Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 15:10:21 EDT
From: DEANECHRIS@aol.com
Subject: Magician's Assistant - Friends & Lovers 11

Magician's Assistant - Friends & Lovers 11:

By Deane Christopher
Edited by Steve Zink
Copyrighted 2002


Preface


	Magician's Assistant - Friends & Lovers takes place in the Magatrix
the Magnificent Universe, which was first introduced in my serialized
seven-part story, Magician's Assistant.  The premise upon which both that
story and this story are based revolves around the fact that Magatrix the
Magnificent has been reprimanded by the ethics review board of the
Magician's Guild, and thereby constrained from continuing to use handsome
young males as her stage assistants.  Due to a little known codicil buried
deep within the guild's arcane bylaws, should a performing member elect to
avail themselves of a stage assistant or assistants, said stage
assistant(s) must be: one, young; two, beautiful; and three, female.
Outraged by the ruling of her guild's review board, Magatrix elects to
adhere to the letter of the Magician Guild's bylaws, while sidestepping its
spirit.  Magatrix the Magnificent, via the use of real magic, has elected
to sidestep the spirit of the outdated codicil by asking for male
volunteers from the audience to come up and join her on stage, whereupon
she magically transforms the unsuspecting gentlemen into her lovely female
stage assistants.

	Normally, Magatrix restores these magically feminized volunteer
assistants of hers to their former manly physiques at the completion of her
act.  However, for reasons known only to herself, upon occasion, Magatrix
sometimes elects to maintain her assistants in their feminine personas for
the remainder of the evening, and at times, well into the fullness of the
night.  Generally, when Magatrix selects this expanded stint as a female
option of hers, she modifies her sexual transmogrification spell in such a
way as to cause the transsexualized young gentleman to automatically regain
his manhood at the dawning of the following day.

	Generally, when Magatrix chooses to expand one of her volunteer
assistant's tenure as a bona fide member of the opposite sex, she further
modifies her transsexualization spell to include some very powerful
subliminal inducements that tend to function much the way posthypnotic
suggestions might.  Magatrix does this in order to make it easier for the
sexually transmogrified male to continue to function as the woman he has
been turned into by drastically downplaying, or completely eliminating the
ignominy factor involved in operating for a time as a woman.  For instance,
Magatrix usually continues to negate the residual and telltale awkwardness
that would normally beset most men ensconced in a well-endowed woman's
body.  She achieves this by incorporating several magical subroutines
within her expanded spell in order to compensate for the marked shift in
weight distribution.  That, in turn, directly impacts on the sexually
transmogrified individual's new center of gravity, thereby making it easy
for her sexually transmogrified assistants to maneuver about in a pair of
stiletto heels.

	Since Magatrix the Magnificent's magic act has not substantially
altered from that which was described in my previous story, Magician's
Assistant 1: The Performance, I have elected to begin Magician's Assistant
- Friends & Lovers shortly after Magatrix has brought her evening's
performance to its conclusion.  In other words, the foremost male
protagonist of this story, one Michael Gerlach, begins this story as the
woman Magatrix has turned him into earlier in the evening.  However, for
those who might be interested in reading (or possibly rereading) a
description of Magatrix's magical act, in which the initial
transsexualization of birthday boy Jeff Gibson takes place, I encourage
them to read Magician's Assistant 1: The Performance, which can be accessed
elsewhere on this site.


Synopsis of Preceding Chapters


	Chapter 1 began with a conversation that occurred while the ultra
feminized Michael Gerlach was dancing with his best friend, John Larsen.
Having first discussed Mike's impressions of what it was like to be a
woman, Mike continues on to tell John about of some of the more unusual
aspects of transsexualization spell that she is operating under.  Then,
having admitted that she finds herself sexual attracted to John, Mike
encourages John to kiss her.  One kiss leads to another, whereupon a very
turned-on Mike beseeches John to make love to her.  At that point Magatrix
joins the conversation and offers the two of them the use of one of her
hotel suite's bedrooms.

	In Chapter 2, we joined the couple just prior to Mike's first
multi-orgasmic experience as a woman, via John's selfless act of oral sex.
Following that, the two then go on to share their impressions.  Then, to
John's amazement, Mike informs her friend that what she wants is to
experience what it feels like to have his manhood nestled snugly up insider
her.  John, after a little coaxing on Mike's part, is more than happy to
oblige her.

	Chapter 3 picks up where Chapter 2 left off, with Mike quickly
losing her virginity as the two friends engage in their first act of carnal
sex.  Then, after they have somewhat recuperated from their love making
session, another intimate conversation ensues in which John and Mike begin
to tentatively explore how their feelings toward one another may have
changed, in light of Mike's temporary and magical transsexualization.
Another love making sessions follows, in which John, in the heat of his
passion, utters those three little words that not only have a marked
tendency to scare the bejesus out of people, but can prove absolutely
disastrous to a relationship, terminating it with but their mere utterance.

	In Chapter 4, having acknowledged the fact that they are indeed in
love with one another, John and Mike begin to seriously examine the pros
and cons of a life together as man and wife.  Finally, after a good deal of
discussion, Mike informs John that she wants nothing more than to remain a
woman and become not only his wife, but the mother of his children as well.
The chapter ended with Mike asking John to go get Magatrix so that she
could prevail upon the magician to make her sexual reassignment a permanent
one.

	Chapter 5 began with John regrettably informing Mike that Magatrix
has not returned to her hotel suite as yet.  Then, having reconfirmed the
fact that she dearly would like to remain the woman that the magician has
turned her into, Mike, in an effort to make the most of her remaining time
as a girl, enticed John into making love to her again.  Afterward, aware
that dawn was quickly approaching, and with Magatrix still a no-show, the
two adopted a plan to wait the magician out.

	Chapter 6 began with dawn quickly approaching, and Magatrix still
not having put in an appearance at her hotel suite.  Aware that Mike would
shortly revert back to being a man again, the two friends decided that it
would be best for them to shower and dress separately.  While in the
shower, Mike played a fast and furious game of grabass with herself.  Then,
having dressed herself, Mike changed back into his former manly self.  He
then linked up with John in the suite's sitting room, whereupon the two
proceeded to head down to the hotel's restaurant.

	In Chapter 7, we find that Magatrix the Magnificent has joined John
and Mike, soon after their arrival in the hotel's restaurant.  Shortly
thereafter, having made several easily met demands of the friends, Magatrix
changes Mike back into the vivacious young woman he spent the night as.
Then, urged by the magician to select a new, feminine name for herself,
Mike chooses the name Nicole.  Whereupon, Magatrix takes it upon herself to
explain how easy it will be for Nicole to assume her new identity.

	Chapter 8 began with Magatrix asking if Nicole could see her way
clear to assisting her with a couple of benefit shows.  Then, spurred on by
John's insightful comment about how Nicole is not the only one who seems to
take an inordinate amount of pleasure out of being a girl, the magician
complies by graciously admitting that she did not start off life as a
female.  She then continues on to tell her story of how she ended up
turning herself into a woman in order to become a first class magic user.

	Chapter 9 started with Magatrix filling John and Nikki in on a
third and rather unique variation of the creation story that she had the
singular opportunity to peruse at the Vatican.  From there, the magician
continued on to explain about soulmates, and just why she selected Michael
out of the audience to serve as her lovely stage assistant.

	Chapter 10 opened with Magatrix, Nicole and John back in the
magician's hotel suite, with Magatrix recounting the tale of how she had to
restart her career as a stage magician once she had magically transformed
herself into a woman.  Having heard Magatrix tell them the story of how she
got her comeuppance with the thin-skinned magician that had turned her in
to the Magician Guild's ethics review board for employing male stage
assistants, John and Nicole take their leave of Magatrix, and head back to
Nikki's house in separate cars.  There, Nicole gets her first taste of the
effectiveness of Magatrix's identity adaptation spell.


Chapter 11


	The former Michael Gerlach continued to function as Magatrix the
Magnificent's lovely stage assistant for the remainder of the red headed
magician's stint at the local magic club.  By doing so, Nicole and John
continued to broaden the bond of friendship that had been born that pivotal
Saturday morning.  It was also during that rather truncated period of time
that Magatrix started Nicole on the long road to one day becoming a first
class magic user in her own right.  To do so, Magatrix provided her
protegee with some transcendental meditation exercises that would help
Nicole to eventually gain the mental dexterity that would allow her to
access the pool of metaphysical potential, that would in turn, earn her the
classification of sorceress.

	Though she would eventually come to take the memory augmentation
business in her stride, in those early days and weeks of her new life as a
bona fide, card-carrying member of the fairer sex, Nicole never ceased to
be amazed with the ease at which people accepted her as the woman into
which Magatrix had turned her.  Occasionally, though it was sketchy at
best, Nicole thought she detected an indication that the memory-overwrite
was indeed taking place.  An almost imperceptible slurring or slight
hesitation in someone's speech patterns was one indicator.  The fluttering
of the eyes was yet another.

	Though she procrastinated doing so for several days, Nicole finally
called her mother the following Tuesday.  After apologizing for not
stopping in to see her parents on Sunday as she did more times than not,
Nicole informed her mother that she had something important that she needed
to discuss with both her parents.  Without prying very much, her mother
proceeded to ask Nicole if she would like to stay and have dinner with the
two of them.  Nicole replied that she'd love to, if that invitation might
also be extended to include her friend, John.  That comment of Nicole's led
to her mother then asking the obvious question, "So, am I to take it that
after all these years the two of you have known one another, you've finally
come to your senses and realized that you're perfect for each another?"

	Hemmed in as she was, Nicole could only answer, "Yes, mother.  We
have."

	"Good!  It's about time!  Fact is, as far as I'm concerned, it's
way past time!  So, when's the wedding?"

	"Mom!"  Nikki's voice was iced with the raw edge of sternness.
"How 'bout we discuss that when John and I come over on Sunday?"

	"Nicole..." Nicole's mother's voice noticeably moderated.  Instead
of conveying a sense of joyful anticipation as it had but a moment before,
it was laden with an uneasy sense of apprehension.  "You're not getting
married because you have to, are you, dear?"

	"No, Mom.  You needn't fear on that account.  I'm not pregnant.
John and I are getting married because we want to, not because we have to."

	"I'm glad to hear that, dear, you know, because even though your
dad and I dearly want to become grandparents one of these days, you and
John need some time to yourselves before thinking about starting a
family..."


*****


	Nicole waited until all four of them had finished with their desert
before she told her parents the truth about what had occurred the week
before.  Though both were astonished and flabbergasted initially, not to
mention a little discombobulated due to the residual side-effects of the
full restoration of their prior memories, the Gerlachs handled the news
that their one and only son was now their one and old daughter quite
amicably.  Though at first somewhat at a loss for words, Nicole's mother
was overjoyed with the turn of events.  She had always wanted a daughter,
and now that she had one, she was bound and determined to make the best of
it, even if that daughter of hers had once been her son.  Plus, as an extra
bonus of sorts, thrown into the mix so as to sweeten the deal, as the
mother of the bride-to-be, she had a wedding to help plan and coordinate.

	Though he endeavored to hide the fact, Nicole's father, thinking
that he had lost his favorite fishing buddy, wasn't anywhere near as
enthusiastic about the bizarre turn of events as was his wife.

	Later that afternoon, when the opportunity presented itself for
Nikki to confront her Dad out in the garage alone, she pointedly demanded,
"Okay, Dad.  You've done your duty.  You've placated Mom, and you've tried
to placate me.  But, I know you better than you know yourself, and I know
there's something that's bugging you about all of this, and I'd like to
know exactly what it is.  So, come on, Dad.  Instead of bottling everything
up inside of you like you usually do, what say we get whatever it is that's
bothering you out in the open.  That way, we can hash it all out and get
past whatever it is that's bugging you."

	He just stared at her, unwavering.

	"Look, Dad!  For the sake of everybody involved, especially Mom, we
need to deal with this, and we need to deal with this now!"

	Though it took a good deal of coaxing, plus a few rather pointed
threats on Nicole's behave, she eventually managed to cajole her father's
misgivings out of him.  Though there were a whole bunch of side issues
thrown into the mix, basically, what it all boiled down to was that her Dad
wasn't all that happy about having to find himself another fishing buddy.

	"Look, dad, if that's what you're worried about, don't let it
bother you."

	"You mean to tell me that even though you're a girl now, you still
want to go fishing with me?"  An ominous feeling of doubt still lingered in
the subjective nooks and crannies of her father's tone of voice.

	"Yes, Dad!  That's exactly what I'm telling you!  Look, I may be
your daughter now, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to still go
fishing with you!"

	"Aw... you're just saying that to make me feel better about all of
this."

	"No, Dad, I'm not!  I honestly still want to go fishing with you!
You've got to understand something here, Dad.  While I might look like a
girl, and act like a girl, and even talk like a girl, I'm nowhere near as
much of a girl as I appear to be.  In other words, Dad, up here in this old
noggin of mine, there's a hell a lot more of the old male me, than the new
female me!"

	"Really?"  There was still a lingering tinge of skepticism laced
throughout the timbre of Patrick Gerlach's gravelly voice.

	"Yes!  Really!  In fact, just to prove to you that what I'm telling
you is true, why don't the two of us plan on going fishing next Saturday?"

	"Are you serious?"

	"Yes, Dad!  I am."

	"What about John?  I mean, he enjoys fishing as much as the two us
do."

	"That's true.  John does like to fish.  Tell you what, Dad.  John
can join us some other time.  Next week, given that this is the first time
you'll be taking this new daughter of yours fishing with you, how 'bout we
make it just the two of us?  That way, Dad, if you or I want to talk
further about any of this shit, we can do so in private.  That's to say
that as it stands right now, I would prefer it if it was just the two of
us, Dad.  Look!  If you're worried about John's feelings, don't.  He'll
understand perfectly.  Besides, there'll be plenty more weekends for him to
join us, okay?

	"Look, Dad, I'm sure you have a whole shit load of questions.  I
mean, if I were you and you were me, I sure as hell would want to know why
my son all of sudden opted out of the manhood gig only to dive headfirst
into unfathomable depths of the feminine mystique.  The only thing I ask is
for you to understand that I might not have the answers for all of your
questions as yet.  All I know right now is that this girl-thing feels right
to me, and that John and I were somehow meant to be together.  He loves me,
Dad!  He really, really loves me!

	"And - God help me! - though he can be a real asshole, not to
mention, a pain in the ass sometimes, I love him as much as he loves me!
Truth is, Dad, I love him so much it almost hurts."

	Compassionately stepping forward and enfolding his daughter in
those massive, construction worker arms of his, Patrick Gerlach
sympathetically intoned, "I know, kitten... I know..."


*****


	Given that John still had an apartment, whereas Nicole was in the
income taxing process of purchasing the townhouse in which she lived with
those two precocious cats of hers, the decision as to where the two of them
would live was basically a no-brainer.  Starting on day one of Nicole's new
life as a woman, John began the gradual process of relocating his
belongings.  Within a month, having jumped at the opportunity to sublet his
apartment to his younger brother, John was completely moved in with Nikki.

	Nicole's mother, Pam Gerlach, was in her glory.  Not only did she
relish the fact that she now had a daughter to do girl-things with, but
more importantly, she had that new daughter of hers wedding to plan.
Nikki, given that those manly thought processes of hers made the planning
of the actual affair an irksome and irritating drudgery, did the smart
thing.  She simply outlined what kind of wedding she wanted, and put her
mother in touch with Magatrix to let the two of them hammer out all the
details.

	Not only was John and Nicole's wedding relatively inexpensive, but
given the fact that Magatrix was involved, it was sheer enchantment.

	Right from the outset, there had been a clear division of
responsibilities.  Pam Gerlach, working in conjunction with John's mother,
Ruth, was to compile what turned out to be a quite extensive guest list,
secure the park pavilion, and coordinate who would be bringing what covered
dishes to the picnic-like reception that would commence once the actual
wedding ceremony concluded.  The task of building the two trellises that
Magatrix requested fell to Nicole's Dad.  One would be elongated, as it
would serve as a tunnel-like entrance portico that the bride and her
bridesmaids would pass through.  The other would be more in the line of a
latticework arbor, in that it would serve as the canopy under which the
happy couple would exchange their vows of fidelity, before God and man.

	John and Nicole had only five things to which they had to attend.
One, they had to secure a priest to preside over the ceremony.  Two, they
had to choose the members of their wedding party.  Three, they had to
purchase wedding rings.  Four, they had to apply for a marriage license.
And, five, they had to show up on the day of their wedding.  Everything
else was being take care of for them, and that, as far as Nikki was
concerned, was perhaps the greatest wedding present anyone could ever give
them.

	Throughout the planning stages, Magatrix repeatedly assured
Nicole's mother that she would take care of not only outfitting the wedding
party, but would be providing all the flowers and wedding favors and the
like.  Naturally, Pam Gerlach was extremely dubious of the magician's
claims, to the point that she was beginning to panic, thinking that the
wedding would turn out to be an abysmal failure.

	Nicole, aware that her mother was coming dangerously close to
losing it, took the preemptive measure of contacting Magatrix and asking
the magician if there was any way that she could help to relieve her
mother's concerns.  Magatrix, with several bridal magazines in hand,
literally 'popped in' on Pam Gerlach and her husband the following evening.
Then, without so much as a by-your-leave or mother-may-I, Magatrix,
employing the no nonsense approach, with a flourish of her hand turned
Nicole's Dad into splitting image of that new daughter of his.  Having
accomplished that, over the obvious and incessant objections raised by a
thoroughly bewildered Patrick Gerlach, Magatrix began to casually flip
through the pages of one of the bridal magazines she had brought with her.
Currently, as she did so, the clothing that Nicole's Dad was wearing began
to morph, changing from one gown into another in the dazzling and
mind-boggling blink of an eye.

	Needless to say, Nicole's Mom was rendered thoroughly flabbergasted
with the demonstration of Magatrix's magical abilities.  She was also
keenly aware that as far as the wedding was concerned, there was absolutely
nothing to get herself worked-up or worried about.  With Magatrix on hand
to deal with any oversights that might crop up, Pam Gerlach felt assured
that her daughter's upcoming wedding was to be the most wonderful wedding
there ever was.

	Besides allaying Pam Gerlach's misgivings, Magatrix's unexpected
visit netted some unintended consequences.  Nicole's father, while not
wishing to repeat what he took to be the ignominy of the experience of his
brief tenure as a member of the opposite sex, gained an insight that in
turn led to an appreciation of his daughter's decision to remain the girl
she had become.


*****


	Magatrix arrived in town a week and a half prior to the wedding, so
as to be able to attend some of the pre-wedding festivities.  Though John
and Nicole would have loved her to stay with them, the magician deferred,
informing the two of them that she had already accepted an invitation to
lodge with the Gerlach's.

	"John," the magician casually intoned at the Gerlach's dinner table
on her first evening in town, "how would you like me to fix it so that you
can go along with Nicole and I and attend her bachelorette party Friday
night?"

	Seeking clarification, John sheepishly replied, "You mean, as a
girl?"

	"Well, since the party's a girls only affair, of course I mean as a
girl," Magatrix countered with an infectious giggle.  "I mean, you sure as
hell can't go as a guy, now can you?"

	"No, I guess I can't, at that..."

	Then, after thinking it over for a second or so, John tenderly
placed his hand on Nicole's and asked what he presumed to be the crucial
question.  "What do you say, sweetheart?  Do you want me there or not?  I
mean, I'm up for it, if you are.  However, please understand, the last
thing I want to do is to horn in.  So, as far as I'm concerned, the
decision is yours to make.  Look, it won't hurt my feelings any if you
don't want me there.  But, if you do want me to, shall we say, tag along,
it would be my pleasure to do so.  And, if that means that I have to let
Magatrix turn me into a girl for the night, so be it."

	Unable to contain herself, Nikki jubilantly exclaimed, "You'd
actually do that for me?  You'd actually become a girl for the night in
order to attend my bachelorette party?"

	"Of course I would, Nikki.  Of course I would..."

	A few minutes later, Magatrix turned her attention on Mrs. Gerlach.
"So, what do you say, Pam?  Would you like to attend as well?"

	"Oh, no!  Not me!  I think I'm a little too old for a night of fun
and frivolity.  That's to say that, as much as I'd like to come, were I to
put in appearance, I'd probably put a damper on the whole affair.  And, the
last thing I want to do is to be the one to spoil my daughter's last, and
no doubt, one and only night out on the town as a single girl."

	"Oh!" Magatrix playfully chuckled.  "If it's your age you're
worried about, Mrs. G, don't.  Look!  If I can pull a sexual switcheroo on
John here, you know, so that he'll be able to attend, it's a sure thing
that I can turn you into a twenty-something looking young lady."

	"Well, in that case, as long as my daughter doesn't mind, I'd love
to."

	"Okay!" Magatrix beamed.  "That just leaves you, MR. G!  What do
you say?  Are you up for another go-around as girl?"

	"No, I don't think so..."  Pushing back from the table, Nicole's
father shock his head and chuckled.  "While I can't say spending an hour or
so as a woman wasn't interesting, once was quite enough for me.  So, tell
you what.  The four of you go and enjoy yourselves.  Me?  I'll just stay
home and drink some beer, if it's all the same to you?"

	"Ah, come on, Dad!" Nikki pleaded.  "Where's your sense of
adventure?"

	"Right here in my pants, sweetheart.  And, if you and your mother
don't mind, that's where I'd like to keep it, all safe and secure.  So,
what I'm saying is, thanks, but no thanks..."


*****


	Nicole's bachelorette party was a huge success.  Though he almost
chickened out at the last moment, John took the plunge and allowed Magatrix
to change him into a stunning, amply endowed, almond eyed brunette.

	"Oh, my God!" John breathlessly exclaimed as she examined that
curvaceous new body of hers in the mirror.  "I'm beautiful!"

	"Yes, you most certainly are," Nikki gleefully concurred.

	"Damn!  Would you believe that I'm actually turning myself on?"

	"Yes, John, I would."  Knowing fully well what her ultra feminized
fiancée was going through, Nikki had to giggle.  "Now you know what I
have to contend with damn near every time I catch a glimpse of myself."

	"Oh, so that's why you're always horny?"

	"Yup!  That's why!  Oh!  And, while I'm thinking about it, let me
be the first to welcome you to my world, the world of the nymphed out
narcissist."


*****


	Just to be on the safe side, Nicole's mother had prudently rented a
stretch limo to cart all the partygoers around in.  And, they had a blast,
drinking champagne and club hopping throughout the entire evening, and well
into the wee hours of the following day.

	While John, who had been introduced to the rest of the girls as
Nikki's out of town friend, Jenny, had been a bit reluctant to loosen up
and get past the wallflower image she had initially adopted, a couple of
glasses of champagne put the kibosh on that foolishness.  By the time they
arrived at the second club on their itinerary, Jenny had pretty much thrown
caution to the wind and was out on the dance floor, mixing it up with the
rest of them.

	The young, vivacious, twenty-something Mrs. G caught her soon to be
son-in-law's ear as they piled back into the limo, and coyly commented,
"You seem to be enjoying yourself, Jenny."

	"Yeah... I guess I am at that, Pam," Jenny replied with the
inflections of a girlish giggle laced delightfully within that melodious,
come-hither voice of hers.

	Leaning in close so as to be able to conspiratorially whisper in
Mrs. G's ear, Jenny added a follow-up, "However, I sort of feel like the
proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing that you're always hearing about."

	"Well..."  Pam had to laugh.  "I can plainly see how you might feel
that way, Jenny, because, basically, when you think about it, that's pretty
much what you are, aren't you?"

	"Are?  Are what?" Nikki, curious to know what John and her Mom had
been talking about, inquisitively inquired.

	Thinking fast in order to quell any further probing on her
daughter's part, Mrs. G took the initiative as she responded, "Enjoying
herself!  I just asked Jenny here if she was enjoying herself, and she
assured me she was!"

	Knowing that there had to be more to it than that, but also knowing
that it wasn't the time to pry, Nikki replied with a non-threatening, "Oh!
That's good.  I'm happy to hear that she is."

	About fifteen minutes later, as the stretch limousine neared the
next club on the evening's itinerary, Nikki, raising her voice in order to
be heard over the ongoing tumult, pointedly asked, "Hey, Jenny!  What's up?
Is it just me, or are you avoiding me for some reason?"

	"No..." a slightly bemused Jenny called back.  "I'm not avoiding
you!"

	"You sure could have fooled me!  Tell you what, Jen, since I
haven't gotten to spend almost any time at all with you tonight, when we
get to the next place, I'd kind of like it if you'd sit next to me, you
know, so we can catch up on old times."

	"Are you sure, Nikki?" Jenny sought clarification.  "I mean, the
last thing I want to do is to appear like I'm monopolizing you."

	"Hey, everybody!" Nikki laughingly bellowed.  "Do any of you mind
me spending some quality time with my girlfriend, Jenny, here?  No?  Good!
See, Jenny, nobody here minds if you monopolize me for awhile!"

	Ten minutes after they arrived at the club, Nikki reached over, and
taking Jenny's hand in her own drew her ultra feminized lover out of her
chair.  "Come on, Jen!  Dance with me."

	Given that it was a fast dance, and a lot of the other partygoers
were out on the dance floor, paired up with one another, Jenny was more
than happy to comply with Nikki's request.

	"That's it, girl!" Nikki giddily teased.  "Show me how you shake
that thing of yours!"

	Raising her voice to almost the level of a shout in order to be
heard over the din of the music, Nikki queried, "Hey, Jen!  You look as if
you're enjoying yourself!  Tell me!  Are you?"

	"Surprisingly, I am!" Jenny yelled back.  "I really am!"

	"Good!  I'm glad to hear that!"

	"And, you?" Jenny just as loudly inquired.

	"Yes!  But, more so now than I was before..."


*****


	"Hey!" Nikki sternly demanded.  "And, just where do you think
you're going, young lady?"

	"Back to the table," Jenny nonchalantly replied.  "Are you coming?
Or are you going to stay out here on the dance floor, looking like some
fool?"

	"No, silly!  I'm staying right here, because I still want to
dance."

	"Okay!  Tell you what, Nikki, the next fast number they play, I'd
be more than happy to come back out here with you."

	"No, Jen!  You don't seem to understand!  I want to dance with you,
and I want to dance with you now!"

	"But, this is a slow song," Jenny argued, pointing out the obvious.

	"So, what if it is a slow song?  You and I always dance to the slow
ones."

	"Nikki!" Jenny sternly pleaded.  "People are starting to stare!"

	"Let 'em!  Look, Jen!  This is my bachelorette party!  I still want
to dance!  And, the person I want to dance with you!"

	"Please, Nikki!  If you make me do this, people are going to get
the wrong impression!  That's to say that some of them might get the idea
that you and I are a couple of lesbians."

	"So, who gives a flying frig if they do?" Nikki defiantly replied,
as she manfully took that soon to be husband of hers into her arms.
"Besides, if you want to get all technical about it, given how sassy and
sexy you're looking tonight, you could say that as it stands now, we really
are a couple of lesbians..."

	Returning to their table upon the completion of the dance, one of
Nikki's friends from work laughingly quipped, "Hey, Nicole!  Come on!  Fess
up!  Does your husband to be know about these rather aberrant sexual
tendencies of yours, or should one of us take it upon ourselves to tell
him?"

	In the way of an answer, Nikki pivoted in her seat.  Reaching over,
she proceeded to take Jenny's head in both of her hands.  Whereupon, Nikki
shameless drew those ever so luscious lips of her transsexualized beau's
toward her own.

	The kiss, once engaged, was both long and impassioned.  Jenny's
initial resistance quickly evaporated, as she gleefully welcomed the wanton
intrusion of her lover's tongue.  The intensity increased, and Jenny felt
the wetness of her passions begin to permeate that marvelous and mysterious
new inny of hers.

	Then, as their lips reluctantly parted, Nicole gasped as she
defiantly proclaimed, "Oh, I do believe that my John already knows all
about these aberrant sexual tendencies of mine.  And, if he doesn't, I want
it known here and now that I have absolute no problem if anyone here wishes
to tell him..."

	For the rest of the night, owing to Nicole's ongoing insistence,
the two of them were, for all practical purposes, damn near inseparable.
Though Nikki never went so far as to blatantly swap spit with her sexually
transmogrified fiancée again, she was constantly reaching over and
touching either Jenny's hand or forearm, as if to add extra emphasis to
some obtuse point she was endeavoring to make.

	Nikki was also engaged in a good deal of clandestine touching
beneath the table.  Every so often, the former Michael Gerlach would reach
over with that nimble and well-manicured hand of hers and use it to
provocatively caress the inner run of Jenny's thigh.  Several times, Nicole
even went so far as to up the ante.  When she thought everyone's attention
was focused elsewhere, Nikki became brazen enough to actually reach over
and teasingly run her middle finger up along the swath of her lover's
crotch.

	"Nikki!" a visibly startled Jenny admonished in an almost inaudible
whisper.  "Would you please cut that out!"

	Repeating the very action that had had given birth to Jenny's
harshly delivered rebuke, so as to clearly demonstrate that she would not
be dissuaded, Nikki impishly countered, "Oh, so I take it that you don't
like the way it feels when I do that?"

	"No!" Jenny snapped, somewhat louder than she had meant to.  "It's
not that I don't like it!  The problem is that I like it too much!"

	"Oh!  You do, do ya'?  Tell me, Jen, are you starting to feel all
loose-juicy inside?"

	"Yes!  Damn You!  I am!"

	"Good!"


*****


	Though the plan had been for the whole group of them to crash for
the remainder of night at one of Nikki's bridesmaid's apartment, once they
had all piled back in the limo, Nicole begged off.  Using the excuse that
she had drank far too much champagne and was therefore feeling a little
woozy, given all that she had yet to do that weekend to get ready for the
following week's wedding, Nicole announced that a change of plans was in
order.  She would have the driver drop everybody else off at her friend's
apartment and then she would have him take her and Jenny back to her place.
Upon hearing that, and having a good idea what was going on in her
daughter's head, after a quick confab with Magatrix, Pam requested that
after they drop all the other girls off, Nikki have the driver make a
slight detour and drop her and Maggie off as well.

	A somewhat done-in Pam Gerlach yawned and then sought clarification
as the limo pulled up in front of her house.  "So, tell me again.  What, if
anything, did we all decide to do tomorrow?  Or, if you want to get
technical about it, later today?  Are the two of you coming over here
tomorrow, or are Maggie and I supposed to come over to your place?"

	"Tell you what, Mom, how 'bout we come over here.  But, just so you
know, don't expect to see us until sometime late in the afternoon."

	"Oh!" Magatrix brusquely quipped.  "So, I take it the two of you
plan to be up for a little while yet?

	"Oh, yeah!  Most definitely!"

	"What are you going to do?"  It was Magatrix again.  "Give that
adorable little lover-girl of yours a hands-on demonstration of how all
those nifty new attributes of hers work?"

	"That's pretty much the plan," Nikki impishly replied.


*****


	Aware that Mrs. G would probably not want to hear all the gory
details, Magatrix waited until she was busy doing something or other
elsewhere in the house before inquiring, "So, tell me, John, did you enjoy
your stint as a girl last night?"

	"Oh, yeah!  I must say, I certainly did, at that."

	"What about the sex?  Did you enjoy that as well?"

	Responding as if he was somewhat reluctant to make such an ego
affronting admittance, John sheepishly replied, "Oh, yeah...  The sex was
great!"

	"Okay!  So, tell me, Nikki, as a girl, is John as much of a
nymphomaniac as you are?"

	"Definitely!  Maybe, even more so!"

	"Oh, he is, is he?  Okay!  That brings me to my next question.
John, now that you've had a little taste - pardon the pun - of what it's
like to be a woman, what would you say were I to offer you a way to become
one on, shall we say, an elective, part-time basis, you know, so that the
two of you could spice up your love-life by occasionally engaging in a
lesbian tete-a-tete with one another?"

	"You mean you could actually do something like that for the two of
us?"

	"I sure could.  The question is, would you like me to?"

	"Yes!" John replied with unbridled enthusiasm.  Then, upon the
realization that he had spoken without consulting with his bride-to-be in
order to ascertain her feelings on the matter, John more sedately
continued, "Yes, as long as Nikki is...  Damn!  What's the word I'm looking
for?  Oh, I know!  The word's amenable!  Yes!  As long as Nikki is
amenable, I think it would be kind of neat to be able to become a girl
whenever I wanted to.  So, what do say, kiddo?  Should we take Maggie up on
this most generous offer of hers?"

	Giddy with the excitement of it all, Nikki playfully responded,
"Sure!  I'd love it, just as long as you think you can handle the demanding
task of being my lesbian lover."

	"Oh... never you fear on that account," John energetically teased
back.  "The real question should be, can you measure up to the arduous task
of being my lesbian lover..."


*****


	That evening at the dinner table, Maggie made pretty much the same
sort of offer concerning John's bachelor party as she had for Nicole's
bachelorette party.  Mrs. G was the first to decline, intimating that she
had no interest in gaining first hand knowledge of what it was like to be a
man.  Mr. G followed suit.  However, in doing so, he asked Maggie if she
might be able to see her way clear to turning both he and his wife into a
twenty-something-year-old couple, so that they could enjoy an evening out
together, and relive old memories.

	Saying that she would be more than happy to accede to Mr. G's
proposal, Magatrix requested that the Gerlachs remove their wedding rings
and give them to her.  They did, and a moment after receiving them, Maggie
handed them back.  She then proceeded to inform the couple that their rings
now possessed the magical potential to regress their ages on a temporary
basis, adding that they were to be used judiciously, suggesting that one
evening a week, or two weekends a month, might be the best way to go.

	To John's surprise, Nikki also declined, saying that while there
was a part of her that would really like to attend, there was another part
of her that did not want to intrude on her fiancée's fun.  Then, to
reinforce her decision, Nikki continued to add that she still had a lot of
things to do before the wedding, and not a whole lot of time in which to do
them.  Without being specific, she implied that she would use the night to
good advantage by attending to things that needed to be attended to.

	Though John was a tad bit dismayed to hear he would be without the
pleasure of Nikki's company on the night of his bachelor party, he didn't
press the issue.  Though he might wish it otherwise, he knew that the love
of his life had valid reasons for not attending.  Sitting there at the
table, he silently vowed to himself that he would do whatever was necessary
to respect those reasons.

	"Okay..." John replied with a degree of resignation clearly
conveyed in the subtle inflections of his voice.  "I guess that leaves just
you and me, Maggie."

	"Sorry, sport!" Magatrix quickly replied.  "No can do.  Look, as
much as I'd like to attend, I'm afraid that I won't be able to."

	"Oh!  That's right!  I plum forgot!  You'd lose your powers if you
change back into a man, wouldn't you?"

	"That's true.  However, I wouldn't actually have to change back
into a man to attend your bachelor party.  Were I planning on attending,
all I would have to do is to use my magic abilities to, I guess you could
say, masquerade as a man, you know, rather than to actually change myself
into one."

	"You can do that?" a bemused Mr. G inquired.  "You can actually
make yourself appear to others as a man, while still remaining a woman?"

	"Yes.  Actually, it's a pretty simple thing for me to accomplish.
All I have to do is finagle around with my aura a little, and whalla, I'm
wrapped in an illusion that makes me appear to all the world to be a man,"
Magatrix said, as she momentarily took on the appearance of a rather rakish
and ruggedly debonair young gentleman.

	"Wow!" John exclaimed.  "Now, that's a neat little trick, if ever
there was one!  So, if I may be so bold as to ask, how come you're not
planning on coming to my last hurrah as a single guy?"

	Countering, Maggie said, "Well, before I answer your question as to
why I won't be attending your bachelor party, let's get something straight
here.  Though the legalities of the law might tend to disagree with me, as
far as I'm concerned, you are anything but a single guy, John.  That's to
say that starting that first night when I turned Mike here into Nikki, the
two of you became a couple committed to one another.  In other words, in my
mind the two of you are as married now as you will be after next Saturday.
Or, to put that another way, I look upon your upcoming marriage ceremony as
nothing more than a public declaration of what already exists.

	"Now, as to why I won't be attending your bachelor party, I thought
it would be nice were I to give Nikki a hand doing whatever it is she has
to do..."


*****


	Contrary to what Nicole and Maggie had told John, they both had
full intentions of attending his bachelor party.  However, they would do so
in a most unusual and innovative manner.

	Several weeks earlier, acting on a suggestion made by Magatrix
during one of their numerous phone conversations, Nicole had
surreptitiously gotten in touch with John's younger brother, Nathan, and
informed him that she could arrange for a stripper to pop in on the night
of the bachelor party.  What Nikki left unsaid in the conversation she had
with Nat was that she had every intention of being that stripper.

	On the night of the party, prior to leaving Nicole's townhouse,
Magatrix employed her magic to change herself into a statuesque brunette
and Nikki into an exotically alluring and generously endowed blonde
Eurasian beauty, who was attired in a reasonable facsimile of the local
constabulary.

	"John!" his younger brother, Nathan, quizzically intoned as he led
what appeared to be a uniformed policewoman into his apartment's living
room.  "Officer Miller here says that she needs to see you on a matter of
some urgency."

	The high-heeled black boots that Officer Miller was wearing should
have been a dead give away.  John, owing to his befuddlement as to why a
policewoman was even asking for him, did not at first pick up on that
rather blatant inaccuracy.  Neither did he notice that a very striking
young woman, decked out in some rather eye-catching causal attire and
carrying a rather large boom box in her right hand, had entered his
brother's apartment on the heels of the uniformed officer.

	"John Larsen," playing the part of the policewoman to the hilt,
Nikki said officiously, "you have the right to become aroused."

	As her friend did so, Magatrix pressed the boom box's 'Play'
button, and Nikki seductively launched into her well rehearsed routine.

	Her hat went first, followed shortly thereafter by her very
realistic looking combination gun and utility belt.  Next came her rip-away
shirt, which was followed up by the erotically artsy shedding of her
rip-away pants.

	Nikki had done her homework.  Brazenly decked out in a glistening,
midnight blue satin thong and bra set, she seductively gyrated in perfect
syncopation to the suggestive music that blared out of the boom box that
her companion slash chaperon had dutifully placed on the floor before where
she stood amongst the gawking and gearing onlookers.

	Moving in for the kill, Nikki lowered herself ever so seductively
into her lover's lap.  Pelvic thrust followed pelvic thrust in a lustfully
charged vertical interpretation of a horizontal desire.  Concurrent with
that maneuver, Nikki, cradling those substantial mammaries of hers in own
her hands, began to tantalizingly rub them all about John's chest.  A
moment or so after that, Nikki very adroitly exchanged John's hands for
hers.  Then, having freed up her hands, she reached out and drew John's
face down unto those truly magnificent mounds of hers.

	Needless to say, though he both hid and handled it well, Nikki was
well aware of the fact that John was thoroughly embarrassed by the whole
situation.  On one hand, he knew that his friends harbored certain
expectations.  On the other, he did not want to do anything that would even
come close to threatening Nikki's faith in him.

	John was well aware of the fact that Nikki would grant him a
certain measure of understanding, given the circumstances.  But, he also
knew that as understanding as she might be, her understanding had its
limits.  Trouble was, John was working in the dark, in that he was not at
all sure what those limits of hers might be.

	While in the midst of that ever so provocative lap dance of hers,
Nikki intuitively sensed that John was in real quandary as to how he should
proceed.  Taking pity on him, she placed her month up against his ear and
whispered, "John, it's me, Nikki.  And, just so you know, that's Maggie
over there with the ghetto blaster."

	John hazarded a glance over to where the brunette was standing.
She, in turn, raised her hand in a little wave of recognition.

	"What do you say, lover?" Nikki continued on.  "How 'bout you and I
give these sex crazed friends of ours something to write home about?"

	As relief washed over him, John raised a question.  "Are you sure
about this?"

	"Sure, I'm sure.  Let's put on a real show for 'em."

	"Okay..." John whispered, as he deftly slipped his hand under the
waistband of the scandalously skimpy thong Nicole was wearing.  "But,
remember dear, you did ask for it."


*****


	"Damn!" Magatrix laughingly scoffed, as the three sat in a booth in
an all night diner waiting for their waitress to bring them the food they
had ordered.  "For a while there, I almost thought that the two of you were
going to do it right there in front of everybody."

	"Yeah..." John replied.  "I guess we were going at it pretty hot
and heavy for a while there, weren't we?"

	"Oh, yeah!  Take my word for it.  You sure as hell were."

	"Oh, shit!" Nikki frantically interjected.  "I plum forgot about
the camcorder your bother had going!  Damn it all to hell and back!  He had
to have caught the whole friggin' thing on tape!"

	"Not to worry."  Maggie managed to get a word in edgewise.  "While
he caught all the preliminary stuff on tape, you know, in so far as your
performance as a stripper is concerned, when it came to all that heavy
handed foreplay that so engrossed the two of you, trust me.  You haven't a
thing to worry about."

	Encouraged, Nikki sought clarification, "Are you saying that you
made sure that all that crass and carnal stuff we did didn't get taped?"

	"That's exactly what I'm saying."

	"Oh!" John interjected.  "So, what did you do?  Use your magic to
stop Nat's camcorder?"

	"No.  I simply walked over and pulled the plug out the wall
socket..."


*****


	John and Nicole's wedding was pure enchantment.

	Though highly skeptical, the members of the bridal party followed
the instructions given them, in that they were all to arrive at the park
that morning three hours prior to the announced time of the wedding itself,
dressed in the casual attire that more befitted a picnic than a wedding.
As soon as they put in an appearance, Mrs. G enlisted their help.  The
ushers she put to work setting up the chairs, while the bridesmaids, along
with Nicole, were assigned other tasks.  John, along with his brother,
Nathan, worked with Nicole's father, putting together the prefabricated
sections of the two trellises that Mr. G had built in his garage.  Once
constructed, Magatrix, with a theatrical flourish of her hand and a
Samantha Stevens like wriggle of her nose, completed the job by
instantaneously decorating the pair of trellises with a dazzling array of
floral wonderment.

	Though it departed from excepted convention, the ceremonies began
in earnest when John and his best man and younger brother, Nat, emerged
from the more elongated, tunnel like trellis and made their way down the
aisle which bisected the gallery of expectant well-wishers.  Having been
seen entering the trellis wearing slacks and casual shirts, the onlookers
were astonished when the brothers exited the concealment afforded by the
flower adorned entrance portal dapperly dressed in the splendid finery of
tuxedos.  Nat's was a soft powder blue, whereas John's was of a slightly
darker hue to that which his brother wore.  In like fashion, as each of the
ushers passed through the entrance portal, the casual clothing they were
wearing magically morphed into tuxes of soft, powder blue coloration.

	Once the ushers had taken their assigned positions alongside John
and Nat, there was a brief, programmed lull in the proceedings, which
afforded Father McDuffy the opportunity to move into position beneath the
latticework arbor.  Though now fully anticipated, the sea of well-wishers
were no less astonished to see Nicole's bridesmaids enter the elongated
trellis in casual dress, only to watch them emerge in the enchanting,
fairy-like elegance of matching pastel pink gowns.  Magatrix, as Nikki's
maid of honor, was similar attired, save that her gown was of a slightly
darker tint than that of the bridesmaids.

	Then, seemingly out of the air itself, the opening strands of the
wedding march gently wafted.  Nicole, on the arm of her father, could be
seen entering the trellis wearing a halter-top and a pair of well-worn
designer jeans.  While Mr. G exited wearing a carbon copy of the tuxedo
that the ushers had been fitted out with, it was his daughter's reemergence
that caused the onlookers to gasp and gape.

	Nicole, ensconced as she was in the simplistic elegance of a
gleaming white satin wedding gown, was nothing less than beauty
personified.  If her bridesmaids invoked images of the fairy-folk, Nicole
had to be accounted as their uncontested queen.

	With a huge, shit-eating grin spreading almost beatifically across
his face, John was rendered awestruck as he watched his bride-to-be ever so
gracefully advance toward him.  Without any equivocation whatsoever, he
knew himself to be luckiest and most fortunate man in the world.  Nikki was
his love and his life.  Magatrix, he knew, had been right all along.  The
two of them were indeed soulmates.  In some inexplicable way, John was
cognizant of the fact that they were tethered, one to the other, within the
intricate weave of the Firmament itself.  As far as John was concerned,
even though it took Magatrix's magical intervention to make it possible,
their union had been preordained by the Almighty.

	Oddly enough, Nicole's mind joyously mirrored her lover's
sentiments.  Like John, she deemed herself to be the luckiest and most
fortunate person alive.


*****


	"John," Magatrix softly intoned while the two them were taking a
turn about the concrete slab that had been designated as the dance floor,
"do you remember the other day when I asked to see your new in-laws'
wedding rings?"

	"You mean, when you did whatever you did to them to make it so
Nikki's Mom and Dad could make themselves younger?"

	"Yes.  That's it.  That's exactly what I'm referring to.  Well,
just so you know, the other night, when you guys were showing me your
wedding bands, I took it upon myself to invest yours with the magical
wherewithal that will allow you the ability to become a girl on an
elective, part-time basis."

	"Wow!  That's great!  I really appreciate that, Maggie.  I really,
really do.  And, I know that when I tell Nikki, she will as well.  I mean,
I don't know how we can ever thank you enough for what you've done for us.
I mean, Nikki and I owe you everything."

	"Think nothing of it, John.  It was my pleasure.  I'm just glad I
was able to do it for the two of you.  Besides, I got something out of it
as well."

	"Yeah!  Right!" a somewhat perplexed John dismissively scoffed.
"And, what - pray tell! - did you get out it?"

	"Well, actually, now that I think about it, I got a couple of
things out of it.  First off, I got the pleasure of making two people that
I've come to really, really like, very, very happy.  Then, as an extra
added bonus on top of that, I ended up making two new friends that, I think
it's fair to say, have become very dear to me."

	"You really mean that, don't you?"

	"Yes, John, I really do.  The truth is, I've come to think of the
two of you as the brother and sister I never had.  I mean, you guys have
gone out of your way and then some to make me feel like family, and that's
something I really appreciate..."


*****


	About a half-hour later, Magatrix sidled up alongside of Nikki and,
having excused herself for interrupting the conversation that was taking
place, politely inquired, "Have you got a sec, Nicole?  I really need to
talk to you about Jenny."

	Confused, having not picked up on her maid of honor's cleverly
veiled inference, Nikki quizzically replied, "Jenny?  Jenny who?"

	"Your out of town girlfriend, Jenny, that's who!  You know, Jenny!
As in the Jenny who attended your bachelorette party, but who regrettably
couldn't be here today due to a prior commitment."

	"Oh!"  Nikki had to laugh at her own stupidity.  "You mean that
Jenny?"

	"Yes!  That's the Jenny I'm referring to."

	Returning her attention to the group of women she had been talking
to, Nikki pleasantly asked, "Would you ladies please excuse me?  It seems
that Maggie has something that she needs to tell me about a mutual friend
of ours, who regrettably, couldn't be here today..."

	A minute or so later, having moved out of earshot from those
milling in and about the pavilion, Nikki began the conversation by
inquiring, "Okay!  So, tell me.  What's up?  Does this really have
something to do with Jenny, or was that just a ploy on your part to get me
off all by myself like this?"

	"Oh, never you fear, Nicole.  What I need to talk to you about has
everything to do with our friend, Jenny.  First off, let's start off by
saying that while she couldn't attend your wedding in person, you'd best
believe that she was here in spirit."

	"John told you that?"

	"No...  Not in so many words, he didn't...  However, I can assure
you that he's as eager as you are for another lesbian tete-a-tete."

	"Really?"

	"Oh, yeah!  Take my word for it.  He most certainly is."

	"So, when are you going to do whatever you have to do to make it
possible for John to be able to turn himself back into Jenny and vice
versa?"

	"I already have."

	"Since when?" Nikki dubiously demanded.

	"Since the other night, when I asked to see your wedding bands."

	"You're shitting me, right?"

	"No, Nicole.  I'm not."

	"Okay!  So, how's it work?  What, exactly, does John have to do to
turn himself into a girl?"

	"Not much, really.  Basically, all he has to do is to formulate a
conscious request in his mind to become a woman, and - 'Shazam!' - he is
one.  And, the same holds true for when he wants to change back, save that
while he gets to pick and choose what kind of woman he wants to become, you
know, in so far as his physical attributes and attire are concerned, when
it comes to changing back, it's pretty much a case of 'What you see, is
what you get'."

	"Wow!  That's pretty nifty!  So, tell me.  Just how long can he
remain a woman?  I mean, is he operating under the same sort of time
constraints that my parents are?"

	"Heavens, no!  Look, Nicole, just between you me, I placed those
time constraints on your parents' rings so that they wouldn't get carried
away.  But anyhow, getting back to the issue at hand, should that new hubby
of yours wish to turn himself into a woman and remain one for the rest of
his life, the way I've got that ring of his, shall we say, magically
programmed, he could do so.  However, knowing John the way I do, I know
that he would never do something such as that.  Trust me.  Even though he
might enjoy short and even frequent stints as a girl, John likes being a
man far too much to ever want to be a woman for any extended period of
time.

	"Oh!  Now that I'm thinking about it, there's something I neglected
to tell your hubby concerning this business about his newfound ability to
change himself into an anatomical correct member of the fairer sex.

	"Look!  While it will be nowhere as near as all encompassing as it
was with you, when it comes to stuff like his driver's license, passport,
credit cards, and other such sundry shit, John needn't worry about it.  In
other words, the way I've got the game rigged, it'll all take care of
itself.  Plus, should anyone, such as a Customs Agent or even a cop, get a
wild hair up their ass and decide to run a background check on John when
he's in his Jenny motif, rest assured, the ring's inherent magical
subroutines will kick in and take care of everything."

	"Damn, girl!" Nikki chuckled.  "You've pretty much thought of
everything, haven't you?  I mean, you've got this girl-shit covered six
ways from Sunday!"

	"Watch it there, Nicole!" Magatrix, with tongue firmly implanted in
cheek, sarcastically admonished.  "That latent maleness of yours is
starting to show."

	"Yeah...  I guess it is at that," Nikki had to giggle.  "I promise
that I'll watch myself from here on out."

	"See that you do.  Plus, even though it is your wedding, and you're
not going to be driving anytime soon, you might want to hold off on the
champagne..."

	Then, just about the time the two of them were in the process of
wrapping up their conversation, Magatrix chided herself, "Damn!  I almost
forgot to tell you about the other half of yours and John's wedding
present!"

	"You mean to tell me that you did something else on top of
everything else you've already done for us?"  Nikki was incredulous.

	"Yes.  Yes, I did.  You see, Nicole, when I finagled with John's
ring, you know, to allow him to become your lesbian lover every now and
again, I also added a little extra feature to yours."

	"You did!  What?  What did you do it?" Nikki eagerly inquired of
her friend.

	"Well... let's just say that your ring more or less dovetails with
your husband's, in that it gives you the ability to help him explore the
full gambit of what it's like to be a woman, sexually speaking that is."

	"Wait a second!  Are you saying that I can use my ring to turn
myself back into the man I used to be?"

	"No...  But, you're close.  You see, Nikki, while your ring won't
change you back into the guy you once where, it will allow you to become,
shall we say, a shemale, in that it will take that girlish inny of yours
and turn it into a mannish outty, while leaving the rest of your body as it
is now.  That means, whenever the mood strikes you, you now have the
ability, via that ring of yours, to reverse roles and become the humper,
rather than the humpie.

	"However, I should make mention of the fact that in order for you
to use your ring, John will have had to have used his.  In other words,
Nikki, the only time you can turn yourself into a bona fide, penis-toting
shemale, is when your hubby is operating as a girl.

	"Oh, and while we're on the subject, were I you, I would hold off
on the shemale shit for a good six months.  Trust me.  John will have
enough on his plate just dealing with the lesbian business for a while.

	"Always remember, Nicole, a man's ego is a fragile thing at best."


*****


	Around three that afternoon, Nikki and John bid their well wishers
a gracious good-bye, and got on the road.  Around five, they checked into a
motel.  Dinner followed shortly thereafter, and then it was back to the
room for an evening chock full of sexual intimacy.  Around ten, having
officially consummated their marriage twice already that evening, John, who
was champing at the bit to once again experience the sexual aspects of what
is was like to be a woman, asked Nikki if she would be adverse to his
changing himself into Jenny.  Nicole, who had been hoping and praying for
that very thing, eagerly encouraged her hubby to do just that.

	The next morning they awoke early, showered together, packed up
their belongings and got back on the road.  Around eight, after a good two
hours of driving, they stopped for breakfast.

	Nicole impishly inquired as she took a sip of the coffee that their
waitress had just poured, "So, I take it that those stiletto heeled
demi-boots that you decided to deck yourself out in this morning aren't
giving you any trouble driving in, are they?"

	"No," Jenny conspiratorially replied.  "Surprisingly, they're not.
Truth is, I forgot I even had them on until you just now mentioned it."

	"See!  I told you that the way Maggie had this magic of hers
rigged, you'd take to being a girl the way a duck takes to water."

	"Yeah...  I guess you kind of sort of did, at that," Jen, with a
seductive little giggle infesting her voice, was quick to acknowledge the
truth of her lover's assertion.

	"I'll bet that you're not even bothered by the fact that you're
wearing a bra."

	"No!"  Jenny had to laugh.  "You're right!  It doesn't phase me in
the least little bit."

	"Good!  I'm glad to here that.  However, I do have a question."

	"Sure..." Jen urged.  "Shoot!"

	"Since we will be checking in at our hotel later this morning,
when, exactly, do you plan on changing back into my husband again?"

	"Well..." Jen's rebuttal was couched in a teasingly thoughtful
manner.  "If it's all the same to you, sweetheart, I was kind of planning
to do that round about the time we were pulling into our hotel's parking
lot..."


*****


	They spent two nights in the Poconos.  Then, early that Tuesday's
morning, they climbed back into their rental car, and drove to Niagara
Falls.  Crossing over to the Canadian side, they checked into their hotel,
and spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that week playing tourist, seeing
the sites and thoroughly enjoying their time together.  Saturday, they
arose early, crossed back into the States, and headed straight away to the
airport.  Dropping off their rental car, the two of them checked in with
their airline, received their boarding passes, and headed off to grab a
quick breakfast before boarding the plane that would fly them out for an
idyllic week's stay on the Island of Bermuda.

	"Shit!" Jen fumed as she divested herself of the skimpy, though
nonetheless stylish thong bikini she had conjured up for herself to wear to
the beach that morning.

	"What's wrong?" Nikki called out from the other room.  "Is there a
problem?"

	"I forgot!"

	"Forgot what?"

	"I plum forgot all about the tan-line bullcrap!"

	"Oh, shit!" Nikki, forming a picture in her mind of her husband's
body emblazoned with the telltale tan-lines that a bikini top would no
doubt leave, distressingly replied.  "Sorry!  I forgot all about that as
well.  So, I guess we're just going to have to forego our lesbian beach
outings from here on out, darling."

	With regret clearly carried in her rebuttal, Jen was forced to
agree with her wife, "Yeah, as much as I hate to, I guess we will, at
that..."

	The next morning, having gotten out of bed first in order to
relieve himself, an astonished John called out to his wife, "Look, hon!  No
tan lines!"

	"Wow!" Nikki gleefully exclaimed.  "It looks as if we have one more
thing to thank Maggie for!"


*****


	Initially, John spent about fifty percent of his time away from
work as Jenny.  However, once the novelty of it all wore off, John reduced
the time he spent as a she to average out at somewhere around forty percent
per week.

	As for Nikki, long before she ever used her ring to gain the
necessary wherewithal which would enable her to artfully deflower that
lesbian lover-girl of hers, she became increasingly eager to experience
what it would be like to actually have male genitalia again.  Even before
the honeymoon was over, Nikki's curiosity got the better of her, and she
begun to clandestinely experiment with the shemale business.

	The first time Nikki triggered her ring's resident magical
potential was during the second week of their honeymoon.  John, operating
as the exquisitely fetching Jen, and his new bride, Nikki, were out on a
two-tank boat dive.  Both were wearing full body Lycra dive-skins over
their sinfully skimpy bikinis, and because they were, Nikki felt fairly
confident that Jen would take no notice of the telltale bulge a penis might
make.

	Nikki's assumption was indeed correct.  When Nicole triggered the
magic at a depth of around forty feet on their first dive, Jen remained
completely oblivious to the fact that her wife then possessed the necessary
apparatus that could, with a decisive pelvic thrust, negate her claim on
virginity for all time.  Jenny was far too preoccupied taking a picture of
a damselfish that was bound and determined to defend its part of the reef.
Trouble was, Nikki had failed to take into account just how she herself
would react to having a penis once again.  Though it was flaccid initially,
Nikki's penis did not remain limp long.  No sooner had it appeared, it
began to engorge blood like the horny-assed glutton it was.  Then, to make
matters worse, that very manly-attuned libido of hers kicked in, and
dutifully assumed the role of head cheerleader, shamelessly egging her
penis on with the passing of each and every second.

	To say that Nikki found herself hard pressed would have been the
grossest of understatements.  There she was, forty feet below the surface,
horny as hell, all primed and ready for some crass carnal action.  She was
also sucking air out of her cylinder like a neophyte diver, and wanting
nothing more than to reach down and jerk herself off, when Jen all of a
sudden turns about, only to signal Nicole that there's a shark somewhere
behind and below her.

	'Damn!' Nikki thought to herself as she began to slowly turn about
to better appraise the situation.  'Please, God, let it be a nurse shark!'

	Fortunately for Nicole, it was a nurse shark, albeit a rather large
one at that.  Jen, seizing the opportunity presented to her, quickly
readjusted her camera's lens settings, and began snapping a series of
pictures, many of which not only captured both Nikki and the nurse shark,
but also upon careful scrutiny with a magnifying glass, clearly captured
the massive bulge of Nikki's blood engorged member.

	Though it greatly detracted from Nikki's enjoyment of the dive,
using ever ounce of will power available to her, she managed to get a
handle on her sense of raging horniness and thereby quash it.  By doing so,
her penis responded in kind by returning to its normal flaccid state.
Whereupon, she was finally able to invoke the magical potential invested in
her wedding band in order to regain her feminine genitalia, and so was able
to exit the water with the same sexual attributes with which she had
entered it.

	While they and every other diver on the boat jostled about, moving
their regulators and buoyancy compensators from spent cylinders to fresh
ones, Jen leaned over and asked, "Are you okay?  You looked like you were
uncomfortable down there."

	"To tell you the truth, I was, a little."

	"Are you going to be able to make the next dive?"

	"Oh, yeah!  I'm perfectly fine now..."


*****


	Even though her first foray into the realm of the shemale had been
pretty much an unmitigated disaster, once they got back from their
honeymoon, Nicole continued to intermittently experiment with the rather
novel ability that her wedding band granted her.  After giving the matter a
lot of thought, she finally hit upon a way that would grant her the time
she needed to acquaint herself with her newfound ability, while keeping
John in the dark about what she was doing.

	In the evenings, when and wherever possible, Nikki and John enjoyed
watching a movie together.  More times than not, after dinner, on those
particular evenings, John would invoke his ring, and thereby change himself
into Jenny, generally attiring his herified self in something that was both
exceedingly comfortable and erotically stimulating, all wrapped up in one
neat little package.  Not to be outdone by her hubby's wanton ways, Nikki
would dash upstairs and find something as equally pleasing to her husband's
over active libido to don.

	A short while later, after they had started watching the movie,
Nikki would use the excuse that she had to go to bathroom.  Then, in an
effort to keep her ultra feminized husband occupied while she attended to
what she planned on attending to while she was up in the bathroom, Nikki
would ask Jen if she would be kind enough to pop the two of them some
popcorn.  Having laid the groundwork that would hopefully grant her an
adequate amount of time to complete her experiment, Nikki would fairly
bound up the steps.  On most occasions, even before she had reached the
upper landing, Nikki, keenly aware that she had precious little time to do
what she planned on doing, had already invoked her ring's powers, and in
doing so, had changed herself into a penis equipped shemale.  Entering the
bathroom, she had the presence of mind to lock the door behind herself, so
as to ensure that she would not be caught in the crass act of pulling her
own pud.

	There was no time for niceties.  Nicole couldn't afford to waste
time caressing and fondling that magically fitted out manly member of hers.
All she had time for was to beat her meat; clean up the mess; flush the
toilet, and shag ass back downstairs before Jenny became suspicious and
decided to investigate what was taking Nikki so long.

	Though it was infrequent at best, through the use of the
aforementioned ploy, Nicole managed to reacquaint herself with the manly
pastime of jerking, rather than rubbing, herself off.  In doing so, she
also came to the conclusion that, while she enjoyed having a penis every
now and again, she much preferred having a clitoris nestled ever so snugly
up inside of that cozy little honey pot of hers.

	One time though, falling near what might be termed the ass-end of
this shemale experimentation period of hers, Nikki got the shock of her
life.  While she was upstairs in the bathroom whacking off, the phone rang
downstairs.  Jenny, having checked the Caller-ID's LCD display, decided
that it was a call that ought to be taken.  However, she also knew that in
order to answer that particular call, she needed to do so as John, not as
Jenny.  That was easily accomplished.  Even as she picked up the receiver,
Jenny invoked her ring's magical wherewithal and changed herself back into
John.  Concurrently, given that Nikki's ring worked in direct conjunction
with her husband's, in that hers was slaved to his, her status as
functioning shemale was instantaneously revoked.  One moment Nikki was in
the frenzied throws of cajoling that blood engorged shaft of hers to spew
forth its nectar of milky white semen globules, and the next, her hand was
encircling a column of thin air.

	To say that the incident left her flabbergasted would have been the
grossest of understatements.  However, as bewildered and befuddled as she
was, Nikki found herself to be still in a state of unrequited arousal.  She
had two choices.  One, she could park that ever so succulent derriere of
hers down on the toilet seat and finger her clit until she induced a string
of orgasms; or two, she could rush downstairs and jump her husband's bones.

	Basically, it was a no-brainer.  Nikki naturally opted for the
latter.


*****


	Several weeks later, a whole month and a half ahead of Matrix's
suggested six month waiting period, Nikki was afforded the opportunity to
deflower that lesbian lover-girl of hers.  Ironically, it was Jenny herself
who inadvertently presented Nikki with the opening for which she had long
been hoping.

	Though John and Nicole did occasionally deviate from the norm,
generally speaking, their lovemaking sessions followed a mutually arrived
at progression of events.  Normally, even though John may well have spent
the evening lounging around the house as Jenny, and may well have indeed
initiated foreplay while still operating as a fully functional female, when
things got down to the nitty-gritty, he would revert to his manly form in
order to copulate as husband and wife.  However, after he did get-off as a
man, as a means to both extend and expand their lovemaking, Jenny would
almost always put in an appearance.

	Late one night, as Jenny lay savoring the joyous afterglow of
post-orgasmic bliss, she dreamily intoned, "Nikki!  Look!  I know this is
going to sound a little perverted, but I think I'd like to look into the
possibility of the two of us acquiring a dildo."

	Nikki's heart skipped a beat upon hearing Jen say something as
unexpected as that.  "Oh, you would, would you?  How come?"

	With an unmistakable degree of hesitancy clearly conveyed in the
intonations of that sultry voice of hers, Jenny squeamishly endeavor to
explain herself.  "Please, sweetheart, I don't want you getting the wrong
idea here!  But, as crazy as this might sound, here of late I've been
starting to wonder what it would feel like to have a man's 'thing' up
inside of me.  Now, you've got to understand something here!"  Jen was
almost frantic.  "The last thing in the world I want is to have sex with a
man!  You know, because, one, I'm not gay, two, I love you, and three, I
don't want to be with anybody else but you!  However, given all of that,
for some crazy-assed reason that I can't even begin to explain, I find that
I'm extremely curious to know what it would feel like to have a man's
pecker thrust up inside me!

	"Hell, Nikki, it's gotten so bad these past few weeks that I catch
myself actually fantasizing about it!"

	"You have, have you?" Nicole encouraged.

	"Yes!"  Jen was emphatic.  "As much as I hate to admit it, I have."

	Seeking clarification, Nikki prompted, "And, I guess in these
fantasies of yours, there's a man making love to you?"

	"No!" Jen was even more emphatic than she was a moment ago.  "Oddly
enough, the person who's making love to me in these fantasies of mine is
you."

	"Oh!  By me, I take it you mean the 'me' I used to be when I was a
man?"

	"No!  I mean, the you that you are now, save that instead of a
vagina, you've got a penis!  Plus, you're fitted out with all the standard
accessories!  And, that's accessories, you know, as in a set of testicles!"

	"Oh!"

	"Sick, isn't it, me, thinking up shit like that?  And, I guess you
could say that that's why I'd like to see about us getting a dildo."

	Deftly inserting her middle finger into Jen's vagina, Nikki said,
"Well, if you really want to, I guess we could go that route."

	A few minutes later, having worked that lesbian lover-girl of hers
into a sexual frenzy, Nicole lifted her mouth off of Jenny's left nipple
and impishly teased, "You know something, Jen, dear?  I've been thinking
about that dildo business of yours, and I do believe that I may have come
up with something you might like even better."  Invoking the magic that was
resident within her wedding band, Nikki skillfully repositioned herself, so
as to bring the head of that new penis of hers to rest up against the outer
lips of her lover's pussy.  With a slight forward thrust of her pelvis,
Nikki's manly member passed the event horizon of her lover's passion and so
began to proceed inwards.

	"Oh, my God!" a thoroughly ecstatic Jen gleefully clamored.  "Is
that what I think it is?"

	"Well, if you think that's my pecker shoved up inside of that satin
slick hidey hole of yours, then, I'd have to say that you're right!  And,
guess who we have to thank for it?"

	"Maggie!" Jenny managed to gasp.

	"Oh, yeah!  You nailed that one, all right!"

	Nikki, her pecker having met with resistance, emphatically intoned,
"Jen...  It's your call.  I can continue, or, if you want to, I can pull
out.  However, if you want me to continue, it's probably going to hurt like
hell when I pop your cherry."

	Taking the decision for what next occurred next fully upon herself,
Jen heaved herself upwards, impaling herself on her wife's manly shaft as
she did so.  "Nikki!" she lustfully implored through gritted teeth.
"Please!  I beg you!  Fuck me!"

	As one might expect, Nikki was more than happy to comply with her
lover-girl's wishes.


*****


	"So, tell me, Jen, dear!  What'ya think?" a curious Nikki impishly
inquired.

	"Well..." endeavoring to marshal her impressions, Jenny
thoughtfully replied, "though it hurt like hell for a good while there, all
in all, I'd have to say that it was interesting, if nothing else.  And,
before you go getting the wrong impression, I've got to tell you that I
really enjoyed feeling you inside me like that.  I mean to tell you!  That
'thingie' of yours felt so huge up inside me that I thought it was going to
split me in two!"

	"Well, I thank you for the compliment, if that is, it was a
compliment?"

	"Oh, yeah!  Never fear about that!  It was indeed a compliment."

	"So... I guess the question is, would you want me to do something
like that to you again, or should we just leave it as a one shot deal,
never to be repeated?"

	"Oh!  While I definitely enjoy it more when you go down on me and
eat me out, I've got to tell you that I want you to make love to me like
that again, and again, and again!  In other words, make no never mind about
it!  As long as you're up for it too, I'd kind of like to make that an
integral part of our love making from here on out."

	"You would?"  Nikki was both surprised and delighted.

	"Oh, yeah!  I sure as hell would."

	"So, I take it that my having a penis doesn't freak you out?"

	"No!"  Jenny chuckled.  "Not at all!  Truth is, in a kinky, quirky,
perverted sort of way, it kind of intrigues me.  Hey!  As crazy as it is
for me to be saying something like this, do you mind if I touch it?"

	"Hell, no!  I don't mind at all.  Be my guest.  Touch away!  In
other words, sweetheart, my penis is your penis..."

	Though Jenny half suspected that the act itself would be a real
turnoff, as it worked out, it was no such thing.  To Jenny's surprise,
touching Nikki's 'thingie' did not repulse her in any way, shape or form.
The truth of it is, Jenny got a real charge out of the reaction her initial
touches engendered.

	"So, I take it that you like it when I do that?"

	"Yes..." Nikki tenderly whimpered.  "I like that a lot."

	"And, this?"

	"Oh, yes..." Nikki gasped.  "I like that too."

	"How about this?"

	"Oh!  Yes!  That feels absolutely wonderful!"

	Then, acting on a mischievous impulse born out of the depravity of
her needs, Jenny did something that she never, ever thought she would do.
Lowering her head toward her lover's throbbing member, she began to
tauntingly caress its head with the tip of that very talented tongue of
hers.  A moment or so after that, Jenny selflessly upped the ante by taking
the head and a good portion of the shaft of Nicole's manhood into the
sanctum sanctorum of her mouth.


*****


	"Well, well..." Nikki managed to scoff a little later on.  "I guess
I was right after all."

	"Right about what?" Jenny felt compelled to inquire.

	"About you and your being a cocksucker.  But, before you get all
bent out shape about me calling you a cocksucker, you need to understand
something, Jen.  I wasn't using the term cocksucker as a pejorative.  On
the contrary, I was using it as a compliment, you know, to pay homage to a
truly selfless act of love.  You see, sweetums, to my way of thinking, the
term cocksucker has been terribly misused.  Instead of using it to denote a
bad man, it should be used to praise a great woman."

	"Well then," Jen laughingly replied, "when it comes to great
cocksuckers, I guess you could say that it takes one to know one."


Epilogue - Teaser


	Roughly six months after John and Nicole's wedding, a high school
chum and teammate of the former Michael Gerlach, one Harvey Albert Carlson,
all of a sudden became aware that there was something odd about one of the
numerous pictures that hung upon the walls of his law office.  Though he
couldn't put his finger on it at the time, he knew that something about the
picture was not as it should be, and that bothered him to no end.

	Harvey, though only a fair lawyer at best when in court, had an eye
for details and, though he hid it well, an anal-retentive personality,
coupled with an extremely tenacious nature.  Generally, when something
bothered him, he would stay on it until he eventually puzzled it all out
for himself.

	The picture that trouble him was a group shot of his high school's
varsity swim team gathered about their coach, who in turn was proudly
holding the championship trophy they had won during Harvey's senior year.
Over and over and over again, Harvey scanned the picture and as he did so,
was able to affix both a first and last name to each one of his teammates.
'Damn!' he thought as his gaze once again lecherously lingered on the
shapely form of one Nicole Gerlach.  'Nikki sure was a fox!  Gee, I wonder
why I never got up the nerve to ask her out...'

	That evening, after dinner, Harvey went down to his basement and,
after a few minutes of searching, managed to locate the photo album that
contained the assortment of pictures that his father took at the team party
that had been held at his parents' house prior to graduation.  The whole
swim team was there, along with their dates.  At first glance, everything
seemed to be in order.  However, the more Harvey looked at the pictures,
the more he felt that something was wrong.  In an effort to assuage his
misgivings, he proceeded to make a head count.  All sixteen of his
teammates where accounted for.  Harvey then proceeded to tally up their
dates.  Simple arithmetic told him that when it came to his buddies' dates,
there should be fifteen girls, plus the one guy who came to the party as
Nicole's date.  Trouble was, while there were fifteen guys at the party;
there were a grand total of seventeen girls there as well.

	Then, upon the realization that there was one more girl at the
party then there ought to have been, Harvey recalled something that struck
him as being really odd.  If his recollection served him right, Harvey
recalled that one of his teammates had brought a real looker to the party,
one fine piece of ass that damn near all his teammates would have gladly
given their right nut to have dated.  However, for some inexplicable reason
or another, he could not shake the notion that the lucky-assed bastard had
been none other than his teammate and fellow backstroker, Nicole Gerlach,
and that perplexed him to no end.

	Further scrutiny of the pictures tended to lend credence to the
absurd notion of his that Nicole Gerlach had indeed brought a girl as her
date to the party.  In every photo, save one, in which Nikki appeared, so
too did the fox; generally standing or sitting right next to one another.
Though Harvey could not be a hundred percent certain, owing to the way the
photos were cropped, in many of the pictures that had captured Nicole and
that stunning and extremely well built brunette, the two of them looked to
be holding hands.

	"Hey, hon!" Harvey's wife, Kate, intoned cheerfully as she entered
their living room.  "What'ya looking at?"

	"Just some pictures from my high school days." he replied somewhat
distractedly.

	"Can I see?"

	"Sure."  Harvey passed his wife the photo album, and then proceeded
to pick up the yearbook that he had also procured while scrounging around
in the basement.

	"So, I take it that you ran into one of your old swim team buddies
today?"

	"No.  Oddly enough, dear, I didn't."

	"Okay!  I'll bite."  Kate was now curious.  "So, if you didn't run
into one of your old swimming team buddies, what, may I ask, has piqued
your interest in these old pictures of yours?"

	Then, before Harvey had a chance to address his wife's question,
she continued on to say, "Wow!  Now, she's pretty..."

	"Which one?  Are you referring to the blonde or the brunette?"

	"Well... now that you mention it, I'd have to say that they're both
pretty.  But, I was talking about the blonde.  She's absolutely gorgeous."

	"Yeah, I guess she is at that, isn't she," Harvey blandly concurred
with his wife's assertion.

	"Now, this is really strange..."

	"What is, dear?"

	"I clearly remember that cute brunette being at the party, but not
the blonde.  And, given the fact that she's sitting right next to me in
several of these pictures, I sure should have."

	"Tell me, Harv, exactly which one of your swimming team buddies did
she happen to come with?"

	"What the hell are you talking about, Kate?  For your information,
that blonde was on the swimming team."

	"That's ridiculous!"

	"And, just why is that ridiculous?" Harvey demanded.

	"It's ridiculous because there weren't any girls on your swim
team."

	"Sure there was.  See!" Harvey triumphantly declared, as he turned
the yearbook about in order to let his wife see the picture that clearly
showed Nicole Gerlach amongst the other members of Holy Cross' Varsity Swim
Team.

	Taken aback by what her husband's yearbook clearly portrayed, a
thoroughly bemused and befuddled Kathleen Carlson vehemently declared,
"This can't be!  Something's drastically wrong here!"

	Feeling as if his wife may have picked up on something that he had
somehow overlooked, Harvey eagerly encouraged, "Okay.  You say that there's
something wrong with that picture.  I agree.  There is something wrong with
that picture.  Trouble is, I can't for the life of me figure out what that
something is."

	"You can't?"

	"No!  I've been trying all day to put my finger on what's wrong,
but it eludes me!"

	"Think about it, Harv!  Isn't Holy Cross an all boys college
preparatory school run by the Jesuits?"

	"Yes."

	"Okay.  So, since when did an all boys high school allow a girl on
their swim team?"


*****


	"Hello!"

	"Mark, it's me, your old pal, Harvey Carlson.  Have you got a
minute?  I've got a few questions that I was hoping you might be able to
answer for me."

	"Yeah... sure... shoot!  Anything for an old friend," Mark Peters
pleasantly replied, as he attempted to untangle the mess his daughter had
made out of the phone cord.

	"Are you still as active in the alumni association as you once
were?"

	"Yeah... why?"

	"Tell me something.  To your knowledge, has a girl ever attended
Holy Cross?"

	"No.  As far as I know, no girl has ever gone to the school."

	"Then, I take it that there wasn't a girl that graduated the same
year you and I did?"

	"No.  And, of that I'm sure.  There was no girl in our graduating
class."

	"Do you recall a Gerlach on our swimming team?"

	"I sure do.  He was one of the good guys.  And, if my memory serves
me right, he generally swam the one hundred back and the two hundred
individual medley."

	"By any chance, do you remember Gerlach's first name?"

	"Sure I do!  It was Michael, but everybody called him Mike, except
the coach who used to jokingly refer to him as Mr. Backstroke.  Hey, Harv!
Look!  As much as I'm enjoying playing this game of twenty questions of
yours, how 'bout we cut to the chase and you tell me what this all about,
okay?"

	"All right!  I can do that.  But, first, before I do that, let me
ask you one more question.  Have you got your yearbook handy?"

	"No.  But, I can get it easy enough."

	"Then, why don't you do just that."

	A minute later Mark Peters was back on the line.  "Okay, Harv.
I've got it.  Now, which page do you want me to turn to?"

	"I'll tell you in a second.  But first, before I do, I've got just
a couple more questions for you, if that's okay?"

	"Sure..." Mark replied with an exasperated sigh of resignation.
"But, I would really like to know what this all about."

	"I know you would, Mark.  And, believe me, I have every intention
of telling you what all this is about.  But, I need you to bear with me for
just a moment or two more.  Now, I know you might have to jog your memory
to come up with this, but do you recall the party we had at my parents'
house to celebrate our winning the tri-county championship in the early
spring of our senior year?"

	"Of course I do.  How could I forget that?  I mean to tell you,
Harv, that was a great party your parents threw for all of us guys."

	"By any chance, do you remember that fantastic looking brunette
that was there?"

	"Oh, yeah!  If you're referring to the one with the legs that ran
all the way up to that pert little ass of hers, I sure as hell do!"

	"By any chance, do you remember whose date she was?"

	"I most certainly do!  Unless I'm way off base here, I believe that
she was Mike Gerlach's date."

	"Well, I guess that more or less clinches it!"

	"Clinches what?" a thoroughly confused Mark quizzically inquired.

	"Have no fear.  I'll tell you in a second.  Right now, though, I
want you to open your yearbook to page ninety-two, and tell me the name of
the person who is kneeling in the front row directly in front of that
pimple-faced little twerp, Jimmy Griffin."

	"Oh!  That's easy!  That's Nicole!"

	"Nicole who?"

	"Nicole Gerlach."

	"Mark!  Didn't you just tell me that, to the best of your
knowledge, no girl has ever attended Holy Cross?"

	"Yeah... so... what's your point, Harv?"

	"Well... if it's true that no girl ever attended our high school,
then would you please tell me what a girl's doing on our swimming team?"

	"Shit!  You know something, Harv?  You're right!  There really is
something strange going on here!"

	"That's my point exactly..."