Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:32:56 -0400
From: D C <deanechris5@msn.com>
Subject: Mistaken Identity: The Acquisition - A Woman's Prerogative - TG Magic-Scifi

Mistaken Identity: The Acquisition - A Woman's Prerogative
By Deane Christopher (e-mail: deanechris5@msn.com)
Edited by Sue Kidder

SYNOPSIS: The surname Johnson ranks as the second most popular surname in
the United States.  Unfortunately, this fact results in a case of mistaken
identity for one Daniel Johnson.  Upon checking into a Columbus, Ohio
hotel, he is mistakenly given the room that was to be occupied by a
Mr. David Johnson, a room that, unbeknownst to him, is magically
booby-trapped to turn its male occupant into an extremely attractive
female.

+ + +

	Daniel Johnson's boss had been blindsided with a last minute
request for an installation and maintenance course on the new fiber-ready
multiplexer and miniaturized digital cross-connection unit that his company
was producing for various applications in both the telecommunications and
cable television industries.  To put it bluntly, a multi-million dollar
contract hung in the balance.  If the company Dan worked for was able to
provide the requested course, the contract was pretty much a done deal.  If
not, the end user's chief engineering officer had made it perfectly clear
that they would probably go with a competitor's product.

	Daniel had spent the previous week in Denver and the week prior to
that out in Seattle, so none of his cohorts expected him to volunteer for
the unscheduled teaching assignment.  But, due to the shambles his personal
life was in at the time, Dan, adopting the logical and available man
principle, stepped up to the plate and offered to fly out to Columbus, Ohio
to teach the unscheduled course. Both his boss and coworkers were relieved
that Dan had graciously volunteered.

	The course was slated to begin on the following Monday.  Had the
course been on the regular teaching docket, the firm's teaching
department's administrative assistant, Shelly, would have pre-booked a
flight for Dan, which would have him leaving town either Friday evening, or
at the very latest, early Saturday morning.  By doing so, Dan would have
the whole day Sunday to set up the hotel's conference room that he would be
using as a makeshift classroom.  Barring unforeseen complications, it would
normally take Dan the better part of a day to uncrate, assemble and
provision the multiplexer terminals he would be using for the course.  By
doing so, Dan could provide his students with the invaluable hands-on
training they would need to install, provision and maintain the fiber-ready
multiplexers and associated miniaturized digital cross-connection unit.

	Though Shelly gave it her best shot, the firm's teaching
department's extremely efficient and rather attractive administrative
assistant reluctantly informed Dan that, try as she might, all of the
direct flights out to Columbus were booked up solid for both that Friday
and Saturday.  The same, Shelly glumly informed Dan, was true for the
various connecting flights.  The best that Shelly had been able to arrange
for Dan was a seat on a direct flight to Columbus departing early that
Thursday morning.  The good news however was that Dan would be flying first
class, something his company rarely if ever sprang for.

	Dan had bachelorhood thrust upon him by a messy and costly divorce
several years before and was not phased by the prospect of having to spend
a couple extra days in Columbus doing nothing constructive.  As it was, Dan
figured, 'What the hell!  I guess I'll just have to make the best out of a
bad situation...'

	Because of the demand for the course that Dan taught, he spent
almost every other week out of town for the past year and was well aware of
the fact that he would most likely be bored out of his gourd by the time
Sunday evening rolled around.  But though it was an uphill struggle at
times to fight off the boredom associated with being on the road, Dan knew
that he would somehow find a way to keep himself occupied.  There was
always something to do if one applied oneself.  Luckily, the hotel complex
where he would be staying boasted a rather nice indoor pool, along with an
accompanying hot tub, sauna and exercise room.  Dan, who swam laps as his
primary source of exercise, planned to avail himself of the pool for the
duration of his stay.  Added to that, there was always his laptop, books
and as a last resort, the TV.

	Due to the early departure time of his flight, Dan got to the
airport at an ungodly hour that Thursday morning.  The flight itself was
uneventful, and upon his arrival at Port Columbus International Airport, he
headed straight for the baggage claim area.  Next stop, the rental car
kiosk where he picked up the car that Shelly had prudently reserved for
him.  Then, knowing that it was far too early in the day to check-in to his
hotel, Dan decided that a hardy breakfast was next on his agenda.  Once his
hunger was assuaged, Dan climbed back into his rental car and headed for
his hotel.

	Though Dan had his doubts, he was hoping that he might be able to
somehow persuade the desk clerk to let him check into his room earlier than
the hotel's policy generally allowed for.  Dan was in luck.  Though
somewhat distracted by a call he was endeavoring to handle, the hotel's
somewhat frazzled desk clerk quickly scanned the reservation list.  Having
located what he believed to be Dan's name on the list, the desk clerk
handed Dan the magnetic key card for room 14, along with an information
packet that contained among other things, a floor plan of hotel's
facilities, plus a pamphlet listing local attractions and near-by
restaurants.

	Dan had been in a lot of hotels over the past couple of years and
was therefore pleasantly surprised with the accommodations.  The room was
not only clean; it was a fairly decent size.  Added to that, the furnishing
surpassed his expectations and to his way of thinking, the king-size bed
was a real plus.  Its mattress was just the way Dan liked it - extra firm.
All things considered, Dan was rather pleased with his room.

	Dan borrowed one of the hotel's luggage carts and retrieved his
luggage from the rental car.  Back in his room, Dan took off his suit coat
and hung it in the walled-off niche that served as the room's closet.
Then, he turned to the task of unpacking his belongings.  Coming upon his
bathing suit, Dan, thinking he might be up for a swim after he got though
the drudgery of unpacking, set it to one side.

	As fate would have it, Dan never made it to pool that afternoon.
Though he rarely if ever suffered from the symptoms associated with jetlag,
round about the time he was attending to his toiletries, Dan realized that
he was becoming increasingly groggy, to the point that bordered on actually
becoming lethargic.  Figuring that a short nap would revitalize him, Dan
took off his shoes.  He then placed his watch, wallet, keys, cellphone,
along with his loose change on the nightstand.  With that done, Dan
stretched out on the bed and was soon fast asleep.

	Later that afternoon, having slept for a good five hours, a
bedraggled and bleary-eyed Dan began to rouse from his slumbers.
Muddle-headed as he was, Dan felt strangely ill at ease.  Try as he might,
he could not shake the unsettling premonition that something was not as it
should be.  His mind oafishly lurched.  It lugged and lumbered, one-lunging
it in a drunkenly stutter-step fashion that made it damn near impossible
for Dan to form a cohesive thought.  Then, as an ominous specter of dread
began to coalesce in the nether reaches of his mind, a fear, both pungent
and primordial begin to gnaw at his sensibilities.  His stomach began to
churn, burning sharply with an acrid foreboding.

	Though still discombobulated, Dan, with a Herculean effort on his
part, managed to clear a fair amount of the cobwebs clogging his mind.
Blinking his eyes in an effort to dislodge the haze that blurred and
distorted his vision, Dan began a cursory inspection of his hotel room.

	At first glance, nothing seemed odd or out of place.  Everything
seemed to be as it should be.  But, to his everlasting chagrin and
consternation, Dan was quick to realize that his first impression was an
erroneous one.  All was not right with the world.  Something had indeed
changed.  His wingtips were nowhere to be seen.  However, sitting right in
the very spot where he had placed his trusty wingtips sat a pair of women's
pointy-toed stilettos.

	"What the shit..." Dan groggily murmured as his mind struggled to
make sense of things.  However, in his befuddled state of mind, Dan failed
to register the fact that his voice had modulated during his afternoon
respite.  The silky and sensual timbre of Dan's voice was no longer that of
man's.  Though Dan failed to register the fact, his inflections were
clearly those of a member of the fairer sex.  "Where the hell did those
high heels come from?  And where the hell have my wingtips gotten to?"

	Perplexed and unable to provide answers to those rather telling
questions, Dan, in a knee-jerk reaction spurred on by a pungent and
unshakable sense of foreboding, shifted position.  Angling his torso
upwards while concurrently supporting himself on an outstretched arm, Dan
was thunderstruck to realize that he was no longer wearing pants.  Instead
he was wearing a skirt and his legs were encased in what appeared to be a
coffee brown pair of women's pantyhose.  "What the fuck's going on here?"
Dan, feeling as if he was the brunt of somebody's cruel joke, frantically
clamored, as he spastically ratcheted himself up and off the bed.

	Becoming acutely aware of the uncustomary weight that distended
from his chest, a weight that was playing havoc with his equilibrium, a
wobbly and thoroughly disconcerted Dan vehemently exclaimed, "Holy shit!
I've got boobs!  What the hell's going on here?  Have I all of a sudden
turned into a girl?"

	Though it took a while for Dan to acknowledge the incontrovertible
truth of the matter, that is exactly what had happened.  Dan had fallen
asleep around eleven that morning as a man, only to wake up later that same
afternoon to the ignominious realization that she had somehow changed into
a woman.  Within seconds, Dan, availed herself of the mirror mounted on the
wall above the dresser and in doing so, confirmed that she had somehow
become an extremely becoming young woman.  Confounding Dan all the more was
the fact that she appeared to be somewhere in her mid twenties, looking
some twenty years younger than her actual age of forty-five.

	Having groped the shit out of herself countless times in the short
span of fifteen minutes, Dan repeatedly confirmed the fact that, at least
in a physical sense, she was indeed a woman.  Granted, it would take a
gynecologist to confirm the fact that her reproductive system had pulled a
one-eighty on her.  But Dan, being no stranger to that particular
topography of the feminine anatomy, was fairly confident that a
gynecologist would confirm her findings and without qualms or
qualifications, unequivocally certify that Dan was indeed a woman.

	Understandably, that notion did not sit well with Dan at all.  She
was not a happy camper.  Regardless of the fact that she was beautiful,
festooned as she was within a curvaceous body that gushed with an
unfettered sense of sensuality, the truth of the matter was that Dan did
not want to be a woman.  She liked being a man and because she did, she
dearly wanted her old body back.

	Then, adding insult to injury, Dan became aware that the crotch
area of the pantyhose she was trussed up in was beginning to become moist,
signifying the fact that her vagina had started leaking love-juices.  That
led Dan to the stark realization that regardless of the bizarre and
personally abhorrent situation she found herself embroiled within, she was
nevertheless turning herself on.  That knowledge in turn led Dan to
conclude that her mind was still very much a man's mind.  While she was
physically all woman, logic proclaimed that her mind still possessed a very
healthy, active and staunchly entrenched male libido.

	"God!" Dan agonized.  "I'm not just a girl!  I'm a frickin'
narcissist to boot!"  Venting her anguish, Dan continued on to wail, "What
the hell did I ever do to deserve this?  Please, God!  I don't know what I
did.  But whatever it was, I'm sorry for it.  I really, truly am.  So, if
you could please see Your way clear to changing me back, I'd really
appreciate it.  I'm just not cut out to be a girl..."

	Just then, the phone on the night table began ringing its silly
little head off.  Coming unexpectedly as it did, the in-coming call
startled the living shit out of Dan, causing her whole body to quiver and
shake.  Though securely nestled in the cups of a bra that Dan quite
correctly presumed to have started off that morning as a man's T-shirt,
those rather substantial chest melons of hers began in a swishing and
swaying.  And that only served to unnerve Dan all the more, for it drove
home the incontrovertible truth of the matter.  Dan had somehow become a
woman.

	Frazzled as she was, Dan elected to ignore the phone's incessant
ringing.  "Go ahead, ring your ass off!" she agitatedly barked.  "See if I
care!"

	Being changed into a woman was one thing.  Having someone find out
the truth about the ignominious predicament she found herself contending
with was something else altogether.  Dan figured that given the
circumstances, the best thing she could do at the moment was to do nothing
at all.  Dan was adamant.  It would be a cold day in hell before she would
answer it.

	However, some things are much easier said than done.  Dan, who had
a tendency toward being a little too anal-retentive for her own good, had a
hard time trying to ignore the phone's incessant inducements.  Eventually,
after several nerve-wracking minutes of having to listen to the damn
thing's abrasive entreatments, Dan's resolve began to buckle.  Whoever the
caller was, he or she was persistent.  After enduring several more minutes
of the phone's infernal ringing, Dan's resolve cracked and on the heels of
that, shattered.  Irately snatching the receiver from its base with a hand
that was decidedly as feminine as the rest of her, Dan brought the handset
to her ear.

	Though she was anything but calm, Dan tried her damnedest to sound
composed.  "Hello..." she intoned with that sexy new voice of hers.

	"Mr. Johnson...  Mr. Daniel Johnson..." a man's authoritarian voice
congenially intoned.  "You do not know me, but my name is Xavier Meggido
and I am very sorry to have to say this, but I am afraid that you are the
victim of a horrible mistake.  Unfortunately, when you checked into the
hotel this morning, the young gentleman at the front desk erroneously
placed you in the wrong room.  I am very sorry to say that unforeseeable,
albeit innocent error of his is why you have awoken from your slumbers only
to find yourself as a member of the opposite sex.  I realize how farfetched
this must sound, Mr. Johnson.  And, I beg you to please pardon the pun, but
early this morning I rigged the room you are now occupying with a magical
booby trap, a booby trap that was contrived with the express purpose of
transforming your room's male occupant into a bona fide female.  Please,
Mr. Johnson, I want you to know that I am extremely sorry for what has
occurred, and I beg that you will accept my sincerest apology for the
grievous and unforgivable error that has occurred.  Be assured that I fully
intend to compensate you for any inconvenience you might incur during your
hopefully short stint as a woman.  Added to that, I wish to put your mind
at ease, Mr. Johnson.  I fully intend to set things aright just as soon as
I am able to do so.  However, I am very sorry to have to tell you this,
Mr. Johnson.  But, given certain technical and arcane aspects of the spell
that I used to booby trap your room, I am afraid that necessity requires
that you remain as you are now for at least the next fourteen days.  And,
as much as you might not want to hear me say this, I have to be honest and
up front with you, Mr. Johnson.  Before I can reverse the process and
restore your manhood to you, your present body has to stabilize in its
present form.  Regrettably, depending on your metabolism, you may have to
remain a female for several days beyond the fourteen I mentioned
previously.  As much as I might like to change you back, the sad and awful
truth of the matter is that it is unadvisable to rush this sort of thing.
Were I to try and expedite the matter, we run the real risk of doing more
harm than good.  And, I seriously doubt very much that you would like to
run the risk of becoming some sort of grotesque looking hermaphrodite,
something that is neither male nor female, but a weird conjoining of the
two.  And, I think I can safely assume that that is something we would both
like to avoid..."

	Xavier Meggido continued on in that vein for a few more minutes.
He then suggested that Dan do him the honor of joining him for dinner in
the hotel's restaurant, the implication being that the two of them could
continue to discuss the matter of Dan's sexual reassignment in much more
cordial atmosphere.  Naturally, Dan balked at the notion of having to
venture out of her room for the first time rigged out fore and aft as a
bona fide female.  However, Meggido, aware of Dan's reservations, logically
addressed and nullified each and every one of Dan's concerns in turn.
"Mr. Johnson, I know how intimidating this is going to be for you.  But
trust me.  It will be okay.  I am confident that you will do just fine.
Besides, there are only two people who know the truth of the matter.  And,
those two people are you and I.  Trust me.  No one will ever be the wiser.
Everyone who lays eyes on you will take you for the lovely young woman you
appear be."

	On the verge of being pressured into acquiescing to Meggido's
invitation to join him for dinner, Dan tried another ploy to delay the
inevitable.  Knowing that she would eventually have to venture out of her
room as the woman she had become, but wishing to postpone the prospect for
as long as possible, Dan, sounding more like a woman than she wanted to,
sniveled, "Alright!  I'll tell you what, Mr. Meggido.  If I can find
something other than these heels to wear, I'll join you for dinner.  So,
please do me a favor.  Hold on a minute while I'll go see if I can find
another pair of shoes, something that'll be easier for me to get around in
than these treacherous looking stilettos..."

	Prior to Meggido's phone call, Dan had come to the realization that
she was not the only thing to have been affected by the room's magical
booby trap.  It had not taken Dan long to realize that her clothes and
toiletries had undergone a similar change in their sexual affiliation as
well.  Every last stitch of clothing that she had brought with her had been
transmogrified into a complimentary article of women's apparel.  T-shirts
had become bras, boxer shorts - scanty bikini briefs, socks - pantyhose.
By the same token, shirts had become blouses, while neckties were rendered
into either scarves or necklaces.  Save for a pair of jeans, a pair of
jeans that had not been spared the feminine touch; the remainder of her
pants had been magically reapportioned into skirts.  To Dan's chagrin, she
discovered that the two other pair of shoes she had brought with her had
also been rendered into intimidating stiletto heel monstrosities.  Save for
their color, Dan found that she had three identical pair of spiked heels, a
black pair, a navy blue pair and a gleaming, fire engine red patent leather
pair.

	"Mr. Meggido," an exasperated Dan sighed upon returning to the
phone after what had been a very frustrating search, "Look, as much as I
appreciate the offer, I'm afraid I won't be able to join you for dinner.
It seems your magical booby trap has turned all of my shoes into high
heels, and there's just no way in hell that I'm ever going to be able to
get around in them."

	"On the contrary, Mr. Johnson.  Since I suspect that you have not
tried a pair on as yet, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that you
will have no trouble at all getting around in what would seem to you to be
such perilous footwear.  You see when I created the magical booby trap that
turned you into a female; I included a sort of magical subroutine that
addressed that very detail.  In fact, I think that after a very brief
acclimation period, a period that should not take any more than a few
minutes to run its course, I believe that you will find those heels to be
the most comfortable shoes you have ever worn.  And, as an extra bonus, you
will find that the magic that is infused within the heels themselves will
invest you with a most becoming and entirely natural feminine grace and
charm.  In other words, Mr. Johnson, those heels will help to make your
mannerisms those of the woman you have become..."

	After she hung up the phone, Dan found that she was extremely
dubious of Meggido's assertions, especially those concerning the heels.
Which in itself was ironic, since it was Meggido who had cast the spell
that had resulted in her turning into a girl in the first place.  But
though dubious, Dan, having given her word that she would join the man for
dinner, did the only thing she could do under the circumstances.  Slipping
first one foot and then the other into the inviting U-throated maw of the
pumps, she donned the heels, only to find that they were as comfortable as
Meggido had assured her they would be.  "Well, I'll be damned..." Dan
mused, thereby engendering the ironic thought that by virtue of having been
inadvertently turned into a crotch creased member of the opposite sex she
had been thrust into her own personalized version of hell.

	Next came the acid test.  Gingerly, Dan pivoted about and with a
great amount of trepidation, attempted her first step.  As expected, she
teetered a bit, which in turn, caused her boobs to sway.  But though her
new protrusions did bounce around a bit, Dan was able to maintain her
balance.  The stilettos were nowhere near as bad as she had assumed.
Another tentative step followed the first.  Meggido, she soon realized, had
been telling her the gods' honest truth.  The heels were not going to be a
problem.

	Five minutes later, having strolled to the door and back several
times as a means to further acclimate herself to the pumps, Dan, wishing to
God she had never agreed to join Meggido for dinner, came to the conclusion
that she had stalled long enough.  Knowing that she had reached the crucial
shit or get off the pot point in the proceedings, Dan took a deep breath to
quell her fears and started for the door and the hallway beyond.

	"Damn!" Dan irately exclaimed, just as she was about to exit her
room.  "With everything else that's been going on, I'll be damned if I
didn't almost forget to take my room's key card.  Now, just where in the
hell did I put that damn thing?"

	Even as she posed the question to herself, Dan remembered that she
had placed the card, along with her wristwatch, wallet, cellphone and the
key to her rental car on the night table beside the phone.

	"Well, I'll be..." Dan murmured as she sashayed her way around the
foot of the bed, en route to collect the items in question from the
nightstand.  Though Dan was anything but alarmed, save for her trusty
diver's watch, a watch that Meggido's spell had downsized into a ladies
divers watch, the objects in question were not in evidence.  However,
sitting on the nightstand was a black leather purse.  Unperturbed, Dan
correctly assumed that the objects she sought must surely reside within it.
"Well, what do you know," Dan chuckled as she opened the purse and peered
inside.  "It sure looks like Meggido has this transsexualization of mine
covered six ways from Sunday."

	Dan inspected the contents of the purse to make sure that
everything was accounted for.  Assured that everything was there, Dan
turned about and made for the door.  Stopping there momentarily, she took a
deep breath to harden her resolve, twisted the knob and drew the door
inward.  With her sense of trepidation on the rise, Dan gingerly stepped
out into the hallway.  Congratulating herself that she had the balls to
have made it that far, Dan drew in another breath in an effort to quell her
fluttering heart.  Feeling a little lightheaded, Dan murmured under her
breath, "Well, here goes nothing..." as she briskly started down the
hallway, totally oblivious to just how provocative her spunky saunter
appeared.


+ + +


	Though Dan only came under the scrutiny of handful of men as she
made her way to the restaurant, the few she did happen upon gave her the
willies.  While none were overtly obvious about it, Dan knew that each and
every one of them had to be checking her out.  And the reason Dan knew that
was not due to any sense of paranoia she was harboring.  Frazzled as she
was, Dan harbored no illusions.  She was not in a state of denial.  Dan
knew that she was one fine looking woman.  And because of that, Dan knew
that any woman that looked even half as good as she did would command men's
attention.  It would have been foolish for Dan to think otherwise.  More to
the point, even though she was decked out in a body that oozed with sex
appeal, Dan had to admit that were she to catch sight of a nice looking
woman, her male libido would kick in.  And she would probably sneak a peek,
much as any red bloodied American male worth his salt would.

	Just because Dan had been turned into a piece of eye candy did not
mean she was not still attracted to other women.  And if that made her a
lesbian, as far as she was concerned, so be it.  She was a lesbian.  The
problem was that the woman she was attracted to most was none other than
her own self.  All she had to do to turn herself on was to catch a glimpse
of her own reflection.  Dan was like a proverbial wolf in a hen house, save
that in her case; while her mind was that of a wolf's, her body was all
hen.

	But even though Dan knew that she had been turned into a piece of
eye-candy and that being lewdly gawked at was to be expected, it still did
not prevent her from getting a bad case of the heebie-jeebies every time
she suspected that a guy was undressing her with his eyes.  Basically, it
was a case of lump it or like it.  And while Dan had to admit that she had
been equipped with two rather magnificent lumps to lump it with, she sure
as hell did not have to like it.  'Go ahead!' Dan's mind irately shrieked.
'Take a good look, you lecherous bastard...'


+ + +


	Upon her arrival in the restaurant's vestibule, Dan caught the
hostess' ear and informed the attractive young woman that she would be
dining that evening with a Mr. Meggido. Alerted to fact that a striking
young lady would be joining the gentleman for dinner, the hostess bid Dan
accompany her.  Leading Dan back through the sea of tables that populated
the establishment's dimly lit interior the hostess made for the rearmost
section of the restaurant's well appointed dining room.  There, the hostess
steered a course for a table where sat a dapperly dressed white haired
gentleman that bore a striking resemblance to the late actor and folk
singer, Burl Ives.  As Dan and the hostess approached, the elderly
gentleman rose and, belying his advanced years, spryly moved around the
table and adroitly drew out the chair for Dan.

	Though Dan was unaccustomed to being accorded in such a chivalrous
fashion, she thanked the hostess for the courtesy she had been shown and
allowed Meggido to seat her.  Meggido returned to his own chair.  Then,
once the hostess had withdrawn far enough to be out of earshot, he smiled
and beamed, "Well, given how ravishing you look, my dear, I certainly can
not continue to address you as Mr. Johnson, now can I?  So, in lieu of
that, would you prefer Ms. or Miss?"

	Momentarily taken aback by the unexpected question, Dan, who really
did not give a rat's ass one way or the other, informed Meggido that either
one was perfectly fine with her.

	"Alright then, given that I tend to be a little old fashioned about
such things, I think I will elect to address you as Miss Johnson."  And
with that, Meggido lapsed into silence.  He just sat there, gazing intently
at Dan, as if he were studying her.

	Unnerved by the way Meggido was scrutinizing her, Dan, thinking
there must be something wrong with the way she looked, bristled, "What's
wrong?  Why are you looking at me like that?"

	"Oh, I am sorry, my dear." Meggido apologetically replied.
"Please, Miss Johnson, I beg you to forgive me for my rudeness just now.  I
did not mean to stare.  Nor, did I mean to cause you any distress.  It
just..." his words evaporated into a moment of what Dan took to be a
thoughtful silence.  "You see, my dear, in a manner of speaking, I consider
myself an artist.  Though I work with magic, whenever I cast the sort of
spell such as the one that you unfortunately fell victim to, I think of
myself as a sculptor of the human form.  And in creating this new body that
you now inhabit, I believe that I have truly outdone myself.  For you, my
dear, are undoubtedly the loveliest creature I have ever had the pleasure
of beholding, much less enjoying the singular honor of dining with..."

	Then, having said that, Meggido changed the topic, "I hope you are
not offended, my dear.  But since you had not yet arrived, I took the
liberty of ordering for you.  While I ordered a prime rib for myself, I
thought that you might enjoy their surf and turf.  They do an outstanding
job with the Maine lobster and accompanying filet mignon will simply melt
in your mouth.  However, if you have a preference for something different,
I will be happy to get our waitress' attention... "

	Throughout dinner and the sinfully scrumptious desert that
followed, Meggido and Dan discussed a multitude of subjects that were
pertinent to Dan's present situation, with the first one being a new
feminine first name for Dan.  "So, my dear, with respect to a more feminine
sounding first name, do you have any particular preferences?"

	"No, not really..." Dan had not given any prior thought to a new
'girlish' name for herself.

	"Well then, may I suggest either Dana or Danielle?"

	Without any enthusiasm, a disgruntled Dan lackadaisically murmured,
"Yeah...  I guess Dana would be okay."

	"Alright!" Meggido made a dramatic flourish with his right hand.
"That takes care of that.  Now, Dana, as to the matter of compensation, the
figure that first came to mind was twenty thousand dollars, and that's
twenty thousand dollars after taxes."

	The notion of compensation was a not a priority for Dana.  Though
Meggido had mentioned it in passing during their phone conversation, she
had not given any thought to the issue of reimbursement at all.  In fact,
it was the furthermost thing from her mind.  However, Dana was nevertheless
insulted over the idea that Meggido thought a paltry twenty thousand
dollars could compensate her for the indignity of her having been turned
into a girl, much less having to face the dismal prospect of living as one
for the next two weeks and, quite possibly several more days after that.
"You mean to tell me that you think a measly twenty thousand dollars can
make up for my having to spend the next two weeks as a girl?"

	"No." Meggido took umbrage with Dana's accusations.  But though he
did, Meggido rode roughshod of over his ire and calmly replied, "I am well
aware of the fact that no amount of money can ever begin to compensate you
for what you are going through.  But I think you are suffering under a
misconception.  Twenty thousand dollars was the original figure that came
to my mind.  However, the more I thought about it, the more I came realize
that figure was nowhere near enough.  That is why I decided to make it
fifty thousand dollars.  And that is fifty thousand dollars after taxes for
each day you spend as the lovely young lady you are now, rather than for
the total amassed time you have to endure the indignity of functioning as a
female."

	Dana was flabbergasted.  No matter how you cut it, seven hundred
thousand was a nice chunk of change.

	Added to that, Meggido handed Dana a corporate credit card,
informing her as he did that she had carte blanche.  Meggido told Dana that
if she either needed or wanted anything, she should not hesitate to
purchase it.  In fact, Meggido came right out and suggested that she should
go on a shopping spree in the next day or so and purchase a week or two's
worth of new outfits for herself.  He even went so far as to infer that if
she did not like wearing the high heels his magical booby trap had provided
her with, she should go ahead and replace them with shoes that were more to
her liking.

	Dana already knew that was not going to happen.  Meggido had been
right.  The heels she was wearing where the most comfortable shoes she had
ever worn.  Plus, she had always enjoyed seeing women in stilettos and now
that she was a woman herself, she figured that it would be hypocritical for
her were she not to wear the high heels that Meggido's feminization spell
had provided her with.  Besides, she really liked how sexy the
stiletto-heeled pumps made her look.

	"Mr. Meggido," Dana tentatively broached a subject that had been
simmering in the back of her mind.  "For the time being, at least in a
physical sense, I'm a woman, right?"

	"Yes, my dear.  Regardless of your mind's sexual orientation, for
all intent and purposes, for the here and now of it, you are indeed a
woman."

	"And, if I remember correctly, it's a woman's prerogative to change
her mind, is it not?"

	"Yes, my dear.  It most certainly is."  Meggido was curious to see
where Dana was going with this and therefore sat there patiently waited for
the other shoe to drop.

	"Well, if it's not too much trouble, I think I'd much rather be a
Danielle over a Dana."

	"That is no trouble at all, my dear."  Meggido smiled as he raised
his right hand and whimsically twirled it about in the air before him.
"That should do the trick nicely.  As of this moment, you are Miss Danielle
Johnson.  And, may I have your permission to address you as Danielle rather
than continuing the formality of having to address you as Miss Johnson?"

	"Yes, by all means." Meggido's adherence to the more formal graces
delighted Danielle to no end, which in turn caused a most refreshing smile
to blossom on her sinfully angelic face.

	"And you, my dear, must call me Xavier."

	"Alright.  I can do that..." Danielle pleasantly replied, as she
continued on to ask a question that had just blossomed in her mind.  "Tell
me..." Danielle stammered, realizing that it required an effort on her part
in order to address Meggido by his given name, "...Xavier.  Whatever
possessed you to booby trap my room in the first place?  I mean it goes
without saying there has to be a good reason for you to do something like
that and I'm curious to know what it is."

	Having anticipated Danielle's question long before she had posed
it, Meggido eagerly launched into his explanation.  However, he began by
putting a question to Danielle.  "Do you by any chance recall a television
show entitled Friday 13th?  The show had a three year run, premiering in
September of 1987, with its last show aired in the spring of 1990."

	"Yes," Danielle, unsure as to where Meggido was going with his
question, responded somewhat cryptically.

	Pleased with the fact that Danielle knew of the show, Meggido
launched into a rather verbose diatribe.  He began by explaining that he
was a member of a long established watchdog group of talented and dedicated
individuals that, much like the three protagonists portrayed in the Friday
the 13th television series, hunted down magical objects in order to protect
society from their potential misuse.  With that said, Meggido continued on
to explain that what people generally referred to as magic was nothing more
than the act of tapping into the almost limitless metaphysical wherewithal
that lay just beyond the perception of the uninitiated in order to suspend
and alter the physical laws.

	By inference, Danielle came to realize Meggido was one of the
founding members of this magical watchdog group.  Again by inference,
Danielle picked up on the fact that Meggido had a lot of clout within the
group.  While he was not the head honcho, he had been head honcho once upon
a time and because he had, he still maintained a seat on the group's high
council.  Though Danielle tried her damnedest, she could not quite sort out
everything Meggido was imparting, save that she clearly understood that
Meggido was a power to be reckoned with within the group.  Having laid the
groundwork, Meggido proceeded to inform a thoroughly captivated Danielle
that he was in town to acquire a very powerful magical artifact.  Danielle
also learned that several other members of his acquisition team would soon
be joining Meggido.

	"And that, my dear, is why you are a woman now.  You see, Danielle,
one of the members of my team is presently using the name David Johnson as
his alias.  Like you, David had reservations for a room in this very same
hotel.  In fact, Danielle, given that the reservation list is compiled
alphabetically, his name appeared on the reservation list directly below
your own.  As you might have already guessed, it was David, rather than
yourself, who was to have been the occupant of room 14.  Ironically, you
should have been placed in room 41.

	This morning, probably even before you left your apartment and
headed out to the airport to catch your flight, I was up and about,
magically booby trapping room 14.  However, unbeknownst to me, the young
man who was manning the hotel's front desk this morning suffers from a mild
case of dyslexia.  Now, I don't know exactly what occurred, or whether the
young fellow reversed the numbers, or quite possibly just inadvertently
moved down a line when he scanned down the screen, but whatever happened,
the end result was that you, my dear, ended up occupying the room that was
supposed to have gone to my colleague, one David Johnson.

	"Was this colleague, David Johnson, aware that you were planning on
turning him into a girl?" Danielle felt compelled to ask what she deemed to
be the obvious question.

	"Yes.  Yes, he was.  In fact, I do believe that he was looking
forward to doing another stint as a female."

	Unable to comprehend why any man would want to spend time as a
woman, Danielle incredulously countered, "You mean to tell me that he's
done this sort of thing before?"

	"Oh, yes!" Meggido beamed.  "In fact, David has done so quit a few
times over the years."

	"And, he actually likes it?"

	"I see your point, Danielle.  And the truth of it is that I cannot
say whether or not that he really likes spending time as a woman.  Rather,
I would say that he tolerates it.  What I do know is that he has never
complained.  At least I have never heard him utter a disparaging word about
it.  However, on the other hand, I have to say that he is always quick to
volunteer whenever one of our snatch and grabs requires a woman."

	"So, I take it that whatever it is that you're here in Columbus to
acquire requires a woman's participation?"

	"No, not really," Meggido conceded.  "But, what I can tell you is
that having a woman on the team tends to be helpful.  But, that is all
water under the bridge now.  My cohorts and I will just have to make do as
best we can under the circumstances."

	"Can't you just turn this David Johnson into a girl when he gets
here?"

	With a heavy, belabored sigh, Meggido resignedly replied, "Would
that I could.  I wish it were that easy, my dear.  The trouble is that I
will not be able to formulate another transsexualization spell again for
quite some time.  Which means, David Johnson will, out of necessity, have
to remain male for this caper."

	Not knowing how to reply to Meggido's admission, Danielle responded
with a muted, "Oh..." Then, with her curiosity peaked she felt compelled to
inquire, "So what are you and your team going to do now?"

	"Not to worry, Danielle.  While your concern is appreciated, it is
not your problem.  It is ours.  Besides this is not the first time we had
to deal with a fly in the ointment.  Fear not.  We will put our heads
together and come up with something..."

	"So..." Danielle was still finding it hard to address Meggido by
his given name, "...Xavier, are you going to let the cat out of the bag and
tell me what this magical thing-a-ma-jig you're here to acquire is?"

	"No, my dear.  I am not.  As I said before, it is not your
concern."  Then, thinking he may have come off sounding somewhat harsher
than he had intended, Meggido endeavored to make amends.  "Maybe in few
days, after I had the opportunity to confer with the members of my team, I
might have a change of heart and divulge what we are here in Columbus to
acquire.  But, until something is decided, I am afraid that I will have to
withhold such information from you.  I am truly sorry, my dear.  But, I do
have my reasons, even though I am not in a position to share them with you,
at least for the time being.  However, as soon as I am, I will make it my
first priority to enlighten you to all the facts.  I feel I owe you that
much..."


+ + +


	It was while they were waiting for the waitress to return with
their deserts that Meggido reached into the pocket of his vest and produced
two dissimilar rings.  Meggido inspected one ring and then the other.  He
then placed the slimmer of the two bands down beside the saucer upon which
his coffee cup sat.  The other ring, the much broader of the two bands, he
extended towards Danielle.  "Here, Danielle, please take this ring."

	Danielle reached over and Meggido placed the Celtic crafted silver
ring in the palm of her outstretched hand.  "It is a pretty thing, is it
not?" Meggido mused aloud.

	Having taken a moment to inspect the striking latticework ring,
Danielle replied, "Yes...  Yes, it is."

	"Well...  Go ahead, my dear.  Slip it on.  It is a magic ring, so
any finger will do, save for the ring finger of your left hand."

	Though Danielle's first instinct was to slip the latticework band
on the ring finger of her right hand, she thought better of it and instead,
set it upon the index finger of her right hand.  True to Meggido's
assertion, it fit.  Though snug, the ring fit comfortably, much the same as
her heels had earlier.  "Well I'll be!" she exclaimed with a girlish
giggle.  "It is magic, isn't it?  So what does it do, besides re-size
itself to fit any finger?"

	Meggido, having confirmed that the ring was indeed invested with
magic, continued on to explain that while it would take a good twelve hours
to reach its full potential, the ring would allow her to function much as
any woman might.  That is to say that the ring would invest Danielle with
both the knowledge and motor-skills needed to attend to the mundane things
that the average American woman attends to on a day in day out basis.
Meggido continued on to expound on the ring's magic, informing Danielle
that the ring would allow her to fix her hair, put on makeup, do her nails,
dress herself and other such sundry things without having to put a lot of
thought to completing such mundane feminine tasks.  Basically, as Meggido
explained the matter, the latticework ring would negate all the impediments
that Danielle would be facing when having to deal with things that were
part and parcel of the feminine mystique.

	Somewhat dubiously, Danielle felt compelled to ask what was to her
a very crucial question, "This ring isn't going to make me start liking
guys, is it?  Because if it is, I'm taking the damn thing off"

	"Heavens no, my dear." Meggido chuckled.  "Trust me, Danielle.  All
the ring will do is to make functioning as a woman easier for you."

	"So, what about that other ring that you've got over there?  What
sort of magic does it do?"

	Picking up the previously discarded band, a band that Danielle now
realized was clearly a white/gold diamond engagement ring, Meggido replied,
"As far as magic goes, its magical potential is at best insignificant.
However, rest assured that it will resize itself to fit your delicate ring
finger.  Now, while this second ring is no where near as magical as the
ring which now encircles the index finger of your right hand, it should
help you when faced with the ordeal of discouraging any would be suitors."

	Having paused long enough to let his prior statement sink in,
Meggido expounded upon the point he was endeavoring to convey.  "Now, while
it is not my intention to rub salt in your wounds, we both know that as
matters now stand, the rest of the world will regard you as the beautiful
young lady you appear to be.  In other words, my dear, men are going to
find you extremely attractive.  And given the time frame that you will be
occupying that beautiful new body, I think it is safe to assume that a few
of those men who have an occasion to behold you will try to press their
advantage."

	"I take it what you're saying is that men are going to hit on me?"
Danielle succinctly sought to clarify the point that Meggido had been
laboring to make.

	"Yes, my dear.  I'm afraid so."

	"Yeah...  I kind of already figured as much.  And, you think that
this engagement ring ploy is going to stop 'em?"

	"For the most part, yes.  It should go a long way to discourage
most of your would be suitors."

	"Yeah... I guess it probably will at that.  But then again, the
world is full of assholes," Danielle mused aloud.

	"While I would probably choose another word to describe the kind of
men that we hope to discourage with this particular ring, you are quite
correct, my dear.  The world is indeed full of assholes." Meggido chuckled
in agreement.

	"Yeah... and it'll be just my luck to run into a whole slew of
them."

	"Hopefully, that will not be the case.  But should you, I would
suggest that you have a good cover story on hand to go along with that
engagement ring.  May I suggest that your bogus fiancée is member of an
elite unit of the armed forces, such as the Navy Seals or the Army Special
Forces?  You can also imply that your bogus intended takes great umbrage
when someone tires to, shall we say for the sake of argument, sweet talk
his bride to be.  You could go so far as to suggest that you are meeting
your fiancée shortly and that it would be a wise course of action for the,
as you so aptly put it - asshole, to desist and make a quick departure
before your beau arrives on the scene."

	Though Danielle was not looking forward to having to fend off a
bunch of egotistical guys, guys who were full of themselves, the type of
guys who thought they were God's gift to women, she thought Meggido's
suggestion to be quite a good one.  He was right.  She would have to put
her mind into coming up with a good cover story.  Then, having accomplished
that, she would have to rehearse it, repeating it aloud over and over so
that if such a situation ever arose, her cover story would roll off her
tongue naturally, thereby making it all the more convincing and therefore,
all the more threatening

	Though still a little dubious, not to mention scared shitless over
the prospect of have to deal with guys coming on to her, Danielle thought
that the engagement ring ploy might actually work.  At least it was worth a
try.  If it worked -- great.  If not, if the ring failed to dissuade the
unwanted advances of some low-life SOB who wanted nothing more than to get
his rocks off by sticking his gross, gnarled-up thing-a-ma-bob up inside
her nice new honey pot, Danielle knew that she would have to come up with
another ploy to fend off the bastard.  Because there was no way in hell
that Danielle was going to play a game of backside rules the navy with some
over-sexed, egotistical son of a bitch.

	However, if Danielle's would be suitor just happened to be another
attractive young lady, that would be another matter altogether.


+ + +


	Prior to parting company, Meggido and Danielle exchanged cellphone
numbers.  Added to that, in the eventuality that she was unable to contact
Meggido on his cellphone, Meggido handed Danielle his business card which
listing several numbers where he or one of his cohorts could be reached in
an emergency.  In doing so, Meggido instructed Danielle to call him anytime
she felt the need, even if it was to do nothing more than talk.  For her
part, Danielle appreciated Meggido's concern and told him as much.
Meggido, playing the part of the elderly and charming gentleman to the
hilt, escorted Danielle to her room.  There, he bid her goodnight, but only
after securing her promise to join him for dinner the following evening.

	"Oh!" Meggido caught Danielle before she disappeared inside her
hotel room.  "I almost forgot to mention this.  But, while you and I were
having dinner, I had one of my cohorts enter your room and leave a small
present for you.  If my instructions were followed, you should find it on
your bed, my dear..."


+ + +


	Upon entering her room, Danielle spied a small silver gift bag
sitting centermost on the bed.  Curious to see what the bag contained,
Danielle placed her purse on the nightstand, and taking possession of the
bag, began energetically plucking at the pastel colored tissue paper in
order to see what the bag contained.  Though she had never seen one up
close and personal before, Danielle knew right off what the chrome
rocket-like object was.  It was a vibrator.  The bag also contained a
business card sized note, a note that bore Meggido's signature, a note that
conveyed a one-word message, 'Enjoy'.

	Though the gift of the vibrator could have had the opposite effect
on Danielle than Meggido had intended, in that it could have royally pissed
her off, it did no such thing.  The truth was that Danielle was tickled
pink with the vibrator, knowing fully well that she would make good use of
it over the course of the next fourteen days.  After all, while she did not
want to be a woman, there was no getting around the fact that she was a
woman.  And since she was a woman, at least in a physical sense, Danielle
figured that the best thing she could do under the circumstances was to try
to make the best out of a bad situation.  To that end, Danielle was savvy
enough to realize that Meggido's gift would go a long way to help her
achieve that goal.  The way Danielle saw it, if being a woman had a silver
lining, the vibrator was the key to unlocking its secrets.  As a man,
Danielle had always wondered what it would be like to be multi-orgasmic.
Now that she was a woman, she had every intention of finding out.
"Hmmm..." she curiously muttered, as she twisted the gnarled cap in order
to turn the vibrator on.  "Gee...  I wonder how long the batteries will
last.  Well, I guess I'll find that out sooner or later."  Then, in an
after thought, she added, "I guess it would be a good idea for me to pick
up a couple extra batteries just in case these die on me.  I mean, if I
learned anything from my time in the Boy Scouts, it was to be prepared..."

	Though tempted to try out Meggido's gift right there and then,
Danielle thought better of it.  Owing to all the sleep she had gotten that
afternoon, she was not the least bit tired.  Added to that, given that she
had dined with Meggido shortly after the restaurant had begun serving from
its dinner menu, she had the whole evening ahead of her.  Knowing that she
would eventually get around to exploring how all her new erogenous zones
worked, Danielle knew that she need to do something to keep herself
occupied.  However, she was not exactly sure what that something was.

	Even though the network shows did not start until eight, Danielle
knew that if she put her mind to it she could always find something to
watch.  But for the moment, watching TV did not appeal to her.  Neither did
reading a book.  She gave thought to her laptop, thinking that she might be
able to find something on the Internet to hold her interest.  If not, she
could always while away the evening by playing a few games of Spider or
FreeCell.

	As she lay across the bed, weighing her options, Danielle's gaze
came upon her swim trunks, save that they were no long swim trunks, but
rather a woman's standard issue nylon/lycra tank suit.  Though she was in
no way anxious to have to deal with the ignominy that would beset her were
she to once again venture out of her room as a female, Danielle was quick
to realize that a swim would do her a world of good.  Aware that she was
feeling about as hyper as hyper could be, Danielle knew all too well that
she had to do something to drain away all the pent up energy that was
threatening to drive her right up the figgin' wall.

	Though she was not happy about the prospect of functioning out in
the public eye as a woman, Danielle knew that it was inevitable that she do
so.  She knew that there was just no way she could avoid it.  So, given
that she was anything but a procrastinator, she generally liked to tackle
the disagreeable tasks first and thereby get them out the way.  Granted,
she had three full days ahead of her in order to adjust to functioning as a
female before she had to face a classroom of students come the following
Monday morning, Danielle knew that it would be foolish for her not take
full advantage of the time afforded her.  Three days was not much time to
make all the adjustments needed to feel comfortable functioning as a
female, but three days was a hell of a lot better than no days at all.

	Stripping out of the clothes she was wearing, Danielle gingerly
stepped into the leg-holes of the slinky black tank suit and pulled it up
and about her curvaceous new torso.  Taking her time, she gently nestled
first one and then the other of her ample mammaries into the suit's
associated pockets.  'Damn!' the thought crossed her mind.  'They sure are
a lot more sensitive now that I'm a woman!  In fact, they're more sensitive
than I ever imagined...'

	Glancing up, Danielle beheld herself in the mirror that was mounted
on the wall above the dresser.  "Oh, shit!" she exclaimed, as she took in
just how beautiful and down right sexy she appeared trussed up in the
shimmering black tank suit.  Then, acting as if on its own volition, her
right hand began to grope her crotch, while her left hand opened a second
front she began to knead and fondle her right breast.

	"Stop it!" she irately groused, knowing that if she kept toying
with her new attributes, she would never make it to the pool.  Though she
was loath to do so, Danielle, aware that she was just postponing the
inevitable, forced herself back to the business of getting ready to go to
the pool.  Reclaiming the blouse that she had woken up to find herself
wearing, the very same blouse that had begun life that morning as a man's
dress shirt, Danielle drew it on.  Though she assumed that the hotel would
have a stack of towels for their guests located somewhere in the general
vicinity of the pool and associated hot tub, in the off chance that they
did not offer that amenity, Danielle prudently grabbed a towel off the rack
in her bathroom.  Danielle then remembered that she had prudently packed a
pair of flip-flops to wear back and forth to the hotel's pool.  That being
the case, Danielle went to fetch them.  Trouble was, her flip-flops had not
been immune to the booby trap's magical manipulations.  To her chagrin,
Danielle's flip-flops had been transformed into a pair of stylish,
high-heeled sandals.

	Danielle did not have much of a choice.  Though she could have
probably made her way to the pool barefooted, she did not think that was a
good idea.  That meant that she would have to wear something on her feet.
That being the case, though she suspected it would appear that she was
openly inviting men to hit on her, she elected to go with the black
stiletto heels she had worn earlier.  Basically, her decision hinged on the
fact that she could slip into and out of the pumps easily; thereby negating
the time it would take her to strap on the scandals should a hasty retreat
to her room become the advisable course of action.


+ + +


	Upon arriving poolside, Danielle, who was feeling as conspicuous as
all get-out, quickly realized that she would not be getting in any laps
that evening.  Though there were only about a dozen people in the pool, ten
of them were kids, ranging in age from preschoolers to snot-nosed
teenagers.  Prior experience had taught Danielle that a group of kids would
find a way to utilize a whole pool, making it damn near impossible for
anyone who wanted to swim laps to do so.

	While lap swimming was out, Danielle decided that she still
relished the notion of taking a dip.  Stepping out of her pumps, she
slipped off her blouse and strolled over to the steps that granted access
to the pool's shallow end.  The water felt wonderful and even though she
had to maneuver around a child every now and again, Danielle thoroughly
enjoyed the time she spent leisurely puttering around in the pool.

	As a man, the only time Danielle had ever felt truly graceful had
been on the occasions when she was fully immersed in water.  Oddly enough,
Danielle found that as a woman, her feelings of gracefulness had been
amplified considerably.

	Exiting the pool a half an hour later, an invigorated Danielle
decided to treat herself to a muscle-soothing soak in the swirling, hundred
degrees plus waters of the adjacent hot tub.  As expected, the hot tub was
already occupied by a smattering of hotel guests.  As she approached, a
wary and somewhat skittish Danielle began a hasty threat assessment.
Though leery, Danielle decided that the threat level was minimal.  Had she
thought otherwise, Danielle probably would have chickened out, turned tail
and scurried back to her room as if all the demons in hell were hell bent
on playing a game of hide the salami with her.

	"Herb," a plump, middle-aged woman prodded her husband.  "Slide
over a little so we can make room for this nice young lady to join us."
Then, turning her head to address Danielle, the woman continued on to say,
"Come on, deary.  Don't be shy.  There's plenty of room for you to join
us."  Danielle, knowing that the woman would keep a tight reign on her
husband, descended the steps and parked her new heart-shaped derrière down
on the stepped bench that ringed the hot tub's interior.

	Seated obliquely across from Danielle was a ruddy-faced man who
appeared to be in his mid to later forties.  Try as she might, given that
the man's hands were concealed from view by the froth that swirled upon the
water's surface, Danielle was unable to ascertain whether or not the man
was wearing a wedding ring.  But, Danielle was no fool.  She knew that a
wedding ring proved nothing.  Danielle figured that the man was probably in
sales and therefore, spent a lot of time on the road.  And if that were the
case, all bets were off.  Unfortunately, in far too many instances, marital
fidelity was not a high priority for someone who spent a good deal of their
life away from home.  Given that, Danielle, employing caution as her
watchword, recognized that the man posed a potential problem for her.  She
realized that should he get in his mind to make a move on her, she would
have to shut him down fast; informing him in no uncertain terms that if he
were interested in hooking up for a one night stand, he could look
elsewhere for a amenable bedmate.

	A second couple, who in Danielle's estimation appeared to bracket
the medium age of thirty, also occupied the tub.  While the guy looked to
be somewhere around thirty-two or thirty-three, the woman seated next to
him looked to be several years younger, perhaps a year or two older than
Danielle's own apparent age.  Danielle breathed a little easier when she
took note of the fact that the couple was wearing matching wedding bands.
The young woman, who Danielle thought to be quite attractive, must have
taken note of the ladies divers watch encircling Danielle's left wrist, for
she inquired, "Do you dive?"

	Though many men wear diver's watches even though they are not
divers, few women do.  If a woman wears a diver's watch it generally means
that she is not only a certified diver, but it is also reasonable to assume
that she is a fairly active one as well.

	Seeing no harm in doing so, Danielle cordially replied that she was
indeed a scuba diver.  With a pleasant smile, the young woman, who
introduced herself as Debbie, informed Danielle that she and her husband,
Tony, were avid divers as well, thereby establishing a common ground for
conversation.  As if old friends, the three of them began to expound upon
their diving experiences.  Ironically, though it had been six months apart,
Danielle and the couple had stayed at the same resort in Cozumel, Mexico.
And not only had they done that, but they had gone out on the very same
dive boats, dove with the same dive masters and shared many of the same
opinions concerning how the resort's dive operation measured up to others
that they had the occasion to dive with.

	While the three of them were exchanging humorous stories stemming
out of their various diving experiences, the gentleman who Danielle
presumed to be a salesman got up and exited the hot tub.  A minute later,
an athletic looking man, a man who appeared who to be in his mid thirties,
entered the tub and sat down in the recently vacated space across from
Danielle.  Oddly enough, engrossed as she was in the avid conversation she
was having with Tony and Debbie, the newcomer slipped under Danielle's
threat-assessment radar.  A few minutes after the newcomer's arrival, the
middle-aged couple stood up and, telling everyone to have a pleasant
evening, climbed the stairs and exited the tub.

	It was only then that Danielle took note of the man who taken a
seat directly across from her.  Though she tried hard not to show it, his
presence rattled her.  While she did not find him threatening in a sexual
sense, there was nevertheless something about him that she found
disquieting.  Try as she might, Danielle could not identify what that
elusive something was.  She just did not feel comfortable being in the
man's presence.  But, then again, save for Xavier Meggido, in her present
condition, keenly aware that she was now a card-carrying member of the
weaker sex, Danielle could have said pretty much the same thing about any
man.

	Then, to make matters worse, the man, having heard everything that
passed between Danielle and the couple, inquired, "Have any of you been to
Bonaire?  Trust me, if you ever get the opportunity, go.  You won't be
sorry.  The diving there is fantastic."

	Danielle had been to Bonaire.  In fact, she had been there several
times.  And the guy was right.  The diving there was fantastic.  But,
though she had been to Bonaire, Danielle was not about to admit to it.
Thinking it more advantageous for her to withhold such information,
Danielle decided to remain mum.

	It was Debbie who drew the newcomer into their conversation.  "So,
I take it that you're a diver too?"

	The guy raised his left arm out of the water so as to display a
Citizen Aqualand strapped about his wrist.  "Yeah... I've been diving ever
since I was a kid..."

	Though she had been enjoying the conversation, Danielle decided
that it was time for her to go.  Bidding everyone a good night, she exited
the tub, collected her things and with her high heels clicking and
a-clacking, made a beeline for her room.  There, she showered, taking the
pains to both shampoo and condition her hair in order to safeguard it
against the adverse affects of chlorine.


+ + +


	Her shower over, Danielle toweled off and dried her hair.

Though she was at best a social drinker, who had not had a drop of alcohol
for several months, Danielle wanted a drink in the worst way.  Added to
that, the hotel's bar was just a hop, skip and a jump away.  All she had to
do was throw something on; walk to the end of the hallway; descend one
fight of steps; pass through the hotel's entrance foyer; stroll down
another short hallway and into the bar.  Once there, she could order a
drink to go and be back in her room in something under five minutes.

	There was a problem however.  There would probably be several men
in the bar, men whose inhibitions had been lowered through the consumption
of various alcoholic beverages.  And, the mere thought of that terrified
Danielle to no end.  As much as she wanted a drink to help settle her
frazzled nerves, Danielle was not about to enter that den of iniquity that
night or any other night for that matter.

	She next thought of the vending machines that were located at the
opposite end of the hallway.  However, as soon as Danielle thought of going
there in order to get herself a few snacks and a soda or two, she knew that
it was a bad idea.  A man could be lurking there.  He could grab her,
overpower her, throw her to the floor and have his way with her.

	Vowing to go to a grocery store and maybe even a liquor store on
the following day, Danielle unwrapped one of the plastic cups that the
hotel provided and filled it with tap water.  Lifting it to her lips, she
muttered, "Well, this certainly sucks..."


+ + +


	In an effort to try and make the best out of a bad situation,
Danielle had planned to spend the remainder of the evening twiddling around
with all those new erogenous zones that populated her stunning girlish
physique.  The problem was that her time spent at the hot tub had unnerved
her.  Though she made a half-hearted attempt at trying to arouse herself,
she was feeling far too antsy to achieve the desired results.

	Frustrated and more than a little pissed-off, Danielle scooped up
the remote and switched on the TV, hoping that she could find something
that would hold her interest.  Having surfed through the channels a
half-dozen times, she settled on watching the last fifteen minutes of the
World War II farce, Kelly's Heroes, a movie she liked, but had seen
numerous times.  As the credits for Kelly Heroes began to role, an
information bar appeared at the bottom of the screen, alerting viewers that
the movie Goodbye Charlie was next on tap.  Though Danielle had seen the
comedy numerous times as well, she decided to watch it again just to see
how her present reality compared to Hollywood portrayal of Charlie Sorrel's
life as a man reincarnated as a woman.

	Given her rather unique perspective, Danielle began to empathize
with the character that Debbie Reynolds portrayed, with that character
being the feminized version of one Charlie Sorrel.  In fact, she found the
initial scenes in which Charlie had to deal with the ignominy of having to
face the rest of her life operating as a female to be painfully humorous
and to a lesser degree, strangely provocative.

	Though she was unaware of having done so, Danielle, using those
long and well-manicured nails on her right hand, had begun to trace idyllic
circles, spirals and elongated figure-eighths along the run of her inner
right thigh.  A moment or two after that, her left had joined the fray as
it began to gently knead the ample and ever so sensitive mound of her right
breast.

	It was only a matter of minutes before a hot and bothered Danielle
became oblivious to what was transpiring on the TV.  As her middle finger
twiddled about the elusive nub of her phenomenal new clitoris, Danielle
threw caution to the wind as she abandoned herself to the wanton needs of
her womanhood.

	In the frenzy of the moment, in an effort to heighten the
experience, Danielle, wishing to God that she was double-jointed, bent her
head as far forward as it would go while concurrent heaving her breast
upwards so as to allow her to suckle on her own teat. 'Damn!' she thought
in one of the lucid moments afforded her.  'This feels wonderful...'

	Danielle continued on to tweak, twiddle and tease herself into a
state of sexual arousal the like of which she had never dreamed possible.
Then, on the brink of unbearable pleasure, she climaxed and found herself
amazed as one orgasm cascaded upon another in a diminishing daisy chain of
unadulterated sexual ecstasy.

	"Damn!"  Pleasantly astonished, and feeling all warm and cuddly
inside, Danielle idyllically murmured, "So, that's what it's like to be
multi-organic.  I mean, I knew women had it good, but I never knew they had
this good..."


+ + +


	For a good while Danielle just lay there savoring the warm-fuzzes
of post-orgasmic splendor.  Though she still hated the fact that she had
been turned into a woman, she had to admit that being female did have its
moments.  In fact, she very much wanted to experience another one of those
moments.  To that end, once she felt that she had reached a point where she
was ready to have at herself again, Danielle did not waste any time getting
back to the business at hand, with that hand being skillfully directed into
her heavenly new honey pot.

	As good as Danielle's initial string of orgasms had been, the
second string was even better, in that the orgasms that she experienced
were much stronger and there was a hell of a lot more of them.

	Regardless of the fact that it was nearing midnight, Danielle was
not sleepy, primarily due to the fact that she had slept the better part of
the afternoon.  Neither had she reached a point where she had tired of
toying around with her new feminine attributes.  Not only had she found
that rubbing herself off was a whole lot more pleasurable than jerking-off
ever had been, but that it was not a one shot deal, in that it could be
repeated over and over and over again.

	However, Danielle was no fool.  Having found the silver lining of
her imposed stint as a woman, the last thing she did want was to scrooch
the pooch, so to speak.  Danielle had to exercise extreme caution, lest she
rub herself raw down there.  Were she to do so, that would ruin everything.

	As she lay there, pondering what to do and wanting nothing more
than to enjoy the wild erotic thrill of another multi-orgasmic interlude
before calling it a night, Danielle remember Xavier Meggido's gift.
Grabbing the vibrator from the nightstand, Danielle twisted it on and
gingerly maneuvered it into position.  "Shit!" she giddily exclaimed as her
hips shimmied in counterpoint.  "This thing really works..."


+ + +


	Danielle managed to get about four hours of sound sleep.  However,
she woke the next morning feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  Since
there was nothing pressing, Danielle drew on her bathing suit and scampered
off to swim some kid-unencumbered laps.  Having gotten in a pretty good
workout, Danielle returned to her room and hopped in the shower.  Then,
having made quick work of drying her hair, Danielle, without giving any
real thought to what she was doing, selected a skirt and blouse ensemble
and got dressed.  'Damn!' she thought as she checked herself out in the
mirror.  'This ring Meggido gave me really works.  I look great!  My hair
looks great!  And I didn't even break a sweat doing it...'

	Though still squeamish about venturing out in public as a female,
though no where near as squeamish as she had felt the prior evening,
Danielle departed her room and headed for the hotel's restaurant.  After
breakfast, she stopped at the front desk to see if the shipping boxes
containing the two multiplexers she would be using for her course along
with all the boxes containing the additional teaching paraphernalia and
student materials she would need for the course had arrived.  Danielle was
pleased to hear that the Fedex man had just dropped everything off at the
hotel's loading dock and that it would be moved into the conference room
she would be using for her classroom later that day.  Unfortunately, the
hotel's assistant manager continued on to inform Danielle that the room was
in use at the time and that she would not have access to it and the
assortment of shipping containers in which her teaching supplies had been
packed until the following morning.  Since Danielle had other plans for the
day, the news that the hotel's assistant manager imparted did not upset her
one iota.

	After stopping back in her room to freshen up and check her email,
Danielle headed out to the hotel's parking lot where she climbed behind the
wheel of her rental car.  Stopping at a supermarket, Danielle purchased a
random assortment of snacks and several 2-liter soda bottles that should
last her through the better part of the following week.  Next, she located
a liquor store and picked a bottle of Jeremiah Weed, a hard-edged bourbon
liqueur that an Air Force pilot friend of hers had turned her onto several
years before.  Having gotten directions from the guy behind the counter at
the liquor store, Danielle made for the nearest mall.

	While she felt a little funny about it at first, Danielle decided
to take Meggido at his word.  He had told her in no certain terms she had
carte blanche when it came to the credit card he had given her.  While she
had never intended on going a shopping spree, that is exactly what she
ended up doing.  Given that she would be a woman for only a couple of
weeks, Danielle was aware of the fact that she would only wear the clothing
she purchased once or twice.  Though she was rarely one to take advantage
of a situation, Danielle figured that Meggido owed her big time.  And,
because he did, Danielle, having been forced to live an austere life due to
the massive credit card bills her ex-wife had racked up prior to leaving
her, decided it was high time to indulge herself.

	Danielle bought all kinds of shit for herself.  She bought blouses,
skirts, slacks, pullovers, hosiery, bras, panties and various sorts of
tease-to-please lingerie for herself; figuring that she would donate all of
it to charity once her two week plus stint as a woman was over.  Ducking
into a women's upscale shoe and boot boutique, she purchased two pair of
kick-ass boots, both black, both stilettos, with one pair being ankle-high
demi-boots and the other pair being calf-high fashion boots.  Exiting the
shoe store, Danielle rode the escalator down to the mall's lower concourse
and there, entered a jewelry store with the catchy name of Earth Treasures.
Though she eyed their rather large selection of rings, she did not purchase
any.  However, when she exited the store the bag she carried contained a
dozen different pairs of earrings, ranging from simple studs to moderately
large hoops, along with nine necklaces, seven bracelets and a few rather
unique brooches thrown in for good measure.

	And that was just what she bought before lunching at the foot
court.

	After lunch, while strolling through one of the major department
stores located at the mall, Danielle chanced to stop by the cosmetic
counter.  Two hours later, with her face looking absolutely fantastic and
exuding the sensual fragrance of Shalimar, a thunderstruck Danielle could
not believe that contained within the small bag she carried was over two
thousand dollars worth of cosmetics.  'Well...' she tried consoling
herself, "Meggido did say that I was to buy what I wanted.  And that
salesgirl was right.  This shade of eye shadow really does flatter my
eyes...'

	As she was on her way out of the department store, while passing by
the watch section of the jewelry counter, Danielle, telling herself that
she was only window-shopping, stopped to inspect the ladies timepieces.
"Can I help you?" a saleswoman, recognizing a potential sale when she saw
one, pleasantly inquired.  Though Danielle really liked the diver's watch
she was wearing, she thought that something a little more elegant looking
would better suit her present form.

	'Meggido is going to kill me when he gets the bill for all this
shit...'

	But, Danielle was not finished.  She had a few other purchases she
wished to make and she had a pretty good idea where she was going to make
them.  It was a toss up.  She could either go to the Target that was
located just down the street from her hotel or dash across the street to a
Best Buys.  Thinking that either one would suit her needs; Danielle elected
to try the Best Buys first.

	Wishing to document her time as a female, Danielle purchased a
10.75 megapixel digital camera that could be controlled by a hand-held
remote, several 1 meg SD cards, a tripod upon which to mount the camera, a
pack of writeable CDs along with a pack of slim-line jewel cases, all five
seasons DVD box sets of the hit TV show 24, and last but not least, a
portable LCD DVD player to play them on.

	Feeling as if she may have gone a little overboard with her
purchases, Danielle climbed back into her rental car and headed back to her
hotel.  There, she unpacked what she could in the time allotted her.  Then,
having made prior arrangements to dine with Meggido again that evening, she
changed into a sexy little black dress that had caught her eye that
morning, the very same little black dress that had precipitated her
day-long buying spree.  Knowing that she was running a little late,
Danielle scampered off to join Meggido at the restaurant.


+ + +


	Feeling that she was under obligation to do so, Danielle contritely
appraised Meggido of how she had abused his generosity.  Interesting
enough, Meggido was not alarmed when she handed him the receipts for
everything she had charged to his corporate account during the course of
the day.  In fact, he informed her that he was surprised that she had not
bought more for herself.

	Then, shocking the shit out of her all the more, Meggido did
something that Danielle had never suspected he would do.  He offered her a
job with a starting salary of a million dollars a year.  Then, to sweeten
the deal, he told her that if she would come to work for him, she would
receive another million dollars as a signing bonus, plus she would have
liberal use of an expense account.

	Taken aback by Meggido's more than generous job offer, Danielle was
nevertheless intrigued by it as well.  Knowing that her present employment
was tenuous at best, given the rumors she heard suggesting that her
company's teaching department was slated to be severely downsized by year's
end, Danielle knew that there was a good chance that come January, she
would be looking for a new job.

	"So, if I accept your offer, what - exactly - would I be doing?"

Wishing to have a little fun at Danielle expense, Meggido impishly replied,
"Oh, I suspect a little of this and a little of that."

	"Do you think you could be a tad bit more specific?  I mean, if I
accept your offer, I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into."  Then,
even as she was saying that, a thought, both sick and disgusting, crossed
her mind, causing her to rage indignantly, "Wait just a minute here!
Please, tell me that this job offer has nothing to do with me remaining as
I am now!  Because, if it does, you can forget it!  I'm not about to be
yours and anybody else's mistress!"

	Taking umbrage with his dinner mate's presumption that he would
ever ask her to do something of that nature, Meggido sought to sooth her
ruffled feathers.  "Danielle," he began sternly, speaking much as a father
might when admonishing a misbehaving child.  "My job offer is completely
aboveboard.  Believe me, I would never ask you to do something of that
nature.  And I am offended that you should think so little of me to believe
that I would ever contemplate such a repugnant notion as the one you just
now alluded to.  However, be that as it maybe, I do understand your
concerns and I am sorry that I toyed with you as I did.  Believe me, your
reaction was completely justified.  I was at fault.  I was being vague when
I should had been more forthright when addressing your question about the
duties that would fall under your purview should you do me the honor of
accepting my offer of employment."

	At that point Meggido, having first explained that he had his
people run a comprehensive background check on Danielle's male alter ego,
began to outline what her job would entail should she chose to accept his
job offer.  Succinctly put, the job Meggido initially had in mind for
Danielle was that of a high paid analyst slash logistician slash
step-and-fetch-it.  Meggido explained that his team needed a new
coordinator and he saw Danielle as having the necessary prerequisites to
fill the vacancy, given that she had demonstrated that she had: one, an
analytical mind; and two, the ability to pick up things quickly.  Added to
that, Meggido pointed out that the manner in which she was handling her
present situation clearly showed that she was flexible, in that she
appeared to be adapting well to what had to be a most unusual and daunting
situation.

	Had Meggido surrendered the floor to her at that point in their
rather one-sided conversation, Danielle would have gladly argued the point,
owing to the fact that she held an opposing view, in that she did not feel
that she was handling her present situation very well at all.  Were she,
Danielle held with the opinion that she would not feel so damn intimidated
when it came to situations where she had to interact with men.  As it was,
with the exception of Meggido, just being in close proximity to a man gave
her willies.  Danielle did not delude herself.  Her feelings of paranoia
where men were concerned came within a hair's breath of incapacitating her.

 	As one might expect, Danielle had a lot a questions concerning
Meggido's job offer, with the primary one being: were she to take the job,
would she have to remain the woman she was?

	"Heavens, no, my dear.  I would neither expect nor require that of
you.  However, should you have a change of heart and decided that you would
like to live your life as a woman, now or in the future, that can easily be
arranged.  Likewise, should you like to sojourn as a female every now and
again, that too can be arranged.

	"Okay..." Danielle replied thoughtfully.  "From what little you
told me last night, I gather that you head up a team whose main function is
to acquire potentially dangerous magical artifacts, so as to prevent them
falling into the wrong hands."

	"Yes, my dear.  In a nut shell, that is exactly what we do."

	"And am I correct in assuming that if I accept this job, I will be
functioning as a member of this acquisition team?"

	"Yes, my dear.  That is correct.  You would be a member of my
team."

	"So, basically what you're saying is that if I agree to come and
work for you, I will be expected to engage in criminal activities, because
while you use the word 'acquire', what we're really talking about here is
stealing?"

	"In so many words, yes.  You are indeed correct, my dear.
Semantics aside, I am talking about stealing.  What my team and I are
engaged in does at times fall outside the law.  But, though what we are
doing can be technically classified as being illegal, I can assure you that
what we do is not immoral."

	After a pause in which Meggido gathered his thoughts, he continued.
"Let me try and explain it this way.  Were a group of terrorists to somehow
come into possession of the presidential football that contains the launch
codes to this country's strategic missile systems, would you think it wrong
for someone else to try to abscond with it so as to insure that those
launch codes could not be used to unleash Armageddon on an innocent and
unsuspecting world?  More to the point, my dear.  Given the same scenario,
were the opportunity presented to you to steal the launch codes out from
under this hypothetical group of terrorists in order so to keep them from
doing the unthinkable, what would you do?  Would you hold with the notion
that two wrongs do not make a right and do nothing?  Or, would you commit
larceny and abscond with codes?"

	"Well... when you put it like that, I guess I wouldn't have much of
choice, now would I?"

	"No, being the kind of person that I know you to be, you would have
no other choice.  You would feel compelled to steal the launch codes in
order to keep them safe.  And that, my dear, is exactly what my team and I
do.  Though we operate outside the law, what we do is to safeguard mankind
from the reckless, and at times, nefarious use of potentially dangerous
magical items..."

	Danielle was not about to quibble with Meggido.  Having been the
victim of a magical mistake, she knew only too well that magic was real and
that it could do amazing things.  Added to that, she knew if magic could
turn her into a woman, she did not want to contemplate the harm that could
result from its misuse.  In the wrong, or even careless hands, Danielle
knew that the misuse of magic could rain havoc down on the world.  What
Meggido and his team did, though illegal, was both needed and noble.
Danielle admired Meguro and his team for what they did.  She also felt both
flattered and privileged to have been asked to join in the ongoing struggle
to safeguard the world from the misuse of magical items.  But even at that,
having never run afoul of the law before in her life, save for a speeding
ticket or two, Danielle had a big bugaboo with the criminal aspects that
were part and parcel of the job Meggido had offered her.  That being the
case, Danielle politely informed Meggido that while she was indeed
interested in the job offer, she would have to think about it.

	Taking her for her word, Meggido did not press the issue.  Instead,
he turned their conversation to other matters and Danielle, for her part,
was both pleased and relieved that he did.

	A few minutes later, Danielle's curiosity got the best of her.
"Last night you said that the reason you are here in Columbus is to acquire
a magical artifact, correct?"

Meggido used his napkin to dab his lips.  "Yes, my dear.  That is correct.
That is why I am here and unfortunately, due to an unfortunate case of
mistaken identity, that is why you are as you are now."

	Feeling as if she might be probing, Danielle nevertheless continued
on to say, "Look, if it's none of my business, just say so.  But, I'm dying
to know what this artifact that you're here to collect is.  And added to
that, I'm curious to know just how you're going to go about acquiring it."

	Expecting to be asked that very question, Meggido smiled and with
an amused chuckle, gleefully replied.  "Tell you what, my dear, instead of
my trying to describe it to you, how would you like to see the item in
question's kissing cousin?"  Meggido continued, as he adroitly reached into
the right side outer pocket of his handsomely tailored suite coat. "You
see, my dear, I have been anticipating that you would eventually get around
to asking me that very question and because I did, I reconsidered my stance
on not telling you about the nuts and bolts of our operation.  And, to that
end, I have had the good sense to bring a duplicate of the item in question
along with me, in order that you should see it for yourself."

	Before Danielle could respond, Meggido placed a small crystal
pyramid down on the table, situating it directly in front of her plate.

	"Go ahead, my dear," he prompted.  "Pick it up.  I promise that it
will not bite you."

	Warily, Danielle reached out for it but checked herself before
actually picking the pyramid up.  "Is it magical?"

	"No, not by any stretch of the imagination.  However, it is a
pretty thing, do you not agree?"

	"Yes." Danielle said, as she picked up the crystal pyramid and,
drawing it closer to her face, began to exam it in greater detail.  "So,"
she continued thoughtfully, "I take it that you are planning to swap this
one with the real deal."

	"That is very astute of you, my dear.  And, of course you are
right.  That is exactly what we are planning on doing."

	"May I inquire as to where this swap-out is to occur?"

	Meggido neither balked nor hesitated in providing Danielle with the
answer she sought.  "Not tomorrow, but two Saturdays hence, there is to be
an after hours black tie affair which will be held at Columbus's dynamic
hands-on science center, which is better known as COSI.  The object in
question will be on display, as it is part of a collection of rare and
unusual items.  My team and I will simply swap out the magical pyramid with
the non-magical one you are now holding."

	With a note of incredulity clearly conveyed in the timbre her
voice, Danielle indignantly snapped, "You mean to tell me that you needed
to change somebody on your team into a girl in order to make such a swap?"

	"No," Meggido contritely replied.  "Put like that, a woman was not
essential to our plan.  However, when one attends a black tie affair, it is
always nice to be seen escorting an attractive young lady such as yourself.
It tends to lend one an air of respectability..."

	While there was a degree of logic in Meggido's explanation,
Danielle was not buying it in its entirety.  She had a sneaky suspicion
that something crucial was missing and that Meggido was not as forthcoming
as he gave the appearance of being.  However, Danielle did not feel that
the moment was right for her to press the issue.  If she did decide to take
him up on his job offer, Danielle figured that she could always make her
acceptance contingent on an airing of all the details of the up-coming
heist.  Till then, she consoled herself to bid her time, knowing that
Meggido might divulge other details in dribs and drabs in the days to come.

	Prior to parting company, Meggido informed Danielle that he was
very sorry, but that something important had come up that required his
attention out of town.  That being the case, Meggido informed Danielle that
he would be unable to dine with her on either Saturday or Sunday evenings.
However, he continued on to inform her that he would dearly love the
pleasure of her company come Monday evening.  Danielle, who found that she
really enjoyed dining with the elderly gentleman, informed Meggido that she
would not only miss his company, but that she was looking forward to dining
with him again on Monday.


+ + +


	Back in her room with a whole evening ahead of her, Danielle logged
onto the Internet and checked to see if she had any emails that required
her attention.  Finding none, she logged off and decided to play a few
games of Spider Solitaire.  Tiring of that, Danielle decided that a trip to
the pool was in order.

	As on the previous evening, a group of kids made lap swimming all
but impossible.  But that did not phase Danielle one iota.  She had not
gone to the pool to swim laps, but rather to just take a refreshing dip,
figuring that she would hit the hot tub afterwards.  After a full day of
shopping, Danielle just wanted to relax and chill out and the pool and its
associated hot tub seemed to be the perfect places for her to do just that.

	Though she had to share the pool with about twenty other swimmers,
most of whom where unruly children, upon relocating to the hot tub,
Danielle was pleased to find it empty.  Though she knew that she would
probably not remain its sole occupant for very long, she was nevertheless
relieved that at least for the time being she would not have to worry about
having to share it with some lecherous bastard.

	Once seated, Danielle realized that a full day of shopping had
taken its toil on her.  She was really tired.  In fact, she was so tired
that her eyes began to droop.  A minute after that, just as she was on the
verge of falling asleep, a voice softly intoned, "I see that Xavier has
lent you Galeanna's Ring."

	The voice, which was clearly that of a man, startled the shit out
of Danielle, causing her whole body to reflexively jump.

	"I'm sorry," the man said.  "I didn't mean to startled you like
that.  Are you okay?"

	Unnerved by the man's presence, Danielle irately snapped, "I'm
fine!  You just startled me that's all."  Then, recalling that the man had
said something or other about a ring, Danielle reflexively glanced at the
Celtic band encircling the index finger of her right hand.

	"That's it," the man said as he took a seat across from Danielle.
"That's the ring that I was speaking of alright.  By any chance did Xavier
mention that it has a name when he gave it you?"  Then, not giving Danielle
a chance to respond, the man continued on to say, "It's called Galeanna's
Ring or, as some have called it, the Ring of Femininity."

	Though Danielle's mind had been playing a frantic game of catch-up,
the implications of what the man had been saying finally impacted.  With
incredulity clearly conveyed in her voice, Danielle angrily demanded, "Are
you saying that you know Xavier Meggido?"

	The man, who Danielle now recognized the as the man who had
injected himself into the conversation revolving around scuba diving that
she had engaged in with that young couple on the previous evening, replied
with a chuckle, "Yes.  I know Meggido.  He and I have been colleagues for
quite some time."  Then, after a brief pause, the man took up where he had
left off.  "Maybe it would be best if I were to introduce myself.  My name
is David, David Johnson."

	The implications of what she had just been told hit Danielle like a
ton of bricks.  Flabbergasted, Danielle irately groused.  "You mean to tell
me that you're that David Johnson?  The David Johnson whose room I am now
occupying?"

	"One and the same."

	"By rights, you should be a girl right now, not me!"

	"That's true.  Had things gone the way they were suppose to, I
would be a girl and you'd still be the man you were born to be.  But, then
again, if the guy at the front desk hadn't made a mistake and put you in
the room I was supposed to have occupied, think of all the fun you would
have missed out on."

	"Fun!" Danielle raged.  "You call this fun?  For your information,
I'm a girl right now, where by rights, I shouldn't be one!"

	"Alright, already!" David Johnson chortled.  "You win!  You're not
having fun - now..." Emphasizing the word 'now', David conceded Danielle's
point.  "But, I bet you enjoyed yourself last night.  You see, Danielle,
even though I put Meggido's name on the card, while the two of you were at
the restaurant, I was the one who slipped into your room and put that
present on your bed.  And don't try and tell me that you didn't use what
was in the bag, because we both know you did.  Hell!  Given the same set of
circumstances, what guy wouldn't have done exactly what you did?  I mean,
it more or less goes with the territory..."

	Though David did most of the talking, the two of them traded
comments for another minute or so.  "Look, here's the thing, Danielle.
Meggido told me to look after you while he's out of town tying up some
loose ends on an assignment that our team undertook a few weeks ago.  So,
since I figure that you have a lot of questions, who better to answer those
questions than someone who has logged quite a bit of time operating as a
member of the opposite sex himself?  So, if you're amiable, what say we go
back to our separate rooms, get dressed and head on over to the hotel's
pub?  Oh!  Don't worry!  I'm buying!  And, if you're afraid that I might
try and put a move on you, don't.  I have no intention of doing anything
untoward.  The last thing I want to do right now is upset you.  I promise.
I'll be a good boy.  Tell you what!  For the here and now of it, I want you
to think of me as your protector, your personal bodyguard so to speak.  I
promise that I won't let any harm come to you.  Believe me!  I really do
know how to handle myself in a pinch.  And if all else fails, I've got a
bit of magic to back me up..."

	Though she had nothing concrete to base it on, something told
Danielle that she could trust David.  That being the case, though still
somewhat apprehensive, wishing to pursue the conversation with the hope of
learning more about David, Meggido and their magical acquisition team,
Danielle agreed to David's proposal.

	Back in her room, Danielle quickly showered; dried her hair and
selecting a pair of designer jeans; a shimmering, electric-blue, satin,
spaghetti-strap camisole top, and quickly got dressed.  Stepping into her
navy blue stilettos, she dialed David's room and informed him that she was
ready.

	Taking a swig of the beer that David had just handed her, Danielle
cheerfully quipped, "So, I take it that you don't mind spending time as a
girl?"

	"No... not really.  I'll grant you that I did at first, but I guess
you could say that I've gotten used to it.  The truth is that I find it to
be a refreshing change of pace.  Plus, as you have come to find out for
yourself, there's something to be said for the sexual aspects of spending
time as a female."

	"Hey!" Danielle objected.  "I never once said that I did what
you're implying I did."

	"Bullshit!  You can deny it all you want, Danielle, but we both
know that your curiosity got the best of you.  I mean, inside, where it
counts, you're still a man.  And any man worth his salt who found himself
in a similar situation would have a hard time resisting the urge to dicker
around with all those new girlish-gadgets of hers.  Look, I'm not passing
judgement on you.  Besides, you have nothing to be ashamed of.  Come on!"
David urged.  "Admit it!  You enjoyed playing with yourself, didn't you."

	"Yes!  Damn it!" Danielle blushed.  "I enjoyed it a lot."

	"And what about those orgasms?  Weren't they something?"

	Savoring the memory of what it had felt like to be multi-orgasmic,
Danielle coyly replied, "Yes, I've got to admit that they were pretty
fantastic."

	"So, you're saying that you liked them?"

	"That's an understatement.  Of course I like 'em." Danielle
bristled.  "I mean, who wouldn't?  They were wonderful."

	"My point exactly!" Davis returned smugly.  "Look, all I'm trying
to say here is that there is an up-side to all of this.  So, I guess what
I'm trying to get across to you is that you need to just go with the flow
and try to enjoy the experience of being a woman."

	"Yeah..." Danielle disgustingly quipped.  "Like I really have a
choice..."


+ + +


	Having taken note that the pub's pool table was no longer in use,
David suggested that he and Danielle pass the time by playing a game of
eight ball.  "Tell you what, Danielle.  You rack 'em and I'll go get us a
couple more brewskis."

	Playing the part of the gentleman to the hilt, David let Danielle
break.  She did and pocketed both a both a striped ball and a solid one.
Scanning the table, Danielle opted for the solid balls and sank two in
quick succession.  However, upon becoming aware that a guy at the bar was
giving her the hairy-eyeball, she tensed, causing her to muff on her third
shot and coming dangerously close to inadvertently knocking the eight ball
into a corner pocket.

	"Not too shabby." David offered as he easily sank the number eleven
ball in the side pocket.  "Tell me something, Danielle.  By any chance did
Meggido tell you what else that ring he gave you does?"

	Taken aback by implications that were conveyed in David's inquiry,
and with a note of concern evident in her voice, Danielle replied, "You
mean it does other things besides giving me the knowledge to make myself
look presentable?"

	"Oh, yeah!  Investing you with the knowledge to, as you say, make
yourself presentable, is only one small aspect of its potential.  Trust me.
It can do a whole host of things, some of which are pretty impressive, even
to a magic user such as myself."

	"Oh!" Danielle smirked.  "So, now you're a magic user as well as a
part time girl."

	"Add all around nice guy and that'll pretty much sum it up."

	"Okay, smartass!  Tell me.  What else can this ring Meggido gave me
do?"

	"Plenty!  But, I'm afraid if you want specifics you're going to
have to ask Meggido the next time you see him.  Since he lent you the ring,
it's up to him to fill you in on what it does.  But, I will tell you one
thing: you need to be careful.  For instance, were I you, I wouldn't tempt
fate by making any emotionally fraught wishes while you're wearing it,
especially when you're overly distraught about anything.  I mean, the
chance of you tapping into its metaphysical wherewithal is practically nil.
But, then again, one can't be too careful..."


+ + +


	Though it took awhile for Danielle to make up her mind about David
Johnson, by the time the two of them parted company that evening she had
begun to regard him as a friend, a guy friend, but certainly not a
boyfriend.  Never a boyfriend.  However, later that night, as she savored
the warm-fuzzies of post-orgasmic bliss, having prevailed upon David to
show her a picture of himself when resplendent in his female form, Danielle
found herself wondering what it would be like to go one on one with David's
absolutely gorgeous feminine alter ego.


+ + +


	Saturday morning Danielle woke up, donned her bathing suit, and
headed for the pool.  Seventy-two laps later, Danielle exited the pool only
to find David sitting in a lounge chair poolside.  "Now how am I suppose to
keep an eye on you if you don't tell me where you're gong be?" he jokingly
chided her.

	"I'd say that's your problem," Danielle pleasantly smirked.  "But,
since you seem to have found me, I can't see where keeping tabs on me is
going to pose much of a problem for you..."

	"So, what's on tap for today?" David inquired.

	"For starters - breakfast.  And, you're buying."

	"Sounds like a plan..."

	Telling David to wait for her in the lobby, Danielle hurried back
to her room, showered, dried her hair and selecting jeans and a halter-top,
got dressed.

	During breakfast Danielle informed David that she would be tied up
for the better part of day turning one of the hotel's conference rooms into
a makeshift classroom.  David, saying he nothing better to do, offered to
give her a hand.  Being no fool, Danielle took David up on his offer.

	Leaving the restaurant, Danielle, with David in tow, stopped at the
front desk.  There, she collected the key to the conference room that she
would be using, along with a copy of the shipping invoice for the packing
crates that contained the equipment modules and associated teaching
material that was required for the course.

	The first thing Danielle did was have David help her make a
complete inventory of the shipping containers' contents.  Pleased that
everything was accounted for, the next thing she did was to erect the
two-erector set-like bays upon which she would mount the fiber-ready
multiplexers, the digital cross-connection unit and their associated power
supplies.  Since Danielle lacked her former manly strength, David proved to
be real godsend when it came to assembling the two equipment bays and
helping her mount the various units that each would house.  Once the
bull-work was behind them, Danielle had David help her position the five
tables she had requested the hotel staff provide into a U formation.  Then,
while David placed two chairs at each of the five tables, Danielle powered
up the bays.  With that done, Danielle assigned David the task of unpacking
and dispersing the various items that comprised each student's personal
course material.  David did as directed.  Starting with the student
handbook, he placed a highlighter, pen, pencil, sputter probe which the
students would used to set DIP (direct in-line potentiometer) switches,
grounding wrist straps that were used to protect against static discharge
whenever handling circuit packs and a CD containing all of the
documentation that the students would need to install, provision and
maintain the multiplexer and associated miniaturized digital
cross-connection unit at each position around the tables.

	While David was attending to that chore, Danielle unpacked the four
laptops she would be using throughout the course, two of which she plugged
into the multiplexers.  Another would serve as the front-end provisioning
unit for the digital cross-connection circuitry.  The last of the four, via
an attached projection unit, Danielle would use throughout the course to
provide the AV (audio/visual) presentations.

	Informing David that she had nothing else for him to do and
stressing the fact that it would take her another hour to prep and test the
multiplexers so that they would be up and running for the class come Monday
morning, Danielle presented him with two options.  One, he could take a
seat and wait for her.  Or, if he would rather make better use of his time
elsewhere, she would call him as soon as she was done.  David, saying that
he had nothing else to do, opted to wait.  "That's fine by me," Danielle
commented as she plopped a CD into the drawer of one of the laptops.  "But,
just so you know, this'll go a lot faster if I don't have to answer a lot
of questions.  So, if you want to catch the first showing of that movie you
mentioned at breakfast, do me a favor.  Let me work in peace."

	"Don't worry," David said as he began to page through one of the
student handbooks.  "I'll be a good boy.  So, you just go ahead and attend
to whatever it is that you have to attend to so that we can get out of here
and do something else..."


+ + +


	Grabbing a quick lunch at a nearby McDonalds, the two of them
arrived at the theater complex just in time to catch the previews that
preceded the action-packed adventure flick that they had mutually agreed
upon over breakfast.

	Danielle really appreciated the way David accorded her.  He did not
treat her as the girl she appeared to be, but more as the guy she still
felt herself to be.  While he played the part of the perfect gentleman to
the hilt, opening doors for her and other such stuff as that, David never
made Danielle feel threatened or uncomfortable.  He never presumed upon the
friendship they were in the process of building.  Nor, did he ever invade
her personal space or even try to hold her hand.  Succinctly put, it was
male bonding at its best.

	After the movie, they hit a steakhouse for dinner and then, given
that it was still early, on Danielle's suggestion, the two of them did a
little window shopping at a nearby mall.  As the two them were strolling
along the upper concourse, David surreptitiously quipped, "Danielle!  By
any chance have you taken note of that redhead across the way?  Tell you
what: if you haven't already, you really need to check her out.  I mean,
while she isn't in your league in the looks department, I sure won't kick
her out of bed..."

	Later, on the drive back to their hotel, Danielle, feeling the need
to address and hopefully allay a concern of hers, mused, "I have to say
that you were right.  That redhead really was something.  I mean to tell
you.  She had a body that wouldn't quit."

	"Didn't she, though..." David gleefully concurred.

	"And you're right," Danielle tentatively continued.  "I wouldn't
kick her out of bed either."  Then, on the heels of having said that and
dreading the answer she might receive, Danielle felt compelled to ask, "So,
knowing what you know, would you kick me out of bed?"

	Blindsided, David groped for a way to express himself.
"Danielle... you're not suggesting..."

	"Heavens no!" Danielle harshly snapped.  "I'm not suggesting THAT
at all."  Taking a moment to compose herself, she boorishly continued.  "I
guess what I'm trying to say is: do you find me attractive?"

	"Danielle, do you really think it's a good idea for us to be having
this conversation?"

	"No.  You're right.  It's not a good idea at all.  But, I still
want to know.  Do you fine me attractive?"

	"Of course I do.  I mean, I'm a man, aren't I?  Look, Danielle!
Like it or not, you're a very beautiful young lady for the present.  So,
it's only natural that I would find you attractive."

	"Do you ever fantasize about - well... you know?"

	Answering Danielle question with a question of his own, David
countered, "Don't you turn yourself on every time you take a look at
yourself in the mirror?  Hell!  While you never came right out and said it,
you've all but admitted to me that you're a narcissist."

	Put on the defensive by David's rather pointed question, Danielle
grudgingly stammered, "Yeah...  I guess so...  I mean, you're right.  As
egotistical as it might sound, I had to admit that as a girl, I am
beautiful and yes, as much as I hate to admit this, I guess I am a
narcissist."

	"Yeah..." David endeavored to drive the point home.  "You most
certainly are.  And you're not just beautiful, but given that built like a
shithouse body, you're as sexy as all get out.  Believe me!  All you to do
to make a guy cream in his jeans is to give him one of those adorably come
hither smiles.  So, Danielle, if you want to know if I have ever fantasized
about getting it on with you, the answer is yes.  I have and will probably
continue to do so for the rest of my life.  I'm sorry if that makes you
uncomfortable, but that's just how it is.  But, you need to trust me.  You
have my word that I have no intentions of doing anything untoward in that
regard.  So, what'ya say we drop this and move onto something else,
something on a much lighter vein..."

	Arriving back at their hotel, Danielle, in an effort on her part to
ease the tensions that their previous discussion had engendered, challenged
David to a game of eight ball.  Saying that he would whoop her ass, David
eagerly accepted her challenge, suggesting as he did so that the looser buy
the beers.

	Danielle sunk the number two ball in a corner pocket.  She then
sidled up to David and coquettishly inquired, "So, have you given any
thought to what we can do tomorrow?"

	"Actually, I have.  I thought that we could head out to Dayton and
spend the day checking out the museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base."

	"Sounds like a plan to me." Danielle casually replied, as she used
a banked shot to gently nudge the eight ball into the side pocket, winning
yet another game as she did so.


+ + +


	Forgoing her morning swim so that they could get to the museum when
it opened at 09:00 am, Danielle called David early and informed him that
she was up, dressed and ready to go.  Then, having said that, she gruffly
told him to stop lollygagging and get his ass in gear.  Somewhere west of
Columbus, they stopped and ate breakfast, which of course David charged on
a charge card that was a duplicate of the one that Meggido had given
Danielle.

	Though Danielle occasionally felt funny about being accorded as a
female, she nevertheless had begun to enjoy the courtesies that David
afforded her.  "Thank you, kind sir," she complimented David for opening
the car door for her.

	Arriving at the museum just as it opened, Danielle and David
checked the brochure to get a lay of the land.  Knowing that it would be
nigh impossible to see everything the museum had to offer in the time
allotted them, David sought Danielle's preferences.  Danielle had built
many a model plane during her boyhood, and because she had, she informed
David that her interest lay in the planes from World War II to the present.
Agreeing to check out the Early Years Gallery if they had the time later in
the day, the two made for the Air Power Gallery where the World War II era
planes were on display.  Of all the planes on exhibit, the plane that
captivated Danielle's interest was the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Bockscar,
the plane that dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki on
August 9, 1945.  While every plane on display had its own place in history,
Bockscar was history.  The mission the B-29 flew effectively ended the war
with Japan.

	As she stood there gazing at the aircraft, Danielle found herself
dealing with a whole raft of emotions, running the gambit from horror to
pride to an eerie sort of unnerving sense of reverence.  Though raised
Catholic, Danielle was not a religious person so to speak.  However,
standing there, looking at the plane and a facsimile of the bomb it
dropped, she found herself saying a silent prayer that such a destructive
force would never be visited on the world again.

	The two of them spent the better part of their morning checking out
the planes and exhibits that dealt with World War II era aircraft.  They
then grabbed a quick and regrettably unappetizing lunch in the museum's 2nd
floor café.  Then, with their appetites appeased, they headed for the
museum's second hanger-like building in which the Modern Flight Gallery was
housed.  There, Danielle and David spent the better part of an hour weaving
their way about the various aircraft.  Then, on Danielle's urgings they
moved on to the Eugene W. Kettering Building that housed the museum's Cold
War Gallery.  Danielle was in her glory.  Planes whose models had hung from
her bedroom's ceiling as a boy surrounded her.  Dominating the huge
hanger-like building was the massive Convair B-36J Peacemaker and situated
forward of the Peacemaker's right wing sat what Danielle thought to be the
sleekest, sexiest warbird ever built, Boeing's swept-wing RB-47H Stratojet.

	Around four, David toyed with the idea of suggesting that they
ought to think about heading back to Columbus, but seeing how much Danielle
was enjoying herself, thought better of it.  When the announcement came
over the museum's PA system announcing that the museum would close in
another fifteen minutes, the two of them headed for the museum's gift shop.
There, David used his corporate credit card to purchase Danielle a fairly
comprehensive book on the museum that contained both pictures and write-ups
on the aircraft and associated exhibits.

	"So, what'ya think?" David asked as he climbed behind the wheel of
his rental car.

	"That was fantastic!  I mean, I've been to the National Air and
Space Museum in Washington a couple of times, and also out to its annex
that's located near Dulles, but as nice as they both are, Wright-Patterson
takes the cake.  I mean, it boggles the mind to think of all those planes
gathered in one place..."

	"Are you by any chance starting to get hungry?" David, who had only
eaten half of the hotdog he had purchased for lunch, prudently asked.

	"Hungry!  Are you kidding!  I'm famished!"

	"Good.  So, do me a favor.  Put that book down and find us a decent
place to stop for dinner."


+ + +


	As they were nearing the outskirts of Columbus, in an attempt to
assuage her curiosity, Danielle asked her companion a rather pointed
question.  "Tell me something, David.  During those stints you've done as a
female, did you ever have sex with a guy?"

	Taken aback her unexpected question, David somewhat reluctantly
replied, "Yeah...  A couple of times...  Why?"

	"Oh, I don't know.  I was just curious.  That's all..." Danielle's
voice trailed off into a cryptic silence.

	Unable to restrain herself, Danielle asked a follow up question,
"Did you like it?"

	Though David knew exactly what Danielle was referring to, he
decided that if she was going to ask him such intimate questions he was
going extract his pound of flesh by toying with her.  "Did I like what?" he
asked.

	Frustrated to the point of irritation at having to spell it out for
him, Danielle bristled, "Did you like having some guy's pecker shoved up
inside you?"

	"No, not particularly," David nonchalantly replied.  "I mean, it
was alright, I guess.  But, I tell you what I did like.  I thoroughly
enjoyed being on the receiving end of cunnilingus.  You know, as in I
really like it when the guys I was with went down on me and ate me out."

	"Guys!" Danielle could not believe the implications of what she had
just heard her companion freely admit to.  "You mean to tell me there was
more than one?"

	"Actually, there were several."

	"You're shitting me, right?"

	"Not at all, Danielle.  While I don't make a habit of sleeping
around when I'm logging time as a female, I have, upon occasion, slept with
a few of the guys I've met over the years."

	"And you've liked it?" Danielle was shocked.

	"For the most part, I'd have to say that I did.  But, then again, I
was lucky.  All but one of the guys I consented to have sex with were
better than average lovers, in that they attended to my needs before giving
any thought to satisfying theirs."

	Repulsed by what she was hearing, Danielle quipped, "But, wasn't it
icky?"

	"Icky... no.  Sticky... yes." David chuckled.  "Why?  I mean,
what's with all the questions?  Tell me Danielle, have you had a change of
heart and are now toying with the idea of letting a man have his way with
you?  Because, if you are, I know someone who might be willing to give you
a hand with popping your cherry."

	Aware that David was trying to get her goat, insinuating that he
would be more than happy to make love to her, Danielle let him have it with
both barrels.  "Don't even think about it, smartass!  I might be a girl,
but you best believe that I'm not THAT kind of girl!"

	"Then why all the questions?"

	Unable to come up with a good answer, Danielle replied, "Beats me!
I was just curious.  That's all..."

	"Well, a word to the wise, Danielle.  Don't go getting too curious.
May I remind you of that ring that Meggido gave you, the one your wearing
on your right hand, the one that has invested you with the ability to
attend to the everyday things that falls to a women's lot in life.  You
know, like fixing your hair, putting on makeup and that sort of stuff.
Well, it's like I told you before: that ring can do a lot of other things
besides that.  So, do yourself a favor.  If you don't want to end up doing
the dirty with some egotistical son of bitch, rein in your curiosity.  And
for godsakes Danielle, don't go around making any frivolous wishes.  I'll
grant you that the chances of something like that happening is slim, but
you don't want to tempt fate, do you?"

	"No, I don't," Danielle replied, as she discreetly tried to remove
the ring from off the index finger of her right hand.  "Damn it!" she
exclaimed in frustration.

	"What's wrong?" David asked.

	"The ring!  I can't get it off!  It won't budge."

	"I was afraid that might happen," David murmured, more to himself
than to Danielle.

	"What's going on, David?  Why can't I get this ring off my finger?
I mean, I could earlier!  But, I can't now!

	"I'm afraid the ring has decided that you are now its new owner.
And, if that's the case, which I tend to believe it is, the ring will never
allow you to remove it."

	"You mean to tell me that I'm going be stuck wearing it for the
rest of my life?"

	"Probably... unless Meggido knows something about it that I
don't..."

	"This is just great!" Danielle sarcastically smirked.  "In two
weeks I'll be a man again, save that I'll be a man who's stuck wearing a
woman's ring for the rest of his life.  Hell!  I guess I'll just have the
damn thing surgically removed."

	"I hate to have to tell you this, Danielle.  But, that's not going
to work.  If the ring has selected you as its new owner, it won't let you
or anybody else remove it..."


+ + +


	Arriving back at their hotel, David, who was enjoying Danielle's
company as much as she was enjoying his, suggested another evening spent
playing pool, downing some brewskies, and shooting shit.  Though Danielle
would have liked nothing more than to have taken David up on his
suggestion, aware that she had a big day ahead of her come the following
morning, she reluctantly begged off.  David replied that he understood
perfectly and dutifully walked Danielle to her room.  However, before
parting company, David, having informed Danielle that Meggido would not be
back until Tuesday, secured Danielle's promise to have dinner with him
after she finished with her class on Monday.  Danielle, for her part
readily agreed, saying that she would look forward to it.

	Once alone in her room, the apprehension of having to face ten
seasoned and quite possibly extremely knowledgeable telephone technicians
in the morning caused her stomach to lurch.  On the heels of that, her
stomach heaved, as a trace of acidic bile rose in her throat.  Knowing that
she did not have a second to lose, Danielle scampered into the bathroom,
frantically flipped the toilet seat into the upright position, knelt and
assuming the position of a commode-hugging drunk, retched up bits and
pieces of her partially digested dinner.

	Succinctly put, Danielle was scared shitless.

	Though the immediacy of the problems stemming out of her new
sexuality had pretty much overshadowed all of her other concerns, faced
with the notion that come the morning she would be instructing a class full
of technically savvy people unnerved her to no end.  It was not that she
did not have a firm grasp on the subject matter she would be imparting.
She did.  She knew the material backwards and forwards.  On top of that,
she was well acquainted with the job the central office technicians that
comprised her upcoming class did on a day in day out basis.  Prior to
taking a buyout from one of the Baby Bells several years before, Danielle
had been a central office technician herself.  Added to that, she had been
an ace troubleshooter, rated as one of the best network technicians in the
locale from which she had originally hailed.

	It was not her present sexual affiliation that was the problem.  In
the aftermath of the feminist movement of the Seventies, there were plenty
of proficient women central office technicians.  It was her apparent age
that was the real bugaboo.  Owing to the fact that she looked to be in her
mid-twenties, simple logic would decree that even though she had a good
grasp of the subject matter, she lacked experience to back it up.

	Logic, coupled with a layman's insight into how the human ego
functioned, suggested that some of Danielle's students might underestimate
her.  They might even try to baffle her with bullshit and dazzle her with
nonsensical technical jargon as a means to intimidate her.

	Under normal circumstances, Danielle would not put up with such
nonsense.  Back when she was a he, she would have used whatever tactic
seemed appropriate to put pompous and egotistical jackasses in their place.

	The trouble was that these were anything but normal circumstances.
Danielle was well aware of the fact that she was operating under a serious
handicap.  For starters, her self-esteem was practically zilch.  Added to
that, with the exception of David and Xavier Meggido, men still had an
unsettling affect on her, making her as paranoid as all get-out.  Then
there was the age factor.  Danielle was well aware of the fact that she
looked too young to have the experience necessary to give credence to her
expertise.

	Basically, Danielle knew that she faced an up hill battle.  She
also knew that she would have to convince her pupils that she did in fact
know what she was talking about.  That meant that right out of the starting
gate she would have to exude an air of confidence.  And that, in a
nutshell, was Danielle's problem.  She lacked confidence.  Unfortunately,
it had vanished along with her manhood.

	Anxiety plagued Danielle all that evening and throughout the night.
As a prelude to sleep, much as she had the previous three nights, Danielle
endeavored to dicker around with those new feminine attributes of hers.
However, try as she might, she failed to achieve the orgasmic release she
so dearly sought.  No matter how hard she tried, she could not rid herself
of the dread of what faced her come morning.  Frustrated and more than a
little pissed-off, Danielle gave up and tried to get some sleep.

	For a good hour and a half, sleep eluded her.  When she finally
managed to nod off, the sleep she did get was fretful at best.  Her body
twitched.  She tossed.  She turned, many times so violently that she woke
herself up.

	Then, to make matters worse, Danielle was deluged with a steady
string of nightmares.  On one occasion, she dreamed that she was teaching a
class of central office technicians, only to become suddenly aware that the
stylish clothes she had been wearing at the start of her dream had suddenly
disappeared, leaving her standing there bare ass naked.  In another, she
saw herself once again devoid of clothes, desperately fleeing through a
maze of seemingly endless corridors and eagerly pursued by a group of
burley and disreputable men, each of whom sported a grotesquely huge, blood
engorged penis.  She dreamed of being ridiculed.  She dreamed of being
raped.  In one dream, she beheld a gigantic billboard that was plastered
with two pictures: one, as the man she used to be; and the other, of the
woman she had become.  To Danielle's horror, the billboard proclaimed that
the woman pictured on the right had once been the man who was pictured on
the left.


+ + +


	The magic ring that Meggido had given Danielle proved to be a
godsend.  Regardless of how rough her night had been, when she exited her
room that Monday morning, Danielle, dressed as she was in a stylish skirted
gray business suit and a shimmering blue silk cami, looked absolutely
stunning, and smelled divine.  Added to that, her hair and makeup were
perfect, looking as if a seasoned Hollywood makeup artist had been working
on her for hours.  Succinctly put, Danielle, having taken the time to
appraise herself in the mirror before venturing out of her room, new that
she was a walking, talking contradiction.  While she knew in her heart of
hearts that she lacked any shred of confidence, she also knew that her
appearance exuded it in spades.

	"Good morning," David's voice drew Danielle's attention away from
the menu she had been perusing.  "I saw you sitting back here and I thought
you might like some company..."

	Forcing a smile onto her angelic face, Danielle, who was glad for
the distraction, beckoned David to take the seat across the table from her.
"You look great this morning."

	"I don't feel great.  The truth is, I feel like shit..." an
exasperated Danielle continued on to fill David in on her troubled night.
"...God!  I wish there was someway I could get out of having to teach this
class!"

	"Danielle!" David voice cracked like a whip.  "For goodness sakes,
be careful.  Remember what I told you about that ring.  You've really got
to watch yourself..."


+ + +


	To Danielle's relief, the class was not the unmitigated disaster
that she feared it would be.  Given the handicaps she was operating under,
she did extremely well.

	Her class consisted of ten students, three of which were women.
Two of her students, a man and one of the women, were network supervisors,
six were network techs, one equipment engineer and the other was a 2nd line
manager, who was probably taking the course as an excuse for a
mini-vacation.  Danielle, having dealt with the type many times before,
figured that if anyone were going present a problem for her, it would be
the manager.

	She was right.  The man was full of himself and assumed that
everyone, including Danielle, should kowtow to him.  Though she did so
nicely, Danielle, without any fuss or fanfare during their morning break,
took the man aside.  Once out of earshot of the others, she made it
perfectly clear that she was running the class -- not him, suggesting in so
many words that his comments and interruptions were disruptive and that if
he did not change his ways, he was not welcomed in her class.

	Interestingly enough, once chastised, the manager became a real
pleasure to have in class.


+ + +


	Danielle covered everything that her first day's lesson plan called
for.  To the delight of her students, Danielle dismissed her class an hour
early.  David, who had been lounging around in the hallway, waited until
the last of her pupils had exited the room before entering.  "So, how'd it
go?  Was it as bad as you thought it would be?"

	Pleased with the notion that David was concerned enough to be on
hand at the conclusion of class, Danielle, with an energetic wave and a
glowing smile broadening on her face, beckoned for David to join her in the
front of the room.  "Actually, all things considered, the day went pretty
well."

	"Good!  I'm glad to hear that it did.  Hungry?"

	"No...  Not yet...  But, I soon will be."

	"How's Italian sound?"

	"Great!  Let me tidy up here a little and we can be on our way.
You're driving, right?"


+ + +


	On the drive to the restaurant, Danielle provided David with a
broad-brush overview of how the class went.

	"One day down, four to go," David offered.  "So, what do you think?
Are you going to be able to hack it for the rest of the week?"

	"Yeah..." Danielle thoughtfully replied.  "Having gotten through
today, which pretty much fell on me, given the fact that it was pretty much
all lecture, the rest of the week should be a piece of cake.  From here on
out, I won't be lecturing anywhere near as much as I did today.  Basically,
my students will be spending a good portion of their time doing the work
assessment in their student handbooks or getting some hands on experience
working with the actual equipment.  For example, tomorrow I'll be covering
the initial installation, power-up procedures and acceptance testing.
Wednesday, we'll move on to provisioning the units.  Thursday, we'll get
into alarms, fault-locating, basic trouble-shooting techniques and service
restoration procedures.  Friday, they'll spend most of the day shooting
troubles that I will introduce into the system..."

	"Did the men in your class behave themselves?"

	"For the most part - yes.  I mean, while I know they were enjoying
the scenery and probably entertaining some rather lewd fantasies revolving
around what they would like to do to me, none of them were obvious about
it.  You know, as in I didn't catch any of them undressing me with their
eyes, if that's what you mean?"

	"You said you had three women in your class.  Is that right?" David
continued on to inquire.

	"Yes!" Danielle, uncomfortable with the direction their
conversation had taken, abrasively snapped.

"Whoa!  Did I just hit a nerve, or something?"

	"Sorry..." Danielle offered David an apology.  "I'm afraid that I'm
a little keyed up right now."

	"There's no need for you to apologize, Danielle.  I know it's been
a trying day for you."

	"No!  You don't understand, David.  That's not it at all.  Look!  I
don't know if you got a good look at her or not when she came out of the
conference room this afternoon, but one of the women, the youngest of
three, is one fine looking lady in anybody's book."

	"Let me guess.  You found yourself attracted to her?"

	"Oh yeah!" Danielle was quick to concur.  "You could say that.
However, if you did, it would be a gross understatement."

	"Well, though I only caught a glimpse of her, I'd have to agree.
She was rather nice looking."

	"Nice looking!" Danielle, unable to restrain herself, raised an
objection.  "She's what we used to refer to as a Telco 10!"

	"Okay...  Simmer down, girl.  Remember that I only caught a glimpse
of her before she started down the hallway, while you spent practically the
whole day with her.  So, if you say she's pretty, I'll take your word for
it.  She's pretty.  So, what's the problem?  I mean, it goes without saying
that you've been around a lot of pretty women before."

	"You're right.  I have.  But, things were different then.  I wasn't
a woman myself.  Now that I am, I find things to be very different, if not
down right confusing.  I know they shouldn't be different, but they are.
Now that I know how much pleasure can be derived from fiddling around with
all my new equipment, I found that I couldn't stop myself from thinking
about what it would be like to go one on one with her."

	"Danielle..." David, keenly aware that misery does indeed love
company, interjected.  "If it's any consolation, I know exactly what you're
going through."

	"You do?"

	"Oh, yeah...  I most certainly do.  May I remind you that I've
logged a considerable amount of time as a female myself and every time I
do, I find that I have to deal with the very same sort of thing that you're
dealing with now.  Let's face it Danielle, as it stands right now you're
both a narcissist and a lesbian.  The problem is that when you're a man
again, you will find that a part of you will still be the lesbian you are
today.  Now that you experienced some of the sexual perks of being fitted
out with a woman's body, you will never find making love to a woman as
satisfying as it was before.  As sad as I am to have to tell you this,
there will always be a part of you that will long to be a woman again."

	"That sucks!" Danielle irately fumed.

	"You're right.  It does suck.  But just be glad that you don't, if
you catch my drift?"

	Sickened by the implications of David's last remark, Danielle
blanched.  "I do and believe me, that's something that ain't never going to
happen."

	Unable to restrain himself, David teased, "Why?  Afraid you might
end up liking it too much?"

	"David!" Danielle raged.  "Knock it off!  Just thinking about it is
giving me the willies.  So, do me a favor.  Stop trying to freak me out..."


+ + +


	Later, as the two of them sat in the restaurant eating lasagna,
David sought to assuage his curiosity, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you
seem to be handling the 'girl thing' a lot better than you were.  In fact,
there are times when you appear to be really enjoying the experience."

	Danielle took a protracted moment to assess her feelings.
"Actually, you're right.  I am starting to enjoy myself.  In a kinky,
perverted sort of way, being a girl isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was
going to be at first.  I'll grant you that men still unnerve me from time
to time.  But, I have to confess that I get a perverse pleasure just
knowing the kind of effect I'm having on men."

	"So, I take it that you like being a piece of eye-candy?"

	"Sometimes..." Danielle reluctantly admitted the truth of the
matter.


+ + +


	After dinner, Danielle asked David if he would mind stopping at the
mall.  Though he informed her that he would be more than happy to oblige
her in that regard, he nevertheless wanted to know why.  At first Danielle
evaded providing David with a sufficient answer to his inquiry.  However,
with his curiosity peaked, David relentlessly pursued the issue.  Danielle,
who was embarrassed beyond belief, relented in an unbridled huff.  "If you
must know, they have a Victoria's Secret there and I want to pick up a few
things for myself."

	"What kind of things?" David teasingly pressured.

	"Just things!" Danielle bristled, hoping to put an end to the
conversation.  Then, fearing that she had not persuaded David to drop his
line of questioning, a thoroughly exasperated Danielle bellowed, "If you
must know, I want to pick up something sexy for myself!"

	"Right!" David knowingly snickered.  "You really are enjoying
turning yourself on, aren't you?"

	"If you must know, the answer is -- yes!" Danielle irately fumed.
"I love turning myself on.  Now, can we just drop this?"

	"Danielle," David, realizing only too late that he had taken his
teasing a bit too far, endeavored to placate her.  "Look, I'm sorry if I
upset you.  I was wrong.  And, I'll try not to do it in the future.  Okay?"

	"Yeah... Sure..." Danielle, who was still feeling a bit put off by
the whole episode, weakly managed.

	Aware that he had some fence mending to do, David tried a new
approach. "Hey!  Do you want to hear something funny?"

	"Not really," Danielle sulked.

	"You're not doing something that I haven't done already.  Over the
years, I've managed to compile a whole wardrobe of frilly and fancy stuff."

	Astounded by David's confession, Danielle exclaimed, "You mean to
tell me that when you're operating as a woman that you like to dress up in
sexy outfits?"

	"It more or less goes with the territory, don't you think?  I mean,
even though your body is about as female as female can be, from everything
you've said, your libido is still very much a man's libido.  And since
that's the case, it's only natural for you to want to assuage those
narcissist tendencies by dressing up in something sexy.  So, what I'm
saying is that you needn't be embarrassed.  If anyone understands what
you're contending with right now, it's me.  Besides, you only got the
remainder of this week and the next to enjoy that body.  So, my suggestion
is that you cram that embarrassment that you're feeling where the sun don't
shine and go for the gusto while you still can..."

	Aware that David's advice was not only sound, but also exactly what
she wanted to hear, Danielle decided to take what he said to heart.  Right
then and there Danielle made up her mind to enjoy her time as a female to
the fullest, That being the case, Danielle selected half a dozen
tease-to-please outfits for herself at Victoria's Secret.  She also allowed
David to use his corporate charge card to pay for them.

	"David, can I get you to do me a big favor?" she asked as the two
of them made their way out to his car.

	"Sure..."

	"Not tonight, but maybe tomorrow, can I get you to take some
pictures of me dressed up in some of these outfits?"

	"Yeah...  Sure...  I take it you want them as sort of a keepsakes?"

	"That's the idea..."

	"Do you have a camera, or do I need to bring mine?"

	"Funny you should ask.  I actually went out and bought myself one
last Friday."

	"That's great!  Since it's a fairly safe bet that Meggido is going
to be picking up the tab, I do hope you got yourself a good one."

	"Oh, yeah!  I got a good one all right."

	"Good for you, girl." David chuckled.

	"Girl?" Danielle raised an objection, and then through better of
it.  "Well, for the time being, I guess that I am a girl at that."

	"Yes," David concurred.  "And a very beautiful one..."

	Danielle did not reply to David's last remark.  Instead, she just
smiled, knowing that David was right.  She was beautiful.  She also knew
that she had made the right decision.  Since she was stuck being a girl,
she was bound and determined to make the most of it.

	Arriving back at the hotel, David walked Danielle to her room where
she dropped off her purchases.  Then, the two of them made tracks for the
hotel's bar to shoot a few games of pool and down some brewskies.

	Around nine-thirty, Danielle informed David that she was going to
make an early night of it.  Still according himself as a proper gentleman,
David walked Danielle back to her room and, saying that he would call her
in the morning so that they could have breakfast together, he bid her
goodnight.

	Once safely secured in her room, Danielle did not waste any time at
all scrambling out of her clothes and into one of the sexy outfits she had
selected earlier in the evening.  "Damn, girl!" she seductively purred as
she stood gazing at herself in the mirror.  "You really are something..."

	Unlike the prior evening when she had failed miserably to tweak
herself into a state of sexual frenzy, Danielle easily achieved her goal.
Within minutes she lay sprawled across the bed, groping the shit out of
herself and loving each and every jolt of carnal pleasure she was
engendering within herself.

	That night Danielle dreamed again, save that unlike the previous
night, her dreams were not only extremely pleasurable but also, highly
erotic.  However vastly different in content, there was an element of her
dreams that remained the same.  In both sets of dreams, both the nightmares
and the pleasurable ones, Danielle envisioned herself as the female she was
rather than the man she used to be.  Oddly enough, that fact no longer
bothered her.  In fact, she found it all very refreshing.


+ + +


	Danielle awoke on Tuesday with a new zest for life.  Scampering out
of bed, she donned her bathing suit and headed for the pool.  Having
chalked up her usual seventy-two laps, Danielle returned to her room where
she immediately called David and informed him that she desired his company
at breakfast.  Hanging up the phone, Danielle showered, dried her hair and
got dressed.

	"Well," David beamed, "I must say that this new attitude is a
refreshing change from yesterday."

	"Yes!  And, I owe it all to what you said last night." Danielle
smiled a most pleasant smile.

	"And I take it that you aren't nervous about having to teach
today?"

	"Not even a little bit..."


+ + +


	After class, David, who had once again been waiting in the hallway
just outside the conference room, informed Danielle that Meggido had
arrived back in town and wished to have dinner with the two of them.  That
suited Danielle just fine, owing to the fact that she had a few more
questions to put to the elderly gentleman concerning his more than generous
job offer.

	During dinner, Danielle asked her questions and to her surprise,
Meggido answered every one of them to her satisfaction.  Then, shocking her
dinner companions, Danielle asked if it might be possible for her to sit on
some of the strategy sessions that revolved around the upcoming
'procurement' of the magical crystal.  Though she never came right out and
said it, Danielle implied that it might be beneficial in helping her make a
decision about becoming a member of Meggido's acquisition team.  For
Meggido's part, he said something to the effect that he would have to think
about it.

	An hour later, as David was in the process of racking the balls for
their second game of eight ball of the evening, he casually inquired, "So,
I take it that you're seriously considering becoming a member of the team?"

	"Oddly enough, yes..." Danielle replied.  "You see, rumor has it
that the outfit that I'm working for now plans on drastically downsizing
its workforce.  Which means that I'll probably be told that my services are
no longer required before the year is out.  Besides, I like to travel.
Added to that, Meggido's offer is nothing to sneeze at..."

	"That's true," David concurred.  "Look, Danielle, maybe I shouldn't
be saying this, because the last thing I want to do is to put any pressure
on you, but it's my hope that you'll accept Xavier's offer and come to work
with us.  But, then again, I have to admit that I have a little bias were
you're concerned."

	"Bias..." Danielle playfully toyed with the word.  "How so?"

	"Well, the truth of the matter is that it's been a long time since
I had the kind of relationship that you and I seemed to have going for us.
I mean, in just a few days you and I have become pretty good friends,
right?"

	"Yeah...  I guess we have at that." Danielle freely admitted, but
though she did so, there was something in David's use of the word 'friend'
that irked her.  Though she had not been able to pigeonhole her feelings
where David was concerned, Danielle thought of him as something more than
just a friend.  David was her protector, her knight in shining armor.  But,
there was something else there as well.  Though Danielle examined and
re-examined the farfetched possibility that there was something-sexual
going on between the two of them, she quickly discounted that notion out of
hand.  While Danielle had to concede the fact that David might be sexually
attracted to her, she knew that she was definitely not sexually attracted
to him.  Danielle was well aware of the fact that though a woman herself,
she still was attracted to women.  Were David to change into a woman,
having entertained that very fantasy more times than she would have ever
like to admit to, Danielle knew that would have been something else
altogether.  David was something akin to a brother, but not what one would
perceive as a normal brother, but a brother who was a best friend, a
brother who was a confident, a brother who could be entrusted with
Danielle's deepest darkest secrets.  In some respects, though she had yet
to name him as such, were one to take the sexual aspects out of the
equation, David was Danielle's soulmate.

	"Hey!" David inquired.  "Did you still want me to take some
pictures of you in a couple of those outfits you picked up last night?"

	"Yeah...  Sure..." Danielle, not sure if she wanted to tempt fate
by allowing David to see her in such provocative apparel, tentatively
replied.

	A few minutes later, as the two of them navigated the hallways that
led to her room, Danielle sheepishly posed a question.  "Tell me something,
David.  Are you going to be okay with this?"

	"If what you're really asking is if I'm going to try to take
advantage of the situation, the answer is no.  I'm not.  I promise that I'm
going to behave myself.  Okay?"


+ + +


	Though Danielle felt a little squeamish at first, dressed as
brazenly as she was, with David's encouragement she eventually managed to
loosen up, to the point where she actually began to enjoy playing fashion
model.  "That's the ticket, Danielle," David encouraged, as Danielle
seductively repositioned herself on the bed.

	Danielle posed for pictures wearing three of the tease-to-please
outfits she had purchased for herself the prior evening.  Then, aware that
it was getting late, she asked David if he would mind taking some more
pictures of her on another night later in the week.  Informing her that he
would be more than happy to oblige her, David bid Danielle a good night and
headed for his own room.

	Once alone, a hot and bothered Danielle wasted no time get down to
the business at hand.  Using the finger-flick method of clitoral
stimulation, Danielle quickly engendered a gushing multi-orgasm release.  A
few minutes later, as she lay sprawled across the bed savoring the
warm-fuzzies of post-orgasm bliss, Danielle began to fantasize about what
it might feel like were she to be on the receiving end of the selfless act
of cunnilingus.  Idyllically, Danielle lay there imagining how fantastic it
would feel to have someone's tongue, rather than her own middle finger,
swirling about the extremely sensitive nub of her clitoris.  Those
thoughts, along with others, engendered a multitude of fantasies,
fantasizes in which David often played a major supporting role.

	In those fantasizes, Danielle fancied herself a mild mannered
dominatrix as well as a benevolent sorceress, a sorceress who employed a
variety of magical means to turn David into her gorgeous lesbian lover.
Once female, Danielle would command an enamored David to service her carnal
needs.


+ + +


	The next morning, as David and Danielle sat across the table from
one another in the hotel's restaurant eating breakfast, David could not
help but notice that Danielle looked as if she were the proverbial cat that
ate the canary.  "Okay!  I give.  What aren't you telling me, Danielle?"

	Electing not to answer David's question, Danielle endeavored to
change the subject by opening her own line of inquiry.  "You wouldn't by
any chance have any pictures of yourself as a female, would you?"

	"As a matter of fact, I do.  Why?"

	"I'd like to see them.  I'd like to see how you look as a female.
You wouldn't happen to have one handy?"

	"Now that you mention it, I believe I do have one.  I think I have
one in my wallet.  Would you like to see it?"

	"Yes, David.  I would love to see it."

	Setting down his fork, David reached his left hand around and
withdrew his wallet from his pants' back left pocket.  Opening it, he
quickly located the picture in question and passed it over so that Danielle
could examine it.

	"Oh, my!  Dimples!  If this is really you, I must say that you are
one sexy looking woman."

	"I'll take that as a compliment, Danielle."  David replied drolly.
"So, if I may be so bold, why the sudden interest?"

	Aware that she owed David an explanation, Danielle demurely
responded, "Well, if you must know, last night I got to playing around with
all these new erogenous zones of mine.  And, one thing sort of led to
another and I started toying around with the idea of what it would be like
to go one on one with another woman."

	"Let me guess.  Even though you had no idea how I looked as a
female, you caste me as your lesbian lover, didn't you?"

	Reluctantly, Danielle confessed, "Yes...  I guess I did at that.
Tell me.  Does that upset you that I did something as crude as that?"

	"No, not by a long shot, Danielle.  In fact, I have a confession of
my own to make.  While you were in your room fantasizing about what it
would be like to engage in a lesbian tryst with my feminine alter ego, I
was entertaining similar fantasizes about turning you into a certified
pillow eater.  So, what do you say we call it even and leave it at that?"


+ + +


	Danielle, even as man, had never been one to socialize with any of
the students she taught.  As a general rule, she elected to remain aloof
when not actually conducting classes.  While she was both cordial and
friendly with her students, she liked to remain professional and refrain
from excessive fraternization when and wherever possible.  To that end, she
begged off invitations to lunch with her pupils, usually electing to eat
her lunch alone.  There was however an exception to that rule.  On the last
day of class, on Danielle's suggestion, her students would usually
celebrate their week together with a luncheon at a nearby restaurant such
as a T G. I. Friday, Outback, Chilies, or a local eatery along the lines of
those fine establishments.  However, given her peculiar circumstances,
Danielle had been lunching with David all that week, something that had not
escaped the notice of several of her students.

	Returning to the hotel's conference room after lunch, before their
afternoon session got underway, one of her female students blindsided
Danielle with a personal question.  Without mincing words, the middle-aged
woman pointedly asked Danielle if the gentleman she had been seen lunching
with was none other than her fiancée, with the unstated implication being
that if the man was not Danielle's fiancée, their gorgeous instructor might
well be engaging in a tawdry out of town affair.

	Initially, coming out of left field as it did, the woman's question
flummoxed Danielle.  Though her personal life was none of her students
business, once the probing question had been asked, Danielle knew that the
question could not go unanswered.  Danielle knew that she had to address
the woman's question, and the more casually she did so, the better.

	"Yes," Danielle, who hating lying and liars, forced a pleasant
smile onto her angelic face even as her stomach lurched.  "The man you saw
me with at lunch today is indeed my fiancée.  Owing to the fact that I have
been out of town quite a bit here lately, we haven't been able to see each
other as much as we'd like.  So, since my boyfriend had some vacation time
due him, rather than losing it, he decided to accompany me on this trip to
Columbus.  And, I must say, it's been sure nice having him around..."

	Danielle knew that in the wake of the woman's question, preventive
measures had to be taken.  Having dismissed her class a half an hour early,
and knowing fully well that David would be waiting outside in the hallway
for her, Danielle exited the conference room; locked it, and then strode
directly over to where David stood waiting for her.  Knowing that several
of her students were discretely observing her, Danielle took David in her
arms and kissed him passionately on the lips.  Then, as their lips parted,
before David could react, Danielle quietly admonished, "They think you're
my fiancée.  So, do me a favor," Danielle said as she took David's hand in
her own.  "Just play along for now and I'll explain the whole thing once
we're out of earshot..."


+ + +


	Not only did David understand the need for the ruse, but he also
thought the whole thing to be fairly amusing.  "So, now I've been upgraded
to your fiancée?" he chuckled.  "Hmmm..." he thoughtfully murmured.  "So,
tell me.  By any chance have we set a date for the wedding?"

	"Yeah!" Danielle smirked as she gave David's hand a friendly
squeeze.  "The Thirty-second of Nowonder."

	"All kidding aside, Danielle.  You and I need to come up with a
cover story on the off chance one of your students corners me and starts in
asking me a lot of questions about this bogus relationship of ours.  Should
something like that happen, our stories need to jive with one another's..."


+ + +


	As the two of them proceed down the corridor hand in hand, Danielle
only half listened to what David was prattling on about.  Her mind was
engaged elsewhere, thinking hard and long about the kiss she and David had
shared, as well as the strange emotions that the kiss had invoked within
her.  Though she struggled hard not to give David any indication that the
kiss had had an unsettling effect on her, Danielle was quickly becoming
distraught with herself.  Added to that, she was also becoming increasingly
horny, though in truth she would have vehemently denied it had David
pressed her on the issue.

	'What that shit is going on here?' Danielle demanded of herself.
'What the hell's wrong with me?  This is crazy!  I'm acting like a silly
adolescent schoolgirl who had just been asked out on her first date.  Okay,
so what if I'm physically a woman!  Inside, down deep where it counts, I'm
still a guy at heart.  And, guys aren't supposed to get turned-on kissing
other guys.  Please, God, don't let me change into a real woman.  If it's
all the same to you, I'm a man - at least I was -- and I'd really like to
get back to being one again, and the sooner the better...'

	Aware that the crotch of her pantyhose was quickly becoming moist
as a direct result of that impassioned kiss, Danielle informed David that
she needed to go to her room.  In no uncertain terms Danielle informed that
mock-fiancée of hers that she wanted to change into something else before
the two of them headed off for the restaurant where they were slated to
dine with Meggido.

	"Why?" David asked.  "As far as I'm concerned, you look fine
dressed just the way you are.  Besides, Xavier is probably starting to get
a little concerned about what's keeping us.  If I know Xavier, he's
probably wondering if the two of us forgot that we were to be his guest for
dinner again tonight."

	"Well, I guess that's his problem!" Sounding harsher than she had
meant to, Danielle irately snapped.  "Besides, it won't take me long to
change..."


+ + +


	'Damn!' Danielle silently groused, as she stripped off the
love-juice-soiled pantyhose.  'If this keeps up, I'm going to have to pick
up quite a few more pairs of pantyhose before Meggido eventually gets
around to turning me back into a man again.'

	"You about ready?" David, who was seated at the table in Danielle's
hotel room playing a game of FreeCell on her laptop, called out to her.

	Danielle, who was in the bathroom, working frantically to struggle
into a pair of shimmering black lycra tights, breathlessly replied, "I'm
almost done in here!  I'll be with you in a sec!"

	"Wow!" David exclaimed a few minutes later, as Danielle strode out
of the bathroom looking as sexy and refined as all get out.  "You look good
enough to eat!"

	"Hmmm..." Danielle seductively purred, as she took a moment to
examine herself in the mirror mounted atop the dresser.  "You better watch
what you say mister, because who knows?  One of these days, I just might
take you up on your offer."

	Without missing a beat, David teased, "That'd be fine by me.  But,
if you do happen to take me up on my offer, I'd appreciate a little
advanced notice."

	Confused, Danielle quipped, "What for?  What's wrong with being
spontaneous?"

	"I'll tell you what's wrong.  If we ever get around to doing what
you suggest, I'd like to bring a can of whip cream, along with a few
cherries."

	"In your dreams, mister.  In your dreams..."


+ + +


	Shortly after the restaurant's hostess had escorted David and
Danielle back to the table where Meggido sat patiently awaiting their
arrival, the elderly man dutifully informed Danielle that when she got back
to her room it might be a good idea for her check her email account's
inbox.  When asked as to why she might want to do that, Meggido explained
that Danielle would probably find a communiqué from the firm she worked for
confirming the fact that her services were required in Columbus for an
additional week.  Meggido continued on to explain that the company that
Danielle, or rather Daniel Johnson worked for, had been contracted to
conduct another course on their fiber-ready multiplexer and accompanying
miniaturized digital cross-connection unit.  Since Danielle was already in
the Columbus area, her manager, employing the logical and available man
theory, as well as wishing to save the additional airfare needed to replace
Danielle with another of his instructors, was requesting that Danielle
remain in Columbus and teach this second, hastily commissioned course.
Since the hardware was already in place, the email would also confirm the
fact that the student course materials required for the second course were
already en route, and should be arriving in the next day or so.

	Initially, Danielle had planned on using her carryover vacation for
a scuba diving trip to the Florida Keys.  However, in lieu of her becoming
a woman, she had scrubbed her plans for a Florida vacation, electing
instead to use the remainder of her carryover vacation in order to remain
in the Columbus area until Meggido could safely reverse the
transsexualization spell.  That being the case, Danielle was exceedingly
pleased with the notion of remaining in Columbus to teach another course.

	Seeing that Danielle was pleased with the news of the unexpected
turn of events, Meggido continued, "I hope that you will not be too upset
to learn that you will not actually be teaching anyone next week."

	Taken aback by Meggido's last statement, a confused Danielle sought
an explanation.  "I won't?  How come?"

	Spreading his hands as if the answer to Danielle's questions was
fairly obvious, if not self-explanatory, Meggido casually replied, "The
reason you won't be teaching anyone next week, is due to the fact that
there will be nary a student to teach.  For you see, my dear, no one will
be attending this second course of yours.  In an effort on my part to
extend your stay, while at the same time providing you with a cover story
to keep you here, I had my people contact the company you work for and
request that a course be conducted in the Columbus area as soon as
possible.  Once it was made clear that a rather lucrative contract hung in
the balance, your firms' vice president in charge of sales moved heaven and
earth to accede to my people's request.  The rest, as they say, is water
over the dam."

	Oddly enough and somewhat out of character for her, Danielle was
not perturbed in the least by Meggido's rather creative, albeit expensive
deception.  The truth was that since her present employment was tenuous at
best, Danielle did not mind the fact that the company with whom she was
currently employed would not be making a sale.  Besides, the courses her
company offered were not loss leaders, in that the courses netted a hefty
chunk of change in and of themselves.

	Having just dabbed his lips with his napkin, Meggido was quick to
add a codicil.  "I do have a favor to ask of you, my dear.  Since my people
are paying for this bogus course, I was hoping that my team and I could
have the use of the conference room.  That way we have a place to conduct a
few strategy sessions for this upcoming acquisition we are planning for the
weekend following this upcoming one.  You are course are cordially invited
to join the rest of us for the planning sessions, my dear..."

	Danielle had no objections to Meggido proposition.  As it worked
out, that was all to the good, because just as they were finishing up their
discussion of the matter, their pert and perky waitress arrived with a tray
upon which sat their dinner selections.


+ + +


	As they ate, Meggido and David discussed the various logistics
involved in getting their people in place for the forthcoming heist of the
crystal pyramid.  For her part, Danielle's mind drifted on to other matters
due to the fact that on one hand she found Xavier and David's conversation
to be exceedingly boring; and on the other, her mind kept returning to
thoughts of that kiss, and the unsettling affect it had on her.

	Though uneasy with such speculations, Danielle was plagued with the
disturbing notion that she was becoming emotionally attached to David in
ways that unnerved her sensibilities to no end.  In an effort to ascertain
the depth of those unsettling suspicions of hers, Danielle began
surreptitiously glancing over at David in an effort to gauge exactly how
she really felt about him.  However, more times than not, when Danielle
cast a speculative glance in David's direction, David's attention was
elsewhere, in that he was busily scoping out their extremely cute and sassy
waitress.

	As far as Danielle was concerned, one appraising glance was not
only fine, but was also perfectly acceptable.  However, to Danielle's way
of thinking, two glances was one glance too many, and David was racking up
a whole slew of glances.

	Having started out at a low burn, by the time little Miss Cute
Sassy came by to take their desert order, Danielle was seething.  'What in
hell does David see in her?  Okay, I'll grant that she's spunky and cute.
She's got a great smile and a nice body.  And, there's no getting around
the fact that she's pretty, in a girl next door sort of way that appeals to
a lot of guys, with one of them being none other than myself.  So, what if
I would give my right nut to get her in the sack.  That's no excuse for
David to be gawking at her like he has been.  I'll grant you she's pretty.
But, she's nowhere near as pretty as I am.  Let's face it, while she's
pretty, I'm no holds bar gorgeous.  Added to that, I'm built like a brick
shithouse.  So what if she's cute as a button.  I fairly ooze with sex
appeal.  So, why the hell does David keep scoping her out?  I mean, what
does she have that I don't?  More to the point, why is David attracted to
her and not me?  And, if my feeling like this means I'm jealous of that
brazen little hussy, so be it!  I'm jealous!  And, I don't give a rat's ass
who the hell knows it!  No!' Danielle's mind rebelled and with a frenzied
flip-flop of position, quickly offering up a mental retraction to the
notion that she did not care who might learn that she was jealous of the
overt amount of attention that David was according their waitress.  'That's
not true!  The last thing I want is for David to learn that I'm actually
jealous of that girl.  Should he have an inkling that I am, he might get
the wrong impression.  He might start thinking that I have feelings for
him, and strong ones at that.  And that,' she continued dogmatically, 'is
something I most certainly don't have!  Or...' she grudgingly found herself
forced to entertain the dreadful possibility, '...maybe I do have feelings
for him?  And, if I do, what the hell does that mean?  Am I some sort of
latent homosexual?  Or, am I becoming more of a woman than I ever thought I
was?  And, if I am, is that really a bad thing?  What about the sexual
aspects of this whole topsy-turvy mell of hess that I've gone and
inadvertently landed myself in?  That stupid kiss was one thing.  But, can
you really picture yourself allowing David to go all the way with you?
And, what happens if you find that you like being on the receiving end of
things?  What the hell happens then...'

	"Danielle?" David, the tone of his voice conveying a note of
concern.  "Are you alright?"

	Startled by David's sudden intrusion, Danielle quickly refocused
her thoughts.  "Yes!  I'm fine," she lamely stammered.  "I guess my mind
sort of wandered off and became preoccupied thinking about something
stupid.  But, as the two of you can see, I'm fine now."

	"Is there anything that you would like to share with us my dear?'
Meggido soothingly inquired, as he reached over and laid a consoling hand
atop Danielle's forearm.

	Averting her eyes downward, so that she only beheld the crumbs that
were scattered haphazardly about her desert plate, Danielle demurely
managed, "No...  It was nothing important.  Really, I'm perfectly fine now.
However, if you two gentlemen will excuse me, I'm afraid that I have to use
the ladies room..."


+ + +


	Having used her time in the ladies restroom to compose herself,
Danielle, forcing a pleasant smile onto her beatific face, returned to the
table where David and Meggido stood to greet her return.

	Much as he had on previous occasions, upon exiting the restaurant
proper, Meggido, saying that he had some things that required his
attention, bid David and Danielle a gracious good evening.  Left to their
own devices, David politely asked Danielle if there was any thing in
particular that she would like to do, or in lieu of that, any place she
would like to go that evening.  When she had nothing to offer in that
regard, David suggested that the two of them go bowling.  Though bowling
was no longer Danielle's cup of tea, unable to come up with an alternative,
after a little hemming and hawing, Danielle relented.  "Oh, why the hell
not.  I haven't bowled for years.  But, when I did, I wasn't too shabby.
Tell you what!  Best two out of three buys the beers."  With that said,
Danielle, somewhat curtly turned, and started off across the lobby at a
brisk pace.

	"You've got yourself a bet, young lady," David counter as he
started after her.  "Hey!  Danielle!"  He called out to her.  "My car's the
other way!"

	"True!" Danielle called back over her shoulder.  "But, my room's
this way."

	"Okay!  I'll bite.  I thought the two of us were going bowling."

	"We are," Danielle replied.

	"So, if we're going bowling, tell me why are we going to your
room?"

	"So, I can change, silly.  I mean, you don't for one moment think
I'm going to go dressed like I am now, do you?"

	"I don't see why not.  You look perfectly fine to me dressed just
the way you are."

	"Yeah!  Right!  Slinky black tights and frilly poet blouses are all
the rage with the bowling crowd these days!  I mean, I walk into a bowling
alley dressed like I am now, and people are going to thinking that I some
kind of thousand dollar a night call girl."

	"So, what if they do.  You and I know different.  Besides, I like
the way you're dressed."

	Blindsided by David's admission, an incredulous Danielle sought
conformation.  "You really mean that?  You actually like the way I'm
dressed?"

	"Of course I do.  What man in his right mind wouldn't..."


+ + +


	Though she had tried, Danielle had yet to get past her earlier bout
with jealousy.  She was irked with herself, and highly perturbed with
David.  Truth was, Danielle blamed David for the way she was feeling, and
because she did, throughout the ride to the bowling alley she was cool
towards him, speaking rarely and only when placed in a position that forced
her to do so.  Added to that, when she did speak, her tone of voice was
curt and abrasive.

	For his part, David was quick to realize that Danielle was
pissed-off and out of sorts about something.  Thinking that their evening
would be a total bust if things continued as they were, David decided to
take the bull by the horns and get to the bottom of what was bothering
Danielle.  "Hey!" he gently prodded, as he placed his rental car in park
and then turned off the ignition.  "What gives, Danielle?  Did I do
something to offend you?"

	"Yeah!  You sure as hell did!" Danielle irately snapped.

	"Look!  I know that you're upset about something I either did, or
didn't do.  But, since I have no idea what that something might happen to
be, would you mind enlightening me so we can get past whatever it is that
has got you so upset?  That way, we might be able to get past whatever it
is that's bothering you, so we can spend some quality time together?"

	Though she did so reluctantly, Danielle admitted that she was
jealous of all the attention that David had lavished on their pert and
perky waitress during their dinner with Meggido.  Though not a stupid man,
David made a huge mistake.  Thinking the whole situation to be ludicrously
absurd, he laughed, irking Danielle all the more.

	"You, jealous?  Now, that's rich!" David could not stop chuckling
at the irony of what he was hearing.  "I'll grant you that for the here and
now of it, you're physically a woman, and an extremely sexy and beautiful
one at that.  But, we both know that it's only a temporary condition, and
that in just over a week, you'll be back to being your old manly self
again.  So, how the hell can you be jealous?"

	"I wish to God I knew!" Danielle vehemently spat.  "But, the sad
and awful truth of it is: I was, and still am jealous of that girl who
waited on us!"

	"Well, you have to admit that she was awfully cute."

	"Of course she was!" Danielle was on the verge of losing it.  "But,
that didn't mean that you had to keep staring at her.  Besides, you could
have used a little restraint, especially since I was sitting there with
you."

	Knowing that he was not about to win Danielle over to his point of
view by continuing on like he was, David did the intelligent thing.  He
switched tactics.  "Hey!  What can I say, Danielle; save to say that when
you're right, you're right.  My behavior at dinner was not only out of
character for me, but totally unacceptable.  I was way out of line.  And, I
sincerely apologize for that.  Look, Danielle!  I was wrong.  I'm sorry.
And, it won't happen again.  I just hope you can forgive me so we can get
past all of this."

	After am introspective moment of silence in which he labored hard
to collect his thoughts, David began anew.  "But, having said that,
Danielle, I find that I'm somewhat curious.  Today, while we were having
lunch together, wasn't it you who went out of her way to point out to me
that good looking redhead, you know, that was sitting just a couple tables
away from ours?"

	Unable to make the connection, Danielle tentatively replied,
"Yeah...  Sure...  But, what does that redhead this afternoon have to do
with anything?"

	"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you weren't jealous then, were you?
Nor, may I add, did you employ any restraint when it comes to that redhead.
You were looking at her as much as I was, and perhaps even a little more
than I was.  And, don't you dare try and tell me you weren't, because we
both know you were."

	"No...  You're right.  I wasn't jealous at lunch.  But, for some
reason that I can't fathom, I sure am now.  And, I find that to be odd."
Danielle was beginning to get an inkling of where David was going with
this.

	"So what, may I ask, changed between lunch and dinner?  You didn't
by any chance inadvertently make a wish, something along the lines of: I
wish I really was a woman?  Because if you did, Galeanna's Ring might have
granted your ill-conceived wish.  Such a wish might have messed around with
your psyche; in affect completing your feminization by reconditioning your
male oriented mind and turning it, and your corresponding libido into that
of a real woman's.  I sorry to have to say this, Danielle, but, if that's
what has happened, if you inadvertently made an off-handed wish, you may
have scrouched the pooch, so to speak."

	"Are you saying that I could be stuck as a woman forever?"

	"Yes, if that is actually what occurred.  But, let's not jump to
conclusions.  There very well might be some other explanation that we're
overlooking."

	"Like what?" a scared shitless Danielle ruefully demanded.

	"To be honest with you, Danielle, I really don't know.  But, how
'bout we try to eliminate the most egregious thing first.  Do you by any
chance remember making any sort of wish along the lines I just now
suggested?"

	"No..." Danielle replied nervously.  "At least I don't remember
making a wish like that.  And, I've really been watching myself along those
lines."

	"Good.  Then, I would dare to say that you probably didn't make
such a life-altering wish."  David began racking his brain in an effort to
come up with something that would explain Danielle's jealousy.  "Did you by
any chance do something this afternoon that you wouldn't ordinarily do?"

	"Other than kissing you, no."

	In that instant in time, David experienced a Eureka moment.  "Well
that's got to be it then!  If it wasn't a wish, then it surely must have
been that kiss you planted on me!  According to what you've told me, you
didn't experience any pangs of jealousy prior to that kiss.  But, by your
own admission, you have since.  So, I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that
kiss of ours lies at the heart of these new and seemly feminine based
emotions you're experiencing."

	David's argument was a sound one, and Danielle did not require a
whole lot of convincing to buy into it.  "You're probably right about that,
David.  While I wasn't going to say anything about this, that kiss of ours
really did a number on me.  While it felt icky when I hauled off and kissed
you, making me feel like I was some sort of pervert, those feelings quickly
vanished, only to be replaced with a warm cozy feeling deep down inside of
me.  It was like someone threw a switch that turned off my feelings of
revulsion, while at the same moment, igniting my passions.  God help me,
David!  While I still find it hard to admit this, I thoroughly enjoyed that
kiss, so much so that there's a part of me wouldn't mind kissing you again.
And, that scares the shit out of me, because I think I'm starting to
develop real feelings for you."

	It was David's turn to bare his soul.  "It's funny you should say
that, Danielle, because I think I'm well on my way to falling in love with
you.  Truth is: that kiss of ours pretty much confirmed it for me.  Oh, and
speaking of restraint, I'll have you know that I've been exercising it
since the first day I met you."

	"You have?"

	"Yes!  And, for the record, it hasn't been easy."

	Unsure as to whether or not she was pleased to hear what David had
just said, or deeply troubled by it, Danielle, needing time to process her
feelings, raised a question.  "So, why haven't you told about how you felt
before this?"

	"Had I, would you have been receptive?"

	"No, not in the least.  Had you even hinted that you were attracted
to me, or had begun to develop those intimate kinds of feelings before
tonight, I would have hauled off and punched you right in the kisser.  Now
though, I guess there's a part of me that feels extremely flattered.
However, there's another part of me that is scared to death about what
happens next."

	David countered by asking Danielle what he thought to be the
obvious question.  "And, exactly what would you like to have happen next?"

	"Honestly, David...  I don't know.  I haven't a clue.  To be
honest, there's a big part of me that wants you to take me in your arms and
have you kiss me again.  However, there's another part of me that can't
bear the thought of you, or for that matter, any other man, touching me."

	"You're confused.  And, you have every right to be.  It's perfectly
understandable, given the strange set of circumstances that you have become
embroiled in.  Trust me, Danielle.  I'm not about to do anything that you
don't want me to do.  That's to say that I have no intentions of forcing
myself on you now, or in the future..."

	A few minutes later, David said something that gave Danielle a
reason to hope.  "Hmmm..." he speculated.  "I just thought of something
interesting.  As screwed up as things appear to be, you haven't cried even
once.  And, because you haven't, I seriously doubt that you've gone all the
way, you know, and become a full-fledged woman, mentally as well as
physically.  Think about it, Danielle.  Of all the women that you ever had
the pleasure of knowing, how many could have dealt with the kind emotional
trauma that you have, and come through it without shedding at least a few
tears?"

	Realizing that David had a valid point, Danielle's mood began to
brighten.  "Not many," she admitted.

	"Right you are!" David, hoping that the crises had passed, added
cheerfully.  Then, in a burlesque manner calculated to garnish a humorous
response, David sarcastically quipped, "That's one problem resolved.  Now,
all we have to do is deal with this latent homosexuality issue that seems
to have cropped up.  Now, I know I'm still straight, because as far as I'm
concerned, regardless of the fact that mentally speaking you're still a
guy, when I look at you, I see the most gorgeous and down right sexiest
woman I've ever beheld.  Now you, on the other hand, given the fact that
you still think of yourself as a man, appear to have a problem, due chiefly
to the fact that your brain is sexually out of sync with that beautiful
body.  Therefore you, not me, are the one with the homosexual tendencies."

	Though she did so with a chuckle, Danielle cautioned her companion.
"Watch it there, buster.  I warn you.  You're treading on thin ice.  I'll
have you know that I'm every bit as heterosexual as you are."

	"Maybe you are, and then again, maybe you aren't.  Just remember
who kissed who."

	"Hey!" Danielle bristled, even as she raised an admonishing finger.
"That is only because there were extenuating circumstances.  I had to do
something, and the only thing I could think of at the time was to kiss
you."

	"True," David conceded.  "But, you also said that you enjoyed it."

	"Well, so did you!"

	"I'm not denying that I enjoyed it.  Truth be told: you're a good
kisser, and I enjoyed it a lot.  Hell, just so you know, I even ended up
with a hard-on as a result of that kiss."

	That remark got Danielle's goat.  Shifting about in her seat,
Danielle turned her torso about, and in doing so, brought her face only
inches from David's.  "Damn you, David Johnson!  You really are a son of
bitch!"

	"Never claimed otherwise.  So, what's it going to be, Danielle.
Slug me, or kiss me.  It's your choice.

	Danielle did hesitate.  Throwing her arms about David's neck, she
planted an impassioned lip-lock on him.

	One kiss led to another, and another one after that.  With moments,
Danielle, unable to squelch her passions, was stretched across the console
and the two of them were acting like a couple of teenagers going at it hot
and heavy.

	After a furious fifteen minutes of some of the heaviest petting
every undertaken in a Toyota Prius, David managed, "Well, at least we
confirmed one thing.  You either need to give some serious thought to
coming out of the closet, or you're a lot more of a woman than either one
of us suspect."

	To which Danielle replied "Do I get to pick?"

	"Sure...  Why the hell not?" David began nibbling away at
Danielle's aristocratic neck.

	"Okay then!  If I have to chose one of or the other, I think I'll
go with being a woman, since I certainly have the appropriate body for it."

	"Yes," David concurred.  "You most certainly do.  Now, while I hate
to be a spoilsport, you and I need to make a decision.  While I'd be
perfectly happy to head back to the hotel and spend the rest of evening
necking with you, are we going to go bowling or not?  Because, if we're
going bowling, we need to go get a lane now..."

	Though Danielle would have preferred the former, she did not trust
herself from going all the way and so, she settled for later.  "David, as
much as I hate to say this, I think it's for the best if we go bowling."


+ + +


	It took Danielle the first eight frames of their first game of
three to get back into the swing of things.  But, once she had compensated
for the lighter ball she was using, as well as the balance issue imposed
upon her by the wider splay of her hips and the added weight of those
rather substantial mammary glands of hers, she tore David a new one.

	"You weren't kidding, were you, Danielle?" David said, after she
had marked in the first five frames of their second game.  "You really are
one hell of a bowler."

	"I told you so!" Danielle teasingly scoffed.  "Once upon a time, in
my former life, I actually toyed with the notion of going pro.  Hey,
what'ya say we up the ante?  Loser not only buys the beers, but has to do
what ever the winner wants for the remainder of the night?"

	Having picked up his ball from the ball rack, David pondered
Danielle's proposal as he lined up his first ball the frame.  Keeping an
admiring eye on his buttocks, Danielle looked on as David's ball sped
swiftly down the lane, hooked into the one-three pocket, thereby knocking
down all the pins for a strike.  Danielle, knowing that the game was far
from over, exclaimed, "Damn!"  David, thinking that he had Danielle
worried, turned toward her and jubilant quipped, "As far as that bet is
concerned, I except your terms.  "You win; I'll do anything you want just
as long as it's legal, aboveboard and not overly perverted.  I win and I
get to call the shots.  Agreed?"

	"Agreed..."


+ + +


	Danielle squeaked out a victory on that second game, beating her
sham of a fiancée by grand total of three pins.  With a game each, they
were tied going into their third and final game.

	Their third game was the clincher, and they fought each other tooth
and nail and pin for pin right up to the final frame.  Though Danielle had
seriously toyed with the notion of humiliating David in some nefarious
fashion if she won the bet, in the instant just before releasing her first
ball of the frame, she thought better of it.  Her moment of indecision
caused Danielle to release the ball a silly millisecond or two later in her
delivery than was required.  As a result, Danielle ended up lofting the
ball a good way down the lane.  Gravity eventually claimed her ball and it
dropped with a sickening thud onto the lane's glossy and painstakingly
cared for surface.  Jinxing, Danielle's ball slid to the left, only to end
up teetering on the gutter's lip until it reached a point just shy of the
pins.  There, it shimmed, before plunging off the lane and into the gutter.

	Irritated at herself for having botched it, Danielle did herself
proud with her second ball of the frame.  Knocking down all the pins on her
second attempt, Danielle managed a ten-pin spare, which in turn netted her
a respectable score for their final game of the evening.  The trouble was,
as respectable as Danielle's final tally was; it was not good enough to
beat David's impressive score.  Unlike Danielle, David did not flub his
first ball.  It drove right for the pocket, and landed David a strike in
his final frame.


+ + +


	On their way out to the car, anxious to learn what David would
require of her, Danielle coquettishly inquired.  "Okay!  I lost and you
won.  So, since I've never reneged on a bet before, and have no plans of
starting now, what's it going to be?"

	Savoring the moment, and wishing to torment Danielle a little,
David impishly teased, "Hmmm...  I'm not exactly sure yet.  However, a few
ideas have come to mind.  Say, you don't by any chance know where we might
lay our hands on some satin sheets, do you?  I know we pass by a Target on
the way over here, but I doubt that they carry satin sheets.  Now, if we
could locate a nearby Bedding & Bath, they might have some..."

	Danielle's voice conveyed a raw edge of fear.  "David!  You're not
suggesting that the two of us fool-around are you?  Because if you are, I'm
not sure I'm ready for something like that.  Kissing you is one thing.
Fooling around is something else altogether!"

	"That's a true statement if there ever was one," David chuckled.
"I was merely trying to get your goat with the satin sheet business, and
given the trepidation that I hear in your voice, I believe I have
succeeding in doing just that.  But, all kidding aside, you needn't worry
about me, Danielle.  As much as I would love to make love to you, and would
eagerly jump at the chance to show you how all your girlish attributes
work, I would never do something of that nature without securing your
permission first.  As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to sex, you are
the traffic cop.  You get to say stop or go.  In other words, when it comes
to all things sexual, not only is the ball in your court, but it's your
ball.  You can take it and go home anytime it suits you, no harm, no foul,
and no penalties assessed against you..."


+ + +


	On the drive back to their hotel, Danielle toyed with the idea of
asking David to spend the night with her.  However, though sorely tempted
to do so, she could not bring herself to take the plunge and so move their
budding relationship to the next level.  That being the case, on Danielle's
suggestion, they had a nightcap at the hotel's bar and made a relatively
early night of it.

	While at the bar, Danielle remembered what she had been meaning to
ask David all evening.  "David, tomorrow, the whole class is going out to
lunch together, and since they now believe you to be my fiancée, they
prevailed upon me to ask you if you would like to join us."  David, having
gained Danielle's assurance that she would not be put-off should he accept
the invitation, informed her that it was her decision to make.  Danielle
replied that she really wanted him there.  That being the case, David
readily agreed.

	Having finished their drinks, David escorted Danielle to her room.
There, having used her key-card to unlock the door, Danielle turned around
to face David.  "I'd ask you in, but I'm not sure that that's such a good
idea under the circumstances.  I'm worried that one thing could lead to
another, and the truth is that I really don't trust myself to say no."

	"That's perfectly understandable, Danielle.  In fact, I think it's
for the best if I don't come in."

	"Oh!" Danielle, who suddenly found herself reluctant to call it a
night, exclaimed.  "I forgot all about that stupid bet of ours.  As I
recall, I owe you a night of, I guess you could say, servitude."

	"That's true." David agreed.  "You do at that.  Tell you what,
Danielle, how 'bout I collect on that bet some other night?"

	"All right..." Danielle purred seductively.  "But, just you
remember: I don't renege on bets.  I owe you a night of servitude, and I
fully intend on keep my part of the bargain."

	"I never once doubted that you would."

	"David," Danielle's voice conveyed a compelling sense of need.
"Before you go, can you do me a big favor?"

	"Sure thing, kiddo.  What'ya need?"

	"I could sure use another kiss right about now."

	David did not hesitate.  Moving in close, he took both of
Danielle's hands in his and kissed her gently on the cheek.

	Sounding as if she were put-off, Danielle chided, "I didn't mean
that kind of kiss.  I want a real kiss, along the lines of the ones you
gave me in the car."

	Enfolding Danielle in a loving embrace, David proceeded to kiss her
with every ounce of passion he could muster.

	"Now, that's what I call a kiss!" an exasperated and thoroughly
turned-on Danielle managed once their lips parted.  "As much as I'd like
you to kiss me again, I think it for the best if we call it a night.  So,
goodnight, David, I'll see you in the morning..."


+ + +


	Silently cursing herself for the emotional quagmire she found
herself in, as soon as the door was shut behind her, Danielle strode to the
full-length mirror affixed to wall outside bathroom, and once there began
to berate herself.

	"What the hell is wrong with you?  What in God's Name were you
thinking asking him to kiss you like that?  Though it goes without saying
that your present body belies it, you're a guy, a guy who likes girls!
But, what do you do?  You go and let David make out with you!  Hell, you
went so far as to let him fondle your boobs!"


+ + +


	Distraught as she was, Danielle had a hard time not only getting to
sleep, but staying asleep.  To make matters worse, she was preoccupied with
revolving and reoccurring thoughts of David on those numerous occasions
when sleep eluded her, and haunted by dreams of her sexually interacting
with him during those sporadic periods of sleep she did manage.

	"Damn it!" she screeched into the darkness of her room.  "I am not
a woman!  I'm a man!"


+ + +


	Though feeling bedraggled from her fretful night, due to the magic
of Galeanna's Ring, Danielle looked chipper, self-assured and as radiant as
ever early the next morning when David called on her so they could go eat
breakfast together.

	"Well, don't you look nice this morning." David beamed cheerfully.

	"Yeah...  I might look nice, but believe me.  I feel like shit
warmed over," Danielle grumbled, as she drew on her blazer.

	"Bad night?"

	"Yeah..." Danielle snipped.  "You could say that.  But, if you did,
it would be an understatement."

	"Oh...  You had one of those nights, huh?"

	"Yes!"  Danielle was emphatic.  "I had one of those nights."

	"Something bothering you?"

	"Yeah..." Danielle's reply rang with the raw edge of sarcasm.
"Truth is, David: you're the one who's bothering me."

	"Have I done something wrong?  Because, if I have, you need to let
me know what I did, so that I won't do it again."

	"Oddly enough, you haven't done a damn thing wrong, with the
exception of the way you were looking at our waitress last night at dinner.
But, that's not what's bothering me.  You're what's bothering me.  And, do
you know why?"  Then, before David could even begin to formulate an answer,
a brooding Danielle stormed on.  "You're just too good to be true, and I
for one, can't handle that.  Last night, when we were making out, you could
have easily gotten to third base.  And, that's because I was so horny and
turned-on that I seriously doubt that I would have done a damn thing to
stop you.  And, that's my problem in a nutshell.  I'm a guy, damn it!  And,
guys shouldn't want other guys to play a game of stink-finger with their
pussies!  But, damn it to all hell and back, David, that's what I wanted
then, and a big part of me still wants it now!  You, you son of a bitch,
have really done a number on me.  That's to say that, at least where you're
concerned, I'm starting to think like the woman I've become, and that
troubles the shit out of me."

	David, aware that Danielle needed some TLC, took both of her hands
in his, and maneuvering her to the foot of her bed, drew her down beside
him.  "Danielle, what can I say, save to say I'm sorry?  I should have
handled things a whole better than I have.  But, the truth is that you and
I hit it off so well, and one thing sort of led to another, and all of a
sudden I realized that I had feelings for you, and strong ones at that.
Just the other night, I told you that I thought I was well on my way to
falling in love with you.  Well, when I said that, I was hedging my bets,
because, to completely honest with you, I am head over heels in love with
you.  Now, I know that isn't what you want to hear right now.  And, it'll
probably freak you out more than you already are.  But, it was something I
had to get off my chest."

	Danielle did not say a word, and so David continued.  "Look, here's
what I propose we do.  After we get some breakfast and I drop you off at
the conference room, I will take it upon myself to get in touch with
Xavier.  I will ask him to assign you another team member to, shall we say,
act as your companion slash chaperon until he can get around to changing
you back to your old self."

	"You'll do nothing of the sort, David!" Danielle was adamant.  "I
don't want anyone else!  I want you!  So, don't you go telling Meggido that
it might be a good idea to saddle me with someone else other than you.
Because if you do, I swear that I'll find someway to pull the plug on this
caper that you all are planning for next weekend.  Okay!  So what if you
muffed your assignment.  You were unprofessional, and did something stupid.
You went and fell in love with me!  Well, for your information, pal, you
weren't the only one that foolishly fell in love!  Besides, who says that I
want to change back?  I'll have you know that being a woman ain't that
shabby."

	David knew better than to interrupt Danielle and point out the fact
that she had made it perfect clear, on numerous occasions, that she wanted
to reclaim her manhood at the earliest possible moment.  Being the
intelligent man that he was, and knowing that he was weaving his way
through an emotional minefield, David elected to remain mute.

	As it turned out, David's judgement proved sound.  Having allowed
Danielle to speak her mind, David, employing a conciliatory tone of voice,
a tone calculated to sooth her frayed emotions, began tenderly, "Okay,
Danielle...  I won't say anything to Xavier about what we've been
discussing.  However, you and I need to have a long heart to heart to iron
things out between us.  And, since we really don't have the time for such a
talk this morning, my suggestion is that we do it this evening.  In fact,
if you want, we can talk all night, Alright?"

	"Yeah...  Sure..." Danielle dabbed at the hint of moisture that
seeped from both of her eyes.  "That's probably a good idea..."

	Trying to sound a whole lot more positive than he felt, David
replied in an upbeat tone of voice, "Good!  It's a date then.  So, how
'bout you go head into the bathroom and touch up your makeup?  That way,
the two of us can go and grab a bite to eat this morning.  I don't know
about you, but a cup of coffee and a couple of donuts should tide me over
till lunch."


+ + +


	It was Friday, the last day of the course.  It was therefore a
relatively easy day for Danielle.  Save for a few administrative tasks that
were easily and quickly attended to, Danielle's main job was to be on hand
to provide guidance, answer questions and check results.  Her students,
working in two man teams, would spend the day doing work assignments in
which they would tackle both hardware and software troubles that Danielle
would introduce into the systems they had been studying all week.  That
being the case, Danielle had time to try and get a handle on her jumbled
emotions.

	Taking a sheet of loose-leaf paper, Danielle picked up a pencil and
drew a vertical line down the center of the paper, in affect, making two
columns.  The left column she labeled, pros and the right one, cons.
Starting with the pros column, Danielle wrote: young, beautiful, sexy,
self-contained narcissist, erogenous zones aplenty, multi-orgasmic, new
start in life, endless possibilities, and lastly, ???David???.  Moving to
the cons column, Danielle began her second list: living as a female 24/7,
men gawking incessantly, bras, dealing with condescending and egotistical
men, makeup, perfume, sitting to take a leak, female hygiene, possible
pregnancy, motherhood, menopause, menstruation and last but not least,
potential rape victim.

	Having compiled her lists, Danielle began a careful consideration
of the items she had place under both columns.  As she did so, she added
high heels, skirts and pantyhose to the cons column.  However, as soon as
she had finished jotting the three items down, she silently chided herself
for being so foolish; reconsidered, and vigorously crossed all three of the
newly added items off the list.  On the coattails of that, Danielle,
finally admitting to herself that she got a kick out of being a
dick-teaser, added dressing sexy and provocatively to the pros column.
Next, after giving the matter a little more thought, she moved to the cons
column and ran a line through bras, makeup and perfume, thereby striking
the items from further consideration.  Then, after some more reflection of
the items contained on her two lists, she bracketed both 'pregnancy' and '
'motherhood' with a trio of question marks to either side of each entry,
much as she had when she had jotted down David's name.


+ + +


	Having made an early morning of it shortly after eleven, in a
calculated effort to beat the normal lunch hour crowd, the whole class head
over to a nearby T.G.I. Fridays to lunch together.  David, acquiescing to
Danielle's wishes, went as well.  In fact, he drove, providing
transportation for Danielle and two of her three female students.  On the
drive over to the restaurant, the two women technicians pummeled David with
a whole slew of personal questions concerning how he and Danielle met, fell
in love, and continued their questioning right up to and including the
details of his and Danielle's wedding plans.  Though irked that the two
women techs would dare ask such probing questions, Danielle was both
delighted and surprised at how well David handled the thinly veiled
interrogation.  "...since neither Danielle and I have a lot of family, the
two of us decided that a small informal wedding would be best.  So, after
exploring all our options, we decided on getting married at one of those
Caribbean resorts, something along the line of a Sandals Resort, you know,
like the ones you see advertised on TV..."

	Danielle was impressed with the way David stuck to the script they
had previously worked out.  Though she feared that he might misspeak
himself, he did not contradict her once.  Added to that, David gave a
stellar performance playing the role of Danielle's fiancée.  He neither
under-played, nor over-played his part.  He was convivial with her
students, and attentive and affectionate whenever he had cause to interact
with Danielle.

	Arriving back at their hotel shortly after two that afternoon,
Danielle, saying that she would be no more than a half an hour at the most,
bid David accompany her and her students into the conference room.  There,
once all her students had taken their seats, she quickly summarized what
they covered over the course week.  She then proceeded to pass out the
obligatory course-completion certificates that her company provided, and
sent her students on their merry way, in effect giving them all an early
start on their weekend.

	Once all her students had departed, Danielle strolled over to where
David was sitting in the back of the conference room, and said, "I must
say, I'm impressed how well you handled yourself today.  You done good,
David, far better than I ever expected.  Now, if you don't mind, your
mock-fiancée could sure use a hug right about now."

	Standing, David complied with Danielle's request.

	"Thank you... Danielle murmured.  "You don't think I could get a
kiss while you're at it?"

	"Oh..." David chuckled.  "I think that could easily be arranged..."


+ + +


	Since they had a couple hours to kill, Danielle and David decided
to change into their bathing suits and go for a swim in the hotel's indoor
pool.  They followed that up with a muscle-relaxing soak in the adjacent
hot tub.  After that, they headed for their separate rooms where they both
changed for their pre-arranged dinner with Meggido.

	Feeling a little frolicsome, Danielle threw caution to the wind,
and selecting a little black dress that fairly oozed with sex appeal, along
with a pair of shimmering, coffee hued pantyhose that showcased those long
and lovely legs of hers, she quickly showered and got dressed.  Stepping in
front of the full-length mirror that was affixed to the wall just outside
of the bathroom, Danielle mused aloud, "I can't wait to see David's
expression when he gets a load of me looking like this..."

	David did not disappoint Danielle when he stopped by to collect
her.  "Damn, girl!  You look absolutely sensational!  I must say, you do
that dress proud..."

	Hearing David say that pleased Danielle to no end.


+ + +


	To his credit, David did not lecherously glance at their extremely
attractive waitress even once.  However, Danielle did catch him gazing
approvingly those new ample endowments of hers a half a dozen times or
more.  Oddly enough, Danielle was not offended by David's apparent fixation
with her magnificent mammeries.  She knew her breasts were perfection
personified.  That being the case, Danielle found herself not only
flattered, but also strangely exhilarated with the attention David was
according her.

	Having given their waitress their order, Danielle used the
intervening time to apprise Meggido of the fact that she was seriously
considering his offer of employment, and that she only needed to get a few
things qualified before making her final decision.  That prompted Meggido
to inquire as to what those few things were.

	"Well, Xavier," Danielle began tentatively, "I guess what I need to
know from you is if your hiring me is in any way contingent on my present
sexual affiliation?"

	Anticipating such a question, with the merest hint of humor
conveyed in the intonations of his voice, Meggido jovially replied, "By no
means, my dear.  I want you on my team regardless of your sexual
affiliation."

	Though there was no ambiguity in Meggido's answer, Danielle
nevertheless sought clarification.  "So, if I was to decided to remain the
woman I am presently, you would still hire me?"

	"In a heartbeat, my dear." Meggido robustly declared.  "Man or
woman, I want you as part of my team."  Then, in a somewhat more subdued
and serious tone of voice, Meggido sought to assuage his curiosity.  "So, I
take it that you have found that being a woman is not nearly as dreadful
and demeaning as you initially had assumed it would be?"

	"Yes.  That is a true statement.  While I'm still not completely
comfortable functioning as a female, I have to admit that being a woman has
sort of grown on me.  That's to say that like everything in life, being a
woman does have its advantages.  However, it also has its disadvantages as
well.  What I need to do now is to figure out which one outweighs the
other."

	"Yes," Meggido wholeheartedly agreed.  "That would be the wise
thing to do.  However, I must warn you that should you elect to remain a
woman, once you've been a female for a full twenty-eight days, you will
begin menstruating.  And, I am sorry to say that when that occurs, I will
be unable to change you back into a man again should you experience a
change of heart.  So, I urge you to think carefully, my dear.  It is not
the sort of decision one should take lightly..."


+ + +


	David had withheld his comments on the matter of Danielle remaining
female until the two of them had parted company with Meggido.  "Well, I
must say that you are full of surprises tonight.  First, there's that ever
so flattering tease-to-please dress you're wearing.  And, then you go and
drop that bombshell about how you're actually considering taking the
plunge, and becoming a woman on a full-time, twenty-four/seven basis.
Whatever provoked you into even considering something as life-altering as
that, Danielle?"

	"For starters - me!" Danielle emotionally vented.  "I don't know if
it's this ring Meggido lent me or what.  But, God help me!  The longer I am
one, the more I find that I like being a woman!  And, then there's you!"

	"Me?" David was incredulous.  "What in God's name do I have to do
with you, and your wanting to remain a woman?"

	"Everything!  You said that you were falling in love with me,
didn't you?"

	"Yeah!" David balked.  "I did!  But..."

	"But, nothing!" Danielle heatedly challenged.  "Are you in love
with me, or aren't you?"

	"Yes, Danielle!  I am in love with you.  But, even though I am, I
don't want you basing your decision to remain a woman on me."

	"I'm not!  At least I'm not basing it on you entirely.  But, yes,
as much as you might not want hear me say this, your feelings for me are a
major factor in my decision."

	Becoming suddenly aware that they were having this extremely
personal debate smack dab in the middle of one of the hotel's hallways, a
corridor that was just out of earshot of the hotel's lobby, David
endeavored to apprise Danielle of the fact.  "Danielle, I think it would be
for the best if we finish this conversation somewhere that affords us a
little more privacy than does this hallway."

	Having been oblivious to their surroundings, Danielle, seeing the
merit in David's proposal, readily agreed.  "Yes.  What can I say, David?
But, when you're right, you're right.  Since my room's the closer of the
two, how 'bout we go there to finish this discussion?"


+ + +


	Having ushered David into her room, a frazzled Danielle closed the
door behind her and strode over to where a somewhat bewildered David stood
awaiting developments.  Without any warning as to what she was up to,
Danielle wrapped her arms around David's neck, and drawing him to her,
kissed him in the wanton and needy way a woman kisses a man.  When their
lips finally parted, Danielle emphatically declared, "Well, that settles
that!"

	Unsure as to her meaning, David felt compelled to inquire, "That
settles what?"

	"That I love you," Danielle smugly replied.  "Now, since we've
established that we're in love with one another, I guess what I now need to
know is to find out if I can get past my sexual hang-ups."

	Taken aback by what he had just heard her say, a badly flummoxed
David tentatively inquired, "Danielle, are you saying what I think you're
saying?"

	Flashing David an impish smile, Danielle countered, "Well, if you
think I'm saying that I want you to make love to me, then I'd say you are
reading me five by five."

	Still unsure if he was hearing her correctly, a squeamish David
dubiously inquired.  "So, when, may I ask, would you like to try and make
love?"

	"Well," Danielle teased, "since we've nothing planned for this
evening, I was kind of hoping we might have a go at it now.  So, if you're
up for it, how 'bout we start with you giving me a hand getting out of this
dress.  But, please do be careful unzipping it, because I'd really like to
wear it again another evening..."


+ + +


	As David went about the task of seductively disrobing her, Danielle
outlined the ground rules that he was to adhere to throughout their
forthcoming love making session.  He was to take it slow, and if she said
stop, he was to cease and desist immediately.  David, aware of how skittish
and apprehensive Danielle was, clearly understood how fragile the situation
was, and how one wrong move on his part could ruin everything.

	Once they were both nude and lying side by side facing one another
on the bed, David admonished Danielle to try and relax and enjoy his
ministrations.  With that said, David reached over, and taking Danielle's
hand in his own, drew the underside of her left wrist to his lips.  So
positioned, he began to tenderly kiss it.  Surprised and delighted to find
that the underside of her wrist was in fact one of the many erogenous zones
that populated her gorgeous new body, Danielle reflexively quivered, as the
fires of her ardor were set ablaze.

	David next pulled Danielle into a lover's embrace and kissed her
lightly on the lips.  A second kiss, slightly more passionate than its
predecessor, followed the first.  A third kiss followed on the heels of the
second, and so on, and so on, with each kiss progressively being more
passionate than the preceding one.  All of sudden, Danielle became aware
that David's tongue had invaded her mouth.  He was French Kissing her and
to her astonishment, not only did it seem like the most normal thing in the
world for him to be doing at that moment, but it was getting her all hot
and bothered as well.  Instinctively, she tried to return the favor, by
forcibly inserting her tongue into his mouth.  David though, was having
none of it.  Without saying a word, he pressed his advantage, making it
perfectly clear to Danielle that he, rather than she, was in the driver's
seat.

	David mixed it up so as to keep Danielle sexually off-balance,
while at the same time tonguing the living shit out of her.  He began to
intersperse his French Kisses with ear nuzzles, as well as a few neck
nibbles.  He also employed various sucking techniques that, if carried to
the extreme, might well result in producing a hickey.  For her part, in
those fleeting moments of lucidity that her surging passions afforded her,
Danielle began to wonder just how many erogenous zones her new body had.

	Knowing that he had Danielle going six ways from Sunday, David
opened a second front.  Bringing his right hand into play, he began to
knead and fondle first one, and then the other of her finely sculptured
mammaries.  For her part, Danielle was amazed at how sensitive those
femininely enhanced tits had become.

	"Oh, my God, David!" Danielle breathlessly gasped, as David's thumb
circumnavigated the areola surmounting her left breast.  "You have no idea
what you're doing to me."

	With numerous hours logged as a female himself over his long
association with Meggido, David knew all too well how it felt to have one's
breast expertly fondled.  However, he also knew that now was not the time
to quibble over something so trivial.  There was no need to remind Danielle
of the fact that he had spent time as a woman.  Such conversation could
well wait for a more appropriate time.

	In order to bring his lips and tongue to bear on Danielle's left
breast David shifted position.  In doing so, he freed up his right hand.
Once free, he dexterously slid it down past her lower abdomen in order to
open up another front in between Danielle's long and lovely legs.  Once
David's hand was in position, his fingers began to trace lazy spirals,
whorls and intricate curlicues along the inner run of Danielle's ever so
tantalizing thighs.

	Within moments, Danielle was writhing under David's deft-handed
ministrations.  She quivered with the sexual excitement that coursed within
her.  Her body bucked.  It shimmied.  It undulated.  Danielle whimpered.
She squealed.  And, in those rare moments when she was not moaning and
groaning, she would beseech the Almighty on High to grant her the sexual
succor she so desperately sought.

	Targeting first one breast and then the other with a whole arsenal
of oral techniques, David cunningly worked Daniel into a sexual frenzy the
like of which she had never experienced before.  Teasingly, and fully aware
of the enormous amounts of unadulterated sexual pleasure he was
engendering, David began to slowly draw his swirling fingers ever closer to
the nether portion of Danielle's vaginal crease.  Anticipating what was to
come, Danielle's legs reflexively splayed, as if to grant David's fingers
access to her Holy of Holies.

	Since he had as yet to reach third base, David was well aware of
the fact that he had arrived at the first of several critical points.
Danielle had been a willing, if not eager, albeit passive participant up to
that point in the proceedings.  That is to say that she had done nothing to
forestall, or out right forbid David from upping the ante.  But David was
keenly aware that dickering around with first the exterior and then the
interior of her vulva could prove disastrous.  Should those
manly-entrenched inhibitions of Danielle's rear their ugly little heads,
things could get dicey, and quite possibly, put an abrupt end to things.

	That said, David knew he had no other choice but to hope for the
best, and continue doing what he was doing.

	Using the tip of his middle finger, David moved it first to
Danielle's taint (the isthmus of skin that t'aint asshole, t'aint vulva,
but lays in-between the two).  From that debarkation point, David slide his
finger forward, drawing it lovingly across the outer crest of the multiple
lip-folds of Danielle's exquisitely sculptured crevasse crease.  For her
part, Danielle responded with a choked-off gasp, followed by a deep-throat
sigh, as her whole body shimmied and shook.  Half expecting a cease and
desist order to follow on the heels of that, David was pleasantly surprised
when a thoroughly aroused Danielle exclaimed, "Oh, my God, David!  That
feels wonderful...  Absolutely wonderful..."

	David could have kicked himself for inadvertently doing what he did
next.  Unthinkingly, his concern and compassion for Danielle overrode his
good sense, and before he could stop himself, the words just sort of wafted
out of his mouth unbidden, "Danielle, are you sure you're okay with this?
I mean, if you want me to stop, I will."

	"No!" Danielle's ear shattering retort conveyed a sense of urgency.
"Please, David!  I implore you.  Don't you dare stop!  What you're doing to
me feels so, so gooood...."

	Aware that he had had nearly scrooched the pooch, so to speak,
David took the preemptive step of inserting his middle finger in-between
the multiple lip-folds of Danielle's love-juice slick vulva.  So
positioned, David began to draw his probing finger slowly towards him.  A
second or so later, the tip of his middle finger brushed lightly across the
crown of the elusive nub of Danielle's clitoris.  Then, having located her
clit, David began to gently caress it.  It was at that exact moment in time
that Danielle went from auditioning for the Pillow Eaters Club, to becoming
a bona fide member of the aforementioned cadre of female screamers and
squealers.

	At that point in the proceedings, timing became David's chief
concern.

	Aware that Danielle was quickly approaching the event horizon of
orgasmic release, and wishing to bring her to climax via the selfless act
of cunnilingus, David used every trick in the book to keep her teetering on
the brink of climaxing.  Though he felt he might be rushing things, David,
fearing that he may have overplayed his hand, moved to reposition himself.
As if anticipating what David was about, Danielle reflexively spread her
lower appendages into a wide 'V'.  Moving as gracefully as a male ballet
dancer, David lowered his body into the inviting splay of Danielle's legs.
So positioned, and employing the insight he had garnished from having been
a woman himself, David used that ever so talented tongue of his to continue
to torque Danielle's arousal to excruciatingly pleasurable levels.

	Tongue swirl followed tongue swirl, as David worked Danielle into a
primeval frenzy of carnal delights the like of which Danielle had never
come even close to engendering on her own, even when employing the vibrator
that Meggido had supplied her.  The vast amounts of carnal pleasure that
billowed and surged within her caused Danielle to soar to a level that
transcended excruciating.  It was at that point where the damn broke within
her, and Danielle entered a state of sexual Nirvana, as one massive
orgasmic spasm followed closely upon the heels of its predecessor in a
daisy chain of carnal delights.


+ + +


	David knew that his job was far from over.  He knew all too well
that Danielle needed him to be there for her and so repositioned himself
once again beside her.  As he did so, David took Danielle in his arms and
cuddled her.

	Though physically exhausted, a sexually enthralled Danielle
idyllically languished in a state of post-orgasmic bliss.  Taking comfort
in the intimacy that David accorded her, Danielle savored the memory of
every nuance of the sexual experience that she had just undergone.

	A spasmodic shudder from one of the orgasmic aftershocks that
Danielle was still experiencing caused David to break the prevailing
silence.  "Danielle, are you okay?"

	Twisting about in her lover's arms so that she could gaze lovingly
into David's eyes, Danielle dreamily murmured.  "Yes...  I'm fine...  In
fact, thanks to you, and to what you just did, I am better than fine.
Truth is: right now, I'm terrific."

	Though he knew it to be an unnecessary question, David felt
compelled to ask it anyway, "So, I take it that you enjoyed it?"

	"Oh, yes!  I most certainly did!  The truth is that words can't
even begin to express how much I enjoyed what you just did to me.  It was
the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me!  David, can we do it
again?  Soon?"

	"Sure thing, kiddo," David had to chuckle.  "I'd be more than happy
to oblige, that is just as soon as you've fully recuperated from our last
go-around.  Remember that we've got all night.  So there's absolutely no
need for us to rush things."  Then, still curious, David continued on with
his craftily concocted debriefing.  "Am I to take it that it didn't phase
you when I went down on you, you know, and gave you a proper tongue
lashing?"

	"No... Not at all!  In fact, being perfectly honest about it,
irregardless of my reservations about letting you do something like that to
me, you know, with me being a man and all, you know, on the inside, where
it counts, I thoroughly loved it when you went down on me.  I mean, I
always knew women had it good.  But, I never once thought that they had it
that good.  You know something?  If men ever learned that woman had it head
and shoulders over them when it comes to intensity of their respective
orgasms, there's be hell to pay, you know, over the disparity."

	"Yeah..." David conceded Danielle's point.  "You're right about
that."  Then, having said that, he continued on to add, "Trouble is: few
men are considerate enough to ensure that the women they fool around with
get to enjoy it as much as they do."

	"True..." Danielle sighed.  "I guess women are right.  Men are
pigs."

	Pretending to take offense, David groused, "I beg your pardon."

	"Oh!" Danielle scrambled to clear up any misunderstanding.  "I
didn't mean to say that you're a pig, David.  As a lover, you were
everything I could have ever wished for.  The truth is that you were
fantastic!  I mean, you damn near anticipated my every want, my every
need."

	"And did your manly inhibitions give you any trouble?"

	"Hell, no!" Danielle replied rather emphatically.  "Hmmm...  Now
that you mention it, no they didn't.  And, I'm kind of puzzled that they
didn't.  I mean, there I was, afraid that they wouldn't let me go through
with it, but, as it worked out, I'll be damned if those manly entrenched
inhibitions of mine didn't bother me at all.  Not once!  David!" there was
a hint of alarm in Danielle's voice.  "Why do you think that is?  Could I
be turning into more of a woman than Meggido first told me that I would?  I
mean, I let you - A man! - go down on me, and I wasn't phased or put-off by
it even a little bit?"

	Rather than address Danielle's concerns, David pulled a bait and
switch in effect, driving their conversation in a different direction.
"So, I take it what you're saying is that you'd rather I not go down on you
again?"

	"No!" Danielle aggressively countered.  "I'm not saying anything of
the sort!  In fact, if the truth be told, I can't wait for you to go down
on me again!"

	"Simmer down, Danielle.  There's no need to get those new titties
of yours in an uproar.  Don't you worry that pretty little head of yours,
because I'd be happy to give you another tongue lashing..."

	Somewhat later in their conversation, Danielle inquired, "David!
I've a question for you.  How come you didn't... a... um..."

	Aware that Danielle was having a hard time getting to the point,
David took pity on her.  "You want to know why I didn't engage in
intercourse with you just now?"

	"Yes...  That's what I was wondering."

	"Well, let's just say that I didn't want to rush things.  Or, to
put that another way, I didn't want to take advantage of you.  And, we both
know that I could have easily done so.  You see, Danielle, I want to make
doubly sure that's what you really want.  So, I guess that begs the
question.  Do you want me to go all the way and engage in intercourse with
you, or not?  The ball is in your court.  That means that you get to make
the call.  The next time out, do we, or don't we play a game of hide the
salami?"

	"We do.  I know how crazy this is going to sound, but I want -- No!
Make that need -- to feel you up inside of me, David!  I just don't think
I've gotten to a point where I can bring myself to touch it, much less
fondle it."

	David, aware that by 'it', Danielle was alluding to his Johnson
arm, replied, "That's fine, Danielle.  You don't have to touch it, or even
look at it, not if you don't want to.  That's not going to be a problem for
me.  So you needn't worry about it.  I just want you to lay back and enjoy
yourself.  I'll take care of everything else."

	Then, after a brief lapse in their conversation, David reached
over, and cupping her left breast in his hand, began to knead, fondle and
tenderly caress it, "Alright then, if you think you've recuperated enough
to have another go at it, I'm up for it, if you are..."


+ + +


	Though he hoped and prayed that Danielle would remain ignorant of
the fact, David shaved a little time off of each of his various foreplay
techniques.  He did that so as to forestall her from climaxing prematurely;
his hope being to time it in such a way so as to have his penis nestled
snugly up inside Danielle's vaginal canal when she came.

	As it worked out, David's timing was impeccable.  Though he and
Danielle did not climax simultaneously, it was too close to quibble over
the difference.

	"Oh, my God, David!" Danielle triumphantly squealed as soon as she
regained the wherewithal to do so.  "That was wonderful!  You were
wonderful!  And, I really mean that!  While I freely admit that I'm new to
be on the receiving end of things, I have to say that you are The Man!"

	David, using his best southern accent, played the part of the
humble country bumpkin to the hilt as he laid it on thick.  "Aw, shucks,
ma'am!  T'wern't nothing..." Then, having said that, David became aware
that his penis was just beginning to go flaccid, and so, without giving
much thought to what he was doing, began to withdraw it.

	Panic griped Danielle as soon as she realized what David was about.
In a frantic, knee-jerk reaction, Danielle took her long and well-manicured
nails and drove them hard into both cheeks of his buttock.  "And, just what
the hell do you think you're doing, mister?  You leave that 'thingie' of
yours right where it is.  We both know it'll fall out in its own time, so
there's no need to hurry it along.  Besides, David, I like the way it feels
nestled up inside me.  And I want to savor that intimate feeling for as
long as I can."

	Though he thought it best to withhold comment on the matter, it
nevertheless struck David as odd that Danielle would say something such as
that.  Though he, as a she, had been on the receiving end of things on
numerous occasions in the past, David always had a hard time contending
with the notion that once orgasm had been achieved, he had a man's grossly
gnarled up pecker shoved up inside his prim little pussy.  The very thought
of having a man's penis up shoved up inside of her gave David a bad case of
the heebie-jeebies.  Danielle, on the other hand, seemed to relish having
his manhood nestled snuggly up inside her.

	"You know," Danielle dreamily murmured, "I've heard a lot about
this so called G-Spot that some women claim to have.  Well, guess what!
Contrary to popular belief, there really is a G-Spot, and lucky me seems to
have one!"

	"Oh, really!  Well, that's certainly nice to know.  I'm really
happy for you, Danielle.  If anyone deserves one, you sure as hell do."

	"David!  Why are you being so sarcastic?"

	"Sarcastic?  Me?  Never!  I told you I was happy for you, and I am.
Really!"

	Frustrated, Danielle petulantly groused, "You don't understand!"

	"I don't?  All right!  How 'bout you explain it to me?"

	"Okay!  I will!  First off, women can experience two different
types of orgasms, clitoral and vaginal.  Clitoral orgasms, as you are
already well aware of, are triggered by stimulating a woman's clitoris.
Oh!  And let me say for the record that you sure seem to be very proficient
at doing that.  Vaginal orgasms, on the other hand, are reported to be
rare, and are triggered by stimulating an erogenous zone that is said to be
located within a woman's vaginal wall, and that erogenous zone has been
termed the G-Spot."

	"And you've got one?"

	"It would appear so, since I just had a whole slew of orgasms when
you were up inside of me just now..."


+ + +


	"Damn!" a disgruntled Danielle squealed in disgust, as she became
aware of the sticky droplets of semen that had begun leaking out of her.
"David!  Quick!  Go into the bathroom and get me a towel and a moistened
washcloth.  Oh!  And, while you're at it, you might want a get yourself a
washcloth as well.  I've got a steady stream of your semen pouring out of
this new pussy of mine..."

	A few minutes later, having sopped up the worst of the mess,
Danielle ruefully quipped, "Thanks a bunch, pal.  Now that I'm the girl, I
guess I'm going to have to sleep on the wet spot."

	"Oh!" David response was upbeat.  "That reminds me!  The other day,
I got you a present, you know, on the off chance we ever got to the point
where we did fool-around.  In fact, I got you a couple of presents.
They're in my room.  So, why don't you take a shower, and clean yourself
up, while I go get 'em?  Or, if you prefer, we could just call it a night?"

	Scowling, Danielle curtly countered.  "Call it a night, my ass!  I
sure hope that was a joke, because if it wasn't, you are in big trouble,
mister.  As far as I'm concerned, the night's still early and you and I are
just getting started.  So, you can run over to your room and pick up
whatever it is you got me.  But you'd best be back here by the time I'm out
of the shower, because, if you're not, I promise that there'll be hell to
pay.  Here, David, take my key card.  You'll need it to get back in."

	"Lord!" David scoffed as he zippered up his pants.  "I think I've
gone and created a monster."

	"Monster... no..." Danielle teasingly sneered.
"Nymphomaniac... probably..." Then, adding an afterthought, a somewhat
petulant Danielle admonished.  "David, please hurry."

	"Yes, dear.  I fully intend to..."

	A minute later, as she pulled on one of the complimentary plastic
shower caps that the hotel provided so as to prevent her hair from getting
wet, Danielle toyed with the thought, 'Imagine that.  He called me dear.
He actually called me dear.  I wonder if he really does love me.  Well, why
not?  I mean, I am one fine looking piece of ass if ever there was one,
even if I do say so myself...'

 	A few minutes later, as the water cascades over her built like a
shithouse body, Danielle's elation began to subside.  Concurrent with that,
her thoughts took a downturn.  'I wonder if David enjoyed himself.  Why the
hell would he have?  I certainly didn't do a damn thing to further his
enjoyment.  I just lay there like a lump, and let him do all the work.
But, in my defense, that is what he told me to do.  True...  He did tell me
that.  But, I still feel like I should have done something...'

	Even as she turned off the water and reached for the towel she had
set out for herself, Danielle's mood further darkened.  'Well, one thing's
for certain, I'm not the first girl that David's slept with.  One doesn't
become that proficient a lover without a hell of a lot of practice.  And,
there's no getting around the fact that he's good.  No!  That's not right!
I'm a good lover, or at least I was when I was married and getting some
semi-regularly.  But, as good as I was, there's no getting around the fact
that David puts me to shame.  In fact, I'm willing to bet that he puts most
of the guys I know to shame.  Yeah...  As a lover, David has to rate right
up there with the best of the best.  And, it goes without saying that he's
slept with a whole shitload of women over the years.  I just wonder how I
measure up...'


+ + +


	While Danielle was still in the bathroom toweling off, she heard
David call out, "Hey, Danielle!  'Tis I!  I'm back!  Look, I'm sorry that
it took me a little longer than I had hoped.  But, the reason that it took
me longer was that I had to make a quick stop at the ice machine that's
located in that little alcove at the end of your hall as I made my way back
here to your room..."

	True to his word, David did indeed have several surprises in store
for Danielle.

	With a smile blooming on her face, Danielle giddily said,
"Champagne, as well as two champagne flutes, well, you really are a
romantic, aren't you?  But, what's with the wastebasket?"

	"I needed something to put the ice in, in order to chill the
champagne.  So, lacking an ice bucket, I improvised.  And, that's what took
me so long.  I had to stop on the way back and get some ice."

	"Well, that certainly was awfully thoughtful of you," Danielle
replied as she eyed the large plastic bag that David was holding in his
other hand.  "Is what's in the bag for me as well?"

	"Yes.  It took me the better part of a day to find a store that
carried what I was looking for, but I thought that you might like to try
them out.  Here!" David held out the bag for Danielle to take possession of
it.  "See if you like 'em."

	Feeling like a kid on Christmas morning, an excited Danielle
reached into the bag and extracted the first of several rather large square
clear plastic packages that the bag contained.  "Wow!" Danielle was
ecstatic.  "Satin sheets!  You actually went out and got us satin sheets!"

	"Actually, I got you two sets, one black, the other red.  So, are
you game?"

	"You bet your ass I am.  How 'bout we start off with the red set?"

	"Sure thing, kiddo.  Here, toss 'em to me and I'll have 'em out in
a jiff..."


+ + +


	They engaged in intercourse twice more that night.  Though David
performed cunnilingus on Danielle on both of those occasions prior to
mounting her, he also went down on her and ate her out on three other
occasions before the two, spent as they were from their love making, fell
asleep entwined in one another's arms.

	It was a baptism under fire for Danielle, and she absolutely adored
every nuance of it.  David, she knew, was a godsend, and she was ever so
grateful for the tender intimacy he afforded her.


+ + +


	With a gentle kiss, David roused Danielle from her slumbers a
little after nine the next morning.  Once awake, Danielle informed David
that she was not ready to get out of bed, claiming that she would only do
so after he made love to her.  More than happy to accede to Danielle's
wish, David eagerly got down to the business at hand.  Afterwards, they
showered together and got dressed.  Once dressed, they headed over to
David's room so he could change into fresh clothes.

	Piling into David's rental car, they headed over to a nearby
Denny's for a late breakfast.  While they were waiting for their waitress
to bring their orders, Danielle giddily inquired, "While I know what I'd
really like to be doing this afternoon, I think we both need a bit of
breather.  That said, be advised that we are going to be spending this
evening much the way we spent last evening."

	"We are?" David teased.

	"Yes!" Danielle was emphatic.  "We are!  And, just so you know, I
expect you to be at the top of your game, just like you were last night."

	"So, I take it that you're saying that you liked what we did last
night, and again this morning?"

	"Like it?" Danielle countered with mock-incredulity.  "I loved it!
And, you know darn right well that I loved it!"

	"Of course I do, Danielle." David decided to have a little fun at
Danielle's expense.  "I was just yanking your chain.  But, I forgot.  You
no longer have a chain to yank, do you?  All you have now is your cute
little hideyhole."

	"David!" Danielle nervously admonished, as her head turned
this-away and then that-away, trying to ascertain if anyone seated in their
vicinity had overheard their risqué conversation.  "Please, David!"
Danielle implored.  "People will hear you."

	Leaning forward, and speaking in a voice set a smidgen louder than
a whisper, David aggressively countered. "So, what if they do? I happen to
like your cute little hideyhole, and I don't give a rat's ass just who the
hell knows it.  In fact, after last night, I'd be willing to bet that you
have a whole new appreciation for that new little inny of yours as well."

	Though she wished that David would just shut up and move on to a
less objectionable subject, Danielle could not find fault with anything he
said, for she whole heartily agreed with him.  Truth was, she adored that
new hideyhole she was sporting as much as David did, and maybe a tad bit
more.  The vast amounts of carnal pleasure that Danielle derived from it
had given her a whole new perspective.  Being a girl was not just
tolerable.  It was wonderful.


+ + +


	"So, what do you propose we do today?" Danielle inquired, as she
poured a generous amount of maple syrup over the stack of buttermilk
pancakes she had ordered.

	"Well, last night at dinner, Meggido did suggest that it might be
beneficial for us to, as he put it, reconnoiter COSI (Columbus Ohio's
Center of Science and Industry), you know, to get a lay of the land so to
speak.  And, since we've nothing else on tap for the day, I figure that we
ought to give it a go..."

	And, that is just what the two of them did.  While COSI is geared
to kids, both Danielle and David thoroughly enjoyed their day taking in the
various exhibits.  Danielle especially liked their Ocean Exhibit as well as
their Gadget Exhibit.

	On their way back to their hotel, they stopped at a family owned
Italian Restaurant where they both ordered the house specialty, lasagna.

	Returning to their hotel, they made a beeline for Danielle's room.
There, they quickly disrobed, climbed into bed, and began making like a
couple of bunnies, copulating their fannies off.


+ + +


	Though they took extensive breaks in order to regain their stamina,
breaks in which they used the time to discuss any number of things, they
managed to surpass the number of times they fooled-around on the previous
night, upping the ante by two.  However, as the evening progressed,
Danielle began to harbor feelings of inadequacy.  David was doing all the
work.  She, on the other hand, was doing nothing in return.  And, that
started bothering the shit out of her.  David, she knew, deserved better.
The trouble was, Danielle could not get past those manly inhibitions of
hers.  As much as Danielle wanted to, she could not bring herself to reach
down and fondle David's manhood.  The thought of it produced such a violent
reaction that she came within a hair's breath of retching on several
occasions.

	'What the hell's wrong with you?' Danielle repeatedly asked herself
the question.  'You know damn right well that you're in love with him.  So,
why the hell can't you get past these damnable hang-ups?  Why can't you at
least touch it?  God knows that you sure didn't have trouble pounding your
own pud whenever the mood struck you.  Look, I'm not for one minute
suggesting that you go down on him, though he'd probably love it if you
did.  All I'm saying is that you need to show him that you appreciate all
he's done for you, you know, by returning the favor...'

	Somewhere around eleven, David sensed that all was not well in
Danielle's world.  Though she hid it well, David picked up on the fact that
something was troubling her.

	"Danielle..." he tenderly inquired.  "Have I done something wrong?"

	In a knee jerk reaction that clearly conveyed a note of panic,
Danielle nervously blurted, "No!  Never!  Why would you say something like
that?  Everything's fine!"

	"No, Danielle.  Everything isn't fine.  Something is bothering you,
and I want to know what that something is.

	Though she did so reluctantly, a teary-eyed Danielle, after a lot
of hemming and hawing, told David what her problem was.  For his part,
David listened with a sympathetic ear, as a sobbing and extremely
distraught Danielle spilled her guts.  Then, only after Danielle had had
her say, did David endeavor to quell her fears.

	"Danielle, believe me when I say this.  You have nothing to feel
bad about.  I don't expect anything from you.  I just want you to enjoy
yourself.  And, you are enjoying yourself, aren't you?"

	"Yes..." Danielle boohooed.  "But..."

	"But, nothing!" David shot back with an uncustomary sternness.
"Look, having spent numerous times as a woman myself, I know exactly what
you're going though.  Okay!  While it's true I've touched more of my fair
share of guys' dicks over the years, one thing has never changed.  I never
liked it.  It always felt icky."

	"Yeah..." Danielle dejectedly interjected.  "But, you did it,
didn't you?  Where as, I can't.  Just the thought of it makes me sick."

	"Okay..." David scrambled to come up with a convincing argument
that would placate Danielle.  "So, don't think about it.  Look, Danielle, I
told you right up front that I didn't expect you to reciprocate in any way,
shape or form.  The only thing I asked was for you enjoy yourself, and, if
you worried about me, don't.  I get my jollies off just knowing that I am
pleasuring you.  Besides, have I ever once had trouble getting up?"

	"No..." Danielle sniffled.  "At least I don't think so."

	"Well, just so you know, young lady, I don't have a problem with
erections.  And, since I don't, I don't need any help in that regard.  Just
being in the same bed with you is enough of a turn-on to get me hard."

	"Really?" Danielle sounded dubious.  "Just being with me turns you
on?"

	"Of course it does!  Let's get real here, Danielle!  I mean, by
your own admission, all you have to do is look in the mirror to turn
yourself on.  Added to that, you are the sexiest, most beautiful woman I've
ever had the pleasure of knowing, much less sharing a bed with.  I love
you, Danielle, so much it hurts..."

	'He loves me...' the thought pleased Danielle to no end.  'And, God
help me.  I love him, as much, if not more than he loves me.  And, if
that's really the case, why the hell can't I see my way clear to touch him
down there?  This really sucks...'


+ + +


	David thought that he had managed to talk some sense into Danielle.
Exhausted, to the point where he was too pooped to pop and erroneously
believing that Danielle was already asleep, David decided to call it a
night and within a minute or two, was fast asleep.

	Though she had done an excellent job of convincing David that she
was no longer upset about her inability to take a more active role in their
lovemaking, Danielle had been lying through her teeth.  Though she agreed
that David's arguments had merit, and that she believed him when he told
her that he did not hold those manly inhibitions of hers against her,
Danielle was still troubled by the notion that she was an inadequate lover.
David, she knew, deserved better.  Her problem was that no matter how hard
she tried, she could not bring herself to touch him in the intimate manner
a woman might elect to employ in order to excite and pleasure the man she
loves.

	Sleep eluded Danielle, for no matter what she did to get past her
present dilemma, she was unable to quell her troubled mind.  'This is
ridiculous!' she mentally chided herself for the umpteenth time that night.
'If you were a real woman, you wouldn't be having this problem.  But,
you're not a real woman, are you?  True, you look like a woman.  You talk
like a woman.  And, thanks to this ring Meggido lent you, you even act like
a woman most of the time.  But, when push comes to shove, you really aren't
a woman.  You're a man ensconced within a woman's body.  And, that's the
problem in a nutshell.  Because, if you really were a woman, you be able to
do what you can't bring yourself to do now...'

	It was at that point in Danielle's musing that the solution to her
problem presented itself.  'Galeanna's Ring!  The Ring of Femininity!
David did say that it was magical, and Meggido confirmed David's assertion.
Added to that, David is always cautioning me to be careful not to make any
frivolous wishes while I'm wearing it.  So, maybe, just maybe, I can use
this ring to get past these damnable and debilitating inhibitions of
mine...'

	Believing that she may have hit on a solution to her problem,
Danielle spent the better part of the next half hour trying to figure out
the best way to frame that wish of hers.  For a good while, she thought
that she could just wish those inhibitions of hers away, and was on the
verge of doing just that when another thought struck her.  Were she to word
her wish in such a fashion as to just negate those manly inhibitions of
hers, Danielle realized that she would still be a man enshrined within the
bodacious body of a beautiful woman.  That was not what Danielle wanted at
all.  Though the idea of being a woman in body, mind and soul would have
been an anathema to her only a few days earlier, Danielle had come to
realize that what she really wanted was to be a real woman, rather than a
man masquerading as a woman.  While Danielle knew there was no guarantee
that were she to take the plunge, and become a woman in every respect, she
and David might have a life together, she also knew that as things stood
presently, forging a life with David was little more than a pipe dream.

	Danielle was afraid that the ring's magic would not work unless she
uttered the wish aloud.  That being case and hoping that she would not
awaken David, Danielle quietly murmured, "I wish I were a real woman, and
that my love for David will allow me to love him with the reckless abandon
that he so rightly deserves,"

	Nothing!  Danielle felt no different having made her wish than she
had but a moment before.  Thinking that she ought to see if those
inhibitions still held sway, so as to disturb his slumbers, she gently
placed her had on David's stomach.  Taking a deep breath to embolden her
resolve, she began to slowly slide her hand down over David's lower
abdomen.  However, as soon as her hand came in contact with the unruly mat
of David's pubic hair, in a knee-jerk reaction, she yanked her hand away,

	'Damn!  My wish didn't work...'

	Though upset and highly perturbed with herself, in a rather
unexpected turn of events, within minutes of that failed experiment,
Danielle slipped into an untroubled sleep.


+ + +


	A compelling need to empty her bladder caused Danielle to rouse
from her slumbers a little after eight that Sunday morning.  David, spooned
tight up against her back with his left arm draped around her, proved to be
an impediment, forcing Danielle to jostle him awake.  "David!" she sweetly
intoned.  "I'm sorry, but I have to go to the bathroom."

	More asleep than awake, David mumbled. "So, go already.  Nobody's
stopping ya."

	Pinned under his arm as she was, Danielle, fearing that she might
not be able to hold it in much longer, somewhat gruffly countered
"Actually, you are stopping me.  Your arm!  You've got me pinned!  So,
please, David!  Lift your arm so I can get out of bed."

	David did as Danielle requested.  He then rolled unto his back and
immediately fell back asleep.  As for Danielle, as soon as David lifted his
arm clear, she scampered out of bed and into the bathroom, where she
quickly parked her delectably shaped derriere on the porcelain throne and
relaxed those decidedly feminine hold-it-in muscles of hers.

	Once finished, Danielle cleaned herself up and returned to bed with
the hope of getting a little more shuteye.  However, after several minutes
of trying, it soon began apparent to Danielle that she had gotten all the
sleep that she was going to get.  That being the case, she fluffed up her
pillows, sat up in the bed, and using the remote, turned on the television.
Taking care that that the volume was turned down so that it would not
disturb David, she began flipping through all the channels.  She did so
twice, and finding nothing in particular that grabbed her interest,
Danielle, a news junkie at heart, decided to watch Fox & Friends on the Fox
News Network, with the hope of catching up on the major stories she had
missed during the week.

	As she lay there watching TV, Danielle found herself occasionally
glancing over at David.  More times than not, those appraising glances of
hers engendered warm, cuddly and contented thoughts, thoughts that led
Danielle to form the conclusion that she was the luckiest and most
fortunate woman alive to have found someone as sweet and dear to her as
David.  With the cockles of her heart playfully rekindled, and without a
conscious thought as to what she was doing, Danielle reached over and drew
the sheet covering her lover's lower abdomen and crotch aside.

	'Damn!' Danielle thought as she gazed down at her lover's flaccid
member.  'And, here I though it was going to be huge.  I mean, it sure
feels huge whenever it's up inside of me.  I mean, the first time he
entered me, I thought he was going to tear me a new one.  But, I'll be
darned if it doesn't look to be roughly the same size as the one I used to
have.  And, like me, David's been circumcised.  But, that's not unusual.
Most of the guys I went to high school with were...'

	Throughout her rather prolonged and fairly comprehensive critique
of David's genitalia, Danielle failed to note of the fact that she was not
disturbed or put-off, but rather intrigued.  'All things considered, I'd
say that my lover boy has got himself a cute little pecker, and it isn't
anywhere near as gross and as gnarled-up as I thought it was going to be.
Added to that, he's got a decent pair.  Not too big...  Not too small...
I'd say they were keepers...'

	The more Danielle looked, the more turned-on she became.

	All of a sudden, and once again acting without any thought to the
consequences what she was about, Danielle reached over and gently began to
run the fingers of her right hand lightly over and about David's genitalia.
One thing led to another, and with in moments Danielle, intent on getting a
rise out David, found herself eagerly and aggressively fondling her lover's
penis and testicles.

	Within mere moments, Danielle was overjoyed to see that her
endeavors were beginning to reap their rewards.  David's penis was
engorging blood, with the result being that his Johnson Arm was becoming
hard and stiff.

	Thrilled with the result she was obtaining, Danielle, compelled by
her own soaring sense of unfettered horniness, moved in for the kill.
Quickly repositioning herself, Danielle bent at the waist, thereby lowering
her lips to David's groin, where, without a moment's hesitation, began to
perform the selfless act of fellatio on the man she dearly loved.

	Awakened from his slumbers by Danielle's deft handed and oral
ministrations, a befuddled, albeit thoroughly delighted and fully aroused
David excitedly exclaimed, "Danielle!  What in God's name do you think
you're doing?"

	Unable to respond to David's inquiry, owing to the fact that her
lips were encircled about the blood engorged shaft of his penis at that
precise moment, Danielle could not help but entertain the notion that
David's question had to be without a doubt the most asinine question that
have ever been put to her.

	Needing to feel David up insider her, Danielle, thinking that she
had adequately primed the pump, so to speak, decided that it was time to
move onto other things.  Rising up and off of him, Danielle positioned
herself in such a way that she knelt astride David's groin.  Employing her
hand as she began to slowly lower herself, Danielle skillfully guided the
head of David's throbbing member into the sanctum sanctorum of her
womanhood.

	Though thoroughly enjoying the moment, David nevertheless felt
compelled to inquire, "Danielle!  I thought that you couldn't bring
yourself to... a... well, you know?"

	"Yes," Danielle smiled, as she continued to slide her body up and
down on David's manly shaft.  "I know.  But, I guess you could say that
I've experienced a change of heart in that regard."

	"Danielle!  You didn't by any chance..."

	Knowing fully well where David was going with his inquiry, Danielle
cut him off in mid sentence.  "Yes, David.  I did.  I made a wish on the
strength of Galeanna's Ring.  I wished to become the woman that I appear to
be.  And, I must say, I do believe that Galeanna's Ring has granted my
wish."

	"I'll say..."


+ + +


	"So," Danielle sought to assuage her curiosity, even as she felt
some of David's semen begin to ooze out of her.  "How'd I do?"

	"You did great, kiddo.  Truth is: you were fantastic, and I loved
ever minute of it."

	"So, am I a keeper or what?"

	"Yes..." David replied thoughtfully.  "You definitely are a
keeper."


+ + +


	It was Sunday, and since they had not made any plans for the day,
as they were getting dressed, David suggested that they could either go to
the Columbus Zoo, or make a day of it and drive down to the Great Serpent
Mound.  Having never heard of such a place, an intrigued Danielle asked
David to provide a little bit more information in order to help her make
her decision.  To wit, David explained that Ohio's Great Serpent Mound was
a 1,330-foot-long prehistoric effigy located on a plateau that rose
alongside of Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio.

	As David suspected, Danielle selected Ohio's Great Serpent Mound,
suggesting that they could check out the zoo later in the week.

	Though it was only a 180-mile round trip, on David's suggestion,
they both packed an overnight bag.

	After viewing the Great Serpent Mounds and several of the conical
burial mounds located within a stone's throw of the prehistoric effigy, the
couple checked into the Murhin Ridge Inn, though in truth they could have
easily made the drive back to Columbus.  As it was, David had left the
decision up to Danielle, and Danielle, the minx that she had become via her
wish, opted for the closest bed available.

	As the two of them ate dinner that evening, David, having taken
note of the fact that Danielle was wolfing down her food, felt compelled to
offer a comment, "Hey, kiddo!  I thought that you wanted to make a
leisurely night of it.  So, what's the rush?  The food's good here.  So,
come on.  How 'bout you slow down and enjoy your meal?"

	"Sorry!" a slightly embarrassed Danielle offered.  "I didn't
realize that I was rushing.  I guess I'm just anxious to get to our room,
you know, so we can fool around."

	"You're not going to tell me that you're horny again, are you?"

	"David!" there was more than a hint of impatience in Danielle's
rebuttal.  "I'll have you know that I'm horny pretty much all the time, and
I've got you, and Meggido, and I suppose Galeanna's Ring to thank for that.
And, guess what!  It's even worse now, you know, after I made that wish of
mine to become a woman through and through."

	"I'm sorry about that, Danielle.  I truly am."

	"Don't be.  For your information, I kind of like being a
nymphomaniac, as well as a narcissist on the side.  It makes one appreciate
being a woman."

	"It does, does it?"

	"Yeah..." Danielle smirked.  "It most certainly does.  However,
it's probably a little rough on you."

	"How so?" David inquired.

	"Well, as you no doubt are aware already, I'm what you call a high
maintenance girl."

	Pretending to be fatigued, David heaved a weary sigh "No truer
words were ever spoken.  I take it that you expect me to service your
insatiable needs again tonight?"

	"I most certainly do, if that is, you think you're up for it?  I
mean, the last thing I want to do is to over tax you, you poor thing you."


+ + +


	David and Danielle agreed that they would make an early night of
it, having agreed to get an early start in the morning for the drive back
to Columbus.  That being the case, they climbed into bed with the expressed
purpose of fooling around at a quarter past six that evening.

	Though David tried to take charge of the proceedings, Danielle was
having none of it.  "David, since I am no longer plagued by those manly
inhibitions of mine, I think it only fair that I make up for lost time."

	Aware that it was an argument that he could not win, David
relented.  "Okay, Danielle!  Have it your way.  I'll just lay back and
enjoy the ride."

	And, enjoy it, David did.

	Though new to the active role of the instigator of the selfless act
of fellatio, rather than the passive role of the recipient, Danielle
approached her oral ministrations with the wanton gusto of a seasoned
seductress.  David, who had repeatedly demonstrated a remarkable staying
power when it came to coupling, was flabbergasted to find that his
self-control was lacking when it came to Danielle, and her sucking him off
as she was.  "Danielle!  Enough already!  I can't hold back much longer.
So, unless you want me to come in your mouth, we need to make a few
adjustments here..."

	Oddly enough, it would not have bothered Danielle one iota if David
had come in her mouth.  However, the panic in David's voice caused her to
relent.  Shifting positions, Danielle lay down on her back, spread her legs
wide, and gasped in anticipation of what was to come as David entered her.


+ + +


	It was on the drive back to Columbus the following morning when,
out of the clear blue, Danielle initiated a potentially hazardous line of
conversation.  "David, I know that you told me a half a dozen times or more
that you love me.  But, what I need to know now is: do you really love me?
Or, are you just saying that because you think that's what I want to hear?"

	Blindsided by the question, David incredulously countered,
"Danielle!  I can't believe you asked me that!  You know darn right well
that I love you!"

	"Good!  Because, I love you too!  So, I guess that brings me to my
next question.  Do you love me enough to make an honest woman out of me?
Or, are you going to be pigheaded about this, and force me to ask you for
your hand in marriage?"

	"Danielle," David stammered in an effort to try to find the right
words.  "I would have asked you to marry me long before this had I but
known that you were even considering becoming a real woman.  But, are you
really sure about this?  I mean, you heard what Meggido said about the
twenty-eight day business?  There's no turning back after that.  Once that
benchmark is behind you, you'll be stuck as a woman forever.  And, what
happens if this love we have for one another fizzles, and our marriage ends
up on the rocks?"

	"That's not going to happen, David.  Because I - No!  Make that we!
- aren't going to let something like that happen."

	"I'd like to believe that, Danielle.  I really, truly would.  But,
come on!  We've only known each other for a little over a week, and I'm
scared to death that you're going to have a change of heart and demand that
Meggido change you back into a man again."

	"True..." Danielle conceded David's point.  "There is always that
possibility.  But, know this Mr. David Johnson.  I'm a woman now.  I like
being a woman.  And, I have no intentions now, or in the future, of asking
Meggido to change me back into a man again.  Furthermore, I love you.  You
claim to love me.  So, I ask you.  What's the problem?  Besides, I'm a
woman now, so by rights, you ought to be asking me to marry you, rather
than the other way around."

	"Danielle!" David snapped.  "Would you please just shut-up for a
second so that I can get a word in edgewise?  Look, my overnight bag's in
the backseat.  So, do me a favor.  If you can get to it, open it up and see
if you can locate a small plastic bag."

	"What's in it?"

	"Something that I think you're going to like."

	Danielle, her curiosity peaked, did as David requested.

	"I found it!" Danielle giddily exclaimed, as she turned about so
that she once again faced forward.

	"Well, go ahead.  Open it."

	Danielle did so, only to extract a red velvet jewelry box nestled
inside a protective cardboard sleeve.  "David, is this what I think it is?"

	"Well, if you're thinking it might be an engagement ring, then I
would have to say you're right.  Look, I planned on giving it to you last
night, but one thing sort of led to another, and well you know how it
goes?"

	"Yes, we were going at it kind of hot and heavy there for awhile."

	"Try four and a half hours!" David, scanning the road ahead as he
did so, chuckled.  "So, are you going to open it?"

	Coyly, her voice full of excitement, Danielle teased, "Only if
you're sure you want me to?"

	"I want you to, but only if you'll consent to be my wife?"

	"Oh, David!" Danielle beamed.  "I could kiss you!"

	"Alright, but I think you better let me find a place to pull over
first.  You know, because the way things have been going with us, one kiss
is never enough, and I don't think either one of us wants me to have an
accident..."


+ + +


	After a quick stop in Danielle's room to drop off their overnight
bags and freshen up, the happy couple headed directly for the conference
room.  Meggido was already there awaiting their arrival, which was a
surprise for Danielle.

	"Good morning!" Meggido greeted them pleasantly.  "I trust the two
of you had an enjoyable weekend?"

	Though David returned Meggido's friendly greeting, Danielle,
suddenly becoming aware that she had forgotten all about the
telecommunications equipment that she was responsible for, began to
castigate herself.  "Shoot!  I'll be damned if I didn't forgot all about
this stuff in here.  Well, I know what I'm doing the first thing tomorrow
morning.  I've got come in here and break down these equipment bays, pack
up the units and see about getting them shipped back to the company."

	"I beg to differ, young lady."  It was Meggido.  "You will do
nothing of the sort.  As far as that outfit you work for is concerned, you
are teaching another course here in Columbus all this week.  Therefore,
this equipment cannot be shipped back to them before Saturday afternoon at
the earliest."

	"True..." Danielle countered.  "But, since they don't know that I'm
not actually teaching a course, I don't see any harm in breaking everything
down and getting it ready to be shipped out."

	"Well, I do, Danielle."  Meggido countered.  "While it might seem a
bit over the top to you, my dear, when and wherever possible, I find it
best to maintain one's cover story to the best of one's ability.  And,
since this hotel has a cleaning staff, it goes without saying that every
evening they come in here to vacuum and empty the wastebaskets.  And, since
they do, they need to see a classroom, rather than a bunch of shipping
containers.  They also need to see, books, pencils, pens, highlights,
notes, along with doodles and the normal kind of stuff one would expect to
see in a classroom.  In fact, since my people have forked out a tidy sum
for this bogus course, how about the three of us unpack those two boxes of
student materials that your company sent you for the second course, the
very one you will not be teaching?"

	As the three of them began unpacking the student material, Danielle
became curious to know how Meggido had gained access to the room, as well
as the extremely pricey telecommunications equipment that she was
responsible for.  "Xavier, how did you get in here?  Did someone on the
hotel's staff let you in?"

	"No, my dear.  As it was, I let myself in."

	"How was that possible?  How'ya come by a key?"

	"Oh!" Meggido, finding Danielle's befuddlement to be rather
amusing, chuckled, as he flourished his hand in the air before him, causing
the fiber-ready multiplexers and miniaturized digital cross-connection
units to power up on their own accord.  "You see, my dear, I find that keys
are no longer necessary, especially for someone in my chosen field of
endeavors."

	"Magic!" Danielle was both impressed and delighted.  "Oh, that's
rich!  Tell me.  What else can you do?"

	"Well, besides turning men into women, I can do a great number of
things..."


+ + +


	About a half an hour after that, two men, accompanied by one woman,
entered the conference room.  "Ah!" Meggido beamed.  "My little troop of
thieves and scalawags has finally arrived.  Danielle!  Please, let me
introduce you to the rest of my little band of gypsies, tramps and thieves.
The tall, ungainly scarecrow on the right is Mr. Chad Deavers.  He is what
you might call our resident techno-geek.  That is to say that he is
nominally in charge of all of our communications and cyber-information
systems."

	In an effort to clarify, David inserted himself into the
conversation, earning for himself a reproachful look from Meggido.  "What
Xavier is so ineptly trying to say is that during a heist, excuse me,
acquisition, Chad here sits in the back of our headquarters on wheels,
i.e., our electronically tricked-out step van, trying his best to
coordinate our efforts, and keep us from screwing-up royally."

	With a perfunctory, "Thank, you David," Meggido continued.  "The
other gentleman is Mr. Gordon Amherst, who, much like our David here, is a
Jack of all trades, in that he is accomplished in many fields, the art of
misdirection being numbered foremost among them.  Is that not so, Gordo?"

	"If you say so, sir," Gordon Amherst replied smartly. "I am very
pleased to met you, Danielle.  And lest I forget, welcome to our little
family.  You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into."

	Picking up where he left off, Meggido continued on with his
introductions, "Standing to Chad's right is our rose among thorns,
Mrs. Angelica Medathol.  And, you will be surprised to learn that like you,
Danielle, Angelica was once a man herself."

	"Yes," Angelica piped up, her voice, husky and seductive and
conveying a hint of Slavic ancestry.  "Xavier is correct, I was indeed a
man.  But, that was such a long, long time ago that I sometimes find it
hard to remember that I ever was a man."

	Seeking reassurance from Angelica, Danielle heard herself ask,
"And, do you ever regret your decision to remain a woman?"

	"No!  Not at all!  And I am sure that you won't either.  In fact,
Danielle, I am confident that you are going to absolutely love being both a
woman, and a witch."

	Angelica's trailing comment threw a monkey wrench into the
proceedings.

	"Witch!" a stunned Danielle lamely stammered.  "What in God's name
are you talking about, Angelica?  I'm a woman, not a witch!"

	Only too late Angelica realized that she had spoken out of turn and
in doing so had let the cat out of the bag.  Angelica turned to face
Meggido, offering him, rather than Danielle, an apology.  "I'm sorry,
Xavier!  I'm afraid I made a mistake.  I just assumed that you had already
told her."

	"Told me what?" Danielle demanded of the elderly gentleman.  "That
I'm some kind of witch now?"

	"Yes, my dear."  There was an underlying sense of regret in
Meggido's reply.  "While I know it has come as a shock, you have indeed
become what some would term a witch, and by all indications, a most
powerful one at that, perhaps even the most powerful magic wielder to have
come along in centuries."

	"And," Danielle was quickly becoming vexed.  "You were going to
share this rather unsettling bit of news with me -- when?"

	An unperturbed Meggido cleared his throat as a precursor to
answering Danielle's question.  "Actually, my dear, I was planning on
telling you this evening at dinner.  Now, while I deeply regret this, we do
not have the time at present to address this particular concern, owing to
the fact that we have quite a few items on our agenda to get to this
afternoon.  However, I will tell you this.  But, I am afraid that it will
have to suffice for now.  Being a witch has absolutely nothing to do with
being in league with the devil.  So, you need not concern yourself with
that absurd notion that witches and Satanism have anything in common.  That
is all nothing but a lot of hogwash that has been used to cast aspersions
on those who have learned to manipulate the natural order of things through
various metaphysical means.  Therefore, being a witch is neither good nor
bad.  However, how a witch chooses to use her powers, well, that is
something else altogether.  Having said that, I am confident that you, my
dear, will use your powers for the benefit of mankind, and therefore, you
will be a good witch, and quite possible, the best of the best..."

	Meggido finished his spiel.  Keenly aware that Danielle was far
from satisfied with his truncated explanation, Meggido, after checking his
watch, moved on to brief his team on the upcoming heist.  Using a detailed
floor plan of the COSI building that he had taped to Danielle's whiteboard,
Meggido started off his briefing with an orientation.  In doing, he
provided his crew with a thorough orientation of the building in which COSI
was housed, paying particular attention to the areas in which various
members of his team would be carrying out their individual assignments.
With that accomplished, Meggido proceeded to outline the schedule of events
for the black tie fundraiser that COIS would be playing host to come
Saturday evening.  Personal assignments followed that.  As stated earlier,
Chad would be in the van, playing the team's guardian angel by coordinating
the efforts of the various team members.  Angelica, having already secured
a job with the catering service that had been hired to cater the event,
would, at the appropriate time, create the primary diversion.  It would be
her job to conjure up a freak thunderstorm that would in turn, cause a very
brief power failure.  Gordon, in his role as a security guard, would at a
prearranged time that was yet to be decided, make his way down to the
basement.  There, he would gain entry to the building's electrical room,
and should the need arise, trip the building's main breaker.  The results
would be the same in either case.  The building would be plunged into total
darkness for a few seconds before the emergency lighting kicked in.  In
those few seconds of darkness, Meggido would swap out real the real crystal
pyramid, and replace it with the reasonable facsimile that he had shown
Danielle during dinner on her first evening in the hotel's restaurant.

	"Excuse me, Xavier," Danielle piped up when Meggido concluded his
briefing.  "What exactly will David and I be doing while the rest of you
are busy pulling off this switcheroo?"

	Meggido flashed Danielle a most pleasant and unexpected smile,
"That, my dear, is a very good question.  Succinctly put my dear, you and
David will be my guest at the affair.  If all goes well, my hope is that
neither you, nor David's services will be necessary.  However, you should
know that whenever we plan an acquisition of this nature, we like to take
Mr. Murphy's rather pesky and persistent law into account.  That is to say
that we understand that anything that can go wrong, probably will go wrong,
and at the worst possible moment.  And that, my dear, is being optimistic.
But, I want you and David on hand to serve as a contingency plan, so to
speak.  For the here and now of it, I have to confess that I have not given
a lot of thought to how that contingency plan might work.  But, fear not,
my dear, for right after dinner tonight, I plan to lock myself in my room
and devote the remainder of my evening trying to decide how I might best
use the two of you.  And, I guarantee that I will come up with something.
However, if everything goes as planned, which I hope and pray it does, you
and David will have nothing to do, other than to partake of the
refreshments and enjoy yourselves.  That said, I nevertheless want the two
you there, if for no other reason than to observe how we work.  Besides, I
am in hopes that we may find a job for the two of you yet.  In many ways,
we like to emulate the Boy Scouts, in that we, like they, like to be
prepared."

	Before dismissing his crew, Meggido enlisted everyone's help in
making the room appear like a classroom.  Having placed student packets at
all the tables, Meggido turned the meeting over to Danielle.  Knowing fully
well what Meggido wanted, Danielle instructed Chad, Gordon, David,
Angelica, as well as Meggido, to open the packets and find the student
handbooks that were contained within.  She then instructed them to turn to
the first work assignment and began telling them how to fill in the blanks,
so as to make it seem that there had actually been students in attendance.


+ + +


	As promised, Meggido did address the witch business over dinner.
He started by rehashing what he had said about it earlier that afternoon.
Then, aware that Danielle wanted all the gory details, Meggido endeavored
to satisfy her curiosity, while at the same time reassuring her that being
a witch was not a bad thing.  "I know the idea of being a witch does not
sit well with you, my dear.  But know this.  The term 'witch' has been
maligned and misconstrued over the long march of time.  In truth, you are
not a witch, but rather a sorceress, for in time, with training and
guidance, you will have the power to magically alter things by the mere
force of will alone.  You see, Danielle, upon becoming a woman, you gained
access to the metaphysical wherewithal that allows one with abilities such
as you now possess to, shall we say, subvert the natural order of things in
order to bring about miraculous and marvelous changes."

	Danielle sought conformation, "You mean, I will be able to do the
sort of things I've seen you do, you know, like unlocking the door to the
conference room and turning on my telecommunications equipment by merely
waving your hand in the air, and flexing your will?"

	"Oh, my dear.  By this time next year, if you apply yourself, you
will be able to do what I can do, and so much more.  You see, Danielle,
while normal men and women can indeed become magic users, our strengths are
limited and our abilities pale in comparison to those of the exulted
once-men."

	"Once-men?" Danielle was confused by the cumbersome term that
Meggido had chosen to use.

	"Ah!" Meggido said cheerfully.  "The term 'once-men' is unknown to
you.  Well, that is as it should be.  You see, my dear, once-men are simply
women, such as Angelica and yourself, who were born male, and blessed with
a latent potential for magic of the First Water.  For some unknown reason,
the very act of being transformed into a female awakens that dormant
potential, thus the term once-men."

	Seeking clarification, Danielle hesitantly inquired, "So, if I'm to
believe you, I'm not a really a witch, but rather a once-man?"

	"In truth, Danielle, it is all nothing more than a matter of
semantics.  You are what you are, nothing more, nothing less.  And, if you
would do me the singular honor of allowing me to train you in the use of
this magical potential that you are now privy to as a 'once-man', I would
be most grateful.  However, if you prefer another mentor other than myself,
I am sure that Angelica would be happy to take you on as her protegee..."


+ + +


	Somewhat later in their on going conversations, as three of them
were partaking of their respective desert selections, Danielle remembered
that she had something of Meggido's, something she no longer needed, and
therefore, wished to return to him.  After a somewhat frustrating search of
the contents of her handbag, Danielle located the item she had been looking
for.  "Here, Xavier.  I believe this ring belongs to you."  And, with that
said, Danielle placed the engagement ring that Meggido had given her down
on the table directly in front of the elderly gentleman."

	Picking the ring up, Meggido gave it an appraising look.  Then,
even as he was in the process of slipping the bogus engagement ring into
his coat pocket, Meggido glanced over and took note of the white-gold
diamond ring that graced the ring finger of Danielle's left hand.  "I see
that congratulations are in order, my dear?  By any chance, have the two of
you set a date for the wedding as yet?  Oh, and Danielle, should you need a
fatherly figure to give the bride away, I would deem it an honor to be
considered to fill that venerated role..."


+ + +


	A short while later, as the couple made a beeline for Danielle's
room and the bed that awaited them, David felt compelled to inquire, "So, I
take it that you're no longer upset about the witch business?"

	"No...  Not at all...  I mean, while I was at first, once Xavier
explained it to me, I have to say that I'm kind of intrigued with the whole
idea.  Imagine me, a once-man.  Oh!  And, while we're on the subject, once
I get the hang of how to use these powers of mine, you better watch your Ps
& Qs, buster.  Because, if I ever catch you cheating on me, or so much as
looking at another woman with lust in your heart, I promise you that you'll
rue the day."

	With a chuckle infesting his voice, David teasingly quipped, "So,
what are you going to do to if I do develop a wandering eye?  Punish me?
Possibly go so far as to turn me into some kind of freak?"

	"No..." Danielle began to ponder the matter.  "I think I'd tailor
the punishment to fit the crime."

	"Yeah!  And, what, exactly, does that mean?"

	"Oh, I don't know...  Maybe, I'll just turn you into a stacked and
packed member in good standing of the fairer sex.  That ought to teach you
a lesson."

	"Actually, that sounds like it could be a lot of fun.  In fact,
were you to do that to me, you and I could be lesbian lovers."

	"Yeah..." Danielle mused aloud.  "We could at that.  But, then
again, what fun would that be?  Instead of punishing you, I'd be punishing
me, you know, because I've come to like feeling you nestled up inside of
me..."


+ + +


	While Danielle and David were eating a late breakfast in the
hotel's restaurant that Tuesday morning, Meggido approached them, and
politely inquired as to if he might be permitted to join them.  Since he
had already eaten breakfast, Meggido asked their waitress if he could
please have a cup of coffee, informing the waitress as he did so that she
need not bring him any cream, owing to the fact that he drank his coffee
black.

	"Danielle," Meggido inquired once the waitress had gone off to
fetch him his coffee.  "By any chance have you notified your immediate
superior of your intentions to terminate your employment?"

	"Yes," she replied somewhat dourly.  "I sent my boss an e-mail last
Friday afternoon to that effect.  I told him that since I wasn't scheduled
to teach anymore classes, starting next week, I would be taking the three
weeks of paid vacation that's due me, and once all my vacation days are all
used up, I would be terminating my employment.  I kind of feel bad, you
know, because I really should have called my boss and clue him in on what
was going on.  The truth of the matter is that my immediate supervisor is
probably relieved to hear that I found another job, owing to the fact that
I, along with pretty much all of the instructional staff, were slated to be
let go at the end of the quarter.  That said, I still feel like I should
have done the decent thing and called him.  All things considered, he and
I, while not really friends, had a good working relationship.  I just feel
like I owed him a heads-up.  But, given the rather convoluted circumstances
that I find myself in, you know, with me being a woman and all now, I
couldn't really do that, now could I?"

	"No, my dear," Meggido concurred, "It would not have been advisable
for you to have called him under the circumstances.  As it was, you had no
choice in the matter.  You had to resort to e-mail in order to notify him.
However, if you would still like to call your boss, I can arrange it for
you.  Do you by any chance have your cellphone with you?"

	Even as her face scrunched up into a quizzical scowl, Danielle
replied that she did indeed have her cellphone with her.  It was in her
pocketbook.

	"May I please see it a moment, my dear?"  Meggido held out his left
hand, indicting that Danielle should pass her phone over to him.  "Fear
not, Danielle, I will return your phone to you momentarily."

	Holding Danielle's cellphone in his left hand, Meggido swept his
right hand over it.  "That should do it."  He then held her phone out so
that Danielle could take possession of it.

	"Xavier," said David.  "Don't you think that you ought to tell
Danielle what you just did, and why you did it?"

	"By all means, my boy.  You are indeed correct.  I have been remiss
in that regard."  Then, turning his head to address Danielle directly,
Meggido explained that he had magically tinkered with her phone so that she
could call her boss, or for that matter, anyone she had ever known.

	"Xavier," a dubious Danielle sought an explanation.  "How can that
be?  I don't sound anything like the man I used to be."

	"That is a true statement, my dear" Meggido readily agreed with
Danielle's assertion.  "You no longer sound anything like the man you once
were.  However, should you call anyone you knew prior to becoming female
with your cellphone, they will hear your old manly baritone on their end,
rather than this new, sultry and unmistakably feminine voice you now
possess..."

	"Oh!" Danielle face broadened into an appreciative smile.  "Thank
you!  You're a lifesaver, Xavier..."

	Meggido had a second subject that he wished to discuss with David
and Danielle.  "As promised, I gave a lot of thought to how we might use
the two of you to our best advantage come Saturday night.  Now, while I
know David's capabilities, both his strengths and his weaknesses, the
latter of which are few and far between, you, my dear, are as yet an
unknown quantity.  While I truly believe that you will become an essential
member of the team, I can not in good faith ask you to do something that
you are neither trained nor comfortable with doing.  That would be very
foolish of me to put that kind of pressure on you.  So, until I have time
to work with you, all I want you to do for the time being is be on hand to
observe.  That, in and of itself, will put you in good stead for operations
that we will no doubt be undertaking in the future..."

	For her part, Danielle was relieved to hear Meggido say that and
she was quick to inform David of her feelings once the elderly gentleman
had taken his leave of them.


+ + +


	Promptly at one that afternoon, the whole team assembled in the
conference room for another briefing and planning session.  Drawing
everyone's attention to the detailed floor plan that was once again taped
to Danielle's whiteboard, Meggido informed his team that he had received
word that there had been some changes, and that the ancient artifact
display had been moved from the Traveling Exhibits Area and into the
Founders Atrium.  While Meggido did not think that the move would help or
hinder them, it nevertheless merited their attention.  Contingencies were
discussed and debated, as each member of Meggido's team took their turn at
playing devil's advocate.

	"Danielle!" Angelica, somewhat tentatively, inquired.  "While I
know Meggido only wants you there as an observer, would you be adverse
where we to use you as, shall we say, a minor diversion, should the need
arise, which, in this instance, I seriously doubt that it will?"  Then,
before Danielle could respond, Angelica commandingly snapped, "Wait!
Before you answer, Danielle, hear me out!  This thing at COSI is a black
tie affair, which means you will be wearing an evening gown.  And, that got
me to thinking.  What if the evening gown you are wearing just happens to
be strapless?  And, what if - Poof! - its zipper malfunctions, and suddenly
unzips itself, exposing your rather noteworthy endowments in the process?
Were that to happen, you might shriek from the embarrassment of it all.
People, being people, would look.  And, while they were looking at you,
they wouldn't be looking at Meggido.  He then takes full advantage of the
situation; switches out the crystal pyramid, and when the night is over, we
all go our merry way without anyone becoming the wiser."

	Having laid it all out, Angelica put the question to Danielle.
"So, what do you say?  Do you think that you could handle something like
that?  I know it's asking a lot, to expose yourself like that, but when
push comes to shove, can you take one for the team?"  Then, by way of an
experiment, Angelica flourished her hand in the air, causing the both the
blouse and bra Danielle was wearing to disappear.

	Instinctively, in a knee-jerk reaction, Danielle reached up, and
using her hands, cupped her breast in an effort to conceal them.

	"That's exactly the reaction I was looking for!" Angelica giddily
exclaimed.  "So, Danielle, in a pinch, can you do it?"

	Petulantly, Danielle responded, "Have I got a choice in the
matter?"

	"Of course you do, Danielle."  David chimed in.  "Angelica!"  He
was gruff.  "Give Danielle her clothes back."

	"Okay!"  It was Angelica's turn to sound petulant, even as Danielle
found herself fully clothed once again.  "I was only trying to prove a
point."

	"Well, Danielle..." Gordon entered the fray.  "What do you say?
Can you do it, or can't you?  Speak now or forever hold your peace."

	With a great deal of reluctance, Danielle guardedly replied, "I may
not like it, but if it becomes necessary, sure... why the hell not!  After
all, I've got a great body, so why not flaunt it?  If I've got to pull a
Lady Godiva every now again, I think I can live with it."  Then, Danielle's
tone of voice took on a brazen quality, as she said, "Tell you what,
Angelica.  Just to prove a point, how 'bout I give these guys here a real
thrill.  How 'bout you birthday suit me?"

	Before David could forestall his cohort from acting, Angelica had
complied with Danielle's unexpected request.  One moment Danielle was fully
clothed, the next, save for the high heels that adorned her feet, Danielle
stood there as nude as a jaybird.

	Chad's jaw dropped, as he stood transfixed, shamelessly gawking at
the personification of feminine beauty that the former Daniel Johnson had
become.  Gordon, a shit-eating grin spreading on his face, unashamedly
admired the femme fatale that stood resplendently in their midst.  As for
Meggido, he just stood there, wagging his head in a display of disgust.
"Alright, Angelica..." the elder man heaved a disgruntle sigh.  "I think we
have all seen enough.  So, if you would be so kind, I'd really like to put
this little sideshow behind us, and get back to the business at hand..."


+ + +


	At the completion of the meeting, much as they had the day before,
everyone pitched in, and following Danielle's directions, gave the
conference room the appearance of a functioning classroom.  Angelica went
so far as to use her magical wherewithal to populate the bogus classroom's
trashcans with several empty soda cans, a pair of coffee stained Styrofoam
cups, along with a smattering of candy and cellophane snack wrappers.


+ + +


	Though they had been invited to dine with the rest of the members
of the team, Dave, wishing to spend an intimate evening with Danielle,
begged off.

	"What gives, David?" Danielle inquired once the two of them were
out of earshot from the others.  "Why didn't you want go out to eat with
the rest of them?  I mean, being the new kid on the block, so to speak, the
last thing I need right now is to alienate any of them.  Right now, save
for yourself, and perhaps Meggido, your cohorts are the closest things to
friends I have.  Besides, I'm not at all sure if any of them like me or
not.  Tell me, did I by any chance embarrass you when I encouraged Angelica
to magically disrobe me?"

	"Embarrass me, no..." David chuckled.  "You didn't embarrass me at
all.  Believe it or not, Danielle, when you egged Angelica on like you did,
I was extremely proud of you.  You showed all of them, including yours
truly, that you've got what it takes.  I don't know whether you are aware
of this or not, but you've earned their respect.  You showed them that when
push comes to shove they can depend on you.  And, that's important.  But, I
can tell you one thing.  That little stunt of yours has me worried."

	"How so?"

	"Well, by your own admission, you are both a nymphomaniac and a
narcissist."

	"Yeah...  So?" Danielle had her hackles up, and was ready to
pounce.

	"So, I think we can add something else to that short list."

	"Such as?" Danielle prompted.

	"Such as, exhibitionist.  I saw the glint in your eye when you
where prancing around the conference room in the altogether.  You were
enjoying the hell out of it.  And, don't you dare deny it, 'cause we both
know you were."

	"Yeah..." Danielle impishly smirked.  "I guess I was at that.  By
any chance, did you get a good look at Chad's face when I was standing
there without a stitch on?  The way he was gawking, you'da though he had
never seen a woman nude before."

	"I don't want to burst your bubble, Danielle, but I doubt that Chad
has ever seen a woman nude, especially one that's got a body anywhere even
near as easy on the eyes as yours."

	"I'll take that as a compliment."

	"That's good.  Because that's how it was meant."

	Changing the subject, Danielle inquired, "So, where are you
planning on taking me for dinner?"

	"Oh, I don't know.  I haven't given it a lot of thought.  How's a
nice juicy steak sound?"

	"Sound's like a plan to me..."


+ + +


	Wednesday morning, right after breakfast, Meggido held a rather
truncated briefing in which he informed the members of his acquisition team
that he had gotten word that there had been some more changes made.  One of
COSI's major benefactors, a woman who Meggido describes as a cantankerous
foul-mouthed old biddy, had objected to the crystal display being moved
into the Founders Atrium.  And, because she had, the crystal display was
being moved back to its original location in the Traveling Exhibits Area.

	Logistics were discussed.  Then, with their business finished,
Angelica, using her magic, replenished the trashcans with rubbish and used
soda cans, as the others turned to and rearranged the organized clutter on
the students' desks.

	Clapping his hands to gain everyone's attention, Meggido said,
"Alright, children.  I'll see you all back here tomorrow morning at, shall
we say, nine?  Until then, behave yourselves.  Chad, my boy!  If you have a
minute, I'd like a word with you..."


+ + +


	Though a little on the cool side, the day was sunny, and so, on
David's suggestion, he and Danielle decided to spend the remainder of their
day seeing the sights at the Columbus Zoo.  As it was, most of the animals
were not only out and about, but were fairly active due to the cooler
weather.

	While they were at the zoo, David received a text-message from
Chad, informing the couple that Meggido wished to talk with them, and
therefore, hoped that they would do him the honor of joining him for dinner
at their hotel.  David, having let Danielle read the contents of Chad's
text-message, texted Chad back, instructing him to relay the message to
Xavier that he and Danielle would be delighted to have dinner with the
elderly gentleman.

	Basically, what Meggido wanted was to encourage Danielle to go
online at her earliest convenience, and once logged on, see if she could
locate an evening gown that tickled her fancy, as well as all the
accouterments that she would need to complete her ensemble.  Once her
selections were made, Meggido told Danielle to have David e-mail them to
Chad, who, in turn, would forward them to Angelica, who would then use her
magical wherewithal to procure the various items of apparel for Danielle.

	As soon as David and Danielle got back to her room, Danielle
powered up her laptop, went on line, and with David's help, began her
search.

	After an hour of browsing one site of women's apparel after
another, David teasingly groused, "Geesh, Danielle! How many dresses are
you going to look at before you make your final selection?  I mean, I was
under the impression that you wanted to fool around tonight."

	"I do want to fool around, but I need to check out a few more sites
before I make my final decision.  However, you'll be happy to hear that
unless I run across something else that I like better than what I've
already seen, I've managed to narrow my choices down to a grand total of
seven."

	"That's good, Danielle.  So, after you've made your selection, you
and I can make love?"

	"No silly!" Danielle chortled.  "After I finished picking out my
evening gown, I need to look for some shoes.  And, after that, I'm going to
need a clutch purse and some jewelry..."

	David, who was quickly becoming bored, was not a happy camper.
But, though he was not, he knew better than to put up a fuss.

	It was shortly after eleven when David's patience finally wore out.
Getting up from the bed where he spent the better part of the evening
watching television, he walked over to where Danielle sat at the table
looking at the images that were displayed on her laptop's screen.  Leaning
in over her back, David casually inquired, how's it going?'

	"All things considered, I'd say pretty good.  So far, I've picked
out my gown, shoes, as well as a handbag.  However, I'm still not sure
exactly what sort of jewelry I want to go with though..."

	David, wishing to ascertain something he deemed important,
interjected, "Tell me that you've been saving the links so that we can
forward them to Chad?"

	"I most certainly have.  What you think: I'm an imbecile or
something?  Of course I saved the links."

	"Good!" David said as he reached around her, and taken possession
of her wireless mouse, clicked on the 'Start' menu.  As soon as the menu
appeared, he clicked on the 'Turn Off Computer' icon.

	"And, just what do you think you doing, David.  I haven't quite
finished yet."

	"Yes darling, you have.  Like it or not, you, my love, are coming
to bed with me."  And, with that said, he picked Danielle up; carried her
around to her side of the bed, and there, unceremoniously dropped her onto
it.


+ + +


	Thursday, the team spent most of the morning and practically all of
the afternoon in the conference room firming up their plans.  After dinner
that evening, Danielle and David decided to go for a leisurely dip in the
hotel's pool.  After that, they showered, changed, and then headed over to
the pub and shot a few games of pool.  As she usually did, Danielle whooped
David's ass.

	The day Friday was pretty much a repeat of Thursday, save that
Meggido started off the day by informing his crew that COSI's Managing
Director, upon being made aware that someone had undermined his authority,
had belligerently ordered the ancient artifact display moved back into the
Founders Atrium.  Though the move did not pose any great problem for
Meggido's team, it did necessitate some discussions in order to compensate
for the change.

	It was at that point in the proceedings that Gordon caused a bit of
a stir.  "I hate to mention this, sir, but the other day, when Angelica and
I were over at COSI getting a lay of the land, while I cannot be a hundred
percent certain, I think I may have spotted Rancor Cattilion out of the
corner of my eye."

	Everybody, save for Danielle, appeared to understand the
implication of Gordon's possible sighting.  "Who," she heard herself
inquire, "may I ask is Rancor Cattilion and what's he got to do with
anything?"

	Before Meggido could supply Danielle with an answer to her
question, Chad piped up.  "Simply put, he's the opposition, in that he's
Xavier's opposite number."

	Danielle could not believe what she was hearing.  "You mean to tell
me that there's another group out there that wants to get their hands on
the very same crystal pyramid that you all are here to steal?"

	"Yes." Meggido replied dryly.  "I am sorry to have to tell you
this, my dear, but if Gordo here did in fact see the gentleman he thinks he
saw, it means that we are not the only ones who are seeking to abscond with
the crystal pyramid.  And, as much as I hate to say this, it would not bode
well for anyone should the 'others' manage to acquire it."

	"You mean to tell me that there are 'others'? Danielle demanded.

	"Yes, my dear." Meggido sorrowfully sighed.  "I'm sorry to say that
there are indeed 'others'.  And unlike us, they do not have an altruistic
motive.  Should they acquire the pyramid, they will no doubt use it for
their nefarious purposes."

	Danielle, not at all happy about not being clued in on the
existence of such a group prior to this, was incensed.  "And, you haven't
felt it necessary to tell me about them before this - because?"

	"Because, my dear, I did not want to frighten you.  I now see that
it was wrong of me to withhold such a crucial piece of information from
you.  All I can say is that I am sorry, and that I will not make such an
obvious mistake again..."

	Meggido continue on to explain to Danielle that there were two
groups of dedicated individuals who have vied with each other throughout
the long march of time.  Meggido's group, the one that had invited Danielle
to join their ranks, called themselves simply, 'The Stewards of Humanity'
for they wished to prevent the other group, 'The Vexthelogians' as Meggido
named them, from gaining ascendancy over humankind.  The crystal pyramid
was but one of the many magical tools that had been created that could give
the Vexthelogians an edge in their unrelenting struggle to gain dominance.
"And that, Danielle, is why we do what we do.  We cannot allow the
Vexthelogians to get hold of the crystal pyramid.  They not only could, but
no doubt would, use it to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world.  And that
is why it is so troubling to hear that Rancor Cattilion may well be here in
Columbus.  And if he is here, his team of cutthroats and purloiners are no
doubt here as well.  Which means we will have to proceed as if he and his
team are here..."

	The six of them discussed the matter for quite some time, exploring
and expanding their contingency plans as they did so.  Vigilance, they all
agreed, was the key to thwarting Rancor Cattilion and his acquisition team
of unscrupulous Vexthelogians.


+ + +


	After that aspect of their daily discussion was talked to death,
Chad, the team's electronics expert, had the whole lot of them, including
Meggido, test out the various communication gear that they would be using
as a means to coordinate their efforts come Saturday evening.

	For Danielle's part, she was both surprised and delighted when
Angelica handed her a pair of earrings, as well as a matching necklace.
One of the earrings contained a receiver, while the necklace concealed a
voice-activated transmitter.  "What, no shoe phones?" Danielle
sarcastically quipped, as she held the necklace out so David could secure
it about her neck.

	"No," David smirked.  "We found using those to be a little
cumbersome..."

	Beside the earrings and necklace, Angelica also presented Danielle
with a matching bracelet, as well a long plastic garment bag that contained
the stylish evening gown that Danielle had selected for herself on-line.
Angelica also passed Danielle a shoebox that contained a pair of metallic
silver stiletto heel sandals.  Angelica was far from finished, for she next
supplied Danielle with a matching metallic silver clutch purse.  Completing
the exchange, the senior once-man presented Danielle with a large plastic
shopping bag that was filled with a whole gaggle of items that Danielle was
going to need in preparing herself to attend the formal shindig that COSI
was hosting.

	The meeting broke up shortly after two, prompting Danielle to ask
Meggido if it was okay for her to start breaking down the equipment bays
and packing-up the various electronic components so that they would be
ready to be shipped back to her company come Monday.  Meggido not only gave
his permission, but graciously offered Chad, Gordon and David's assistance
in breaking down the bays, suggesting that he and Angelica would attend to
boxing up the student materials that littered all the desk.  Danielle,
being no fool, gladly accepted Meggido's offer of help.

	"Xavier," Danielle raised a question.  "What are we going to with
all the student workbooks, as well as the technical CDs that are included
in the student packets?  I mean, we're not going to just toss them in the
dumpster along with the rest of the stuff, are we?"

	Heaving a sigh, Meggido replied, "I am afraid that we are going
have to do just that, my dear.  However, we are not going to dispose of
them in the hotel's dumpsters.  That would not do at all.  Given the
persnickety way that law of Mr. Murphy's works, someone might chance to see
them, and that could lead to someone asking some very embarrassing
questions, questions no doubt that you, my dear, would have to deal with.
So, what I propose we do is to cart them out to Chad's van, so that he can
discreetly dispose of them in various places over the next several days..."


+ + +


	That evening Danielle tried to relax and enjoy herself.  And, for
the most part, she did just that.  However, every now and again, her mind
would stray, dredging up ominous thoughts of this mysterious group that
Meggido had named 'The Vexthelogians'.

	"David, tell me something.  Are these Vexthelogians as bad as
Meggido made them out to be?"

	"Actually, they're worse than Xavier made them out to be.  Trust
me, Danielle.  The Vexthelogians are not what you or I might call nice
people.  Angelica claims that they're evil incarnate, and she should know,
given how long she's been contending with them.  But, you needn't worry
your pretty little head about them, Danielle.  We've crossed swords with
them on numerous occasions, both singularly and as a group, and we've
always managed to come out on top."

	"Yeah... But, there's always a first time."

	"True enough...  But, as long as we've got Xavier on our side,
there's absolutely nothing to worry about."

	"But, when it comes to magic, I thought that Angelica was a lot
more powerful than Xavier."

	"That's true.  She is.  In fact, Angelica is head and shoulders
more powerful when it comes to the magical arts than Xavier is.  But, that
old man is the most cunning man I've ever known.  Plus, he knows how to
fight dirty, dirtier than even Rancor Cattilion."

	"Okay!  So, Xavier can handle himself in a fight.  What about you?
Can you say the same for yourself?  I mean, what do you suppose would
happen if you had to deal with this Rancor Cattilion fellow?"

	"Oh, that's an easy one!  Rest assured, I'd whoop his ass good."

	"How in the world can you say something like that, David,
especially since I've never seen you do anything even remotely magical?"

	"Oh!  So, I'm going to marry a skeptic, am I?  Well, for your
information, just because you haven't seen me do anything magical, doesn't
for one moment mean that I can't." and with that said, David raised his
right hand and spreading his fingers slightly, flourished it the air before
him.  Danielle, who had been dressed casually in jeans, a fisherman's white
bulky-knit turtleneck sweater, and a pair of black kidskin high heels,
suddenly found herself wearing only a slinky pink camisole and a matching
pair of glossy pink stiletto heel pumps.

	"David!" Danielle giddily exclaimed.  "I had no idea you could do
anything like this!"

	"Well, now you do.  And, if Rancor Cattilion dares to shows his
face, you haven't a thing to worry about, because I'll whip some magic on
him and, slam, bam, thank you ma'am, he'll end up dressed the same way you
are now!"

	"And, you think that'll teach him a lesson?" Danielle couldn't stop
giggling.

	"No!  But, it'll sure embarrass the hell out of him..."


+ + +


	Early Saturday morning, shortly after the whole team ate breakfast
together at nearby Denny's, Meggido conducted a very short meeting in the
conference room that had ostensibly served as Danielle's classroom.  Having
not heard of any new changes occurring in the black tie affairs' itinerary,
everything seemed to be a go.  Added to that, there had been no further
sightings of Rancor Cattilion or any of his cronies, which was another good
sign.

	Starting with Chad, Meggido had each team member state his or her
individual assignments for the evening.  Then, after a quick recap of how
the snatch and grab was to go down, Meggido dismissed everybody, but only
after he admonished them to relax and get some rest, owing to the fact that
he wanted all of them functioning at the top of their game that evening.

	Having tarried long enough to allow Chad, Gordon and Angelica to
take their leave of the conference room, Meggido casually inquired,
"Danielle, did you by any chance call your boss?"

	"Yes.  I called him late yesterday afternoon."

	"Did everything go alright?"

	"Yes, as a matter of fact, it went quite well.  In fact, given how
much he's dreading having to let almost all of his reporting people go, he
was happy to hear that I found another job."

	"That is most gratifying to learn, Danielle.  I take it that my
spell worked as advertised, and your boss never once became suspicious, or
picked up on the fact that you are no longer a man?"

	"No, not that I'm aware of.  However," Danielle tried hard to
suppress a giggle, "I had a hell of a hard time dealing with the fact that
he kept calling me Daniel.  And, that's because I don't think of myself as
a Dan or Daniel anymore.  I'm Danielle, and it kind of threw me for loop
when my boss kept addressing me as Daniel."

	"That is as it should be, Danielle," Meggido replied.  "You do
realize that you've been a woman for sixteen days."

	"Yes," Danielle's tone was guarded.  "I'm aware of that."

	"That means, if you wish me to do so, I can change you back first
thing tomorrow."

	"Thank you for offering, Xavier.  But, I've made my decision.  I'm
a woman now, and I'd like to remain one."

	"As you wish, my dear...  As you wish..."


+ + +


	With nothing special on tap for the day, David and Danielle headed
over to the nearest mall and spent the remainder of the morning and half of
the afternoon window-shopping.  They would have remained at the mall for
another hour or so were it not for the fact that David received a call from
Meggido in which the elder gentleman informed David that something had come
up, and that he wished to meet with David ASAP.

	"Is it Rancor Cattilion?  Did someone on the team see him or one of
his colleagues?"  Danielle demanded, as soon as David severed the
connection, and was in the process of slipping his cellphone back into his
pants' pocket.

	"Xavier didn't say."

	"So, what did he say?" Danielle's curiosity was pegged on high.

	"That he wanted to see me as soon as possible."

	"And, that's all he said."

	"Yes, that is all he said."

	"So, why, when you were on the phone with him, didn't you ask him
what he wanted to see you about?" Danielle pressed.

	"Because, if Xavier want to tell me over the phone, he would have
done so."

	"But, aren't you curious?"

	"Of course I'm curious.  But, knowing Xavier as I do, I know that
it doesn't do a bit of good to press him.  Xavier will tell me when he's
good and ready to tell me, and not a moment before."


+ + +


	As David pulled into their hotel's parking lot, he said, "Look, I
have no idea how long my meeting with Xavier is going to take, so my
suggestion to you is, get yourself a snack to tide you over.  And if I'm
not back when you've finished eating, you really ought to take a shower and
starting getting yourself ready for this evening.  If for some reason or
another, I am unable to touch base with you before six, since I've got to
get dressed as well, rest assured that I will be around to your room to
collect you by seven at the latest.  So, just be sure you're ready to hit
the road by seven.  Oh!  And, just so you know.  Xavier doesn't like to be
kept waiting, and since we're going in the limo with him, you need to make
doubly sure that you're ready to go when he is.  Otherwise, there'll be
hell to pay."

	As it was, David did not touch base with Danielle before six.
Though half-tempted to call Meggido and demanded to know where David was,
Danielle, thinking that if there was a problem someone would no doubt get
in touch with her, restrained herself.

	At a quarter to seven, Danielle heard a knock on her door.
"David!" she called out expectantly, as she started for the door that
opened onto the hallway.  "Is that you?"

	"No, my dear.  I am afraid that it is I, Xavier."

	Opening the door to allow Meggido to enter her room, a somewhat
agitated and perturbed Danielle quickly demanded. "Where's David?"

	"I'm sorry, my dear, but there has been a slight change of plans,"
Meggido, aware that Danielle was not a happy camper, offered her an
explanation.  "Unforeseen circumstances demanded that Angelica's presence
be elsewhere this evening.  That being the case, since we are a team member
short this evening, circumstances have forced us to fall back on one of our
contingency plans.  Instead of going with the freak thunderstorm that
Angelica was to have conjured up for us, Gordon will have to trip COSI's
main breaker."

	"That makes sense, but you still haven't answered my questions.
Where's David?  Why isn't he here?"

	"He isn't here to escort you, because he has to backfill for
Angelica.  Now, I know you wish things were different, and that David,
rather than I, was going to serve as your escort this evening.  But, I am
afraid that in this line of work, we all have sacrifices to make every now
and again, my dear.  So, while I know fully well that it'll be a case of
grin and bear it for you to be seen with an old decrepit fuddy-duddy like
yours truly, I would deem it a great honor if you will allow me to function
as your escort this evening.  I promise to do everything in my power to see
that you have an enjoyable evening.  Oh!  And, lest I forget my manners,
fair lady, let me start off by saying that you look absolutely fetching
tonight..."


+ + +


	A white stretch limo was waiting outside the hotel's lobby door to
transport Danielle and Meggido to COSI.  Danielle, having never seen such
opulence in an automobile before, was impressed.  "Danielle, would you
perhaps like a glass of champagne?" Meggido pleasantly inquired once they
comfortably seated in the limo's cavernous passenger compartment.

	"Yes.  Come to think of it, I would at that."

	A few minutes later, Danielle sought confirmation; "David is going
be there, isn't he?"

	"Yes, my dear."  Meggido pulled his cuff back and glanced at his
watch.  "In fact, he should already be there."

	"Good!" Danielle sounded pleased.  "Because, I can't wait to see
the look on his face when he gets a load of me in this gorgeous gown I'm
wearing."

	"I do not mean to argumentative, my dear.  But, it is not that gown
that you are wearing that is gorgeous, rather it is you who are
gorgeous..."

	Looping both her arms about Meggido's right arm, Danielle gave the
elderly gentleman a little hug.  "Thank you for saying that, Xavier."

	"I only spoke the truth, Danielle.  With the exception of my dear
departed wife, you, my dear, are one of the loveliest creatures I have ever
had the pleasure of beholding, and I deem it a rare honor to be escorting
you this evening..."


+ + +


	Having just been helped out of the limo by the vehicle's extremely
courteous chauffeur, Danielle heard Chad's disembodied voice, "This is a
radio check, Danielle.  Please, acknowledge so that I know that both your
receiver and transmitter are working."

	"I can hear you just fine, Chad.  Where are you?"

	"I'm parked around the back.  Xavier, it's your turn.  How are you
reading me?"

	Raising his hand to conceal his lips, Meggido responded, "I am
receiving you just fine, Chad.  Are David and Gordon on the com-channel as
well?"

	"Here, sir!" Danielle recognized Gordon's voice.  Then, after a few
seconds had elapsed with no acknowledgement from David, a worried Danielle
fretfully inquired.  "Where's David?  Why hasn't he responded?"

	It was Chad who responded.  "Not to worry, Danielle.  David's here.
Right now he's in the Founders' Atrium.  I see him clearly in both monitor
number two and also on five.  He just isn't in a situation where he can
reply right now.  However, I can assure you that he can hear you just fine,
so if you want to tell him that you love him, be my guest."

	"Chad!" Meggido voice gruffly admonished.  "That is quite enough of
your tomfoolery, understand?"

	Knowing that he had breached protocol, a chastised Chad contritely
replied, "Yes, sir!  I got your message loud and clear.  I promise, it
won't happen again."

	"See that it does not, Chad.  See that it does not..."

	Proffering his left forearm to Danielle, Meggido formally declared,
"We have tarried out here long enough, my dear.  It is high time for the
two of us to proceed inside."


+ + +


	Entering the building, Meggido led Danielle over to the tail end of
the queue of the roped-off receiving line.  Ten minutes later, having been
introduced to the COSI director, as well as of a smattering of the museum's
more active and influential patrons, Meggido, having spied an old
acquaintance in the milling crowd, walked over and introduced Danielle to
the man and his elegantly attired wife.  Having done so, Meggido continued
on to engage the elderly couple in some inconsequential chitchat that
Danielle found to be on the lame side of boring.  As for Danielle, knowing
fully well what was expected of her, she smiled and nodded at the
appropriate times, keeping up the appearance that she was interested in the
conversation when she was anything but engaged in what was being said.

	Finished with that conversation, Meggido, saying that he would
touch base with the couple somewhat later in the evening, excused himself
and proceeded to guide Danielle over to where three couples were busily
engaged in exchanging pleasantries with one another.  "William!  Martha!
Professor Chadwick!  Helen!  And, I'm sorry," Meggido said, as he addressed
the third couple, "I do not believe I have had the pleasure..."

	With that said, the bald headed gentleman who Meggido had addressed
as William took over, and introduced the third couple to both Danielle and
Xavier.  "Brian!  Amanda!" Meggido laid it on thick.  "Having heard William
talk so highly about the two of you, I must say it is both an honor and a
pleasure to finally meet the two of you.  Now, if I might, may I have the
distinct pleasure of introducing you to my son's fiancée."

"Oh!" the woman, who Meggido had identified as Helen, chimed in at that
point.  "And, just how is your son, David, doing?"

	Though she been only half-listening to the conversation, the last
exchange threw Danielle for a loop.  'David's Xavier's son?' she
quizzically put the question to herself.  'How come I'm just hearing about
this now?  I mean, I would have thought that someone would have told me
about that rather significant little detail long before this...'

	Talk about somebody being hot under the collar.  Danielle was ready
to lambaste somebody, up one side and down the other.  Her problem was that
she was not exactly sure who that somebody was going to be.  David?
Meggido?  Maybe even Chad, if the other two were not available, since he
was technically the team's information-guru.

	'And, just where the hell is that David of mine?' Danielle had been
clandestinely scanning the crowd trying to see if she could locate him ever
since she had first entered the complex on Meggido's arm.  'Chad said he
was here somewhere!  But, I'll be damned if I've seen him...'

	Just then, one of the catering service's waitresses intruded on
Danielle's musings, "Excuse me, but would mademoiselle like a glass of
champagne?"

	"Yes.  Thank you, I would," Danielle nonchalantly replied, as she
reached over and lifted a glass of champagne off of the tray that the
waitress adroitly carried on the splayed fingertips of her right hand.

	Hefting the glass of champagne clear, Danielle seized the
opportunity that the waitress presented her with.  Quickly reading the name
printed on the waitress's nametag, Danielle seized the moment as she
inquired, "Dana, have you by any chance seen a ruggedly handsome man in his
mid to late thirties?  He has blue eyes, a strong chin, dimples, and curly
brown hair that's starting to go gray at the temples.  Oh!  And, he stands
just a smidgen over six feet tall, and looks to be fit."

	"I've seen several men here that fit that description, ma'am.
Could you be a little more specific?  Does he perhaps wear glasses?" the
waitress was endeavoring to be helpful.

	"No, he doesn't wear glasses.  And, no, I'm afraid I can't be
anymore specific than I have been.  But, I do have another idea that might
help to identify him.  Were any of these men here alone?"

	"Not that I recall, ma'am..." the waitress thoughtfully replied.
"No...  The more I think about it, I do believe that they all were
accompanied by female companions."

	"Oh, well...  It was worth a try," Danielle muttered under her
breath.  Then, in a slightly louder voice, Danielle asked if the waitress
could do her a favor and keep an eye out for an unaccompanied man who fit
the description she had previously provided.  The waitress said she would
be happy to do so for Danielle.  Then, in an afterthought, the waitress,
who was beginning to look a little edgy, informed Danielle that she did not
want to appear rude or discourteous, but that she really could not tarry
longer.  If her supervisor saw her doing so, it might appear that she was
shirking her duties.

	Replying that she understood, Danielle, who found herself quite
taken with the waitress's striking appearance, allowed the woman to
continue making her rounds.  'Hmm..." Danielle though as she admired the
way the waitress' hips seductively gyrated as the woman disappeared into
the milling crowd.  'Now, that's something to behold?  What a great ass!
There's no two ways about it!  I'm either still more of a man than I
thought I was or, as a woman, I'd have to say that I'm bisexual...'

	For the next thirty minutes or so, Danielle began to scan the
crowd, hoping that she might catch sight of David.

	Unable to contain herself any longer, an anxious and apprehensive
Danielle, pretending to take a sip of champagne, surreptitiously queried,
"Chad!  Are you sure David's here, because I have yet to catch even a
glimpse of him?"

	Though there was a slight delay, Chad, having checked his monitors,
replied, "Yes, I'm sure.  David has just passed through the lobby and is
now headed into the Founders' Atrium."

	"Chad!"  Meggido intruded.  "Have you seen any sign of Rancor
Cattilion or any of his minions?"

	"No, sir!  I haven't seen hide nor hair of any of them in any of my
monitors.  Added to that, the face-recognition program that I've got
running has yet to get a hit.  So if there are any Vexthelogians inside,
which I seriously doubt, they're holed up somewhere."

	"That is comforting to hear." Meggido mused aloud.  "Just keep us
posted if there are any changes."

	"Will do, boss." Chad replied cavalierly.  "You can count on me."


+ + +


	Fifteen minutes after Meggido's exchange with Chad, Danielle, using
the excuse that she needed to avail herself of the Ladies Room, set off to
conduct her own search for David.  Ten minutes later, an extremely
frustrated Danielle returned to stand by Meggido's side.  "I take it that
you were unable to locate your young man?"

	"If you are referring to your son, then you are correct," an irked
Danielle groused.  "I couldn't find him anywhere."

	"Oh!" Meggido chortled.  "You picked up on the fact that David is
my son, did you?  And, to assuage your curiosity, my dear, it is true.
David is indeed my son, which means, you shall soon be my daughter-in-law.
Now, as to where that son of mine is, let me assure you that he is here.
In fact, while you are unaware of this, the two of you engaged one another
in, shall we say, a truncated and somewhat lopsided conversation."

	Incredulously, Danielle rounded on her elderly escort.  "I've done
nothing of the sort, Xavier.  In fact, I've hardly said more than a dozen
words to anybody, save for yourself, since we've been here."

	"Not to be argumentative, my dear, but if you take a moment to
think about it, you have indeed engaged in a conversation with someone that
is here at COSI tonight."

	"Oh, yeah!" Danielle realized that Meggido's assertion was correct.
"You're right, Xavier.  I did speak to that ever so attractive waitress who
was carting around the champagne."

	"Yes, my dear.  You did at that."

	"Holy shit!" Danielle giddily exclaimed, as her mind grasped the
only logical conclusion that made any sense to her.  "Xavier, is this your
way of telling me that that waitress really is my David?"

	"What do you think, Danielle?  The proof, they say, is in the
pudding, and I take it that you were sexually attracted to the young woman
who was carting around the champagne, were you not?"

	"Yes!  Yes, I was!"  Danielle's excitement was growing by leaps and
bounds.  "And that's strange, because ever since I made that wish that
turned me into a real honest to goodness woman, I haven't felt that way
about another woman.  That's to say that, while I still find women to be
extremely attractive, they don't turn me like they once did.  But, come to
think of it, that waitress, and that ever so cute little derriere of hers,
really started to get my juices flowing."

	"Hey everybody!  We got us a full blown lesbo alert!" Chad's
sarcastic intonations resonated in Danielle's ear.

	"Chad!" Meggido's voice was as stern as Danielle had ever heard it.
"Knock it off!  My future daughter-in-law does not need to hear that sort
of rubbish from the likes of you."

	"Yes, sir!" Chad glibly replied.  "Knocking it off now, sir!"

	Just then, Danielle felt a presence drawing up close behind her.
Turning, she saw that it was Dana, the waitress she had been talking to
earlier.  "David, is that really you in there?"

	"Yes," Dana replied cheerfully, "'Tis I."  Then, drawing in close,
and speaking in voice set just a few decibels above that of a whisper,
Dana, aware that Chad, Gordon, as well as her father could also hear what
she was about to say, Dana nevertheless continued.  "Just so you know,
Danielle, I think you look absolutely fantastic tonight.  I just wish
things had worked out as planned, and that Angelica hadn't been called away
at the last moment.  I promise, I'll make this up to you."

	"You do realize that that is a promise I'm going hold you to."
Danielle smugly countered.  "But, be that as it may, David - Excuse me,
Dana! - I have to admit that you do make a pretty good-looking girl.  I
mean, you aren't up to my caliber in the looks department,' Danielle,
wishing to have a little fun at David's expense, told a fib, "but then
again, I wouldn't kick you out of bed."

	"Ladies!" Meggido's voice rang with a note of impatience.  "May I
remind you that we are here to do a job.  So, may I suggest that we can the
idle chatter, and get down to the business at hand.  Gordon, where, may I
ask, are you now?"

	Speaking in a very business like tone of voice, Gordon reported in.
"I'm in the sub-basement, on my way to the electrical room."

	"Good. Danielle and I will begin to make our way into the Founders'
Atrium.  As soon as we are in place, Chad will let you know."


+ + +


	The actual heist was anticlimactic at best.  The crystal pyramid,
while part of the display of recently discovered ancient Mesopotamian
artifacts, was far from being one of the featured items in the privately
owned collection that was on display that evening in COSI's Founders'
Atrium.  At best, the crystal pyramid played a subordinate role, and a very
insignificant one at that.  And, owing to the fact that the pyramid was not
one of the more highly touted items on display, it sat on one of the
exhibit's two flanking tables, situated between a small vase and what
appeared to be some sort of multiple-pipe pan-flute.

	The exhibit's curator, who was nominally in charge of the private
collection of ancient oddities that was on loan to COSI, upon catching
sight of Meggido, beckoned him forward.  "I did not expect to see you here
tonight, Xavier, my old friend.  But, I am nevertheless extremely pleased
that you chose to honor us with your presence this evening."  Then, aware
that Meggido was an acclaimed and accredited archeologist, the exhibit's
curator, pulling a pair of white cotton gloves out of the coat pocket of
his tuxedo as he did so, politely inquired if Meggido would like to take a
closer look at the collection.  Meggido, hoping that he would be allowed to
handle the items on display so that he could better inspect them, cordially
accepted the curator's most generous offer, as well as the pair of cotton
gloves that the curator had extracted from his tux's pocket.  Then, even as
Meggido was in the process of donning the gloves, the curator, one
Professor Albert Leonard Carrackus, unsnapped the red velvet rope from its
stanchion, thereby allowing Meggido entry into the cordoned-off exhibit.

	"Gordon!" Danielle heard Chad's voice in her ear.  "Have you gained
access to the electrical room?"

	"Yes!" Gordon responded.  "I'm standing here, ready to throw the
main breaker on your order."

	Having already inspected several of the items in the display,
Meggido allowed his hand to teasingly pass over the pan-flute.  "Ah!" he
exclaimed enthusiastically as his hand drifted down to loving caress the
translucent pyramid.  "Now, what do we have here, Albert?  A crystal
pyramid, something quite similar to the one I unearthed west of Baghdad
thirty-some odd years ago, save that the one I came across was a quite a
bit larger."

	"Yes," Professor Carrackus readily agreed.  "In fact, when I first
saw this pyramid, I naturally thought of the one you unearthed."

	"May I?" Meggido asked, his implication being that he wished to
pick up the translucent crystal so that he could better inspect it.

	"By all means, Xavier..." Carrackus encouraged.

	"Gordon!  Get ready to trip the breaker."  It was Chad again.

	Meggido picked up the pyramid, and as he brought it up to
eye-level, Chad, who was out in the van, keenly following the proceedings
on his bank of monitors, gave Gordon the go ahead.  A second later, the
lights winked out, plunging all of COSI into a stygian darkness that lasted
for only the briefest of moments ere the emergency lighting flickered on.
However, during that brief period that was bereft of illumination, Meggido
adroitly swapped the real crystal pyramid out, replacing it with the fake
one that that had been nestled away snuggly in a specially designed pocket
located along the left side of his tuxedo's cummerbund.

	"One...  two... three..." Chad's voice counted off the seconds.
"Okay, Gordon!  It's time for you to restore the power and get the hell out
of there."

	Once the lights were back on, Meggido, accompanied by his friend,
Professor Carrackus, unhurriedly continued his inspection of the items on
display.


+ + +


	Danielle having been left in the lurch, so to speak, decided that
it behooved her to re-locate to the other end of the exhibit's cordoned-off
area, and once there, wait for Meggido to rejoin her.  Casually, Danielle
made her way through the milling crowd.  As she did so, Danielle amused
herself by entertaining the humorous notion that there were times when
human beings acted like a herd of cattle, and that all that was missing was
the incessant mooing.

	Given that Danielle was keeping an eye on Meggido's progress, she
was not aware of the fact that a strange man who looked to be in his early
thirties was headed in her direction.  "Danielle!" Chad voice crackled in
her right ear.  "Don't look now, but there's a gentleman approaching at
your seven o'clock."

	"Is he a Vexthelogian?" Danielle inquired over the com-link.

	"No, not to my knowledge.  And, just so you know, my facial
recognition software hasn't come up with a match."

	"Good evening!" the man's voice clearly denoted him as hailing from
England, sounded just over Danielle's left shoulder.  "I see that your
elder escort has found something else to occupy his interest.  Now, as to
why that old fuddy-duddy would leave such a beautiful young woman to fend
for herself is beyond me.  Were you my date for the evening, I could not
see my way clear to leaving you unattended for any longer than was
absolutely necessary..."

	'The nerve of this conceited jerk!' Danielle, aware that the guy
was trying to chat her up, fumed internally.  Unnerved by the guy's efforts
to come-on to her, and deathly afraid that she might lose her composure,
and give the oafish bastard a good piece of her mind, Danielle turn about
and lamely stammered, "I'll have you know that that old fuddy-duddy is my
future father-in-law."

	"Father-in-law, eh?  More's the pity," the arrogant bastard
insolently quipped, "But, since you're still an unmarried young lady, and
it's like they say: all's fair in love and war; what do you say that we
blow this joint, hail a cab, and make for the nearest hotel?"

	Just then, just as Danielle was about to haul off and slap the
egotistical son of bitch; a strange, awkward, and unfathomable look
appeared on the guys' face as he abruptly turned, and without so much as
uttering another word, made a hasty retreat.

	Even as she watched the bastard disappear into the milling crowd,
Danielle heard a woman trying somewhat ineptly to stifle a giggle.  Turning
about to see just who the woman might be, Danielle was both surprised and
delighted to see that the woman was none other than Dana.  "I'm not sure if
you are aware of this or not, but a premature ejaculation tends to weaken
the resolve of most of the egotistical, God's Gift to Women types that I
ever had the dubious pleasure of running across."

	"You didn't?" Danielle began to giggle as well.

	"I most certainly did,' Dana snickered.  "Besides, he had it
coming.  Nobody messes with the woman I'm going to marry, and gets away
with it."  And, with that said, Dana continued on to suggest, "Here, you
look a little unnerved.  So, do yourself a favor, and have another glass of
champagne..."

	Just then, Chad keyed his mic and cavalierly chirruped, "Hey,
Gordo!  We've got us another lesbian alert!  It appears as if these two
lovebirds of ours are ready to jump each other's bones!"

	"Chad!" Gordon sternly admonished.  "You are really tempting fate.
Were I you, I'd knock it off..."


+ + +


	Though he had made the exchange, Meggido, moving at a leisurely
pace, continued to inspect the rest of the items that were on display.  He
then thanked Professor Carrackus for the professional courtesy that he had
been shown, and locating Danielle in the crowd, Xavier returned to stand by
her side.  "I hear they have some finger-foods set out in the Atomicafe, my
dear.  So, if I might, I would suggest that we head on over there and see
for ourselves just what kind of spread they have provided for us..."

	Danielle, having assumed that Meggido would want to leave shortly
after he had purloined the crystal pyramid, was surprised when they did
not.  "Danielle, you really must try the caviar," Meggido encouraged as he
spooned some more of the delicacy onto his plate.  "It is absolutely
delicious..."

	After another hour had passed, Danielle became aware that the crowd
was beginning to thin out.  Meggido must have taken note of that as well,
for he said, "Well, my dear, I do believe it is time for us to be on our
merry way."  Plucking his cellphone out of his pocket, Meggido informed
their chauffeur that he and Danielle were ready to leave and that their
driver was to pick them up outside of COSI's main entrance in ten minutes.


+ + +


	The Vexthelogians hit the limo as it made its way back to the
hotel.

Four large Hummer H2s seemingly came out of nowhere and boxed the limousine
in as it turned onto the access road upon which the hotel was situated.
Aware of the danger they faced, Meggido curtly informed Danielle to remain
where she was even as he threw the door open and spryly stepped out to face
his assailants.  Concurrently, the SUVs began to disgorge their four-man
assault teams.  As they did so, Danielle took note that all but one of
sixteen Vexthelogians that surrounded the limo were dressed in camouflage
fatigues and had the take-no-prisoners looks of battle-hardened
mercenaries.  The massive firepower they brandished only served to validate
Danielle's hastily arrived at assumption.

	The dapperly-dressed middle-age man that did not fit he mold of his
firearm-bearing companions, casually addressed Meggido, "Ah, Xavier!  I
commend you and your team.  As always, your performance this evening was
impeccable.  However, I believe you have something my people desire.  So,
since I abhor violence as much you do, why not do the smart thing and hand
over the crystal pyramid?  That will conclude our business for the evening
and we can both go our separate ways?"

	"Ah, Rancor," Meggido convivially replied as he reached down and
began to pull his tux's cummerbund around in order to gain easy access to
the specially designed pocket in which he had clandestinely stashed the
crystal pyramid.  "I was wondering when you were going to put in an
appearance."

	'Damn!' Danielle dismally thought as she peered out the limo's
heavy tinted windows.  'So, that's Rancor Cattilion...'

	Just then, Danielle realized that the window that separated the
limousine's rear section from the driver's seat was in the process of being
lowered.  "Danielle!" the bald and burly chauffeur called back to her.
"Fear not.  It's me!  Angelica!  Remember?  Contingency plans?  Xavier
thought something like this might happen.  Now, you and I are going to
create a little diversion."  Angelica's voice modulated, going from
unquestionable male, to ever so sultry female.  "I'm going to open the moon
roof and when I do, I want you to stand up in it.  Trust me!  I'll take
care of everything else.

	Meggido was in the process of drawing the crystal pyramid out of
his cummerbund when shit hit the fan.  As soon as the moon roof had fully
retracted, Danielle's head, followed immediately by her upper torso
appeared above the limousine, in effect draw the immediate attention of
Rancor Cattilion's MP5 totting thugs.  Several of the Vexthelogians thugs
proved to be trigger-happy and taken by surprise as they were, loose a
barrage of lead in Danielle's direction.  Before Danielle had the presence
of mind to flinch, thanks to Angelica magic, she was pummeled by two
dozen-cotton balls.

	But that was the least of Danielle's concerns, for she quickly
realized that the ground appeared to be dropping out from under her at an
alarming rate.  Added to that, she also became aware that she was no longer
standing in the limousine.  Rather she was straddling it.  'Oh. My God!'
Danielle's mind reeled as she grasped the truth of what was happening.
'I'm growing!  Angelica is turning me into giantess!  I'm like Alice in
Wonderland and The Attack of the 50ft Woman all rolled into one!'

	In the next second, Danielle, looking down upon the scene from high
above, suddenly came to the realization that Angelica had the situation
well in hand.  All of the MP5s carried by the Vexthelogians had orange
barrels.  Added to that, the plastic toy guns were being held by a bunch of
rather bewildered and terrified eight-year-old boys.

	Rancor Cattilion, aware that Meggido had turned the tables on him,
beat a hasty retreat in the direction of the closest H2.  "Danielle!"
Xavier called up to her even as the Rancor Cattilion was in the process of
slamming the SUV's driver's side door behind him.  "Would you be so kind to
detain Rancor for me?"

	Danielle needed no more encouragement than that.  She reached down
and adroitly lifted the SUV containing Rancor Cattilion off the macadam
road.

Meggido titled his head upward, cupped his hand to his mouth and called up
to Danielle.  "Thank you, my dear!  Your services tonight are greatly
appreciated."  Then, turning his head to address the lovely woman who was
smartly dressed in a stylish chauffeur's uniform.  "Angelica!  Since I
believe that you have adequately instilled the fear of God in these
Vexthelogian waifs, I do believe that you can return Danielle to her normal
size.  And after you attend to that, since playing with guns is frowned on
in this day and age, I think that it behooves us to find something else for
these young lads to play with.  Oh, I know!  Angelica, how about you change
their toy guns into Barbie Dolls.  Oh, and while you are at it, since
Barbies are more of a girl's toy, you might just as well change all of them
into pre-adolescent girls for the time being.

	Even as Danielle felt herself begin to shrink back to her normal
size, she heard Meggido address the terror stricken Vexthelogian
mercenaries.  "Now, I hope you young ladies have all learned a valuable
lesson tonight.  If you choose to associate with nefarious people, bad
things may come your way.  Were I you, I would count my blessings.  While I
have half a mind to change the lot of you into a bunch of skuzzy,
over-the-hill, dope addicted streetwalkers, I'm sure if I put my mind to it
I can come up with a much better solution as to how I should deal with you.
But for the here and now of it, I have a bigger fish to fry.  So for the
time being, I suggest that you keep yourselves occupied by playing with
your dollies."

	Once Danielle had shrunk back to her normal size, Meggido waved
both her and Angelica over to where he was standing.  "Danielle, if you
please," Meggido said as he held out his hand so that he could take
possession of the Matchbox sized SUV that contained the miniscule-sized
Rancor Cattilion.

	Once in possession of the tiny, Hot Wheel sized Hummer H2; Meggido
raised it to eye level and peered into it. Angelica, if you would, please
extricate Rancor from this teeny-weeny vehicle.  And while you're at it,
could you please restore him to his normal size.  But just to be on the
safe side, please continue to keep our Mr. Cattilion cordoned off from his
source of metaphysical energy.  We certainly do not wish to have to put up
with anymore of his tomfoolery tonight."

  	"Will do boss." Angelica replied, even as she drew on her own
metaphysical powers.

	A second later, the well-dressed middle-age man that Danielle had
played a part in apprehending stood before them.

	"Well played, Xavier," Rancor Cattilion began graciously.  "And
here I thought that I had you at a disadvantage.  I was under the
impression that our dear Angelica had been called away.  I should have
known that you had an ace up your sleeve."

	"I always do, Rancor.  I always do..." Meggido replied smugly.  "I
would have thought that you had learned that lesson by now."

	"Yes..." Rancor, playing the pert of the courtly gentleman to the
hilt, casually countered.  "But I guess some of us are just perennial
optimists.  That, or knuckle-dragging hardheads."

	"You are many things, Rancor.  But you are anything but a
knuckle-dragging hardhead."

	"So Xavier, while I have crossed swords with Angelica a time or
two, I have not had the pleasure of being acquainted with your other lovely
companion.  Would you be so kind as to introduce the two us?"

	"It would be my pleasure," Meggido dapperly replied.  "Mr. Rancor
Cattilion may I have the honor of introducing you to my future
daughter-in-law, Miss Danielle Johnson."

	"Ah!" Rancor graciously beamed.  "May I say it is honor to meet
you, Miss Johnson.  May I also say that David is lucky man to have found
someone as lovely as you are, my dear?"

	"That is quite enough, Rancor!" Meggido testily snapped.  "We have
dilly-dallied long enough!  Now, I have to figure out what I am to do about
you."

	"Well, as I recall that the last time you bested me, I spent the
better part of a year on a pig farm, eating swill out of a trough before I
managed regain my abilities and reverse the spell that you used to turn me
into a hog.  And the time before that, I spent a good four months traveling
with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus as one of their
performing pachyderms."

	"Oh!" Meggido chortled.  "That is right, isn't it.  I did have
Angelica turn you into an elephant several years ago.  So, tell me.  How
was it?"

	"It was nowhere near as bad as you might think.  That is to say,
they fed me well.  But it's analogous to what they say about dogsled teams.
If you're not the lead elephant, the view remains the same."  Then, after a
pause, Rancor inquired, "So, since the code prevents you from harming me,
or locking me away for the rest of eternity, what's it going to be, Xavier?
What kind of animal are you going to have Angelica turn me into this time?"

	"I told these hired guns of yours that I was sorely tempted to
change the lot of them into a bunch of skuzzy, over-the-hill, dope addicted
streetwalkers.  But I am now inclined to think that it might do you a world
of good were you to get a taste of how the other half lives."

	"You would turn me into a woman and in doing so, run the risk of
turning me into a once-man?" Rancor contemptuously countered.  "I think
not.  You're not that foolish, Xavier."

	"You are indeed correct, Rancor" Meggido concurred, as he brought
the crystal pyramid up to eye level.  "I have no intention of instructing
Angelica to turn you into a woman.  Though I serious doubt that you were
born with the potential of becoming a once-man, that is a risk I would
rather not take.  However, what I intent on doing, I will do myself.  And I
will do so using this fancy little bauble that you were intent on acquiring
from me."  With that said, Meggido flexed his will and, accessing his
metaphysical potential, focused his magical prowess through the prism of
the crystal pyramid.  As he did so, a shimmering column of variegated light
engulfed Rancor Cattilion's body from head to toe.

	After a three count, the column of variegated light winked out,
leaving what appeared to be an extremely attractive and smartly dressed
young femme fatale in her mid-twenties standing there before them.

	Taking a moment to access the damage, Rancor Cattilion, with a
voice that gushed with a raw sensuality, sardonically cackled, "What kind
of imbecile are you?  You have made a huge mistake, Xavier!  Once I regain
my powers -- something that is inevitable - if I chose to remain as I am,
which I just might, I may well become a once-man.  And, should that
happen. I will be more powerful than you.  And since I have a personal
score to settle with you, you can bet that I will come gunning for you.  In
other words, Xavier, given that I fully intend on making you pay for all
the ignominy I have suffered at your hands, be advised: I fully intend on
getting my comeuppance."

	Having heard enough, Meggido interjected, "I am afraid that you are
suffering from a misconception, Rancor.  While you do appear to be a woman,
if you would take a moment to compete a thorough examination of your
primary sexual equipment, you will find that you are not the woman you
appear to be.  Though you body belies it, a DNA test will verify the fact
that you are still very much a man."

	"You son of bitch!" Rancor vehemently spat as his hands verified
the fact that he still had male genitalia.  "You've turn me into a freak!"

	"Not to be a contrarian, but I believe the word is shemale,"
Meggido chuckled.  "My suggestion to you, for what it is worth, is to take
full advantage of this new lease on life that I have granted you.  You will
also find that being a shemale is nowhere near as bad as you might think.
Now, you will find several hundred dollars in your purse as well as a
driver license, a bank debt card and several other forms of identification
establishing you in your new life as a shemale.  You will also be happy to
learn that you are booked in a room at this very hotel, at least for
tonight.  So, unless there is something further you wish to discuss, I
would suggest that you go get yourself a pina colada at the hotel's bar.
Trust me.  A little alcohol will do you a world of good right about now.
It should go a long way in helping to sooth your ruffled nerves.  Oh!  And
you need not worry.  I took pity on you.  I made it so that you will not be
plagued by the sexual compulsions that I have saddled you with until
tomorrow night.  However, be warned, starting tomorrow they will begin
rearing their ugly, and if I may say so, perverted little heads.  Oh, and a
word about the compulsions you are going to be dealing with, Rancor.  Rest
assured they are some real humdingers.  Oh, and just so you know, it was
not by chance that I chose the word 'humdinger' just now.  You see, Rancor,
as a shemale, you will find that you are addicted to cum, so much so that
you are going to need your daily fix or suffer the consequences.  And that
means you are going to be administering a lot of hum-jobs over the next few
months.  Now, if you will excuse me, I have to do something about the
people you duped into helping you waylay me tonight.  So Rancor, you need
not tarry a moment longer.  The hotel bar awaits.  So, as we used to say
back in the good old days, get ye gone!"  With that said, Meggido waved a
dismissive hand in the direction of the hotel.

	Meggido, Angelica and Danielle looked on as the stunning and amply
endowed shemale began to unsteadily make his way along the access road.

  	With the hint a giggle infesting her voice, Danielle quipped, "I
would say that Rancor Cattilion seems to be having a bit of trouble with
those heels you fitted him out with, Xavier."

	Before Meggido could respond to Danielle, Angelica chimed in with a
comment of her own, "Yes, those heels do seem to giving the him a fit.
But, there's no need for you to be concerned about it, Danielle.  If I know
Xavier, it will be only a matter of a few more steps before Rancor becomes
fully acclimated to them.  Look, Danielle!  You can see for yourself that
Rancor's already made a good deal of progress adapting to his stilettos,
which leads me to believe that by the time he - or should that be she? --
gets to the hotel, she/he will have pretty much mastered getting around in
them..."

	"Alright ladies!" Meggido intruded.  "If the two of you are quite
finished with your running commentary, it is high time we deal with these
unfortunate waifs that Rancor duped into helping him waylay us tonight.

	Somewhat confused by Meggido last statement, Danielle possessed a
question.  "Xavier, aren't those little girls Vexthelogians too?"

	"Yes... and no..." Meggido, hedging his bets, vacillated.  "Yes,
because technically speaking, they are on the Vexthelogian payroll.  And
no, because, they are so far down the food chain from those that comprise
the Vexthelogian hierarchy, they have little or no knowledge of the inner
workings of that nefarious order.  Basically, they are little more that
hired guns.  No more!  No less!  In fact, were I betting man, I would wager
that they believe that they have aligned themselves with the righteous side
in this ongoing struggle and that we three, not the Vexthelogians, are the
villains.  Tell you what, Danielle.  Let me try a little experiment to
prove my point."

	"Children!' Meggido called out to the cowering and petulant group
of eight-year old girls.  "Before I decide what we are going to do with
you, I have a few questions.  By a show of hands, how many of you have
served in the military?"

	Though some of the little girls were somewhat reticent to respond,
after a little verbal prodding by Meggido along with a very intimidating
scowl from Angelica, all fifteen girls reluctantly raised their hands.

	"Good!" Meggido cheerfully replied.  "Now, how many of you have
seen combat, in either Iraq or Afghanistan?"

	As before, all of the eight-year-olds held their hands in the air.

	"Hmmm..." Meggido mused allowed.  "It is as I anticipated.  All
right, once again by a show of hands how many of you believe that you are
on the side of the angels and that I and my two lovely companions are the
bad guys?"

	There was no hesitation as fifteen tiny hands thrust upward.

	Meggido took a protracted moment to marshal his thoughts.  "While I
doubt that any of you young ladies will believe me, I am afraid that you
all have been deceived by whomever enlisted you.  The Vexthelogians are not
the altruistic paragons they pretend to be.  Though they hide it well, they
are evil personified and their ultimate goal is world domination through
the use of the magical artifacts they are endeavoring to collect..."

	With a deep sense of regret, Meggido believing hat he had failed to
convince the majority of Rancor's goon squad that they had been duped into
aligning themselves with the wrong side, decided that it was time to move
on.  "I wish that I could find it in my heart to simply have my cohort
restore you to your former selves and send you on your merry way.  But, I
am afraid I cannot in good conscious do that.  As much as I wish I could, I
cannot just let bygones be bygones.  Now, since you all have paramilitary
backgrounds and appear to like playing soldier, I think it only fitting
that you all continue on in that vein.  However, instead of taking lives, I
was thinking that it would be fitting for all of you to lend a hand in
saving lives."

	With that said, Meggido once again raised the crystal pyramid to
eye level.  A second later, fifteen shimmering columns of variegated light
engulfed the sniveling eight-year old girls.  Three seconds after that,
fifteen young women, each dressed in the camouflage fatigues of an Air
Force Flight Nurse, stood there perplexed, questioning their sanity and
wondering what was going to happen next.

	"Angelica!" Meggido said.  "How about changing those Hummer H2s
into Air Force Humvees for me?"

	Angelica did as Meggido requested.  As she did so, Meggido scanned
the group of newly made flight nurses.  "You!  You!  You!  And you!"
Meggido said, as he arbitrarily pointed to a blonde, a red head, brunette
and a woman with raven black hair.  "The four of you!  Come over here!"

	To their credit, none of the four who had been singled out by
Meggido displayed signs of apprehension as they boldly, if not defiantly
strode over to stand at attention directly in front of Meggido, Angelica
and Danielle.

	"As Air Force Flight Nurses, you all are commissioned officers.  If
my memory serves, flight nurses' start out as 2nd Lieutenants.  However,
this new unit of yours cannot all be of the same rank.  So, I need to
promote of few you. And that is why I selected the four of you.  Let me
see..." Meggido pondered the matter for a moment.  With his mind made up,
he then pointed to the blonde and the red head.  "I am going to have
Angelica make the two of you 1st Lieutenants.  All right, now we need an
executive officer for this unit.  Angelica, I do believe that the woman
with the black hair will make a superb executive officer so, if you would
be so kind to make her a Captain.  And, that just leaves the brunette as
the head honcho for this detachment.  So, how about you make her a Major?"

Angelica quickly complied with Meggido's directives.  Once the magical
promotions had been taken care of.  Meggido took the Major aside.  As he
did so, he magically plucked an envelope out of thin air and presented it
to the brunette.  "Here are your orders, Major.  Succinctly put, they
require you to be at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at or before 08:00
Monday, which, giving that it is after midnight already, is later today.
There, you and your people are to board a C130 for the first leg of your
unit's deployment to Afghanistan..."


+ + +


	Once back at their hotel, Meggido walked Danielle to her room.
Reaching the door to her room, Meggido informed Danielle that after a
successful acquisition, the team liked to get to get together and celebrate
their achievement.  "Earlier this evening, Gordon suggested we all go to
the Denny's across the way.  However, since both he and David, or should I
say, Dana, will be tied up at COSI for a couple more hours, it will be
sometime before we can all head over there together.  So, since we do not
like to attract any undue attention to ourselves, I would urge you to
change into something a little less flamboyant.  As lovely as that gown is,
it is far too conspicuous..."

	Though she was reluctant to change out of that fetching gown of
hers, once alone in her room Danielle reluctantly did as Meggido suggested.
Then, with time on her hands, she powered up her laptop and killed time by
playing Spider Solitaire followed by FreeCell.

	It was just coming up on one in the morning when Dana called and
informed Danielle that she was coming around to collect her.  A minute
later, a subdued rap on her door informed Danielle that Dana had arrived on
the scene.  Though she had removed her nametag, Dana was still smartly
dressed in the same black skirt and white blouse she had been wearing at
COSI.  "Damn, girl!" Danielle enthusiastically exclaimed as she opened the
door.  "You look good enough to eat."

	With a snicker infesting her voice, Dana impishly replied, "We can
talk about that later.  As for now, I'm famished.  Besides, Xavier,
Angelica, Chad and Gordo are waiting for us to join them.  So, sweetie, how
'bout you grab your purse, so that we can be on our way..."

	As the two of them stepped into the hallway, Dana reached over and
enfolded Danielle's hand in hers, much as she had been doing right along as
David.  For her part, Danielle was not phased one iota by Dana's overt act
of affection.  Instead of being put-off by the fact that David was as much
of a woman as she was, at least in a physical sense, Danielle found that
she was not only intrigued by the possibilities that Dana presented, by
also turned-on by them as well.

	The whole time they were at Denny's, Danielle, captivated by the
ravishing beauty that her fiancée had become, had a hard time keeping her
hands to herself.  That being the case, upon arriving back at their hotel,
Danielle took Dana aside and made it quite clear that Dana would be
spending the night with her.  "Danielle," Dana sought clarification.  "Are
you sure about this?  I mean, as much as I hate to point out the obvious,
we are both women."

	"Yes, I am well aware of the fact that we're both women!" Danielle
countered emphatically.  "And, yes, I'm sure!  Do you have any idea how
horny I am right now, Dana?  I know how crazy this is going to sound, you
know, with the two of us being the same sex, but God help me: I want to
jump your bones so bad right now it almost hurts!  Besides, I want to see
if you're as much of a pillow-eater as I am!  In other words, I can't wait
to make you squeal and squirm, much the way you do me..."


+ + +


	As it worked out, neither one of them got much sleep that night.
Playing an ongoing game of tit for tat, they seesawed back and forth, in a
you do me, then I'll do you kind of fashion that they both found to be
sexually gratifying and ever so enjoyable.

	"So," Danielle dreamily mused just as the sun was coming up on that
Sunday morning.  "I guess this is how it's going to be for the next two
weeks?  I mean, while I won't say that I'm not going to miss feeling you up
inside of me, because there's no getting around the fact that I definitely
will, this lesbian thing that we've got going for us does have its
advantages.  For one thing, as a woman, you'll never reach a point where
you're too pooped to pop."

	"That's true," Dana chuckled.  "Added to that, I kind of like
having all these rather nifty erogenous zones.  But, just so you know,
Danielle, you don't have to wait two weeks before we can engage in
intercourse again."

	"I won't?" Danielle was puzzled.  "How come?  I mean, I was under
the impression that you would have to wait fourteen days, and maybe a few
more after that, before you could safely change back into a man again."

	Realizing that she inadvertently said the wrong thing, Dana tried
to smooth things over.  "Well, while that's true in your particular case,
the same time constraints do not apply to me.  In fact, should you wish to
do so, we can engage in heterosexual intercourse tonight if you'd like."

	Feeling as if she was the victim of a cruel joke, an agitated
Danielle angrily rounded on Dana.  "What the shit's going on here, David?
Your father told me that he couldn't turn me back into a man again for at
least two weeks at the minimum, and here you're saying that you can be a
man again as early as tonight!  What gives here?  Tell me!  Who's been
lying to whom?"

	Knowing that she had a lot of explaining to do, Dana heaved a
labored sigh, and taking Danielle's hands in her own, somewhat reluctantly
began.  "The truth of the matter is that in this particular instance, no
one is lying, because the spell that turned you into woman, is not the same
spell I used to turn myself into a woman.  Though the results are basically
the same, the two spells are inherently different.  The spell that my
father booby trapped this room with really does require a fourteen day
holdover before it can be safely reversed, where as the spell I used to
turn myself into a female can be undone after twenty four hours."

	While she was confident that Dana was telling her the truth,
Danielle's mind still grappled with a disturbing incongruity.  "Well, if
what you're telling me is true, and you possess the ability to turn
yourself into a woman, why then did your father need to magically booby
trap this room in the first place, unless..."

	Danielle's logic had hit upon the truth of the matter.  "...Unless
your father was lying to me, and it wasn't, as he first told me, a case of
mistaken identity.  Tell me the truth, Dana.  I was supposed to be assigned
this room right from the get-go, wasn't I?"

	"Yes, Danielle, you were.  And, you're right.  My father flat out
lied to you that first night."

	"Why?" a thoroughly confused and enraged Danielle irately demanded.
"Why on earth would he do something like that, Dana?  Why did your father
deceive me?"

	"Because, Danielle, what you have yet to understand is that you,
not the crystal pyramid, were the real target of this clandestine
acquisition of ours.  The crystal pyramid never was anything more than a
secondary target.  We, meaning my father and I, came here to Columbus to
enlist you into our cause.  The pyramid was nothing more than a bonus, as
in it was nothing more than the icing on the cake if you will."

	"Oh!" Danielle ruefully scoffed, as a wealth of tears began to
freely flow down her cheeks.  "I get it.  Your father turns me into girl,
and then it was your job to come along to close the deal by sweeping me off
my feet, thereby making me want to become a real woman.  And, the worst
part of it all is, I fell for it, hook, line and sinker.  I'm a woman now,
and I've only got myself to blame!"

	"Danielle!" it was Dana's turn to become vexed.  "Just so you know,
it was never part of the plan for me to fall in love with you.  I did that
all on my own."

	"Yeah!  Right!" Danielle whimpered, as she tried to remove the
engagement ring that David had given her.  "And, you expect me to believe
that crap?"

	"Yes!" Dana harshly countered.  "I do!  And, the reason I do is
because it's the truth!  I do love you, and I want to marry you!"

	Shocked, an incredulous Danielle, in an all out effort on her part
to salvage the situation, sought confirmation.  "You do?  You're not just
saying that?"

	"No, Danielle!  I'm not!  I love you!  I really, truly do!  And,
yes, I want you to be my wife?  And, I'm truly sorry that my father and I
deceived you.  But, just so you know, I'm not sorry for the way things have
worked out.  I love you, and if you're honest with yourself, you know in
your heart of hearts that you love me, even if I happen to be the same sex
as you are at the moment."

	Aware that what Dana had said was true, and that they were both in
love with one another, Danielle, her face breaking into a sorrowful smile,
whimpered and sobbed.  "Well... I guess leaves just one other thing that we
have to resolve."

	"And what, pray tell, is that?"

	"Please tell me that I am going to be the only one of us who is
going to be wearing a wedding gown when we get married."

	"Oh, that's a definite!" Dana laughed as she took Danielle in her
emasculated arms.  "I wouldn't have it any other way.  As far as I'm
concerned, after today, you'll never have to put up with me being Dana ever
again."

	"Hey, let's not be hasty here," Danielle offered a quick rejoinder.
"It's like they say: we needn't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Besides, in just a few short hours I've grown kind of fond of your feminine
alter ego.  So, I tend to think that a lesbian tryst every now and again
could really spice up our love life.  In fact, while I really can't see my
way clear to spending my wedding night with you all femmed out to the max
like you are now, I don't think I mind it one iota were Dana to put in an
appearance while the two of us are on our honeymoon..."


+ + +


	Somewhat later in the conversation, as the two lay nestled in one
another's arms, Dana broached a subject that she would rather have avoided.
"Danielle, you do realized that's it not to late."

	Puzzled by Dana's remark, Danielle sought clarification.  "It's not
too late for what?"

	"To ask Xavier to change you back into a man again."

	"And, you really think he would do it?"

	"Yes," Dana, with her heart sinking, reluctantly replied, "He would
not want to do it, but he nevertheless would."

	"And, what about you?  How would you feel were I to ask your father
to reverse the spell?"

	"Honestly, Danielle, I'd feel awful.  I love you.  I want to marry
you.  And, because I do, I don't want you to turn back into a man again.
But, if that's what you really want, I guess I will have to respect your
decision.  I don't have to like it, and you best believe that I won't, but
if that's what you decide, who am I to stop you?"  Then, after a pregnant
pause, a pause in which her apprehension soared to unbearable levels, a
panicked Dana felt the need to ask Danielle the crucial question, "So, is
that what you are going do?  Ask my father to turn you back into a man
again?"

	"No, silly!" Danielle chortled.  "I like things just the way they
are.  I just wanted to see your reaction..."


+ + +


	Though they did not get out of bed until one that afternoon, on
Danielle's insistence, Dana called her father, and after she filled him in
on what had transpired, arranged for a meeting for the three of them in the
hotel's restaurant at two.

	As Dana and Danielle were in the process of getting ready, Dana,
who had been first out of the shower, turned on the room's television and
after scanning of the menu, opted for the Fox News Channel.  "Danielle!"
Dana called out to her fiancée attention.  "You really need to see this!
So, stop whatever you're doing and get out here quick!"

	"Shit!" Danielle quipped as she caught the tail end of a video of
herself as the giantess of the night before, straddling the stretch limo.
"It looks like somebody had their cellphone handy and managed to catch the
attack of the 50ft me.  And here I thought you guys tried to operate under
the radar.  Shit's going to hit the fan when your father hears about this.
I mean, I can see the headlines now.  Giant woman invades Columbus, Ohio."

	"You needn't worry.  My father already knows all about this
particular video, as well as a handful of reports that were phoned into the
local 911 Bureau."

	"He does?" Danielle was dubious.  "So, does he intend on doing
anything about it?"

	"He already has done everything he could to minimize the fallout."

	"And what, pray tell, is that?"

	"Weren't you listening to what the reporter covering the story just
said?"

	"No!" Danielle was clearly distraught.  "I was far to upset to make
any sense out of anything that woman reporter was saying."

	"Well, had you listened, you would have heard the reporter say that
the aberration of a giant woman seen wandering around in the general
vicinity of the Columbus Airport was nothing more than a holographic image.
The reporter went on to say the holographic image of a female colossus
decked out in an evening gown had been accidentally triggered by a secret
military unit that had been seen passing through Columbus late last night
en route to an unspecified destination."

	Even after Dana's explanation, Danielle was still dubious.  "And do
you really think that anybody's going to believe that crap?  I mean, it
sounds kind of farfetched to me."

	"Some will.  Others won't.  But there is an upside to all of this,
sweetums."

	"There is?"

	"Yes!  As a result of what happened last night, you are well on
your way to becoming an urban legend."

	"Imagine that.  Me, an urban legend..."


+ + +


	Urged by Dana, Meggido sincerely apologized for the underhanded way
he had gone about enlisting Danielle to his cause.  "You do realize that
this is it." Danielle sternly declared having heard the elderly man out.
"I'll tolerate no more lies or deceptions.  From here on out, it's the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  No more deceit!  No more
evasions!  Is that understood?"

	"Yes, my dear," Meggido contritely replied.

	Danielle was confident that Meggido was telling her the honest to
goodness truth.  Though still a little hot under the collar, she also was
aware that it would be counter productive to continue to lambaste the
elderly gentleman and so, elected to simply change the subject.  "So,
where, may I ask, are Angelica, Chad and Gordon?  Still asleep?

	"Heavens no, my dear.  Though I'm only hazarding a guess, I'd say
that the three of them are probably somewhere west of Dayton by now.  You
see, Danielle, what they say is true: there is little rest for the weary.
Angelica needs Chad and Gordon's help for an acquisition that her team is
planning on undertaking out in Denver the week after next."

	"Angelica has her own team?"  That was news to Danielle.  "But,
here I thought she was part of your team."

	"Yes, she was," Meggido freely admitted.  "However, several months
ago she was promoted, and now she will be heading up her own team of
talented scalawags.  In fact, once we get you up to your full potential,
and you get a good feel for how field operations work, I think it is
reasonable to assume that you and my son will jointly assume responsibility
for leading this old team of mine.  You see, my dear, though it has been
some while since we had a married couple on one of our acquisition teams,
upper management tends to like husband and wives working together."

	Taken aback by her father's unexpected pronouncement, Dana,
employing a familiarity that she had not used in Danielle's presence
before, breathlessly interjected herself into the conversation, "Dad!  Did
I hear you correctly?  Are you really saying that you are thinking about
giving up fieldwork?"

	"Yes, Dana, you heard me correctly.  I've been giving it a lot of
thought, and I've come to realize that Ecclesiastics was right.  My time
for fieldwork is coming to an end.  Once we get Danielle here up to snuff,
my job will be done, and I can move on to greener pastures."

	"Such as?" Dana, curious to know what her father had in mind,
prompted.

	"Such as, the oversight committee is in desperate need of new
blood.  But, if either of you share that opinion of mine with anyone else,
be advised that I will vehemently deny that I ever said anything of the
sort..."

	Somewhat later in the conversation, Danielle's curiosity got the
best of her.  "Just this morning, during our brouhaha, Dana let it slip
that I was the main reason that you all were here in Columbus, and that the
crystal pyramid was only a secondary concern."

	"That is true, my dear," Meggido confirmed what Dana had told
Danielle earlier.  "The primary reason for our being here in Columbus was
indeed to enlist you in our cause."

	"Because of my latent potential for magic?" Danielle tentatively
inquired.

	"Exactly, my dear!" Meggido replied cheerfully.

	"Well, if that's the case, Xavier, how did you come to learn of my
so called latent magical abilities in the first place?"

	"Now, that is a very good question, and I applaud you for asking
it," Meggido, feeling entirely vindicated for pressuring his esteemed
colleagues on the oversight board of the Stewards of Humanity to have a go
at enlisting one Mr. David Johnson in their noble cause, energetically
responded.  "Danielle, have you ever heard of either one, or the other, or
both of these terms before: divination or scrying?"

	"Yes..." Danielle's rather lackluster reply was anything but
positive.  "I think so, but to be perfect honest, I'm not really sure.  Do
they have something to do with fortune telling?"

	"Yes.  Those terms are often associated with those frauds and
fakers that practice various forms of prognostication.  However, we, the
Stewards of Humanity, employ the magical art of scrying for two distinct
purposes, with one of those being to locate magical objects, objects that
need the special care and safeguarding that only we can afford them."

	"Okay!" Danielle prompted.  "That's one.  So, what's the other?"

	"Have a little patience, Danielle," Meggido graciously admonished
his future daughter-in-law.  "Remember, all good things come to those who
wait.  Now, where was I?  Oh!  Right!  The second way we Stewards of
Humanity employ the art of scrying!  Basically, we use it to find
prospective candidates, such as yourself, to enlist into our ranks.  In
fact, Danielle, we have a small select group within our society who do
nothing but scrying for the kind of talent that you possess."

	Danielle felt compelled to ask a follow-up question, "So, just how
long have you and the Stewards of Humanity known about me and these latent
abilities of mine?"

	"Actually, my dear, we have been keeping an eye on you since the
day you were born..."

	Still even later in their conversation, Danielle desired to know
what the purloined crystal pyramid actually did.  Having wondered when
Danielle would finally get around to asking that particular, if not
pertinent question, Meggido graciously provided her with an answer.  "The
crystal pyramid is nothing more than an amplifier.  Through its use,
magical practitioners such as Gordon, Chad, this ornery and occasionally
female son of mine, as well as myself, can perform feats of magic that
would be well beyond our normal abilities.  For instance, were I to cast a
spell through the crystal pyramid, I can achieve results which only
once-men are capable of achieving.  However, were a once-man, like Angelica
or yourself, to cast a spell through the magical prism of the crystal
pyramid, there is no telling what could be achieved.  Fortunately for
mankind, the Vexthelogians no longer have any once-men in their ranks.  The
last one was vanquished several centuries ago, and that is why it was so
important for us to get to you before they did..."


+ + +


	That evening, after taking in a movie at a nearby multiplex, Dana
and Danielle returned to the hotel, and once sequestered in Danielle's
room, enjoyed a mutually satisfying lesbian romp in the hay.  Then, even as
Dana was savoring the last vestiges of the warm-fuzzies of post-orgasm
bliss, she accessed her magical wherewithal and so, began to morph back
into David.

	Having never seen anyone undergo a spontaneous sex change, Danielle
was awestruck, as well as extremely turned-on by the amazing spectacle of
Dana fluidly transforming back into the ruggedly handsome man she loved in
something just under a minute.  "Oh, my God!  Dana!  I mean David!  That
was amazing!  Simply amazing, watching you change like that..."


+ + +


	The next day, right after Meggido, David and Danielle ate breakfast
together in the hotel's restaurant, the three of them relocated to
Meggido's suite.  Once there, David's father proceeded to instruct Danielle
in a form of meditation that would help her achieve a mental state that
would in turn, allow her to access her magical potential.  Afterward
Danielle practiced the procedure a few times before a very pleased and
satisfied Meggido informed her that David was more than capable of
continuing her instruction in the magical arts.  However, Meggido also said
that he would check from time to time to insure that Danielle was
progressing at an acceptable pace.  That prompted Danielle to inquire,
"Xavier, are you planning on going somewhere?"

	"Yes, dear.  I am.  But, so too are the both of you.  Duty calls,
and I must deliver the crystal pyramid to one of our secure repositories.
You and this wayward son of mine, will also be bidding Columbus a fond
adieu."

	"We will?"

	"Yes.  As I understand it, both you and my son here are avid scuba
divers.  So, since the Stewards have a 57' Grand Banks Motor Yacht docked
out at Walkers Cay in the Abaco Islands in the northern extent of the
Bahamas.  And since it is not being used by any of our associates at the
moment, I thought that the two of you might like to avail yourselves of it.
Tomorrow, after the two of you see me off, you can fly down to
Ft. Lauderdale.  Once there, a seaplane will convey you out to Walkers Cay.
But, Danielle, you must promise me something.  You must promise me that you
will set aside some time everyday to practice your meditation."

	"You needn't worry about that, father," David said.  "I'll make
sure she practices everyday."

	"Just my luck!" Danielle sarcastically quipped.  "My fiancée is a
slave driver.  Oh!  I almost forgot!  As much as I'd like to spend some
quality time alone with David in the Bahamas, I really have got to take
care of tidying things up back home, you know, so that I start off fresh."

	"You need not concern yourself with that, Danielle.  We have people
who will attend to all of that for you."

	"What about my personal items?  I mean, while I don't have a lot
left, owing to the fact that my ex pretty much got rid of my stuff during
the divorce, there are a few things I'd like to hold onto."

	"And, well you should, my dear.  But, I assure you; we will box
everything up for you.  That way, you can go through everything at your
leisure."

	"But, what about work?  I'm not sure what exactly.  But, I assume
there'll be a bunch of forms that I'm going to have to fill out."

	"There probably will be," Meggido concurred.  "But, we have people
who will address all of that.  Besides, Danielle, you cannot very well put
in an appearance looking like you do now.  No one will recognize you.
Added to that, no one will believe you if you try to explain to them who
you once were.  Believe me.  It is better for everyone concerned if you let
us handle everything.  Besides, it is not like we have never done this sort
of thing before.  Added to that, we are good at it.  And, I assure you that
we do not leave any loose ends."


+ + +


	David and Danielle spent the better part of a month at Walkers Cay.
Within two weeks of their arrival, David had Danielle to the point where
she could conjure a ball of handfire with ease.  And, by the time they
climbed aboard the seaplane for their flight back to Lauderdale, Danielle
could do everything magically that David could do and then some.  In fact,
the last few days of their stay in the Bahamas, Danielle fixed it so that
she and David could spend the better part of each day underwater sans the
use of scuba.  She did this by using her magical wherewithal to first
change David into Dana, and then the two of them into mermaids.

	Upon hearing news of this extraordinary feat of Danielle's from his
son, Meggido was greatly impressed; so much so that he requested a
demonstration of her new found abilities.  Danielle was quick to oblige.
It was midsummer's eve, and Danielle, feeling a bit frolicsome, decided
that it was high time to give her future father-in-law a little taste of
what it's like to have a full-blown case of femininity shoved up his butt.
Impishly, and without a word as to what she was about, Danielle engaged her
magic and changed Meggido, David and herself into adorable little pixie
maidens, each one fitted out with the loveliest translucent wings
imaginable.  They flitted about for an hour or so before Danielle decided
that it was high time to return the three of them to human form.  However,
while she turned Dana back into David, she left Meggido as a redheaded, and
every so shapely twenty-something femme fatale.

	"Danielle!" Meggido was quick to register a complaint.  "What's the
meaning of this?  Being a four-inch tall pixie was, to say the least, not
only tolerable, but also instructive, in a pleasant sort of way that I
rather enjoyed.  But, I demand you change me back to my old self this
instant."

	"No..." Danielle was thoroughly enjoying the moment.  For his part,
David, watching his father's apparent uneasiness, could not stop himself
from laughing.  "I think that this new look kind of suits you, Xaviera."

	In an unbridled huff, Meggido, her voice a husky contralto, yet
seductively feminine, demanded an explanation.  "Xaviera!  Did you just
call me Xaviera?"

	"Would you prefer, Xaviere, or perhaps Xena?" Danielle snickered.

	"I would prefer, Xavier!  And I would like my old body back, if you
please."

	"David," Danielle snickered.  "What do you think?  Should I do as
your father requests?  Or, should I leave him like she is now for... shall
we say, the next fourteen days, you know, just to teach him how it feels to
be a woman?"

	"That sure sounds like a plan to me," David, playing along with
Danielle's jest, teasingly replied.  "However, there is the real danger
that he might come to like being a woman, much the way you did."

	"David!" an alarmed Xaviera tried her damnedest to enlist her son's
help.

	Ignoring his father, David, who was snickering away to beat the
band, continued, "I hate to have to say this Danielle, but I don't think my
father could handle functioning as a woman the way you have.  So, as much
as I'm enjoying seeing him, or should that be her, hoisted on her own
petard, I think it might be for the best were you change her back into a
man again."

	"Please, Danielle!" Xaviera, on the verge of tears, vigorously
pleaded.  "I beg you!  Change me back!"

	"Alright..." Danielle, with a casual flourish of her hand, restored
Meggido's manhood.

	"Thank you, Danielle," Meggido was noticeably relieved to be a man
once again.  "I know you were only having a little fun at my expense, but
you have no idea how hard that was for me.  You see, this is far from the
first time that I have functioned as a female.  Truth be told: I logged my
fair share of time as a woman, much like my son has.  In fact, I spent so
much time as a woman that I became addicted to it, and it took everything I
had to break free of my addiction."

	"Oh!" Danielle felt like a fool.  "I'm so sorry, Xavier.  Had I
known, I never would have done that you."

	"There is no need to apologize, my dear.  You had no way of
knowing, since I never even told David about that rather disreputable stage
of my life.  But, be that as it may, some good did come of it.  You see,
that is how I met and fell in love with David's mother, who was the first
once-man I ever met."

	Shocked to the depth of his being by his father's revelation, David
quipped, "My mother was a once-man?"

	"Yes, David she was.  She was also the finest woman I have ever
known.  However, while she was more powerful than Angelica, she was not
nearly as powerful as your Danielle here.  And, you will no doubt be
surprised to learn that it was I who recruited her.  But, that is neither
here nor there.  Someday, my boy, you and I will sit down over snifters of
brandy and I will tell you how your mother and I met, fell in love, and
married..."


+ + + Epilogue + + +


	Six months later, David and Danielle became husband and wife in a
simple ceremony held on a secluded beach somewhere in the Bahamas.  There
were only a few attendees.  Meggido gave the bride away.  Angelica stood as
Danielle's maid of honor.  Gordon was David's best man.  And, Chad, much to
his dismay, as well as a touch of Danielle's magical prowess, was a most
adorable, albeit petulant, flower girl to ever be part of a wedding party.

	Dana did not put in an appearance until the fourth night of their
honeymoon.  However, it should be noted that after their honeymoon was
over, on Danielle's insistence, Dana continued to frequently share the
newlywed's bed.


+ + + The End + + +