And That is the Way it Happened -2-

Printer-friendly version
----------=BigCloset Retro Classic!=----------

John continues to go to school. He and the girls plan their next project, while Janice learns more about girls on weekends.
Things don’t go according to plan... then things get really interesting.

And That
is the Way it Happened

Part 2

by Paula Dillon

Copyright © 2007 Paula Dillon
All Rights Reserved.

 
The next day at school the girls were interested in what John’s Mom had to say to him. They were delighted that she was open to their idea and began making plans.

In journalism, it was Clyde’s group Sports Unlimited second presentation. He did a play by play and color commentary of the season’s last basketball game. They had a shot to go to regional playoffs if they won, but unfortunately they lost. John was surprised at how well the play by play commentary went. Clyde showed the vast knowledge he had for the game and the players, as the game went on.

Clyde’s one mistake occurred when a player missed several key shots towards the end of the game. He let his feelings for the flubbed shots spill over into his commentary. After the game, he did interviews with the players. Talking to the player who had missed the shots, he smugly asked him if he threw the game. Not in those particular words, but that was the gist of the question.

The player could be seen turning red and flexing his muscles. His nostrils could be seen flaring and if looks could kill, Clyde would have been in the morgue.

“Oh my God Clyde, that boy was about to pound on you.” John found himself saying.

Clyde had been so proud of his commentary, even to his asking of the pointed question. He grimaced and turned beet red, when he heard John. “What do you know about that, you sissy?”

“We’ll have none of that name calling, Clyde. You have ten seconds to apologize to John, or I will send you to the principal’s office with a recommendation that you find another elective class.”

It only took Clyde five seconds to apologize to John. He really wanted this class to move into college journalism and then into sports journalism. “Alright, I am sorry for calling you a sissy John, but that was a top rate job I had done.”

“John, tell Clyde what you saw.”

“Well Clyde, you really did a great job on the play by play. I was surprised by how interesting you made the game. I don’t usually watch sports, but I liked what I saw to a point. When that player missed those shots though, you seemed to lose your objectivity a bit. Then when you asked that player that pointed question, and seeing that players reaction, I was afraid that you were about to be pounded into the ground. Look at all the non-verbal’s that player was projecting.”

“I am afraid I agree with John, Clyde. I would have given you an A+ up till then. Yes, you can ask pointed questions Clyde, but know what you are talking about. You basically accused the player of throwing that game. That player was showing great resolve, I too was afraid you might get hurt.”

“That is what it looked like to me though, Mr. Dawson.”

“Would it change your mind to know that he had stayed up late because his sister was in the hospital the day before? He was left at the house worrying about her, because that is what happened. He only had two hours sleep before school, and was mentally exhausted. The coach begged him to play anyway. The staff had been briefed on that matter. All in all though, that was an excellent effort I will still give your team an A- for that project. That was your best effort.”

Clyde was somewhat appeased by the praise and the grade, he was also a little embarrassed by his mistake. He hadn’t known about the boy’s problems.

John went up to Clyde after class and said, “I am sorry Clyde, I really wasn’t trying to embarrass you. You did a great job. It’s just that I have seen those looks that player was giving you and I knew what was coming.”

Clyde was amazed that John would come up and talk to him after what he had said. His temper had gotten the better of him. He still didn’t like John and still thought he was a bit of a puff, but he knew how hard it had to be to approach someone hostile to you. “Ok, I see what you meant. It just pissed me off to see us lose that game by two points and not make the playoffs. I really thought he was slacking off at the end.”

“You could have just asked him what happened there at the end. He might not have told you the whole story, but he would have reacted much better to you. When you ask pointed questions, you have to already know the answers. I think you should talk to him. It might affect your ability to access the jocks otherwise. You could go far in sports, if you learned some restraint.”

“I see what you mean. I will think about it I guess, but when are you going to start growing up. You look and sound like a girl. I don’t think there is any other boy at our school that is like you.” Clyde said, a little anger spilling over toward John.

John just bit his tongue and said, “It’s not your problem Clyde.” He then turned and walked off.

The rest of the week was alright. Clyde did have problems with the jocks. He had been cornered by two football players and told to leave the guy alone. Clyde had to eat a lot of crow before he was allowed to apologize to the offended player.

John and the girls spent the week planning their project. They did a lot of research on the festival; who was putting it on, the history of the festival and what they could expect. They planned their shooting schedule and what they wanted to achieve. They wouldn’t get the equipment till that Friday, before their Easter break and they had to be checked out on it before that.

The local TV station had gotten rid of some of their old equipment, by giving it to the school; the supplier for the station heard about it and had donated some new professional equipment also. They got two refurbished cameras from the station. The supplier gave them a new camera that used memory cards and tapes to record on, some computerized editing equipment and software. John’s group would be the first to use the new stuff, if they qualified with it, that is. So they read all the pamphlets and worked with all the equipment to learn to use them properly.

Vanessa and Anna drooled over the new camera. It had two channels for wireless audio hookup and all sorts of bells and whistles. It could be loaded with five 8GB memory cards that held over thirty minutes of video each and audio each. They had ten cards. There were two wireless mikes that came with it. One mike transmitter clipped on the interviewers belt, while the mike clipped on the collar and a standard handheld wireless mike. They had two spare batteries for each camera. The two TV station cameras they got used standard tapes and had one wireless mike channel. All of the clip-on mikes used the same frequency, and the handheld mike used a different channel.

They had to do three tests on the cameras, and after working with them throughout the week, they easily pass.

Margaret and Vanessa also tested on the computer editing equipment, audio recording equipment and the studio console. They found it pretty straight forward and much like they had been using, but it had more powerful, useful features. Margaret made a point to ask her Mom to buy her the editing software, to add to her desktop and her laptop. It only ran four thousand and her Mom and Dad encouraged her in her creativities.

John had to qualify on all the equipment too, although they all knew that he would be in front of the camera for JD’s Productions. Mr. Dawson felt that not enough reporters actually knew what their camera people do, how their equipment worked or how it was best utilized. Everyone in his class learned how to operate all the equipment; they didn’t have to be experts, just qualified.

***************

Friday evening found everyone at Anna’s house again. The girls had gotten permission to stay there the weekend; as long as they were supervised by Anna’s Mom. Janice came to visit shortly after they all arrived home. She took the transformation better this time and didn’t complain as much as the corset was cranked down to twenty-three and a quarter inches. Janice found herself again in a nice blouse and skirt, though the girls also dressed up, for her this time.

After they all did their homework. Janice then helped the girls in the kitchen. They began teaching her how to plan and cook a meal. They prepared Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken breasts, a Caesar salad, French style green beans, asparagus and garlic bread. The table was again set for six, as Reggie and Angela joined them for dinner.

Angela had to giggle when she saw Janice working at the stove with a pinafore apron on.

“You’re cooking Janice?” Angela asked.

“I’m just doing what Anna tells me to do, but yes I guess I am cooking, or rather we are cooking. If it turns out bad I can spread the blame around at least.”

“It won’t turn out bad, you’ll see girl. Now just keep stirring the Alfredo sauce, while I check the Fettuccini.”

When everything was ready they all sat down to eat. Janice remembered what she had done last week and it showed in her demeanor. They all talked while they were eating, about school, work and all the things girls generally talk about.

Angela inquired about what they had planned for Janice. Even though she trusted the girls, this was her child they were working with and she was showing her motherly concern for her. The girls didn’t have detailed plans, but they went over things they felt they needed to teach Janice. Upon hearing their plans, Angela and Reggie added a few things they thought about. Janice even got into things and spoke about her concerns. Some of the things she pointed out, showed just how ill prepared the girls had been and just how much attention she had been paying to her friends.

After dinner was cleared and the kitchen returned to a spotless condition, the girls got to work. Janice was given an education on girl’s fashion. She learned a lot of words that girls used for their clothes, what they meant, how girls describe their clothes, how they mix and match and so on. They taught her how to dress, how to accessorize, what to wear here, what to wear there, what was casual, what casual chic was, what was semi-formal, and what was formal.

Since Janice was wearing a corset, they decided that she should be dressed in a formal gown that Anna had once worn. Angela was almost giddy, when she saw the beautiful dress Anna pulled out of the garment bag. Even Janice was speechless. The dress was an ice blue, confection of taffeta, chiffon and lace. The girls all helped her undress and start getting her ready like she was going to a prom. Reggie took her to her shop; she was just wearing the corset, panties and a robe. Reggie had a blast doing her hair and makeup. She kept chittering away like she was a regular customer. Janice loved the pampering she was getting.

As Reggie finished, the girls came in bringing all the things they needed to dress her right there. They smoothed nylons up her leg and attached them to garter straps that Anna attached to spots on the corset, running them through Janice’s panties to the stocking tops. Janice blanched a bit to see the heels they were putting on her feet, they were at least four inches tall. Next she put on a long full slip that came below knee length, followed by the dress and opera length satin gloves. Lastly she was adorned with a necklace, earrings, rings, bracelets, a purse and a few other accessories. Reggie touched up her hair and makeup a bit. With help they moved her over to a mirror and stood her in front of it. On a count of three, they uncovered the mirror and let Janice see the damage. The girls just stood there smiling at her.

Janice just stood there staring for several seconds before she said anything, “Oh my God. Oh my God,” was all that came out. She turned a bit to the left and then to the right. She turned all the way to one side and looked at her side and back. The dress fit her like a glove to the middle of her hips accentuating her figure. The skirt flared out just a bit. The hem came down to just below the middle of her calves.

She couldn’t believe how beautiful she was, and everything, with the exception of the corset and heels, made her feel fabulous. She even admitted to herself that she liked what the corset and heels did for her figure. “I just can’t believe what you guys have done. It’s just so perfect. I love the dress and everything. Regardless of what else happens, I want to thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Reggie said. “It’s nice working with someone you like and making them look so wonderful. You do look wonderful dear.”

Janice didn’t say it out loud, but it was at that moment she decided that this was the way she was going to go.

“Girls take her into the living room, I want to get a picture of her by the mantle,” Reggie said.

Janice had quite a time moving in these heels, but she couldn’t deny the way the made her appear. She had lots of help though walking. The silky softness of everything as it moved and slid across her skin, almost made her swoon. The restriction of the corset didn’t help that in any way either, but she was in love with the way she appeared. If only she could have been born a true girl, could it have been any better.

The Givens’ have a wonderful home. It could easily be included in any of those magazines that highlight picture perfect homes. Their living room was the highlight of this home. They had a spectacular stone fireplace and mantle in a ranch home style. They always kept the paint, carpet and furniture in a spotless, clean manner, often changing the centerpieces and décor to match the season. It was a true showpiece. They stood her to one side of the fireplace and had her pose with a bouquet of silk flowers.

Janice eye’s glisten from the collected tears, but she didn’t shed them. She refused to ruin the wonderful makeup job they had done on her. Her Mom, although plainly dressed in comparison, stood next to her for some of the pictures and then all her friends joined her for a few. Vanessa held her hand up behind Janice’s head, holding two fingers in a ‘V’, giving her the classic ‘rabbit ears’.

Reggie was quite the photographer; it was her hobby and it was that hobby that spiked Anna’s interest in photo journalism. She didn’t know that it would lead her daughter off in the direction it did, but it was all good. She had some really good friends she thought.

After the pictures, the girls had her walk around and even had her practice dancing some slow numbers with the girls leading her. John hadn’t learned to dance, so Janice found herself stumbling around at first, but she didn’t have to unlearn what John knew. She began to enjoy herself as she started to learn the dance steps.

In between dances they let her sit to catch her breath, the corset affected her endurance. Her feet hurt from the unaccustomed heels she wore, but she began to get more comfortable in them and started moving gracefully. Sitting and standing in the heels, was where she had the biggest problems. They shifted her center of gravity when she sat and her knees were now above the level of her tush, which made standing a problem. It wasn’t easy, but she finally got the hang of it. She was able to stand without showing off what she had on beneath the V-neck of her dresses bodice, or falling on her face.

It was getting late and although it had taken so long to get ready, they reluctantly took Janice and got her ready for bed. She hated taking off all these wonderful clothes though; she had to admit though she was getting tired.

Dressed now in nightgowns, the girls shared a bowl of popcorn as they watched the late chick flick on cable. They fell asleep next to each other at some unknown early hour of that morning.

It was nearly ten AM the next morning before the girls stirred. One by one they migrated to a bathroom and took care of business. Reggie started breakfast for them, when she saw them stir. They all cleaned up and dressed up in skirts, blouses, pantyhose, and heels, applying their makeup before they went to the kitchen, to eat at close to eleven-thirty that day.

They were all just a bit stiff and grumpy from sleeping in odd positions, except for Janice, who was stiff for other pressing reasons; they had again left her in the corset. She was the brightest bulb burning, at the breakfast table.

As the girls ate, they heard the doorbell ring. Reggie got up to answer it, leaving the girls to their breakfast. Everyone’s ears perked up though, when they heard Reggie say, “Oh hello Madeline,” especially Margaret.

“I just need to speak to my daughter for just a second,” she said, as she came on in and headed to the kitchen. Madeline was a very headstrong woman. Once she had it in her mind to do something, she did it and nobody got in her way.

The girls kept their composure, although their guts were in knots.

“Hi Vanessa, Anna, Margaret and who is your friend?” Madeline said. She was dressed in one of her Armani business suits and made up for battle.

“Hello Mrs. Bradford,” Janice said, “I am going by the name Janice, right now.”

You could have knocked Madeline over with a feather as she stared at Janice. She looked at her watch and said, “You guys have thirty minutes to explain to me what is going on. I came over to tell you Margaret, that I have been called out of town for the weekend. I can’t cancel, but I can sure take you with me. Pour me a cup of that coffee Anna, please.”

“I will explain it to her,” Janice said, “I feel it is something, I am going to be doing quite a bit, in the future.”

Janice did explain and went into as much detail as she could, in the allotted time. Madeline’s face, which had started out in a stern grimace, then a look of concern and at last a small smile, as Janice explained how the girls were helping her.

“We’ll, I am not going to ship you off to a convent after all Margaret and you can stay here this weekend, doing what you have been doing. I want all four of you here on Monday after school, with just your Moms and we are going to have a long talk. I will say, that I like the way you got together, to help Janice. That is what you are calling yourself right?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good, Monday, four, be here girls. Bring pictures. Got to go now, by the way, here is some money for you Margaret.” She said handing her daughter five twenties. A kiss, a hug for each of the girls, even Janice and she was out the door.

The girls just sat there stunned for a few seconds.

“Your Mother has a certain way about her Margaret,” Reggie said.

“Yeah, you’re right about that. They call her ‘Hurricane Madeline’ at the office. That is why they like her. She hits fast, leaves a path of devastation and then she goes, leaving people recovering for years, wondering what had just happened to them, they say.”

“I take it then, that that was a good reaction,” Janice asked.

“Well let me put it this way. She wasn’t kidding about the convent.”

“What do you think she wants to talk to us about?” Reggie asked.

“Oh, she’ll probably give us the ‘Four-One-One’ on the legal stand point for all of this. If I know my Mom and I do.”

“You mean that this is all ‘OK’ with her,” Janice asked.

“She hugged you Janice, do you feel a knife in your back?”

Janice reflexively felt her back. “No, I don’t,” she said before she realized that the question was just rhetorical.

“On top of that, she gave me money. I already have credit cards.”

“Oh, my Mom is really going to hit the roof,” Vanessa said.

“Not after ‘Hurricane Madeline’ hits her, Vanessa. Your mom will feel like she has been rode hard and put away wet, or agreeing that this all was her idea afterwards.”

“Well, let’s go shopping. If Janice is going to the lion’s den Monday, then she should go in style. She’ll need her own clothes,” Anna said.

Everyone there looked at Janice, who just blanched a bit. She looked wide-eyed at the girls and finally shook her head. “Ok, but what about my Mom?”

Reggie handled that question. “I will tell your Mom what we are doing, but I think it would be best if she didn’t go. I mean we’ll be four girls and one Mom. If Angela was there and we met someone that knew all of you, they might just add one and one and get two. I know she’ll miss being on your first shopping trip, but I believe that she will understand.”

The girls hurried to the bathroom to get themselves ready. They never went to the mall looking only so-so, at least hardly ever. They all wanted to look good. They drug Janice with them, she felt a little trepidation at what was happening, but she just went with the flow.

Reggie did call Angela; she agreed that it would be too risky to go with them. She said, she might just run into them surreptitiously shopping for John, but agreed, it was not a good idea to be with them.

The girls took Janice everywhere; their plan was not to give her time to feel self conscious about herself. Janice was very nervous upon approaching the mall, but she had been convinced by her encounters with Reggie, Madeline and even her own mom, that she was very passable as a girl.

It wasn’t too long until she began to enjoy being with her friends in places they had never been together before. The lingerie store only fazed her for a few seconds, before the girls got her so busy looking at the things there.

Janice even let her ears be pierced at the earring store, like the girls wanted. Janice was amazed that there were stores that sold only earrings. John wouldn’t be the first guy at their school to have a single piercing in both ears. Even some of the ‘cool’ guys had both ears pierced once.

Janice did run into her Mom at the mall, she hadn’t expected it. Anna took it all in stride and introduced Janice to Angela, as Janice Davies in case anybody overheard them. Angela gave Janice a special smile and said, “Well hello Ms. Davies. I have never seen you with these girls before, are you new around here?”

Janice went along with the routine and said. “My Mom had to go out of town for the weekend. Ms. Givens is my Mom’s stylist and a good friend. She consented to keep me this weekend. It’s such great fun being around the girls here. I was afraid it was just going to be me and Ms. Givens this weekend.”

“Well, you girls have fun, I have got to pick up some new clothes for John,” Angela said, as she left the group.

After her Mom left, Janice turned to Anna and asked, “Where did Davies come from?”

“You had to have some last name. It would have seemed strange to have a Daniels as a friend, that is John and to meet a Daniels, that being Angela and be introduced as a Daniels, that being you of course, without some taking it in as strange.”

“Can you say that again three times real fast, that was a mouthful on one breath Anna,” Janice said giggling.

“It’s logical; you just have to start thinking like a girl.”

“I am, that is what is scary.”

By the time they all left the mall, Janice had eight bags that they were helping her carry. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember them buying these things for her. She was more than a little embarrassed by her friend’s generosity. It wasn’t that she and her Mom were dead broke, but out of the four kids, her family had the least amount of disposable income. John had never made a point of it around his friends, nor did his friends think less of him for it.

Janice was quietly crying, by the time she got to the car, she realized that they all had probably pitched in to get her these things. The girls didn’t notice till they saw her raccoon eyes.

Vanessa asked her, “What is wrong, Janice? Why are you crying?”

“It’s just that Mom and I can’t afford all of this, we are not broke, but we just make ends meet, with only a few luxuries.”

“It doesn’t matter to us, Janice. If anyone of us needed money, don’t you think we’d help each other out? Vanessa’s family isn’t made out of money either. They may have more than you and your Mom, but not a lot more. Mom and I have a bit more, but we don’t lord it over you or Vanessa. On top of that, Mom and I are the queens of shopping, we always get the most bang out of our bucks,” Anna said.

That statement had Margaret and Vanessa in giggles. “That is why we like shopping with her,” Margaret said. “I can wear an outfit my mom spent over a five hundred on and Anna can copy the look for less than two.”

“She can also smell a sale five miles away, sort of like a shark smells blood in the water,” Vanessa added.

“I won’t tell you what my Mom spends a year on clothes for me, but for the most part, I am comfortable dressing the same as the rest of you. If I let our money go to my head, I would probably find my self distanced from my friends. It would be so easy for me to play the rich bitch; it is scary. I couldn’t do that to you guys.”

The girls had Janice sit in the front passenger seat and made her repair her own makeup, this time by herself, till Reggie was satisfied. That sucked in a way, but not really, she had to redo her eyes four times till Reggie was satisfied. It did teach her how to do it right.

They stopped on the way home at an ice cream store. Everyone ordered a different flavor of frozen yogurt, and shared a bit with each other.

Back home, the girls went through Janice’s things. Reggie made her undress and take off the corset and the gel bras. She then cleaned off Janice’s chest with alcohol and applied breast forms.

“These breast forms are attached with a short term adhesive. They can be peeled off easily, but look better than the gel bra’s you were wearing. With these, you will wear a thirty-four B cup bra, like a lot of other girls your age Janice.”

Instead of the corset she had on they had a different item they called a waist cincher. It laced up too, but it wasn’t as long as the corset. Reggie tightened it up till Janice had a twenty-four inch waist. It was still a pain in her sides, but not as bad, she thought. The girls made her put her own bra on, that was hard and it made the girls giggle, but after a few minutes she got it all hooked up.

Janice then tried on the things they got for her. She had another two padded briefs, six panties, three bra’s, four blouses, a cashmere sweater top, three girl’s T’s, three skirts, two dresses, along with matching shoes and her own makeup. She also had a handful of jewelry, nothing really expensive but nice.

Janice had to show the girls which pieces she would wear together. The stuff they got her, basically matched every other piece, but certain things fit together better than others, she thought.

After the fashion show, they started in on makeup again. She had to create four different looks for herself. The girls did coach her on colors and all, but they made her do her own work. Then she also had to match the makeup with her various outfits.

They ate a light dinner and then settled in to watch a movie and talk about their day. Janice was corrected on her intonation and vocabulary, as they talked. They asked her girl type questions and expected girl type answers back. They accused her of being monotone and made her repeat herself several times, till she got it correct.

“Think of it like this, Janice, when John would tell us a story, he would often get really excited by the story he was telling, his pitch would change up and down to give it emphasis. Girls talk that way, all of the time. They also use their hands more, when they are expressing themselves,” Anna said.

“Also girls negotiate with each other. I might say to Anna, ‘Anna are you thirsty?’ and she might say, ‘a little, are you thirsty?’ and I would say, ‘I could go for a drink. How about you?’ and she would say, ‘I guess I could go for a drink too.’” Margaret said.

“Why not just say, ‘Hey Anna let’s stop for a drink?’” Janice asked, “It makes more sense.” Janice said.

“That’s because you still are thinking like a guy. You have a need and put it out there bluntly. Girls like to come to a consensus. They like to be made part of the decision.”

“So girls are better committee members and guys are better at on the spot decisions.” Janice said.

“Yes, a guy might put it that way, girls want to know that what they feel about something is important to other people too, and that they are not alone in their opinions,” Margaret said.

“Oh, like when I sit down with you guys to discuss a project I am not sure of. I bounce my ideas off of you,”

“That’s it Janice, you value what we say about the projects, although in a lot of cases you have the final decision. You show us you care about what we think and are willing to listen. Most guys just decide it and never care to ask a girl anything. You are different, that is one of the things we’ve always liked about you. You get our opinions,” Vanessa said, clapping for Janice, as she finally started to really get something important. “You are our brains, on a lot of things we look to you, but you care enough to ask us.”

“I guess that is why we work so well together. We care about each other.”

“And you can’t get more girlish than that Janice,” Margaret said.

“Well, how does a guy answer the question, ‘Does this make my butt look big?’ no matter how I have seen guys answer it on TV, there is no right answer and the guy always gets in trouble.”

“There is no right answer; the guy was already in trouble before the girl asked that question. She just traps him with his answer,” Margaret stated.

“How much trouble he is in, depends on how he answers,” Anna added giggling.

Anna had Janice sit on the floor in front of her and did a braid; she started at one temple and then the other and joined the braids together at the back of the head in a larger braid. It was held in place at the end with an elastic hair band and a blue ribbon.

Janice liked the hairstyle and Anna showed her how to do it on Margaret’s head. It took her a while and she had to restart several times when she dropped some hair, but it came out all right. Then Margaret and Janice did Vanessa and Anna’s hair the same way. Vanessa was the hardest to work with, she had the shortest hair to start with and she was the most temperamental, but Margaret finally got it, while Janice did a respectable job on Anna’s hair.

“Don’t get me wrong Janice; I am very happy to be a girl. I like boys, but I just ain’t into the girly girl, ultra feminine bit. The girls know that and I wanted you to know it too.”

“It ain’t new to me either, Vanessa. I have known you too long not to have seen that side of you. It’s cool by me. I think it’s pretty cool though that we all have the same hairstyles. This could be the official hairstyle of JD’s productions.” Janice said giggling.

Anna and Margaret giggled, they kind of liked it, Vanessa groaned a little, but thought she looked alright and it wasn’t too girly, it could be worse after all. Janice could have liked sausage curls. She turned a little green as she pictured herself as a Shirley Temple look alike.

Anna looked at Janice closely and said, “You know, now that I think about it, it is a good look for you, for field work. You wouldn’t have to worry about that wind blown look, like some female reporters I have seen on TV. It looks more professional than a ponytail too. It could work out nicely. Vanessa, you could always get a Pixie cut if you don’t like this,” she said, giving Vanessa a friendly ribbing.

“No, I would look too girly or too butch, with one of those, depending on the cut. I will just keep my hair medium length and straight.”

After the late, late movie, the girls found a comfortable nest and made their pallets. They all fell asleep soon after they laid their heads down.

Sunday the lessons began again, it was just less obvious to Janice that she was being taught. They wanted it to all be natural to her. One lesson that wasn’t subtle and really confused her, was her handwriting.

“What’s wrong with my handwriting, surely that isn’t a guy/girl thing?”

“Oh but it is,” Margaret said, “Your handwriting, while only being marginally decipherable, is too bold and energetic. When you write as Janice, your writing should be smooth, flowing and highly legible. It isn’t really a big deal, but it is one piece of the puzzle, so to speak.”

Janice found writing with the longer stick on nails a little challenging, but not impossible. She had to slow down her writing and think as she wrote.

“This could be impossible to do when I am taking field notes of who, what, where, when, why and how.”

“Still, you can do a lot better than some of your hen scratch; just practice a more feminine style when you are not doing anything. Keep a journal or a diary and keep reminding yourself to write in a more feminine hand. Speed will come with practice.”

Janice then did clothing changes and makeup changes that fit the time of day, or occasion. She found that she had a multitude of different looks with just the few clothes she had, and learned it was a definite no no for girls to wear similar looks two days in a row. John, when he dressed, almost blindly reached into his closet and pulled out jeans and a shirt without considering what he wore the previous day.

Later, the girls went to the mall and just walked around window shopping. Janice was still a little nervous about it all, but she felt good that her friends were there with her. She would never have imagined doing this just three weeks earlier.

At the food court they sat and watched the people pass by. Margaret made her observe and comment on what the other girls their ages wore. She gave her comments and was corrected on her vocabulary. She was taught how girls describe things to other girls. They added new superlatives and critical adjectives, and their proper uses.

“Saying something looks good is alright for a guy, and occasionally for a girl. If a girl says it looks good too much, other girls will think she either doesn’t care; or she is lying. Girls use superlatives like, cute, wonderful, sexy, cuddly and darling. These words express more emotions than, ‘it looks good.’ Learn to draw word pictures of things that matter to girls. You are an excellent storyteller; use that ability to charm the girls you speak to. Make the girls feel something good, when you describe how they look,” Margaret said.

“What if they don’t look good? What if they look hideous?”

“Be careful there, you can really wound a psyche, if you are too blunt. Find something good to say about them and make some suggestions to improve their looks, if you know they could do better. Just understand that some girls, like some guys, have a hard time trying to look, ‘GOOD,’ so to speak. If you are too blunt, or brutal, with your criticism, you can really shatter many of these girls. If you see a girl whose skirt got tucked into her pantyhose, stand behind her and whisper in her ear. I have had that happen to me, as embarrassing as it is to be told by another girl, its worse to learn about it from laughing, or pointing people.”

“Sorta like that girl, who got her wrap around skirt, which was held on by two buttons, caught in her locker last semester. She walked away and the buttons popped off leaving her standing there in her panties. She ran to the rest room like a flash. Mrs. Bergstrom had to go into the rest room to get the girl’s combination so she could retrieve her skirt,” Janice said.

“Did you see that? You have never said anything about that,” Anna asked.

“Yeah, I was just three lockers away, when it happened. I felt sorry for the poor girl.”

“A lot of guys and a few girls even kidded her about that. I wanted to claw some of the girls’ eyes out when they teased her about it. The poor girl had to go home sick from her nerves and embarrassment. It took her a week to come back to school. It took months for her to live that down,” Anna said.

“I knew she was out for a while, I didn’t know that was the reason. Like I said, I felt sorry for her and didn’t want to add to her misery.”

“Believe us; we are proud that you never went through a Neanderthal period. We might not have stuck with you this long, if you had,” Vanessa said. “Girls can be Neanderthal’s too, but it is less common, girl’s tend to be catty and territorial in their own way to other girls. It’s a side they don’t often show to guys. Listen to them in the rest room, or gym, or anyplace there are no guys around, some can be quite vicious.”

Margaret nodded her head and said, “Melissa Thompson is that way. She can be so sweet one minute and as vicious as a hungry lion the next. Any girl who shows a weakness around her is fresh meat for her; but if they get in her face, they can back her down.”

It was getting late and it was time for John to go home. Back at Anna’s home, the girls removed all traces of Janice and set out some things for tomorrow.

John blanched a bit at the thought of tomorrow. It worried him, because he didn’t know what was going to happen. Reggie had filled his Mom in on what had transpired, she had a look of concern on her face when she picked him up, but she didn’t seem to feel the same trepidation John felt.

Monday, as it turned out, was a half-day at school due to a teacher’s workshop. John met the girls after they were released and headed to Anna’s house. They quickly did their homework and then began working on Janice. They gave it their supreme effort and had a great result.

Angela showed up early from work, to help the girls and to lend support to Janice. She was pleased to see what the girls had accomplished, with the time they had.

The kids prepared coffee, tea and finger sandwiches, for the meeting. They kept Janice as busy as they could. Ten minutes till four, they sent Janice back to Anna’s room to wait.

Waiting was murder for her, especially when she started hearing the doorbell and voices of all the people coming in. She sat on the bed and wanted to puke, but that would not be a good thing.

At about four-ten, Anna stuck her head in the room and asked Janice to come on out.

In the living room sat all four mothers, Angela, Reggie, Madeline and Helen. Janice also noted that Dr. Julie Spencer, her endocrinologist, was there.

Madeline got up and said, “Since I called this meeting let me start. I came here Saturday to talk to my daughter and found out something that we all need to know. In case you didn’t know, this young lady is John. Before any of you jump to conclusions, I feel that Janice, that is the name she goes by, should be allowed to tell her story.”

Hearing that Madeline called this girl John/Janice, Helens eyes got real big, her eyebrows arched and she looked a little crossly at her daughter.

Dr. Spencer just smiled, as she looked at Janice and sat listening expectantly.

Janice cleared her throat, which seemed to threaten to close on her and began her story at the Doctor’s office. She organized her thoughts as she spoke and related all that happened, as she knew it. She tried hard not to leave anything out that might be important. When she finished she sat down.

Helen just stared wide-eyed at Janice. She had known the kid had been hospitalized, they all did, she just didn’t know how serious things had been.

“Thank you Janice,” Madeline said, “I know how hard all that is to believe, so I invited Dr. Spencer to speak and she graciously consented.”

Dr. Spencer introduced herself and told the people there what her specialty was. “I just need to ask one thing before I continue. Mrs. Daniels and Janice, do I have permission to speak to these people.”

“Yes,” Janice said. “Of course,” Mrs. Daniels said.

“What John has said to you is true. When John came to me a little under two years ago, he still had not begun puberty. We did a whole slew of test and everything we checked came out normal, just not normal for the average fourteen/fifteen year old boy. You can see for yourselves that John has not bulked out, his voice is still high pitched for a male and his overall appearance is that of a young girl rather than a boy.

We gave John a shot of an androgen, a male hormone, to jump start puberty for him. In ten minutes, John had an allergic reaction to the shot and went into anaphylaxis, he had a rash, nausea, cramps and the lining of the esophagus started to swell shut. Just like some people react to a bee sting, or peanuts, or shell fish. I called for assistance from an allergist, whose office was in the same suite and together, we stabilized his condition and transported him to the hospital. He didn’t say it, but we were close to losing him.

He was admitted to the hospital, and placed into ICU (Intensive Care Unit) for observation. About ten hours later, he had a second bout of anaphylaxis, this one was worse than the previous, he actually arrested twice before he was stabilized.

As a precaution, we did as complete an Allergy survey as I have ever seen done. John’s body now reacts adversely to any synthetic male androgens. His body even had an Immunological reaction to his own testosterone production and that attacked his own ability to produce male androgens. John will never mature as a male. He will never go through a male puberty. Seeing those results, we then tested him for reactions to estrogens and found no sign of an adverse reaction to them.

If John does nothing, his body will slowly feminize. All males produce a small amount of estrogens, but the overwhelming presence of androgens in their bodies keep them from undergoing feminization. John does not have this protection.

He doesn’t produce enough estrogen to completely look feminine, so doing nothing; he will be stuck somewhere in between, not quite masculine, but not totally feminine. So his choices are to remain androgynous, or become a girl and begin HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) to feminize his body. Remaining androgynous is not really a good choice; hormones do so many things other than make a person look like a girl or boy. They affect growth, bone density and more. If he can’t tolerate androgens, he should be taking estrogens. Either way, he will have a hard life. He needs all the support he can get. I will do everything I can to help him, whichever way he chooses.”

Helen, Madeline and Reggie asked Dr. Spencer some questions, which she answered. They discussed his problem for some time.

Finally Dr. Spencer said, “I don’t know what John’s choice is yet. I believe he might be leaning one way, but we haven’t discussed that. Seeing him here dressed as Janice, I know what I would hope he would choose, but it is his life, his choice.”

“Dr. Spencer, I am still not totally certain, but the last two weekends my friends have tried to help me see what it’s like from the other side of the fence, so to speak and I am leaning strongly in that direction. I know I just can’t start taking estrogen right?”

“Ordinarily you would be correct, and even in this case. I would rather wait till we hear from a Psychologist/Psychiatrist specializing in gender issues first. In your case, I could start you on HRT because of the circumstances, but you will be under a lot of stress once you begin HRT. I would rather you wait on a psych eval first. It won’t be easy for you. The hormones will affect your emotional state of mind, as most women know. You need to know what to expect.”

“I think that Janice has acquitted herself quite nicely tonight, I am also quite proud of all our girls, for helping their friend. How do you feel about this Helen?” Madeline asked.

“I have to admit this is all a shock. It seems that I am the last to know about it. I came close to pulling Nessa out of here, when I learned that this girl, Janice is really John. This is hard to believe, but I do believe what Janice has told us. Our kids are good for each other; I have seen how he has affected my daughter and how she has affected him. I will support him.”

Madeline stood and looked at Janice. “I will too Janice or John, we all will, I believe. I have found a psychologist’s who will see you, if you want. I know money is tight in your home and this person has agreed to see you on her own time. (With a little help from Madeline, which she’ll never mention) Margaret mentioned that you made some tentative plans, what are they?”

“I don’t know if you would call them plans, but we talked about maybe doing this on weekends to see if I can adapt. I realize that there is more to being a girl than just hormones. We also talked about me spending most of this summer as Janice. If I decide that this is the way I want to go, I might start before school starts this fall. I realize it might be best to change schools also.”

“You might want to change schools; I know it might be hard on the girls, but I realize that it might be best for you. If you need help legally, the firm I work for has agreed to help Pro Bono. Our girls would be devastated if you just up and left them, so please let us help you.”

“I don’t want to leave either, but I want to live till I am eighty-five too. I don’t know if I can just show up at our school as a girl. I don’t know how well I would be received.”

“Well we have some time to sort that out, until then keep us informed. Margaret has my permission to help you anyway she can. I am sure the other girls will too. Just be whoever you need to be.”

“Oh yes, by all means,” Helen said.

“Same here,” Reggie said.

“I want to thank all of you. It has been so hard, always being strong for John. It is good to know that you all support him or her.” Angela said, getting a little emotional. She had been quiet while all this had gone on, a little afraid of what might happen. It was good to see things headed in this direction now.

“Well we are all here for you as Janice or John, dear. Whatever we can do to help just ask us?” Madeline said.

Janice hugged all her friends and instead of changing she went home with her mom dressed as Janice. There was nobody to pay attention to her, as she got out of her Mom’s car, so they just acted naturally. Janice stayed with her Mom till just about time for bed, when John came back.

***************

At school, the week went by and on Friday, the girls checked out the equipment after signing their lives away. They would have the equipment for a whole week. They planned on using it a lot over that time.

At Anna’s home, they made sure that all the batteries were charged, and everything was ready. Margaret got her laptop and the video editing software, her parents had gotten her along with a card reader and an interface for video editing of VHS recordings. They recorded a video of the transformation of John to Janice and practiced editing that video.

Janice was amazed to see the transformation as a third party, instead of just seeing it in a hand mirror. Anna did the work on her, although Janice had a modest ability at it.

On her laptop, Margaret took the forty-five minute make over and edited it to ten. They then had Janice write a script and do a voice over, describing what was happening, as a reporter would describe it. They took three tries, before everyone was happy and they burnt four DVD’s, one copy for each of them.

Tomorrow, Janice had to go back to being John for the shoot, but afterwards, she would make reappearance. They got their notes out on the Festival and wrote an opening script, where John would be describing what would be happening, along with the history of the Festival. They did a rehearsal with Janice doing the script in the living room by the mantle. They then reviewed their work. Satisfied with what they had seen, they saved it to Margaret’s hard drive and erased the tape and memory cards, before calling it a day, since they had to get up early the next day.

At six the next morning, John cleaned up and dressed in his best suit. It was a very nice boy’s suit. The girls fussed with his appearance till they were satisfied that he looked as good as they could make him look. Anna tucked John’s long hair inside his coat and used a hairdresser’s tape, to tape it down to his shirt.

They ate and loaded their equipment into the Margaret’s Mercedes. The Festival started at nine, and John wanted to get those early interviews done and out of the way, before the festival started. They would then do roving interviews with many of the participants and workers.

Vanessa then stuffed her pockets with dozens of batteries, for all the wireless mikes. Margaret checked her audio equipment and Vanessa and Anna checked their cameras, before departing. They wired John up with the camera’s wireless mikes, and they also checked their radio equipment out. The girls had earphones and small boom mikes and John had an earpiece, with a built in mike, so they could communicate, regardless of their other wireless equipment.

At the festival John did his opening three times and then found the Sponsors of the festival, for their interviews. The sponsors were the local Women’s Auxiliary; they were tickled pink that the kids were doing a piece on their festival. They bent over backwards to give the kids whatever they wanted. John gave them an opportunity to describe their group, what their goals were and what they hoped to accomplish.

Vanessa and Anna got loads of usable material. The festivals director was entertaining and articulate. John’s questions showed just how well he had absorbed the material they had earlier provided him. They finished about fifteen minutes before the beginning of the festival. The girls changed their batteries and set the used batteries up in their mobile chargers.

This was one thing Mr. Dawson stressed to them; always have fresh batteries and spare recording media. If you were at one story and some breaking news occurred, it did not bode well to have dead batteries, or no spare video recording media.

Vanessa carefully tucked away the work they had done already, and then they got ready for more recording.

They roamed throughout the festival grounds picking up human interest bits here and there. Most of the participants were from six to twelve and their parents. The kids seem drawn to John and his easy- going manner. He felt almost like a celebrity, he and the girls had a crowd of kids and parents following them.

John would squat down to the kid’s level when he was interviewing them, unfortunately, when he talked to the adults, he had to look up. Someone came up with a six-inch wood box for him to stand on and it made the process easier for him and appeared more normal.

John whispered to the girls, “I almost wished I was wearing a pair of heels, but I am sure that would go over big time.”

That had the girls giggling big time. “I am sure we could come up with some, if you want,” Vanessa whispered back.

“I think I will pass on that, I am not sure all these good people would take a liking to that.”

At noon, John did several closing bits to the video. The festival still had a few hours to go, but they had a mountain of material to sort through. They would have to condense it down to a three-minute spot and they were also going to do a twenty-minute documentary.

Back at Anna’s, they unloaded all their equipment and carried it inside. They inspected everything to make sure they had not damaged anything and set aside all their recording media. They had a light lunch and then brought Janice back.

They transferred all their video to Margaret’s hard drive, standard VHS tapes, and DVD’s. They then checked all their work to see that it was all in good condition and usable, before erasing the memory cards. They lamented that they couldn’t keep the cards, they cost over nine hundred dollars each.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in girl school. Janice complained about being told that she would be corseted down to twenty four inches all week, but her cries fell on deaf ears.

They critiqued how John did things and about how Janice should do the same things. What John had done, was not that different from what Janice would have done, but there were several areas that would need to be more feminine for her.

“You know Janice, I was surprised at how well the children adapted to you. Kids don’t normally flock to a guy like they did to John. He interacted so well with them and treated them with respect. I am not saying most guys don’t respect kids, but they do treat them differently. I could see Janice though, when John worked with those kids,” Vanessa pointed out.

“I just treated them like I would want to be treated. Some of those kids were really quite bright. There was one girl who was about eight, I guess, who is really going to be a heart breaker when she gets older.”

“I know who you mean; she was as adorable and precious as she was precocious.” Anna said giggling. “You have got to use her in your three minute spot. She took a real shinning to John.”

“She was a bit of a flirt. You’re right Janice; she’ll have the boys fawning over her.” Margaret said.

“Ok, Janice, you said something about heels, so let’s have you walk some more in five inch heels. Mom has a couple of pair she hardly ever wears. They are very hard on one’s feet and calves.” Anna said, heading to her Mom’s room.

She returned with two pair of shoes. One pair was black patent leather pumps and the other pair was sandals with three straps, two across the foot and a third above the ankle. The pumps were a little tight, but Janice could wear the sandals.

Janice felt like she was standing on her tippy-toes. She found that she was taller than Anna was now.

She started walking tentatively at first and mentioned the tightness she felt in her shins. They didn’t let her sit for forty minutes, then it was only for a few minutes. Even though she had worn similar heels before she still found it challenging, she learned to squat to pick something off the floor, while maintaining her dignity and how to walk up and down stairs, without breaking her neck.

She was grateful when they were through with this part and let her sit, but they stopped her when she started to unbuckle the shoes.

“Not until bed dear,” Anna said, “This will help your legs get use to the shoes.”

When Reggie got home from the shop, Janice stood, then walked over to Reggie and gave her a hug. Reggie stared and giggled, as she saw Janice stand and walk. She wasn’t totally graceful yet, but she did a good job, she did have a cute wiggle as she walked.

Reggie gave her a big hug, “That was wonderful, Janice.”

“Yes, Anna felt like I needed to be tortured.”

“Well, let me tell you a secret.”

“Mom no!!!” Anna said in protest, her face blushing.

“Yes dear, no secrets from your friends, especially Janice. Anna tried for a week and she still isn’t as good as you are. She wore shoes like those for a wedding we both were in. Anna swore she would never wear them again.”

“I can understand that, after wearing them for two hours.”

“Turn around let me see you in them.”

Janice took three steps away and then turned for Reggie.

“They look really good on you, Janice; they make your legs and tush look really wonderful. Did you do your own makeup?”

“Yes Ma’am, does it look alright.”

“You did a good job for a novice, not as good as Anna or myself, but very nice.”

“Thank you, I had good teachers.”

“Why, don’t you girls fix dinner? Then you can enjoy yourselves.”

The girls went to the kitchen and all of them pitched in helping. Janice did the actual cooking, with Anna directing her actions. Margaret and Vanessa helped chop and dice the foods. Janice learned about spices, how things should be cooked, and how dishes were prepared. They marinated chicken breast in Tequila and margarita mix for an hour and then grilled them in the broiler. She wasn’t allowed to sample the marinade, before they used it. On the stove, Janice steamed some carrots and broccoli. Margaret made a big salad and Vanessa made some garlic bread. Anna took the marinade and made a sauce out of it. They each got a taste after it was reduced.

“Janice, I would have let you fix the sauce, but you have to be careful when cooking with alcohol. It burns with an invisible flame.”

“I know, we use it at times in chemistry, the flame is invisible except when there are metallic salts mixed in. Then the color varies according to the metal of the salt. Sodium produces yellow, lead is a real pretty blue, and copper oxide a green.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Yeppers. I dun gud in Kemistry.”

“Then cooking food is just basic chemistry, after you cook it, you have to present it and that takes artistry.

The girls showed her what they meant. They each took a dish and artistically presented it. Janice had seen food served this way in restaurants, where each dish was carefully placed on the plate and sauces and garnishments were added to make it look nice.

“Garnish like parsley, serves two purposes. First it adds color to the dish and eating it, helps remove some bad smells on the breath, from the food,” Margaret said.

“But the food smells so good now.”

“Food odors on the breath can be offensive and tend to get stale with time. Think garlic, it can add to the flavor of food, but people with garlic breath are mostly avoided by others. Would you kiss someone with garlic breath?” Anna asked.

“No, I guess not. Really, I haven’t kissed anybody.”

“Who have you been attracted to?” Vanessa inquired.

“Sexually nobody, I just never had the hormones to kick in the sex drive. I don’t think I could be attracted to a guy though. I just don’t know that part of my psycho/sexual self never got around to developing. I guess I am more asexual.”

“I don’t think we ever thought of you as a sexual creature. I’m not trying to hurt you by saying that. It’s just how I know I felt.” Anna said.

The other two girls agreed.

“That’s ok. I understand really. I think it could have fractured our friendship if I had been attracted to one or the other of you.”

“Well, you got us all for friends at least.” Anna said.

They set the table for six; Angela showed up and spent some time with the girls. The adults commented on how good the food looked and how it smelled so wonderful. As good as it all looked, it tasted better.

“Who cooked this, the chicken is wonderful, quite zesty?” Angela asked.

“Janice cooked it, Mrs. Daniels,” Anna said.

“Yeah right, I just did what Anna said. I couldn’t have come up with this dish without her.”

“Well you did a wonderful job,” Anna said, “It still could have been screwed up.”

After dinner the girls served coffee and desert in the living room. They talked about their day and showed Reggie and Angela the video they shot that day, along with the transformation video. Angela was besotted as she watched her son become Janice. She had never seen it happen and was simply amazed; as she watched the girls work.

“Since you started all this, I haven’t really seen a big change. You are yourself, just more relaxed at it, Janice. I just didn’t realize how feminine you were to begin with. Seeing you dressed like that is not the big shock I expected.”

“I wouldn’t have thought so before, but you are right. I act more like my friends than the boy I was, but I have learned a lot from the girls. They just took what was there and expanded on what I was, rather than taking parts away. If that makes sense?”

“Perfect sense, Janice. You are becoming what I think you should have been in the first place,” Reggie said. “There was very little of you that shouted masculine to take away.”

“Oh, I forgot to mention, you have appointments with Dr. Spencer and a Dr. Candace Walker, this Friday. Dr. Walker is a psychiatrist that specializes in gender dysphoria. She is the one that Mrs. Bradford was talking about.”

“Ok, Mom.”

The group continued talking about this and that till it was late. Angela went home and the girls got ready for sleep. After such a busy day they all retired shortly after ten that night.

The next day Janice was up first at about six, she cleaned herself up and got dressed and made up. Down in the kitchen she made coffee. She pondered what they should have for breakfast. Anna came in led by her nose to the coffee pot, wearing a robe.

“Ooooh coffee. What are you doing up so early on Sunday and already dressed?”

“Just woke up, I felt good, so I decided to get ready.”

Anna walked around and looked Janice over. “Well you did a good job.”

“Thank you. Let’s fix a good breakfast for everybody.”

“Ok, what did you have in mind?”

“Biscuits, gravy, sausage, and scrambled eggs.”

“Ok, we will do the biscuits from scratch.”

Anna just gave directions as Janice worked. She sifted all the ingredients together and then made biscuit dough. She pre-heated the oven and put the biscuits in. She then cut up some sausage and began frying it in one pan, before she began cooking eggs in another. Anna chopped up some green onions, mushrooms and bell pepper to add to the scrambled eggs. Anna then taught Janice how to make cream gravy in the sausage pan.

The others wandered in and made the juice, and set the table as Janice was finishing up, by pulling the biscuits out of the oven. While eating they discussed their plans. The girls wanted to take Janice to the mall again. Reggie said, she had to go in to the shop and do some bookwork there and order supplies.

Janice and two of the girls cleaned up, as one by one they left to shower and get dressed. Janice did the other girls makeup after they got dressed. She found she learned more by being able to do the other girls faces. She also liked doing this for her friends. The girls made her redo her face, just before they left.

At the mall, Janice learned many tricks the girls used, like where to go for better prices, or certain looks, which places had the best clothes, where to find affordable jewelry that was hip, where girls hung just to be around girls and where they hung to watch for guys. They did buy some things for Janice, that they felt she needed, but mostly they just did their thing there.

After a couple of hours the girls got some drinks and sat at a table in the food court to talk.

Anna had been thinking about what they could do the rest of the week and said. “You know, we still have those cameras, it would be ashamed not to use them more. I think we ought to shoot some more stories.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but I think Janice should find some stories and see how she will do as a girl.” Margaret said.

“I don’t know, we could never turn them in for credit.” Janice said a little worried.

“Credit is not the point of the exercise. We get more experience with the equipment and you get more experience as a woman, doing stories that might appeal more to women, or learning to appeal to a bigger audience.”

“I don’t have any clothes that would make me look like a professional, but is that even important, I wonder.”

“Just leave that to me,” Margaret volunteered.

“Sounds like a plan, lets head home in a bit and come up with some ideas for the shoot,” Vanessa said.

They made a few more stops and then headed home. They tore into the newspaper to see what might peek their interest. They laid on the floor and started checking what was going to happen in the next few days. They looked at the pros and cons of the various ideas they came up with.

They picked one idea, a meeting in city hall, at 9:00 AM, Monday, that dealt with parking problems in the downtown area. That had in the past been a heated issue, with workers parking on the streets, shoppers not being able to park, store owners complaining, jury members having to walk a long distance to get to the courthouse and such.

Not a hard news story, but not fluff, this type story was the bread and butter on televised local news. It was a serious issue to many different groups. Janice went to Anna’s computer to see what she could find on the net, while the girls got their heads together and planned what they wanted to do.

They got together and talked it over while they started to prepare dinner. They decided to go to the meeting for a couple of hours, tape the meeting, interview several people from the various factions and council members.

“You’ll need to look very professional Janice, to get any respect. I think I know just the look. My mom is only a little bit bigger than you are; she has a ton of suits because of her job. Anna, she’ll need a very professional makeup job and maybe have her hair in a knot or a bun,” Margaret said.

“I think I know just the look. You know how Terri Nelson, the local TV anchor, often looks. Her hair and makeup would look good.”

“I think that is a wonderful idea,” Vanessa said.

“What do you guys mean?”

“I have some tapes of the news, we can go over them after we eat and then you can see for yourself,” Anna stated.

“Ok, then we have a plan.”

They had dinner on the table when Reggie got home and they talked about what they had done that day. They told her about what they intended to do on Monday. She gave a few comments about how Janice should look.

“I tell you what, you have Janice ready by six-thirty, I will do her hair and Anna you know enough about makeup to do that. I need to be at the shop by eight,” Reggie said.

“Ok then, we will need to set the alarms for five-thirty,” Anna said.

“While you are doing her hair and makeup, I need to head home for a few minutes. My Mom heads out to work at about seven and I need to see her,” Margaret said.

“Ok, we will need to leave here by eight. So you will need to hustle Margaret.”

“I will have to organize my thoughts tonight; I got some good material over the internet.”

After dinner they sat and watched some of the tapes Anna had of the news. Janice paid attention to Terri Nelson and the other female reporters on the tapes, learning their mannerisms and the way they asked questions. She talked to the girls asking them what they thought of this reporter, or that reporter, and they helped pick the best sequences to learn from. They also talked about some of the mistakes they thought they made and what they thought could be improved on.

Janice then took her notes and practiced an opening spiel for the girls and practiced asking some of the questions she anticipated asking. The girls played the parts of the various factions and drew follow up questions from Janice. They worked till they were satisfied with their plan.

While Janice got ready for sleep the girls took this time to shower, there was just too much to do for all of them to shower in the time they had tomorrow. Janice found herself being laced in the corset tighter than before. Down to twenty three inches.

“Why tighten me down further?” Janice asked.

“My Mom has a twenty four inches waist, she wears a corset often enough she doesn’t get bigger. We need to get your waist down to that tonight,” Margaret said.

They all found their nook and settled in to sleep.
 
 

*          *          *

 
 
End of Part 2
 
 
To Be Continued...
 
 
And That is the Way it Happened  © 2007 by Paula Dillon

up
233 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos

Comments

This is a wonderful story.

This is a wonderful story. It is very moving and reads well. You are an extremely gifted writer.

What, Not David Brinkley?

Has no one noticed the paraphrasing of Walter Cronkite's old sign-off line from his CBS Evening News days?

Nice stuff.

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

John, "Good night Chet."

John,

"Good night Chet." rings very hollow. Paraphrasing Cronkite's "that's the way it is." works. ;-)

Absolutely

I thought the title a clever twist on Chronkite's old line.

An enjoyable story.

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

Good night and good luck!

I agree with the other comments. This is a wonderful story so far. It is a little lacking in conflicts but Chet seems to be lurking in the background.
Hugs!
grover

Wonderfully Done Paula!

You have much improved the dialogue and its flow since chapter 1! It feels very natural now. The action was in build-up mode and seemed more in line with what the group itself did normally and not out of place. I found this Chapter very enjoyable and am already itching for Part 3! Very well done Paula!

*Hugs*

Sephrena Lynn Miller

Fun Story

Paula,

Like the others I have enjoyed what you've written so far and am looking forward to part 3. I do have one small nit that needs to be picked however, but it's more techie and really doesn't affect the story so far.

You described the camera that the TV station donated to the school as using standard VHS tapes, the problem is that VHS even SVHS does not meet broadcast specs and was never really accepted in the Pro environment. It is at best low end industrial. Hi 8 made an attempt but the quality degraded quickly after the 1st generation. The primary camcorder format used has always been Beta. With Beta SP or DigiBeta being the primary versions in use today.

One of the reasons Beta was adopted was the way the tape wrapped around the record drum allowing the tape to travel fast enough. Pro Beta runs past the heads at a much faster speed than its consumer version (the Pro version of the old 2hr L500 is only 20 min, it's same case but better quality tape). Depending on the camera or the record back they would have either 2 or 4 audio inputs which could be used for either wireless or hard wired mics, with channel one normaly used for the camera mounted mic if it was attached. I realize this is more info than anyone really cares about, but after 20+ years in the business it was a small itch that I had to scratch. Anyhow, what the station would have been donating would probably be old Beta SP gear while they upgraded to DigiBeta or even HD.

Once again thank you for an enjoyable story and I look forward to many more chapters (and maybe a little more Biggs, please?).

HugZ,

KarenB

Pro Cameras

Hi Karen!

I've done some stringer work for a TV station, and my brother still does. I hit the same speed-bump on the VHS that you did, but rereading it I saw what it said was they transferred their work to VHS, as well as the hard drive and DVDs. At least that's the way I read it.

BTW, I gotta say, the equipment the fictional TV station donated to the school is what we used every day at the station I worked at, and still do according to my brother. One edit bay had a console that requires some of the keys to be struck repeatedly before they finally activated. The station still uses the Betacam SPs, although they have considered the Panasonic DVCPro as their next cameras. The cost of HDTV transmitters and antennas/towers has greatly cut into other equipment upgrades.

My brother has his own well-used SP, and would like to get a gently used digital. Someday. I use a consumer-grade Panasonic DVC that I can send video to the station via the Internet if I catch something interesting, but I no longer live in their market so that doesn't happen very often.

Hopefully, by this summer I'll have a story out that has the backdrop of a working TV station, you should find it interesting. Check back in a couple of months, I have two more chapters of my current story to get out first, then the next story is about 60% written.

Karen with a "J"!

"A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you."
Francoise Sagan


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

Karens, Paula

Great story, I like how it is evolving.

Karen_J, is the story with a TV station backdrop *that* story? The one I've seen early drafts of? If it is, GREAT.

Paula, keep this up and you have a gem on your hands.

John in Wauwatosa

John in Wauwatosa

And That is the Way it Happened -2-

Wondering what Janice will do in school, other than being a reporter

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine