I wrote this over ten years ago. It was essentially finished, but I somehow never considered it ready for posting. Or, at least, it had gone as far as I was inspired to take it. It kinda begs for a sequel, but it's fine as it is.

It's big. It took some time to edit. Especially since I needed to change the dates so that it wouldn't be so... well... dated.

Much thanks to Terry Volkirch for test reading it way back when. She might even remember the story.

One fine day, Joe wakes up and finds that his whole life has been turned upside-down.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022:

Butch and I slept cuddled against each other last night. That's as far as it went. We were tempted to do more, but felt that we just weren't ready.

School was great today. The classes were the same, but I finally had something to say to all those annoying boys. I told them, loudly, that my boyfriend is finally back, and will be starting school next year as a Junior. Then, I pulled the pictures out of my purse and showed them off.

Ice queen, indeed.

Myra was smiling, but there was a wistful look in her eyes. I whispered to her that her time is coming. "Don't be impatient! You're still young. You have lots of time, not to mention the right plumbing."

That got a smile from her. She can now pursue a relationship without feeling that she needs to hide some deep, dark secret.

Friday, April 29, 2022:

Butch is taking over a lot of the farm chores. He's stronger than I am (in my Tiffany form), but needs to work out more if he wants to match my Joe form. He has been diligently working on the farm, and also working out with Mark.

Meanwhile, Butch and I are still sleeping together. We set up the last bedroom for him, but he never sleeps there. It's there for window dressing, really. If someone comes over, I want them to see that there is a bedroom for Joe and Jan, plus an individual bedroom for each kid.

It may seem a waste to use up six bedrooms when we could get along with four. On the other hand, I set up my personal (non-work) computer in Tiffany's room, along with all of Tiffany's clothes and personal stuff. Butch did the same with his stuff. That leaves our joint bedroom much less full of junk, and much more romantic in appearance.

By the way, I had fun setting Butch's room like a typical teen-age boy's room. He has models hanging from the ceiling, posters, and other paraphernalia.

Saturday, April 30, 2022:

Joe and Butch need to do some father and son male bonding. We decided to go fishing, then did some target practice. We both took a few shots with that same 7 mm deer rifle that had knocked me on my can last year. It felt good to be able to handle that rifle with confidence again. My Tiffany body has grown enough that I can probably handle it as Tiffany now, but that's beside the point.

Sunday, May 1, 2022:

I think we're starting to get a reputation for picking up strays over at church. Everyone welcomed Butch, of course. Since I went as Tiffany, a few people noticed that we seem to be an item. Still, when it came time to go out with the teen youth group, Butch begged off. He had to drive the boys home. Myra, John, and I had to arrange for other transportation.

Later, when John saw Butch and Mark go down to the exercise room, he decided to follow them. Not to be left out, I shifted to my Joe body and went down. We did the usual macho "see how much I can lift" stuff -- though I insisted that nobody lift enough to hurt themselves. Still, the male-type friendly competition is a good way to make the workout more fun.

Tuesday, May 3, 2022:

Butch, Mark, John, and I (Joe) decided that doing the workouts together was a good way to discipline ourselves to keep it up. Butch and Mark are already showing some improvement. It appears that our new bodies respond much better to the exercise. It's as if the body detects what is desired of it, and responds. Based on what I have learned about the technology, that is very likely true.

Meanwhile, Butch and I (Tiffany) are still sleeping together, but are still keeping our hands to ourselves. What I wouldn't give for a chance to put on my Joe body and enjoy my marital relationship with Jan.

Still, this is part of the process. Butch and I (Tiffany) need to go through a genuine courtship as we become comfortable with our new roles in our Butch and Tiffany personae.

Friday, May 6, 2022:

Butch surprised me by picking me up from school. Everyone else went home on the bus, including Myra (much to her disappointment.) He was waiting for me when I left my last class. I smiled and ran to him, and he held me in his arms and gave me a kiss. Then, we took the long way around as we walked hand in hand out of the school, past the buses, and over to his car.

We went to a nice Thai restaurant for dinner, then bought him some clothes so that he could stop borrowing mine. He did his best to imitate the impatience that I used to display before the transformation, but it's still Jan inside of that studly body. I don't think that Butch will ever become a 'bag it and drag it' artist.

Sunday, May 8, 2022:

I can't believe we keep pulling this off. Nobody is batting an eye when we tell them that Jan is off to visit family, and won't be back for a while.

This past week, I had talked Butch into practicing his music. His bigger hands make fingering the guitar a bit harder, but he is getting used to it. Also, the extra finger strength helps. We found that he, too, has a full three octaves of full-voice range. He has a wonderful resonant baritone voice, but can hit all of the tenor notes.

He sang with confidence in church today. After church was over, he dropped John, Jim, and Joshua off at home and came back for the teen group.

Monday, May 9, 2022:

It seems that Butch's little visit made quite an impression. I was never status-minded in school, even the first time. Still, my status went up a couple notches. I tell myself that it means nothing, but it still feels good.

Wednesday, June 8, 2022:

Last day of school! Yay!

What a zoo! Everyone, especially the boys, seemed to find it necessary to bring a squirt gun or two to school. The teachers, of course, take a dim view of this. A whole lot of squirt guns got confiscated, but what else could they do? There could be no three day suspensions, but a couple kids ended up having to stay after school.

Today was pretty much a sham day, anyhow. Finals are over. The only reason to go to school today is to say good bye to all our friends, and enjoy the party atmosphere.

Despite the fact that I had come to school with every intention of remaining as invisible as possible, I had managed to make lots of friends. Things didn't go according to plan, but I can't say that that's a bad thing.

Butch came to school just before lunch time, and hung out with Myra and me for the rest of the day. Then, we collected John and drove to the elementary school to pick up the two younger boys. When we got home, we packed all of our beach stuff into the big Jeep for tomorrow. I thought about taking the scuba gear, but it's not likely to fit. Once Butch gets to go back to being Jan, we'll have to go down to the local dive shop and pick up new gear.

Come to think of it, I can probably wear Jan's stuff, and Butch can probably wear my stuff. I put the gear into the Jeep.

After we got all packed up, Butch put together a picnic lunch for tomorrow and made dinner. Myra, John, and I went down to the computer lab and managed to get most of our pending work done. After dinner, we went back down and tackled the rest. We sent John up at around 8:00 because he needs his beauty sleep. Myra and I just did a quick switch and switch back to refresh ourselves. Myra built a web page while I reviewed the code, did some QA, shipped everything out, and billed it. We expect some more work in a few days, but it feels good to have everything cleared off of our plates so that we can just goof around without worrying about work.

Thursday, June 9, 2022:

With everyone pitching in to do the morning chores, it was easy to get an early start. Everyone was upbeat as we drove off to Lake Michigan. There is a shallow bay off the beaten path where the water warms up early in the year. We took the Jeep because the seasonal roads tend to be sandy and rutted. In fact, we ended up pulling a Mustang out of a deep rut. I gave the young teenager who was driving some off-road tips, but I wonder if he took them to heart.

Once we got to the beach, the kids were out in a flash. They already had their swimsuits on, so they headed straight for the water. The rest of us hung some old blankets on the doors of the Jeep to use as a makeshift changing room.

Myra changed into that same sleek one-piece that she had bought for swimming class. She had filled out since last fall, so she stretched it a bit. It's a good thing I was in my Tiffany form. I didn't need to get turned on by my foster daughter.

Not to be outdone, I put on a sleek shiny dark blue two-piece number.

Actually, being outdone has nothing to do with it. It's my mission to help Butch fully accept his male role.

John changed, and he and Myra ran off to soak up some sun for a while. I called him back and insisted that he put on some sun block. He isn't tanned yet, and getting burned on the first nice summer outing is no fun. Butch wanted some lotion, but I assured him that our new bodies are good at taking care of themselves. By the end of the day, the three of us will have good tans.

Now, it's Butch's turn. It's also payback time. I reminded him of all the times Jan had dressed me in frilly stuff, took his clothes as he shucked them off, and handed him a pair of skimpy speedos. He was uptight enough about the idea of going topless, so the speedos were just icing on the cake. Hee hee.

He balked, but I told him that the changing booth was coming down in about ten seconds. He remembered what he had done to me just after my transformation, and decided that it would be prudent to not call my bluff. Payback... hee hee hee

I hung on his arm and said, "Come on, stud; let's go get wet."

"Those guys are looking at us!"

"No, silly. They're looking at me, and thinking about what a lucky dude you are. Ya gotta love the bodies that our mysterious benefactors fitted us out with!"

I started to lead him to the water, but he got stubborn and sat in the sand about twenty feet from the waves.

I walked over to John and Myra, who were looking mighty amorous. Suspicions confirmed! "All right, you two! Break it up!"

They both jumped and looked guilty. "Come on, Myra. I need your help dragging mister grumpy pants out into the water. Then, you two can go back to playing kissy-face."

"This I gotta see," said John. "I think he's going to pull the two of you into the water."

"Together, we outweigh him," I pointed out.

Myra and I each grabbed an arm and started dragging him to the water. He dug in his heels, but Myra and I are not exactly weak.

Quick as a flash, he broke Myra's grip and, in one fluid motion, lifted me over his shoulder and into a fireman's carry. Then, just as Myra was picking herself up out of the sand, he scooped her up and ran out into the water. Soon, we were in water up to his chest, and Myra was floating. He released her and tossed me out into the deeper water. I blew out my nose as the water closed over my head. I came up sputtering. "You brat!"

We both climbed on him and tried to dunk him, but he just folded his knees, kicked off of the bottom, and swam away. Jim and Josh, of course, had to come out and join in the fun. They each begged Butch to throw them. When John came out, Myra did her best to dunk him. It didn't work.

After about an hour of horsing around, we were all hungry. Butch and I grabbed a big beach towel, the picnic basket, and the cooler.

Gotta love living near the Fresh Coast. No sharks. No jellyfish. No salt. I love the ocean, but I don't love the feeling of sat drying on my body.

Butch, Myra, and I were all starting to get nice tans. John, even with the sun block, was starting to look pink. Myra volunteered to rub more lotion on him. She tackled the job with enthusiasm.

I was looking out at the water when Butch sat down behind me and put his arms around me. I leaned back into him. Jim and Josh went back to the sand castle that they had been building when the horse play started. John and Myra were busy talking and gazing into each other's eyes. Butch and I went to the Jeep and started pulling out the diving gear. Now is as good a time as any to try things out.

I pulled out my Lycra dive suit and handed it to Butch. It was way loose, but it fit. Jan's Lycra dive suit was slightly loose, but serviceable. Similarly, my neoprene wet suit billowed out in the belly and seat on Butch, and Jan's wet suit was just slightly loose.

My BC (buoyancy compensator) vest fit Butch just fine, and Jan's fit me. The weight belts did a good job of keeping the wet suit from billowing around Butch's waist. The masks and flippers fit fine. We had already removed the prescription lenses and replaced them with the original glass.

OK, ready to go.

We checked out the tanks and regulators, then dragged them out and put them on in the chest-deep water. We checked the seal on our masks, put the regulators in our mouths, nodded at each other, and dropped under the surface. Once we were floating, we brushed the sand off our feet and pulled on the flippers.

There really isn't much to see under the Great Lakes. Just sand, rocks, and lots of zebra mussels. Cruising just off the bottom, we managed to scare up a few crayfish, and saw some bass and perch in the rocks. It's nothing like the colorful coral reefs that attract divers to places like Belize, the Cayman Islands, and the Florida Keys. We weren't there for the scenery, though. We were there to see how well our new bodies got along with our dive equipment. After about twenty minutes, we did our safety stop at a depth of ten feet, surfaced, switched to snorkels, and swam back to the beach. We agreed to hold off on any new purchase until after Butch got his Jan body back. We also agreed that we ought to pay a visit to Tiffany's house by the sea next Christmas vacation.

As we were walking out of the water, we noticed that John and Myra were looking faintly guilty.

We let John and Myra borrow the snorkeling gear and laid the rest on the tailgate. We draped the Lycra dive suits and the wet suits over the Jeep to dry off. Then, we decided to splash around a bit to freshen up before changing back into our regular clothes.

It took a while to round everyone up, get them changed, and get everything loaded. Once we got that accomplished, we grabbed a bite to eat at a local greasy spoon, and headed home.

After doing the evening chores, I dressed in the sweats that make it easy for me to transform. I hadn't used any of my Joe time today, so I decided to wear my Joe body for a while. I walked downstairs and saw John and Myra all cuddled together on the love seat. I smiled at them. "You're a good step daughter, and you'll be a great daughter in law."

The looked kind of shocked. "Who said anything about marriage?"

I pulled a chair up to the love seat so that I wouldn't have to talk to them across the room. "You have already gone past the point of no return. You either go forward and have a relationship that will enrich your lives, or you break each other's hearts. Jan and I will be here to help you pick up the pieces, and the two of you may each find someone else, but you will have to go through a lot of heartache to get there."

They both looked at me solemnly.

"You're playing with fire, but nothing good in life comes without a risk."

John asked, "What should we do?"

"Is Myra someone you can spend the rest of your life with?" I looked at Myra. "Is John someone you can spend the rest of your life with?"

They looked at each other, still holding hands. They do make a cute couple. Furthermore, they really do seem to be made for each other.

I looked at John. "Your mom and I committed a few ummm... indiscretions when we were younger. There was nobody there to yell at us, but we paid the price none the less. We struggled with our marital relationship for years because of it."

A tear leaked from my eyes as I said this. I didn't try to wipe it away or hide it. The memory still hurts. If they learn something by seeing that; if they learn something from our mistakes, they may be spared some heartache. "There are lots of traps. Some people go all gung-ho, then get scared and run away. By the time this happens, they are past the point of no return. Their attempt to avoid heartache leads, ironically, to heartache."

Are they taking this in? They're still holding hands. Good.

"Some people let hormones and passion drive them way beyond the place they are emotionally ready to go. Some of them get ripped apart forever. Some swear off relationships forever. Some become overwhelmed by guilt and never try again. Some accept that that's just the way of life, and go from loveless relationship to loveless relationship until they they have nothing left but a hollow and joyless life." I paused for a second to think. "Your mother and I did our best to pick up the pieces. I made an honest woman out of her, as the saying goes. We made our commitments, kept them, started raising a family, and tried to tend our marriage like a garden. Through all the rocks and trials, our love grew deeper. Our physical intimacy left much to be desired, though."

The best gift that I can give my children right now is to open up to them -- no matter how painful it is to me. I had to put my head in my hands and sob for a few minutes before I could go on.

"A marriage has several components, and all of them are necessary. The romantic love that you feel at first is just one piece, and it comes and goes. For some, it goes away and never comes back."

I was recovering, but my cheeks were still tear-stained.

"Sex is more important than many will admit, but it is by no means sufficient."

I leaned forward and told them earnestly, "You must have a true unselfish love -- a sincere caring for each other. Furthermore, you have to be friends that can discuss everything without holding anything back. That means that you must never give each other a reason to hold back."

They were still holding hands. John was looking distinctly uncomfortable, though.

"John, are you sunburned?" He definitely is showing some red. "Well, John, today is your lucky day! You get to get rid of that nasty sunburn, and you get to start practicing at being Myra's friend." I put my hands on his head and visualized his girl form. It's about time some of my other loved ones got to enjoy the technology.

He looked relieved, then startled. "Myra, meet your new best girlfriend Clarisse"

John jumped up and said in his new higher voice, "What did you do that for?"

"I cured your sunburn, didn't I?" I looked at Myra. "Your job right now is to go through Tiffany's old clothes and find some that fit Clarisse here. Make sure you dress her up really pretty!" Clarisse just scowled.

"Now, don't get all grumpy on me. How do you think I felt when I woke up in a little girl's body? I didn't know what was going to happen to my marriage. At least you have the advantage of knowing that you'll be shifting back before school starts next fall. Meanwhile, enjoy your new body and work hard at being Myra's best girlfriend."

Clarisse still looked pensive. "How long do I have to stay like this?"

"That depends on you. You will have to go through at least one period. Beyond that, you will be able to shift into your improved John body once you have become comfortable with your new Clarisse identity."

She made a face. "P-period?"

I just snickered. "It's something that all men should experience."

I shifted to my Tiffany body.

"Don't look so morose! I, for one, love having an extra identity!"

I shifted back.

"My relationship with your mother was still suffering greatly when I was first transformed. We became better 'best friends' when I was stuck as Tiffany. Now that I can be Joe whenever I want, the sex is better than it has ever been. Whether you know it or not, our mysterious benefactors and I have just given you a great gift."

I got up, carried the chair back to its place, and shifted to my Tiffany body. I looked over at Myra. "Go get your girlfriend out of those boy's clothes."

* * * * *
Interlude

Alerted by the level of emotion from the three players, Snrxl and Vrall watched the drama unfold. They saw Joe prepare to shift John to his new body, but did nothing to stop him. Though he wasn't explicitly instructed to do this, Snrxl judged that it was a good idea. Also, he had chosen Joe for his wisdom and compassion. He's not about to undermine a leader that is doing so well.

* * * * *

Butch and I (Tiffany) made our rounds as usual. When we got to Clarisse's room, we found her morosely sitting on her bed, dressed in the same silky flowing nightie that Jan had once foisted upon me. I shifted to my Joe body and walked into the room. I scooped her up and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Butch turned the covers back, and I laid her gently in the bed. "Good night, Princess."

Then we each prayed over her. She tried to hide it, but we both saw her smile sleepily and burrow down into the pillow.

Finally, everyone was settled. I shifted back to my Tiffany body and slipped into a light silky nightie. It had the desired effect on Butch.

"That was quite an impassioned speech that you delivered."

"It was impassioned because it was a lesson hard learned. I'm so glad that we're getting our stuff together now."

I wish I could shift him to his new Jan form so that Joe and Jan could enjoy their marital relationship tonight. I probably could do it, of course, but it wouldn't be the right thing to do. Our mysterious benefactors know more about this business than I do, and they want Butch to be stuck as Butch until he fully becomes the man that he should be.

I didn't mention this to him, of course. He isn't going to embrace his new identity if I keep reminding him of his old identity.

He surprised me by wrapping his arms tightly around me and kissing me deeply. It caught me by surprise, but I soon surrendered to it. Yep, there are a few parts of my Tiffany identity that I need to embrace, too.

We bid each other good night, and I snuggled back into his embrace. I fell asleep with his warm breath on my hair and his arms circling protectively around my torso.

Friday, June 10, 2022:

I woke up with Butch's arms still circling protectively around me. He generally requires two more hours of sleep than I do, so I carefully unwrapped myself so that I could slip away. Suddenly, his arms tightened around me and he nibbled my neck.

"Where ya going, foxy lady?" He has never called me that before. I was nervous and excited at the same time.

I won't go into details. Suffice it to say that Butch and Tiffany are both still virgins, but only just barely. We were both nervous at first, but hardly inexperienced. He turned out to be a skillful lover. I guess he knows what girls want. In the end, we were both quite satisfied, and just laid in each other's arms for a while.

I shifted and shifted back while Butch was showering. That gave me time to get dressed and start cooking breakfast.

The kids started wandering down just as I was flipping the first batch of pancakes. Myra and Clarisse quickly set the table, and sat down just in time to get the first batch of pancakes. The other kids came down and thought that that just wasn't fair, but I pointed out that Myra and Clarisse were the first ones here, and that they set the table. Jim whined less, so he got pancake number three out of that batch.

Butch came down just in time for the next batch. I gave him two and gave the third to Josh. Myra looked suspiciously at the big smiles that Butch and I were wearing. She shook her finger at us and we just smiled wider. After breakfast, Butch and I went out to do chores while everyone else went upstairs to get dressed. I was going to do the morning chores in my Joe form, but I decided that Butch needs to see me more in my Tiffany form.

I have another reason to want to use my Joe form, of course. I spend a three hour stint as Joe at least once every three weeks so that I won't have to experience a period. Doing it once every two weeks should keep me well away from ovulation. Once a week is even safer. In other words, spending a lot of three hour stints as Joe is a good form of birth control. As close as we came this morning, I am going to make doubly sure that I'm not fertile. I'm sure Butch is fertile.

Butch was pitching some hay to the goats when I finished up my part of the chores and walked in. I heard giggling coming from upstairs, so I went up there to see what was going on. The giggling was coming from Clarisse's room. "Come on, Clarisse! If Tiffany can wear it, you can wear it!"

Clarisse was wearing white ruffled panties, a training bra, and knee socks. Myra was holding that white ruffled dress that Jan had forced me to wear to church one Sunday last year.

"Oh, Sweetie! You are even cuter than I thought!" Clarisse just scowled at me. "Come on, missy, listen to your best girlfriend. She's trying to help you out."

I left them and went down to the computer room. I usually have time to think quietly just after waking up. Today, things went differently -- not that I'm complaining. Still, I wonder why I needed as much sleep as I did.

Then, it occurred to me. I had received some dream training last night. Since my mind is working when that happens, it doesn't count as sleep. I needed a good six hours of down-time because of all that happened yesterday, and the dream training brought that up to a solid eight hours.

Last night, the voice told me that it's time for me to learn to use my implant -- whatever that is. It told me that I would have to open myself up to communications during the day.

Just then, the voice came. "Tiffany, before we can start, I need permission to access your implant."

I was a bit confused, but I said, "OK, you have permission to access my implant."

Immediately, I was sitting in a strange room looking at a man who seemed young and old simultaneously. At the same time, I was still sitting in the computer room.

"Close your eyes and things will be less confusing."

And thus started my lessons.

It turns out that the implant isn't something that can be seen in an x-ray. Rather, it is a complex of that pattern/potential stuff that underpins the technology that allows the transformations. On the physical side, there is a bundle of nerves that interfaces with it -- much the same way that your soul interfaces with your brain. Also, any thing sensed through the implant is separate from perceptions that come through the physical senses. That's why I had earlier described hearing "a voice that isn't a voice".

The first thing that the man, who introduced himself as snrxl, taught me was how to push the perceptions from my real body into the background so that I could concentrate on the virtual room that I shared with him. He assured me that I can do the same with anyone who has an implant and knows how to use it. Butch will begin his training a couple weeks after getting his new, improved Jan body.

He told me that my own training was accelerated because of the initiative that I had displayed yesterday when I transformed John into Clarisse. I wasn't supposed to be able to do that yet, but my emergency transformation of Myra had taught me how to do it. He could have stopped me from transforming John, but he let me do it because it was a good idea.