This is a work of fiction, with a few real life experiences added in. All of the characters in this story are fictional, and any resemblance to anyone else living or dead is probably a coincidence. Please notify me if you are archiving this and the other chapters of the story on a web site. Permission specifically granted to Sapphire’s Place, Crystal’s Story Site and any other free access TG fiction web site to archive this. If you intend to publish this story in magazine or book (paper or electronic) format, please contact me for arrangements. Additional information on this story may be found at: Zapped! on Stardust .

Thanks to Lynn Jennings for her excellent editing aid. I’ve made a few changes since her editing so any errors left behind are mine!

Zapped! Chapter 17 — Unwanted Changes By Bob Arnold
Copyright 2004 by Robert Arnold — All Rights Reserved

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, April 7, 2003 — Continued

I’m back on the ground again after a quiet flight from Syracuse. Tammy and I arrived in Orlando just after noontime. A limo was waiting to take us to the hotel and I watched in amusement as Tammy oohed and aahed at the local scenery. Seeing the world thru her younger eyes was something of a shot in the arm for me after closing myself off from the wonders surrounding me for several weeks.

We just settled into the hotel when the phone rang with a message from Mark’s office staff. I had a meeting first thing in the morning at his office to work out my schedule for the next three months. Until then I had the day to myself and I decided to take advantage of the time and get out a bit. My stomach started complaining a little and I realized that I hadn’t really had much in the way of breakfast.

Tammy’s tummy was rumbling too and it didn’t take much to convince her to come with me to my favorite burger place on the park grounds. Much as she did during the limo ride, her eyes got real big as she watched the underground tunnel system go rolling past as we headed for the nearest tunnel entrance to the burger place.

I was recognized the instant I walked into the place and almost the entire staff on duty at the time hugged me as I made the rounds. Tammy and I sat in a relatively quiet booth near the back as the lunchtime crowd packed the place.

“So how do you like it so far, Tammy?”

“I’m so excited, Jen. I can’t wait to see and do everything!”

“Well, just remember why you’re here, Tammy. You’re supposed to be my personal assistant. Your main job for the duration is going to be to keep me sane and healthy. I’m going to take a good guess and say that it isn’t going to be a very easy task in view of what I’ve gotten myself into.”

“I know, Jen. I just hope you’re going to take the time on weekends to rest and have a little fun yourself. All work and no play makes Jen real crazy, right?”

“That’s my plan, Tammy. I’ve already told the management that the weekends are untouchable except for the weekend of the attraction opening. I know I can’t do what I used to and work for days or weeks without some kind of break. This body won’t let me.”

“You aren’t going to get mad at me if I have to remind you now and then are you?”

“Tammy, I’m COUNTING on you to remind me. If you see me doing too much or starting to treat myself badly I WANT you to step in and pull me back to reality. Sometimes I just can’t do that by myself anymore.”

“Okay, just remember that when I have to pull back on your activities and you don’t like it. I know you’re here to work but not so hard that you work yourself to death.”

I nodded in agreement then proceeded to demolish what was left of my burger, fries and a great super-thick chocolate milkshake. A few minutes later we were rolling thru the tunnel system again. Tammy was excited about seeing the attraction and I’ll have to admit that I was rather excited myself to see how much had been done while I was recovering. The golf cart scooted up the ramp and rolled to a stop next to the locker reserved for my use. My work clothes were where I left them except for being freshly washed. Even my hard hat was there all nicely polished with the scrapes and dents repaired. Someone had put a second hard hat in the locker and I handed it to Tammy for her use while we were on site. The bulk of the heavy construction was now completed so I decided that I’d forgo the work clothes and stayed in my street clothes. The full tank top and almost knee length shorts I had changed into at the hotel were fine for a tour of the place. As a concession to safety I exchanged my sandals for a pair of work boots and had Tammy do the same. There was still a bit of construction debris scattered here and there in the hallways and various rooms.

Tammy followed me out into the hallway that ran the length of the attraction for maintenance access. As I started to open the door that led into the backstage area of the new theater, someone stepped thru the door knocking Tammy and I to the floor. We looked up to see a huge man over six and a half feet tall with a head of scruffy blond hair, big blue eyes, and a big bushy moustache.

“OLAF! You big oaf! We’ve GOT to stop meeting like this. My butt can’t take much more!”

“YENNIFER! It’s goot to see you again.” Olaf’s Swedish accent was as thick as ever. “Who’s your little friend here?” Olaf extended two bear paw like hands to help us up off the floor.

“This is Tammy, my personal assistant and Girl Friday. Tammy, this is Olaf Gunderson, one of the construction crew and a completely insane person whom I’m proud to call a very good friend.”

Tammy extended her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Olaf!”

Olaf got this big goofy grin on his face and swept Tammy off her feet into a huge bear hug. After a few seconds Tammy started to motion that she couldn’t breathe.

“OLAF! Put her down now! She’s having trouble breathing.” The gentle giant set Tammy back on the floor then held her steady for a few more seconds as her color returned to normal.

“Sorry about that. Sometimes I forget how strong I am. You okay now?”

Tammy grinned back at the huge man that towered over a foot above her. “I’m fine now, Olaf. Just give me a little warning next time, okay?”

“Ya, sure, I vill. Hey, Yennifer, I got somethin’ to show yu…”

Without a single word more Olaf scooped Tammy up and tossed her over one shoulder then grabbed me and hoisted me over the other.

“OLAF! Put us down NOW!”

“No, Yen, you’re not getting’ outa this THAT easy. Now STOP SQUIRMING the both of you!”

Olaf pushed the stage door open with one foot then marched us straight to the center of the stage. There, sitting on a large table, was the largest multi-layer cake I’d ever seen. “Welcome Back Jennifer!” was written on it in pink icing over the white background. Next to the cake was a very large stack of paper plates and forks and what looked to be an industrial size cooler of some kind. As Olaf set us both down on the stage the house lights brightened lighting up the rest of the hall.

As I looked out at the seats a huge cheer and a wave of applause erupted. Nearly everyone on the crew and a fair number of people that I had met in the park were there waving and whistling. The noise was almost overwhelming. (Tammy told me later that she didn’t think it was possible for me to turn that many shades of red all at the same time!)

Bill Davidson, the clerk of the works on this job, got up from his seat in the front row and stepped up onto the stage to quiet the crowd down. It took a few seconds for things to subside.

“Jennifer, welcome back after an absence that was much too long for any of us here. We all missed you!” Once again the crowd erupted into applause and whistling as Bill handed me the paperwork to make my presence on the job site “legal” as far as doing any work here. He motioned for the crowd to quiet down again.

“Thanks, everyone. It’s good to be back. I hope I’ll be able to spend more time here but I’m afraid that I have a very heavy schedule coming up. I’ll try to visit when I can though and I hope that Bill here will let me know if there are any problems that come up that you need my help with.”

“I promise, Jennifer! Now how about cutting the cake and celebrating that you’re back again?”

“That sounds great to me, Bill!” I picked up the knife on the table and cut a chunk off one of the corners that was about three inches on a side then slipped it onto one of the paper plates. I grabbed a fork and scooped some of the cake into my mouth. “YUM! My FAVORITE! Chocolate Devils food cake with a vanilla butter-cream icing! How did you know?”

“I called Barb right after the word spread that you were coming back.”

“Thanks, everyone! It’s good to be back. Now EAT UP!” I handed the knife to Bill to let him and another person start cutting the rest of the huge cake into pieces as the crowd formed a line. The huge cooler had sodas and other drinks and Bill even had pints of ice-cold milk waiting for me! For me there isn’t much that’s better than a good piece of chocolate cake and some ice-cold milk to tickle my tummy and taste buds.

The festivities lasted around an hour since this was an active job site. I found out that the crew was right on schedule despite my being away for so long and the problems mounting up. They’d found a work around or total solutions to whatever problems cropped up but I suspected that as soon as I could spend some time here I was going to be one busy girl resolving the little glitches that remained.

As the crew slowly drifted back to their various jobs nearly every male in the group gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. The fact that many of the younger crewmembers were wearing plain white cotton T-shirts that did little to hide their trim waists and bulging muscles did not escape my notice. After having the fight with Adam and being alone for such a long time my sexual frustration level was, at times, almost off the charts.

It had always puzzled me that, since my transformation, I showed absolutely no attraction toward women. That attraction was replaced with an almost overwhelming attraction toward men, one man in particular. Since Adam was temporarily out of my life thoughts of offering one of the studs that paraded before me an evening they would never forget were almost constantly in the back of my mind. Over riding those thoughts was the fact that, if I ever wanted to get back together with Adam, I had better remain true to him. I wished in my heart that he would remain true to me despite our strained separation. The gentle squeezing of a large hand on my shoulder broke me out of the daydream I had drifted into.

“Problems, Jennifer?” Bill Davidson sat down next to me in one of the numerous chairs on the stage. “You looked sort of lost in thought there.”

“I was, Bill. Things are moving much to fast for me right now. I sort of feel like I’m a big side of beef in a meat locker somewhere. Everyone wants to whack off a piece of me to have for his or her own. Do you know what I’m babbling about?”

“I think I do sort of, Jen. I’m employed by MouseWorld to oversee this project for them. At times the unions and vendors will come after me for something or other, sometimes they like to all gang up on me at once. Everyone wants attention NOW to the exclusion of all of the other problems.”

“If it isn’t my problem exactly it sure sounds real close! How do you deal with it all, Bill?”

“Well, I’m not certain what I know is going to help you. Still want to hear it?”

“Yup!”

“Okay. The first thing I learned is to not cave in to their demands just to get them off your back. Tell them you need some time to think things through before you can give them an answer. If they press you tell them what they DON’T want to hear. If they want something NOW tell them you can’t possibly give it to them and add a week or two to the date they wanted, whatever it was, even if you CAN deliver. That’s like tossing a bucket of water on a camp fire.”

“That works?”

“Yup. I think you’ve been around a couple of times when I’ve had to do it around here.”

“True, I thought you handled it pretty well as I look back at it.”

“Experience comes with the job. I thought you knew that from working on various job sites.”

“Yes, but I never tried to give the clerk of the works any grief either. I always tried to work with the crew on any job I was on. I got more by working with them than against them.”

“I wish some of the guys around here were more like you. Might make my job a whole lot easier.”

“I don’t think I can arrange a few lightning strikes, Bill. The one that got me was a fluke.”

A huge smile spread across Bill’s face as he chuckled. “Well, you DO look much better than your old picture on the back cover of that technical book.”

“Thanks for the advice, Bill. Mind if I talk to you some more if I need to?”

“No, problem, Jen.” He glanced at his watch and cringed. “Gotta get back to the office now. I’m late for yet another meeting with the brass around here. Let me know what your schedule looks like, okay?”

“I sure will. See you later, Bill.” I watched as he walked briskly off the stage toward the access hallway in the back. As I looked around the stage I discovered that I was alone with no sign of Tammy anywhere.

There was still some cake left so I got another piece and found another pint of cold milk in the cooler. This time I used one of the comfortable plush seats in the front row to finish eating my cake. After waiting for almost half an hour I started to make the rounds of the attraction to find Tammy. I was getting tired and needed to get back to the hotel.

She finally turned up in the television master control room that was under construction as a part of the theater complex. I knew that I found her when I saw two feminine legs wearing pink rubber flip-flops sticking out from under the master console. I grabbed a big toe and got quite a squeal in response.

“Come on, Tammy, time to head back to the hotel. It’s getting late!”

“But I…”

“That’s enough young lady. I promised your mom that I’d look out for you like YOU promised you’d look out for me. It’s time we both got some sleep. It’s going to be a very busy day tomorrow.”

I heard a male voice after what sounded like a big wet kiss. “Can you come back, Tammy? You’ve been a big help.”

“I’ll try, Eddie. Gotta go now. My substitute mother hen is making clucking noises again.” After what sounded like another kiss Tammy squiggled out from under the huge console. Her blouse was in some disarray and her lipstick was smudged badly.

She waited until we were on the golf cart headed back to the hotel before she said anything. “I never knew that pulling cables could be so messy.”

“Ya, sure!” I giggled a bit, “Look, Tammy, I’m not going to turn into your mom and give you the ‘sex lecture’ again. I’m not the right one to talk about that. All I’m going to say is if you decide to do something at least use more protection than just your birth control pills, okay?”

“No problem there. Like you, I have a LOT of things I want to do before I settle down and give birth to a child. I don’t want to get a disease from someone either.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Tammy?”

“Hot tub session?”

“Yup! I need to get REAL relaxed if you know what I mean.”

Tammy looked over at me and smiled. “Then why are we going so slow? Step on it!”

Tuesday, April 8, 2003

DAMN! What a frustrating meeting. The day started off well enough then went right into the toilet. Maybe I’d better explain -

The sun was shining in the window and right across my pillow again. I hauled my butt out of the bed and into the bathroom to finish my morning business. I had more than my normal share of hot tub time last night so all I needed was a quick shower to freshen up before the meeting. The first thing that went wrong was running out of hot water in the shower. The warm stream of water playing over my sleepy body turned into an ice-cold torrent in microseconds instantly making my teeth chatter. With the shampoo still in my hair I had no choice but to tough it out and finish what I had started. By the time I was done my poor nipples were so hard I might have been able to use them to cut glass and I was shivering from head to toe. Only a nice warm towel from the heated towel rack had any effect in warming me up. I wrapped one around my middle and another around my cold, damp hair.

It took a while but by the time my hair was dry I had warmed up enough to feel normal again. A quick check of the local weather channel told me that I could expect temperatures in the upper 80’s today. I decided to take advantage of the warmer weather and dress nicely. I did have to meet with the studio brass and needed to look my best.

My clothes assortment yielded a light pink, mid-thigh length sundress with spaghetti straps. A strapless bra and panties in the same color completed the outfit along with a pair of sheer to the waist panty hose. I tried something a bit different with my hair and made two pony tails a couple of inches apart on the back of my head instead of my usual single tail style. A bracelet, earrings and a simple necklace finished the overall look. All that remained was to put on a pair of black strap sandals with a three-inch heel.

When I looked in the mirror on the back of the closet door I was quite pleased with the overall look. Even my makeup said, “confident businesswoman,” without looking too sexy or trashy. There was a time not long after my transformation that I would have been completely terrified to wear an outfit like this one. Over the months between then and now I learned to accept who and what I was so it no longer bothered me in the least. This was who I was now and there simply wasn’t a thing wrong with the way I looked.

Tammy and I decided last night to go out for breakfast instead of eating in the hotel restaurant this morning so she followed me to the front desk in the hotel lobby. Barb had arranged for a rental car for me and I needed to pick up the keys at the desk.

“Good morning. Do you have a set of keys for a rental car that was arranged for me?”

The man behind the desk looked rather upset. “Just a moment, Miss Stevens.” He disappeared into a back room then returned with another man. “Could you follow me please, Miss Stevens?” Tammy and I followed the man into the room behind the desk.

“Miss Stevens, I’m Dexter Sage with the Stewart agency. Rebecca wanted me down here in case there was trouble and I’m sad to say that there has been a problem.”

“A problem, Mr. Sage? What problem?”

“Your car, Miss Stevens.”

“What about my car, Mister Sage? Please feel free to call me Jennifer or Jen.”

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I’m sorry to tell you that a routine sweep by one of the hotel security staff dogs turned up a bomb attached to the gas tank of the rental car. The bomb has been removed but we can’t allow you to use the car.”

“WHY?”

“The police have no solid leads yet on who planted the bomb or why. MouseWorld feels that you should be under enhanced security and I must agree with that assessment. I’ve been assigned as your bodyguard during your stay in Orlando. We have a limo and driver at your disposal too.”

“Thank you, Mr. Sage but I think I can take care of myself.” I got up to leave but was forced back down in the chair by Dexter.

“MISS STEVENS. That bomb was set to go off two minutes after you started the car. It was supposed to sense the movement when the car started to begin the countdown. Two minutes after leaving the parking lot you and your friend here would have been dead.”

“But the bomb was found and the danger is over right?”

“No, the danger isn’t over. Didn’t you just hear me say that the police have no idea who did this or why?”

“I heard you. You can’t be certain that they’ll attempt something again are you?”

“No. Are you certain that they WON’T try something again?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then let’s error on the side of caution and get you the protection you need to try to keep something from happening again, all right?”

I worried if they and their security circus would get in my way. “So what do I need to do?”

“We’ll try not to intrude too much but I can’t promise that things are going to be the same as they were before. We just don’t know enough about the people doing this to ease up on security.”

I sighed as my stomach growled loudly. “Well, if you’re done with me can I at least go get breakfast? I haven’t eaten yet and I doubt that I’ll get lunch because of meetings later this morning.”

“No problem. Where were you going?”

“Tammy and I really hadn’t selected anywhere specific. Do you know of a good place?”

“I think so.” He picked up a small handheld radio and spoke into it. “Dawn, bring the car around would you please?”

The radio crackled a moment then a woman’s voice came back. “Be right there, Dex.”

“That,” he pointed to the radio, “was your driver. Her name is Dawn McGuire. I can assure you that, despite her petite stature, no one in their right mind really wants to mess with her. Despite that rather angelic face she can be a real tiger when she wants to be and her driving skills are absolutely amazing. She’s one of Miss Stewarts most experienced people.”

“I’ll take your word on it Dexter.” My stomach rumbled even louder than before. “Will you lead the way?”

“Certainly!”

Tammy and I followed Dexter out the front door to a huge vehicle. It was a dark metallic blue Hummer that had been stretched and turned into a limousine. The unmistakable purr of a diesel engine at idle drifted out from under the hood.

“This is the limo?”

“Yes. It’s a special design for the Stewart agency. Rebecca had it shipped down here just in case.”

“It’s positively huge!”

“All the better for armoring and a few other little surprises. Dawn can give you the complete tour if you’re interested.” Dexter held open one of the rear doors as a step glided out from under the behemoth.

“Neat! I have a step like this on my pickup truck.” Tammy and I boarded the beast and got comfortable in the huge back seat.

“I need to stay here and work out some additional security details with MouseWorld. Dawn knows a great place for breakfast. I’ll see you later today, Miss Stevens.” He closed the door then watched as the Hummer eased out of the hotel entranceway.

The inside of the Hummer was rather dark due to the shading applied to all the window glass. A thick pane of glass separated the rear compartment from the driver’s compartment. I wrapped on the glass with my knuckles. A disembodied voice came over a speaker somewhere in the passenger compartment.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes. Where are we headed?”

“Why to breakfast of course.” The voice sounded rather young and quite cheerful. “Just sit back and enjoy the ride.” The voice cut off with a sharp click.

I turned to Tammy. “What have I gotten us into this time?”

“I dunno but whatever it is I say we make the best of it. You’re sure gonna turn a few heads wherever you show up in this rig.”

“That’s NOT what I wanted, Tammy. You know that. Why can’t the world leave me alone?”

“That’s not the way it works when you’re famous, Jen. You turned famous the moment your change made the news. For weeks everyone watched your progress in the daily reports. There were so many office pools set up that the folks in Vegas finally started taking bets on what you were becoming.”

“Sometimes I wish I could wave my hand and make all of this go away, everything except the change that is. Life might be so much simpler than it is now.”

“Yah, but you wouldn’t be having the experiences you’re having now would you?”

“I guess not.”

The Hummer made a sharp left then a sharp right turn and glided to a stop. The throaty rumble of the engine stopped and a few moments later the side door opened.

The pixie that stood before us looked to be about five feet tall with dark brown hair. She was dressed in a pastel pink pants suit with the same color pink shoes. “We’re here. Hi, I’m Dawn. Ready to eat?”

“Umm… sure, Dawn. Just where are we anyway?”

“A truck stop on the outskirts of the city. I always say go to the place where the most truckers eat if you want the best food.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it. Lead the way.”

Dawn led the way into the diner taking us toward a booth off in one corner. With all the whistles and noise I felt like a mouse in a room full of hungry cats. Tammy was looking around nervously too.

“Are we going to be all right in here, Dawn?”

“Sure! I can handle anything this bunch tries to do.”

Dawn was right about the food in this place. It was quite good and I made a mental note to come back here again for breakfast. Tammy and I got a small demonstration of Dawn’s abilities as a large man in a cowboy hat and western boots came over to the table just as we were getting ready to leave.

“Hey Babe!” The man looked directly at me. “Wanna go out to my truck and have a little party? I’ll make it worth your time babe.” He reached over to try to feel one of my breasts.

I pushed his hand away. “Sorry, sir. I have other business to tend to.”

“What’s a matter? Ain’t I good enough for ya?” His hands headed for both of my breasts this time. Dawn was on him before he moved two inches. The guy towered over her by at least a foot and looked like he weighed at least a hundred pounds more than her.

“Look, mac. The lady said she wasn’t interested. What part of NO don’t you understand?”

“Well, if SHE ain’t interested, how about you little lady?” Somehow he got Dawn in a bear hug.

It was all over in a few seconds. The only thing Tammy and I were sure of was that the guy went flying across the isle and landed on an unoccupied booth smashing the table to pieces and sending a spray of debris everywhere. Dawn was standing over him with a rather wild look in her eyes as he groaned then passed out.

Two of the guy’s buddies came over. Dawn looked about ready to do to them what she had done to him.

“WO! Easy, lady! We just wanna apologize and make sure this big jerk is gonna be okay.” He turned toward me. “Billy and me tried to tell Charlie there who you were, Miss Stevens but he said that a classy woman like you’d never be in a place like this. Guess this is a lesson he’s gonna remember a while!”

“No harm done, Mister…?”

“Dale Jackson but please call me Dale, Ma’am!”

“Well, Dale, tell your friend here when he finally comes around that he should expect ANYONE in a place like this, even someone like me. In fact, I may even visit again. The food was great.”

“I’ll make sure he knows that, Miss Stevens.”

“Jennifer, Dale. Please call me Jennifer or Jen. Well gentlemen, I have to go. I have a meeting over at MouseWorld in a little while. You can tell your friend there that he’ll have to settle with the restaurant for the damage. After all he did start this little mess. And I’m not going to press charges either. Tell him that next time though he’s going to be a guest of the state for a while.”

“Serves him right too. I’ll make sure he knows, Miss… Jennifer.” A big smile spread across his face. “Can I get an autograph? I want to rub it in with old Charlie there.”

“Sure, Dale. I’d be glad to!” I took the offered napkin and wrote a nice greeting to Dale. As an added slap in the face to Charlie, I applied a bit of fresh lipstick and planted a large kiss on the napkin then followed it up with a real kiss for Dale on his cheek as I handed back the napkin.

“Don’t clean that off until he wakes up then let him know that he could have had the same thing if he’d only acted like a gentleman instead of a John looking for a quickie.” I spun on my heels and headed for the door with Tammy and Dawn following close. I heard a wave of hoots and hollers from the rest of the men in the place as I walked out. I stopped at the door and blew Dale a parting kiss and the place went wild again.

Tammy waited until we were in the hummer on the way to the MouseWorld corporate headquarters before she laid into me. “YOU TEASE! Why did you do that, Jen?”

“I did it because the only way that man is going to learn is if his friends NEVER let him forget what happened to him. I’m only pissed at HIM, not his friends. THEY didn’t do anything to me or anyone else.”

“How do you know that’s going to work?”

“Tammy, I wasn’t always like this. I used to be a man not so long ago, remember? I still have my memories of how things were back then.”

“Sorry, Jen. You seem to have adapted so well that I keep forgetting.”

I reached over and squeezed Tammy’s hand. “Don’t ever let me forget who or what I used to be, Tammy. There are times I’m scared to death that I’m going to lose myself in all of this. I still can’t explain why I got so used to being like this so fast. It scares me.”

“I’ll try, Jen.” She looked thoughtful for a few moments. She must have decided to change the subject. “So what you think is gonna happen in the meeting?”

“Well, everyone will want a chunk of my time. Probably all at the same time and exclusive of everyone else.”

“What are you going to do about that?”

“They’ll have to work something out, that’s all. There’s only one of me and they’ll all have to share in the available time.”

“You’re still going to hold out for weekends, right?”

I nodded in agreement. “I’ve already told Mark that the weekends are mine to recover. I’ll work twelve to sixteen hour days during the week if I have to but don’t mess with my weekends.”

“Okay. I’m going to hold you to that, Jen.”

“I’m counting on it, Tammy. That’s why I wanted you along as my personal assistant. You’ve got to keep me on track and in good health during all of this. My old body could have worked seven days a week for sixteen hours a day for at least three weeks before I got seriously run down and had to stop and recover. This body needs quite a bit more attention than that. I’m not complaining though. There are other compensations that make it worthwhile giving up the endurance.” I smiled as I thought of several sessions in bed with Adam and how having sex made me feel. It made every nerve in my body into a single erogenous zone and I loved it!

Tammy noticed the big grin on my face. “Ya, I remember my first time with a guy too.” A smile spread across her face as the memories came back. We both started to laugh.

I fought to suppress the memories before I got myself so turned on that I would need to clean myself up before the meeting. “Enough of this, Tammy. Neither of us can do anything about it right now anyway.”

“Well, maybe YOU can’t but I can. I split up with my last boyfriend a few days before we left Syracuse. Want to go out trolling for a couple of guys tonight?”

Tammy’s suggestion seemed appealing somehow but I had two problems with it. Since I didn’t know if things could be patched up with Adam I didn’t want to get into any other relationships even if it turned out to be a one night stand or two. The other problem was my image with MouseWorld. Right now that image was reasonably clean as far as any scandal was concerned. I decided that I needed to keep it that way for the good of my career.

“Sounds tempting, Tammy but I’m going to pass. I might go out with you a few times but there’s no way I’m going to do any trolling. I’ve got my career to think about.”

“Just your career? What about Adam?”

“Him too if we can ever get back together again.”

“He was really pissed at you, you know.”

“How do YOU know that?’

“He called me.”

“He called YOU?”

“Is there an echo in here or something? YES, he called me. He wanted someone to talk to since he was so upset.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“I simply reminded him of what you’d just been through on top of the hospital stay and told him to give you some time and space to get over it.” She looked like she was trying to decide something for a few moments. “He really does love you, Jen.”

While I knew in my heart that he loved me, hearing it come from someone else gave me a greater sense of security in our relationship despite the events of the last few days. “I know, Tammy. I think you’re right. Maybe when some of the dust settles and the schedule gets worked out I can give Adam a call and straighten things out. When that’ll be I have no idea though.”

We rode in relative silence the rest of the way to the corporate office building on the outskirts of the main park.

As I predicted, the meeting was contentious at best. The TV show people and the recording studio people both wanted major chunks of my time at the same time. Neither side would budge as we broke for lunch. I followed Mark to a somewhat private area in the corporate cafeteria.

“Well, Mark, what are you going to do?”

“I have no idea but I’m working on it.”

“You’ve got until we’re done with lunch, Mark. I’ve got a plan of my own if you can’t come up with something.”

“Okay.”

The salad I ordered was wonderful and along with a diet soda filled me right up. By the scowl on Mark’s face as we walked back to the meeting room Mark still hadn’t come up with a good plan. I patted his hand as we stood outside of the room.

“Don’t worry about it, Mark. Just watch and learn.” I took a deep breath to settle myself then walked confidently back into the room.

I got comfortable in the chair then turned to the executives grouped around the table.

“Well, Gentlemen, have you been able to reach some type of agreement during the lunch break?”

One of the TV show representatives spoke up. “I’m afraid not, Miss Stevens. We’re still deadlocked.”

“All right then. It looks like I’ll have to break the deadlock. Just listen to this, gentlemen.” I launched into a chorus of “The Future is Now” selecting a section that had lots of high notes in it to emphasize the effects the various tubes and treatments from my hospital stay had on my singing voice. I saw a few of the recording studio folks visibly cringe.

“As you’ve just heard, my singing voice isn’t quite back up to full quality yet. The doctors tell me that another two to three weeks should do it and before anyone asks, I can produce documentation to that effect. What I suggest is that I go ahead with the TV show project first giving my voice the time it needs to fully recover for the recording session. By the time both projects are completed I will be back to full physical health to be able to take on the dancing for the opening of the attraction. I’m still a bit stiff and tend to tire easily from everything I’ve been through. That’s why I told you all up front that I was only willing to take all of this on if I could have the weekends to myself. That’s my solution, folks. What do you think of it?”

Much to my shock and amazement they all agreed that it seemed to be the most sensible plan and the rest of the meeting was pointed toward working out the schedules for my activities to everyone’s satisfaction.

As Tammy and I boarded the Hummer I told Dawn to take us home then settled back for the short ride. Well, what I thought would be a short ride anyway. I got quite confused as scenery I’d never seen before started whizzing by the windows.

“Uh… Dawn, where are we going?”

“You wanted to go home, right?”

“Yup. So why aren’t we headed back to the hotel?”

“You didn’t get the message that Dex left with Mark?”

By now I was more than a little upset. “WHAT MESSAGE?”

“OOPS! Sorry about that. The message was that you and Tammy have been moved to a private estate for security reasons. Because there are so many people going in and out of the hotel we can’t properly ensure your security if you stay there. We’re headed for the estate now.”

“Thank you, Dawn.” I settled back into the seat as the intercom clicked off and sighed. “It’s starting already.”

Tammy got a puzzled look on her face. “What’s starting already, Jen?”

“The isolation, the fear. I hoped that it wouldn’t go this far.”

“You had a pretty good idea what you were in for when you took this path didn’t you?”

“That’s true. Somehow I hoped that I could avoid all of the trappings that came with fame. I never wanted to have to travel with an entourage of twenty people and enough stuff to fill the cargo hold of an airplane all by myself. I don’t want to have a bodyguard 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I don’t want to have to live behind a set of gates and a fifteen foot high electrified fence for the rest of my life.”

“Well, you could just chuck it all right now and go home.”

“That’s what stinks, Tammy! I gave my word that I’d do those jobs. If I don’t honor those agreements how am I ever going to expect other people to honor their agreements with me?”

“We could make something up to get you out of all of this. You’ve been through so much that maybe we can say you had some kind of relapse or something.”

“No, I’m NOT going to lie about this, Tammy. I may not like where this is taking me but I got myself into this and I’m going to see it through no matter what happens.” I lay my head back against the plush seats of the Hummer and tried to relax hoping that the tension headache building up would just go away. I stayed like that until the Hummer rolled to a stop.

“Jennifer, we’re here.”

The Hummer stopped at the entrance to a long driveway. There were no gates but two cars sat at either side of the driveway with a man in each of them.

Dawn’s voice drifted back to us over the intercom. “Just the extra security detail on duty. Nothing to worry about.”

The road turned several times following the valleys in between some low rolling hills until the view opened up to show a huge mansion sitting atop a larger hill nearly a quarter of a mile away.

“THIS is where I’m staying? The place is positively HUGE!” The Hummer glided to a stop in front of the gigantic front door atop a grand staircase, a few seconds later Dawn opened the door.

“All of your things from the hotel have been brought over. Your room is at the top of the stairs on the left, Jennifer. Tammy, your room is the first on the right. Sorry we don’t have a house staff for you yet. It may take another day or so for things to get worked out. The kitchen is completely stocked so feel free to help yourself.”

“Never mind searching for a staff, Dawn. I think my housekeeper may appreciate a Florida trip. I’ll call her tonight and see if she can come down.”

“All right. I’ll let Dexter know that he should wait until he hears from you about the staff. If you need me just hit the call button on the house intercom. I’ll be in one of the staff quarters on the first floor at the rear of the house.”

Dawn pushed open one of the towering doors and stepped into the cavernous main hall. “Oh, by the way, if you see the lake out back I don’t suggest a dip in it. Alligators are a problem in these parts. A much better solution is to use the Olympic size swimming pool in the east wing. Shall I get us something for supper?”

Tammy and I looked at each other and said “PIZZA!” in perfect unison.

“I think that settles it, Dawn. Know anywhere where you can get a decent New York or Chicago style pie around here?”

“I know of a place or two. How many would you like?”

“Two, no three large pizzas would be nice. No anchovies on at least one of them though. And make sure the one without anchovies has lots of onions, pepperoni and sausage. Green or black olives are good too. Are you going to have some, Dawn?”

“Sure. It’s been one of those days where all I want is to pig out and go sleep. Know what I mean?”

“Exactly, Dawn, exactly.”

We watched as the Hummer disappeared down the driveway then went to explore the house before Dawn returned with the pizzas. I felt like I needed to have a map or maybe leave a trail of something to find my way around in the monster-sized mansion. There were way too many rooms to count including a ballroom that could seat a couple of hundred people and a home theater that seated over a hundred and had a screen twenty feet high and nearly sixty feet wide. The pool was incredibly clear and inviting. I promised myself a swim before I hit pillows tonight.

It has to be an unwritten law that the food where you are is never quite the same as the food back home. The pizza was good and I stuffed myself until I couldn’t eat another single bite but it still wasn’t the same as a pizza pig-out back home. I couldn’t put my finger on it but something was missing or different with the pizza here. It didn’t really matter what it was though. The leftovers were stored in the walk-in refrigerator in the kitchen before the three of us resumed the exploration of the house.

One of the doors in a second floor hallway led into the spacious projection booth for the theater. The place was outfitted with some older but serviceable thirty-five millimeter projectors along with the latest in video projection gear. Along one wall was row after row of film cans. It looked like quite a collection of theater grade films and included quite a few of my favorite movies. I debated for a moment if I should fire up the projectors and run a film but decided that a dip in the pool in a little while was more relaxing. I could always do the films another night.

As it turned out I was glad that I decided to take a dip in the pool instead of running a film. While I floated on my back in the warm water I felt all the tensions from the day drain away and a sense that somehow everything would work out for the best replaced it. The tiny bikini I wore barely covered the essentials and I suspected that there would be at least a few times that I left it on the side of the pool instead of wearing it. The water supported my breasts and took the load off of my shoulders and chest muscles. I never realized until I had a pair of my own just how much breasts weighed.

After a quick run thru the shower to get rid of the chlorine from the pool water and a rinse of my hair for the same reason, Tammy and I decided to call it a night and headed for our bedrooms. I think I may have been running on nerves from the day’s events because as soon as I got comfy in the bed I was asleep.

Wednesday, April 9, 2003 —

My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest and I could hear the thunderous beating in my ears. My skin was cold and clammy and little rivers of sweat ran down between my breasts. The screaming in my ears was the loudest that I had ever heard. Unfortunately after a few moments of great confusion there followed an eternity of terror as I realized that it was ME doing the screaming. Tammy and Dawn found me with my legs pulled tightly up against my chest in as tiny a ball as I could make shivering in fear as I lay in the bed.

I felt someone crawl into the bed behind me and hold me tightly as the shivering slowly stopped. When I finally calmed down enough to get up Tammy helped me to the bathroom then refused to leave me alone.

“What happened, Jen?”

“Do you mind if I have some privacy here?”

“I’m NOT leaving but I’ll turn around.” She turned her back toward me. “So WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?”

I sighed in resignation. “It all came flooding back at once, Tammy. Everything that happened to me since the change and all at once.” I got comfy on the toilet then let go making a waterfall sound as I emptied out.

“DAMN! Barb and I were warned that this could happen.”

“How long ago did you two know about this anyway?”

“Just a little while ago after this last incident. We got concerned that you seemed to be shrugging everything off a little too easily and asked the doctors about it.”

I finished up then went over to the sink to wash my hands and splash some cold water on my face. “So how come you two didn’t tell me?”

“Why worry you about it? What could you have done except worry yourself to death waiting for it to happen? The doctors told us that it was better to let it happen to you than for you to try to bottle it all up inside you forever.”

“GREAT! Just GREAT! Here I’m going into a period of time where the pressure is only going to increase and you’re telling me that I could turn into a basket case every night?” I parked my naked butt on a towel on the edge of the bathtub then buried my head in my hands.

“We don’t know for certain that it will happen every day, Jen, only that it will sometimes happen.”

“Fine. Can I get some privacy to at least have a good bath?”

“Maybe. You aren’t going to so anything stupid are you?”

“Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Like maybe hurt yourself somehow? Barb and I are worried about you, Jen. Sometimes you scare the hell out of us.”

“Sometimes I scare the hell out of me too. No, Tammy, I’m NOT going to do anything stupid like that. I may turn into a raving lunatic but I’m not the type go hurt myself or anyone else intentionally.”

Tammy giggled a bit. “I can see the news bulletin now. ‘MouseWorld’s rising star goes berserk and runs naked thru the streets of Orlando. The complete story at eleven.’ Mark would love that!”

I had to giggle at the thought. “Bet he would, but only if he was running alongside me to get a good view. Now get outta here and let me soak a little while, okay?”

“All right, Jen. Hey, what do you want to do about breakfast?”

“I wish Gertie was here. I could go for some of her potato pancakes and bangers.”

“Gertie? Who’s she?”

“Oh, that’s right. You haven’t met her yet have you? She’s my new full time housekeeper back home. You know I bought that house?”

“Yup, the place is gorgeous!”

“She was the housekeeper for the old owners and has agreed to stay on with me. She makes the most incredible breakfast sausage.”

“So why not fly her down here? You’re gonna be around here long enough that you could use her here you know.”

“PLEASE! Don’t remind me how long I’m going to have to stay here. I miss upstate New York already.”

“Umm… Jen, remember what it’s like back there now? Ice, snow, cold…”

A shiver ran up and down my spine at the mere mention of those words. “Well, maybe not THAT much. There is a certain appeal now that I’m female to wearing less clothing in the warmer weather down here. Okay, give Barb a call and have her ask Gertie if she’d like to come to Orlando while I’m here and have Barb tell her she can bring her cat down too if she likes.”

“I’ll do that. Now I want you to take good advantage of the hot tub. I know the jets aren’t set for maximum effect but believe me that the jets are plenty strong enough to do the job just as they are. There’s a nice pulse setting that will do the trick nicely. I found it on the tub in my bathroom this morning. I want you to stay in that tub until you start to look like a prune, do you hear me?”

I swatted Tammy on the backside and pushed her toward the door. “Yes, mother! Now go make that call.”

She left closing the bedroom door behind her. I eased myself into the already full hot tub then found the sweet spot after turning on the jets around my seat. After a few minor adjustments to the position of several jets I yielded to the waves of pleasure coursing thru my body. I lost count of how many times the jets pushed me over the top only coming back to earth when the safety timer turned the jets off. It took several more minutes before enough control returned to my shaky legs to crawl out of the tub and dry off.

As I padded quietly back into the bedroom I decided to turn on the television and find out what the weather was supposed to do today. I found the local cable news channel and watched until a forecast came on. It turned out that the temperature was going to get into the high eighties today with humidity best described as extremely uncomfortable. It looked like a crop top and some type of shorts would probably be the best combination to deal with the heat. Fortunately I had a couple of shorter tops and a pair of shorts in the stuff I sent down earlier but if I continued to dress that way I’d have to make a shopping trip to get more.

I put my hair in my usual ponytail style, skipped the makeup entirely and added a pair of sandals, bra and panties to complete my outfit for the day. I met up with Tammy and Dawn in the kitchen.

“Jen, you never said what you wanted to do about breakfast this morning.”

“Sorry, Tammy. How about we go back to that place we ate at yesterday morning?”

“You want to go back THERE after what happened yesterday?”

“I sure do, Dawn. The crowd there will think long and hard about messing with us and I think I scored more than a few points with the rest of the crowd about how things were handled. If I read them right I’ll bet that we won’t have any problems with any of the folks that were there yesterday and the word will be passed along very quickly to anyone else new. I’d even venture to say that if there are problems you wouldn’t have to lift a finger.”

“Okay, Jen. You’re calling the shots as long as we can maintain some degree of security. Let’s get moving.” As if to punctuate the comment my stomach picked that moment to make itself known with a loud growl.

“I second that motion!” I grabbed my purse and headed for the front door. Tammy and Dawn followed close behind. We all piled into the Hummer and headed off for the truck stop again.

Just as I predicted we got a warm reception and no trouble from anyone there. In fact a few stopped by the booth to apologize for the incident yesterday and they weren’t even there when it happened!

The rest of the day went rather well since I spent it at the attraction catching up on all those nagging problems that they saved for me. When I made it back home (my God, am I really starting to think of this huge place as home?) I was tired but it was a happy tired. Sure, I was mentally washed out but the satisfaction I got from the work was well worth the price I paid.

Friday, May 2, 2003 —

WOW! What a month. Well, it’s been the equivalent of a month anyway. The shooting on the made-for-TV movie ate up every spare moment I had. I was extremely glad that I had held firm and kept the weekends for myself. I sure did need that time to recover.

Shooting started off with a session of costume and makeup. I wound up wearing a shoulder length black wig for the part. The producers felt that my normal look was much too ‘wild’ for the role of the captain. I’d have to cut my hair and get a dye job if the series actually went into production. It took well over an hour every day to get ready to shoot and that was just the time in the makeup chair.

In a way the wig sort of triggered something of an identity crisis for me. After my change I’d gotten used to the image that gazed back at me every morning in the mirror. Maybe that’s why I never really changed my hairstyle much from those first days as a woman. Between the new hair color and style and the makeup makeover the face that looked back at me just wasn’t the same. That black hair and those blue eyes gave me a rather exotic look along with the makeup. It took some time but I finally got used to the look of the captain.

In a way I was glad that the wig did make me look quite different. I used several different wigs to get out on the weekends and have a much better time than if I had been recognized by a crowd of fans. I even managed a trip to the beach along the east coast of Florida and got the chance to wiggle my toes in the Atlantic Ocean.

Since we were on a very tight shooting schedule there wasn’t much of the waiting for three hours then working for ten minutes like I had heard usually happened on a movie set. This was, after all, television and their schedule didn’t allow for much standing around. If this was an example of what I would be going through doing a weekly TV show then it was certainly an eye-opener for me. Fourteen to sixteen-hour days became normal during the shooting schedule. By the time I got home it was almost time to go back to work again.

We even went out on a location shoot about a week into the production. The script called for some outside shots of a heavily wooded planet in a somewhat tropical setting. I spent a couple of days on a small island off the coast of Florida sleeping in a tent with snakes and spiders to get those shots. I sure hope that they were worth it.

The sets were fantastic. From the bridge of my ship to the holodeck and the engine room the detail was just incredible. I almost believed that I was out in space when we were shooting. I think the holodeck was built into the ship more or less for my benefit. That way they could include me singing and claim it was the captain’s way to relax. It seems that the captain was a big fan of old movies and enjoyed re-creating movie scenes on the holodeck as a way to relax. I thought it was rather strange but who am I to predict what would sell to the public as a plot for a TV show? I never would have guessed that any of what was really happening to me was possible either.

Wednesday, May 7, 2003 —

I started working in the recording studio on Monday and got the shock of my new life when the guys from the Around Midnight band were in the studio waiting for me. MouseWorld had been so impressed that they borrowed the band from the show for my recording session. Of course, Wayne had set things up to do the show from the MouseWorld studios in Orlando for a couple of weeks and I got talked into co-hosting with him while he was here. Someone told me it was the first time that Wayne had ever allowed anyone to co-host the show on a regular basis with him. So far I’ve had a great time the first two nights and I’m really looking forward to the rest of this week and next with Wayne. It’s been a bit of a challenge putting in a solid eight hours of work in the studio then another four hours or so getting ready for the show and actually co-hosting it. Well, it least it beats the sixteen-hour days on the movie set and I get to sleep in my own bed at home. The only problem I can see so far to co-hosting with Wayne is that my sides hurt so much from laughing when we’re done every night.

Saturday, May 17, 2003 —

The recording sessions wrapped up yesterday along with the co-hosting duties on Around Midnight. At this point I just want to crash for a week then get back to the final tasks of preparing for the TV special and attraction opening.

One thing did come out of the co-hosting on Around Midnight. Wayne told me that he wanted to spend more time with his family after many years of doing the show. As a result, I signed a contract to host the show while Wayne took some vacation time every couple of months. That meant that about every two months I would spend a week in Los Angeles hosting the show while Wayne was on vacation. Wayne left the door open to doing the show from another location while he was on vacation and a plan started to form in the back of my mind about doing it from the theater in Syracuse. The facility had proved itself capable of the task during the morning show remote and I decided to see if it was possible.

During all this time the computer show on Saturday mornings had continued to draw interested listeners and the phones rang off the hook clamoring for updates each week on my activities. I think it irked my listeners when I kept the topics limited to computers instead of talking about me, but that was what the network was paying me for, computer talk not Jennifer Stevens talk. As much as I enjoyed returning to my ‘roots’ and talking about computers and technology I could see the time coming when I would have to give it up to do other things. The constant drain of doing something during the week then having to do the show on Saturday morning was starting to wear me down.

Sunday, May 25, 2003 —

The week went by WAY to fast. I spent most of my time lounging around the house and resting. I did manage a couple of trips to the beach and enjoyed my time there immensely. I made a couple of trips to the attraction too, and helped out with some problems. It sure felt good to forget the other things going on in my life and concentrate on fixing something. It was something I hadn’t realized I missed so much from my previous days.

I learned on Friday that the date for the opening and the TV special was now set for June twenty-second. I had a bit less than a month to get the final rehearsals finished and the last of the voice-over work completed for the attraction. Somewhere mixed in with the rest of my activities I had to do a re-shoot of a couple of scenes for the movie. Fortunately it was just some close-ups that shouldn’t take more than a day to do. I also learned that the recording studio wanted me to do some publicity pictures and they started to talk about a publicity tour for the release of the CD. My brain was starting to go into overload from the demands being made on me. Just how I was managing to hold things together is still a mystery.

Gertie and her cat, Gillie, arrived a few weeks back and literally took over the place. I have to attribute my improving mental and physical state partially to her careful nagging that I take better care of myself and eat better. It helped a lot that the smells drifting through the house from the kitchen when I woke up and arrived home from work were so overpowering that it made me WANT to eat. Gertie always prepared some kind of lunch for me too. Usually it was whatever was left over from last night’s meal. You might think that leftovers were a turn off but I never knew what Gertie did to them to make them taste so good, but they were always great!

Tammy seemed to be holding up better than I was. Between helping at the attraction learning all about the TV production facility and being my personal assistant, she didn’t have much free time. She did go out a few times with the guy she met at the attraction under the console. I didn’t ask what went on and she didn’t tell me. Tammy was fairly level headed and I knew in my heart that she could be trusted to take proper care of herself.

Barb visited a couple of times bringing down paperwork I needed to sign and going over business decisions that she couldn’t make for me. My own business was flourishing and the work was rolling in. There was a stack of scripts for TV shows and movies almost a foot high on the nightstand by my bed and another stack of contracts for personal appearances almost that high on her desk in Syracuse. I’d look at those when I got back home in a few more weeks.

Sunday, June 1, 2003 —

Just a week left and I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Rehearsals have been going great and I got another pleasant shock on the first day.

The theater in the attraction was finished and we were using it for the rehearsals. As I walked into the huge hall a lone man sat at the piano off to one side of the stage in a dimly lit area. The sound of my sandals clopping across the stage blended into the tune he was playing. I froze momentarily as I recognized the style he was playing in. I knew only one person that could play like that.

“GREG! What in the world are YOU doing HERE?” I ran across the stage and gave him a big hug.

“Well, the morning show appearance went so well that they hired the entire band for the opening. As their conductor I’m here early to help get the music worked out. Besides, I couldn’t turn down a month down here with my wife and kids could I?”

“If you turned down a deal like that I would certainly have called you crazy! I’m delighted you’re here, Greg. Think you can work some magic like you did back in Syracuse?”

“From the way the folks around here talk you’re worked a bunch of magic all your own, Jen. Are you sure you need mine?”

“It coitanly couldn’t hoyt!” I tried my best Groucho imitation but I guess it doesn’t work so well when you’re a woman.

Greg chuckled a bit. “I’ll see what I can do, Jen.”

The rehearsals went very well with Greg there. I no longer felt like I was out of my element with him around to help keep me centered on the work. The rest of the orchestra will be here for this last week of rehearsals and I’m looking forward to working with them again. There’s nothing better for a singer than to have a professional band back you up especially one of the high caliber of Greg’s folks.

It’s been a quiet Sunday so far, well, up until suppertime anyway. Gertie prepared one of her award winning beef stews again with fresh hot bread and a devil’s food cake with vanilla butter cream icing. We were all sitting around the kitchen table.

“Gertie, that was marvelous. Will there be some left for a lunch tomorrow?”

“Of course, Jen. I always make a big batch. You know as well as I do that it’s better the second time around.”

“Well, it was great the first time around too. I just don’t know how it could get any better.”

Gertie cleared the supper dishes then returned with slices of cake for everyone.

“Jen, remember when I asked if my son and daughter could stay with me at your home if they visited?”

“I sure do, Gertie. You know that I said that they were welcome any time.”

“Even here?”

“Here? Why here?”

“Well, my son, Geoff, is coming on a trip with his employer to the Orlando area. They’ll be here for your opening actually. I was wondering if he might stay here.”

“Sure, Gertie. I think we have ample room. I don’t see it as a problem. What does your son do for a living anyway? You’ve never talked much about him.”

“He’s the chauffer for the Queen of England.”

“THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND? You mean that your son drives the Queen of England around? WOW! That’s some job he’s got there! How did he get it anyway?”

“I used to be the Queen’s cook before I retired. Geoff got the job after my husband passed away. He was her chauffer before he died.”

“Has your family always worked for royalty?”

“Well, for the last two hundred years or so anyway. My daughter Amanda works for the Queen in the publicity office. She’s coming along too but she’s going to stay at the hotel with the Queen.”

“You’ve got to arrange to have your daughter over for a visit too, Gertie. How about the evening before the television show? That’s June seventh I think. I know that night is free right now.”

“I’ll ask her. I suspect that when Her Majesty hears about our little family get together she may be interested in coming. Would that be all right with you?”

“Why would she want to come? It’s just going to be an ordinary meal and a good evening of talk. I would think that she’d be bored to death.”

“You’d be surprised just how much she enjoys ordinary activities. If she feels comfortable around you, you’ll see a side of her that very few others see even at home. You will, of course, have to swear to never talk about our little get together with anyone else, ever.”

“I can agree to that, Gertie. It’s settled then. If the Queen wants to attend I have no problem with it. I’ll just have to have a crash course in royal etiquette.”

“All right. As for the crash course, don’t worry about it. I can teach you what you need to know, but when we’re out of sight of most people, the Queen isn’t much different than you or I. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she kicked off her shoes and asked for a good stiff drink or two at some point during the evening.”

I spent the rest of the evening learning all about the protocol I was to use when I met the Queen in public. Gertie assured me that there would probably not be a crowd of publicity people around our meeting, but a royal photographer would be there to snap a few pictures for release to the press pool that usually traveled with the Queen.

When Gertie told me some of the Queen’s favorite foods, I found out that I shared similar tastes and agreed to let Gertie select the menu for the evening. I gave her unlimited funds to make the best meal she possibly could. No expense was to be spared in the preparation and supplies department.

Wednesday, June 4, 2003

Oh, CRAP! How did I get myself into this little slice of hell anyway? I just got off the phone with the Secret Service. Now I find out that the President of the United States wants to come “un-officially” to the little family get-together planned for Saturday night. I’ve had the British security folks almost living at my place for the past two days to tend to security concerns. Now the Secret Service looks like they’re going to take up residence too. Poor Dawn has been going crazy with the British folks. I’m more than a little scared to tell her that the President’s staff is going to put us thru even more of a security wringer.

On a more positive note, the final rehearsals have been going very well. With Greg around all of my concerns about the music and co-ordination of things has completely gone out the window. I can finally concentrate only on what I have to do and not try to worry about the rest of the details too. Tammy has been indispensable these past two weeks. Even Barb decided to come down and stay thru the opening ceremonies. I don’t think I’d still be sane if it weren’t for both of them and Gertie keeping me on track and focused.

Saturday, June 7, 2003

I woke up this morning to the feeling of something cold and wet sniffling in my ear. I looked over to see a dog sniffing at my pillow and my hair. A man in a gray uniform and a load of badges stood beside Tammy.

“Sorry, Jen. They have to do a bomb detection sweep right now. Security you know.”

I looked over at the dog still sniffing around my pillow. “I know I’ve bombed on stage and on the radio a few times but I hardly think I’m a threat to anybody. What’s he sniffing at?”

The man studied the dog for a few moments. “I doubt that it’s explosives. His behavior would be much different if it was. Has there been a cat in here recently?”

“Yup. Gertie’s cat Gilbert, she calls him Gillie, was in here about half an hour ago. The little bugger slept beside my pillow almost all night long, then just before I shooed him out he tried to climb on my chest to curl up and sleep. That darned fur ball wants to spend more time with me than he does with Gertie. I can deal with a kitten wanting to sleep on my chest but not a fifteen-pound full-grown cat. That HURTS!””

The man got a silly grin on his face then pulled the dog away and swept the rest of my room.

“If you’re quite certain that I won’t explode I need to use my bathroom if you don’t mind.”

He looked over at Tammy. “All clear in here, go ahead.”

Tammy ushered him out of my bedroom then closed the door.

I pulled the covers off then sat naked on the edge of the bed for a few moments as the last of my mental cobwebs cleared.

“Well, that was an interesting way to wake up. I would have rather it had been Adam nuzzling my ear instead of that damned dog.”

“How are things going between you and Adam anyway?”

I reached over and snagged the robe I’d left on the end of the bed and put it on. “How would I know? I haven’t spoken to him since the fight the night before I left to come down here. You gotta ask HIM that question, Tammy.”

“I did about two weeks ago when he called me.”

My heart seemed to skip a few beats at the news. “He called you? What about?”

“To see how you were holding up. He misses you, Jen.”

“He’s got a funny way of letting me know. Did he say anything else?”

“Not really, I told him you miss him too. At least I assume so from all the times you’ve used the hot tub in there.”

I scowled at Tammy. “That was to relieve all the umm… stress I’ve been put under the last few weeks and you know it.”

“Yah, sure, so why is printing on the button that selects the special program for the jets almost totally worn away?”

“Okay, so you got me. Yes, I miss Adam. I miss him a LOT! What the hell am I supposed to do about it now? I couldn’t get even a sheet of paper in here without it being analyzed six different ways and run thru a couple of hundred security checks. There’s NO WAY to get Adam here without creating a sensation in the press. It’ll have to wait until I’m back home I guess.”

“Well, at least give Adam a call will you? I think it will make both of you feel a lot better.”

“I’ll think about it, Tammy. Now can I get some solitude to get myself ready to the day?”

“Sure. Gertie wants to know what you want for breakfast?”

“Bangers and potato pancakes with a good cup of nice hot strong coffee. I think I’m going to need it.”

“That’s not the best thing to eat for your health.”

“Sorry, NO health food, Tammy. With what I’ll be going through the next two days I’m going to be real good to myself and eat what I want. It’s the only way I’m going to make it through this.”

“All right, Jen. You know best, I guess. Gertie will have breakfast ready in about an hour. Now go use that hot tub one more time.” Tammy was grinning from ear to ear as she left my bedroom.

I really wasn’t thinking about using the hot tub again but her suggestion did sound good. The joys of a hot tub session weren’t a total replacement for a good evening spent with Adam but it went a long way towards making the urges I was having more tolerable. I knew in my heart that I was going to have to patch things up with Adam eventually or I’d give in to those urges and find someone else.

I finished up in the bathroom much more relaxed and padded quietly back to the bedroom. As I looked at the clock I realized why it felt so strange this morning. Being a Saturday I would normally be doing a radio show and having to get ready for that. Instead of a live show this week I had pre-recorded a special show so that I could take the weekend off and try to relax on the only free day I had before the festivities tomorrow. The Queen wasn’t due until late in the afternoon with the President arriving a couple of hours later. The only mention of the President’s visit to Florida in the press was for the opening of the attraction. I hadn’t heard a single peep in the news about his visit to my home.

I dressed in a pair of old jeans and a cotton work shirt. I planned to spend part of the day at the attraction running some final checks on the systems at the request of the construction crews and the MouseWorld folks. Since I had helped in a major redesign of some of the computer based control systems they wanted me there just in case things went wrong. I really didn’t mind since working on things like that felt more familiar to me than the performance I was supposed to give tomorrow.

Breakfast was great and shortly afterward I was driven to the attraction by a security team. I guess that I was considered to need security as I was going to host both the Queen and the President in my home in a few more hours. The team followed me into the attraction and stayed with me as I worked to fix a couple of glitches that cropped up. Fortunately it was fixable and didn’t require a major alteration in the software, just a few configuration changes made everything work fine.

My time at the attraction flew by all too quickly. I did notice one odd thing as I walked around the attraction. MouseWorld have never told me exactly what they were going to call this place and still refused to do so until just before it opened. Any place that could have indicated the name of the place was devoid of any signs at all. I assumed that they would be put in place overnight and guarded until just before the opening ceremony tomorrow. Whatever they had decided to name the place I was fiercely proud of my connection with it. It was beyond the current state of the art in technology and truly represented what the next generation of computers and other devices might look and act like. I suspected that many of the ideas and developments were already being built into various things that would start coming off production lines in the next year or so.

Barb had arranged a hair appointment for me and it was nearly time that I had to leave. I said my goodbyes to the construction crew with more than a few tears since I wouldn’t see many of then again. Olaf, that big ox of a man, picked me up and nearly hugged the stuffing out of me as we said goodbye. Olaf and a few others had made me feel like a member of the team right from the start and not like a female intruder in the predominately male world on the site. It was only when my qualifications and background became known and there were a few demonstrations of my abilities that the rest of the team fell into line. To a person, I would miss each and every one of them. I hoped that I would have the chance to work with this outstanding crew of people again on another project and said so to several of the management staff before I finally had to leave.

As I walked into the salon three women descended upon me and whisked me away to a booth off the main area. My hair was washed and conditioned till it gleamed in the light. As much as I would have liked to have a new hairstyle I knew that the public expected me to look like I always do for the opening tomorrow. I settled for a variation of my usual ponytail style and submitted myself to a complete manicure and pedicure as well. My nails glistened like pearls when they were finished.

I made it back to the house to find that the Queen had arrived almost two hours early and wound up greeting her in my work clothes. Fortunately, we had the photographer wait until I could change clothes into something more suitable for the pictures. I think I set a new speed record for changing into a full-length strapless ball gown and returning for the picture session. Twenty minutes later we kicked the photographer out along with most of the staff and sat down to a nice dinner after I changed into something a bit more comfortable.

Gertie’s choice of the menu, roast beef with simple mashed potatoes and gravy with fresh rolls and strawberry pie created a huge smile on the Queen’s face. Gertie explained to me later that the Queen got very tired of the fancy foods people thought she liked and that she really appreciated just the basic food that she had grown up on as a young girl. After dinner we adjourned to the theater room, as it was nice and quiet. Thanks to the soundproofing there our conversation couldn’t be heard elsewhere in the house.

As Gertie suspected, the Queen took a liking to me instantly and swore me to secrecy about the things we discussed in the room. I really wish I could write more about it but I’m going to honor her request even in my own diary.

I can say that I learned a lot about the woman that served as the figurehead of Great Britain. The things she had to do for her country and the sacrifices she had to make made my situation seem trivial by comparison.

She asked Gertie for a small glass of brandy, as she got more comfortable around us. I had Gertie bring me some sparkling grape juice since I didn’t want to have an alcohol based drink. She loosened up a bit as she sipped the brandy. By the time we finished my sides hurt from laughing at the tales she told of her youth and the problems her escapades generated for her parents, the King and Queen.

Sadly our conversation ended much too soon when we heard a muted knock on the door. The President had arrived on time. The room cleared out and I was about to leave as the President entered to talk with the Queen privately. The official reason for the meeting was just a simple get together if anyone asked.

I got a warm greeting from the President then he completely surprised me by asking if I would like to stay for the meeting. It turned out that because of the incident with the computer hackers I had the security clearance of a cabinet level advisor. I was also informed that the meeting was about the contents of the file that I had intercepted. I knew exactly what was in that file and declined the offer to stay explaining that if I didn’t know what they were talking about I couldn’t give away the secret. With that I left the room closing the soundproof door behind me. The security teams took up positions around all the entrances to the room including the entrance to the projection booth on the second floor.

An hour later the President called me back into the room and thanked me for allowing him to meet in my home tonight. As the President left I noticed that the Queen looked a bit frazzled around the edges and asked her if she would like to stay the night here instead of going all the way across town to the hotel again. The smile on her face would have lit up the Statue of Liberty all on its own. She willingly accepted on the condition that she was able to have another one of Gertie’s fabulous meals in the morning. We both agreed on bangers and potato pancakes as I escorted the Queen to one of the spare bedrooms.

A bit later as I slid into my own bed I wondered what Sunday was going to bring. I had a very full day planned and I hoped that everything went according to all the plans that had been made and refined over the past few months. When I reached for the light, a black cat with a white blaze mark on his throat jumped up on my bed and settled down next to my pillow.

“GILLIE! Just WHERE did come from anyway, huh?” Gillie just looked at me as if to say “You think I’m gonna tell you?” and started licking his paw in the way cats do when they want to avoid a human’s gaze. I KNOW that the cat wasn’t in the room when I closed my door and I puzzled for a few moments how he got in here. Nothing came to mind so I turned out the light as Gillie’s gentle purring lulled me to sleep.

To be continued in Chapter 18 of Zapped!

---

A note to readers:

Despite writing it out of the story long ago I still get questions about what happened to Jen’s “powers” and the group that was watching her activities. Many readers want to know when I’m going to bring that plot line back.

The answer is never. The reason is that a LOT of people wrote back saying that I was doing it all wrong from the science standpoint, so many that I gave up trying to answer the questions and decided to remove that part of the plot in the story. It was just too much trouble trying to write clues into the story so that readers could figure it all out for themselves over the run of chapters I had planned for the plot line.

For all of you that keep writing and asking here’s what I had planned:

The theory was that Jen was a by-product of a trip by "Bob" to some time in the future during the lightning strike. The strike was merely used as a “cover device” and a plausible reason for triggering a genetic change of such magnitude for present-day doctors. In “reality’, technology was used to make the change from Bob to Jen via nanites injected into his body. He was then transported back to within a few milliseconds after the lightning strike and left there to be found.

The ring Jen had focused the power the nanites in her body generated and gave her the extra “abilities” The ring was planted by a group of time watchers years and years ago before Bob was born and carefully guided thru time so that Jen would find it and buy it. The nanites in Jen’s body were damaged by the shock Jen got from her ham radio station and she gradually lost her abilities as a result. The nanites are still at work keeping her healthy and slowing her rate of aging but the special abilities are now permanently GONE.

The plot line would have eventually included the fact that Jen carried DNA that provided a cure to a terrible disease that infects everyone when a comet grazes Earth's atmosphere in the future. Her old male body had always carried the DNA from birth and it was that defect in his DNA that was responsible for his numerous health problems. With the change from male to female triggered by the nanites the defect became inactive.

The group that was watching her was the same time watcher group that discovered that Bob carried the DNA but would never live long enough to carry it forward into the future as a man. It planned and executed the time shift and transformation. As an enhanced woman, Jen would live long enough to carry the DNA to the time the comet appears. As a woman in the future the DNA defect would have given Jen complete immunity to the disease after being exposed to it. The resulting biological factors that provided Jen’s immunity would have been isolated and used as a serum to treat the rest of the world’s population.

I doubt that I'll do anything more with that story line at this point. As far as I’m concerned, except for tying a few loose ends together, that aspect of the story is gone for good. Sorry if this ruins things for many readers but I can’t keep everyone happy.