Chapter 14

When I went into my apartment, I looked around at the mess. My early morning breakfast things were still on the table. In my bedroom I picked the expensive dress off the floor, found a hanger for it, then smoothed my bed. I found a new pillowcase to replace the smeared one.

Sighing, I pulled the soaking one out of the bucket, wrung it out and put it in a shopping bag. Filling another bag with laundry, I left the house once more to walk to the laundromat. Luckily, it was open all hours, and there were other early birds in there when I arrived.

We nodded to each other, and I loaded the machine with a week or more of washing. Sitting on one of the chairs I opened an old magazine, reading about people I know, from a period before I knew them. That was weird. I could read the made up stories now and deduce some of the truth from the knowledge I now had. I laughed a bit and put the magazine back on the pile.

“What’s so funny, at this time in the morning?” asked a teenage girl, sitting beside me.

“It’s some of these stories about the stars. The writers must take what’s said and write fiction around it.”

“Yeah! There’s a story in this magazine I bought, yesterday. It’s an expose about a new film star that I’ve never heard of. It claims that she’s really a guy.”

She showed me the article. There was a picture of me, cropped from one that I knew had been taken of Roger and me at an earlier function. I looked good, with no hint of masculinity. The writer cited an un-named source and gave my old name, in full, and that I had worked as an airline steward. There was a lot in what was written that could only have come from one person. I pulled out my phone and called Jim.

“Hello, Jim. Sorry about the hour but I’ve just seen an article in a magazine that was on the stands yesterday. It names me as Jamie and there’s enough facts in it to back that up.”

“This is serious, does it name the source?”

“No, but there’s a picture that I know was cropped from when Roger and I were at a party, before I went to Hawaii to do the film. It’s got to have all come from him.”

“Right, Julia, what’s the magazine and the writer, I’ll get on to this. I’ll put out a press release that the facts are basically true. You might have to explain how you came to be Julia at the interviews, this week. I suppose that it’s best that it’s in the open, at least we can cover up the cracks before the premiere. I’m going to send Jeff to a salon and tailor this week, so that he looks good on the red carpet in London and New York. You’ll be booked in the salon Friday.”

I told him the name of the magazine and writer, ended the call, and gave the girl her magazine back. She was looking at me, wide-eyed.

“You’re the one in the article? No way you’re a guy. What on earth are you doing in a laundromat?”

“I live down the road, and I needed the washing done. And, yes, underneath all this I’m still a guy, and the article has facts in it. The guy who blabbed was very nice to me, some time back. I thought that we could have had a future. He was the manager of the agency I’m with, and that was the owner of the agency.”

“But you look fabulous!”

“You should have seen me, yesterday. I was in a bunch of hostesses, in dresses that would look good on the Real Housewives, on a terrace in Monaco. Nobody would have said that I’m a bloke, the dress I had on could never have hidden the tackle.”

“You were on a terrace in Monaco yesterday, and in a laundromat in London, this morning?”

“It’s called real life, honey. All of the people in that magazine are real people, who had their bums wiped as babies, been smacked by their parents as kids, and smacked by their girlfriends as teenagers. We don’t all live in palaces, with hordes of flunkies.”

“So, if you’re really a guy, how did you end up as a film star?”

“Well, it all started on a flight from London to Sydney, via Singapore, with my spare uniform unusable.”

By the time we pulled our things out of the drier, she had been laughing at my story, and gazing at me in wonder as I related the Hawaii experience, the flight yesterday and the upcoming premiere. Telling the story, to a stranger, enabled me to start composing what I wanted to say in any interview. I pulled out my phone and asked her for her name and address.

When Jim answered, I asked him if he could courier ten tickets for the London premiere to her, as she was the one who had alerted me to the article. He told me that he had texted Roger to tell him to forget about Melbourne. I told him that I would be in the office on Monday, so we could sit down with Horatio to work on the press release.

I then asked her for her phone number.

“What’s your mobile, Sherona? That’s a very pop name.”

She gave me the number, which I keyed in.

“Not as bad as my twin sister, she got called Sharina. She’ll be at the premiere, what’s the film like, anyway.”

“It’s a rom-com chick flick, with a car chase for any boyfriend dragged along to see it. Are the other eight all going to be girls?”

“Yeah. We’re still at school, and we have a big band of friends. So, I can bring all girls, then, it doesn’t have to be boys, as well?”

“All girls is good. I’ll give you a call. Tomorrow evening. I might be able to organise a minibus to pick you all up from school one afternoon, and take you to my dress supplier, so that you all look good at the premiere. What do you say?

“Wow, that will be expensive, though.”

“My treat, Sherona, you did give me the chance to head this article off at the starting gate. I’m sure that the agency will have it dampened down by the time I see you at the cinema. Make sure you bring your phones for selfies. I’ll tell Kurt and Jack to make time to stand with you.”

Back at home, I put my things away, tidied the kitchen and put the kettle on. With a steaming cup in front of me, I sat to compose what needed to be said. I had one thing in my favour. I had never, at any time, knowingly hidden my past. All the cast on the film knew who I was, with the girls knowing me when I was still living as a guy. There were salon staff, all over the world, who had seen me naked and worked on my body. Jeff had known me since school. Even Roger had known when he was kissing me. That was one fact that could sink the story. I made a note to see if there were any pictures that showed us kissing.

That’s when it struck me. Would he screw any chance he had of redemption over the starlet baby? What if he had blabbed to her, with her spilling the beans as a back-handed attempt to discredit him. Everyone who had met her called her a bimbo. No! scrub that. His parents had called her a bimbo, which only indicated that they thought that she was beneath him. But she had been - beneath him, that is.

I rang Jim, again. I apologised for bothering him and he told me that he was glad I was on the ball. I told him that I thought that it could have been the pregnant starlet that blabbed, and why I thought that. He said that Roger had still violated a client’s privacy to another client, and that it was good enough to be sacked, if it turned out to be true.

My mobile rang and it was Jeff, wanting to know how I was. I told him that it had been an interesting morning and said that I would pick him up and take him out to a country pub, for lunch, while we still can. This morning had shown me that recognition was becoming a reality for me.

I showered and dressed in thicker tights, a short denim skirt, woman’s shirt, and a sweater. As I pulled on my boots, I thought that I would have to be as feminine as I could be for the immediate future, to offset that story. With my Burberry over my arm, I walked out to my car, and headed off to see Jeff, who didn’t know, yet, what a pile of crap was coming our way. If our relationship could withstand this, it could withstand anything.

He was at his door as I arrived and he got in, leaned over, and gave me a kiss.

“You look good, this morning. Not as good as you did, last night. If I’d been a brute, I could have taken advantage of you.”

“You wouldn’t rape a sleeping woman, Jeff, so don’t try to kid me. Thank you for looking after me when we got home. I’d just fallen off a cliff, after having a big day. If you hadn’t unzipped me, I’d probably still be wearing that dress, it was so snug.”

“You looked beautiful, darling. Like a goddess.”

“You were quite god-like, yourself. It’s great what good clothes can do for you.”

“You’ll look good naked, Julia.”

“Not yet, my love, just wait a month or so and you’ll be the first to see, I promise you that. That brings me to something we need to talk about. Wait until we see a news-stand.”

I went by one of the railway stations and parked in a waiting zone. I told him to get a few copies of the magazine and gave him a couple of notes. He was off, and back, clutching some copies, in double quick time. I pulled away to continue our trip.

“What are these for? Surely, it’s too early for a review.”

“Just have a look through one. You’ll see what the problem is, as soon as you read the article.”

He went through the magazine, slowly checking each article as he went. As soon as he saw the picture of me, he glanced my way and then read it through.

“Wow, that’s not something I would have thought I’d see. There’s no way you could sue over this, as it’s all correct, as far as I can see.”

“There’s no thoughts of any litigation. What’s done is done. I’ve spoken to Jim a couple of times this morning, and he thinks that we’ll agree that it’s factual, a first for that magazine, and that we’ll tell them the whole story of how I became Julia. If we do it, this week, we can dampen down the conjecture. This will mean that the premiere is likely to attract a bunch of anti-tranny protesters, but any news is good news. It will ensure that we’re on the late news and will probably have bookings to a Sunday show before the film is finished.”

“What about the next picture?”

“Kym will only look at the takings of this one. If we do well, she won’t care about one of the stars being controversial. It will add to the hype around the project. By that time, I would be fully equipped to be Julia, and you will be able to stand up and tell them that I’ve been tried and tested.”

He gulped and looked back at the magazine, with it now on his lap, hiding the boner that had suddenly grown. I knew it was there, I would have reacted the same if a girl had said similar things to me.

The lunch could have been a disaster. The pub had a selection of magazines on the bar, and the waitress picked me straight away. She told me that she could see that the article was total rubbish, so I tested the waters to say it was all true, and that Jeff had known me when I was at school. Instead of telling us to leave, she kept asking questions about how I looked as good as I did, as she knew someone who had worked in a bar with her, who loved wearing women’s clothes.

Before we left, both Jeff and I had signed her magazine, and we had posed for selfies with her, as well as with the publican and most of the patrons. I had told them a little about the film, and that it would be in general release this time next week. We then got into the car, and I started to drive home.

“That went well, darling.”

“It did, Jeff. It showed that there are some people in the world who have open minds. We could have been stood against the dartboard and used for target practice.”

As I drove back to the city, my phone rang, so I told Jeff to get it out of my bag and answer it. When he did so, it turned out to be Horatio. Jeff had it on speaker.

“Jeff, can Julia hear me?”

I spoke so that he knew I was there and asked him what he was calling for.

“It’s good that you’re together. Jim has told me about your alert this morning, and I have some copies of that magazine. I’m calling a meeting of the interested parties this afternoon, at my place. Can you write down the address?”

I pointed at a texta in the centre consol, and Jeff wrote the address on the cover of one of the magazines.

“Can you be here about two-thirty. Jim and David will be coming. I’ve arranged a Zoom conference with Kurt, Kym, Jack, and Eric. I’ll include the other four girls, and we’ll agree on the stand we’ll make.”

Jeff looked in the street directory and gave me instructions on how to reach the address, luckily in Richmond, so we didn’t have to cross the city. When we arrived, a maid opened the door to us, took our coats and showed us to his office. He had set up a big screen with five chairs, so that we would all be visible at the meeting. We had a drink and discussed the situation, as Jim, and then David, joined us. At the allotted time, Horatio hit the ‘host’ icon and, one by one, the others filled the screen.

It wasn’t a long meeting, considering the gravity of the situation. The only people who hadn’t known that I wasn’t a woman at first sight was Kurt and Kym, but they had known my story before we started shooting. With me being looked after by dressers and beauticians, it would have been impossible to have kept it secret.

Kurt was kind enough to say that when we had kissed for the first time, I was as good, if not better, than most of the other actresses he had kissed before – except Kym, of course. The girls could relate on how I had been dressed for the first time, and that it had been brave of me to have gone through with it. David said that he had twigged, early on, because of my lack of jewellery, but that I had been attractive enough, even then, to be asked to go to the shoot for a screen test.

It didn’t take Einstein to figure out what we would present, and Jim said that he would call a meeting, in the office, with any scribe who wanted to be there, so that we could present our case. Kym and Kurt promised to be available, on Zoom, if needed.

On the way home, Jeff asked me if the other girls had laughed when they saw me for the first time.

“No, Jeff. It was a no-win situation. If I hadn’t done it, we would have been one down with an already depleted crew. It was that or jump out of the plane. It would have been a black mark on my record, anyway. It was lucky that Wanda’s a big girl, as it was only her shoes that fitted me, along with her spare clothes. I might have been able to change back, only the problem that my personal case was back in L.A. when we arrived in Singapore, which kicked that off the field.”

I parked outside his home, and we went inside. We talked about the past, and the future. He asked me if I would marry him, when I had transitioned, and I said yes, so we spent a little while kissing. Actually, I think we spent a long while kissing, as it was getting dark when I was back in the car to go home.

On Monday, we had a couple of tasks to do. Jim was in charge of the rest of things, so Jeff wanted to buy a ring. I had told him that it didn’t have to be huge, or even a diamond. I picked him up and we went into the city, where we looked at several rings. The one we bought was a beautiful ruby, with a couple of small diamonds around the main stone. While we were there, to save time later, we bought each other a wedding ring, leaving them to be engraved later, with the date to be advised.

I needed to see my dress supplier. When we walked in the girls noticed the engagement ring and gave me hugs, but the manager was a bit stern and asked about the magazine story. We told her that there would be a meeting with the press when they would be told the facts. That mollified her a bit. What did pique her interest was when I told her that I was outfitting ten teenage schoolgirls so that they could attend the premiere. She, of course, already had tickets.

I got the days when she could stay open a little later, as I told her that they would be brought straight from school. Jeff had been wandering the shop and said that they did menswear as well. She asked him if he had the loyalty card, so he rummaged in his wallet and showed it to her. While one of her girls helped Jeff pick an outfit, she took the card to enter it on her database. While we were at it, I looked for something that would match with Jeff, when he had chosen something.

He was worse than a lot of girls I know. In the end, the girl and I told him what he looked best in, and that left me to only take ten minutes to pick, and try on, something good. Talk about role reversal! After getting the clothes put in garment bags, paid for and his card back in his wallet, we went to the shoe shop, where we showed them what we had to work with. An hour later, we had a pair of big bags with shoes in. We had both seen shoes that we liked, as well as those for the premiere. Once again, his details were added to another database.

We had a late lunch with Mama. She saw us walk in and came over to give us her condolences on the magazine article, and then saw the ring, which changed her attitude to a congratulation. When we were seated, she told us that she knew who had ratted to the magazine, because her no-good son had shown her that very picture on his phone. I had to tell her that even if it wasn’t him, his job was gone because he had given private details to another. She thought about that. “Bimbo?” I nodded.

I told Jeff that I needed to think about what I would say at the press conference. He said that he also needed to think about that. We agreed to meet up when we knew the time that Jim had organised. I dropped him at home, helped him take his parcels inside, had some good kissing time, and then took my own shopping home.

About five, I called Sherona. She said that Wednesday would be best, and that a couple of the mothers wanted to park at the school and go with the girls on the bus. I told her that was good. Then rang the dress shop to tell them to expect ten girls, and a couple of mothers, on Wednesday, after school. I then rang our transport people to book a bus for twelve to fourteen, Wednesday afternoon at the school. Destination at the dress shop and then back to the school. Not long after that, Jim rang.

“Julia, you won’t believe this. I put the word out to the usual suspects, and I have had more answering than we can cater for in the office. I’ve booked a room at the hotel around the corner, so we can fit them in. It will be at two, tomorrow afternoon. I’ll contact all the others. On another matter, the dress designer from Monaco has asked if you girls can all wear the outfits that he’ll give you for the New York premiere. He even wants the five other stewardesses there. He’s going to supply a dress for Kym, as well.”

“That’s nice of him.”

“He just wants to cash in on the picture of you all posing as Real Housewives. He’s already used it for a full-page spread in an American Movie Magazine. I’ve invoiced him for using the image of my clients and told him that he had better run it past us before he does it again. Michael took the details of the other girls on the way home, so I’ll see if they’re free. If not, I’ll talk to their boss. I’ll send cars for you all, tomorrow, to make sure that you’re all present. Can you bring any albums, or photos, that you have as a youngster.”

“Will do, I think that there are a couple that would be good.”

I went and had a look at my collection. There was rather a good one of Jeff and I, side by side, in a class photo from our last year. The others were alongside him. We were quite the bunch, back then. It has soured things, for me, for Larry to suggest that we were in a homosexual relationship. It took some of the gloss off a time that I was starting to discover what I wanted to do if I couldn’t fly. I took it to where my computer stuff was, plugged the four-in-one into the laptop, and got it all warmed up. I scanned the picture and then printed it off on photo paper.

There was another, from my training days, of me, with several other stewards in front of a plane, before we took our first, serious, flight with pretend passengers. That had been our final exam. We had to wait on an angry businessman, without losing our cool. I think that it may have been the first time I had used some of my feminine skills, by listening and being caring. I know that I passed top of that class.

I put these in a folder, to take with me. There would be plenty that showed me as Julia. I looked in the folder, again. The picture in front of the plane did show a slight resemblance to the Jamie I became.

I added my notes of what I wanted to say and put the folder in the bag with my tablet. There was nothing more that I could do now. The only thing that mattered, to me, was that I could leave that press conference with my head held high. I knew who I was, and how I came to be the me that stood here. I was set to become visually indistinguishable from most of the female world; I was already engaged to a wonderful guy who had known me for years; I had been congratulated for a film I starred in that would be premiered on Saturday, and I had another in the pipeline.

“Yes,” I said to myself. “You’re Julia Leigh, actress and star, and bugger anybody who doesn’t see it!”

Marianne Gregory © 2024