Part 3 of 6

 
Chapter 6
Two days later Helen and the slightly mystified Penny were sitting in a plastic surgeon's office in Reno Nevada. For Penny, traveling with someone who was almost the woman for whom she worked for many years was a surreal experience.

Suddenly her best friend and mentor was still ill and this healthy clone was taking her place. Naturally, she had met Helen a few times over the years, and Penny liked Helen, but this was just not anything she had been prepared for.

The Bonforte family money and power had things moving at an almost obscene pace. The doctor, who had learned just how persuasive Grace Bonforte could be a few years back, was doubtful until Helen assured her that having implants was her lifelong dream, that this was not a whim or a flight of fancy.

Helen's detailed knowledge about the type of implant and the procedures available reassured him that he would not end up with a malpractice suit from an ignorant patient who was expecting miracles. Plastic surgeons met such types with disconcerting frequency. After a detailed physical, the doctor agreed with Helen that her choices were exactly what he would have recommended.

The following morning, Helen presented herself with a mix of trepidation and anticipation at the doctor's surgery at a preposterously early hour. She was led to a room, removed her falsies for the final time, and waited for the procedure to begin.

Some hours later she awoke with a weight on her chest and fuzz in her brain. The nurses were kindly, and kept track of her vitals until she was completely awake. Her chest ached and she was still a bit wobbly, but eventually she was able to navigate with Penny's help.

Penny drove carefully back to their hotel and Helen gratefully lay on her bed, once again happy to venture off into dreamland. She awoke feeling hungry, so Penny ordered room service and she had some soup and a sandwich, lighter fare for her still uncertain stomach. The evening was spent drooling on the bed and attempting to concentrate on the television.

Meanwhile, Penny attempted to quell the disconcerting feeling of sharing a room with Almost-Myrna. Not that she hadn't shared hotel rooms with Myrna over the years, but this wasn't quite Myrna, but still looked like Myrna.

The things she did for the cause!
 

It's a good thing that mobile phones are ubiquitous, someone had captured just about every speech that Myrna had ever given, Helen watched those speeches for hour after hour as she recovered in the hotel. She noted the little quirks of speech or movement that Myrna employed in her public appearances. Schooling herself to use those little quirks was much harder, especially as many of them caused her new breasts to ache, but slowly those small indicators became more natural.

Penny was invaluable, filling Helen on all the details about what was happening on any particular piece of video; who was there, what happened off camera, who had to have their favorite issue addressed.

That's when Helen learned about the Farleyfile. Named after James Farley, Franklin Roosevelt's campaign manager, it was a complete record of who Myrna knew, how she knew them and all the little personal details she wished she could remember about a person.

The original Farley used index cards, Penny had all the info on her tablet, which was never more than a snatch away from her capable hands. For that matter, Myrna had her own copy on her tablet just in case Penny had to powder her nose.

If Penny wasn't with her to comment, Helen learned to pause the video, Google whoever was on the screen, then continue watching. With all this background information at her fingertips, Helen began to think this insane idea just might just work.

After a couple of days, Helen began to recite the speeches into a digital recorder as she watched the video. Her first tries were pathetic, hesitant and unsure. Her failure only goaded Helen to try harder, but the end of the first day of mimicking she was sounding much better. After all, Hank was accustomed to public speaking, but his persona was not Myrna's.

Neither was Helen's, who had to unlearn both hers and Hank's quirks and substitute Myrna's. She was sure that any psychiatrist that happened to offer an opinion would immediately opt to throw her in the loony bin as a multiple personality.

With her head filled with images of her cousin, Helen/Myrna flew home and took up residence in Myrna's home once again. Then it was back to work.

Once the vocals were acceptable, out came the video camera. Painful, truly painful. The body language certainly did not belong to Hank, but it was undoubtedly Helen's. Myrna had an unconscious way of raising an eyebrow when posing a rhetorical question. Her left hand often lived a life of its own, ignoring what the right was doing. (Now there's a political comment if there ever was one!)

Myrna's posture was subtly different, more commanding, more forthright. Helen had never realized how she unconsciously signaled ignore me, look elsewhere! as Helen. Yeah, the shrinks would have a field day if the deception was penetrated.

Helen went back to work, grimly determined, then realized that Myrna would never do anything grimly. Damn! She gaily plowed into the umpteenth repetition of the speech. Yeah, Myrna does things gaily.
 

Myrna was torn between laughter and tears as she and Penny coached her cousin in the art of being Myrna. The three women became closer for, in truth, women they were. Helen had let go of all vestiges of Hank, even to the point of avoiding mirrors unless she was completely dressed. The bruising on her new breasts was bad enough, but that damned penis was just plain out of place.

But even as she began to think of herself as a woman, Helen/Myrna was hesitant about doing anything permanent about it. Besides, there wouldn't be time even if she decided to exchange her outie for an innie. In any case, nothing could be allowed to detract from a perfect portrayal of her cousin.

The three women were heartened as time went on. Not only was Helen becoming indistinguishable from Myrna, but Myrna was looking and feeling better from the infusion treatments. Her breathing had eased, but she was nowhere near capable of giving a long and rousing speech. Still, improvement was improvement.

By the 4th of July, Helen/Myrna had mostly healed was getting used to having breasts. She still found herself misjudging how much clearance she had in tight spaces and quietly cursed when she bounced her breasts off some immovable object. Still, she did have breasts, and that was simply wonderful, no matter what the cost!

The New Myrna made her first appearance at a Veteran's picnic. It was a short appearance, pleading her recent illness, but she charmed the people attending and her staff didn't seem to notice the substitution.

Myrna's staff was no less dedicated to the cause than Myrna herself, but the flaws in the plan began to reveal themselves as time went on. There are dozens of little things we do when talking to someone who knows us. We don't notice them, they are just part of who we are with that person. Unfortunately, those subtle things change with each person. Spend an hour with an old acquaintance of Myrna's and they were bound to notice something off.

How could Myrna forget the time when… Myrna seems to be confused today... Myrna has the old passion, but why is she talking about something so silly instead of what's important? There were some nasty questions about her performance. Helen/Myrna hoped that she would have the time to study the Farleyfile before meeting someone she should know.

"I've had a a few health issues, but they're taken care of. Sorry, but it takes a while to get back in the swing of things." Helen/Myrna was going to need to say that far too many times. Her opponent would just love to tell the world that Myrna was too sick to be an effective senator.

Then came the other type of nasty questions, the kind some plant in the audience would ask in the hopes of tripping her up and getting her to say something dumb. Fortunately, Hank had fielded such questions in his talks, so they weren't a complete surprise. Since both Hank and Myrna were ardent environmentalists, many of the same questions would be asked.

The problem would be the overt political sallies. Hank had to learn something of how politics worked to do his environmental work, but he never went into the details of the inner workings. Unfortunately, Myrna was deeply involved in those inner workings. One more thing to study in the rapidly decreasing hours before Helen/Myrna's first fundraising speech. Penny became still more invaluable for her political knowledge, which might even be more detailed that Myrna's.

The problem was, Penny was having some difficulty handling the healthy and vibrant Helen/Myrna, then seeing the real Myrna as her health again started to decline slowly. Helen/Myrna began to suspect that Penny was in love with her boss, something that Helen/Myrna had no trouble believing. She had always been half in love with her cousin.

Her staff gleefully set about grilling Helen/Myrna unmercifully, preparing her for the worst the opposition could throw at her. Myrna's staff did know the inner workings and they knew the reporters and the type of people the opposition would plant in the audience. Helen/Myrna soon learned that an honest 'I don't know' worked far better than 'no comment.' 'No comment' sounded like she was guilty of whatever it was. Sometimes she wished she could run away like the president did when the tough questions were asked.
 

Much time was spent crafting Myrna's stump speech. At first Helen just listened as these professionals crafted just the right words. Eventually she started offering a comment when her expertise in her past life as Hank gave her some insight. Soon she was an active part of the team, working to get Myrna back in the senate where she could do the most good.

At last the preparations were as complete as the team could make them. Tomorrow Helen/Myrna would become just plain Myrna to the entire world. Helen didn't sleep well that night. Penny didn't sleep at all.
 

Chapter 7
The new Myrna's debut. Not Helen/Myrna any longer, but the New Myrna at the height of her powers. Poised, confident and determined to do the job she was elected to do. She spared half a second to squash a gibbering Hank back into the depths of her brain and strode on to the stage.

With a smile she started her stump speech. The audience had been vetted for this first test, but she was not always going to be able to expose herself only to her supporters. She was out to win votes from her entire constituency, not just the faithful.

The New Myrna discovered, as had Hank before her, that walking on stage was much like throwing a switch on her personality. The worries dropped away, the passion began to bubble up and the New Myrna drove home her platform with vigor and panache. Knowing full well that her opponent would carp about the 'aggressive woman' she stood her ground and threw the first punch.

"There are those who will cringe and whine because a woman dares to be forceful and not cower behind some man to protect her. So be it! I'm standing here to protect the trees and the waters and the air we breathe from such outdated and puerile nonsense. We are all human beings, and we all need to stand up so our children and their children have a clean and safe place to live and dream. With your support we can make that dream a reality. Thank you and good night!"

No questions for this first appearance. Despite being on a high like nothing she had known before, the New Myrna was exhausted. She knew as she continued she would gather strength and be ready for the questions, but for a first outing it was a rousing success.

As she left the stage, Penny hugged Myrna and whispered in her ear "I think this just might work. You go, girl!"

No higher praise could be found anywhere on this planet.
 

"Myrna! Cousin, why didn't you tell me just how alive it feels to be out there and firing up all those people. I humbly apologize for any nasty remarks I ever made about you being a politician. This is going to be addictive! I'm hooked."

"Helen, if I had told you would you have believed it?"

"I suppose you're right. I'm an old cynic and I had to have it happen to me in order to believe it. I just hope you will be feeling better soon so you can go back to doing this for yourself. I feel almost sinful depriving you of what should be yours."

"Can I admit I'm jealous? You look so good that I wish this stupid disease were cured and I could be doing what I love again. It's frustrating!"

"I can only imagine what it's like to watch yourself spouting your words and know it isn't you. You just have to work on getting better so you can kick me out of a job."

"Then some talking head would accuse me of losing jobs for my constituents."

"Ah, but I'm not one of your constituents, I live in another district."

"When I get better we can be the first set of senatorial twins. Wouldn't that be a kick?"

"Gives paired voting a new twist, doesn't it? If it keeps going so well I just may consider revising my opinion of politicians."

"Don't revise your opinion, there are some real sleazebags who call themselves my colleagues. Kick one of them out and improve the breed!"

"Yes, ma'am!"
 

The new Myrna got a morning's reprieve after her first outing, but after lunch it was back to the grindstone. The stump speech was revised after the results of yesterday's debut, with changes of emphasis and a few more jokes to keep it light and interesting. Once everyone was satisfied the basic speech had to be reworked to include the issues dear to the hearts of the small town garden club that was the next trial venue.

This time there would be a question-and-answer session, so they reviewed local issues and her staff peppered the New Myrna mercilessly. Even though she knew these were all her friends, she had to work to keep her temper under control with some of the nasty questions and have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife (husband?) queries.

Hank was a past master at fielding such nonsense, people can get very heated if they think you're trying to take their job away or make them change the way they're doing things because some stupid little fish or butterfly might get wiped out. Hank's style was to talk about how everything is interconnected and everyone will benefit if we just take the time to think!

While both Hank and Myrna agreed on the answers, Myrna had to be very aware of the short term harm that a long term gain might cause. People won't vote for someone they see as causing them to go broke or lose the family farm. Politicians who have to run for election every two years have to be conscious of short term goals even when they are working for long term good.

Myrna often used the woman's trick of agreeing until she got her way, something Hank had not really mastered living off in the middle of nowhere with no one to annoy him. Helen was starting to get the idea whenever she had the chance to spend time with people. Now the New Myrna avidly studied Myrna's way of handling questions, relying strongly on Penny to reveal how Myrna prepped for such things. The New Myrna was becoming increasingly dependant on Penny to become believable as Myrna.

After several days of work, Friday evening arrived and the New Myrna stood before the Jackman Land Trust and held forth. The evening went well, most of the new humor in the revised stump speech got a good reaction and the questions were pretty easy. Hank's knowledge of the environment combined with Myrna's likability and honesty carried the day

You can believe that the New Myrna was acutely aware of just how ironic Myrna's honesty that evening was, but the literature went out the door and many cars left the lot with Myrna bumper stickers on them.

The New Myrna was disappointed that Myrna was asleep when she returned, once again she wanted to share the high of a successful appearance. The New Myrna donned her nightgown and went to sleep eventually, looking forward to the campaign.