The party’s over and it’s time to leave. Each partygoer will have their own thoughts about what Christine and Astrid have said. It’s for them now to go home and to decide if they would like to explore, in a very gentle way, the changing of their partners, spouses, and lovers.

Chr

Chapter 23

Christine wanted to wrap up and stimulate some action

“Sally’s right… we can go on all night but I think you have the gist of our ideas. What Astrid and I would like to do is give you something to go home with, to accompany whatever you have each bought earlier in the evening… We wish you lots of fun with those toys and things and hope to hear you’d like to come back, let’s say in a couple of weeks’ time. In the meantime, here’s a gift for each of you…… or more importantly, for your partners….. It’s a beautiful, delicate, girly, feminine, nightgown. We would love you to re-enact our own experience. It will work for some of you, maybe not for others, but do persevere. This is just to get you started….. The first reactions you get may well hide a deeply-held longing that you can release……”
Astrid then chipped in with a diary reminder….. “Don’t forget!..... Valentine’s Day and Christmas are the most notable times when couples play dressing games.– your husbands, boyfriends, etc., may shop for dresses, sexy lingerie, nightgowns, etc., without even raising eyebrows. That provides excellent cover for wives who want to make a transgender person of their partners. If you let them know what you like…… You can get them looking at what you would like THEM to wear….. By the time next year comes around, they might be girls who wish to shop for such items for themselves. No salesperson is likely to ask, “Why is a man like you shopping for sexy stiletto sandals?” So, when you’re tempting them for the first time, you can ask questions that you would not ordinarily feel confident enough to ask – e.g., “Do you think that these shoes would go well with a pink baby doll?” It just happens that we’re two weeks away from Valentine’s Day, and that’s a sort of “manna from heaven,” providing opportunities to experience the joy, wisdom, and perhaps even spiritual renewal that comes from preparing the way for your husbands’ expressing their feminine selves more intensely!”
“I’m still not convinced….. Doesn’t he have to be gay to want to succumb to the ideas you’re suggesting?” A perfectly understandable, and frequently-voiced question came from Priti from the Corner shop in the centre of the village.
Astrid jumped in on the first mention of “being gay” which Andy most certainly wanted to say, he was not! She began, in her best girly voice, “Crossdressers (which we call CD's as an obvious short-form) are a largely misunderstood group. Many believe the popular conception that crossdressing is a haven for gay men and that the act is somehow perverted. Transvestite is an older term for crossdresser. It sounds more suspicious, don’t you think? Crossdressing just says what it IS that we do. We wear the clothes of the female sex and we love doing so, because we love women so much……… Being perverted? That’s people who don’t know the first thing about us. Nothing could be further than the truth. A Crossdresser is usually all man and more often than not he’s firmly heterosexual. They are usually more sensitive, emotionally, on average than the rest of the males you meet.”
Andy was well into his personal credo about his love of dressing as a woman. A love born out of Christine’s sensitive suggestions all that time ago.
“……..Crossdressing is merely an expression of one’s feminine side. I’ve got a well-developed one. We men all have one. It relieves tensions and the pressures of everyday male life. And God knows, there are some even though I don’t expect your sympathy! And there are those who think it can be “treated” somehow. Years ago, anyone who did what I do would have found themselves with aversion therapy — most likely electric shocks!! Thank God we have come a long way since then! In case you’re wondering, crossdressing in itself is not an illness. It’s actually a joy. In some cases where crossdressing is controlling one’s life, counselling is then recommended, but nowadays it’s a question of helping those around the CD to accept her as she is, when she is who she wants to be. That’s how Christine and I live, and love together. Occasionally crossdressing crosses into the transgendered (which now is called being TG) — it’s a different realm but this is not for most of us. The vast majority of us don’t want to change our gender, and have reassignment surgery, and lose our cocks and bollocks and grow ourselves tits……… I must admit, there have been times that I have thought…. But then, I love what we do with those things too much to let them go!”
Priti was more than satisfied with that little homily and smiled at Astrid, seeing her — or Andy — in a very new and different light.
Christine offered the nightgowns to each of the partygoers. Not one refused to take one. “There are medium and larger sizes here, just take which one you feel would be right — there’s a size 14, for those about 5ft 8inches, and an 18 for those of 5ft 10 or more. Just feel how silky they are….”

Words of ecstasy were commonplace; “Oh, don’t you just love the colour of the fabric?!” “I can just see this peach satin being impossible for him to give up!” “I wish this came with panties and a slip….” “I’d never thought of doing something like this, but now I come to think of it, it’s a no-brainer. He just has to say ‘yes’ when I suggest….” “This would be fabulous for him when we just lounge around the apartment for an evening….” “Just wait till you get him to bed!”…… “Would you dare?? I mean, bed him, wearing something so girly?” “Well, I would if my girlfriend was away for the weekend!” “How long could you keep him that way?....” “I’d say, well….., how about a lifetime!? If I can convince him that this is the way I want him to be…. Just sometimes….” “Just sometimes… you mean, you don’t want a wife full time? I sure could use one!” “No, no, a wife needs a cock of her own like a fish needs a bicycle — as somebody once said…. I love cock and I’d want him to keep his…” “I’m not so sure….. I might go the way Christine here does when she’s being Christopher… I quite fancy that idea…. Christine, do you have a cock when you’re dressed?”

Christine wasn’t at all shocked, after all, this was the sort of conversation that she wanted the group to be having….. It was clear that the nighties as gifts were a great success! Astrid winked at her with the same thought in mind.

“Well, as you ask, I quite like to have a small ‘boy’ down there so that when the urge takes me I can give myself a squeeze to heighten the intensity of my lusty feelings. I don’t tend to use it on you, do I Astrid, Darling?”

Astrid smiled a shocked, bashful girly smile and said, “Only when I’m feeling especially vulnerable, my honey. Then I like to give you a good licking…..”

There was a moment’s silence before the wives and girlfriends resumed their “what if” discussion…. “What if we all went home tonight — it’s not too late - and tried what Christine suggested. Don’t let’s wait… unless there’s a good reason not to… like a death in the family! Haha!!!” That was Cathy’s contribution. It was clear that she and Johnny were going to have an interesting evening.

“You’re right, it’s not too late and there’s a late lie-in coming in the morning, “she” could wake up in this lovely nightgown and we could go on from there….” Said Jenny the AmDram actress who most knew was keen on ladyfriends already.

“Jenny, you are a vixen!...” exclaimed Pammie who had known Jenny for a long time, “…but what you say is true….. Get him going one evening, before a weekend, and you have him where you want him for 48 hours!!” Clearly, Pammie’s husband Jack was in for a surprise.

“I wish I had a husband….” Said Bev, quietly………. “I won’t be seeing my boyfriend until Tuesday night, by which time, you’ll all be miles ahead of me in how much fun you’re having! Has anyone got a spare male I can have for the weekend!!!?” she laughed.

“What about Brian from the pub? Couldn’t you borrow him? Belinda’s a bit straight-laced if you ask me….” Said Emma, the newly-wed from number 7.

Astrid and Christine stood by the door to their little cottage which had been virtually packed with partygoers. As each left, they said they hoped the evening had been enjoyable and left the guests with “food for thought”. They said to each one that they hoped to see them more around the village over the coming days and to let them know if a repeat meeting would be of interest. It would, of course, be open to all, partners, husbands and lovers included. There were very few replies that were non-committal. Almost everyone seemed to be saying that they would return when the date was fixed.

DEAR READERS, AT THIS POINT, I HAVE TO FINISH — PERSONAL TROUBLES CAUSED BY FAMILY ILLNESS MEAN THAT I CAN NO LONGER DEVOTE PRECIOUS TIME TO WRITING FOR MY OWN, AND MAYBE YOUR, SATISFACTION. M MAY RETURN ONE DAY, UNTIL THEN, MY APOLOGIES FOR CUTTING AND RUNNING HALFWAY THROUGH A STORY……