Chapter 1 - Death and Rebirth

This is my first attempt at any type of fictional story. All of my writing efforts until now have been extremely technical in nature dealing with computers, amateur radio and electronics. So dear reader, please don’t drag me over the coals for typos, grammatical or any other errors. Your gentle encouragement means more than flame email at this point!

While some aspects of the story are true I am happy the way I am and don’t feel the need to change. I’m not sure if I would want to go through a change of this magnitude even if it was possible. This story is an attempt to explore the concept in the form of some hopefully interesting fiction.

This is entirely a work of fiction with a few life experiences added in. All of the characters in this story are fictional and any resemblance to anyone else living or dead is entirely a coincidence. This story and the following chapters may be archived on any web site provided no fees are charged for access to the story. If you intend to publish this story in magazine or book (paper or electronic) format please contact me for arrangements.

This is a multi-part story with additional chapters to be added over time.

If I had known that day three weeks ago was to happen that day I probably would NOT have even gone to work. I hope that by writing this all down I can make some sense of what has happened and where I’m going. At the very least I need to document what happened.

Almost three weeks ago, WOW, has it been that long? It seems like the accident happened only days ago not weeks. Maybe that’s because I’ve been out of it for most of the recovery period. The doctors tell me that for 19 days I was in a coma. I’ve only been awake for less than 6 hours. Things have been extremely strange since I woke up.

Three weeks ago I was a 45 year old overweight man with a list of health problems a block long. Thankfully most of my problems were under medication and controlled. Sure I had problems but then everybody else did too so I just wasn’t anything special. At least I thought so anyway. I got paid very well working in a great job. My house was paid for and I drove a reasonably new truck. I worked a normal week, didn’t have to do much overtime and normally didn’t have to take my work home with me. I even managed to do a little consulting work on the side in my chosen profession of computers and networking.

I do remember the accident like it was yesterday. I work (I wonder do I still have a job there?) at a small College as their network design, installation and operations person. In short, I was a one man department. The pay is (was?) pretty good and the hours are (were?) OK too. I had gone to work looking forward to a light day. Since it was a Friday in the middle of summer the network wouldn’t have lots of traffic and I could get some very much needed upgrade work done on some of the switching equipment.

I called our operations desk and talked to the help line person on duty. I remember the conversation clearly. "Hi, Sue. Anything going on this morning?"

"Not a thing, Bob. All quiet so far and I don’t expect much either. Looks like another Friday where we can do some catch-up work."

"That’s just what I had in mind today, Sue. I want to work on the old building today to upgrade some of the firmware in the switch modules later this afternoon. If it’s OK with you and there are no other problems when I’m ready I’d like to get started around 2 PM on it."

"That looks good, Bob. You’ll send out the usual email alert to the campus?"

"Yes, all set to go and waiting for the OK to send it."

"Ok Bob, let it go. And please let me know what the weather situation looks like. The forecast says thunderstorms for this afternoon. I know how you don’t like to work on the network when the storms are near the campus."

"I’ll keep an eye on it and let you know. I’ll catch up with you later. Gotta go! Bye!" On the last job I had the management didn’t understand the danger and almost got a bunch of us techs killed when lightning struck the building. The building had nearly 5 miles of wire for the sound and telephone system and the strike sent a couple of thousand volts through the wiring we were working on. Thankfully it was a very short pulse but it was enough to badly burn one of the guys and knock the rest of us out cold for several minutes. It blew up around $50,000 of test equipment too. Most of the crew recovered in a couple of days. I didn’t feel right for almost 6 weeks. I’ll NEVER work on another system with storms less than 10 miles away. Just too dangerous! (Looking back I wonder now if it was a sign of things to come.)

I put the phone down then turned to my PC for a quick weather check. Sue was right. The forecast said thunderstorms in the afternoon. Some may even reach severe levels. The cold front that would trigger the whole mess was still a couple of hundred miles away and moving towards us at about 30 to 40 miles per hour. When they did hit there would be a pretty good natural fireworks show and I didn’t want to be around the wiring when the lightning started.

I sent the message out about the outage in the building and went about my other tasks. At about 1:30 I did another weather check. The cold front had moved much closer but it looked to be far enough away that getting in about 30 minutes of work would be fine. I decided to go ahead with the upgrades and let operations know that I should be back in the office by about 2:30. They are usually pretty good about keeping track of us. I think that was a part of what saved me.

I went to the oldest building on campus. The network closets were shoehorned in with the power closets. Old wiring and even older electrical equipment were always a problem. A complete rebuild of the electrical system and lightning rod system was due next year. Until then we were making do with the old stuff. I got set up in the closet a bit ahead of schedule and waited a couple of minutes for the appointed time to arrive.

I used my notebook PC to upload some new firmware code to the switch and reset it so the code would take effect. I then proceeded to change a few configuration items to get things back to normal in the building. Just as I shut down the notebook I heard a sharp crack and a flash of green light through the open door of the closet.

I remember thinking, "DAMN! The storms are here a sooner than I figured. I’ll grab the rest of this stuff and get the hell out of here." I had just placed a hand on the steel frame of the grounded equipment rack to stand up when I felt a burning sensation in my left leg. My entire body stiffened as every muscle locked in place. The sensation shot through me to the right hand that I had on the steel rack. I felt as if every cell in my body was exploding as I blacked out.

I’ll have to fill in the rest from the bits and pieces I picked up since I woke up. They found me about 10 minutes after I took the lightning bolt. They had realized I was in the building when the lightning hit and sent security to check on me. They tell me that the ground wire for the lightning rod on top of the building went through the closet I was in. The wire then went down through the floor to a BIG ground rod system in the basement. The wire just past the floor had corroded through and was no longer a good ground. Since lightning likes to take the shortest and best path to ground that turned out it was through my body and my hand on the grounded rack. I took the full force of the lightning bolt through my body.

The doctors told me that it severely burned my left foot. The damage extended up through my left leg and torso through my right arm to my hand. What they couldn’t believe was that I was still alive when the ambulance crew brought me into the hospital. The path taken by the lightning should have by all rights destroyed my heart and several vital organs as it swept through my body. By the time they had wheeled me into surgery the wounds had already begun to heal on their own! While my skin in those areas was reddish and a bit swollen felt it smooth and had a light covering of fuzz type body hair. The type of body hair a woman would have. My damaged right hand had also begun to heal except it appeared a bit smaller and with longer more graceful fingers than my undamaged left hand. My left foot also exhibited similar characteristics. A smaller foot when compared to my right foot and slightly longer toes.

The doctors were only able to add a breathing tube in surgery and add some various tubes in arteries and veins to administer nutrient solutions and to measure my body chemistry. I’m told that they put me in intensive care and waited for my condition to improve. Instead of improvement I apparently took what the doctors saw as a turn for the worse. Every single hair on my body fell out except for the few small hairs on the now healthy skin where I had been burned. I didn’t have that much hair on my head anyway since I was going slowly bald but now I had none at all.

Then my body temperature shot up as my kidneys eliminated massive quantities of water and other assorted materials. Something like at least a gallon or more an hour. Slowly over the course of a few days the doctors figured out what was happening to me. I think what finally convinced them was when my penis started shrinking and I started growing breasts. The long blond hair that had started growing on my head and pubic region was a hint too. Yes, I’ve seen the photos they took and the change from male to female was disturbing to watch even in the photos. My body shrank day by day as the excess mass was washed away by the gallon. The mass that did remain re-arranged itself in spectacular ways. My once flat chest ballooned up into the nicest pair of breasts I’ve ever seen. Not that I had ever seen any live in person anyway. My waist once measuring over 66 inches shrunk to a size much smaller than my hips. What could have been best described as thunderthighs took on female proportions and curves. My thighs no longer touched each other! Most amazing of all was that day after day my male parts reduced in size to be replaced my completely female plumbing. Yes, the doctors have assured me that I can now get pregnant and deliver a child normally. That was quite a shock the first time I heard it.

The docs took some DNA samples from my old hair and found out that my DNA as a male was very strange. I guess I’d known something was wrong for most of my 45 years. I’d always had some strange health problems that normal science couldn’t fully explain. I have (HAD DAMMIT I keep forgetting!) high blood pressure and some of the initial medications the doctor gave me just didn’t work at all or were toxic in the levels that he had to use to control the pressure properly. It just wasn’t normal since millions of people were using the SAME medications and having no problems at all. Some antibiotics used for curing common infections either made me sicker than the bug they were supposed to cure or don’t work at all either.

Then there was my digestive system. It turned out to be extremely efficient at getting the most out of anything I ate. That’s why I was very much overweight and had a terrible time in loosing any of it. I had finally reduced myself to eating what people would call a very small "normal" meal only once a day with only what was needed to prevent my stomach from being eaten up by the medications I took at other meal times. I didn’t like it but I had finally lost two inches off my waistline in a year. I was very proud of that.

I must admit that waking up in the hospital was an experience that I’ll never forget. As my eyes fluttered open and I began to move around slightly in the bed I heard someone next to the bed dial a phone and speak into it. "Hello, Doctor Abrams please. Doctor, she’s waking up. You’re needed here now." She hung up the phone and turned back towards me. I tried to speak but all that came out was a squeak.

The nurse said, "Take it easy sweetie. You’ve had a very big shock. The doctor will be here in a few minutes to answer all of your questions."

Although I tingled all over I was able to raise a hand to indicate that I wanted something to drink. The nurse offered some water that I gladly gulped from a straw in a glass. As I made a motion to thank her I noticed that my hand no longer looked like what I had become used to. These fingers were long and delicate with smooth skin and long mails. MY hands were rough and cut up by scars from years of working with tools and wire. I looked in amazement as I brought both hands together in front of my face. They both looked the same, long delicate fingers with soft skin and well kept nails.

It was then that I noticed something else was not right. My vision wasn’t blurry either. I could see no familiar out of focus outline of glasses or feel the weight of them on my nose. I tried to lift my head to take a look at the rest of me but only got dizzy trying. The nurse said to stay still. I couldn’t feel too much else because my body felt sort of numb all over. Waiting for the doctor seemed like the best course of action so I just gave in and waited. I thought back to what the nurse had said. Wait a minute! The nurse said SHE when she called the doctor and then she called me sweetie! All of a sudden the world faded to black.

I caught part of their conversation as I woke up again. I looked over at the doctor and made a small squeak. "Hello, Bob, I’m Doctor Abrams. You’ve had a pretty big shock to your system. To keep you from thrashing around when you woke up we gave you a nerve block. Your body mostly feels like it’s numb right now. Is that right? Just shake your head yes or no.", he said. I shook my head yes. "Do you think you can handle the details of what happened to you?" I shook yes again. "OK then I’ll give you the release agent so your body will "wake up" as we’re talking. Don’t worry, your voice should be one of the first things to return. It will be a little rough since we had a breathing tube down your windpipe." He reached over to the table and picked up a loaded syringe. I didn’t feel the needle poke my neck but a few seconds later the tingle in my throat started to fade away.

"In a few more minutes you should be able to talk. Now I need to tell you what happened. Do you remember anything about the accident?" I nodded yes. "Good. You do remember that you took a lightning strike through your body?" I shook my head for no. "Well you took the full force of the strike. The lightning really hurt you. In fact the strike was so great that it scrambled your DNA. We didn’t think it was possible until we took a sample of your old DNA from your hair. It was quite unusual even as it was then. We think that the lightning strike activated some long hidden genes in your DNA. Thank God that it did. The damage to your body was as extensive as I’ve ever seen in someone still alive and I doubt that we would normally have been able to repair it. Your body however did better then we ever could. It looks like what kicked in was an incredible healing ability. Since your remaining DNA was so scrambled your body decided to take what was left and repair the damage. Do you understand so far? Try talking now."

I tried to clear my throat then squeaked out "Yes". Even accounting for the breathing tube damage the voice that I heard was just not my old one. "I unnerstand."

"What your body did was to repair the DNA then use it to repair you. The closest it could come to a normal human was to make the DNA that of a female. As your body repaired the damaged areas first they became female. Then the genes went to work on the rest of your body to make it match. I know this is coming as a great shock to you but we can document the process with pictures and data we collected during the changes. You are now a fully functional female of around 24 to 26 years apparent age. Your hair color changed from brown to blonde and your eyes went from a sort of blue-green color to the brightest blue anyone at the hospital has ever seen. In short you look fabulous!", the doctor tried to do his best Billy Crystal doing Fernando Lamas impersonation.

"SHIT!" I thought. I croaked out "Any way back to the old me?"

With a great look of sadness he explained. "No, not as far as our limited understanding of what happened to you is able to determine. There is no known way to get you back to what you were. I’m truly sorry."

I totally lost control. Great sobs of grief shook my body as the flood of tears began. The doctor looked over at the nurse then motioned he was leaving. The nurse came over and sat on the side of the bed. "It’s ok to let it all out sweetie. I understand." She held me up in her arms and we sat there for at least an hour with her rocking me back and forth gently while stroking my hair.

I only realized then what most women meant by the expression "having a good cry". During that hour I cried for what I had lost. I cried for my mother who died 5 years ago. I cried for friends and pets that passed away through the years. I cried for several relationships that I had tried and failed at. And I made up for over 40 years of suppressed emotions during a lot of very bad times and a very few good ones. I was inducted into the "real men don’t cry" club at a very early age because that was and still is expected of men. I had suppressed a lot of things during more than 40 years of life and they all came flooding back to my memory in a raging torrent of emotions that threatened to drown me. As my tears slowed down and the sniffles subsided I realized that the tears helped the pain flow away. Yes, the pain was still there but at level I could now handle. I wondered if men were to find out what they were missing if their tradition of not crying would vanish. It seemed too ingrained in the male mind in a male body to ever change.

I looked up at the nurse and thanked her. "No problem sweetie. Just return the favor when someone else needs it OK? I think you’ll find things quite different in the female world. Usually women are quite a bit more help to each other than men are to help other men. It has something to do with their silly custom of trying to do everything themselves with no help from anyone else."

"Thank you. I don’t even know your name.", I said.

"I’m Peggy Thompson. I’ve been assigned to you on this shift since you came in. I’m happy that I was here to see you wake up and that you’re ok!"

"I’m not too certain that I’m ok right now but I am awake and feeling much better. I guess you know my name is… ah was Robert Stevens. I guess I can’t really use Robert now that I’m a woman. I don’t like Roberta either. I never liked being called Bobby when I was a kid and I know I wouldn’t like being called Bobbie as a woman. I’ll have to choose another name. There are a bunch of other things I’ll have to change too. Drivers license, Social Security card, credit card accounts…", I trailed off lost in thought at the nightmare that now faced me with a change in identity.

"I think the Doctor had some more information for you. Would you like to talk to him again?"

"Yes but please give me about 30 minutes or so to freshen up. I have to go to the bathroom real bad right now."

"I think I had better help you. You haven’t been out of bed since you got here and you’re not used to your new equipment." I blushed at the thought of what was to come. "Now don’t get your panties in a bunch sweetie. I’ve been through this hundreds of times. Well at least helping to get a woman out of bed to go to the bathroom. Helping a guy turned into a woman go to the bathroom is a new one for me though!" She giggled as she re-arranged the sheets to make it easier for me to stand.

"Now take it easy and hang onto me with an arm around my neck." I swung my legs over the side of the bed and almost had to fall off the bed to have my feet reach the floor. When my feet hit the floor my knees started to fold as my head started spinning or at least it felt like it was. "Easy. Your body was used to laying down for 19 days. It will take a bit of time for your system to work out that you’re vertical and make the right adjustments."

I nodded in agreement as we began a slow shuffle towards the bathroom on the other side of the room. By the time we got there I was feeling much more confident that I wouldn’t be kissing the floor with my face any time soon. She turned on the light as we entered the bathroom. I reached over to grab the hand rails to steady myself since I was still wobbly. She reached over to lift the cover on the toilet and remarked "I guess you won’t be leaving the seat up now will you?"

I nearly fell down laughing at the thought of bare bottom hitting ice cold porcelain on a winter day. She caught me just before my bottom hit the seat. "Hold on there. You need some instructions! Spread your legs a little more then try to relax the same muscles you would have used as a man. Don’t try to aim since there is nothing to aim with. It’s going to feel very different than you were used to." I nodded as did as I was told. A few seconds later a waterfall thundered into the toilet. "I guess you DID have to go didn’t you?" I nodded in agreement.

"Now use some folded up toilet paper to wipe yourself dry. Wipe from the front towards the rear and be careful not to wipe back too far. Also, you may hit something down there that will startle you. " Again, I did as I was told. Being empty felt good in either sex. I carefully wiped and dropped the paper into the toilet. As I was bringing my hand back up I accidentally brushed a small mound down there. Peggy saw me stiffen when I did it and grinned. "Welcome to womanhood. You just brushed your clit. Quite a sensation isn’t it?"

"I’ll say…… And I DO know what the anatomy down there is and does. I remember my high school biology lessons very well. Is it always that intense?"

"I’m sure you’ll have a chance later to figure that out for yourself" she said with a wink. "Right now I need to get you back in bed and get the Doctor back for the rest of his visit. Do you want to try the walk back on your own? I’ll be right beside you to help if you need it."

"Let me wash my hands then I’ll try." I grabbed the bar of soap and turned on the cold water. I jumped when the water hit my hands. Peggy grinned and said that I’d have to get used to adding in some warm water. A woman’s skin was a bit more sensitive than a man’s was! I gently dried my hands with the towel and turned towards the bathroom door. I was shocked at how much my new breasts jiggled as I turned. My face got bright red again. These things were absolutely HUGE!

"It’s OK. I think I had better look into clothes sizes for your new body and at least get you a couple of bras and some basic things. You do have a nice set but I think you do need the support a bra will give them."

"I guess I’ll need a whole new bunch of clothes. None of my old stuff will fit any more."

"I think the Doctor has some more information for you on that too. Let’s get you back to the bed and I’ll go get him."

I headed back to the bed and almost made it before my knees buckled again when I got near the edge. Peggy caught me and helped me get back into the bed. "Thanks again Peggy. Can I get some food? My tummy is telling me I need to get something to eat and drink. I feel like I could eat a whole cow right now."

"I doubt that. Your stomach is a LOT smaller than your old one. You’ll fill up a lot faster too. I’ll see what our cafeteria can dig up. I don’t need to warn you about hospital food do I?"

"Nope. I know the old joke. If I only hadn’t eaten the hospital food I would have been out of here 4 days earlier. It took me that long to get over the cramps it gave me!" I said dissolving into a fit of giggles.

"Hey! That’s a NEW one and I thought I had heard them all. Can I use it?"

"Sure can. Now please go find the doctor for me and something to eat while I try to decide on a new name!"

Peggy headed out into the hallway on her mission. I was finally left alone for a few minutes to consider the past 19 days. Waking up and then finding out I had changed from male to female was enough of a shock but learning that there was no way back to the old me finally made me totally loose control. A good cry for an hour had done lots to clear my head. I knew for certain that my life had changed forever. Just what was ahead and how well I would be able to function again was still unknown. I guessed I would have to take little steps and go just one day at a time for a while until my path became clear.

I was lost in thought when I heard a knock at the door. I told my visitor to come in. It turned out to be Doctor Abrams again.

"We sort of got interrupted during our conversation. You alright now?"

"I don’t know totally about "alright" yet Doctor but I do know I feel better now than about an hour and a half ago. So much has changed and I’m still trying to deal with it."

"Well I have some more information for you that should help. First, public interest has been running very high in your progress since someone leaked word out about the changes you were undergoing. Seems there a whole bunch of your friends and family that want to see you as soon as you are able to accept visitors. The press has been clamoring for any scrap of information they can get too. We had to triple security to keep them off of this floor. They were ready to set up camp outside your door to get any news about you. In fact about half of the floor is off-limits to EVERYONE except people with these special badges. So far we’ve listed your condition as guarded to the public and press."

"There are a couple of ways we can handle this. Neither choice is trouble free so you’ll have to tell us what you want to do. The first way is that we can announce you took a turn for the worse and passed away. Then we’ll set you up with a new identity and help you move to another location to start your new life. Yes I know you’ll loose all of your friends, family and your job but you won’t be the center of a whirlwind of publicity or the fringe crowd."

"The other option is to just tell the truth. You’ll be the center of a storm of publicity for quite some time maybe even for the rest of your life. The College has said that you WILL be able to go back to your old job and you will be able to see your friends and family again but you and they will be under a public and press microscope. Everything you say and do will be a prime target for the tabloids. There are some things you can do to reduce their interest like simply laying down the law about them following you at work or other personal areas and making them stick to it via lawsuits. It has worked for others in similar positions and it should work for you."

"Either way, your employer's insurance has come up with what appears to be a generous compensation deal since the grounding system for the lightning rods was at fault. I’ll let their legal experts talk to you more about it but since they are talking about a 7 figure settlement and your new body is rarely ever going to need health care I’d say go for it. We also have arranged for help for you to set up a new identity based on which path you decide to take. We’ll take care of your credit records, Social Security card, and everything else. All you need to do is make the choice Bob."

"Doctor Abrams, the first thing I want to do is ask that you and everyone else to call me Jennifer. For all practical purposes Robert David Stevens died when the lightning strike hit him 19 days ago. I can never go back so I may as well consider myself re-born in a new identity. I think I would go crazy trying to do otherwise. I know I need to make a choice and be rather quick about it. It appears that the longer I wait the worse the security problems become if I decide drop out of sight. Can I ask you to let me have about twenty minutes to think about it? I assure you I can make my decision and stick to it in that time."

"OK Jennifer. I saw Peggy out in the hall with a tray of food for you so why don’t you dig in and finish it. You can have her come and get me again when you are ready."

"Thanks Doctor. I do appreciate everything that you and the hospital have done for me so far."

Doctor Abrams left as Peggy came in with the tray. "Here’s some of our special cafeteria food. I sampled a couple of the things and since I’m still alive I think its safe for you."

"Thanks again Peggy. I need a little while alone while I eat to think over some things. Can I give you a buzz when I’m done eating? I’ll have a few questions to ask you then."

"Sure. Just hit the call button by the bed and I’ll come running! Gotta get back to the nursing station and find out what else is going on in the hospital."

The food wasn’t bad but then it wasn’t real good either. Like most hospital food it was cooked to within a micron of turning into mush and almost totally devoid of any flavor. I guess it was good that it lacked any flavor. I don’t know if I would have really tasted it anyway with everything running through my head. Did I want to just crawl in a hole and disappear from the world and live my life in fear of being discovered and hounded or did I want to face that problem head-on from the start and try to retain some of past life and my friends and family? Even if I did decide to be open about what happened to me how many of my old friends and even my family would accept me as I am now?

After almost 20 minutes of slowly stuffing food in my face and doing some serious thinking all I had were more questions than answers. It came back down to the fact that no matter what I did eventually I would be caught like a deer in the headlights of a car at night. I had taken a good look at myself in the mirror in the bathroom. Why oh why did my body decide that I had to be nearly every man’s dream girl. I had large firm breasts riding high on my chest even with no bra to support them. I’d guess at least a 34D maybe even a 36. My chest tapered down to what to me looked like an almost impossibly small waist. Maybe 24 inches if that much. Then I flared back out to full wide hips. I’d guess 34 inches or so. My hair was long and full and reached well down my back . It was the color of golden honey with lighter streaks (I think they’re called highlights) running through it and all natural of course. No dye job there!

My face looked great even with no makeup applied. The biggest bluest eyes I have ever seen on anyone above a short slightly upturned nose. My lips were naturally red and shiny and carried a permanent slight pout. As I looked in the mirror I thought that if it wasn’t me in here I’d take me to bed in an instant if I ever had the chance. And this response was from a former guy with a zero batting average with the ladies. "OH MY GOD!" I thought. No matter what I do I’ll have men all over me asking for dates and wanting more than I’m willing to give. How am I ever gonna deal with all this? Just before the tears started to flow again I hit the call button and collapsed on the bed in a sobbing heap.

A couple of minutes later the door to the room quietly opened after a small knock. Peggy stepped in and shut the door behind her. When she saw me on the bed she sat down again and held me gently stroking my hair with a slight rocking motion. My sobbing tapered off to a case of the sniffles and very wet eyes after a few minutes.

"Kinda caught up with you again didn’t it?" she asked.

"Yes I just realized that no matter what I do I’ll never be able to blend into the background again like I did before all of this happened."

"Look sweetie, you never were really able to go unnoticed you know. So many of your friends have stopped by wanting to see you. I talked with many of them and found out that despite your awkward appearance then many of them saw something in you most people only wish they had. The saw a very intelligent person that took the feeling of others into account first and never asked for anything in return except friendship. Many times you placed your needs after the needs of your friends and family. It didn’t go unnoticed dear."

"No matter what you look like that is still a very basic part of your personality and can never be taken away from you. I think I know from your brief look at yourself in the mirror that with the right attitude and clothes you could have anything you wanted from anyone at any time with very little effort. I suspect that your basic nature won’t let you abuse the power you now have in your appearance. All you need to learn is what every woman learns as she grows up."

"Thanks Peggy. You’ve helped me to make a decision that didn’t seem to have a clear answer before. I’ve decided to tell Doctor Abrams that he’ll just have to get used to having me around a while longer. No matter what I do I can never hide myself away so I may as well face the public head on and live my life as I see fit. I know its not going to be easy. He’s already said that the press were nearly ready to set up camping facilities outside my door to get the story on my change. I think that if I go into this with the attitude that I’m running the show then I’ll come out of it in one piece."

"Well Jennifer the staff did talk about options for you a few days ago. That was the option I would have picked for myself if I were in your situation. A direct frontal attack will certainly keep them off-balance for a while. At least long enough for you to adapt a bit more and get your life back in order before the news vultures start circling again."

"Peggy will you help me? I have to learn all of the things a woman should know by this age and I think you may be the best one to teach me. I can talk to the doctor to see if they can loan you to me as a sort of personal assistant for a couple of months and I’ll even arrange for them to keep all of your benefits in place and keep your job open for you too."

"I’ll certainly consider it if the hospital goes along with it. Right now I think I need to get Doctor Abrams back in here again. It sounds like you’re ready to talk to him again."

"That will be great. Peggy, how did you know my name was Jennifer?"

"The doctor made a small sign and put it on your door with some tape. It just says Please call me Jennifer!".

"Oh. I’ll have to thank him. It will help me get used to the new name if everyone starts using it now." Can you send him in?"

"I’ll have him come right in."

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. I answered "Come in".

The door opened and two people stepped in. The man appeared to have a TV camera setup on his shoulder with the light on it blaring in my face. The other was a short woman with black hair in a blouse and short skirt. She carried a small microphone.

"Hi, I’m Dorene Evans and this is Joe Adamo my cameraman." She shoved the microphone in my face as the cameraman started taping. "How does it feel to be a woman now?"

"Look, I’m sorry but I’m not giving interviews now. I just came out of a coma and don’t feel like talking to anyone right now. How did you get in here anyway? I was told that they increased security because of all the reporters around."

"Oh come on. That’s not answering my question. I’ll ask again, What does it feel like to be a woman now?"

"Dorene is it?" She nodded yes. "I’ve told you that I’m not giving interviews now. Please leave." I reached over and hit the nurse call button.

"I’m not taking no for an answer. Now I can make your life very miserable if you don’t answer. What’s it like turning into a woman?"

"Please turn that camera off NOW!" The camera guy complied. "What part of NO INTERVIEWS didn’t you understand BITCH?"

"OK sweetie we’ll play it the hard way. I can get VERY nasty to those that don’t co-operate when I want to get a story. You’re real close to being at the top of my shit list right now. You had better get with the program and let me have an interview. I have a deadline for the evening news to keep."

"I don’t care if you have a deadline or not. I SAID NO INTERVIEWS RIGHT NOW. I just woke up from a 19 day long coma just a few hours ago and now you barge in with your load of shit expecting me to have everything sorted? I SAID OUT NOW!"

"OK THAT DOES IT! I’ll get back at you no matter what it takes. You life is going to be a living hell from all of the publicity you’re going to get. You had your chance and you wouldn’t cooperate with me. Now you’ll pay the consequences."

"I’ll warn you now… You had better make damned sure that ANYTHING you put out me had better be 100 percent accurate and you better have proof that you have reliable sources. I’m not going to stand by while you and the other news vultures tear me apart as stepping stone for better jobs or the main reporter on the national news. One of you lower life forms will eventually be made an example to the rest that dragging someone through the mud publicly had better be well deserved." My face was turning red with anger and the scowl on my face would have curdled milk all by itself.

The door burst open as Peggy came back in. "What are these folks doing here?" she asked.

"It looks like security wasn’t quite on the ball. These two news vultures were just leaving weren’t you?" Peggy opened the door and yelled for the security guards.

"Alright I’m leaving. Just remember what I said. I can be a real bitch when I want to be."

"Looks to me like you don’t really have to work at it much since it seems to be one of your basic personality traits doesn’t it? Oh, and by the way, is that a moustache on your lip or have you been forgetting to take your estrogen pills again?"

The security guards entered. As the Wicked Witch of the evening news was leaving I added "OH, SECURITY FOLKS? They were taping in a PRIVATE ROOM. Please confiscate their tapes. I’ll have them reviewed and anything that does not involve images of me will be returned to the station where they work with a strong warning about these two." The cameraman opened the camcorder and handed me the tape that was in it. He just looked her way and shrugged his shoulders mouthing the words "I’m sorry. Wasn’t my idea." as he left.

Peggy sat on the foot of the bed shaking her head. "Sorry I just don’t know how those two got past the security check points. I’ll have the staff review our procedures again to see what happened."

"That’s OK Peggy. It had to happen sooner or later. I just wasn’t expecting it this soon. I’ll have to expect this kind of stuff I guess. I just hope the news bitch doesn’t go out of her way to manufacture some story I can’t fight back against. I think I’m going to need the support of a lawyer friend of mine on this stuff. I’ll have to call him tomorrow. Is the doctor out there?"

"Yes, want me to have him come in?" I nodded yes and Peggy went outside.

A moment later Doc Abrams walked in and took a seat beside the bed. "Sorry about all the ruckus. We’ll look into stepping up security some more. Well, what have you decided?"

"It looks like we’re going to introduce the new me via a press conference. I can’t imagine life in hiding and I really want to be with my friends and family if they will accept me in this new body. Before we set up the press conference I’d like to talk with someone from the legal firm representing the College in the settlement and someone from the College security department tomorrow morning. If you can get me the telephone numbers and a phone I’ll be glad to do it myself. I also need to call a lawyer friend of mine on another legal matter. After all of that’s over we can set up the press conference late in the afternoon. I’ll ask Peggy to see if she can get me some things to wear tomorrow for the conference. Nothing to dressy just a shirt and slacks right now. I’m not ready to try dresses or skirts yet! I’ve also asked Peggy if she could be my personal assistant and teach me whet I need to know about being a woman if I can get the hospital to co-operate. Can you check into that for me and let me know who I deed to talk to?"

"The people at the insurance company are on-call and waiting to see you. All we need to do is let them know when. Shall I call them and tell them about 9 AM tomorrow?"

"That sounds good to me. All I need to do is talk to the security director at the College to see if I can have them do something for me. If I can it will make getting back to a normal life a bit easier at least where I work. I’m hoping to have myself declared off-limits to the press except for someone I specifically invite to visit me at work. If the College will do that it will help a lot in getting back to normal."

"I’ll get you the number in the morning. I think it’s a little too late to try calling them today. I’ll also find out about Peggy for you. I agree that she should be a big help to you in adjusting. Just follow what she says and you should do just fine. I think we have the clothes situation covered too. We do have your measurements and got some basic stuff when we determined that you would recover. Not a lot I’m afraid but a couple of good blouses and some jeans that should fit you well. We even have the underwear you’ll need. Peggy will be in with the stuff first thing in the morning and help you get ready for your visitors."

"Thanks Doctor. I’m feeling a little tired now and think I need to get some sleep. Oh, can you have someone bring in a BIG pad of paper and some pens. I need to do some writing. It always helps me think when I can put things down on paper."

"I’ll send it right in. Have a good nights sleep and welcome back to the world of the living!"

And so there you have it. Not very coherent I know but then at the moment I’m not either. That’s the story of how a balding 45 year old 400 pound plus guy by the name of Robert David Stevens became a extremely cute 24 year old knockout blonde woman with Jennifer Marie Stevens for my new name.

Oops. I just looked at the clock. It doesn’t feel like I’ve been writing this for almost 2 hours now. I’ve got a big day to deal with tomorrow and I do need to get some "beauty" sleep time in. I don’t know what tomorrow and the rest of my new life will be like. All I can try to do is try as much as I can to enjoy the ride.

-------- To Be Continued in Chapter 2 --------