Chapter 6 - Connection

Paula the elder
I woke up to the smell of coffee brewing. Now that's something that doesn't happen every day when you live alone. I stumbled into the kitchen to find Titia fully dressed in a cute yellow top and a lively print skirt. The green alligator slippers weren't quite what fashion demanded, but I figured her arm wasn't up to putting on socks and footwear quite yet. Ditto for makeup. That works fine for me, but we could take care of that after we ate.

"Coffee! Why is it that coffee in the morning smells so good, even if it isn't morning," I cried.

"It's morning for us, partner."

"I could get used to this. Thanks"

"I figured I ought to do something to earn my keep. You've been very generous.

"Tell you what - when we go back you could arrange to break a leg or something so you can keep me in the style to which I want to be accustomed."

"Friendship only goes so far. You could hire me as a maid. I've always wanted to wear one of those frilly outfits."

"In your dreams, girl. You aren't the only one that has to make a paycheck stretch."

"Ain't it the truth!"

"How's the arm?"

"Much better, but it still sneaks up on me if I move without thinking."

"Good thing we got the weekend off. You should be better by Monday."

"Then back to the old grind. I just hope that those bozos don't come back."

"One of them is still safely behind bars. I wonder just what the wanted. I don't know much about the people in that building. Some kind of research, but what I don't know."

"Industrial espionage?"

"Could be. Maybe international spies or saboteurs. Something exciting!"

"I've had enough excitement to last a good, long time, partner."

"I guess I have, too, but finding out my partner makes a cuter girl than I ever was isn't too shabby, either."

"Don't knock yourself. If I were a couple of decades older…"

"And not a cute girl - I'm only into guys."

"You ever think of dating again?"

"I don't know. After having Josh it's hard to think of being with anyone else. Still, having you here has made me realize I've been lonely for quite a while."

"Sorry."

"Not something to be sorry about, Titia. Getting to know the real you is quite an adventure. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Titus on Monday night."

"Neither am I, but I'm not quite ready to go full time."

"Is that what you call it?"

"Yeah. I need to live a full year as Titia before the docs will consider surgery. Not that I can afford the doctors, let alone the surgery. My parents wanted me to be a lawyer like my father. Right! When I think of lawyer - a lady lawyer - I think of tall, slim and elegant. Hair pulled back tight into a bun, skirted power suit, pacing before a jury waving her polished nails to emphasize her words.

"Then I think of carrot-top me, looking like Little Orphan Annie and figure my client would get life for spitting on the sidewalk. I don't want to be a lawyer, but I wish I had a lawyer's money so I could really be me."

"If wishes were horses… Why not just say 'screw it' and make the change. You certainly look the part."

"Maybe nine out of ten transgendered people get fired when they transition. I still want to keep eating."

"Good point. The company officially supports such things, at least according to the handbook, but we both know that official policy and reality are not always the same."

"And you need an OK from a shrink to make it official. I don't have a shrink, can't afford one, so I just muddle along. I decided that I really don't need one since I never felt all that guilty about who I am. "

"Food's ready, we can solve the world's problems with a full stomach. Dig in!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

With the food in its proper place, like my stomach, I figured I should really get dressed myself, but I did Titia's face and hair for her before I put on something that I could wreck if I was sloppy. It really was harder to do makeup on someone else after years of only working on my own face.

I had this urge to go out and do something, mostly because the only time I didn't laze around in my nightclothes until it's time to go to work was when I went out. Having a houseguest served to inspire me to make an effort. Hell, I was so inspired I actually put on a skirt. Sometimes I shock myself.

While I was still changing I heard a commotion in the living room, so I quickly buttoned up my blouse to investigate. Someday my daughter-cum-granddaughter is going to learn to knock first instead of just letting herself in. Now it was her turn to be shocked.

"So the bad penny returns, eh Paula?" I taunted my granddaughter.

"You weren't on the tube last night so I figured I had to check up on you."

"Well, don't just stand there. Since you're here, plunk yourself down and set a spell."

"I guess wearing my nightgown must have started something. You're looking very feminine today, Titus."

"Titia. I thought you had figured out the name already."

"It's not that… It's…"

"It's that Titia has stopped lying to the world about who she really is," I interrupted.

"Oh."

"I do take some getting used to, Paula," offered Titia. "Your grandmother caught on right quick and has been magnificent."

"Magnificent? You're going to give me a swelled head."

"Beats a swelled shoulder every time." Titia replied.

"I figured things were too quiet around here so I found you a step-sister."

"Oh boy, sis, you're in for it now! Next thing you know she's going to have you knitting mittens."

"Too late, she taught me months ago. Fills the time between watch rounds."

"You don't go into work…"

"Like this? Not yet, but someday…"

"Ought to be fun when she gets up the nerve, eh Titia?"

"Fun for who? Too damn many people have made fun of me over the years."

"Sorry, that wasn't very tactful, was it?"

"Even the good guys can screw up, Paula. I can't thank you enough for the way you've treated me. I was sure you'd toss me out when you found out."

"That Sasquatch had done enough tossing, you didn't need any more!"

"I think I may have dated that guy," commented Paula the younger.

"You'd need more padding than even I'm comfortable with if you want to dance with the dude," Titia warned.

"Well, cousin Vicki and I are going out dancing tomorrow, I'll be on the lookout."

"And just where will you be going tomorrow, young lady?" I queried in the voice of doom.

"Down to the dock where we're going to pick up a couple of sailors and maybe a Marine, get our asses tattooed and then go get shitfaced drunk."

"Getting shitfaced drunk is usually the first order of business in that sort of plan," quipped Titia.

"And how would you know?" asked Paula the younger.

"I was the sailor. Believe me if I had the chance you would have had one hell of a tattoo on your ass before the night was through."

"You were a sailor? What did they call the girl sailors? WAVES?"

"Sorry, I knew I was girl but nobody else did. I joined up right out of high school to try and prove to myself I was a man despite my misgivings."

"Why the Navy. I thought it was the army that made men?"

"My dad was Navy. It was one of the few times I did something he approved of."

"Didn't work, I take it."

"Actually, I spent my hitch being a secretary. Believe me, I got damn sick of being told it was women's work. You got any idea how frustrating it was to be told you were doing women's work when you wanted to be a woman and couldn't let anybody know?"

"I could guess."

"Then the boss wanted to get me a security clearance and things almost went to hell. No way a background check would have missed my gender issues. Half my high school thought I was gay and the other half just thought I was a wimp. Don't ask, don't tell was a miserable failure. I took a chance and told and he stopped asking."

"I'm surprised it didn't drive you to drink, especially in the service."

"There were a few monumental drunks, but I was always afraid I would say the wrong thing and somebody would find out. I didn't want to be in the Navy, but I didn't want to be kicked out, either. By the time I got out I knew damned well I wasn't a man. Trouble is, nobody believed me."

"Not even a shrink?"

"What shrink? My dad thought shrinks were assholes who just kept taking your money. Any sailor that dared to ask for mental help was dead in the water. Macho, baby, macho!"

"That's terrible!"

"Biggest mistake of my life up till then. So when I got out I discovered the Internet and sort of found out how to at least look like the woman I want to be. I've gotten pretty good, these days I live as Titia unless I'm at work."

"In that case, wanna come along with us? We could use some guidance as to which is the sleaziest bar on the waterfront."

"We'd have to go to Newport for that. You do realize we're landlocked and don't have a waterfront?"

"We have a river. Will that do?"

"Drunken sailors are not often found paddling canoes, and the nearest Marine base is a couple of hundred miles away."

"See, I know you could give us some good advice. If you're my new sister then you could get to meet your cousin Vicki."

"Your family doesn't do anything by halves, do they partner?"

"I've tried to explain integers to her, but it was pointless," I deadpanned.

"Math jokes don't work for me." Paula the younger replied.

"Is that because you have trouble differentiating them or that they're not an integral part of your life?" smirked Titia.

"No, they just don't add up."

"Enough!" I cried

"Seriously - you game to go out with us tomorrow?"

"I wouldn't want to poop on your party, but Titia doesn't drink. That could still get me into more trouble than I want to think about."

"Relax, I don't drink either. My genetic mom was a drunk and a junkie, I don't want to follow her," my virtuous granddaughter said.

"Oh."

"No problem. Grandma-Mom is great company, but a girl needs to get out and have some fun."

"I haven't got anything to wear!"

"If I ever had any doubts you were a woman, Titia," I said, "you just ground them into the dirt and spit on them."

"Hey! That's not very ladylike."

"So sue me!"

"If you fit into my nightgown, then you ought to be able to fit into some of my stuff. Vicki and I will find you something to wear. Think slinky, sis."

"You OK with this, partner?"

"Far be it from me to keep a good girl down. Have fun."

"Oh, we will. You can bet your ass on it," my smartass granddaughter told me. Yeah, there was an attraction there. Life can certainly get interesting, can't it?

"I'll have to stop by my place for some things, shoes and underwear. Black heels OK with what you have in mind?"

"The taller the better!"