Case 1: Terri Kinsley ~ 3

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This is the transitional piece to the new “Joy of Life” universe. While not imperative, if you have not read the “Joy’s Joy” series, some of the later chapters in this series may not fully make sense.

In this chapter, things click for Joy and Terry is in for a surprise (hint: A girl likes him).


Case 1: Terri Kinsley ~ Part 3


I sigh and open the door to the yoga studio. I am not sure what I am supposed to accomplish here, but M.S. insisted that both the yoga and the ballet would help me…so, here I am… The first thing I notice is that it is bright and cheery in the studio. There are pristine wooden floors and bright colors on the walls. Mats are rolled up and neatly piled up close to one of the walls. I let the door close and the little bell tinkles again. A beautiful young red-head, not much older than me, comes out to greet me. She says, “Hi, I am Eileen. Welcome to my studio. Classes don’t start for another couple of hours, though.” I smile and say, “Hi, I am Joy. This may sound a bit strange, but I am here at the strong recommendation of the Mother Superior at St. Paul’s…” She laughs—it is a nice laugh; sort of like the tinkling of the bell on her door. She says, “Yes, she phoned me a bit ago and said you would be coming by. Come on in and we will get started…I will give you private lessons—especially since we will be working more on the spiritual side.” She gives me a critical appraisal, eying me up and down, and continues, “Not that we won’t work on your core and posture, too…”

She takes me to her little shop and finds me some yoga pants and a top on one of the racks and tells me to go change into them. When I come out, she already has two mats unrolled on the floor and some soothing music playing in the background. I smell some sort of incense. She runs me through a physical warm-up of various yoga poses, salutations and such, then has me sit cross-legged and we work on just breathing and calming my mind for about thirty minutes. She keeps talking about me finding my center…

It is strange, as she gets me deeper and deeper into the exercises, I can almost feel a glow in my core—like I can almost touch my energy…



I take the name tag that Ms. M. is holding out towards me. My hand shakes a little as I attach it to my shirt—it is one of those magnetic ones. She smiles and says, “OK, Terry, you are behind the register again tonight. You did well last night—we have a new sale starting tonight, though, so it will likely be busier. Just let Christi know if you need help. She should be here in a bit. Amanda’s shift is almost over.”

I go out into the store in a sort of a daze. I walk to the register—the click-clacking of my shoes somehow louder in my ears than before. I am just about to go behind the counter when I hear, “Terry? Is that you?” I turn and see Christi. She says, “Terry! You look hot! Oh…wait! I didn’t know. This is AWESOME. You are Terri with an ‘i’ now? When did that happen?” Amanda pipes in, “Yes, I didn’t know that putting you into some girl’s clothes was going to turn you into one. Are you serious about this?” Ms. M. comes in just then and says, “Girls! Leave poor Terry alone. It is my fault…well, it was a misunderstanding with the engraver. She understandably thought any Terry working here would be a girl and the name would be spelled with an ‘i’…

Ms. M. goes back to her office and Amanda leaves. Christi comes over to chat since the store is empty at the moment. She says, “Terri, I don’t care if it was a mistake. You look hot like that. Your hair is cute and…well…I could see myself going out on a date with you…Are you interested? I have liked you a long time, but I am not into…well…normal…guys…” I almost drop the money I am counting. My heart is pounding. I have been wanting to go out with Christi for ages…and all it takes is for me to wear some girl’s pants and a shirt to get her to ask ME out? I sort of stutter, “I would love to go out with you. I have wanted to go out with you for quite a while, too. But I never thought you would be interested…”

Right then a stream of customers comes in and we are busy until our ‘lunch’ break. It still seems weird to call a break at nine o’clock at night a ‘lunch’ break. Anyways, Christi had convinced her Mom to let us take ours together and she insists we go to the food court. I tell her that I am not sure I want to, dressed like this, but she is insistent. She says, “Oh, come on, Terri. You are working here like this…what is the difference?” Finally, I give in and we go to the Domino’s counter and each get a slice of pizza.

We sit down to eat and Christi asks me a bunch of questions about how I am liking working at NYC. Then she quizzes me about me getting my hair and nails done and how I decided on this cute style. She says, “It is like a cute swept over pixie cut. I love it! And those nails—daring for a guy. But why did you not go longer if you are being daring? I mean with that hair? You know what we should do right now? We still have over half an hour left on our break…” She doesn’t say anything else. She just grabs my hand and pulls me back into the mall…



I help Eileen roll up the mats and say, “Thank you, Eileen. You know, I think this is really going to help me in my…work…with M.S.” She laughs and says, “You don’t have to be so cryptic, Joy. I know all about Sister Gwen and have a good idea why she sent you to me. Just because she is…currently…a Catholic…and I am a practicing Buddhist, doesn’t mean that we are not good friends. She has spent a lot of time on a mat here, too. I could feel your energy—it is very much like hers, but stronger. Once you get control of it, you will be a force to be reckoned with. Just don’t let the Church find out about it—at least not while you are still at St. Paul’s…”

I give Eileen a hug and walk down the street. I enter the dance shop connected to the studio and wonder what it is that M.S. finds so important about ballet…



“What is this place,” I ask. Christi smiles and says, it is a little mall stand and the girl that runs it, Susi, is a miracle worker when it comes to eyebrows. Yours are a mess and really don’t go with that cute hair. Come on, my treat! Hi, Susi!”

Before I can really get a word in edgewise, the girls have coaxed me into the chair and Susi turns on a bright light. Christi whispers something to her and she nods. Then she starts plucking out brow hairs—starting with what feels like half my brow at a time. I yelp as the first ‘bushel’ comes out. Christi giggles and says, “Oh, come on Terri. Man up! It is not that bad!” I whine a little, “I don’t know about this…” Susi says, “Well, I can stop, but you will have funny, mismatched eyebrows…” I shake my head and she continues on…

When she is done, she holds up a mirror for me to look at her work. I am surprised. It felt like she had pulled out my whole eyebrow. In reality, they weren’t that much smaller—just evenly shaped. And tapered to a fine point on the outside of my brow. They were sort of feminine-looking in my eyes, but not overtly so. I had seen some guy actors with brows that looked a lot like these.

Susi tells me, as Christi pays, “In the future, it will be easier to keep them cleaned up. Christi here is a weekly customer of mine—I hope maybe you will come back, too.” I look at Christi’s thin, arched brows—now those are girly and they look really good on her. I nod and say, “Maybe I will. Thanks, Susi.”



A pretty young girl, Emma, greets me as I enter the store. I look around at the tutus, leotards, tights, and point shoes… I smile at Emma and say, “Hi. My name is Joy and it seems I will be taking some lessons and need the appropriate…equipment…” She giggles and says, “OK! Well, welcome to our studio. I take it you are a beginner, then? Let’s get you the basics…”

A few minutes later, I have on a black leotard, pink tights, and pink ballet flats. She adeptly puts my hair into a bun and tells me I will need to learn how to do this myself. I have let her know that M.S. sent me over and she lets Mistress Rose know that I am here for my private lesson. And before I know it, I am in a studio with a stodgy, very strict woman—in a bun that looks like it is pulling her face to the back of her head--learning the five positions of ballet and how to do proper Demi-plies.



We get back to the store just as our break time is up. Ms. M. looks at me and says, “Something is different about you, Terry. You look…neater… Oh! Did Christi take you to see Susi? She loves that girl and her work. Your brows look very nice.” And she goes back to her office.

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Comments

Joy and Terri both entering

Joy and Terri both entering deeper into the female side of the gender gap. Will be interesting to see if they will ever want to leave that side of the fence.

Terri is in for a ride...

for sure. In case you missed it, though--at the end of Joey's Joy, Joy transformed herself into a full girl. It was all part of the transference of power to her from M.S. All of that will become more clear over time, though. :)

Thanks for commenting and huge HUGS!
Shauna