Cursed

Cursed By Stephanie

Three years ago I married my best friend. Often, a statement like that is the beginning of a wonderful love story. In this case, it's the beginning of a very strange one.

People always want to know how Diamond and I met. It's a natural question. Diamond, of course, is my wife. She's also, as I said, my best friend. Whenever people ask us that question, we always give each other a knowing look, wondering just how much we should tell, and just how much they'd actually believe. In the end, we usually just smile and say that we've known each other ever since grade school.

Which is true. We met in Mrs. Holdsberg's third grade class at Arcadia Elementary School. That's the year my family moved in just up the street from the family of the person who would end up being my best friend. As soon as we met we became inseparable. We did everything together. We ate lunch together. We rode bikes together. We even had sleep-overs at each other's houses.

I know what you're thinking. Co-ed sleepovers for third graders? Well, this is where the story gets a little strange. See, in the third grade, my best friend wasn't Diamond. My best friend was Cole Dalton, a boy. Just like me.

For the next fourteen years, Cole and I were close friends. We were best friends all through high school and junior high. We went to the same college, where we were roommates all four years. Don't get confused. We weren't "that" close. Cole and I were both unquestionably heterosexual. We always knew one or both of us might meet someone and decide to get married some day. We knew that career choices might force one of us to move away some day. Those were just life choices, and we knew, no matter what, we'd find a way to keep being friends.

Fate found a way to make that easier for us. But only after knocking us for one incredible loop first.

It's been four years since that fateful week hiking in the mountains of Colorado. I wish I had written things down earlier, while they were still fresh in my memory. Even now, I find I'm forgetting small details of just how it happened. I need to write this now before I forget anymore.

It was summer, 2003. Cole and I had just graduated from college. Cole had plans to continue on to medical school the next year. I was still looking for a job. Medical school would take Cole 1200 miles away that next fall, and we realized that my job search might take me somewhere else, too. In all likelihood, this was to be our last summer together. We decided to make the most of it with a week-long backpacking trip.

In hindsight, it was a pretty stupid idea. No, it was a stupid idea that turned out pretty good anyway. Cole and I were city boys. We knew next to nothing about backpacking. I somehow convinced him that I knew the area where we were going. I don't know how I did that. Cole knew every vacation I'd ever gone on with my family. Just like I knew every vacation he'd ever been on with his family. Okay, I did go there once with my family, when I was about ten. But at the time I had no idea how we got there, or even where we were. And with my mom and two sisters along, we certainly didn't go hiking more than a mile or two at the most.

Then there's my sense of direction. I don't have one. I once got lost on the way home from his house to mine. Hey, it was dark, and it was raining. I was trying to go a different route that would take me a little out of my way, but which I thought would keep me from getting wet. I ended up taking a wrong turn at the gate, and got myself turned around. By the time I figured out I was going the wrong way, I was too proud to turn around and go back. I ended up at our church, a half-mile away, and had to have the pastor call my parents and have them pick me up. By then I was completely soaked.

But Cole was too good a friend to say anything about that. He just went along. Fortunately for us, he planned our menu. We still ran out of food, but only after it took us a day longer to find our way back than we'd planned. Okay, that was my fault, too. I thought I remembered which path we were supposed to take.

Our hike started on a sunny Saturday. The packs were heavy, but we were both strong and healthy. We made good time, getting to the lake, where we planned to eat lunch, well before noon. Since it was early, we decided to keep going. I told Cole I knew of a waterfall a mile or two up the river that would make an excellent place to eat. I mean, you'd figure with all the rocks and boulders we were climbing over, there had to be a decent waterfall eventually.

Two hours later we still hadn't come to anything that resembled a hike-stopping, lunch-eating waterfall. But Cole was ready to break for lunch anyway. We talked about the mysterious disappearance of the waterfall as we rested and ate peanut butter sandwiches. Cole's theory was that sometime during the twelve years since I'd been there, it had probably eroded away. "We could actually be sitting on it right now," he said, "and not even know it."

I nodded, That's one of the things I liked about Cole. Even when I was wrong, he would think up ways for me to be right. That night I got lost going home from his house in the rain, he told everyone that I had been searching for a lost cat that we'd heard meowing. Best of all, he seemed to believe the things he said about me.

Two hours later, as the sun began to dip down, we came across what looked to be an abandoned shed with an outhouse. Cole looked longingly at the outhouse, despite its decrepit condition. "Man, I"ve gotta take a crap so bad, that outhouse looks like a palace to me," he said.

Dropping his backpack onto the trail, he started off toward the abandoned building. "Cole," I warned, pointing at a nearby sign, "It says keep out. Are you sure you want to go in there?"

Cole stopped for a moment and looked at me with a grin. "What're they gonna do? Shoot me for using their outhouse?"

I shrugged as he turned and continued walking. "Just be careful," I said.

He gave me a wave without turning to look back. He'd been gone only for a minute or two when I saw something moving up near the shed. I glanced up and saw an old woman with a shotgun making her way down to the outhouse.

"Oh shit," I said aloud, "He really is gonna get shot."

I jumped up and started running toward the outhouse. I could no longer see the old woman. By the time I got there, I could hear voices coming from inside. Cole was apologizing like crazy, and the old woman sounded as if she was about to bust a gasket. "I'll teach ya to shit in another man's crapper, ya damn city-boy."

I kicked the door open to see Cole with his pants still down at his ankles apologizing to the old woman for using her outhouse. The old woman had a double-barreled shotgun aimed squarely at Cole's head, and looked as if she was one cuss-word away from pulling the trigger.

As I entered, she turned to me in surprise, lowering the gun just enough for Cole to quickly bend over and pull his pants up. I had no idea what I should do, but it turned out to not matter. Considering herself outnumbered, the old woman set the gun down and reached into the bag she was carrying.

"I shoulda knowed there'd be two of ya. Call an old man a woman, will ya? I'll teach ya to show some respect." I suddenly realized that the toothless old woman was actually a toothless old man. He pulled his clenched hand out of the bag as he glared at me. Then, slowly turning back to Cole, he said, "I'll put the curse of jeemchoo on ya." Before either of us could move, he unclenched his hand and blew the handful of dust he was holding into Cole's face. Immediately Cole started coughing and spitting while the old man began to cackle with delight. "Jeemchoo," he said with glee. "I declare that's a long-sight better'n shooting ya, city-boy."

I began slowly easing my way toward Cole, making an effort to not get shot in the process. I didn't know what the powder was, but I figured it was some kind of poison. I was already trying to figure out how I was going to get my friend to a hospital. By then the old man had turned his attention to me. Picking up his shotgun, he said, "As fer you, Mister Tall-and-Mighty^Å." He gave a dramatic pause as he hoisted the gun. For a moment I thought he planned to just shoot me and I wondered how we'd ever gotten into such a mess.

But he didn't shoot. He didn't even point his gun at me. Just gave it a long look before saying, "Your little friend here's got the curse of jeemchoo. In fourteen days, he's gonna turn into a girl. One change every day for two weeks. See how he likes it then. Shouldna called me an old woman, city-boy." He turned to glare at Cole again, who was still coughing and sputtering, although he seemed to be recovering.

By that time I'd gotten close enough to reach Cole. I touched his arm lightly as I tried to see if he was okay. That seemed to be just what the old man was waiting for. He cackled again, and hooted. "And now the curse is on you, too," he crowed. I looked up, not sure what had happened. Had I breathed in the poisonous powder, too? The old man was grinning at me. That is, if it's possible to grin without any teeth. He explained. "Now you gone and touched him, he's still gonna turn into a girl. Only now he's gonna turn into the girl of your dreams. You two are gonna be cute little lovebirds someday."

He allowed himself a long, gratuitous chuckle before bringing the gun up to his shoulder and pointing at both of us. "Now get outa my crapper `fore I shoots ya anyways."

That was all the invitation I needed. I took Cole's arm and began pulling him out of the outhouse. Cole was too bewildered to protest, and too dazed to keep from stumbling every few steps. I ended up dragging him most of the way as I practically ran back to our backpacks. From the corner of my eye I could see the old man watching us, although he seemed perfectly content to let us go without any more incident.

I helped Cole get his backpack on, and then encouraged him to move hastily away from the old man's cabin. For the moment, my attention was on getting the two of us out of harm's way. I'd check on Cole's condition later. The weight of the backpack seemed to settle Cole's nerves somewhat, and he was able to walk without any problems.

When we'd been hiking for about fifteen minutes, I caught up to Cole and suggested we stop for a minute. "God, Cole," I said as I looked him over, "What'd you do to get him so mad?"

Cole glanced back the direction we'd just come and shivered. "Buddy, I thought he was going to shoot me. I thought I was dead. I was looking right down the barrel of that shotgun. It's the scaredest I've ever been."

I looked at Cole. My first-aid training told me to look for symptoms of shock. But, actually, Cole looked fine. His color was good and he'd stopped coughing. "How're you feeling?" I asked.

Cole shrugged. "Other than being scared? Fine." He stood up. "Maybe we better keep walking. You don't think he could be following us, do you?"

I looked back. I didn't think the old man was following us, but it wouldn't hurt to keep moving for a while. I thought again about getting Cole to a hospital in case he'd been poisoned. Unfortunately, the quickest way back to our cars would take us right past the old man's cabin, and I knew neither of us was looking forward to going there again. For the moment, the best idea seemed to be to just keep on walking the direction we were going. "How're you feeling?" I asked again. "Is that powder making you sick at all?"

Cole was quiet for a minute before answering. "I don't' think so. I think it was just some dust. And all that crap about jeemcoo and turning into a girl was just to scare the hell out of us. I was only coughing `cause he blew it right in my face."

"Are you sure? I mean, maybe we should get you to a doctor, just in case. Who knows what was in that stuff. That guy was a wacko."

Cole stopped and turned to me. "I thought he was an old woman. I called him ma'am when I started apologizing. I think that's what really set him off." He looked behind me down the trail we'd been following. "Trouble is, a doctor's gonna be that way. And I'm not going back that way."

Cole turned and started walking again without waiting to see if I agreed. I knew what he meant. It's why I hadn't stopped us from continuing on the way we'd been going. "Well, if you start to feel sick or anything, you let me know. Okay?"

Cole gave me a wave and continued walking, "Will do, Cap'n."

We hiked until it was too dark to see where we were going. By then we figured it was safe to stop. If the old man had been following us he would've caught up to us by then. Of course, I also figured that if he really wanted to shoot us, he'd want to wait until it was dark so we couldn't see him. Either way, there wasn't much we could do about it. We had to stop or we'd risk walking right over a cliff.

Fortunately, the tent was easy to set up even in the dark, and we soon had a small fire on which to cook our dehydrated dinner. Two cups of water and eight minutes over the flame and we were enjoying a bowl of hot stew. I ate a few spoonfuls and then said, "Tastes kinda like some spicy cardboard, doesn't it?"

Cole laughed. "At least it's not heavy."

We laughed some more. It was good to see Cole finally relaxing after the incident at the outhouse. By the time we went to bed I had almost forgotten the incident at the outhouse. Cole brought it up one last time before drifting off to sleep. "So do you think there's anything to that old man's curse? What was it called? Jeemchoo?"

I laughed. "Sounds a lot like gym shoe' to me. The way he talked, that's probably what he was saying. You've got the curse of gym shoe' on you. That's probably where he got the dust from ^Ö out of some old gym shoe. You'll probably develop a case of athlete's foot all over your face now.

Cole laughed too. "Yeah, well, you just be careful what you dream about. If I wake up in the morning with boobs, you're going to have a lot of explaining to do."

I slept fitfully that night. I kept dreaming of the old man with the shotgun. Somewhere during the night I managed to relax a little, and started dreaming of something else. It was a relaxing dream, and I was finally feeling a sense of peace and calm after the restless night. It was a strange dream, though. In it, I was looking at women's hands. Dozens of them. I had this feeling that I needed to find the perfect hands. But they were all wrong in one way or another. Some were fat, some were skinny and bony. Some had rough dry skin, others had unshapely nails. Oddly, there were no bodies attached to any of the hands, although in my dream that didn't seem to bother me. Eventually I found what I was looking for : the perfect set of hands. They were small, with attractive nails painted a vivid coral orangish-pink color that I knew from living with my sisters was called coral, with a French-tip manicure. The skin was perfectly smooth, and the fingers perfectly shaped. In my dream, I took the hands as if I was going to take them to some unknown checkout clerk to buy them. I held them with a feeling of excitement that I had found the perfect hands.

That's when I woke up. The relaxing feeling of the dream and the elation I felt at the end of it quickly disappeared as I realized what I'd done. "Cole," I shouted, "Wake up!" I couldn't keep the panic out of my voice.

The fact that Cole was still asleep was another reason to panic. On all of our years of sleep-overs, Cole has always been the first one up. He's a morning person. I like to sleep late. The sun was well up in the sky. Cole never slept this late unless something was wrong. "Cole," I said again, shaking him. "You need to get up."

Cole stirred. "What is it?"

"I had a dream," I said.

Instantly Cole's eyes shot open. "What?"

I could tell he was mentally examining himself for new or missing body parts.

"Hands," I told him. "I dreamed about hands."

Cole quickly brought his hands out where we could both see them. They were the same hands I had dreamed about. The perfect ones. The ones I was so elated at finding. The ones I wanted to keep. They even had the same coral nail polish with French-tips.

I groaned. "I'm sorry, Cole. I couldn't help myself."

Cole was staring at his hands in fascination. Or shock. He kept turning them over and over, looking at first one side and then the other. I didn't have to look. I knew what they looked like. They were the hands from my dream. And now they belonged to Cole.

"I'm sorry," I said again, ashamed of myself for what I'd done to him.

Cole looked at me with an expression of mild surprise. "Hey, it's not your fault, Buddy. Okay>"

I looked at him, still feeling terrible for giving him such feminine-looking hands. "I couldn't help it," I said again. "I just started dreaming. And then^Å There they were."

"Hands just like this?" he asked, holding his hands up for me to verify any difference.

I nodded slowly. "Exactly like that. I even dreamed that color of nail polish on them. By the way^Å. It's coral in case you want to know."

"Oh, thanks. Yeah. I might need to know that so I can be sure to get this same color next time." Cole was sarcastic, and a little angry.

I hung my head and apologized again. "I'm really sorry, Cole."

For a moment Cole was quiet as he looked at me. I suppose he was trying to decide if he wanted to slug me for being so stupid as to have a dream about hands. Of course, if he had, he would have broken his delicate hand on my face. I don't know if that thought crossed his mind, but his anger quickly disappeared as he softened again. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Buddy. I know it wasn't your fault."

For a few moments it was quiet as we both contemplated the significance of Cole's hands changing. For me, there were two concerns. First, and most important, the curse appeared to be very, very real. My best friend was two weeks away from turning into a girl. I hardly knew what to think of that, so I decided not to. The second concern was more practical. We were now miles from civilization with just the stuff in our backpacks. Cole, with the hands of a girl now, was going to have a rough time adjusting to that. That meant I'd have to pick up more of the responsibilities. And who knew what changes lay in store during the next few days for him. It seemed obvious that we needed to cut the hiking trip short, but we were reluctant to go back the way we'd come because it would take us past the old man's cabin.

Finally Cole voiced my thoughts, asking, "So, what do you think we should do?"

I studied Cole's face briefly. The fact that he was asking me what we should do was a problem. Normally he was the one with the answers. I was the one who came up with the crazy ideas. He was the one who came up with practical solutions to make them work out. If he was asking for my advice, then he was definitely in some kind of shock over the situation.

"Well," I said slowly. "I think we need to head back."

Cole shook his head violently. "No way! I'm not going past that old man's cabin again. You weren't the one looking down the barrel of that shotgun. No way!"

"I know," I answered quietly. I wanted to remind Cole that at one point the old man had pointed the gun at me in a threatening manner, too, but it didn't seem like the time to bring that up. Cole's experience had obviously been worse than mine. "I know. We'll take an alternate route."

Cole stared at me as if I was crazy. There was no delicate way to phrase what he was thinking, so he just said it. "Who's going to figure out what that alternate route is?" Implied in his question was the fact that my poor sense of direction disqualified me from being able to choose an alternate route.

I shrugged. It wasn't the time for heroics. I knew the only way I'd ever find my truck again is if we went back the same way, or if we kept going the way we'd planned all along, which would lead us in a long circular route back to the truck. "Okay," I said at length. "What if we keep going?"

Cole thought about that for a moment. His sense for finding practical solutions to my ideas was slowly reappearing. "Well, it doesn't hurt or anything," he said, holding up his hands. "I guess there's no reason we can't take the long way. Besides, there's probably not much a doctor's gonna be able to do about it anyway."

Suddenly Cole's face clouded up as he contemplated his future. "Buddy, I'm scared," he said. "I don't want to be a girl."

"I know man," I said reassuringly. "I know. We'll figure something out."

What were we going to figure out? I had no idea.

Cole made us some breakfast, and then we packed up our tent and started hiking. We had a six-day hike ahead of us, but we'd made good mileage the first day, and our original schedule had allowed for us to travel at a leisurely pace. If we could keep up a fast pace, we believed we could make it back to the truck in just four days. What could go wrong in four days?

Cole refused to spend the day with manicured one-inch nails, so the first thing he did was to trim them with his pocket knife. We couldn't do anything about the color, of course, but at least they'd be functional. I felt a slight pang of regret as he clipped his nails back to a suitable length. I felt like I was somehow responsible for them, and in a way, he was destroying my hard work. Of course, it needed to be done, but it didn't mean I had to like it.

I didn't say anything as Cole cut his nails, and neither did he. However, as he was nearing the completion of the job, he confided in me, "It feels weird cutting these. Part of me kind of wants to keep them. Does that sound weird?"

He stared at me, hoping I'd assure him he wasn't weird. What could I say? I was having the same feelings. It was my first hint that the changes in Cole's body were accompanied by emotional changes as well. "No, I'm kind of sad to see them go. I dreamed them, you know. I kind of feel responsible for them in a way."

Cole smiled. We didn't know it at the time, but that moment was an important step in the survival of our friendship.

We made such good mileage that second day that we started talking about the possibility of getting back in just two more days. We'd have to hike even further and faster than we already had for the past two days, but we began to believe we could do it.

Just before falling asleep, Cole asked me good-naturedly, "So, what do you plan on dreaming tonight?"

I shrugged. I knew he was just trying to be funny, but his words felt like an accusation to me. "I'll try not to dream of anything," I promised.

For most of the night, I didn't. Whenever I sensed myself starting to dream, I'd jerk myself awake. I wasn't getting much sleep doing that, and I knew it was going to be tough to hike as far as we planned if I wasn't well rested. But I was in fear of what my dreams might bring. I owed it to Cole to control them.

It was 4:30 in the morning when I checked my watch for the last time. I figured I could get up in another hour or so. I was sure I could make it without anything happening to Cole. For just a second or two, I allowed myself to relax. Whatever happened to Cole's hands, it had nothing to do with some old man's curse. That just couldn't happen. It would be magic. And I knew there was no such thing as magic. I pulled my sleeping bag around me and listened to Cole's breathing. At least one of us was sleeping, I thought.

When I opened my eyes again, it was broad daylight and the sun was streaming into our two-man tent. I'd been dreaming that I was walking along a long, long row of feet. Periodically I'd stop and look at a pair, only to reject them for one reason or another. Finally I came across a pair of feet that just seemed to me to be the perfect expression of what a woman's feet should be. The fact that I had seldom contemplated women's feet in the past seemed to be of no particular relevance; I knew what I was looking for. These particular feet were small and dainty, with adorable toes. Each toe was capped by brownish-red nail polish and tiny white spots so that it looked as if each one was a lady-bug. I'm not a foot fetishist, but if I were, I realized, these toes were very kissable. I imagined how they would look in a pair of open-toed sandals.

In my dream, I proudly looked around for someone to show the feet to. They were the ones I wanted, and I wanted to share that information with someone.

That's when I awoke, and the pride I was feeling in my dream was immediately replaced by a sense of dread. "Cole," I said loudly. "Cole, wake up!"

Cole stirred and rolled over to look at me. "What'd ya dream this time?" he asked. The way he asked it made me wonder if he thought that nothing had happened. Maybe he was just resigned to the fact that something was going to change.

"Feet," I said. "With the cutest little toes, and your toenails painted to look like little lady bugs."

Cole looked at me quizzically as I described what I'd dreamed. At the same time, he was bringing his feet out where we would be able to look at them.

For a moment we were both in shock. They were exactly what I had described, right down to the nail polish. I didn't dare speak, because all I could think of was how incredibly kissable Cole's toes now were. And there was no way I was ever going to admit that I was having thoughts like that about another guy's feet. Even if his feet did happen to look incredibly sexy and girlish.

Finally Cole spoke. "This is a problem," he said.

I knew it was a problem, obviously, but I wasn't sure what Cole meant. "Why?" I asked.

"My boots won't fit now," he explained. "If we keep hiking, I'm going to get blisters. Unless I go barefoot. Either way, that's going to slow us down. A lot."

"Why don't you just wear socks?" I asked before thinking it all the way through. I was still mesmerized by Cole's feet.

"That's a great idea," he said in a way that somehow avoided mocking me. "For about a mile or two until I wear holes in them."

"So what do you want to do?" I asked.

Cole was thoughtful for a moment. "I think we have to go back. It's at least three days that way. It's only two days that way. I think we just take our chances with the old man."

"Maybe he can help," I suggested. "Maybe he'll reverse the curse."

"Maybe," said Cole. I could tell that he didn't think that was very likely. "We can go away from the trail for a while when we get there, and give his place a wide berth. I remember the trail kind of was following the river just before it turned off and went over there to his cabin. I think if we just follow the river for a while, we'll come back to the trail eventually."

"You'll be barefoot," I reminded him.

"Yeah, well, maybe I'll have some calluses by then." Cole's mind was made up.

I shrugged. "We better get going then," I said. Then I added, "I'm sorry, about your feet."

Cole shrugged. "It's not your fault, Buddy. You're stuck with this just as much as I am. It'll be okay."

We didn't make good time that day. Cole needed a lot of breaks. He decided to try his boots for a while with four pairs of socks, but quickly decided he'd be better off barefoot. "My feet are sliding all over the place even with the socks," he said. I probably have enough padding that I won't get a blister, but the way I'm sliding, I'm gonna slip on something and break my neck."

I nodded. I felt terrible for the trouble I was causing him. Cole noticed my troubled look and added with a teasing grin, "And then you'd have to dream me up a new neck."

I knew he was teasing, but it hurt my feelings just the same. "Don't, Cole. I feel terrible about what's happening."

Cole patted me on the shoulder. "Buddy, it's not your fault. We have to laugh at it or we'll go crazy. No matter what, you're still my best friend. Okay?"

"Okay," I mumbled. "Just take it easy on the teasing, okay. I still feel like it's my fault."

"Yeah, well next time I want to use some crazy old man's outhouse, remind me to pay more attention to the `Keep Out' signs. Okay?"

I laughed. I had warned him.

After going only a few miles, we decided to stop early and make our camp near the river where Cole would be able to soak his feet. Despite Cole's assurances, I still felt responsible for what was happening to him, so I was more than willing to do most of the camp chores. That gave Cole plenty of time to relax and soak his feet.

As we sat around eating dinner, I noticed how, despite his physical changes and the obvious discomfort of his feet, Cole looked well rested. "So, how have you been sleeping these last few nights?" I asked.

Cole thought briefly. "Great," he said. "Usually I don't sleep that well on camping trips. It's like there's always a rock or something to keep me from getting exactly comfortable. And usually I'm up as soon as it gets light. But these last couple of nights, I'm out like a log all night. I don't even know anything's going on until you wake me up each morning."

"That's good," I said.

"How're you sleeping?" he asked.

I looked at him for a moment, wondering if I wanted to tell him the truth. Our friendship was never based on lies, and this didn't seem to be the time to start. "Not so good," I admitted. "The first night I dreamt of that old man all night, until I dreamed of the hands. Then last night I didn't dare dream at all until it was like four-thirty in the morning. And then I dreamed of feet. I'm a little afraid to go to sleep."

He nodded. "Yeah, you look like you need a good night's sleep. Buddy, seriously, don't worry about it. Okay? It's not your fault. Whatever happens is going to happen. Let's just deal with it when it comes. Okay?"

I agreed, and we changed the subject. As tired as I was, we decided to let me go to bed early while Cole had some time alone with his thoughts. Just before closing the tent, Cole grinned and said, "Hey, sweet dreams, huh."

I was too exhausted to fight it that night. Cole was right. We'd just have to deal with things as they happened. His seeming acceptance of the situation was typical of him. I knew he was doing his best to come up with a solution. I wouldn't have even been surprised if he thought of something. In the meantime Cole wasn't the type to panic or complain. He was always optimistic, and could always find something to joke about, no matter how bleak the situation.

I woke up the next morning with my usual sense of dread. "Cole," I said giving him a gentle nudge.

Cole slowly stirred, and then groaned. He already knew without me telling him. "Oh my god," he said. "Tell me you didn't."

"I'm afraid so," I said.

He sighed. "Well, should we take a look? Or do you just want to describe them to me?"

I was sitting up. Cole's question made me think. Seeing his hands and feet was one thing. They were visible all the time anyway. This time I had dreamed of cute, perky breasts. I realized he might not be as comfortable letting me see them. I decided to start by telling him what I'd dreamed. I'd let him decide if he wanted to show them to me.

As always, I started with an apology. "I'm sorry, man. I dreamed about breasts. It would have been the best dream ever if^Å."

"If it had only been a dream?" he finished.

"Yeah. So^Å are they^Å. cute and perky?"

Cole slowly sat up and looked down his shirt. "Oh god! I can't believe it. I've got tits!" He looked at me with a despairing look. "Buddy, I'm turning into a girl."

"It's okay, man," I assured him. "It's okay." What exactly was okay about it I had no idea. I just wanted him to stop worrying.

He looked down his shirt again. "Buddy, I've got tits, now. What am I gonna do? I don't know anything about being a girl. Oh god."

I could tell Cole was on the verge of panic. I had to settle him down. "It's okay, Cole. We'll figure something out. We just need some time to think."

Cole was desperate for some kind of assurance. He grasped at what I had offered. "Let's find that old man. I'll tell I'm sorry again. We'll^Å give him as much money as he wants. We just need him to reverse the spell."

"Sure," I agreed. "We should be able to make it back there sometime this afternoon. How're your feet?"

"I think I can walk on them. They were pretty sore yesterday, but soaking them helped a lot. If it's only half a day, I should be fine. Do you think he'll be there?"

I told Cole that I was pretty sure the old man would be there when we got there. How would I know? Cole was on the verge of panic, and I needed some time to think. "It's still gonna be a pretty good hike for you in bare feet. We better get started.

Action seemed to be just what Cole needed to take his mind off things. Without thinking he stripped off his shirt, intending to put on a clean one. I stared. His breasts were exactly like the ones I had dreamed of. Cute and perky. Each one was a generous handful, with small pink nipples. I ached to reach out and touch them.

Cole caught me looking and stopped. I think it suddenly occurred to him what I was looking at. His hands and feet changing had been an inconvenience to our expedition. A novelty. Despite their very feminine appearance, they didn't make him any less of a man. Breasts, however, changed things in a way we hadn't considered. Did having breasts make him less of a man? I'm afraid the answer to that question was yes. And seeing me staring, and knowing exactly what I was thinking, that difference was suddenly made quite evident. Like it or not, Cole was forced to start behaving less like a man and more like a girl. We would try to reverse the curse if we could. But until then, we both needed to deal with the increasingly obvious fact that Cole was turning into a girl.

For a few seconds, Cole let me look. "Are they what you dreamed?" he asked in a soft voice that was on the verge of choking.

I wanted to touch them, but decided I better not. I gazed longingly, however. They were, in a word, perfect. The perfect size. The perfect shape. With perfect nipples. "They're exactly what I dreamed," I said in an awe-struck voice.

Cole looked at me for a moment. I think he sensed what I was feeling, but at that moment wasn't sure how to respond. His breasts knew, though. I noticed his nipples slowly coming to attention. It could have been the cold. If the positions had been reversed, that's what Cole would have said. But, somehow, I knew it wasn't the cold that was making his nipples rise.

It also wasn't the cold that was giving me an erection, either. There was simply no way I could look at Cole's breasts without getting aroused. It didn't matter that he was otherwise a male. He had the breasts of a woman, and those breasts were perfect.

The awkwardness of the moment was obvious, and Cole finally turned his back to finish changing. I waited until my erection subsided before I finished dressing. For the rest of the morning, neither of us commented on what had happened in the tent.

Our progress that day was even slower than the day before. I figured it was due to Cole's feet being sore from hiking. He was walking slower than he had the day before, and asking to stop more often. Then, when I suggested we needed to get going again, he was slow to get up. I tried to think of something I could do to make it easier for him. But each day was presenting another problem for us, and there just wasn't anything I could think of to make it easier.

Cole had been strangely quiet all morning, and when we stopped for lunch, I figured it was best no to interrupt his thoughts. At the rate we were going, I knew we'd never make it to the old man's cabin before dark. I'm sure Cole knew that too, although neither of us commented on it.

As he drank his Kool-Aid, Cole finally said, "Buddy, I have a problem."

"What is it?" I asked, desperate to help in any way I could.

Cole took another sip of Kool-Aid as he gathered the courage to tell me his problem. "My boobs hurt like hell from bouncing around all morning. And my nipples are on fire from rubbing on this shirt."

I stared at him, trying not to laugh. "Um, I think I know how to take care of that. I'm not sure you're going to like it though."

Cole looked at me hopefully. At that moment he was willing to try anything. "What?"

"Well," I said slowly, "I think what you need is a bra."

Cole looked at me as if I might be joking. Realizing I was serious, he groaned. "Oh my god. No. A bra? I'm not supposed to wear bras. Oh god."

He slumped over, his head in his lap as the realization overtook him.

"I'm afraid so," I said. "Trust me. I have two sisters, and they both went through the same thing."

Cole groaned. "Great. I need a bra now. And as if that wasn't bad enough, wouldn't you know it; we're miles from Victoria's Secret."

"We could always order one," I teased.

Cole glared at me. "Hey, you asked me not to tease you. I think you'd do the same for me?"

"I'm sorry," I said. "I was just trying to lighten things up a bit. You know how you always laugh when things go wrong and then go even wronger later? It's like that."

Cole gave me a measuring glance for a moment, then decided to agree with me. "Okay. That's kind of funny. Maybe some day, a hundred years from now, we'll both look back on this and laugh. In the meantime, what do I do about my boobs?"

I stood up and looked around, thinking. "Okay, I've got it" I said. I went to my backpack and pulled out the roll of duct tape we'd brought along for emergency repairs.

"Duct tape?" Cole asked.

"Hey, you can fix anything with duct tape," I said. "That's why we brought it. Remember?"

"Yeah. So how's that gonna fix my problem?"

I went over to Cole and studied him for a moment. "We're going to make a bra out of your t-shirt. Okay? I need you to stand up," I said.

Cole stood up and I said. "Now, I'm going to have to touch you in some intimate places. Okay? I'm not trying to^Å. You know."

Cole new what I meant. "It's okay. I know you wouldn't do that."

By the tone of his voice I wondered if he also knew how much I wanted to do exactly what I said I wasn't going to try to do.

Cole lifted his arms, and I fashioned a cross-your-heart bra for him, with straps going around his chest to help hold everything in place while he was hiking. There was no way to avoid touching his soft breasts as I worked. I tried not to do it intentionally, but when it happened, I couldn't keep from noticing how soft his breasts were. Once or twice after one of those accidental touches, Cole looked at me to see how I was reacting. I tried not to show how much I enjoyed it. But when he glanced down toward my crotch, I knew he'd notice how aroused I was getting. At first I thought he would be angry, but he only grinned.

I guess that was my second hint that Cole was changing in ways that were more than physical. Did it bother him that his friend was getting aroused? It should have, I guess. That is, if he'd been a normal heterosexual male. But, three days into the curse, Cole was no long exactly male.

With the make-shift bra, Cole's pace picked up considerably, and his demeanor was much more cheerful and upbeat. That was encouraging.

When we were still what I believed was a mile or two from the cabin, we came to a nice camping spot near the river. "We can make it to the old man's cabin by dark," I said.

Cole looked down the trail toward the cabin, doubtful. "My feet are sore," he said. "Maybe we should just camp here tonight."

That wasn't like Cole. Normally, if we were close to finishing a job, he would be the one to suggest we keep going. I looked at him carefully. Something had changed in him during the day. In the morning, he'd been determined to find the old man and reverse the curse. Now he seemed content to wait until morning. I shrugged. "Whatever you want. Do you want to go soak your feet while I put up the tent?

That night as we settled in to go to sleep, Cole asked me a strange question. He said, "Buddy, will you promise me something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

Cole hesitated. "If we can't find the old man^Å. or if he won't reverse the curse^Å. and I end up being a girl for^Å. a while^Å. promise me^Å. you won't tease me for it?"

I stared at him in the darkness. Why would I ever do that? He was my friend. I knew he hadn't chosen this. "Of course not. I would never do that."

Cole hesitated, then explained. "It's just, today, something changed for me. I can't explain it. I just started feeling different. Like, if I do end up being a girl, what's so wrong with that? We'll still be friends, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"And Buddy, if I kind of start liking it? You won't tease me for liking it?"

I hesitated. Was he saying that he was starting to like what was happening to him? I wasn't sure what I should say. "Okay. Uh, sure. Are you starting to like the things that are happening to you?

Cole took a long time to respond to my question. When he did, it was obvious he was choking back emotion. "I might be. I^Å. just felt different today. Like it's not such a bad thing."

I realized Cole was crying. In all our years, I'd never seen him cry. It took me by surprise. It underscored just how much the Jeemchoo curse was affecting him. I had no idea what to say to comfort him. Clueless, I patted him on the shoulder. Cole shuddered softly. "Buddy," he said at length.

"Yeah."

"Will you promise me something else?"

"Sure."

"You won't dream anything really ugly for me?"

I suddenly realized how intertwined Cole's fate was with my dreams and fantasies. According to the old man, Cole would end up being the girl of my dreams. And so far, every change had been exactly as I had dreamed it. Unfortunately for Cole, he was powerless to choose any of it. "No," I promised. "I'll make sure you're the most beautiful thing I can imagine."

"Thanks," he said, and drifted off to sleep.

I also realized something else that was almost too scary to think about just then. If Cole was destined to become the girl of my dreams, then I would be powerless to stop myself from falling in love with him. The old man had been right when he had said that we'd be lovebirds.

I closed my eyes as a wave of panic swept over me. Could I really fall in love with Cole? I was already attracted to his breasts and his adorable toes, and I'd been sad to see him clipping his fingernails. But he was a man and so was I. And I wasn't gay. I couldn't imagine myself ever wanting to have sex with another guy. But if I really did fall in love with Cole, would I have any choice?

It was too much to think about at that particular moment. As Cole had said, "Whatever happens is going to happen. Let's just deal with it when it comes."

When I woke the next morning I didn't bother to wake Cole right away. I simply rolled over and looked at him. Lying on his side facing me, he was, in a word, beautiful. His long eyelashes flattered his eyes, which I knew were big and blue, even though they were closed at the moment. His high rounded cheekbones had a hint of pink in them. His nose was small and perfectly rounded, as I knew it would be. His chin was small and shaped to give his whole face a heart shape. His best feature, however, was his mouth. It was small, with the sexiest Cupid's bow you could ever imagine. His soft, pouting lips looked inviting and succulent.

For a brief moment I toyed with the idea of kissing him. Then it dawned on me what I was thinking. Kiss a guy? Never! But then I looked again at Cole's attractive face. That wasn't the face of a guy. It was the face of a beautiful and sexy girl. It wouldn't be at all like kissing a guy. Would it?

I shook my head. The Jeemchoo curse was getting to me. It had only been four days, and four changes, and I was already having fantasies about my best friend.

The feeling of dread that had accompanied me each of the last three mornings was absent this time. I wasn't sure why. Perhaps it had been the talk with Cole the night before. He seemed to be accepting, even anticipating, his fate. The old man had called it a curse. I was starting to see it as less of a curse, and more of an exciting journey. In, what, ten more days? Cole would be a girl. I wondered what that would be like. My best friend a girl? I didn't know what to think of that.

There didn't seem to be much point in hurrying that morning. We could make it to the old man's cabin if we wanted. But I wasn't sure if Cole even wanted to go there anymore. I looked at Cole's beautiful face again. I wasn't sure I wanted that.

Besides, I thought, if we did find the old man, what were the chances that he'd want to help us by reversing the curse? I recalled his delighted cackle when he'd explained the curse to us. I had a feeling he might be thrilled to see how well it was working. I laughed. I laughed the way Cole might laugh if he were thinking what I was thinking. Cole had angered the old man by calling him ma'am. Now Cole was destined to be called ma'am the rest of his life. The old man would consider that perfect irony. It's why he'd used the curse to begin with. He wouldn't have any interest in seeing the curse reversed.

That is, if he even knew how to reverse it. I had a feeling he had no idea just how well his curse had worked. And frankly, I thought, I had no interest in showing him.

As I lay musing like that, Cole began to stir. He opened his eyes and looked at me. They were big and blue, just as I'd expected. God, he was even more beautiful now. I tried to stifle a groan.

Cole noticed, and asked, "What?"

"Um, I dreamed you a new face," I said.

Cole immediately put his hands to his face and began to feel. I told him the basics, since we didn't have a mirror. "I, uh, changed your eyes to blue. Hope you don't mind. And made them, uh, kind of this side of huge. With long eyelashes. Cheekbones, cute nose, cute chin." I paused briefly, not sure how to describe his mouth to him. Finally I decided to just describe it the way I dreamt it. "Sexy mouth."

Picking up on the word I'd used to describe his mouth, Cole gave me an odd look. He put his fingers to his mouth and felt. I decided to describe it in more detail for him, so he'd know what I was seeing. "Full, pouting lips, with a cute little bow in the middle."

Cole felt his mouth for a while and then said, "Sorta sounds like you want to kiss me."

He was teasing, but unfortunately our teasing over the last few days had been painfully right on target, so it wasn't working as well as it normally would between us. I tried to hide my feelings for a moment, and then said, "Cole, remember last night, you asked me not to tease you if you turned into a girl and started liking it a little?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I won't do it again." He already knew what I was going to say.

I decided to say it anyway. "Well, it goes both ways. You can't tease me if I get a little turned on by you sometimes."

Cole looked at me. "Okay. I'm sorry. No teasing."

It was quiet for a moment or two, and then I mumbled, "Yeah."

Cole paused, not sure what I had just said. Then suddenly he figured it out and burst out laughing. "Oh god, Buddy. We're both going crazy, aren't we?"

We looked at each other for a few seconds, trying to decide if we were ready to cross that barrier by sharing a kiss. I suppose it was something I wanted more than him. He was the one with the sexy mouth. To him, I hadn't changed. He might have had the sexiest lips imaginable just then, but he was still Cole. I decided to pass. But not without a small amount of regret.

Our progress was slow again. The trail had gotten rocky, and Cole's bare feet were giving him a lot of pain. He tried not to let me know how much it hurt, but when he thought I wasn't looking, I'd see him grimacing.

We hiked in to the early afternoon, when things started looking less and less familiar to me. Cole's feet had kept him from noticing. I also realized that we should have come to the old man's cabin by now. I wasn't sure which way we should be going anymore, and with Cole's feet giving him so much pain, it seemed like the smartest thing to do was stop for the day.

Cole didn't protest at all when I suggested we make camp. He gladly took a seat and began rubbing his feet. "Oh god, Buddy, my feet are killing me."

I told him to just relax while I took care of everything.

I took one last look at Buddy's face before going to sleep that night. He was so beautiful. How was I ever going to keep from falling in love with him? Especially as he became more and more of a girl over the next week and a half. I fell asleep with Cole's face on my mind.

"Talk to me Cole," I said the next morning.

"What?"

I grinned. Cole was holding his throat in surprise. "Did that come out of me?"

"God, Cole, you have one soft, sexy voice now. And, for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Cole grinned, and patted my arm reassuringly. "You always apologize for it. I told you not to worry about it. So you like my new voice?"

I chuckled. "Do you even need to ask? It's just what I dreamed of."

Cole grinned at me. There was a look in his eye that hadn't been there two days ago. What was it? Love? Infatuation? Too much dehydrated food?

After breakfast, we continued hiking the way we'd been going. I was too proud to admit that we were probably going the wrong way. I kept hoping that something would begin to look familiar to me.

Cole was very talkative. I'm not sure if he was just enjoying his new, girlish voice, or if he just wanted me to enjoy hearing it. Maybe both.

A few times he asked me if we had missed the turn-off to the trailhead where my truck was parked. We both knew we should have been there by now. For a few hours I made up a story about us being in such a hurry to get away from the cabin that we'd probably hiked further than we thought, and hadn't really been paying attention. That's why we didn't recognize anything.

By the time we stopped for lunch, it was evident we were going the wrong way. Even I had to admit it was time to turn back. In situations like that, Cole always tried to find a way to help me save face, but there just didn't seem to be a good excuse. I'd cost us a day. And with Cole's sore feet, and our dwindling supplies ^Ö we'd brought just enough food for seven days and it looked like we were still two or three days away from the truck ^Ö it was a costly mistake.

Cole watched me as he sipped his Kool-Aid, his beautiful face revealing his desire to find a way to make me look good. "I think my feet are less sore today," He said in his sweet soprano voice.

I looked at him. The Kool-Aid coated his lips, making them look even more sexy. "That's good." I said with less enthusiasm than the situation called for. Cole's feet being less sore was something that would make the rest of the trip much easier.

Cole took another sip, still watching me. "It's nice scenery this way. I'm glad we got to see it."

I looked up at him with a smile. It was hard not to hear him talk without smiling. His voice matched his face now. The day before, there had been something slightly disconcerting about a male voice coming out of such a feminine-looking face. "Yeah, maybe next time we should hike this way instead."

Cole grinned, showing his teeth. It was an incredibly sexy look, and I felt my cock twitch in response. "Maybe we should," he agreed. "But next time, let's stay away from that crazy old man and his outhouse."

I laughed. Cole could always find a way to make me laugh no matter how gloomy things seemed. "Do you still want to stop there and see if he can reverse the curse? I asked.

Cole was thoughtful. "I'm not sure. What do you think?"

I told him my concerns about the old man, from the likelihood that he would think it was perfect irony, to the possibility that he wouldn't be able to reverse it even if he wanted to. Cole listened, and nodded his agreement. As I finished, he said, "That would mean that I'd be a girl from now on."

There was no fear or resentment in his voice. It was just a statement of fact. "Are you^Å okay with that?" I asked carefully.

Cole took a long time to answer. "I don't know. It doesn't bother me as much as it did a few days ago. Maybe I'm getting used to the idea. Does it bother you?"

I stuttered my reply. "Uh, no. I don't know. Not really. But, it's not happening to me. So that makes it different."

Cole replied softly, "Yeah, but it's happening to your best friend. Don't you think you'll miss him a little?"

"You know I'm going to miss him," I said. "But maybe^Å I'll find someone to take his place."

We looked at each other for a while, each of us considering the impact of my last statement. I felt like I'd kind of put myself out there emotionally by even suggesting it ^Ö that we might continue being friends, just in a different way. But, it needed to be said, and it was something we needed to begin thinking about. Unless something happened to reverse the curse, Cole would be girl in a little more than a week. There was no way to deny that was going to have a tremendous impact on our friendship.

"I'm sure you will," he said finally, his voice so soft I barely heard him. Then in a louder voice, he changed the subject. "Buddy, Cole's not a very good name for a girl. I'm going to have to get a new one."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Do you have anything in mind?"

"So far I've come up with Colleen or Collette. I'm not sure I like either of those choices, though. I was hoping you might have some ideas."

"Let me think about it," I said as I began to get ready to begin the hike back. My voice was calm and so were my actions. Inside I was anything but calm. How do you help someone you've known for fourteen years decide what name they want to use as a girl? It made Cole's eventual gender transformation feel that much more inevitable.

Cole was not as talkative going back. The physical changes of the curse seemed to cause him long moments of introspection, and this was another one of those times. I don't pretend to be the most sensitive person around. But, for some reason, I knew enough to leave him alone with his thoughts.

We ended up camping that night at the same place we'd camped the previous night. It wasn't a great camping spot, and there wasn't any cool, running water in which Cole could soak his feet. But, having been there already, it felt familiar. And familiarity was something that had been in short supply for both of us the last few days.

We set up camp, and ate dinner. Cole was back to being his talkative self. At one point he caught me just listening to him talk. He blushed slightly and stopped talking for a moment. There was no denying I loved the sound of his voice. I would steal occasional glances at his face, feet, hands and breasts, too. They were, after all, out of my dreams. I didn't do it to embarrass him. I just couldn't help myself.

That night I dreamed that Cole's shoulders would become softer and much narrower, giving him the beginnings of a girl's upper body. That caused some minor problems as it meant Cole's backpack no longer fit him properly. Each day we'd had to shift weight from his backpack to mine because the load was difficult for him to balance with his much smaller feet. As we readjusted his backpack, we found we had to shift even more weight to help him maintain his balance.

"I'm sorry," Cole said, "Why don't you just let me carry it. I'll be okay."

I shook my head. "Cole, no. I'll be fine. You won't. I hate to tell you this but you're just not as strong as you used to be."

Cole frowned. "I know. I just wish you didn't have to do all the work."

I looked at him for a moment. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. I didn't know if the changes somehow included an increase in emotions, or if the increase in emotions was a natural symptom of the changes he was experiencing. Either way, he had become much more emotional, and had much more difficulty controlling those emotions. The trouble is, his sexy lower lip pouting out as he held back the tears made him look incredibly sexy. It made me want to do something I knew I shouldn't. I kissed him.

Cole stared at me speechless.

"Sorry, man," I said. "I couldn't help myself. That lower lip of yours^Å."

"It's okay," Cole said finally, his voice very soft and demure.

I looked at him. There didn't seem to be any point in discussing it any further. I'd done it. I said I was sorry. I could quit thinking about it.

Only I couldn't quit thinking about it. Kissing Cole had been, in a word, incredible. His lips had been as soft and as succulent as I had imagined. Maybe even more so. I thought I'd be able to stop thinking about his luscious pink lips after I'd kissed him that morning. But it just seemed to make it worse. For most of the morning, it was all I could think of. I kissed Cole, and I liked it. I wanted to do it again.

Cole was quiet again that morning. So was I. I guess he might have been thinking about the kiss, too. At the time, it had seemed impulsive and careless. Looking back, it changed our relationship. I don't know. Maybe our relationship had already changed, and the kiss was just a natural consequence of that change. Like Cole's emotions being related to the changes in his body: it was hard to tell if one was caused by the other, or if they just came as a natural pair.

When we stopped for lunch, Cole asked me if I'd given any more thought to his name. I groaned. I hadn't. He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. We still have some time."

But it did matter. I could tell. It mattered to him. I promised him I'd come up with something before the end of the day.

Shortly after lunch we discovered the turn-off to the trailhead where the truck was parked. The trail was extremely broad at that point, and I must have dismissed it as leading no where. Fortunately, Cole recognized it as the turn-off, and immediately congratulated me for finding it.

We hadn't gone very far down the new trail before coming to a turn that we knew would lead away from the river and to the old man's cabin. I stopped, turning to Cole. "Last chance to change your mind. Do we keep going and see if the old man wants to fix things? Or do we follow the river?"

Cole hesitated. "What do you think we should do?"

I felt sorry for him. Normally he was the decisive one. Of the two of us, he was the thinker. If he was asking me what I thought we should do, then he was feeling extremely overwhelmed by the decision. I looked at him for a minute. This daily progression toward becoming female had to be taking a huge toll on him psychologically.

I remembered a trick my father had taught me for making tough decisions, and decided to try it on Cole, with some variations. My father's trick was to flip a coin. Then, while the coin was in the air, you realized which way you were hoping it would land, and that was your choice. Since I didn't have a coin at the moment, I had to improvise. I would choose something, and see what Cole's reaction was. If he looked relieved, I'd know it was the right choice. If he looked disappointed, I'd know it was the wrong choice.

"Okay, I think we need to fix you. Get you back to normal. Let's go this way, see if we can find the old man, and then see if he can do something to reverse the curse."

Cole looked at me with the faintest trace of a frown. Then he gave a very subtle glance to his left at the river.

Okay, I was trying to be neutral. But maybe I was just imagining his negative reaction. With the figurative coin in the air, I realized which one I wanted Cole to choose. I wanted to follow the river and stay away from the old man's cabin. I wanted Cole to keep changing and turn into the girl of my dreams. He was already halfway there. I wanted to keep going.

Maybe I glanced at the river, too. I don't remember purposely doing that. But suddenly Cole's face broke out in a huge grin. "You're such a crappy liar. `I think we need to fix you,'" he mimicked. "You don't want to go that way any more than I do."

I tried to protest, but he was right, and there wasn't much I could say.

Cole took a deep breath, and stepped toward me. "No teasing, right?"

"Yes," That was the deal we had agreed to.

Cole took my hand. "Buddy, this is a huge decision for both of us. We both think the old man won't or can't `fix' me. But, even if he can't, if we really wanted to stop the curse, that's the way we'd go. We'd have to try something. Right?"

Cole's holding my hand like that made me feel kind of weird. In a way, it made me feel like we were acting gay. Cole was looking more and more like a girl, but he was still Cole, and we'd never done anything remotely like what we were doing then. But there was something else. Something that far outweighed the gayness. I can only describe it as a tingle. I'd felt it once before, the fist time I held a girl's hand at the county fair. At the time, I thought it was love. That is, until she asked me not to call her any more. I was feeling that tingle again with Cole. All I can think is that I was more attracted to him than I cared to think about.

I agreed and Cole continued. "But if we go that way^Å" He paused and pointed toward the river with his other hand. "^ÅWe're giving up all hope of ever getting me back to `normal.' Right?"

I agreed again.

"Buddy, I've been giving this a LOT of thought lately. If I turn into a girl, I'll be the girl of YOUR dreams. We'll be linked together in a way no one can ever imagine." He gave me a sobering look to see if I was following him. He wasn't really saying anything I hadn't already considered. He was just saying it out loud.

Sensing that I understood, he went on. "Buddy, this way, the river, is a commitment. I'm trusting you to dream something I'll like. You're trusting me to become that dream. Is that really what we want?"

I looked at Cole. I remembered how much I had enjoyed kissing him. I remember the feel of his soft breasts on my hand. I already loved Cole as my best male friend. I knew I'd love him even more as my best female friend. And suddenly I knew, wherever Cole went, I wanted to go with him. "Cole," I said, "I want to go wherever you go. If you want to be a girl^Å. I want to be your boyfriend."

Cole grinned. "That's not what I asked, Buddy. Although I appreciate the thought. More than you can imagine." He gave my hand a soft squeeze and lifted it to his breast. "What I want to know is how bad do you really want to `fix' me?"

I thought briefly. "Not very."

Cole watched me carefully. "Buddy, no teasing. We promised. I don't want to `fix' me either."

For a moment we gazed deeply into each others eyes. There it was. The commitment that would see us through the Jeemchoo curse. There was nothing left to do but walk off into the sunset together.

Or into the river. We held hands as I led Cole, my new girlfriend-to-be, away from the trail and down the bank that would keep us from going too close to the old man's cabin. It was a symbolic moment.

The path along the river was short but rugged. Cole estimated it cut a half-mile off the distance we would have to travel. I estimate it added about two hours. It did, however, keep us away from the cabin, which was our goal.

Cole, being barefoot, was having a particularly rough time. He couldn't walk through the water unless it was moving slowly enough for him to clearly see the bottom. If he tried to walk on the boulders in the faster-moving sections, he lost his balance and fell. For me, that wasn't all bad, as he ended up with a wet t-shirt that allowed his breasts to show somewhat. His gear, however, was soaked.

Since there was no trail along the river, we had to make one, and that was almost as bad for Cole as the river. Stepping over dead tree limbs and rocks was only slightly easier for him than walking in the water.

With determination, we made our way back to the main trail. I'm still not sure how we found it. Cole, who was always in my corner, says I found it.

As soon as we figured out where the trail was, we decided to make camp. It was late, and we were both extremely tired. After we realized we had missed the turn-off the day before, we had begun rationing our food, Even with that, after a meager dinner, it was all gone. I was certain we would make it to the truck early the next day, and from there it was as short drive to a restaurant, so we weren't too worried about that.

After eating, we both sat down at the river's edge and relaxed as we watched the sun go down and the stars slowly appear. The path along the river had given me an idea, and I presented it to Cole. "Okay, here's my plan. Tomorrow morning we throw your backpack in the river, with all the gear we can live without. Then we get into town, where we report you missing."

Cole rolled his eyes. "Duh. I'm right here. It's not going to be hard to figure out I'm not missing. Besides. Why do we want people to think I'm missing?"

"Cole, you haven't seen yourself lately. You don't look anything like Cole Dalton anymore. Nobody's going to recognize you. By the way, that reminds me. I still have to help you think of a good girl name you can use. And the reason we want people to think you're missing is so we don't have to explain what really happened to you."

"Why don't we want to explain?"

"Who's going to believe it? I tell people that you're Cole Dalton, and they're going to stat wondering what happened to the real Cole Dalton and who the hell you are. Nobody can find you, even though you're right in front of them, but they just think you're this crazy girl who thinks she used to be a boy. They send you to the crazy house and they send me to prison for killing my friend."

Cole listened and nodded. "Yeah, I guess that might happen. I never thought it would be a problem."

"I don't know. I just don't think it's something we want to explain if we can help it."

"What about my parents? They're going to be devastated to think I died. They're going to be mad at you, too, for not taking better care of me. I'll be mad at you for keeping me from them."

"I've got a plan for that. We let things bubble over for a while and then when things simmer down again, we go visit your parents, and tell them the real story. By then, nobody's looking for you, and you're completely female anyway, so even if they did, they'd never find you."

"How're they gonna recognize me, genius?"

I gave him a disappointed look. "Cole, they're your parents. You think they don't know something that will prove you used to be Cole, no matter how different you look?"

Cole shrugged. "Okay. I guess that will work." I still don't see why we don't just tell everyone the truth from the beginning."

"Fine, tell everyone you got cursed by some crazy man and turned into the girl of my dreams. You're still gonna be a scientific oddity. You want to live the rest of your life as some freak show being studied by doctors and medical researchers the rest of your life?"

Cole frowned. He knew that scenario was painfully realistic. "Okay, but what makes you think they'll believe your story about me^Å What? Drowning in the river? They're going to want to find a body, Buddy."

"Yeah, they'll ask me a lot of questions. But Cole, they'll never find a body. There isn't one. What're they going to charge me with?"

"If they want to charge you with something, they're not going to let a little thing like lack of a body stop them."

It was my turn to be perplexed. "I might need a good lawyer."

"Or a good alibi," Cole suggested.

I glanced at him. "What?"

"You were with me the whole time. I met you guys up here^Å. Yesterday afternoon. Cole was with you. We decided to take the shortcut along the river. God, what a stupid idea. I can't believe you guys talked me into it. I've even got the scratches on my feet to prove it. I should've brought hiking boots, but I didn't think I'd be walking that far, and it was sunny, so I just went barefoot. What can I say? I'm a young girl with no brain, Then I got lost, and ran into you guys. It's a good thing I did, because I was out of food, and you guys offered to show me the way back. Then you and I decided the river was just too hard, so we wanted to get back on the trail. Remember that? But Cole, what an idiot. He thought he'd keep going along the river. Said he'd meet us at the truck. He said it was faster. He wasn't thinking very clearly those last few days anyway. Something was on his mind. I think he might have been using drugs or something. But what do I know? I'd never even met him until yesterday. Maybe he always looked wasted like that. Anyway, that's the last we ever saw of him. We stumble into town, hoping he'll be there. But he's not. And now we don't know where he is or what happened to him."

I was stunned. It was brilliant. Cole always seemed to come up with a way to make my stupid ideas work. "That's amazing," I said.

"Just one thing," he said. "What's my name?"

"Collette?" I offered weakly.

Cole rolled his eyes at me. "No. I'm not gonna be Collette."

It was quiet for a while, and then Cole said, "Tell me again why my parents can't know."

I shrugged. "I don't know. How am I gonna tell them? The first thing we're gonna have to do is tell the police or the rangers. They'll want to start a search. They'll probably tell your parents. Your dad`ll come up looking for you. I just don't see when I'm going to have a chance to tell him."

Cole agreed reluctantly. "At least not until things boil over." He thought for a moment, then said, "What if I told him?"

"He doesn't know who you are. Remember?"

"I'll be there. How am I not gonna talk to my dad, Buddy? I'm not gonna tell him anything. At least not until I'm sure he's ready, and I can get him some place private. Buddy, he's my dad. You're a great friend, the best friend I've ever had. But he's my dad. I've gotta tell him. He might know what to do."

I shrugged. "Okay, just be careful. He's not going to recognize you."

Cole looked relieved. "I will."

We watched the sky for a while, and then Cole said, "Maybe he can think of a good girl name for me. He did pretty good with my boy name."

I chuckled. "Just what every dad wants. To help his son choose a girl name."

As Venus appeared, it reminded Cole of a song. Knowing I liked the sound of his voice, he sang it so I could hear.

Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are., Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky.

"That's Venus, you know," I said, just to tease him.

He glared at me for a moment, and then stuck his tongue out at me. It was something new for him, a gesture I' never seen him make before. With his girlish face, it was a very sexy gesture. It made me marvel at how the curse was producing more than just physical changes.

I thought about the words to the song again, and suddenly it came to me. "Diamond!" I said loudly.

Cole looked at me. "What?"

"Diamond," I said again. "That's your new name."

"Diamond?"

"Yeah, Diamond. You used to be Cole. Now you're Diamond. It's perfect."

Cole gave it a thought for a moment and then slowly smiled. It was perfect. "Okay, Diamond. I like it."

A few minutes later he said, "Diamond Collette. Just to keep a little bit of Cole with me. Now I just need a last name."

I didn't have an answer for that. It was the first I'd thought of it. It had been hard enough to come up with a first name.

Just before we went to sleep, Cole turned to me and said very softly, "Buddy?"

"Yeah, Diamond, what is it?" We had decided to start using his new name right away to get us both used to it. It wouldn't be good if I accidentally called him Cole with the police watching us.

"Thanks for calling me that," he said in his soft, feminine voice, and I could almost hear the sweet, sexy smile that went with it. I think it'll make it easier for me to change if I have a name to match. Um, I was thinking^Å. And you can say no if you want."

"What?"

"Um^Å " I heard the zipper on his sleeping bag slowly open. "Can you give me your hand?"

I extended my hand toward him, and the gently pulled it closer until it was just touching his breasts. I tensed, hesitating. Cole, now Diamond, slowly guided my hand lower until it was on his stomach, and then brought it back up so that it slid beneath his t-shirt. When it was evident what he wanted me to do, he let my hand go and said, "You don't have to. But you can if you want."

I moved my hand slightly higher, touching the underside of his breast. I could feel the heat along with the softness. I moved it higher, tracing the curve into his cleavage. From there, I reached over to his opposite breast and traced the curve back down to the underside of that one. I couldn't believe I was finally able to actually touch and fondle his breasts.

He sighed as my finger brushed over his nipple. "I just thought it was time you enjoyed them a little," he said. "I know you like them. I see you looking at them once in a while."

There was no denying that. "C-Diamond, will you take your shirt all the way off for me? I want to see them, too."

He sat up and took off his shirt before moving closer to me, making it easier for me to reach his breasts. I stared, just able to make out their shape in the darkness. I didn't need much light to know what I was seeing. I'd seen them vividly in my dreams. I touched his small nipples, which I knew were a delicate shade of pink. He moaned in response. I gave each breast a squeeze, and then made him lie down.

He did, and I fondled his breast some more before sucking on his nipples. He groaned. "Oh, god, that feels so good." I fondled and sucked some more, and then we stopped.

For a moment or two he looked up into my eyes in the moonlight. I sensed he, like me, wanted to continue. But I knew it was not the right time. As I handed him back his shirt, he said, "Too gay?"

I gave him a startled look which he couldn't see in the darkness, but probably felt. That was part of it. But, hearing it out loud made it sound ridiculous. Cole had the breasts of a girl. There was nothing remotely gay about what we had just done. Just like there was nothing remotely gay about what I was about to do. I leaned over and kissed him.

After a few seconds, Cole placed his hands on my head, holding me there. We kissed for several minutes before he opened his mouth to mine, allowing me to put my tongue in his mouth.

Okay, maybe somewhere during the kiss we crossed the line into gay. But where? To me, Cole, or Diamond, was, if not a complete woman, still a very attractive half-woman. I mean, it wasn't like I was kissing a man. Not exactly. Of course, I had to stay away from his genitals. I knew those hadn't changed. Yet. And I tried not to think about them. I tried not to think too much about his still-short hair, cut in a mannish style. But those were details, and things that within a week or so would be corrected. Cole-Diamond, was well on the way to being the girl of my dreams. Kissing that person felt completely natural.

Sunday, the next day, was a busy day. It started with Cole having to fix his hair. My dream during the night had been about long, blonde hair, with the cutest, sexiest curls imaginable. When he woke, he didn't even have to ask. "Hair. How much did you give me?"

I shrugged as he struggled to sit up. "Um, probably down to your waist. That would be my guess."

Cole was holding his long hair up to look at it. "Blonde? You made me a blonde?"

"Well, blue-eyed brunettes just aren't my type," I said.

Cole, who was getting harder and harder to think of as Cole and not Diamond, looked at me with a slight shiver. I think he suddenly realized that whatever "my type" was, he was going to be it. "Am I going to be an airhead blonde?" he asked concernedly.

I smiled patiently. "Airheads aren't my type, either. Besides, I don't know if I get to change anything I can' t see or touch."

Cole just smirked. "You don't think my personality's been changing just a little bit each day?"

I shrugged. I suppose it had been. "Yeah, A little."

"A little? Buddy^Å. A week ago, I would have slugged you if you tried to kiss me. Last night I was kind of disappointed when you stopped. I'd say that's more than a little."

"Well, yeah, I've kind of noticed that. But it just seemed kind of natural."

Cole, Diamond, was measuring the length of his hair. "Boy, you pretty much know what's going to happen, don't you. Exactly to my waist."

"Just like I dreamed it," I said with a hint of triumph.

Cole looked at me for a moment as if he was about to say something else, but then thought better of it.

"What?" I asked, picking up on the hesitation.

"Nothing," he said, trying to change the subject.

"What? Tell me." I said again.

Cole grimaced slightly. "Okay^Å. I just keep thinking^Å When are you going to change me down there?"

I realized it was a rather sensitive topic. I didn't know what Cole's thoughts and feelings about it were. "Uh, well, I don't really have a lot of choice, believe it or not. I mean, if I did, you'd probably still be a regular guy like me. Maybe taller, with more muscles or something.

He gave me a quizzical look.

"I didn't mean it that way. I just meant if I had my way, I'd do something I know you'd like. I wouldn't try to turn you into the `guy' of my dreams."

"Oh, sorry." Cole was trying to figure out something to do with his hair.

"Here," I said. "Put it in a pony-tail." I started helping him with it.

"So, any other big surprises you can prepare me for?"

"Uh^Å "

"I mean, I'm still getting used to having blue eyes now instead of brown. If anyone asks me, I'll probably forget and say brown. And waking up blonde was kind of a surprise. And of course," he paused and pointed to his breasts, "These were a surprise, but I guess I should've expected them eventually. I just would have guessed you'd make them bigger."

"I'm not into gigantic breasts the way some guys are," I explained. I think yours are perfect."

Cole smiled at me prettily. "Of course you do. I'm your dream girl. I'm not complaining^Å. lover." He hesitated before adding the last word, not sure how I might react to it. I noticed, but it seemed natural, given the nature of our relationship, so I didn't say anything. I just smiled slightly to show him it was okay and I understood what he was saying. We were slowly changing from friends to lovers.

He went on. "I'm just wondering what little surprises you might want to warn me about so I can prepare for them. I know I'm going to be your dream girl^Å But what does that mean, exactly? Tell me you don't fantasize about one-legged, fat-bottomed girls."

I laughed. "No, I think you're safe. I don't know. You'll probably end up with a slim waist, slim hips, the cutest butt you ever saw, and^Å. Uh,,, you know."

"No, I don't know, Buddy. That's why I'm asking."

"Let's just say you won't have to shave very often down there."

"Oh, I see."

With Cole's hair ready, we finished dressing. "Cole, I mean, Diamond, Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Um, The curse said you'll turn into a girl, so^Å. We kind of figure that means a vagina and stuff. How does that make you feel?

Cole gave a thoughtful shrug. "I'm not sure. I think about it, but I guess I have to have it happen before I'll know for sure."

I listened, but his answer wasn't what I was looking for. "I mean, as far as I know, you've never had sex. At least not that you ever told me about. I assume you jerk off like I do, though. I'm just wondering^Å. Do you think you're going to miss having a^Å you know, a pecker?"

Before he could answer, I added, "And, not that I'm offering or anything, `cause I'm not. But I was just wondering if you wanted^Å. I don't know, a chance to do something with it before^Å. before^Å"

Cole grinned. "Before you dream it away?"

"Yeah," I grinned, grateful for the help.

"Well, I've thought about that, too. I don't know. I've kind of just given it up. I mean, I figure it's just a matter of time before it's gone anyway. Seriously, each morning, or rather each night, I halfway expect it to be gone when I get up. So, I've kind of stopped planning anything around it. And, to tell the truth, for some reason, the urge just isn't there. I know it should be, but it isn't. So then I think the changes, the other changes, go a lot deeper than you think."

I nodded. "Yeah, I've kind of noticed that. I notice things changing about you that aren't always related to what I was dreaming."

"Yeah."

"But then I think maybe it's just a natural way of dealing with it. Like you have to accept it or you'd go crazy fighting it."

"Yeah," said Cole again softly. "I think it is something like that." With his head down, he glanced at me, the movement making his eyelashes flutter in a surprisingly sexy and alluring manner.

"God, Diamond^Å You have no idea how sexy you are to me."

Cole shrugged and smiled softly. "I might have a better idea than you think, Buddy."

The first thing we had to do, since there was no breakfast, was to sort out the stuff we wanted to keep, and put stuff we were willing to lose into Cole's backpack. We decided that it would be better if Diamond wasn't wearing any of Cole's things, so he had to wear some of my things instead.

Once we had it ready, I took Cole's backpack back to the river and tossed it in slightly downstream from where we'd decided to cut back to the trail. It was a surprisingly emotional moment. Even though Cole, who was now Diamond, was still waiting for me back at our camp, it felt like I was losing my lifelong friend.

I watched his backpack flounder down the river for awhile, hoping the current would carry it away. It occasionally got stuck on the rocks, but then would eventually break free and float a few feet before snagging again. Once I was satisfied that it would travel far enough to make it look like an accident, I found my way back to Diamond.

Diamond. Not Cole. Throwing Cole's backpack in the river made it seem like Cole was gone, and now there was only Diamond.

With Diamond's feet developing calluses, we were able to make the short hike back to my truck in just a few hours. It was barely two o'clock in the afternoon when we got there. We decided to act as if we were expecting to find Cole there, and gave a small show of looking for him while we waited to see if he showed up. Just in case anyone was watching us. Around four o'clock, we wrote a note and put it on the trailhead bulletin board. It read:

Cole,

We were hungry, and didn't know when you'd get here. We ran into town for a bite to eat. Will be back around six to pick you up.

Buddy

PS ^Ö We'll bring you back some food.

A half-hour later we were sitting down to the first food we'd eaten in over a day. We were both famished. Meanwhile we continued to make a show of looking for Cole, telling ourselves that he might have hitched a ride into town if he got back early. I actually started to half-way believe the story myself, and found myself glancing out the window periodically to see if he was there.

At the restaurant, Diamond had to use the restroom. I saw her hesitate briefly, trying to choose between the men's room and ladies' room. For a brief moment I saw her lean toward the men's room, but at the last second she caught herself and went into the ladies' room. I chuckled. It was the first time he had ever gone that direction. I could only imagine how he felt.

I was glad to see him choose the ladies' room, though. He really looked more like a woman than a man now. There were, of course, some things that looked slightly out of place, if you knew what you were looking for. His arms and legs still had a slightly mannish appearance. Although he was wearing long pants and one of my long-sleeve flannel shirts over a t^^shirt, I knew there was more hair there than you'd expect on a normal woman. Also, his arms seemed out of proportion to his slender shoulders, and his waist was thicker than it should have been. And, of course, there was the secret inside his pants. To the casual observer, he appeared to be just a tomboyish girl.

Later, Diamond told me about her adventure with the bathrooms. She admitted that she'd almost gone into the men's room just by habit, but had caught herself at the last second. "It felt so weird going in there," she said. "I was sure I was going to get arrested. And then^Å Buddy, women's restrooms are so different from men's." She was touching my arm the way a woman might if she were telling the same story. It struck me just how "gone" Cole really was.

"How's that?" I asked, keeping up with my friend's conversation.

"Well, they're clean, for one thing. For another, they're bigger. And the weirdest thing, there's a chair in there."

"A chair?"

"That's what I thought," she said. "A soft, easy chair. Like you'd go there to sit down and watch TV or something."

"Was there a TV?" I asked.

Diamond laughed. "No. It's a bathroom. We don't go there to watch TV." I found his choice of pronouns ^Ö we ^Ö intriguing. Was my friend starting to identify with the softer sex?

"Well, what do I know about women's restrooms?" I asked.

Diamond was grinning at me. "And, there was this other woman there^Å" she said. Again, I noticed his phrasing, using the word "other" instead of just "a woman." If there was another woman in there, did my friend think of himself as being a woman, too? Maybe.

"^Å And she was talking to me. Like we were old friends, you know. And I was kind of checking myself out, and she commented on how she liked to go braless too when she could, and how it felt good to go without makeup once in a while. It was just weird. Not at all like being in the men's room."

I watched him for a minute or two, gauging his emotional state. "So, which do you like better?"

Diamond got a far-away look in her eye. "Well^Å. It's obvious I can't go back to the men's room anymore^Å So^Å " She brought her gaze back to look at me. "I don't think I'll miss it. It was kind of nice being a woman today, and having that other woman treat me like I was just another one of the girls."

I smiled. "That's good. I'm glad."

We went back to the trailhead and waited until dark. We figured that's about the time we should start getting worried about my missing friend. From there we drove to the sheriff's office and reported Cole as missing.

The deputies asked us a lot of questions. It was too late, they said, to start a search party, but they'd have one as soon as it got light. Meanwhile, we needed to give them as much information as possible to make it easier to find our friend.

Diamond pretended to have only recently met Cole. Her story was that she had hitched a ride into town, and then decided to go hiking. After getting lost, she had come across Cole and me, and we had helped her out. She described Cole as being "distant and quiet, as if "he had something on his mind." Of course, the deputies thought Diamond was a girl, and there seemed to be no doubts about her gender, nor any suspicions of her actually being Cole.

They had a lot more questions for me, and were puzzled why we had left the trail. I told them it had been Cole's idea, and that he hadn't been acting like himself. I told them he claimed it would be a shortcut, but it had actually been a lot more difficult than going around. When we saw the trail was close, Diamond and I decided to get back on the trail, and hiked out in the morning. But Cole was convinced he could make it going down the river. "That was the last I saw of him," I said somberly, as I thought of Cole's backpack bobbing slowly down the river.

I suppose we weren't the first city-boys to do something stupid while hiking and end up getting lost because of it. There was enough believability in my story to keep them from holding me longer, and they eventually let me go. I told them that since Cole had been my best friend, I wanted to help them search for him. They said that would be okay.

It was approaching midnight when I met Diamond in the parking lot. She was getting scared. "I thought they might keep you all night," she said. "I don't know what would happen if we don't sleep together."

I gave her hand a squeeze. "I guess we need to get a hotel room, then."

She gave me an excited glance, and asked why. I explained how I'd volunteered to search for Cole the next day. She gave my hand a squeeze and said that was nice of me.

"Well, he was my friend," I said. "It's the least I can do."

"I bet you're going to miss him," he said.

"Yeah. But in a way^Å I feel like he's still here." I squeezed Diamond by the shoulders and then gave her a kiss on the cheek.

We found a room at the hotel in town. When the room clerk had asked if we needed separate beds, I looked at Diamond and she looked at me, and we both grinned. The clerk noticed the look and said, "I take it that means no."

I thought of protesting, but decided it was just as well he thought we were lovers. When we got ready for bed, we even started acting like lovers. Diamond tucked her cock and balls back between her legs so I wouldn't need to see them or think about them. Then she got into bed wearing only the pants I had loaned her that morning.

We made love as best we could. I fondled Diamond's breasts, and sucked on her nipples. When I was satisfied, Diamond shyly asked, "Would you mind if I wanted you to sleep without your shirt on, too?"

I gave her a curious look, but said I would. Before I climbed back into bed, he added, "If it makes you more comfortable, I don't mind if you sleep in your boxers."

I took my boxers off, too, and had a hard time hiding my erection from him. I couldn't believe I was in bed, in my boxers, with my boyhood friend. Diamond snuggled up to me, just like a girl would, and began caressing my chest. "Do you mind if I do this?" he asked.

I looked at him. Long hair, a pretty face, slender fingers, breasts. It was hard to think of anyone that sexy and feminine as a man, so I decided it didn't matter. "No, go ahead," I said.

I thought we would go straight to sleep, due to the late hour, but Diamond had other thoughts. He caressed my chest for a while, saying, "It's too bad I had to clip my fingernails. They'd be perfect for doing this."

Eventually, Diamond's fingers were playing with the waistband of my boxers, and I knew what he was thinking. He? In my mind, Diamond was no longer a he, but a she. And what "she" was thinking and doing was definitely not something I expected from another man. I considered stopping him. But I really didn't want him to stop. What did it matter if he still had a cock and balls? I could take care of those in one good dream, I realized. And then making love to Diamond would be the most natural thing in the world.

But, for now, they were there, and it did make a difference. But only in the fact that I had no urge to reciprocate what he was doing to me. Diamond understood my reluctance, and didn't ask. I was, on the other hand, very interested in his breasts. I began fondling his breasts again, while Diamond's hand slowly dipped inside the waistband of my boxers.

When his fingers brushed across the tip of my cock, I tensed. Diamond noticed, and asked, "Do you want me to stop?"

I shook my head. "No."

Immediately he reached lower and wrapped his now tiny hand around my cock. I heard him sigh, and then he said, "Buddy, I've never done this before."

I laughed. "I'm sure you haven't. Are you sure you want to?"

He paused briefly, and then said, "Yes."

I was surprised by his answer. "Why?" I asked.

He kissed me softly on my cheek, and then on my neck, and then laid his cheek on my chest. "I don't know. I just want to. Do you mind?"

I hesitated. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

He grasped my cock more firmly and began slowly stroking me. In a husky voice, he said, "I'll stop if you want me to."

"No, keep going," I said through clenched teeth. Diamond's hand felt so good on my cock.

"I never knew it was this big," he whispered as she continued to stroke it.

I let Diamond jerk me to orgasm, spewing my semen into the sheets. "The maid's going to have a mess to clean up tomorrow," Diamond said with a grin. "I guess that room clerk was right when he guessed we didn't need separate beds"

We kissed each other good night and went to sleep.

The next morning Diamond was looking at herself in the mirror, admiring her now slender waist. "This is nice," she said, and gave me another kiss. That made four of them since we'd waken. "This is what a girl should look like."

She walked over to where I was getting ready and put her arms around me. She was topless, wearing just the jeans I had loaned her. She looked incredibly sexy. I thought briefly of making love to her again, but decided against it. I'd already slept well past the time that the search party was planning to start. Even with an alarm clock and a wake-up call, I'd somehow slept until after ten, dreaming of Diamond's new waist.

She looked in the mirror, showing off her girlish tummy to me. "God, look at this tummy," she said, "It's so sexy." She kissed me again and added, "But I guess you already knew that." I liked that she knew she was becoming the girl of my dreams.

As I hurried out the door, Diamond told me her plans for the day which included a trip to Wal-mart for some "decent" clothes and some coral nail polish. I knew decent meant clothes meant for a girl. I was interested to see what she bought.

I drove to the trailhead and found the officer coordinating the search for Cole. I told him who I was, and he asked me a lot of the same questions I'd answered the night before at the sheriff's office. It made me doubt the effectiveness of their communications network. Cole's father, Glade Dalton, was there, and I was glad to find that he bore me no ill will for the loss of his son. I briefly considered telling him that Cole was still alive and well and currently at Wal-Mart buying new clothes, but there were too many people around for me to make it a private conversation.

At one point, Mr. Dalton put his arm around my shoulder and said, "I'm just glad to see you're okay, Buddy. I don't know what could have gotten into Cole. He's normally so level-headed. Why would he suddenly want to go cross country?"

I shook my head. "He wasn't himself the last few days," I said. Which was true, in a way.

Mr. Dalton lowered his voice and leaned toward me. "The sheriff's office called me last night and asked me to come up. They don't say it, but I can tell they're thinking the worst. But I have this feeling he's still alive. The weather's warm. He could survive a long time."

I didn't know what to tell him. Finally I said, "Mr. Dalton, if we don't find him today, uh, can I , uh, invite you to dinner tonight?"

Mr. Dalton gave me a quizzical look. "Sure. That would be fine." I think he knew then that I knew more than I was telling.

Naturally the search produced little results. They found Cole's backpack about a mile downstream from where I'd left it. I was glad to see it had traveled so far from the point where I had thrown it in. That decreased the chances of someone tracing it back to me, I thought. I knew the searchers wouldn't find a body, of course, and wanted to make sure his disappearance looked more accidental than planned.

At the end of the day, Mr. Dalton followed me back to our hotel. At the trailhead parking lot he confided in me. "You know, just because we didn't find him today doesn't mean he's not still out there somewhere. I still have this feeling he's alive."

At that point I felt confident in giving him some encouragement. "It's just one day, Mr. Dalton. He still might turn up."

I think Mr. Dalton had forgotten about my dinner invitation, and my optimistic attitude reminded him that I seemed to know more than I was telling. He reminded me of our dinner engagement, and I told him we had to go back to the hotel.

Mr. Dalton was waiting in the restaurant when I showed up with Diamond. Diamond was so nervous, I thought she was going to back out of the meeting. She had bought some new jeans that were more flattering on her, sandals, a bra, a feminine style t^^shirt, and some nail polish, which she had already used to fix her fingernails. They were still short, but looked more like a girl's nails now. She still wanted to wear one of my flannel shirts to help hide the mannish appearance of her arms.

Mr. Dalton watched us walk in and seemed disappointed that Cole wasn't with me. "Mr. Dalton," I said, "This is Diamond Chandler."

Mr. Dalton didn't pick up on the name right away. Diamond had decided to use his mother's maiden name, Chandler, as a new last name. It allowed him to keep a tie with his family, without alerting the deputies of his relationship to the person they were looking for.

Mr. Dalton rose and greeted Diamond with little enthusiasm or interest beyond a quick glance at her breasts. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Chandler," he said, "I heard you were with Buddy and Cole that last day."

Diamond looked at me, then back at her father. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, uh, Mr. Dalton. Yeah, I didn't know Cole very long before he disappeared. I hope he turns out to be okay."

"I don't know. I was telling Buddy I have a feeling he's still out there somewhere. But we didn't find anything today."

Diamond looked at me, and then back at her father again. I wanted to give her hand a reassuring squeeze, but with her father there, it seemed awkward. She seemed to gather her courage and kept talking. "I^Å think he's okay, too. I hope Mrs. Dalton isn't worrying."

Mr. Dalton gave her a quizzical look, then asked, "Why do you think that^Å I'm sorry, I'm not very good with names. What did you say your name was again? Deanna?"

Diamond smiled softly and patiently at her father. "It's Diamond. I don't know. Just a feeling I have."

Mr. Dalton studied Diamond quizzically, obviously curious why someone who was barely acquainted with his son would have feelings about his condition. After a moment he turned to me. "Buddy, I hate to say this, but I keep getting the impression you're not telling me everything there is to know about Cole's disappearance. Do you know something you're not telling me?"

I looked at Diamond, who nodded slightly for me to go ahead and tell him. I glanced around the restaurant. I felt like I was in a spy movie. Lowering my voice, I leaned closer to him and said, "To tell the truth, there is something you need to know, but it's not something we can tell the police."

Diamond interrupted, "We wanted to tell you sooner, but with the search going on it was kind of awkward."

Mr. Dalton glanced around, wondering if the restaurant was an appropriate place to hear our secret. He continued to direct his comments to me, confirming the fact that Diamond was no longer recognizable as his son. "Buddy, when they told me Cole wandered off down the river like that, something just didn't add up. And Diamond's story about him being^Å What'd you cal it? Distant and quiet? I mean, that just doesn't sound like him. Cole's the type, if he's got something on his mind, he either works it out or lets you know what it is. I can't believe he was using drugs. That's what the police keep suggesting."

"Cole wasn't using drugs," I assured him. "But, he wasn't himself those last few days either."

"So, what happened then?"

I looked at Diamond again, wondering if she wanted to tell him or if she wanted me to tell him. Finally she spoke up, "Dad, I mean^Å Mr. Dalton^Å."

Mr. Dalton was jolted by Diamond's slip of words when she accidentally called him Dad." What'd you say?"

Diamond hesitated, "Something happened, Mr. Dalton. Something neither of us can explain. I didn't really get here two days ago. I've been here all week. Buddy and I were hiking^Å And we ran into this crazy old guy^Å. I called him a woman by mistake, and it made him mad." She paused as the terror of that moment came back.

"You two were hiking? So where was Cole?"

I took over to let Diamond regain control of her emotions. "Cole and I were hiking, just like we said. Cole called the old man a woman and he was threatening to shoot him for using his outhouse. But for some reason he changed his mind and did this weird curse thing on him instead."

Mr. Dalton looked confused. Turning to Diamond he said, "I thought you said you're the one who called him an old woman."

I spoke again, holding my hands up and pushing them down, signaling to everyone that we needed to keep our voices down. "We're trying to explain it, Mr. Dalton. Give us a moment. Cole and I were hiking, just like we said. He used this old man's outhouse, and the old man threatened to shoot him. But instead, he put a curse on him. We didn't believe it, of course, but every day^Å. Cole would change a little. And now we're sure the curse is real."

Mr. Dalton looked disgusted. "You expect me to believe that?" Admirably, he kept his voice down.

"Mr. Dalton, I can't explain it. I really can't. I just know it's happening. Cole's not dead. He's not lost. We just said that to keep the police from looking into it any more." I glanced at Diamond. She signaled me to keep talking.

Mr. Dalton looked at me like he wanted to believe me. I think he preferred that to learning that Cole was dead. He saw my glance at Diamond, and suddenly began to figure out what we were telling him. "You expect me to believe^Å."

I continued, "Exactly, Mr. Dalton. This is Cole. Every day he keeps changing because of the curse. I told you I can't explain it. I just know it's happening."

He looked at me for the longest time, and then at Diamond. "Dad," she said, her eyes welling up with tears. "It's me."

I don't know why, but that was all the proof he needed.

Diamond and I explained the story to Diamond's father in as much detail as we could. We told him we didn't understand the curse, but that it seemed to be very real, and that every day there was another undeniable change. When we came to the part where we chose to go along the river rather back to the old man's cabin, Mr. Dalton was confused. "Why didn't you want to go back to the cabin and see if he could reverse the curse?"

I looked at Diamond, not sure how to explain it. Finally Diamond spoke up. "Dad, something changed inside me. It's hard to explain. Even harder than the physical changes. Every day, Buddy would wake up and tell me what he dreamed. And then we'd look, and it would be exactly like he said. But inside me, there was something going on, too. But it wasn't anything he ever talked about in a dream."

She looked at me to see if I wanted to contradict what she was saying. When I didn't, she continued, "Every day, I kept changing into, literally, the girl of Buddy's dreams. And somewhere on the way, I started feeling like it."

Mr. Dalton was trying to hide his disgust at what was sounding like a rather homosexual relationship.

I interrupted, "It's not like that, Mr. Dalton. Cole and I have never been like that. Never."

Mr. Dalton looked at me. I could tell he wanted to believe me. Diamond kept talking, "Dad, the physical changes are undeniable. You can check them out if you want."

She paused briefly, but Mr. Dalton shook his head. He didn't need to see.

"The emotional changes^Å In a way they've been the scariest. Dad, I'm changing. I can't help it. I need you to believe me. Not hate me."

Mr. Dalton looked at Diamond, who was now, in a sense, his daughter. Whatever feelings he had for his son were slowly transferring to the person he now believed was his son in a female body. Momentarily forgetting to use his girl name, Mr. Dalton said, "I don't hate you, Cole. I'm just trying to understand this."

In her very gentle soprano voice, Diamond replied, "I don't understand it either. I just know that when Buddy suggested we go back to the cabin and try to undo the curse,^Å. I felt like^Å." She struggled to define what it was she had felt. "I felt like something inside me was^Å I just wanted to cry. I felt like something inside me would die if we did that."

Mr. Dalton reached over and took Diamond's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I think I understand, Diamond."

Diamond's tears were flowing freely now as she held her father's hand. "Dad, tell Mom I'm okay."

"I will, ^Å" He caught himself before adding the word son.

Mr. Dalton left the restaurant and returned home to tell Diamond's mother what had happened. We agreed that he should come back in the morning and continue searching as if nothing had happened. He wanted to take Diamond with him, but when Diamond reminded him that my dreams were part of the curse and that we had been together every night since the curse began, he understood why we were reluctant to sleep apart. He did, however, give me a strange glance, and I think he knew that I was being intimate with his son-daughter.

Once back in the privacy of our hotel room, Diamond showed me what she had bought during the day. Along with the outfit she'd worn to the restaurant, she showed me a dress she had bought. It was white, with green leaves splashed across it. It was short, coming to about the middle of her thighs, with a low neckline and halter-top that tied behind her neck. Diamond had shaved his legs, and bought some panty hose to wear with the dress. As my friend modeled the dress for me, I marveled at the change in his emotions that would cause him to buy a dress and shave his legs.

He had also bought some panties and a little make-up and showed me those. As I watched his face beaming with pride and excitement, I once more had to marvel at the emotional changes that would cause him to be so happy having such feminine things. "I know I'm not a girl down there yet," he said with a grin, "But they were so cute and sexy, I decided I could wear them anyway."

As we did the night before, we made love before going to sleep. I got into bed wearing only my boxers, knowing that Diamond would most likely remove them before we went to sleep. Diamond wore the dress at first, and let me remove it from her sexy body. She removed the panty hose herself, knowing I wouldn't want to be reminded of what was hidden inside, but returned wearing only her new panties with her cock and balls tucked between her legs.

I fondled Diamond's breasts and sucked on her nipples, and then sat back expecting her to give me a hand job like she had done the previous night. Instead, she surprised me again, saying, "Buddy, I was thinking. In another week, I'll be a girl, and you're going to start wanting me to do things like a girl."

She kissed my cheek as she rubbed her nipples on my upper arm. I nodded, agreeing that she was probably right.

"So, I was thinking, "Would you be mad if I used my mouth this time?"

I felt my breath catch in my throat as I thought about Diamond's soft, sexy lips wrapped around my cock. My voice cracked as I said, "No, not at all."

It was obvious that this was Diamond's first time sucking a cock. She was hesitant and unsure of herself. But she was determined to please me, and continually looked up at me to see how I was enjoying it. And enjoy it I did. I coached her along, reminding her to trust her instincts. "Just do what you'd want a girl to do to your cock if you were the one being sucked," I said.

Diamond continued tirelessly. At one point I suggested he might want to stop because I was close to cumming, and I wasn't sure he was ready for a mouth full of cum. For a moment, he did stop, but then thought better of it. "I'm going to have to do it that way eventually," he said, "I might as well learn what it's like."

A short time later I was squirting cum into Diamond's mouth. He moaned softly, and swallowed every drop.

In the morning, I couldn't contain an excited grin. "Diamond," I said, shaking him.

As always, he rolled over slightly and opened his eyes to look at me. "What?"

"You have to let me see your ass," I said. "I dreamed about the cutest little ass you ever saw.

He looked at me for a moment, surprised by my enthusiasm over this particular body part. Slowly he pulled back the covers and turned on to his front, letting me see his panty-clad bottom.

"Oh god!" I groaned, "I think it's even better than it was in my dream. Do you mind if I touch it?"

Diamond grinned, "Mi ass-a es su ass-a."

I ran my fingers over his tender, sensuous curves, feeling the generous globes of flesh filling my hands. I let my fingers linger on his hips, which were slightly wider and flatter than they had been a day earlier, accenting the sexy curve of his waist. "God, Diamond, you're^Å. almost fuckable now," I breathed.

Diamond smiled at me as he looked at me fondling his raised bottom. "So, fuck me then."

I stared at him. He was serious.

"I'll keep my cock and balls out of your way," he promised.

When I still hesitated, he added, "I really want you to, Buddy. I want to feel you inside me."

I wanted so badly to fuck my dream girl. I knew I couldn't wait any longer. "Okay, but only until you get a pussy."

Diamond led me to some lube he had bought the day before specifically for this purpose. "A girl likes to be prepared," he said with a wink.

I generously lubricated my throbbing cock and Diamond's butt hole, putting two fingers up inside him as he kept his sexy ass lifted off the bed. When it seemed like he was ready, I got between his legs and aimed my cock directly at his small pink rosebud.

Diamond groaned as I pressed in an inch or two. "Oh god! Wait a second."

I stopped. "Do you want me to take it out?" I asked. It felt incredible having it in even that short distance.

Diamond groaned softly, "No, just let me get used to it. Then you can put some more in me."

A minute or two later, he was ready, and I pushed forward another inch. Diamond groaned again and asked me to stop.

"I can take it out," I reminded him.

"No!" I was surprised at his vehemence. "Just keep it there. Give me a second."

When I pushed again, the thickest part of my cock moved past his opening, and I was able to enter him fully. Diamond groaned again as my cock sank all the way in to his soft, sexy ass. I felt his round butt cheeks pressing up against my thighs.

"Okay, now fuck me," he said breathlessly.

I pulled my cock back out and then slowly thrust it back in. The feeling was incredible. Diamond groaned, "Oh god, yes."

I began thrusting in and out, enjoying the feel of his tight, sexy ass wrapped around my cock.

"Oh god, Diamond groaned, "Every time you thrust in I can feel your balls hitting me. It feels so sexy."

I began thrusting faster and faster. At the same time, I reached around to grasp his tits, fondling them eagerly. After several minutes, I was pumping another load of semen into Diamond. "Oh god, yes, I'm cumming, Diamond," I shouted.

My thrusts slowed, and my cock slowly softened, and then came out of his bum with a slurping sound. "God, that's embarrassing," Diamond giggled.

I gave his ass a soft slap, and then a kiss. "You, girly-boy, have the cutest ass in the world," I said.

Diamond looked totally pleased.

Diamond's parents, Mr. Dalton and Dora Dalton, were waiting for us at the restaurant. We'd warned Mr. Dalton that we had a tendency to sleep late, and they generously steered clear of interrupting us too early. When Mrs. Dalton saw Diamond, she immediately came over to give her a hug. I heard her whisper, "Dad told me you'd be beautiful, but I never imagined."

Mrs. Dalton could barely contain her happiness, refusing to let go of her new daughter's hand as she led us to the table where Mr. Dalton was already seated. For a brief moment he looked at me, and I once more got the feeling that he knew what had happened in the hotel room that morning. I realize now that it was just the typical protective nature of a father with his daughter, but he'd had a daughter for less than a day, so it was surprising that his protective instincts were already so strong.

After eating a generous breakfast, Mr. Dalton and I were obligated to spend the day searching for Cole along the river. To us, it was a pointless search, but we realized how important it was to keep an image. Mr. Dalton did a great job of acting disappointed every time a lead turned out to be fruitless.

We searched until dark, and then went home with the other searchers. The sheriff informed us that they would search the next day, but if they still didn't find anything, then they'd just have to wait and see what turned up. "If he's drowned in the river," said the burly sheriff, "his body'll turn up eventually. And if he wandered off somewhere where we can't find him, then usually some hunter finds him eventually. My thinking is he might have just wandered off somewhere and either doesn't want to be found, or will find his way out on his own. Whatever happens, we'll let you know."

Mr. Dalton thanked him, and said that we'd like to join the searchers the next day.

I was excited to get back home to Diamond. I could hardly wait to get "her" alone again, and to fuck "her" sweet sexy ass once more.

Diamond wore the green and white dress to dinner. Mr. Dalton was stunned to see his only son looking so sexy in a dress like that. Whatever doubts he may have had about his son turning into a girl were wiped away in an instant as he gazed at Diamond's stunningly sexy, and undeniably female body, in the provocative outfit.

Mr. Dalton didn't give me that "I know you're having sex with my daughter" look anymore after that. I think he realized that if I wasn't having sex with Diamond, then there was something wrong with me.

Dinner lasted for several hours, and the restaurant owner eventually asked us to leave. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton got a room at the same hotel where we were staying, although they discretely requested a room at the opposite end of the building. I was glad, because I fully intended to fuck Diamond's brains out as soon as we were alone.

Before going to bed, Diamond told me about the day with his mother. He showed me his purchases from the day's shopping excursion. Mrs. Dalton had helped him buy cute, flattering outfits, and then given him some tips on being a girl. "All the things most girls learn as teenagers, I've had to learn in a day. You wouldn't believe it."

"Tell me some of it," I coaxed, enjoying the sound of Diamond's voice and the look of pleasure on his face as he described what it was like learning how to be a girl. For the next hour or two, he told me what they had talked about; all the way from flirting to giving a guy the brush-off; from putting on make-up to skin care; from dressing sexy to dressing like a lady; from periods to birth control. "In fact, she made me buy these," he said, and dumped a dozen condoms on the bed.

I stared, incredulous. Diamond grinned. "I think my parents know about us, Buddy,"

"I know. Your dad gave me a look last night like he knew what I was doing with his `daughter'. Then he gave it to me again this morning."

"Mom just said I might meet a guy someday who was attracted to me, and that I might be attracted to him. Don't worry. They like you. They're just being parents."

"You're lucky to have such nice parents, Diamond. I'm glad we found a way to tell them."

"I'm just surprised how well they are taking it. I think my mom finally got the daughter she always wanted."

"I was surprised your dad didn't want more proof."

Diamond laughed. "Well, when I offered to let him `check me out' last night, I think he kind of realized he had to believe me."

He paused and gave me a mischievous look. "But you can."

I stared for a moment, not comprehending. "What?"

"Never mind, Let me show you one more thing that I bought. I think you'll like it. Just wait here."

Diamond was gone for a few minutes, and I wondered what was taking so long. Soon, the bathroom door opened, and Diamond called out, "Okay, Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Diamond slowly stepped out where I could see what she was wearing, and my jaw nearly dropped. My best friend was wearing a bikini. It was neon blue in a shimmery, satin fabric with bright yellow trim. The front and back sides of the panty-bottom were tied together at each hip. The bra consisted of two fabric triangles joined together by the same bright yellow string. It was positively stunning, and perfectly complemented his blue eyes and blonde hair. I was speechless when Diamond asked, "What do you think?"

"It's uh^Å"

"Too girly?" he asked.

"No, not at all. I mean^Å. Yeah, it's totally girly, Diamond. But, god, look at you. You look^Å. Like a girl."

Diamond smiled. "I knew you'd like it." He climbed onto the bed on top of me, straddling me. "There's just one catch."

"What?" I croaked as I stared at the sexy female body perched above me.

"You can do anything you want to me. But you have to leave my bikini on."

It was hard. I was hard, But somehow I did it. I made love to my best friend without taking off his bikini, even though I was tempted over and over again to untie the strings holding it in place and rip it off of his hot, sexy body. A few times I made up my mind to ignore his instruction, but he'd catch me, grabbing my hand and reminding me that it was against the rules.

Diamond brought me to an incredible orgasm that night by using her mouth, as she'd done the night before. He later confessed to me that his ass was still a little sore from being fucked that morning, and that he hadn't wanted to have sex that way again quite so soon. Diamond finally compromised with me on the rule of leaving his bikini on by removing just his top, while I slept totally nude. Diamond spent almost the entire night cuddled up beside me, with her head resting on my arm and her hand caressing my cock.

I had the most incredible dreams that night. I dreamed I was making love to Diamond, who, in my dream, was completely female. When I woke, it was late as usual, and Diamond was still sleeping peacefully with a hand wrapped around my cock. I looked at my new lover, so beautiful and perfect ^Ö literally a dream come true. The curse had changed both of us. But it hardly felt like a curse any more. Without the curse, I would still be searching for the girl of my dreams. It felt more like a blessing.

For the last nine days I had usually wanted to wake my friend each morning with news of the latest change. This morning I decided to just wait until she woke on her own. I began growing impatient, but Diamond finally stirred.

She blinked a few times, clearing the sleep from her sexy blue eyes. She looked at me, noticing the way I looked at her with a quiet grin. "Good morning," she said in her sweet, sexy voice, and gave me a sweet, sexy smile to match.

That was usually my cue to announce the latest change, but today I wanted her to guess on her own. Holding up my hand in a halting gesture, I said, "Don't move. Just see if you can figure it out."

Diamond was silent a moment, then said, "It feels different down there. Is it the big one?"

The "big one" is what we'd begun calling the expected change to Diamond's genitals. I shrugged, "You tell me."

Diamond rolled onto her back as she slid her hands beneath the blankets. I could tell she was examining the area between her legs. Suddenly her eyes grew wide and she looked at me with the biggest grin I've ever seen. "Oh my god! I don't have a dick any more. I just have^Å." She felt between her legs again to help herself find the words to describe it. "It's all smooth and soft and puffy, with a little opening right down the middle."

She gave me a mischievous grin followed by a look of mock seriousness. "I think you better take a look at it, Doctor. There might be something wrong with me."

I pulled back the coves and looked at Diamond. He was wearing just the blue bikini panty that he'd slept in. With nervous fingers, I untied the string on each side and pulled the fabric aside. Diamond's cock was gone. In its place was a soft, feminine mound and a narrow slit that I knew was his vagina. He spread his legs slightly, letting me get a good look. I could see his tiny clitoris peeking out at me from the top of his slit. My friend was a woman.

He allowed me to look and touch for as long as I wanted. Occasionally he would moan softly and tell me when something felt good. Despite the late hour, I was in no hurry. I fully intended to make love to Diamond, and planned to take my time doing it.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Diamond got up and scurried to the bathroom for some privacy. I pulled on my pants, and opened the door. It was Mr. Dalton and one of the sheriff's deputies. "Buddy, they found Cole," said Mr. Dalton. "They want us to help identify the body."

His voice was steady, but what he was saying made no sense. Cole, who was now Diamond, was in the bathroom. Mr. Dalton was looking at me wondering what was going on. I shrugged. I had no clue.

"Uh, let me just tell Diamond," I said. "She's in the bathroom. I closed the door, leaving the two men outside. Just before closing the door, I gave Mr. Dalton a confused shrug.

Diamond, of course, had no explanation either. I gave her a kiss, and told her I'd be back just as soon as I could. Then, grabbing a shirt and putting on some shoes and socks, I headed out the door.

I rode with Mr. Dalton in his car following the deputy. "What the hell's going on, Buddy?" he asked as soon as we were alone. He was angry.

"I have no idea," I said.

"I don't know what you and that girl back there think you're trying to pull, but I'll figure out what it is and have both of you thrown in jail." He was as mad as I'd ever seen him.

"Mr. Dalton, I swear I have no idea what's going on," I said. "All I know is exactly what I told you. I left Cole back there in the hotel room just now. I can't figure out who the sheriff wants us to go identify."

Mr. Dalton remained unconvinced, although his anger cooled somewhat in response to my declaration. "You even had my wife believing she was Cole. That's what really gets me. She's back at the hotel in tears now, devastated." He gave me a long hard look and then added, "I used to have a high opinion of you, Buddy. Of all Cole's friends, you were the one I trusted the most."

His words stung, which is exactly what he intended them to do. Hurt, I pressed my lips together, biting them. I knew I had to defend myself against his accusations. "Mr. Dalton. What Diamond and I told you is true. He changed again this morning at the hotel. I don't know who we're going to see, but there's no way it can be Cole."

Mr. Dalton gave me another long, hard look, but didn't say anything.

Finally I said, "Can I ask you something? You never asked for any real proof that Diamond and I were telling you the truth. Why not?"

Mr. Dalton gave that a moment's thought, and then answered in a softer voice, "I guess I just wanted to believe it. There was something in that girl's voice and in her eyes and the way she acted that just made me think, as crazy as it sounded, that she actually might be Cole in a different body."

I purposely lowered my voice and spoke softly, trying to diffuse his anger. "Those things you just said, those are Cole. That's what's left. That's why you recognized him. That's why Mrs. Dalton^Å. She spent the day with him! You don't think she would have noticed something during that time? You think some girl you've never met could come along and spend the day with your wife and make her think she was Cole? Does that make any sense at all?"

He tried a few times to argue, but he knew what I was saying made as little sense as a gender-changing curse. Finally he said, "Let's just see who they found up here."

Whoever it was, it wasn't Cole. There were some similarities, of course, but not enough to keep Mr. Dalton from shaking his head and walking away. Back in the car, he turned to me with an apologetic look and said, "I'm sorry for what I said back there, Buddy."

I shrugged. "I don't blame you. I was about going out of my mind, too, wondering what was going on. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry about what happened to Cole."

He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment or two, and then said, "Don't be. We may have lost a son, but now we've got a daughter. I think we'll be able to adjust to that. I know Dora's happy. At least she will be when she learns what happened. Speaking of which, I better get back there and let her know." He started the car and began to turn around. "She was as happy last night as I've ever seen her. Couldn't stop talking about what a wonderful time she and Cole had. I mean Diamond. Sorry, it's hard for me to remember his new name."

"Her new name," I said gently.

For a moment he looked at me uncomprehending, then grinned. "Right. Her new name. I guess it's harder for me to get used to than anyone. I'm going to miss having a son."

We were quiet for a minute or two, and then he said, "Of course, maybe with a little luck someday, she'll meet a guy who I won't mind having as a son-in-law." He gave me a sly grin.

I smiled back. "Yeah. I hope she does."

We found Mrs. Dalton with Diamond. The wastebasket was filled with used tissues ^Ö signs of an earlier cry-fest. But when we arrived, they were talking calmly and peacefully. When we told her that it hadn't been Cole, she smiled and said she wasn't surprised. When Mr. Dalton asked what they'd been talking about, she just smiled again and said, "Girl things."

I looked at my friend, who seemed perfectly comfortable to have been talking about "girl things" with his mother. Even though the curse still had a few more days before it finished, there didn't seem to be much else that needed changing.

With the discovery of a body, the search party was forced to split into two groups. One group continued to search for Cole, while the other, smaller group, focused on identifying the body. After two days of fruitless searching, the search party was losing momentum. The discovery of a body had gotten everyone excited, and then, once they found out it wasn't the person they were looking for, it was hard to get them excited again.

Mr. Dalton and I felt obligated to spend the day searching anyway, but it was even harder for us to get excited. We knew we had to keep up the charade of looking for my friend and Mr. Dalton's son. But we both knew we wouldn't find him, that he was in town with his mother. For me, it was even more difficult because I kept thinking of Diamond's new vagina, and I could hardly wait to get back and make lover to her all night long.

Mercifully, the day came to an end. The sheriff voiced his apologies to Mr. Dalton, and assured him that he would continue to allocate whatever resources were available to an ongoing search. Interpreted, that meant the search was over, and all the sheriff department's resources would be returned to their normal usage. He invited us to continue looking, but Mr. Dalton declined, saying he trusted the sheriff and his men had done about as well as anyone could expect, and it was time to leave it in God's hands.

It was a lot of lip service, I guess. An easy way for everyone to politely get out of what appeared to be a hopeless task.

After having dinner with us one more time, Mr. and Mrs. Dalton returned home, leaving Diamond with me. "Take care of her," Mr. Dalton had said to me, just before he left.

With my arm around my new best friend's sexy waist, we watched them drive across the parking lot and turn on to the highway. Diamond was leaning back against me, her head pillowed on my shoulder, as we watched the stars for a while. Soon, Diamond began to sing softly:

Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are., Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky.

As she sang the last line, we both looked at each other with a grin. The song had new meaning for us. Cole had become my precious diamond.

With Diamond essentially a complete female now, there was one thing left for us to do. I'm sure we were both thinking about it. I know I was. At the same time, neither of us felt a great sense of urgency about it. It was comfortable just being together. We felt as if we had plenty of time to do anything we wanted to do together.

Eventually, it was Diamond who broke the quiet silence. "Want to stay in the hotel one more night?"

"Can we sleep in the same bed?" I asked.

Diamond turned, wrapping her arms around me and pressing her warm, sensuous body fully against me from breasts to thighs. "Would that turn you on?" she asked in a sexy voice as she began kissing me, first my lips, then my face, and slowly working her way down my neck. " Would you get all turned on and horny sleeping with me? Would you get a big hard-on if you saw my tits? Making love to me? Having me suck your cock?"

I moaned in reply. I was getting turned on just listening to her talking so sexy in that beautiful voice of hers and by what she was doing to me there in the parking lot. My cock was already coming to attention. My hands were on her luscious ass, holding her gently.

Working her way back up to my ear, she whispered, "I have a brand new, sexy pussy now. Want to see it?"

I nodded, feeling my knees going weak with desire for her. I gave her sexy ass a squeeze. "God yes."

"I might need some help learning how to use it," she breathed. "I've never had one before."

We kissed for a few more seconds, and then reluctantly parted. Diamond gave me a moment to adjust my erection in my pants, and then took my hand as we walked back to the hotel office to ask for a room.

This time the hotel clerk didn't ask if we wanted separate beds. It was obvious. Diamond couldn't keep her hands off of me, and of course, I couldn't keep my hands off of her. By the time we got to our room, my hands were trembling with excitement.

Whatever sense of urgency that had been lacking before in the parking lot, it was there now. We frantically tore at each other's clothes as we embraced again. Our lips met in a deep passionate kiss. I had my tongue as far inside Diamond's mouth as I could get it, and she was doing the same to me.

With some of our clothes off, probably my shirt and definitely Diamond's top, for I distinctly recall the sight of her breasts as I pushed her onto the bed, we fell onto the bed and continued kissing. Embracing, we rolled over so that Diamond was above me. She rose to a sitting position on top of me, and I stared up into the face of an angel. An angel with gorgeous breasts that were jiggling seductively as she ground her pussy into my erection.

"God," she moaned sexily, "I can't believe how good that feels."

I moaned in agreement, then added, "Think how much better it would feel if we were naked."

Diamond grinned at me before jumping off the bed and quickly removing her pants and panties. I did the same, quickly taking off my pants and shorts and tossing them aside as I watched her undress. For a brief moment I thought about how quickly my friend had changed from being a normal male to someone who was more comfortable in panties. My erection was sticking straight up in the air when Diamond got back into position above me.

Immediately she went back to grinding her pussy against my cock and moaning. "Oh god, yeah, that feels incredible."

I lifted my hips, giving Diamond a ride, and shifted her weight slightly so that I could feel the tip of my cock resting slightly inside her moist slit. Diamond's eyes widened. "Oh, god, I think I can feel it trying to go inside me, Buddy."

I grinned and thrust upward slightly. "I think it wants in there pretty bad," I said.

Diamond shifted forward slightly and reached between his legs to guide my cock into place. When it felt to him as if it was in the right position, he carefully sat back, keeping his weight raised by lifting his legs and then slowly sinking down. I felt my cock sink slowly inside my friend's pussy as I watched his face. He was biting his sexy lower lip as his legs began to tremble with fatigue.

Lifting up again, he said, "It hurts, Buddy. It's too big." Tears were forming in his eyes.

I pulled him close to me for a comforting hug. "It's okay," I said. "You can do it. You're probably just a virgin still."

"I'm a virgin?"

I laughed softly. "Well, if you're the girl of my dreams, you would be."

"So.... you're gonna have to de-virginize me?"

I nodded.

"Oh god, I can't believe I'm a virgin, too. Have you ever had a virgin before?"

I nodded. "Just once."

"What happened?"

"Well, she said it hurt, and there was some blood."

"How bad did it hurt?"

"I don't know. You'd have to ask her. Probably not too bad. It didn't stop her from letting me get all the way in."

Diamond's tears had stopped. Feeling braver, she said, "Okay, let me try again."

My cock had softened somewhat, but quickly became hard again as Diamond's tiny hand grasped it and rubbed it once or twice between his soft pussy lips. I groaned eagerly as my cock pressed into his soft, sensuous folds. "Oh, God, Diamond, that feels so good."

He grinned. "Tell me how this feels."

He positioned my cock right at the opening to his vagina and rocked his hips backward, wedging the tip of my cock tightly inside him. I gasped. "Oh god, I want to fuck you so bad, Diamond," I moaned as I reached up to fondle his breasts.

He gave me a nervous grin and shifted his weight higher so that he could lower himself slowly onto my cock as he'd tried to do earlier. He was biting his lower lip to hold back his cries. He winced as he pushed down slightly. Closing his eyes, he pushed down again and winced once more. With one last push, he sank even lower. I felt his virgin ring break, and some warm liquid ooze out as my cock sank fully inside him.

For a moment or two, he sat motionless atop me. I didn't dare move for fear of hurting him. His breasts rose and fell slightly as he worked to control his breathing. After a time, his eyes opened, and he gave me a shy grin. "I think it's all the way in me."

"I think so, too. Can I start fucking you now?"

He rocked his hips slightly, fucking himself gently on my cock. "I thought I'd feel it inside me more," he said. "It's like I can feel where it goes in at, but then it just kind of disappears and all I feel is this pressure."

I thrust my hips upward and then slowly brought them back down, feeling the sensations of my cock withdrawing from his pussy. "It feels pretty good to me, Diamond. I hope you're ready to get fucked, 'cause I don't know how much longer I can wait."

I thrust again, causing Diamond to giggle with excitement. "Mmmm, that's feeling pretty good. Okay, try it a little bit."

I began thrusting more vigorously, making Diamond's breasts jiggle seductively above me. After a few more thrusts, Diamond lifted his hands from my chest and let his full weight help press my cock deeper inside him. I couldn't believe it felt so good fucking my friend. For that matter, I couldn't believe my friend had become the sexy goddess perched above me.

After a while, Diamond leaned forward, placing his hands on either side of my head, his breasts dangling seductively inches above my chest, occasionally brushing his small pink nipples on me. His eyes were closed and his breath was ragged. His attention seemed to be less on me and less on the light sensuous touch of his nipples on my chest, and concentrated on something else. I then realized just what it was that had his attention. He was positioning his body in such a way that each thrust of my cock was massaging his clitoris.

I don't think he knew exactly what he was doing. His experience with the female body just wasn't enough for him to know. All he knew is what felt good. And what he was doing felt good. My little friend was just getting acquainted with his new body, and had discovered something that felt pretty good.

I watched his face as I continued thrusting, momentarily forgetting my own pleasure and stimulation as I attempted to maximize his. In moments, I heard him gasping as he approached his first climax as a girl. He shuddered and looked at me with a look of surprise. "Buddy, I think I'm gonna cum." The fear in his voice surprised me.

"It's okay, Diamond. Just let it happen."

I could tell he was fighting it, but his body kept moving up and down on my cock, propelling him toward a thrilling climax. "Buddy," he wailed as the sensations grew too intense to contain any longer. He lifted his body straight up, driving my cock deep into his vagina, and raised his hands above his shoulders. With a squeal of delight and a shiver that went through his entire body, he experienced his first female orgasm.

My thrusts slowed as he slowly relaxed, laying tenderly across my chest. His chest was heaving still from the effort. We were both quiet for several seconds as we continued to relax. When Diamond's breathing finally slowed, I asked, "So, how was it?"

Diamond shifted slightly, putting his tiny hand on my chest and caressing me softly. "It was wonderful," he said in his girlish voice. "You were wonderful."

"I mean how was it having a girl orgasm compared to having a guy orgasm?"

Diamond took his time answering. "Well, it was different. Different in some ways, but still kind of the same. When you cum as a guy, you kind of know how it's going to end - you squirt stuff out of your cock. This was like I had all those same feelings, but no way to get rid of them. So I screamed and shook. It's like that's all I could do. Except that wasn't enough, so I had to do it for a while to get it all out. So it lasts longer."

"Wow," I said, enjoying hearing his description.

"And then," he continued, "a guy's orgasm is kind of focused in his cock. This was kind of all over, but mostly in my vagina and a little bit in my boobs. And you know how when a guy cums, he kind of gets less horny?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this is kind of the opposite. It's like I just want to do it again."

I rolled him onto his back, a bit surprised at how easy it was to move his smaller feminine body. "Good," I said with a big grin, "'Cause I wasn't finished yet."

Instinctively, Diamond spread his legs and wrapped them around me. My cock was instantly hard again as I slid it between his swollen pussy lips. With two or three long hard thrusts, I had it buried once more inside him.

My friend was gasping, "God, Buddy, I can feel it all the way up inside me."

I grinned as I slowly began to thrust in and out. "Do you like it?"

Diamond gave me a sexy smile as my thrusts made his tits jiggle on his chest. "I can't believe I'm saying this; two weeks ago I would have died if someone had told me I'd like getting fucked like a girl, but I love having your cock inside me, Buddy. I love the feel of your balls between my legs. I love how close it makes us feel."

"So do I, baby," I grunted as I buried my cock even deeper. Seconds later I felt my cock twitch as it began spewing semen into my friend's pussy.

"Oh, god, yes," Diamond said as she felt the jets of cum. "Oh yeah, right there, lover."

With both of us having cum, we fell asleep until morning.

The next morning Diamond's arms had changed to a sexier, more feminine shape. Her biceps, which the day before had looked slightly out of place on her mostly feminine body, had been replaced with a slender, girlish shape that perfectly matched the rest of her body. The thick hair on her forearms was gone, replaced by the downy soft hair of a girl.

We knew we had to go home that day, but decided to make love one more time before checking out of the hotel. I would have been perfectly content to spend the rest of my life doing nothing else but making love to my dream girl, but we couldn't live in the hotel forever.

Since Cole and I had already been living together as roommates, there was no question as to where we would live. The only thing that changed is Diamond moved in to my room and we began using Cole's old room as a sort of storage area.

With school over for both of us, we were living on temporary funds as we waited for the time that would have otherwise separated us. For me, that meant going to job interviews trying to get a job. For Cole, that had meant preparing to leave for medical school. As Diamond, his plans had necessarily changed. It would be impossible for him to go to medical school in place of Cole. For the moment neither of us had decided what we wanted to do about the future. We weren't rich, but we had enough to live comfortably for a few months.

Almost as soon as we got back to our old apartment, we tumbled into bed and stayed there for the next three days, getting up only to shower and take care of other physical needs.

On the second morning back in our apartment, Diamond's legs were changed to a slimmer, smoother, more feminine appearance. As with his arms, his leg hair became smooth and thin; although he had been shaving his legs daily since returning from the hike. With his legs being feminine, we didn't know what else was left. The curse seemed to have changed everything. In fact, on the last two days, Diamond's neck and back changed, but by then the changes seemed minor, and only served to refine his feminine appearance.

At the end of the two weeks, I had the first dreamless night I'd had in quite a while. When I woke up, Diamond was already awake and had been for several hours. That was the way it normally was with us. Cole had been an early riser, while I liked sleeping late. However, during the curse, our roles had switched, and it had been me waking up first. It was comforting to see that things had returned to normal, other than Cole had become Diamond.

Seeing that I was finally awake, she gave me a warm smile and then climbed onto the bed beside me wearing a skimpy nightgown that barely covered her beautiful new breasts and matching panties. "Any interesting dreams last night?"

I stared at my friend. His body was completely female. His personality, too, had changed, becoming more female in the process. But he was still my friend, and we still shared years of childhood memories. As I thought about my first dreamless night in two weeks, I suddenly realized that I hadn't dreamed anything at all about Diamond's body changing. "Um, no," I said, greatly relieved.

Diamond kissed me softly. "Good, then that means I'm done."

Two months later I accepted a job offer with a company in Texas. I asked Diamond to come with me, and proposed to her at the same time. She said yes.

With the help of Diamond's uncle, Diamond was able to get identification papers that showed her as a female. She'd been to see a gynecologist shortly after the curse came to an end. She had been very nervous about going, wondering if the changes might be only "skin deep" and the doctor would notice she wasn't a "real female." The changes were much more than skin deep, however, and the doctor had no doubts that Diamond had ever been anything but a woman.

In fact, shortly after I proposed, Diamond began to worry that she'd never had a period, and went to the doctor to see if something was the matter. That's when she learned that she was pregnant, and had been for nearly two months. We figured out that the baby had been conceived at the hotel that very first night.

With me leaving for Texas, and Diamond being pregnant, there was no time for a traditional wedding. Diamond had been hoping to be able to wear a wedding dress and have a large reception with a maid of honor and a dozen bridesmaids. Instead, she had to settle for a small ceremony at the church two days before we left for Texas.

Cole's parents were very supportive and treated Diamond as their daughter. Of course, they were obligated to tell their friends and neighbors that she was just a friend of mine that they happened to fall in love with. We never told my parents the truth about Diamond having grown up as Cole. We felt that the only ones who needed to know were his parents.

Diamond is now the mother of two, a two-year-old boy and a brand new baby girl. She's very happy with her new life, and says she sometimes has trouble remembering having ever been anything but a woman. The woman of my dreams.