

All was waiting and ready as the first of her many cousins, uncles and aunts arrived. Beth stood beside her parents with her hands held in front of her but a step behind both her parents. Some of the looks she got as people arrived were made to make her feel as if she was the lowest of the low. For some such as her Aunt Mary who had not brought little Emily with her gave her a disgusted look that hurt. Others such as her Aunt Beth, who she never cared for anyways, brought a smile to her face.

Beth knew from how some cousins were not brought over that her family was demonstrating how they felt about her. If she was Eric and had changed sex she guessed she may have felt the same way but she wasn't. She had always been a girl and had babysat or been babysat by a few of these women so being ostracized by them was uncomfortable. She was fully expecting one of her Aunts to bring up the matter and was actually surprised that her father brought it up instead.

"Thank you all for coming on this solemn occasion. As I'm sure more than a few of you are no doubt wondering who this young lady is. I will then introduce you all. This is our daughter Elizabeth. From what we can figure out she is NOT, and I repeat, NOT Eric. From what she has told us she has always been a girl. Well now a woman I guess. Anyways, although she does look very much like a female version of our missing son Eric she is apparently not one in the same."

He let that sink in for a minute or two before continuing "I have had the pleasure of watching her very closely along with her mother. She has displayed none of the knowledge or habits of Eric even though some of her tastes are similar. Believe me her appetite is much less than Eric's ever was." some chuckled at that.

"We do not yet know what has happened or why, neither does Elizabeth. However we are looking into the matter and will, hopefully, have a much better idea of what happened soon. Please treat our daughter as the woman she is and not as if she is Eric in a different form. I know that many of you have already hurt her far more than either Beverly or myself feel at all comfortable with and I would appreciate if you would apologize to Elizabeth. I repeat this is not her fault. Thank you." Her father finished by grabbing a small plate of the coldcuts and sat down on one of the chairs.

Beth had tears in her eyes at the love she felt for her father. It was a very brave thing to say in her defense. Her mother came over to hug her from the side as a show of her own support. The rest of the assembly was quiet except for the few children that had shown up. One little girl of maybe 2 years of age who could barely walk or understand anything really, broke the silence with a cry. The poor dear apparently thought she had done something bad and was crying because of it.

This broke the ice and people started to gather in small groups to mummer in conversation, no doubt about her. A few of the women she could see were using their cell phones to text someone. This puzzled her at first until more people came to the door. A few of her uncles came in with children in tow. This made Beth mad. It was like her family was treating her like a leper when they thought she was Eric and a transsexual. Beth was a little surprised and angered. She had never thought of her family as being bigots but apparently some were.

Beth had herself encountered a few transgendered people at university. She had never had any reaction to them either good or bad and had treated them as just another human being. If they were a boy becoming a girl she would treat them the same as any other girl, even if a few seemed to want more attention instead. Or if they were a girl becoming a guy the same as any other guy. She didn't understand them but she believed she didn't need to.

A few of her older cousins and Aunts did come to apologize, even though she didn't feel they really needed too in some cases, not a lot did. They were civil to her but remained less than warm to her. This was better than the open resistance of before but it still bothered her and apparently her mother. Her father did escort one of her uncles to the door but she did not really know why.

Much of the rest of the gathering was spent with idle chit chat. Two of her cousins of her own age group Amy and Stan talked with her about her experiences at University. She told many stories of her encounters there and more than a few giggles were exchanged as she told of the few eye opening encounters she had experienced. She found herself smiling a genuine smile from time to time as Amy told her of some of her own escapades as a secretary for a small business in the city. Stan popped jokes from time to time to make both girls either blush or giggle.

The trio had been chatting for awhile before her Aunt Jane came over. Aunt Jane was the unofficial head of the women's side of the family because she was the eldest daughter. She came over and did not really say anything but made a motion with her head that she wanted to speak privately with Beth. Beth excused herself to follow her Aunt into the kitchen. Her mother made a move to come with her but Beth just waved for her to stay there. Her Aunt used the side door into the garage Beth following behind her.

The garage was chilled even with the small heater going. The two women in their respected dresses or skirts had their heels click on the cement floor. Aunt Jane paced back and forth the hem of her black dress flickering back and forth as her arms were wrapped around herself. She was disturbed by something. Beth tried to not fidget in place as she waited with her legs freezing.

"At first I was going to berate you Eric. I still believe your Eric, you were born a boy and nothing will change that." Beth felt herself get angry at such a statement and was about to argue the fact that she was really female and had always been so.

"Let me finish please. This is more difficult than you can imagine." Beth fumed silently with a small grimace on her lips. She jerked her head in a nod for her aunt to continue. Her aunt switched to twisting her hands in and out of each other as her pacing increased.

"However I have also been observing you. At the funeral and even now. What I see and feel is that you are a woman completely. This is arguing with what my brain is screaming at me. I find myself angry at this. I do not know what to make of all this yet." She continue to pace while Beth lost some of her anger as puzzlement took over.

"When I look at you I see the young baby boy who peed all over me when I changed his diaper. Yet I also see a woman grown. Your father says you are not Eric, I have to agree with this. Yet you have to be Eric as you can't be anyone else. I do not know what to do with you. My responsibility is to the family. Part of me wants to open my arms to you and welcome you to the family but I do not know you." more hand twisting." And yet another part wants to yell and scream at you for the hurt you have caused to the family."

Beth stood saying nothing. In a sense she could understand her aunt. She was at war with herself. Her upbringing and her responsibility to the family warring with her instincts. Though Beth could not imagine why her aunt would have picked her up and brought her to her shoulder as a baby to pee all over her. Then Beth remembered that her aunt thought of her as a boy turned girl. As a young baby boy it would have been possible if she was close enough.

Her Aunt abruptly stopped her pacing and held out her hand. It was a sign of peace perhaps or an opening to something more.

"It has been a pleasure to meet you Elizabeth. I wish you do find out what happened to Eric. If you need help" she paused for a second or two. Beth could sense this was taking much out of her aunt" You can call me. I will see what I can do to help you if I can." With that she shook Beth's now outstretched hand before she hurried from the garage leaving Beth alone to alone to her troubled thoughts.

It was not the warm welcome she had hoped for but on the other hand she was not disowned from the family either. Her family may want to know what happened to Eric but Elizabeth now needed to know. What happened to her brother and more importantly where did she come from? She knew in her heart that this was her family and always had been but it was also the family of Eric's. Beth was still puzzling this over as her mother came to check on the now half frozen Beth in the garage. She admonished Beth for standing in the cold so dressed as she held her.

The rest of the family gathering did not last all that long. Beth helped her parents thank everyone as they exited for coming to the gathering. She got a number of hugs and a few kisses to her cheek causing her to giggle at the tickles that went with them, some of them intentional. It almost made her feel that things had returned to normal. One or two people were still distant as they bade their farewells but most were at least friendly about it.

When everyone had left her parents sent her up to her room to pack her things and change for the trip home. As she was changing her mother brought her now clean laundry including jeans for her to change into and pack. Her mother hugged her tightly and extracted a promise for her to not be such a stranger. Her father even tenderly knocked on the door before he was allowed in. Beth argued that she could carry her cases herself when her father just kissed her forehead saying it was his responsibility to his daughter to carry such luggage.

Her mother and father alternately hugged her and asked her if she was alright, along with yet another solemn promise to come back in 3 weeks for Christmas. She begged off their concerns saying she was alright. She did not tell them of the conversation in the garage but she did let them know things were fine with the family for now. Her mother pressed the leftover white cake from the gathering onto her. While it was against her diet she did accept it for her sorority sisters. With the few extra packages in her fathers arms she ran ahead to open the rear door for her father on the now running and warm diplomat.

She loved the love she felt from both her father and mother as they showed the concern they wanted her to take on the trip back to the city especially since it was already quite late. Beth was starting to sweat in her winter coat as they finally let her pull out of the driveway to be on her way. The car plenty warm. As she drove slowly out of town the smile on her face gradually drifted off to a grimace.

Her trip to her parents had not been what she had expected at all. While she did enjoy herself and seeing her family the revelation of Eric who she did not know was a definite sore point. One thing Elizabeth Tanner knew as she drove out from the streetlights onto the unlit highway. She may not believe she was ever Eric but she really needed to find out. She spent the rest of the long silent drive with only the vibration of the engine and the heater fan going. She did not notice the radio being off as her mind puzzled over the mystery of Eric Tanner.

Beth pulled the old Diplomat into it's normal parking spot. She reached forward and turned off the chrome ignition. The only sound that could be heard was the faint bubbles and tinks of the engine starting to cool down. She did not yet move from her car as she looked out blankly through the windshield. The drive back to her sorority had given her ample time to think things through.

She did not yet have a plan as such as to what she could do. Her mind had given her plenty of ideas on how to start but many were impractical for a girl her age. Others required funds she simply did not have to spare. A detective, for example, while nice was definitely out of her price range. Others such as visiting her gynecologist and demanding a test to prove she really was female was terrifying. What if it turned out she really wasn't female? Could she take such an answer?

She continued to puzzle, or plan, how she would attack the problem of finding out about what happened to Eric as she pulled out her suitcase and dress bag from the back of the car. Getting out of the car was a bit of a shock as the temperature here in the city was a few degrees colder than home. Her winter boots, made more for looks than actual long term warmth, crunched on the snow. She quickly removed her bags and scurried towards the front door of the sorority.

Fire had claimed the original sorority house a few years ago. The alumni of the sorority had gathered together funds and had this modern house built for the younger sisters. While it was a nice modern house with a good kitchen it lacked in that history one almost expects of a century old sorority. The new house was, apparently, much warmer in winter, and cooling in summer than the original house had been. The only remnants of that house was in the chapter room. Much of the original woodwork had been saved and refinished to coat the chapter room.

The chapter room had a very old feel to it. The walls all made of oak paneling on the lower half with lights in the form of electric versions of gas lights mounted on whitewashed drywall inter spaced with wooden runs going up to the ceiling gave it an antique feel. The ceiling was surrounded by a border of the same wood. She was told that having the plaster work done on the ceiling itself had cost a pretty penny at the time. In the center was a small white dome where a ceiling fan had been mounted this was trimmed around with a plaster ridge. Across the rest of the ceiling was plaster murals of fancy boxes and vines.

She was told this was fashioned after the original house. The plan was to have pictures of the girls over the years in the small white squares but it had never been done. There was a large tome of pictures they girls were making now. The original tomb had been lost in the fire of course. Many of the alumni had donated pictures they had to help fill out the new tomb. Some of which had been copies of the more interesting pictures from the first house tomb.

The two sliding doors to the chapter room were open as she had entered the building. She caught herself staring at the room and broke her gaze away from the room as she hefted her bags once more to ascend the stairs to her room. She was on the second floor so the walk was not that bad. One of her sisters came out of the shared bathroom with a towel around her head, a mask on drying and a toothbrush in her mount. The front of her plain white, and short, bathrobe not quite shut revealing her plain grey sport shirt sleep shirt. It was rumored the shirt had belonged to a former boyfriend of hers but Beth did not believe that herself. The girl would have had to spend some time altering the shirt as it looked far more like an ordinary sleep shirt.

"Bethie!" Jane squealed as she rushed forward and engulfed Beth in a hug. Jane from far looks quite dainty and short. In actually the girl was almost five ten. She also topped the scales at hundred and eighty five pounds. Far and away not the girl she at first appeared to be. Beside her Beth's five seven and 1/4 looked positively small. Beth thought herself overweight at 145 pounds. Beside Jane she looked far to skinny if that was possible. Basically Beth was smothered in Jane's hug.

Being recognized as the girl she was for being who she was, by someone that really knew her was intoxicating. Beth felt muscles she didn't know were tensed relax and soon she felt the tears start to flow.

"Bethie. What's wrong hun?"

"Nothing. It's just something that happened at home and I don't wanna talk about it. Thanks though."

"O...kay.. You know you can come to me anytime. My door is always open." Jane gave Beth a slight puzzled but caring look.

"Except when your boy toy is around." Beth let out a small giggle at the mock shocked look Jane gave her.

"I'll have you know I'm quite the picture of maidenly virtue!"

"Yes.. When you were 12 maybe." Beth teased back with a real smile on her face.

"Oh you! You.. Oh just you wait! I'm gonna grab my pillow and we will see about that!" Jane moved to go to her room as Beth let out a squeal and hauled her suitcases to her room.

Jane wouldn't really grab her pillow. Beth knew she was doing that simply to help cheer up her sister. Beth had never had sisters growing up as a single child. Now she had a whole building full of them. It made her feel warm inside. Her dorm room was the same way she left it. Her makeup scattered across her vanity, the closet door not quite shut and her bed not quite perfectly made. She had been in a rush to get to the church on Friday.

The events of the weekend played over in her mind as she set to work tidying her room as she put her clothes away. Beth stripped herself naked and stood in front of her own mirror. She examined every part of herself from her toes to her head. She did not play with her vagina or rub her clit. A part of her wanted to but the rest of her had other more pressing matters to attend too. Her pert breasts now free of her bra showed regular looking nipples. She examined herself finding no surgical marks of any kind. This really was her body.

Yet if she had once been Eric how was it that she was a girl? This puzzled her greatly as it could not be done as far as she could tell. Beth grabbed her body powder, moisturizer lotion, and personal body wash along with her robe and walked naked to the communal bathroom. This late at night no boys were allowed in the house so walking naked was not uncommon. Generally the girls, just like she was currently doing, held their robe and supplies in front of themselves affording a medium of modesty as nothing was directly viewable.

The bathroom as such did not really have a lock on it. You could close the door, which most did to let others know someone was in there, but that was about it. The bathtubs, there was two on either side of the bathroom, had glass shower doors on them. The slight coloring, in pink, and the glaze of the glass made viewing someone impossible. These doors did have a latch that could be used. It wasn't much of a latch as it was meant for the privacy of the individual than security.

Beth set up her tub supplies as well as her powder and moisturizer on the outside of the tub were a convenient shelf was. She filled the bathtub with the sororities scented oil and bubbles as she really needed both. When the water was halfway and over the nozzles she clicked the button on the wall for the small heater. Both tubs had these small heating devices installed. It was a gift from some of the boys at a fraternity when the house was being built. The small device was no more that a small tube that when filled with water would heat the tube and therefore the tub itself. While not a hot tub or jacuzzi it did enable one to spend more time in a warm tub without wasting excess energy heating the large water heater in the basement.

To Beth it meant she could unwind in the bottom of a nice warm tub kept just a touch on the side of hot for far more time than she could at home. The real pity was the device did not have a temperature control and could not be set hotter. She did know there was a special panel on the end of the tub that allowed the devices to be periodically serviced. Dubbed the tub warmer, it kept most of the girls more than happy as the worst part of any bath was it getting cold. As she settled into position on the bottom of the tub she used the soap first on her body to wash away the worst of sweat, makeup, tears, and any other grime. Her hair was also washed with the shampoo and conditioner provided. This week it seemed that TRESsemme shampoo and conditioner was the pick. Some of the girls used their own products all the time.

Others, like herself, did weekly visits to New Doo and used their services on their hair. Beth had at one point thought that Loreal and Pantene were the choice to use but apparently they could leave a waxy buildup on the scalp that itched. Beth was happy to wash out the weekends load of hairspray, mousse, and yet more hairspray from her hair. Once done she sat with the shampoo in her hair as she let the steam and warmth of the water release muscles from all over her body.

Beth caught herself falling asleep in the over warm tub and reluctantly switched off the warmer and started to drain the tub itself. She started the shower rinsed herself off then applied her body wash all over and conditioner into her hair. She worked at making sure all of her hair was thoroughly covered before waiting a minute then rinsing it out. Using a clean towel she dried herself before exiting the tub to stand in the drier air of the bathroom. She had learned earlier on that applying moisturizer directly after a hot bath was a good way to get pimples. Thus she waited a minute for her body to dry by carefully combing out her wet hair. She used at first a brush then the comb to make sure no tangles or extra conditioner was left in her hair. Once done her body was dry enough to apply the moisturizer and powder.

Once she was finished and had her wet hair in a braid to sleep in she put on her robe, collected her bath supplies, and returned to her room. She spent some time figuring on which of her delicate sleepwear was the best suited to her mood. She chose a simple short plain pink satin nightie with matching panties and dressed herself. On the desk all charged up was her laptop. Beth opened the top and entered transsexual surgery into the search bar.

Her alarm was going off as Beth peeled her face off of the keyboard on her laptop. Waking up she looked at the dark screen on her laptop and moved the mouse. Sure enough her face had left a series of letters repeating across the screen. The page she had last looked at needed a refresh to restore it but there it was. It described how a minor surgery done with medical adhesives could change a male genital into looking like a female one provided the subject had sufficient space in their pelvic bone to accommodate the procedure. While not fully functional as a female it gave those with gender dysforia a chance at a normal life till they could get the proper surgery called a vaginoplasty done.

Beth wondered if this was what had happened to her. The article did not say how deep the vaginal canal was if any. She knew her own was about three inches deep before one hit her overgrown hymen. Her own hymen, if she really had one, was apparently too thick to burst on its own. It had also almost overgrown her canal making menstruation difficult. This was the reason she had been put on the menstruation suppressing drug Sobel. She knew this blocked progesterone from her system thereby preventing a period from happening. She did still bleed from time to time but it was always minor and lasted at best a day.

She had not found any mention of the drug ceasing estrogen or even testosterone from her system. Therefore, theoretically speaking, if she was once Eric she should have a beard and not have breasts. Transsexuals needed to take estrogen in some form being oral pills, injections or patches which she had not done. Beth also did not find any information that Sobel had estrogen in it. Some of the other brands of suppressants however did.

Realizing this was not helping her get ready for her classes Beth reluctantly tried to rise finding that her legs had cramped up from sleeping half on her chair and desk. She had to slow down a bit and massage out the cramps in her silky smooth legs. As she did so she inspected them looking for any old scars that a boy would likely have, even faded. She found none. This only served to cement in her own mind that she really was a she and had been since birth.

This still had not answered the mystery of Eric her unknown brother. She was at a loss as to where to proceed next. As Beth got dressed into a pair of tights, long skirt, and one of her more comfy knitted sweaters she puzzled over how to proceed. She wondered if the university had records of who was first enrolled at the university? They should but if she had once been Eric and had changed would the records not just show her?

The puzzles as to how to proceed created more puzzles threatening to overload her. Beth left her room leaving her braid in place as it was, now dry, with a minimum of makeup on her face. She had even forgot completely about her jewelry. As she descended the stairs in the house she started to quicken her pace. She was about to leave when she realized she had not grabbed her class books. She returned to her room, retrieved the books and the bag, along with a small coat before going out to scurry across the road into the underground entrance leading to the maze of similar pathways under the university for students, and faculty, to get around without being exposed to the elements. The few pipes that carried steam around the university for the various buildings that still used the old radiator systems kept the hallways quite warm.

Beth eventually found her way to her physics class and settled into one of the raised lecture seats dotted about the semi circular room. The room itself probably dated back to the turn of the century. She puzzled that thought out a moment. Why was it that turn of the century still referred to the early 1900's even thought it was after 2010. Beth just shook her head and opened her book and her cheap notepad. It wasn't the ipad that many students were using. It was instead a much older Palm Trio notepad. She had got it at a garage sale a few months back. It was good for taking notes and it even came with a battery extender adapter that let her charge the internal battery while she sat in class via a small solar panel. Sometimes getting hand me downs from geeks was a treasure in itself.

The trio did not have a record function, photo capability or even a phone app. The students using the I pads were restricted by this and complained often about their not being able to access a network in classes because of the jammer built into the buildings. Not that anyone could normally get signals due to the various steel structures thoroughly making cellular signals a nightmare anyways. Internet access at the university was limited to areas outside of buildings or via actual network cables.

Beth grinned as she though about some of this. The benefit of having to concentrate in class always helped her to focus as such the mystery of Eric soon disappeared to the back of her mind as the professor came in and started a new lecture on the various ways string had been used to prove, or disprove theories. Professor Magonical, no relation to the character in the H.K. Rowling books, was a lively teacher who taught by distraction. He used bits of history into how some things were done while teaching you the more important theories and laws at the same time.

Some of her classmates complained that he wasted too much time with his displays. Beth did not believe so. It helped that the Professor was kinda cute in an older man type of way. Like most of the women that took his class, Beth appreciated how cute the man was while she knew he was quite firmly married. Indeed his spouse taught another class in applied chemistry. Though she did not begrudge the two men for being openly gay she did respect them as both were really good at teaching.

Some of the students who had homophobia did not do so well at this university. Nobody was actually thrown out but if you were homophobic you were generally asked to attend counseling sessions. One surprise had been a first year student who had complained loudly. After three months of counseling he had come out as really being a she. The word was the homophobia was actually a suppressed reaction to not being able to be herself.

Another theory was that the counselor had brainwashed him into believing he was a girl. In a university this was actually plausible. They did have an extensive psychology department. It was while Beth was thinking about the new girl that she had a thought. What if what happened to Eric was something they had done to her? Although she could find no physical male evidence she did wonder if there was a psychological aspect to it.

"Penny for your thoughts?" The distraction broke Beth from her musings as she had to answer.

"Oh Penny? Lol what a saying especially from you!" Penny Smoths was yet another of her sorority sisters. The short girl was a bit on the chubby side. She claimed it was from big bones but Beth, and some of her sisters, believed it was more from the girls love of all things chocolate.

"Oh well if the shoe fits.."

"BUY IT!" the two girls chorused together before descending into a fit of giggles.

"Thanks I needed that."

"No problem. Seriously though from that troubled face I'd say you got a lot on your mind sis. Care to share?"

"Thanks but not right now. It's difficult to explain as even I don't understand it all. I'll talk about it with you all soon I promise." Beth replied.

"Oh one of those huh? Okay just remember we are all here for you even our elder sisters." Beth smiled at that. Elder sisters did not refer to seniors at the school but graduates from university. She could, like all sisters, call upon one of them should the need arise. Indeed it was common practice for an elder sister to apprentice a graduate sister until she got on her feet. Beth gave Penny a hug before she went to the main concourse where the cafe was.

The cafe itself was mostly a cafeteria with above average food. It was also about the only place one could get a meal that was healthy and not loaded with complex carbohydrates and grease. It also had some laptops bolted to benches for students to use via a card one paid for at a cashier. The card was more to keep a log of who used what machine than for time limits. The machines having no ports, wireless connection, or access to a printer were mainly for one to check email or play a small online game.

Beth got herself a small chicken salad with some vinaigrette dressing before she went to log on to the school network. She idly munched on her salad as she browsed the university network for student listings. She got into the enrollment records and found only her name listed for classes for the last 2 years. This disappointed her as there should have been some clue. As a last ditch effort she entered Eric Tanner into the search engine and waited for the hourglass to finish. It was taking awhile since this was on the main university network and not the internet itself. As she waited she ate her salad.

Beth was surprised when the search concluded. There was a listing for Eric Tanner at the university. All it said was Eric Tanner in a list of 14 other names. These were again listed under the heading of Project 14. A click on the title to see what the project was gave her a link stating that for more information she was to contact Professor Tandy. Beth had never heard of a Professor Tandy and had to do a search for that name.

The search took almost as long as the first one. It gave her time to finish her salad and open her small 1% milk and start drinking it. When the search did come up it was a very long list. This Professor Tandy was a busy person she thought. Head of spacial psychology department, whatever the heck that meant. It seemed this Professor was also involved with various committees both in the university and for the government if they were in fact one and the same.

So why was Eric involved in this Project 14? What was the significance of a psychology Professor with this project? Where did she fit into all of this? Yet more unanswered questions. Beth looked at the clock on the laptop and saw the time. Cursing herself for being so distracted she shut down the system, removed her card and lunch debris, and left the cafeteria on the way dropping the card into the box beside the cashier. Beth was already late for her next class in social economics.

In another building far across the campus in the privacy of the offices reserved for the faculty staff a message box appeared on a lone computer screen. The aged man in the grey suit with the small food stain leaned forward to look.

"Hmmm someone seems interested in Project 14." The old man went back to eating his greasy fries and chicken burger.

Beth's afternoon classes were hectic. Her lab partner in her basic chem class was a bore. Ty was a nerdy know it all that liked to speak to her as if she was a product of a by gone era. Ie little better than to breed children. It was comments such as this that usually raised her hackles. But he was always like this no matter how many times she had proven to him she actually had a brain in her head.

However Beth had other things occupying her mind today so having a lab partner that preferred to do everything himself provided she handed him whatever he asked for was a relief in some ways. Beth mindlessly handed over whatever compound he asked for during the class. At first Ty appeared smug and made a few comments that she had finally learned her place as an inferior female. It was therefore a shock when he stopped what he was doing, putting down the beaker of ammonium chlorohydrate or whatever it was she just handed him.

"Beth what is wrong?" Ty asked in a surprisingly sincere voice.

"Nothing." she replied holding a test tube for him to next use.

"Beth usually when I tease you, you say something or strike back. Today you seem preoccupied. This is not like you at all. Hence, what is wrong?"

"It's nothing, or at least nothing you can help with. Please let's just.." she was going to tell him to drop the subject.

"No. I ...care about you. Your the closest beautiful woman I have ever been able to speak with and I always make a mess.. scratch that. Your.. you shouldn't marr that pretty face with a frown. It's, well it's just not right." Ty was actually looking down at his hands as they twisted over each other. His usual condescending attitude was displaced with an incredibly shy one.

Beth stood there for the longest time with her mouth literally open. She couldn't believe what had just happened. The one person she was sure hated her didn't. She couldn't understand why her of all people did this Ty actually like. Her previous thoughts were lost as she stared at this geek of a man. His glasses slightly askew, his small fringe of hair parted on the right was starting to come down into his eyes. Eyes she had never noticed before were a deep forest green.

If Ty had lost his glasses he could perhaps be considered almost handsome. His white dress shirt minus tie was wrinkled and missing a button. But what did it also hide? As she looked more there was other signs of stuff hidden that just might be more. Such as the baggy looking jeans. Did they hide a shapely butt in them? Beth reached her hand up, stopped for a second or two halfway, then continued as she brushed the stray hair from his eyes back into its position on his head.

"Thank you." She didn't want a boyfriend. She knew that especially right now. Still she knew at that moment that should the need ever arise she could almost count on him for accompaniment to any social obligation she had. Beth turned back to the desk and stared down at it looking at the project they were supposed to be mixing up. She was reading the words of the assignment. Words she had neatly printed in her flowing, graceful handwriting. Words she could not seem to put into her head for meaning.

"Beth I mean it. Please tell me what is wrong. I can help. Well maybe not but I will certainly try."

"Ty please. I know you mean well but I'm just not sure what is going on." Beth bit her lower lip." When I do, and if I need your help, you'll know. Sorry but I need to figure some things out on my own first."

"Alright. When your ready I'll be there." Ty said to her in a warm voice before a small grin appeared on his face." Now woman, make yourself useful. Pass me the third vial on your left if you can manage that."

"Asshole." Beth smiled as she passed said vial.

"That's my girl."

The rest of the class passed uneventful as they finished mixing up a simple soap solution. It was supposed to smell like strawberry yogurt however theirs smelled more like vanilla extract. They got a passing grade as it was soap. The one pair in class that managed to make vanilla extract got a reprimand.

As the classes ended for the day Beth did not stick around to chat with her girlfriends. Instead she made her way back to her sorority with the excuse that she needed to study. It was one of the few lies she had ever told to someone but she needed the time to think about what she had uncovered during her lunch.

The underground corridors of the university were warm if not lit all that well as she walked. She had not even noticed that she missed the turn back to the sorority as she continued to walk. She felt a burning need to make sense of it all. Why was Eric's name listed for Project 14. Who was Professor Tandy and what was the involvement with the government have to do with it? Did the government have anything to do with it?

Her intuition said it did. A disappearance of this scope would surely be something the government could pull. But was it a disappearance? But how was she involved? Where did she come from? She was a girl and had always been one there was little doubt of that. Still if her mother and father, who she truly and deeply loved were not her parents then who were?

As her steps continued down the halls of the passages her thoughts got deeper. Was she really a person? To Beth it felt like everything she had done before, all her many accomplishments were nothing. Less than nothing. Was she real? If she was real did she have a place somewhere other than here?

Ultimately the question she asked herself was who am I? What am I? The same puzzling questions that had plagued mankind for centuries. She didn't even notice till she walked into the old door. Rubbing her sore nose she looked up and saw it was an old door leading to the offices for professors. The almost black door not from paint but ages old varnish drying out in the underground heat had caused it to blacken. The door had been re coated many times over the years. Even the once clear glass had become wavy with age.

However the lettering on the glass was still easy to read. No admittance, staff only. The door had a simple lock that was easy for a girl to pick with her nail file. A simple insert and turn and the lock came undone. The once polish brass door handle now brown with age turned under her hand. Someone had once oiled this door and kept it up. A spring that was angled against the door and the wall next to it closed the door behind her.

Before Beth was an older staircase, brown edging over grey and white patterned tiles of the well worn steps lead up to the first floor of the staff offices. Beth mindlessly walked down the rows of glass and oak doors, many refinished, to an unfinished door on the end. A plague next the door labeled simply A. Tandy gave her pause.

Beth tested the door and found it locked. When she looked down she found the ancient locks had been replaced with a push button lock. This was not a door she could get through unless she learned the combination or was an expert lock picker. Having neither numbers or skill she made her way back down the stairs, hopefully, with noone the wiser to her transgression.

It was past supper when Beth walked into the front door of her sorority house. Although she had not realized it, her stress from the day seemed to melt off the shoulders that had carried it for so long that day. As she removed her coat she wondered what had brought her to the staff area and finally that door?

"Hey Bethie. Long time no see. Whatca been up to? Studying with a cute boy in a secluded corner of the library?" Jane used her eyebrows to hint that it wasn't studying that she had done since her hands were full with a metal bowl that was no doubt filled with salad. Jane's current diet junk food.

"You know dear," Beth started as she walked up and retrieved the bowl from Jane. She had missed supper and was hungry." Some of us actually use the library for something other than necking with boys in corners made dark by pen clips in light sockets."

"Pen clips? How barbaric! I'll have you know paper clips are far easier to come by!" Jane put on a fake air of indignation.

Both girls commenced giggling at the same time. Jane really wasn't that bad of a girl. She sometimes went a bit overboard around guys but for the most part was a 4.0 student like Beth. Jane was almost always on some sort of diet. From fish to beef only, from chicken only to vegetables Jane was always after the elusive perfect figure. Elizabeth's figure was quite trim as well as Jane loved to share her diets with her sorority sisters, always with an explanation of how it was supposed to work.

While Beth was in possibly the best shape she had ever been in, and healthy, she did not need to go to extremes like Jane did. Jane wasn't exactly skeletal by any means she just carried around a few extra pounds she wanted to get rid of but so far had been unable too. Over the last two years Beth had lost over 30 pounds while Jane had lost 20. Beth's original clothes hung loosely on her frame now.

Beth suddenly wondered if they were clothes that were for Eric. This caused her grin to fade from her face. Even the jubilant Jane noticed that.

"Bethie hon I know something is troubling you. Please talk to me."

"I..I'm just ... I want to but I'm not ready. I'm sorry Jane I know you mean well but I'm not ready. When I am you'll be one of the first I'll tell promise."

"One of the first! You mean to say THE FIRST don't you?"

"Well no first would be my mom and then the cat and then that flower bed over by the..."

THWACK!

Jane gave Beth a good mock slap on the arm with her hand and the two girls went into the kitchen. Beth dished out half the bowl into another bowl and used some chicken leftovers to spice up her half of the salad. The two girls giggled and gossiped the evening away over the countertop of the kitchen island eating at first salad then sharing a tub of chocolate icecream.

Beth related how she had found out Ty had a crush on her which led to Jane giving Beth a good tease on being the country girl and then Beth teasing Jane about being the city slicker that couldn't even learn how to exercise properly and so forth. The banter of the two girls calmed and relaxed Beth far more than was needed. So much so that Jane had to help the lethargic Beth up the stairs into her room and then get undressed for bed. Beth thanked Jane just before she fell asleep still wearing the makeup from the day.

The alarm blared next to her bed and she fumbled with the sheets to extract her hand enough to search for the offending alarm. She found the offending device on the floor and not on the bedside table where it should be.

As she started to wake up she crawled out of bed and was hit by a slight chill to her breasts. She yawned and used her one hand to scratch at an annoying itch between her two breasts. Beth looked down only to gasp as she saw thick black hair sprout in slow motion all along her chest as her breasts seemed to deflate like balloons whose air has been let out.

That was not the only change as she looked at her gracefully slim arms change becoming thicker and sprouting more hair even on her now thick knuckles. Her trimmed and polished nails disappeared as well leaving her with broken and chewed nails that almost looked stubby. As she watched the skin darkened to be almost stained in spots with blackness.

She stood up to find she had no nightie on anymore nor any clothing of any kind. Immediately she reached down as well as bent down to find her vagina closing as her clit grew outwards before two lumps popped out of each side and hung below it. When it finished with even more gross black hair it was male genitals.

Beth was forced to watch as her slim waist gained weight while her hips disappeared. At the same time hair formed on her legs with muscles. Hair that was long and far past the need for shaving or waxing. She stood there in shock for a moment before she stood up more or less as she was unsteady on her feet as the balance was all wrong, horribly wrong the same as her body.

Her room seemed to shimmer in waves as things began to change. The pink and rose walls changed to white and then blue. Her dresser changed from the antique wood of her grandmothers to a dumpy cheap simulated wooden dresser. Her vanity changed to a table with strange car parts on it amid electronics in pieces and other model stuff. Her barbie doll house changed into a weird wooden post thing. Her clean floor began to change. Not just dirty but clothes appeared. Boys clothes, jeans tshirts, underwear.

She watched in horror as her body bent down and picked up a pair of mens briefs sniffed them and then put them on one leg at a time. This was followed by a pair of jeans with oil stains on them. She desperately wanted to rip off the offending dirty garments but her hands were no longer under her control. Two socks were found neither of them matching and put on to her feet then a tshirt with a few holes in it far past the time when it should have been tossed out was put on. A stained flannel shirt was also put on and tucked into the top of the jeans since the buttons to do it were missing. A hand was put up to her face and she could feel unshaven wiskers all over her face.

The door to her room opened and her father entered. Elizabeth's father had never looked at her like this before. This was the face of a father that was excited and proud to see his son. He approached her and grabbed one of her arms. He bent down and spoke or tried too. The words were not words just muffled sounds. Her father's face changed to one of concern and he pressed harder. Her arms came up and she tried to move his arms away. They would not move nor would the clothing allow her to move her arms outwards. She struggled harder and harder as the clothing seemed to get tighter and tighter around her. She went to scream but her father put a hand over her mouth cutting her off.

Beth sprang her eyes open as her scream was still going into her pillow. As she tried to move she found her breasts were painfully compressed under her along with her bedsheets tightly wrapped around her. It took her a few minutes of contortions to undo the cocoon she had gotten herself into. As she got the last cover off she realized that her nightie was plastered to her skin. She has worked herself into a sweat so bad that the fabric of the bedsheets felt damp as well.

Beth felt far to dirty and needed a shower this morning. She looked to her dorm room's bedside table and found her old Barbie alarm clock there with the strawberry scratch n sniff sticker long past its smell date still on it where she had put it when she was 12. The clock had been a gift from her Aunt Barb to her when she was 11.

She peeled off the nightie and flicked on the bedroom light. As usual Carrie was not back on her side of the room. Carrie was on yet another dig with her professor at a Dugald pit of some sort. How dirt grubbers could work in cold weather such as this was beyond her. The mirror on the back of the closet door showed Beth that she was still the same. She grabbed the robe off the door and tip toed lightly down the hallway to the bathroom. Once inside she turned on the shower and stepped in closing the glass door behind her.

The sweat had briefly chilled her but the pulsing hot water soon warmed her up. Beth soaped herself down giving her time to make sure that the dream was just a dream. She checked everywhere on herself. No hairs, no signs of boy parts, and her breasts were as full and shapely as before.

Clean once more she made her way back to her room. Her clock showed the time as being early morning just before 6 am. Her first classes were not till 9:45. She had time, too much time to kill. Beth changed into one of her workout outfits. The outfits were something her and her mother had once put together. Tights under a leotard with leg muffs above the running shoes. Really it was more of an 80's outfit but she always felt it was the outfit she would wear to have a workout in.

With her still damp hair in a high ponytail hidden under a warm hat and herself in her jogging coat Beth dashed across the walkway into the entrance to the underground maze of passages. She used the coin she had brought to put her coat and toque in the locker before putting the card on its lanyard around her slim neck.

Beth used the cement walls and the stair railing to aid her in her stretches before she took off in a steady jog towards the students gym. Her chosen path this morning would give her a 1 mile jog before she got to the gymnasium to complete her workout. The gym at this time of morning was mostly empty so access to the complex looking weight machine was without wait. She did her usual twenty repetitions of each and every possible use of the machine itself. T

The weight she used was twenty to forty pounds. Not much really when the boys would spend time benching hundreds but she found that the purpose was not to build up muscle but tone it. Once done on the machine she moved to the mats and did what her mother called calisthenic exercises. To her they were simply aerobic exercises and not the anaerobic exercises that many of the men seemed to feel was necessary.

Jane could probably tell her just how much calories she had burned but it was not calories that Beth was interested in burning but frustration. She was frustrated at the existence of one Eric Tanner and, more importantly, the disappearance of her childhood. She knew her parents loved her, that had been made clear when she left yesterday. Still she felt it was her responsibility to find Eric.

She finished her exercises in the gym and used the disposable paper cups to drink three cupfuls of water to replace that which she had lost. The last thing she wanted to deal with was cramps. The long walk back to the locker for her coat and toque gave her plenty of time to formulate her plan. As usual the mere act of exercise had cleared her mind enabling her to focus.

A quick dash back to the sorority and up the stairs found her divesting herself of her workout clothes. A grab of her bag and robe still damp from her earlier shower and she was soon relaxing in the bathtub as she washed away the final vestiges of sweat. She did not spend too much time in the bathtub as she had a schedule to keep.

Back in her room Beth took the time to properly dry and set her hair. It was a tedious process that kept her mind occupied. So did choosing an outfit for the day which consisted of a long dull green skirt and brown sweater. The sweater did not hide her assets nor openly display them. It was a comfortable outfit that let people know that she was comfortable in her femininity without being a showpiece.

Her makeup and understated jewelery also displayed this. Beth was dressing not for classes or to attract unwanted male attention but still enough to call the attention of seriousness for what she had to do. She wore a pair of green flats to complete the outfit. As a student necessitates such as purses were incorporated into the more noticeable school bag most students wore. She could wear a purse as many other girls did but most, like her, chose instead to use a bag that was built with a purse of sorts on the inside. Into this she shoved her keys, some change for a salad at lunch and her student id card.

The trip this time across into the tunnels once again was not as rushed. Beth took her time walking around the campus through the maze and across buildings. She had fully intended to go to her morning macro economics class but her feet it seemed had other ideas.It was therefore no real surprise to her that she finally stopped her long walk outside that same door in the professor's wing of the university.

Beth chewed her bottom lip for a minute or two before raising her small hand and gently knocking on the door of one Professor Tandy at nine thirty five in the morning.

"Stupid skirt!" Beth was mad.

The trip to the professors office had been a waste of time.

"Stupid stupid stupid" She muttered as she thought about it. She knew that professors were rarely if ever in their offices early in the morning. Yet she had gone all the way there only to meet his secretary. 'Personal assistant' she corrected herself.

The nice male undergraduate assistant had been pleasant if a bit annoyed at her abrupt knock. She had apparently caught him with a cup of coffee almost to his mouth. The resulting minor stain to a tie that probably hid other old stains was not really her fault. She had explained that she wanted to see the professor. Of course he had asked why and she drew a blank.

It was perhaps two minutes of uttering words that didn't really make much sense when she mentioned project 14. The mere mention of the name had changed the boys whole demeanor. Suddenly from annoyed person to more helpful. He sent off a message via his I pad. The message was returned almost instantly. Apparently the Professor wanted to see her later that afternoon at three.

While the personal assistant was a nice man she got the impression he was also very gay. Usually when she showed up, especially in the university, most men would look at her with hungry eyes. They tried to not show it too much and most went out their way to try to not hit on her while hitting on her.

She would have felt better if there was a nameplate on the desk so she had a name to put to the face as he never once introduced himself. Beth knew she was not the most attractive woman on the planet but she wasn't awful looking either. Her past boyfriend, cum plastic surgery wannabe student Miles, once showed her how she would look with her nose fixed. Not modified to be extra pretty, he did that as well after, but what her nose would look like if just fixed so that it wasn't bent to one side. She still had no idea how it had happened. Miles said it was probably just a minor bone growth spurt or she broke it as a baby. It was a pity Miles got into a bit of a drug mix-up and got kicked out.

She still believed that he was not entirely innocent even if he was proved such. The guy was just sorta sneaky. She would not put it past him to have set up the whole deal on the semi legal drug purchase. She still did not know the full details as most had been kept quiet but it involved poppy seeds and table salt.

Shaking her head to clear it of the stray thoughts Beth concentrated on hurrying down the passages to her first class with the bottom of her long skirt occasionally wrapping around both legs causing her to slow down.

She was still cursing her luck this morning as she made it to her class, just. Like most she usually had time to setup her laptop or notepad. She had always felt that those students who ran in at the last second to be slackers and had looked at them as such. It was an entirely new feeling to have to face the stares of her peers apparently thinking the same thing about her this morning. This cause her face to grow hot from shame. Both for the stares and for the fact she knew she was blushing so much she must look like a tomato.

Call me Greg, the professor just looked at her while she took her seat with many apologies. She even almost burst into tears when she fumbled her stylus and it fell to the floor. Two boys on either side of her rushed to get it bonking heads in the process. She giggled as this happened. It was nice to have that small bit of power of men.

"If Ms. Tanner is finished turn to page 423." Call me Greg stated. The rest of the class rushed to comply as Beth was still waiting for her laptop to finish booting so she could pull up the relevant text book page. Some of the girls in the class had giggled at his remark causing Beth to blush again.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of calculations for major business accounting. A few jibes were directed at her from Greg but she was able to answer most of them so it was not a major pain for her. She even got complemented on her ability to study and understand the material unlike the one scholarship student. She did not know what the scholarship was nor how he got it but the boneheaded fool just refused to study even the simplest of material for class. Probably spent too much time partying. Men!

Legal studies, a required course, followed Macro Economics. This class was actually kind of interesting as it discussed the more legal aspects, and pitfalls, of the business world. Beth had a pretty good idea that if she ever did open up her small dream shop of fashionable clothing for larger women she at least would not make a total fool of herself. In the short term she was training for a managerial position. This meant that much of her classes were focused on men instead of women, however there was more or less an equal display of sexes in the class. It was just that much of the material covered was written from a male point of view.

Lunch was more or less the small period of the day that she could use to get something to eat. Her class schedule did not specifically say lunch nor did any other students. It was just a time of day that was free enough for her to grab a bite to eat. The highschool days of having a regularly scheduled lunch were long gone. As Beth ate her taco salad that was more taco than beef with a salsa that taste more like tomatoes than spices, she reflected on her memories of highschool. The times her and her girlfriends, dressed up in outfits that were risky on the dress code. The shared yogurt in the tiny drink cups. Mostly she missed the good old gossiping that went on.

It had always made her feel like a part of something bigger than herself. Here at university it was rare to even see some of her sorority sisters during lunch and the few people she had managed to make friends with was about the same. There was no group of girls sitting at their table that was a safe haven from the stares of other people. Not just boys her age but girls, staff and visitors. You generally ate what you could as fast as you could and left. The cafeteria's, there was 4, and the one Tim Horton's, were busy places that were functional.

One thing about university is that there was lots of students, some new, some not, that came and went. Every other month a student would arrive or graduate from their course and be out on some program or another. Officially students all graduated in June, unofficially it was whenever they completed the course work. The rest of the time was sponsored work ed. If you worked hard and got lucky a student could be hired straight out of school permanently. These few students kept it hush hush until the formal graduation where the company rep, all in nice expensive suits, would hand the student, who acted surprised, a prized plaque. Some were in bronze most were really just cheap foil laminated on some wood.

Graduation also had rented props. Such as the rolled diplomas. The real ones were shipped in the mail or by courier. A rolled diploma generally had a very good chance of being damaged in the festivities. The fake ones were paper advertizements of graduation stuff rolled and glued with a satin bow. For some reason girls got pink while boys got black. She never understood that. Her university degree, if she got that far, would be in business management. It would have her full name of Elizabeth Marie Tanner on it written in real calligraphy pen on a watermarked thick paper. The paper had fancy imprinted lines of raised ink for a border. A gold, real gold, seal on the lower left corner with the stylized university seal on wax in the top center. It was very hard to fake it.

Beth sighed audibly. She was doing it again. Distracting herself with mindless musings to distance herself from a real problem. The upcoming appointment at three with the professor had her nerves worked up. Her biggest worry was that he or she would have no idea what she was talking about or who Eric was. Her second worry was that he or she would. The whole not knowing thing was not helping calm her nerves at all. She was more than half tempted to not go.

She knew however she would. She had to know what happened to Eric she owed that to her parents and herself. Beth was walking to her doom or what felt like it as she passed the partially open door leading to one of the drama department's mini stages. The mini stages were smaller theaters used for a variety of purposes. Mostly it was rented out by students for movie nights as it had a good sound system. It's official purpose was as a smaller practice stage for pre production screenings. Unofficially everyone knew it was the old theater before the newer, bigger, one was built back at the end of the 1960s.

What attracted her to slipping through the door was the music. As she got nearer she saw that there was a variety of costumes on racks in the hall. The final door there was music pouring out of the room. She recognized it as N-trance Staying Alive. She found her feet shifting without her knowledge. Beth had always enjoyed dancing even when she was very young. Right now she really needed the release dancing would give her so much so that she never gave thought to whether it was a good thing to do.

As Beth reached the last door she saw kids on the stage and off of it in a variety of costumes. Some disco style, others in mid 80s and 90s. Her bag dropped to the ground as she joined the throng and started to let loose. She flipped her hair back and forth while her hands raised her skirt. Her hips were already moving to the music in a slow but energetic and graceful movements. She was not trying to dance in any form but any boy would recognize it as being erotically attractive sexy. It invited people to dance with her instead of opposite her. In a word she danced hungrily. It did not bother her, nor anyone else apparently when the song repeated itself.

She did not notice as her and a guy dressed in a flashy silver reflective wide lapel half open shirt pulled her to the middle of the open floor which opened up for the both of them. Beth was lost to the music ruling her body as the two of them danced and danced. Beth arms became liquid ropes moving around her partner without actually touching. Her arms suggested her need, her burning need to be freed. And her partner responded by kicking up the dancing a notch. The two switched to a more energetic dance her skirt twisting around her as she danced using her two hands to include the skirt as a part of the dance walking to and from her partner with sharp shakes of her head. Other times she would bop her hair flying.

When the song finally ground to a halt she found she had worked up a bit of a sweat but it was the lights going on that really got her attention. The collection of students parted as a older man came forth towards her. The expression on his face was not bad, if anything his smile was warm.

"Can I have your name my dear?"

"Uh.. Tanner. Elizabeth Tanner."

"A lovely name Elizabeth."Raising his voice to be heard throughout the room but not directed at her" It takes a real girl to get you all to finally dance? For shame! Young Elizabeth heard the music and let it control her. It was because of her that some of you all finally danced." He turned back to her and in a quieter voice said for her alone but just loud enough for others to hear."Thank you my dear but perhaps you should get on to your classes while I turn this sorry group of drama queens into actors."

She received a hug from the man. Not a gay type hug but a real hug of thanks. He turned back to his class and started to bark out orders for them to restart from scene something and act whatever. His back to her in a clear sign of dismissal. A few students smiled at her while more than a few girls glowered at her. Ducking her head in embarrassment Beth left the room retrieving her bag on the way. A quick stop at the reflective surface by the door to straighten herself she left the room just as the sounds of the song started up again.

With a smile on her face Beth exited the door into the hall proper and continued on her way to the professors wing. As usual the mere act of dancing had driven much of her anxiety over the coming meeting from her. She had time to think deeply about her missing brother as she moved through the tunnels up to the more modern entrance to the wing that the ancient door in the bowels of the university. She knew without question that her parents loved her. Even if she found her brother Eric and found that she had a different past she vowed to herself that Beverly and Henry and no matter what a part of her would always be their daughter, she loved them both so much for it to be any other way.

The now familiar door to Professor Tandy's private sanctum did not scare or intimidate her as it once did. The former loomingly large door appeared almost shabby to her now. She knocked on the door and the familiar voice of the unknown assistant told her to enter. She was expecting some sort of neatness to the front office from the morning but if anything the place looked more like a train wreck than anything. There was a few boxes on the floor arranged haphazardly. She recognized that if they had been piled neatly they would have taken up much less room. There was exactly two visible chairs both full of notebooks, files, and one actually looked full of trash yet to be taken out.

The assistant's desk looked to be the current depository to trays of paper and a few plastic panels. The assistant's body was partially hidden as he bent over what appeared to be the inner workings of a printer with its skin off. She had no idea what he could possibly be doing to the poor thing. As far as she was concerned, not being all that good with mechanical things, it was a wreck best replaced by a new and much smaller printer. The huge thing was a remnant of the early 90s and best left to be recycled.

"Just put them on the floor anywhere." He said without looking up.

"Excuse me?" Beth was a little shocked at his apparent disregard of even the minimum politeness one deserved when entering a professional office. He did at least finally look up at her voice.

"Oh it's you." He sneered"He's in just go in. I think he is expecting you. Uh better yet just a second." He left the printer who's heart Beth went out to. She could only hope he cared more for machines than people. The assistant moved to the inner door opening it without knocking leaned in and she could clearly him say."The uh she's back you wanna see her now?"

Beth almost expected to hear a scathing remark from the professor or even a word of some type at all to give her a clue to the mysterious person know as professor Tandy. Nothing happened the assistant lifted himself back via a doorframe, a doorframe that now sported some black dust she didn't want to touch if she could help it.

"Yeah just go in. Later" and he went back to the forlorn printer. She approached the door checking for any other signs of the black dust she was sure would stain her clothing. Seeing none visible she none the less did not touch the door aside to close it from the inside.

The inside of the room was dominated by an old oak desk. There was signs of some modernization to said desk as there was a hole through the top lined with a much newer brass ring. The most important attraction to her was the slender legs that curved. Indeed the whole desk was a mass of gentle curves with intricately carved wood. It was also far to big to ever get through the door she just came through. The rest of the room was a mass of shelves on the far wall. She had the impression they were once meant to hold volumes of hard cover books. At the moment it was more of a collection of binders in cardboard boxes, all in grey with unreadable handwriting on them, a few mementos, piles of papers half wrinkled taking up more room than they would ironed out. There was one shelf however that was different. It was very neat and looked far cleaner than any others. There was some hard cover books but in the middle was two pictures of a woman. On either side of these pictures was candle holders and small glass cups holding fresh flowers.

The one wall with the large window, a modern lcd type window currently set to partial shading, surrounding the window was a beige wall covered in plagues, diploma's and pictures of people who were important somehow. Under the window was an aged but clean cast iron radiator supplying the room with heat. Unlike most of the others she had seen with multiple layers of chipped and peeling white paint this one was actually a smooth dark brown color all nice and glossy. The small chrome bell mounted on it looked out of place otherwise it seemed much like all the others she had seen.

In the center was an older man. Hair grey turning to white with an unkempt beard. The beard was probably neatly trimmed this morning and presentable along with the rest of him however at the moment he looked like he had slept in it. She knew without looking this was the result of a long married man missing his other half. She knew that a woman much like herself would have made sure the man was presentable at all times. She wonder where she was.

On the desk in front of the old man was a thick file folder. Beside the folder was a large brandy glass that showed remnants of liquid. What the liquid was she had no clue as there was no visible bottle to show her more. The man she assumed was Professor Tandy wore a dark brown three piece suit. He even had an old fashion tie clip with chain leading to a pocket. The pocket however did not have the round bump of the old pocket watches. She assumed it was for show instead. His face, when he looked up, was old with an almost devastated expression on it. The expression changed as he noticed her to one with an attempt at a warm smile for her.

"Please tell me you are here to be my new secretary!" The rich deep voice that emerged surprised her as well as the question.

"Uh no actually I'm your appointment." She was shy for some reason and looked to the floor in the presence of this man.

"Appointment? Oh yes. But who are you?" He seemed at a bit of a loss for some reason. The fact he did not recognize her gave her a bit of hope.

"I'm uh my name is Elizabeth Tanner. I'm here about.. well you see my brother Eric Tanner was listed under your name and something called Project 14." Beth did not see the professor's eyes grow huge nor that he suddenly stood up to his full height of 5' 10". She did notice when he walked around the desk and looked her up and down. She stood her ground feeling strange as if he was examining her like a doctor would a specimen in a lab.

"Well well well. How long have you been taking hormones?" He suddenly asked.

"Never!" Beth blurted out suddenly. What was with the question?

"Really? Fascinating... I wonder.. Eric Tanner you said? Project 14?" he asked her. Beth could only nod not sure what was going on.

Professor Tandy walked to the shelf of cardboard binders in boxes and went through the illegible writings till he 'ah' and pulled out a box. He brought it to his desk and opened the box which was actually a small collection of cd's in plastic sleeves. He then picked a cd apparently at random and inserted it into something hidden from her view. The mouse and rubber pad on the desk were moved into a better position as he clicked and typed in silence. Beth waited patiently.

He apparently found something and gave her a one eye squint look before looking at the screen again and again. She waited patiently as she clicked and typed a few more times. She started to look around at the office as she waited.

"Project 14 code 161744 Alpha Mark 2020." He stated out loud and clearly to her. Beth looked back at him. She wondered what that was supposed to do. He was clearly waiting for something. Nervous but without her voice shaking she dared to ask a question.

"I'm sorry but I don't know what that means."

Professor Tandy looked up from his screen and examined this girl in front of him. She was not exhibiting any signs of post hypnotic suggesting and indeed seemed to be telling him the entire truth.

"Please Professor. I need to know what happened to my brother and.. where I come from." Beth stated this time her voice quivering.

Professor Tandy used his left hand to rub his chin with an audible scrunch of whiskers just poking out. He sat back into the chair behind his desk and seemed to contemplate how to talk to her. Beth felt the beginnings of fear as this man obviously knew something. What he knew exactly had yet to be told. The strange string of words, a code of some sort but for what? He finally opened his mouth before reaching down into a desk drawer pulling out a bottle of expensive brandy.

"Care for a sniff?" He asked. Beth shook her head and he nodded before he bellowed out." David make yourself useful and get the lady something to drink!" The voice shocked Beth as she moved backwards from the force of it. In the opposite room she heard a curse and the noise of some plastic crashing.

"Have a seat Miss Tanner. When David gets back here with a drink, one I hope has some though behind it but don't be offended if the dolt comes back with a generic can of cola from somewhere and no straw." Beth nodded and took a seat in the one padded brown leather chair in the room opposite the professor. She sat on the edge with back straight after sweeping her hand under her skirt. Her bag was put behind her. Her hands wanted to be busy but she force herself to relax them across her lap. Her normal nervous habit of the moving foot she stilled by curling it behind the other foot as she waited.

True to the Professor's words David did return with a can of pop. Pepsi, not diet of course, however he at least managed to get her a straw of sorts. The Slurpee straw with it's spoon type end wouldn't but much use in a small can of cola. David handed it to her along with the straw. His big hands dwarfing her tiny hands as he did so. What took him less than his one hand took her two to catch. It was also no surprise that after handing over the can her own hands were a bit black as well. She held up her hands in defense to the professor who cursed looking down below the desk before handing over a small package. It was a take out package moist hand wipe along with a paper towel and a toothpick in a seal plastic bag.

Beth cleaned up herself and the offending can with the wipes while the professor leaned over the desk and neatly trimmed the long straw down so that it would fit nicely into the can for her. She thanked him for his kindness causing him to blush.

Professor Tandy refilled his brandy glass. She had not even seen him empty it which is quite the feet when one considers how big a brandy glass was. Like most she had seen them on television but unlike television he didn't swirl the brandy around before sniffing it. He just tossed it back all in one glup.

"I suppose your wondering what that phrase was?"

Beth didn't speak she just nodded her head.

"It's only fair I suppose. To give you a better idea we really have to start a few years ago. I had my tenyear already by then. Me Robert Tandy who everyone used to tease. You see my last name just happens to be the same as a series of computers."Beth looked blankly at his reference.

"Ah before you time I guess." He took another slug of brandy from the glass.

"I was youngish and cocky I suppose. As a part of my course in advance psychology after my students had in their dissertations I give them one more assignment. Elaine used to joke that it was my way of making them think so far out of the box they would recognize the box. Ah Elaine..." He drifted off and looked at the picture shrine on the shelf.

Beth waited in silence for a minute before she felt compelled to interrupt. "Professor?"

"Ehh? Oh yes where was I?" he tried to hide the emotions but she could see how full his eyes were.

"You give your students an assignment?" She asked tentatively.

"I give them lots of assignments?" He asked puzzled for a second before he got it"Oh right! Yes yes. Let's see it was about six years no.. can't be that long? Seven maybe eight? My how time flies."Beth sighed this was going to be a long long story."As part of the course I give them a final assignment of sorts. What I try to do is break them of thinking of the normal and narrow views of a psychologist. It's one thing to have the person spill their life at you and give out text book answers. It's another to actually understand what they really mean. Everybody lies." He just stopped talking looking into the half empty brandy glass.

Beth waited while he seemed to collect his thoughts."Profess.."

"It was about seven years ago I guess. A young and upcoming student, brilliant in some regards, not so smart in others. I usually just ask the class to give me idea on how to better improve society as a whole through the use of their future practice." He paused as he swirled the glass once before kicking it back and then refilling it."Most of what I get is papers on how they can help politicians or lawyers with some of their hard choices to make better ones. Actors and such. Pure drivel as far as I'm concerned. Half the papers are more of how they will make the kids rich. Mostly just fantasy papers." He popped the glass cork off the bottle to refill and already full glass and was surprised to see it full.

"David was different. His paper was a laughable idea. The use of deep hypnosis to in essence reprogram a convicted criminal to be a more better person. Canada as whole doesn't really enforce a death sentence like the states do. This leaves us with prisons almost overflowing with criminals who will never see the light of freedom again. A drain on our resources."

Beth nodded as she understood the idea and thought it would have merit.

"Pure nonsense as you can't reprogram the human mind like a computer and hit reset. I laughed my self silly and would have given him a failing grade if not for Elaine. Oh Elaine.." He just stopped as he turned to look at the picture again.

Beth sat in her seat and waited. It was clear that Elaine was his wife but something had happened. She didn't know what but he obviously loved her far more than most people did. A love like that was painful to watch. She wanted to one day have a husband that loved her so one day.

"She was still my secretary back then. A brilliant woman from the first day I met her. I remember it like yesterday, the first time I saw her in this very office. Back then I had this old and beat up black metal desk and the selves were full of paper none of it relevant to anything I was working on. I had a computer on that old desk and more than a few piles in the outer office. It wasn't that I was sloppy it's just that things piled up. I really didn't notice but the dean did. Dean Dean Marks. Gods how we used to tease that bastard behind his back. He had the name for the job that's for sure."

Beth wanted to interrupt him and tell him to get to the point but she also felt she had to listen to him ramble on. It was like sitting down in front of the fireplace on the couch in her old nightie as a little girl with Grandma sitting beside her telling her of the days of old.

"I didn't really know about this inner room not really. I just thought of it as a storage room for paper. I had been with the university for tenyear and just kept throwing paper into the room just like my predecessor did. After awhile it was hard to do that. A good shove with your back into that old solid door and toss in. Gods what a fire hazard that was!"

Beth looked to the door it was an antique glass and wood door much like the one she came into the outer office through.

"That is the new old door. The original is long gone thanks to Elaine. The first day I saw her she was standing in the door looking completely lost. I guess Dean had told her she would be a secretary of some sort. Seeing the mess of my office and the fact that it was a little messy probably shocked her. I didn't think it was that bad truth be told. I could get to the desk and computer. So you had to walk a little sideways big deal."

He paused a moment and drank some more out of the glass. For Beth it was like watching an old movie in her head. She could picture this woman standing in a doorway in a cream colored suit with a purse slung over her shoulder also in white. The woman was professional looking in matching heels not to high and not to low. Her purple and pink high collar blouse with its old fabric fake tie her hair in one of those neat buns on the back of her head. Beth was still trying to learn how to do that, every bun she tried came apart after two minutes. Buns were not her mothers strong suit either.

"She stood there in the door for a minute or so before I noticed her. I asked her what she wanted and she told me. I'm ashamed to admit I got a bit angry. Maybe it was my attitude, maybe it was the shock but I put that poor woman into tears as she ran from my office. Dean was not in his office when I stormed in. I found out later he left the campus the day he assigned her to be my secretary the letch!"

Another good gulp and refill.

"I thought I was rid of her and even said good riddance I think. As she was not there when I got back from that waste of a trip to Dean's. I grabbed my bag and hurried off to teach my class. At lunch nobody was there either so I shoved the door a few times to toss some papers in an attempt to clean up the office. It was no good the door wouldn't move at all. I'm not sure why I thought to do that. Maybe it was my try at getting into the good graces of Dean again."

She thought differently but didn't say so.

"When I got back that evening from my last class that ran more than a little late I found this inviting backside on the floor of my office. Elaine had gone home and changed into a pair of jeans and a large sweater. It was a grey thing with a rival's university logo on it slightly stained. I dropped my bag as this woman was stuffing garbage bag after garbage bag with all of my papers. I yelled at her to stop what she was doing but she completely ignored me. I thought she was being stubborn. I mean here was this woman who just wouldn't listen to me. A part of me found it nice. My mother was like that."

She hoped he wouldn't describe his mother.

"She wasn't of course she just had her discman going with earphones in her ears. I found out later she was looking at each file for the date and it if it was older than a year into the bag it went. That's not to say she wasn't stubborn. Gods that woman was stubborn! Oh Elaine."

The old man shed tears openly as he went to drink from his glass. He was a little surprised to find it empty. The bottle he was using was also empty. He reached into another drawer and pulled out a fresh bottle. It was a store style bottle of rum. The professor concentrated on filling the crystal style decanter with the store brand rum. When the bottle was empty he put the empty bottle behind the desk where she couldn't see before he poured into his brandy glass again.

"I think she spent most of that night working away at the papers. Since she wasn't listening to me I had left and went home. The next morning when I got to my office there was two men hauling garbage bags out of the office to a blue truck where they were emptying them into the back. It was a recycling service. Upon entering my office I was shocked to see that I could not only see the desk but the floor of most of that outer office as well.

It wasn't completely clean yet but she had made a huge dent into my mess. What was even more surprising was that the papers I needed were on my desk in neat and organize piles. I had always thought my students punctual up to that point. In reality since I was always late they were too. That first morning I got to an empty class a good five minutes before it started. And it stayed empty till about ten minutes after when the first of the stragglers came in. They were surprised to see me there.

We settled into a routine of sorts. I could come in she would have the papers ready for me and off I went to class. Elaine would sit around that office cleaning and organizing what papers she found that were in the last year and go to work doing whatever secretary's do I suppose. I found out that I had a small table and a chair where people could sit. It's covered now but I can assure you there is a small table out there. Elaine kept it neat and tidy somehow. She even put a plant in the window. It was ugly but she said it brightened up the place.

If I was in the office she would sit in the chair doing whatever and I could grade papers at the desk. At first we didn't talk. Gradually as time went by we did. Little things mostly at first. She was divorced from her first husband. Their son spent most of his time with his father but lived with her. She blamed herself for the fail of her marriage. She went on and on about how if she had not bugged him or tried to change him they would still be a couple. I still don't think so. She was her own woman Elaine. I think it was more that she wouldn't bow to him than anything that caused them to fight. Her name was Elaine Penny. She had reverted to her maiden name after the divorce.

I guess I was something of a sap as I was coming back to the office one day with a rose in my hand for her when I heard this awful ripping noise. I dropped that rose and ran to the office scared for her. When I got in she was in her jeans and sweater again. At the door to the inner office was the gardener, sorry, grounds keeper. He had an electric chainsaw in his hands and was cutting the center of that door out.

I yelled out at the top of my voice "What the hell are you doing?" or some such. That woman just turned to face me with this smile on her face, that lovely smile of hers, and told me that none of the maintenance guys could get the door open telling her to leave it alone. She got tired of trying to get them to help so she talked to old Willy. It wasn't his name but people called him that. It was his idea to open the door with the chainsaw. Poor guy almost got hurt when the door popped and covered him with paper.

Oh the look she gave me at that point could have melted steel. I fell head over heels in love with her then. It took us most of the next two weeks to clean out this room. These shelves and this desk were all a white grey color at the time peeling and part of this desk had split from the weight of the papers on it.

That radiator over there was so coated with paint that the bolts at the bottom were blobs. The paper had shifted it and there was puddles of water on the floor. If you look closely some of the boards are replaced. Where she and Willy got the boards I'm still not sure of but I suspect they are from that old door as more than a few were totally rotten. That rad was sent off to be repaired. I guess they stripped it down before repairing and repainting it that color. I'm told that that color is the original color of it. The floor was fixed after a steam fitter fixed the plumbing. It was sanded and refinished. The walls and ceiling were redone as the plasterboard had collapsed from the humidity. These shelves were removed and refinished with a varnish. The original window was cracked from the abused it had.

Even this desk was repaired and refinished along with get a few modifications so that it was more modern. She did all that. Not once was I allowed alone in this room after helping to take it all apart. What you see now is all her doing. The copy room used to be two offices so when it was expanded and remodeled she had one of the two doors put together into a new office door for me.

Somewhere along the way of the project we got comfortable with each other. The project had all the people gossiping but it all came together after four months during the summer when most of you students are away doing whatever you do these days. The day it was finished we had a small celebration in this very room. Candles on the desk and take out Chinese. The wine I had found and hidden away from her got pulled out. I think it was a gift to my predecessor.

The bottle was a little potent after all that time and we both got very drunk. It didn't help with the fumes in the room either. I had found this small piece of cut off copper pipe and jokingly proposed to her with it when we left the building. She accepted with what I thought was equal humor. The kiss that followed and the ah... best to say she took it to heart.

Elaine never took off that stupid copper pipe. It fit her finger so well. She even had it polished and everything. We married not to long after but she kept her job as my secretary. Those years were the best years of my life. Elaine was always after refinishing this or that and even got the rest of the offices into it. All the offices are now restored with new wiring windows and the like but none are really changed. She always called it bringing back the past. Our house is the same its all really old but what you can't see is that it is all modernized too. New wires drywall wood all that stuff. Her kitchen is all period pieces. Marble counter tops with a rolling center island. She made some of the best meals in that room for us.

At first she was just getting a little sick. Nothing big really an infection or two. Tiredness and so forth. But instead of completely going away they lingered. The doctors diagnosed her as diabetic. Apparently after the birth of her son Edward she developed a type of diabetes. It is a progressive type and should have been monitored from the get go. By the time it was noticed by us her kidneys, liver, bladder, and heart had already suffered severe damage.

I did everything I could to help her. I got the best doctors and medical care I could. I had just found her and couldn't let her go. Oh Elaine!"

The professor put his head down onto the desk and wept. Beth was surprised to find her own face full of tears. She did not know Elaine herself but she sounded like an amazing woman and she was sad at her passing. A woman so full of life cut down but a hidden disease.

She was busy looking for a tissue when a loud snore ripped through the room startling her. The door opened and David came into the room. He took one look at the glass and the bottle before turning to her.

"He was talking about her again?"

She nodded not sure she could speak at this point.

David sighed to himself and went up to the old professor. He shifted the large man over so his face was not buried in the desk. He then moved the bottle into a drawer. Took both the empty bottle and the now partly filled cup from the room before he turned to her. It was like he expected her already gone.

"You might as well leave. He isn't gonna be around for awhile. I set you another appointment for maybe Wednesday or Thursday."

"Why not.."

"Tomorrow he will be sick at home with a big hangover and less than function on Wednesday. Do you have a number I can leave your appointment with?"

This guy was so useless! She left her sorority number for him. She could see that David was not really a people person nor was he all that good at being a personal assistant as the desk was a mess with stuff from the printer. The base looked cleaner but that was about it. There on the desk was a crumpled pieces of paper she assumed was from the printer itself. It reminded her of the paper fans she and her girlfriends used to make as little girls.

A stop at the closest ladies room to fix up her raccoon face was all it took as Beth made her way through the maze to the sorority. She still didn't know what had happened to Eric but it was obvious to her that Professor Tandy did. She did not feel anger to him for not telling her. It was obvious the man was hurting. She couldn't shake the feeling that it was like a grandfather hurting. She knew he wasn't her grandfather as he was too young to be one. At a guess he was maybe ten to fifteen older than her parents if that. Yet she still felt like a little girl on her grandfathers lap.

Back at the sorority she ran into Carol who wanted to go out clubbing. It was unusual to do so on a Monday night but Beth agreed. A quick shower followed by a light dinner in just her robe while she finished drying off. The cashew chicken salad felt so good. She selected one of her mini skirts that her parents would be appalled at along with a tight fitting red satin sleeveless blouse to go with the black mini skirt. The blouse she tied at the bottom to give her an open mid drift.

The club was a dance club that sold mainly non alcoholic drinks as their clientele was students. On a Monday the place wasn't that full and they got in without a cover charge. Not that that was usual as these places tended to appreciate a group of attractive girls and conveniently let them in without paying.

Beth danced and sweated the night away laughing with her sorority sisters on a dance floor while miles away a lone old man snored away on a desk, a picture of a woman in a white stained University of Saskatchewan sweater and jeans under his arm.

Promptly at ten thirty on Thursday morning Beth was sitting in the chair in Professor Tandy's office a tea cup nearby. Beth had come prepared this time with a cup of tea of her own.

The professor arrived a minute or so later. David had the printer together again and it seemed to work fine. The amount of papers on the desk seemed to be larger and in some order known only to him. The professor however didn't look quite that good.

His suit was clean without wrinkles. His face was haggard and grey though. He looked older than he had just two days before. When he saw her sitting primly in her chair in the office a cup of tea balance perfectly on a stack of books whose purpose was never to hold a cup of tea he frowned but moved himself behind the impressive desk. His brandy glass was apparently clean and on his desk upside down on a coaster. Whether the coaster was clean or not was questionable.

From his briefcase the professor extracted a thermos of coffee which he poured into the waiting brandy cup. This time he swished it around in the glass and inhaled the aroma. Beth almost giggled as she watched the mans face come alive just a little bit. He smiled and drank just a bit before relaxing back.

"Sorry about the other day Ms. Tanner. I've never been the best at holding my drink. Elaine used too run a vacuum cleaner by my head the next morning. I actually though about..." His animated face fell a bit before he took another drink of the coffee.

"Sorry. I get distracted too easily these days."

"It's alright Professor. I can tell how much she meant to you."Inside she was annoyed but mother had always taught her that a lady is polite.

"Let's see where was I before memory lane took over?" Beth started to open her mouth to help but he waved for her not too so she sat back in her chair and waited.

"Ah yes. David and his asinine idea. Elaine thought it was a good idea. At first I laughed it off but she persisted." another sip of the coffee.

"To make her happy I ran through a few ideas on how to accomplish it. At first it was to amuse her but the more I looked into it the more of a possibility it became. Don't get me wrong I still thought it was a stupid thing to do but after months of research I found that it did in fact have a very possible chance of working." another sip of coffee.

"David's idea on how to go about accomplishing it by deep hypnosis was hogwash. In case your wondering David, my assistant, is not him. Actually this David was pawned off on me by a relative. The lad is great with computers and marginally proficient with paperwork but his people skills seriously need help." more coffee from the thermos.

"I found that there was some work being done elsewhere on a similar problem by more than one company. At the time everyone was floundering around much like myself. The brain is resistant to programming of any type. The reason being that each of us are a sum total of our past experiences.

Introducing something outside of the sum total and the brain will fight it. Sorta like saying that you introduce the answer ten when the equation is four minus two it just doesn't work because you were taught to know that four minus two equals two."

Beth nodded to show she understood what he was saying.

"Now under deep hypnosis you can tell a person they see a hundred dollar bill in front of them or that they are a chicken. It will last for a short while and then the brain resets itself and all is back to normal. Stage magicians sometimes exploit this. You basically trick the brain into seeing something that is from a past memory in the here and now. You've seen people act like a chicken on television before so your brain will make you act like a chicken on stage. And with the snap of the fingers poof your back to normal.

In the case of a hundred dollar bill your brain sends the memory of a hundred dollar bill to your for front and you see the bill. You can even describe the bill it's shape, any stains, the smell. This is a technique used to sometimes help a person remember that which was once repressed. In the end of course the person will know that it wasn't there no matter how much you say it was. Why because there was no memory of the event leading up to it.

But what would happen if you managed to not only implant the picture of the hundred dollar bill but the memory leading up to it being in your hands? Would the picture remain? That was the theory I started from.

At the time I suppose Dead was just happy I was doing research of any kind I guess so I started projectone. Using student volunteers I set about trying to create a memory. I failed miserably. If not for Elaine I would have given up entirely. For all of my experiments I used volunteers who signed waivers and had full knowledge going in what I planned to do.

By project three I made some progress. I was able to get a student to truly believe that he had won a hundred dollars in a poker game. It may not sound like much of an accomplishment but the poor boy was lousy at poker. I was ecstatic at the result and took Elaine out to celebrate. It was that night that she got sick for the first time." He looked down at the glass in his hand and stopped talking.

"Professor?" She prompted.

"The dean at the time I got the result was less than thrilled and considered it a fluke. In project four I got a few volunteers to believe other things. One man believed he had purchased a skirt for his girlfriend. Another student believed she had grown a mustache. Minor stuff nothing major as I couldn't seem to make anything larger stick for longer periods.

They would believe some stuff but not others. It was truly vexing but I kept at it. My progress did not go unnoticed though. By the time I was finishing project five a Mr. Greg approached me. The name is of course totally false but his credentials seemed sincere. More importantly his money donations into the project were an incentive. Even volunteers want something for their time.

When Elaine passed away I threw myself into the project as a way to combat the grief I suppose. Time seemed to fly by as I made more and more progress. Little by little it seemed. In almost no time at all it seemed I was at the door to begin project 14.

Mr. Greg supplied me with some hallucinogenics and well a truth serum of sorts. All legal with loads of paperwork. The project now included myself and a few medical personnel. One of our last subjects reacted badly to a program attempt.

Our goal in project fourteen was to convince a person that they were in fact a member of the opposite sex. A very daunting proposal but one of significance. If you can convince someone totally that they are indeed of the opposite sex then re educating them to be a better member of society would by default be easier." He paused as he looked at Beth.

Beth found it hard to breath. She had to know right now badly.

"There was fourteen volunteers at the start of project fourteen. All the participants were given papers and waivers to sign before they could even commit to the exams. We wanted perfectly healthy individuals. Some of them were gay, others transgendered, while even others completely straight individuals.

Yes Ms Tanner. Eric Tanner was one of them."

Elizabeth just sat in her chair unmoving.

"At the start of the program Eric signed waiver after waiver. Some of which were supposed to be signed by your parents with their full knowledge. I get the impression that was not in fact the case?"

She shook her head.

"Interesting. I suppose the young man was attracted to the offer. As participation in the program his school fees and tuition along with all his books and housing would be taken care of. I can only guess that you were concerned about your parents. I was impressed with Eric Tanner such a good man.

As part of the program to make the best possible chance for success each student was put under hypnosis with a combination of mild relaxants and hallucinogenics. Much like a mild form of that drug you kids use. Ecstasy I think the name is. During that time we recorded everything we could as we had each of you describe your past as much as possible from your earliest memories."

He paused as he sipped his coffee before continuing again. Beth was unmoving in her chair. She needed to know this.

"Most of the participants gave a history over the period of three days. Eric was different his history was more detailed and took over a week. When we assembled you it was from three other girls histories combined. That in itself was a bit of a masterpiece to put together.

For most of the volunteers we told them of their pseudo history straight out from beginning to end. For you I believe it was done differently. The assistant at the time may have done just one tiny thing different with you. I'm not positive though. The sessions were recorded but I no longer have access to those recordings."

He made a face at that remark. Beth wanted to ask why but was afraid too.

"As you can guess my anonymous benefactor worked with the government. After you had not reverted within a year he confiscated all my research materials including those records. Damn it to hell!" He slammed his fist down on the desk hard causing Elizabeth to jump in her seat.

"Sorry my dear. You see most of the other subjects in the experiment reverted to themselves after a time. All the women did within the first month. I suspect that was due to a woman's menstrual cycle but don't quote me on that."

She nodded.

"The first of the men were the transgendered individuals and the one openly gay man. They did not take it well at all. I guess the horror of past conflicts got to be too much for them. One is currently in intensive care and will probably never be anything more than a drain on resources as he is little more than a vegetable state. The other two were buried shortly before he tried. A sad case in all. I'm so sorry about that it was a complete shock to me at the time. I will never be able to pay enough penance for those individuals. If not for me they may still be alive."

"Professor no! You can't.." she started.

"I can and damn well will woman! It's my fault and I should pay for it and I will."

"Yes sir. However.."

"No Elizabeth. What I did was a crime even if all the legal aspects were covered by others it is still my fault those three died."

The professor yanked open a drawer and removed the bottle. He turned green a bit as he looked at it before putting it back. He poured more coffee into the glass and drank in silence for a minute or two.

"Of the five men left two reverted after four or five months. I suspect that each had a bit of a crossdresser past to begin with but that is not uncommon. One dropped out and is making good money as a female impersonator. The other dresses from time to time. After eight months another reverted but has chosen to continue on in his or her role for the rest of her time at university. The fourth I'm not positive when she reverted as she has proceeded with her real life test so she can get surgery in a year or two.

That leaves you. As with all the volunteers each of you had a counselor assigned to you to keep track of your progress or lack there of. Any signs of distress has also been monitored. Even more so after those three. You have not once reverted to your former self. If anything according to reports I get you have grown even more feminine since the time you started.

The phrase I gave you was supposed to revert your memories. It was a part of the program that each individual be given a catch phrase to revert you should something serious develop. Upon my mentioning it your suppressed memories should have come forth. In a very simple sense Eric should have woken up. I could tell though that did not happen and I'm unsure as to why as it should have worked."

"So.. my brother.. I mean I'm.. or I was Eric? But how is that possible? I'm a girl I don't have boy parts? Shouldn't I have boy stuff? You mentioned hormones but I have never taken any unless my medication for my menstrual cycle has some but .." she was babbling as the professor interrupted her.

"From a previous project it was found that if the body didn't match the perception it would not work. In the case of the women it was programmed into them that they had suffered gynecomastia as teenagers and that they hated the breasts binding them. It almost worked.

In the men our medical team used a technique to basically turn a mans penis and scrotum into an approximation of a woman's vagina. I'm told there was no visible scarring but a regular gynecologist would be able to tell. In your case you were told that you have a shallow vaginal opening and were prescribed medication to prevent a menstrual cycle you don't actually have.

Your medication does have a small amount of hormone in it but it is such a small amount it would have had almost no effect on your development. Obviously something else has happened as you are unquestionably a woman now. I realize you may not be up to such but I really would appreciate it if we could have some tests scheduled on you to determine how this came about. Nothing life changing or threatening I can assure you. This will be entirely up to you however I do recommend it."

She nodded.

"Let me know when you are ready for that dear."

"What do I tell my parents or his parents? Who am I?"

The professor came around the desk as quickly as he could as he saw the girl go into a panic attack. He placed both of his hands on her arms to get her attention.

"Elizabeth look at me!" he commanded when she did he continued" You are Elizabeth Tanner. A young woman who belongs to a sorority. Incidentally you got into that sorority all on your own with no help from us. Your classes were all of your own choice and all your accomplishments in those classes are entirely yours."

She nodded as tears fell from her eyes.

"I will contact your parents and explain everything that has happened with what proof I have. Do not worry about it. For now just go on with your classes as best you can. However should you feel at any way upset and need to leave tell your professors to contact me."

Elizabeth nodded her head. Not trusting herself to speak at this time. The professor however was not fooled.

"Miss Tanner please sit down I'm going to call your therapist. Let's see Ms. Therrian is that correct?" At her nod he phoned her therapist and talked for a moment or two.

She did not have to wait long before Shelly Therrian came to get her and led her back to her office. She was able to hold it till she got into the familar comfortable small office with it's comfy black leather couch. As soon as she sat down it all came out in a gush of tears. Elizabeth cried long and hard in the office. She eventually cried herself out and fell into a sleep curled up on the couch.

When Beth came too she found someone stroking her hair lovingly. When she looked up her mother, Beverly was there and she found herself crying more as she opened up about what had happened to her and to Eric. She still could not see herself as Eric nor as anything other than the girl she had always remembered being.

"Oh mom!" She wailed into her mothers lap."Eric was me."

"Yes." she said softly to the girl in her lap.

"I don't know what to do. I should try my best to be your son again but I don't know how. I know I should be able too but I don't remember any of it."

"Yes." she continued to stroke the hair of her daughter. Until she made to sit up.

"Mom what are you doing here?"

"That man called us so we came." She said man as if it was a distasteful word.

"But that's a two hour drive how could you.." She trailed off as she looked to the window. She had thought someone pulled down the blind but it was pitch black outside instead.

"You've been asleep for awhile E."

"What... what do you know?"

"Everything. I still don't believe it all but I think.. No! I know it is true even if I don't want to believe it. I should be upset at you, well the other you.. but your not Eric so I can't be mad at you."

"But mom I am ..."

"No sweetie I don't think you are." She paused for a moment as if collecting her thoughts" And .. I don't think you can be Eric. Not anymore at least."

"Mom .. What? That makes no sense! All I have to do is stop with the girly things and.."

"And kill yourself trying to be something you apparently no longer are?"

"What? No I just need a hair cut and some tape and then I can.."

"Be a girl failing to be a boy." Beverly finished.

"Mom it's not like that. I was a boy once it shouldn't take me much to be one again. A buzz cut first and then some clothes..."

"Elizabeth Marie Tanner you will NOT cut your hair!"from the tone alone Beth knew it was a command from her mother. Her mother then slide over to be beside her and hugged her.

"E while you were asleep your father and I talked things over with the Professor. He is willing to try to make you a boy again as much as possible but without his notes and the records he said at best you would be more of a tomboy than anything else. You are just too much of a girl now to go any other way. I'm sorry sweetie."

"But what about Eric? Where did I come from then? I feel like my whole life is a lie but it also feels so real to me."

"Yes...Professor Tandy has never had children so he wouldn't know. We talked about that as well. Eric was a product of both Henry and I. In a very real way so are you." Beth made to interrupt but was silenced by her mother voice tone.

"Elizabeth you are almost exactly the way we would have raised you. You are also the exact child that Eric would have had if he had to raise a girl all on his own. In a way you are the granddaughter we would have had born out of Eric."

"But Eric was me? I mean.."

"No Elizabeth you are not Eric. What the professor and his cronies did was erase Eric but in the process somehow you were born. To erase you to get a caricature of the two.. " for the first time Beth noticed that her mother was crying just as much as she was. She hugged her back.

"I've only known you for such a short time. To loose you on top of loosing my son. I just..."

"It's alright mom. I'm not going anywhere."

"No it's not alright! By reason I should be pushing to have my son back. But when I look and feel you all I see is my daughter. To loose my daughter so soon after finding her it would just ..." and she gushed tears making the last few words unintelligible.

The two Tanner women sat and cried in the dark for some time. They eventually spent the whole night on that couch using up most of the kleenex in the office in the process.

Epilog

Her father Henry contacted a lawyer and together with Professor Tandy and the current Dean they poured over the available records and waivers looking for loopholes. Whoever the government man was he had covered the tracks well as not much was available legally. They did set aside a fund, mostly out of the professors pocket, for the eventual surgeries needed to complete Elizabeth.

Professor Tandy did try to hypnotize Elizabeth but it was found she had an aversion to the normal procedure. A doctor was called to administer and watch over her as a diluted form of Ecstasy was used in conjunction with the hypnotherapy. No sign of the once very male Eric could be found.

The professor still believed that there should be a sign of Eric somewhere as he cannot have completely disappeared. What few notes from his experiments that he had stored at his house and in the office he poured over day after day.

The promised examinations, including Elizabeth's first pelvic exam even if her memories said otherwise, were completed. Scans were taken along with some probes inserted. Her body was indeed producing the normal amount of hormones for a woman her age. It was judged that her testicles were actually what is know as Ovotestis. Professor Tandy and the medical doctors believed that somehow she had caused them to change. It was a well known fact that people's emotions and mental state had a profound effect on the human body making it sicker. They believed that in her case it was quite the opposite but they could not prove otherwise yet.

Elizabeth's tuition fees and other expenses were completely covered for as long as she remained at university. She did take advantage of the nose job offer after much pestering from her mom. Her new cute button nose matched her grandmothers quite well. The effect changed how her face looked to the extent that it was now almost impossible to see a resemblance between Elizabeth and Eric. She was still very much her parents daughter.

The family gathered together at the beginning of December, the adult members, to discuss what had happened with Elizabeth. While not every member of the family believed what they heard they did accept it to a point. It was her aunt who suggested that having a funeral for Eric would allow closure. It seemed silly at first but the idea quickly grew.

Beth's plans for the future at first was to switch to the mechanical engineering that Eric had wanted but her parents talked her out of that so she stayed in her business administration course. It was her mother that suggested that maybe she could come up with fashions for women who worked in rough occupations. Beth agreed that many of the current clothing available for women did not stand up to rough occupations. Most of the cloth used was as delicate as they were so did not last very long.

A few days before the funeral for Eric, Elizabeth was at her mothers home when most of her aunts came to visit along with her female cousins. They shocked her to tears as they proposed to build a new building in the town just for her to market her fashions designs when she finished university. She declined the honor at first however two of her cousins were urging her to accept. After much debate, a fair amount of chocolate and baked goodies, she agreed to the proposal only if half the place was to be a spa that her cousin would run. The idea of a spa in the family was of even more interest and plans were made.

The Tanner spa and Boutique was quickly drawn up on paper and the cement foundation poured before the first snow fell. Although some of the family was reluctant to pitch in a the reception before the funeral it seemed that many of her family was willing to donate time into building the new building. Her family had varied backgrounds some were electricians, others venting specialists, plumbers, carpenters and so forth who saw it as an affront that the women would wish to see one of their competitors for the project.

Come spring there was a very good chance that the building and it's materials would be mostly paid for even before the first wall went up. When she asked about the property her father and a few uncles sheepishly admitted that they were planning to build a small shop for Eric and mostly themselves to work out of. She vowed to herself that if the business took off she would have a small shop built out back for the males of her family.

The day of the funeral dawned overcast with a chance of snow. Elizabeth and her mother had been up for awhile getting ready for the funeral. She and her mother wore matching mother daughter fitted black skirt suits, shadowblack pantyhose and low pumps. She was sitting in her new room at the antique vanity she remembered so well as her mother came in. She was dressed almost identically to her daughter. Her small fashionable but rather useless hat with its black veil was flipped up and out of her eyes. Her mothers black gloves were still in her purse.

Beth was having a difficult time getting her hair up into a bun on the back of her head so that she could then pin the hat with its veil into it.

"Here let me." Her mother took the brush from her daughter and brushed out her daughters hair lovingly. It seemed like all she did was brush flip and pin and there was the perfect bun.

"That's so not fair! I've been fighting with my hair for an hour!"

"E I have been playing with hair since before you were a baby. I'll show you some tricks later."

"Thanks mom."

"Anything for my sweet lovable baby girl!"

"I'm not a little girl anymore!" She protested but the smile on her face said otherwise. She would always be her mothers little girl.

In fact as far as the legal history was concerned Elizabeth Marie Tanner had always been a girl. Her medical history along with her scholastic records had all been changed to reflect that. It was a surprise to the family when they found out how easy it had been. There was some speculation that the unknown government man had his hand in that but, of course, nothing could be proven.

With her hat now pinned into place Beth and her mother descended the stairs to greet her smiling father. She was still not used to seeing a smile on his face but she was getting used to it. He was overly protective of her, sometimes in the extremes where boys were concerned, but she loved the lunk all the same. She hugged her father carefully before they proceeded to the church in the Diplomat.

At the church the mass proceeded during the funeral proceedings. The coffin with the picture of Eric on it seemed a little out of place. All knew the coffin was empty yet in some way it was full as well. As the funeral proceeded someone openly cried which set off Beth and her mother. There was a few tears on her fathers cheek as well.

Although it was not planned a local bagpiper had volunteered to play. Eric was to get a military style send off as the opening notes of Amazing grace started. The bagpipe and it's unique sound reverberated off the walls. The church and its amazing accoustics turned the simple single bagpipe into something more, much more.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Elizabeth's clear soprano rang out throughout the church as she sang the first verse. At the start of the second her mother joined her. At the start of the third verse most of the large gathering in the church joined in. The lone bagpiper was joined with the pipe organ but neither could compete as the volume of those singing rose.

Her father moved from his place and as if on que so did her uncles. Each of them grabbed a handle and effortlessly lifted the dark oak coffin from it's pedestal. Nobody stopped singing as the people moved aside for the coffin. As the coffin passed each pew people moved to follow it.

Once all the people had followed out after the coffin the inner french glassed doors of the church closed. Elizabeth looked around the church where things had changed so abruptly for her just a few short months ago. So much had happened in that time and yet she felt at peace.

Elizabeth Marie Tanner was finally and truly home.

The End.

This story is as best I can get it. I'm sure a proper author could have done justice with it.

I suppose it's not really a mystery but take from it what you will.