Dennis' Addiction

Dennis' Addiction By Deane Christopher Email: deanechris@msn.com Edited by Rachael Platt

Copyright 2007

"...I'm well aware of the fact that he isn't going to like it. And you're right; I am asking lot of him. But trust me, sis, he'll do it. He won't like it, but he'll do it." Gale Grimes told her sister over the phone. "You just make sure to tell Bonny to have her son here by seven. Oh, and sis, can you do me a big favor while I'm thinking about it? Find out what color boutonniere will go best with Johnny's tux. Then, if you would, call the florist and have them delivered it to my house this afternoon. I'd do it myself, but I'm going to have to run down to the bank and get grandma's pendant out of our safe deposit box...."

Dennis Grimes started work at seven that morning and by the time he arrived home at four thirty-five he was feeling a bit haggard. He watched the florist nod and walk away as he parked. Now he was more perplexed than haggard - and just a little suspicious. The very first thing he did upon entering his house was to seek an explanation from his wife. "Hey, Gale? What gives with the florist? Is there something I should know about? I mean, you don't by any chance have a secret admirer do you?"

"No, silly!" Gale said as she passed out of the kitchen and into their living room. As she did so, Gale nonchalantly placed the small box she was carrying on the coffee table.

"So, what's in the box?" Dennis asked the obvious question pensively. He could feel there was something peculiar going on, something he ought to know about.

Knowing that she did not have a lot of time to accomplish all that needed to be done before Johnny Timbold arrived at seven, Gale simply replied, "A boutonniere."

"For me?" Dennis was even more perplexed than he was before. "Are we supposed to be going out somewhere special? If we are, I sure wish you would have given me a heads-up before now. Hell, I don't even know if my tux'll fit me anymore, considering that I've gained around fifteen pounds since that Caribbean cruise we took last fall."

"Dennis!" Gale's voice sounded a little sterner then she would have liked under the circumstances. "The boutonniere is not for you. It's for a boy named Johnny Timbold."

"Oh, so I take it that our daughter is coming home from college for the weekend?"

"No. Stacey's staying on campus both this weekend and next. She says that she has a lot of cramming to do for finals."

"So, why do we have Johnny Timbold's boutonniere?"

Placing the tips of the index and middle fingers of her right hand on the becoming crystal pendent that dangled from a silver chain encircling her neck, Gale timidly began her explanation. She started off by informing Dennis that her sister Linda had called all upset that morning. It seemed that misfortune had befallen her sister-in-law's stepson, Johnny, or rather Johnny's prom date, Heather. The poor girl had been a passenger in a car that had been blindsided by a drunk driver late Thursday evening. She was still hospitalized but her prognosis was good. Needless to say she would not be attending the prom with Johnny.

What it boiled down to was Johnny needed a date. The problem was where to find one on such short notice.

It was at that point in Gale's explanation that Dennis took note of the crystal pendent that hung about his wife's neck. He had not seen it for almost twenty years but he knew all too well what that pendent portended. "Gale!" he vehemently protested. "You couldn't! You wouldn't! Please!" he pleaded. "You know how I feel about this! Besides, you promised me that you'd never do that to me again."

"I know and I'm sorry. I promise that I'll do everything I can to make this up to you," Gale's heart went out to her husband. "Besides, you know I wouldn't ask you to do this if it weren't important. But it is important. It's this boy's senior prom. He didn't get go to his junior prom because he had pneumonia and his mom told my sister that he's really upset about not being able to take a date to his senior prom."

Dennis could feel his body begin to tingle which signified the beginning of his transformation into an anatomically correct member of the opposite sex. He resignedly replied, "So I take it that you volunteered me to be this boy's date?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, dear. But it's all I could come up with on such short notice."

Aware that he had no say in the matter whatsoever and knowing that it was the right thing to do, Dennis heaved a sighed. "So what do you suggest I wear. I mean, where are we going to come up with a gown and all the other crap I'm going to need?"

"That's not going to be a problem. You'll simply wear the gown that Stacey wore to her senior prom last year. After I got back from the bank with my grandmother's pendent I checked in Stacey's room and everything you're going to need is there: gown, shoes, jewelry, purse, makeup, the works!"

Dennis was fully aware that he was beginning to lose both body mass and stature while his chest was beginning to pulsate outwards, gradually forming into the nubbins of a girl's early adolescence. Dennis thought it prudent to inquire, "But what about a bra? If I remember right, the gown Stacey's wore was strapless."

"Not to worry dear, I stopped off at a Victoria's Secret on the way home from the bank and picked you up one for tonight, along with panties and a pair of sheer pantyhose. Now, given how baggy your clothes are starting to get, I think it might for the best if you slip out of them and while you're doing that, I'll go get you my bathrobe. After that I'll fix you something to eat because, given the time constraints, Johnny won't be able to take you out for dinner before the prom. However, as I understand it, he's going to taking you someplace nice to eat afterwards. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, I believe that the two of you are supposed to be going to an after-prom party or two once you leave the restaurant. So, in that advent, I took it up myself to pack one of our overnight bags with a pair of Stacey's jeans and a casual top."

As preoccupied as he was with the all the changes his body was undergoing, Dennis only heard about half of what his wife was trying to impart.

When Gale was fifteen her grandmother, aware that she only had a few weeks of life left in her, called her granddaughter to her bedside and gave Gale the crystal pendent. Calling the pendent her 'Husband Trainer', the elderly woman instructed Gale in its use. She taught Gale how to invoke the pendant's magical potential in order to change a targeted male into a fully functional female. She also instructed Gale in the various intricacies and inflexions that would allow her granddaughter to predetermine not only the disposition of the targeted individual's feminine physicality, but also much of the individual's mental makeup as well.

Cajoled by her sister Linda to do so, Gale had experimented with the pendant several times during her teenage years. The first time she changed a boy that she was babysitting into a girl just to see if the pendant really worked. She threatened to make the change a permanent one if the brat ever told a soul about what she had done to him. Several months after that, again on the urgings of her sister, Gale turned the boy who lived a couple doors down from them into a girl just for the fun of it. Several hours later, employing the very same threat that she had used on the kid she had baby sat, Gale turned her childhood playmate back into a guy again.

There were several other occasions that Gale invoked the pendant's powers prior to her marriage to Dennis. However, there was one notable one. On that occasion, Gale did it to punish the perverted bastard who was giving her sister a hard way to go. Though she never said anything to anyone other then her sister, Linda had come close to being the victim of a date rape. Gale, upon learning of the incident, took justice into her own hands by turning the slimy ill-mannered bastard into a first class slut. Then, in an effort to add insult to injury, Gale fixed his wagon good by saddling her creation with a heavy handed compulsion to suck cock. However, she left the rest of the SOB's mind as manly attuned as it was prior to his becoming a bitch in a state of perpetual heat.

Since they had slept together on numerous occasions prior to getting married, Gale was aware that Dennis was well above average as far as lovers go. In her estimation he fell just short of being a truly great lover. However when it came to foreplay, Dennis had a tendency to be a little on the stingy side. Added to that Dennis had absolutely no clue at all when it came to the soothing art of post-orgasmic cuddling. More times than not, having climaxed he would drift off to sleep, leaving a needy and disgruntled Gale to fend for herself.

However, unlike most women, Gale had a means at hand to turn her husband into a great lover. She had her grandmother's 'Husband Trainer'. Though she ran the risk of royally pissing her husband off by temporarily turning him into a woman, the experience would allow her to perform a hands on demonstration of how he should go about making love to her. After careful consideration Gale thought the risk was well worth taking.

She had it all planned out. Having taken off half day from work, Gale arrived at their apartment shortly after one. Stripping the bed, she remade it with a brand new set of satin sheets that she had recently purchased as a means to heighten the experience of her husband's seduction. Next she placed several candles around the room that she would use later to set the mood. Finally she placed a bottle of champagne in the refrigerator to chill. Once everything was ready, it was off to the bathroom where she indulged herself by taking a long and luxurious bubble bath.

Knowing that her husband would be arriving home in a little under an hour, Gale donned a new tease-to-please dress and a pair of the high heels that her husband so loved to see her wearing. One glance in the mirror was all Gale needed to confirm that she looked good enough to eat, with her hope being that Dennis would take the hint - not that he really needed one.

Having craftily spun her web of seduction and wearing her grandmother's pendant, Gale greeted that new husband of hers at the door of their apartment. As she did so, she proceeded to inform him that over any objection he might make he was taking her out to dinner. Dennis, seeing how fantastic Gale looked, was more then happy to oblige. After dinner the newlyweds headed back to their apartment, both primed and ready to appease the lust that seethed impatiently within each of them.

Ironically, Dennis was at the top of his game. Taking his time, he skillfully kissed, caressed, twiddled, tweak and licked Gale into a state of pre-orgasmic frenzy the like she had never before experience. Unable to cope with the every increasing amounts of pleasure that her husband was engendering within her, Gale knew that she was rushing headlong towards orgasm. She desperately wished to feel her husband's manhood nestles snugly up inside of her and vigorously and voraciously entreated him to enter her. Dennis, primed and ready as he was, was more than happy to comply with his wife's wishes.

While they did not experience simultaneous orgasms, they came damn close. Gale climaxed only moments before Dennis followed suit.

Though Gale had half a mind to not follow through with the rest of her plan, with a silent prayer to God that she was doing the right thing, she invoked the pendant's powers. Then in an all out effort to distract her husband from the massive physical changes that his body would shortly be undergoing, Gale, employed the fingers of her right hand and began to tenderly caress the inner run of her husband's thigh. As she did so, in an effort to open a second front with the hope of further distracting Dennis from what would soon be occurring, Gale lowered her lips to her husband's right teat. With her lips so positioned, she began to gently suckle on her husband's underdeveloped male nipple, interspersing a protracted tongue swirl every now and again just to keep things interesting.

Several minutes later, even as Gale began to feel the rhythmic pulsations that were a clear indication that her husband's chest was beginning to protrude outwards, Dennis moaned, "Damn my nipples are really sensitive tonight! I don't know what you're doing different, but whatever it is, it sure feels good!"

While the last thing Gale wanted to do was to draw attention to the changes her husband was undergoing, she felt the pressing need to appease her curiosity. Gradually Gale swirled her fingers along Dennis' inner thigh, inching ever closer towards his groin. As expected, when Gale cradled his flaccid penis she judged it to be half its original size and quite possibly even a bit smaller. However, when she came in contact with her husband's dwindling member, he flinched, startling the shit out of her in the process.

"Did I hurt you?" she reflexively asked.

Still feeling the sensual repercussions from the contact that his wife had made when she cupped his genitals, Dennis whimpered, sounding much as his wife had sounded earlier when his finger had initially brushed across the crown of her clit. "Holy shit!" he squealed in a most unmanly like fashion. "I can't believe how good that feels!"

Knowing that she was taking a calculated risk, Gale repositioned herself, as she adroitly lower herself into the splay of her husband's legs. So positioned, Gale began to perform the selfless act of fellatio. Though she had veered from her game plan, it worked. Dennis was far too caught up in the heat of the moment to give any thought to the physical changes occurring throughout his body. The incalculable amounts of sheer unadulterated pleasure that Gale engendered within her husband bordered on the excruciating. Dennis bucked. His widening hips shimmed. That taut and ever so trim tummy of his undulated in spasmodic counterpoint to Gale's tongue swipes. His rapidly developing feminine form writhed under her touch.

Unable to contain himself Dennis screamed, totally oblivious to the fact that his voice had begun to resonate with the telltale timbre of a woman engulfed in the throws of primordial passion.

All of a sudden, Gale realized that she was no longer performing felatio on the man she loved, but was now engaged in the act of cunnilingus with a woman who had been her husband but a moment before. Dennis no longer sported a penis. She now had a clitoris, albeit an extremely large and protruding one. But that was no concern to Gale. Even as her tongue swished across and around Dennis' clitoris, it steadily receded into the love-juice slick swath of that exquisitely sculptured new vulva of hers. Dennis had become a woman; a woman rushing headlong towards the event horizon of her first clitoral induced orgasm.

Strangely enough, Gale was not phased one bit by the notion that her tongue was inserted in another woman's pussy. In her own mind she was not eating out another woman. Rather, she was eating out her husband. Gale refused to allow the fact that Dennis just happened to be a fully functional woman at that moment dissuade her one iota. Granted, she was employing a rather liberal interpretation of the precepts of situational ethics in order to perform what she would otherwise classify as a blatant act of lesbian lovemaking. She knew in her heart of hearts that she was definitely not a lesbian. She was not attracted to other women. However, under the rather bizarre circumstances in which she was operating, as Gale saw it, all she was doing was being a good wife and servicing her husband's carnal needs, regardless of the fact that those needs were now clearly female in nature.

With a last flick of her tongue, Gale induced the first of a long string of orgasms that gushed, rippled and cavorted within her husband's new feminine physique.

A minute or so later and still unaware of the fact that she was now a woman, an extremely tuckered out Dennis weakly managed, "Oh my God, Gale! That was fantastic! I don't know how you did it, but whatever you did felt absolutely wonderful. I mean, if I didn't know better, I would have thought I was a woman given the way those orgasms just kept coming and coming and coming. I mean, I know it's an urban myth, but I've never known a man who claimed to be multi-orgasmic. Not like that."

"Dennis," Gale, knowing that it was time for her to come clean, timidly intoned, "I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm afraid that for the here and now of it, you're not a man. You're a woman, at least in a physical sense."

"Yeah, right!" Dennis chuckled at the utter absurdity of her wife's assertion. However, Dennis was brought up short when those new boobs of hers began to independently sway back and forth as a direct result of her attempting to reposition herself. "What the fuck!" a severely distraught Dennis frantically clamored as her hands reflexively cradled the underside of those new conical endowments of hers. "I've got tits!" Then, in a follow up move, Dennis dreading what she might find, spasmodically shot her right hand down to grope herself. "Oh my God, Gale! My dick's gone! And what I've got down there sure the hell feels a whole lot like a woman's vagina to me. What the hell's going on here, Gale? Unless I'm sadly mistaken, guys just don't all of a sudden up and turn into girls!" Shocked pause was followed by, "Do they?"

"No, Dennis, they don't. Look dear, the reason you're a girl right now is because I turned you into one."

"What?" a thoroughly discombobulated Dennis shrieked in utter disbelief. "That's crazy! There's no way you could have done this to me!"

"Well, given that you're a girl now, I'd say that's pretty much a mute point."

Needless to say when Gale final managed to convince her husband that she was responsible for her spouse's present condition, the proverbial shit hit the fan. Even though Gale assured her husband that her magically imposed femininity was only a temporary condition and that it could easily be reversed, Dennis lambasted her, up one side and down the other. Dennis' ire was fueled by a sense of righteous indignation. She repeatedly castigated her wife, asking Gale over and over and over again to explain what had possessed her to do something so reprehensible, so repugnant to someone she claimed to love more than life itself.

Though Dennis was not the least little bit receptive, at least initially, Gale calmly and succinctly explained what had motivated her to pull a sexual switcheroo on her husband. In doing so, she made sure to emphasize the fact that she really did love Dennis and she repeatedly asked to be forgiven for the liberties she had taken with her husband's sexual affiliation.

Oddly enough, Dennis' rage fizzled when she got a good look at her new self in the full-length mirror doors of their bedroom's closet. "Oh my God, Gale! This is incredible! I'm gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous! Damn! As crazy as this might sound, I'm actually starting to turn myself on! I mean to tell you, I'm one sexy assed bitch if ever there was one! I've got a great body, fantastic face with the prettiest blue eyes I have ever seen, save for maybe yours. Plus, you've turned me into a blonde. So, I guess that makes me a blonde bombshell..."

Seeking reassurance, Gale asked the question that was uppermost in her mind, "So I take it that you're not mad with me anymore?"

"Mad? Well..." Dennis let it hang for a moment. "No, just as long as I have your assurance that I'm not going to be stuck like this for the rest of my life. However, I've got'ta to tell you that I'm still a little miffed. But then again, I have to admit that you came up with not only a novel way to camouflage the fact that you were turning me into such a scrumptious piece of eye-candy, but also a most enjoyable one as well. As much as I would like to deny it, I have a confession to make. I absolutely loved it when I climaxed as a woman."

"Oh!" Gale smirked. "So I take it that you enjoyed all those orgasms you had."

Admitting that her wife's assertion was right on the mark, Dennis, who was still admiring herself in the mirror, girlishly tittered, "I loved them! I absolutely loved them!"

"Do you think that there's a chance that you might like to experience what it's like to be multi-orgasmic one more time before I change you back into your old self again?"

"Yeah..." Dennis replied thoughtfully. "Sure... Why not... I mean, according to what you said about how you turned me into a woman in order to give me a hands on demonstration of how you would like me to go about making love to you, I think a second go-around might be in order. Besides, I don't know about you, but I'm nowhere near ready to call it a night. And since we have nothing better to do, I'm up for it if you are."

Needless to say that Gale was up for it.

Utilizing all those new erogenous zones that populated her husband's curvaceous body, Gale worked Dennis into a sexual frenzy to end all sexual frenzies. Succinctly put, Gale's deft handed and talented tongue administrations turned her husband into a first class pillow eater. Dennis whimpered. She groaned. She screamed and cried as Gale skillfully ravaged her.

"Gale!" Dennis breathlessly managed to intone early on in the proceedings. "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?"

"Actually, Denise, I do."

"Did I hear you right? Did you just call me, Denise?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"No... Denise is fine by me. In fact, right now I feel like a Denise, you know, rather than a Dennis..."

Though Gale had said that she would change her husband back immediately following Denise's second orgasmic interlude as a bona fide member of the fairer sex, as it turned out Gale and Denise spent the better part of the night engaging in lesbian-couched sex. That is to say that they seesawed back and forth, with each one of them taking their turn in the proverbial drivers seat as they artfully and lovingly addressed one another's carnal needs.

To Denise's way of thinking her wife was a phenomenal intructress who continually kept her husband sexually off-balance as she seamlessly leapfrogged from one or more of Denise's super-sensitized erogenous zones to another. For her part, Denise proved to be a very adept and eager pupil for she quickly put into practice everything she was learning. Gale, for her part, felt fully vindicated for what she done. In the space of a few hours, Denise had gone from being a good lover to being a truly great lover. As one might expect, Gale was thoroughly pleased with the outcome.

Oddly enough, Gale did not change her husband back into a man again during the course of the night. As tuckered out as they both were from their reciprocal love-masking sessions, Gale and Denise fell asleep wrapped in the cozy embrace of one another's arms even as the rosy glow of a new day's dawn began to steadily creep into the eastern horizon.

Denise was the first to awaken shortly after noon on Saturday. Wishing to once again experience sex as a woman, she decided that the best thing she could do under the circumstances was to take it upon herself to prime the pump. Bending her head, Denise lowered those luscious lips of hers to the areola surmounting her wife's left breast. Starting with a tongue swirl to kick things off, she began to gently suckle. As she did so, Denise gingerly extended her left hand downwards in order to direct those wickedly manicured nails of hers to trace idyllic swirls along the inner run of her wife's thigh.

Gently eased from her slumbers in such a loving manner, Gale gleefully cooed, "So I take it that you're in no hurry for me to change you back?"

To which Denise coyly replied, "Well, I was kind of hoping that we could do it just one more time..."

One more time became three more times and there might well had been a fourth go around were it not for the fact that Gale's parents were coming over for dinner. That night however, shortly after Gale's parents were on their way, the newlyweds retired to their bedroom where Dennis demonstrated a mastery of the various lovemaking techniques he had been made privy to the night before. Gale jokingly gave him an A for effort and an A+ for overall proficiency and performance. However, she only gave him a B for his after orgasm intimacy, teasingly suggesting as she did so that he needed a little work in that area to bring him up to snuff. Pretending to be a little put out by her remarks, Dennis demanded that Gale demonstrate how he could go about improving his grade.

"Dennis, is that your way of suggesting that I turn you back into a woman?"

"Well..." he replied thoughtfully, "If that's what it's going to take, then I guess that's what you'll have to do."

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, having played several games of sexual tit-for-tat already that night, Gale wearily sighed, "I think I may have created a monster; a perverted, sex-crazed, nymphed-out, lesbian monster. I mean, you really seem to be enjoying the sexual aspects of being a girl."

"Yeah..." Denise calmly replied. "I guess I am at that. But I would ascribe that to the novelty of the whole thing. Trust me. There's absolutely nothing to be concerned about. There's no way I could ever hack being a girl even on a part time basis. You see, I happen to like being a guy and doing the things that guys do. More to the point, I'd much rather be your male husband than your female lesbian lover-girl, you know, because I love you."

"I love you too." Gale said as she moved in and kissed Denise full on the lips.

"And what, may I ask, was that for?"

"To prove that male or female, I love you and I always will. However, a word to the wise: If I ever catch you cheating on me, you will be wearing bras and panties for a very, very long time. In fact, I might even have to order one of those skimpy French maid outfits complete with high heels and fishnet stocking for you to wear around the house when you're doing the housework that'll also be part of your penance."

Aware that her wife was just teasing her, Denise chuckled as she giddily exclaimed, "Perish the thought! But you know something, given this built-like-a-brick-shithouse-body that you've fitted me out with, I'd look sensational decked out in an outfit like that."

"That's true," Gale concurred. "You would at that. Hey, you know what? That gives me an idea. What'da ya say that when we wake up later this morning, we get dressed and go out for breakfast?"

Denise sought clarification, "You mean, while I'm still a girl?"

"Yes. Granted the bra might be a little tight, but other than that, the way I designed that body of yours, the rest of my clothes should fit you just fine. Oh, and after breakfast, the stores at the mall should be opened. So, what we'll do is stop by there on our way home and pick you up a bra or two in the off-chance you might want to try the girl-thing again one of these days."

"Gale!" a badly shaken Denise abruptly interjected. "I don't mean to burst your bubble, but you can forget it. Sex as a woman is one thing. But know this: I'm not about to dress up in girl's clothing. Not now! Not ever! And as for me ever going out of this apartment as a woman, understand that it ain't never going to happen."

As adamant as Dennis had been that Sunday morning about the clothing issue, his 'never' only lasted for a couple of weeks.

Haunted as he was by the memory of those multiple orgasms he had so thoroughly enjoyed as a woman, Dennis was chomping at the bit to do another stint as a female. Though he could think of little else, he somehow managed to refrain from asking his wife to turn him into her lesbian lover throughout the entire workweek following his initial forays into the realm of the feminine mystique. The following Friday, having just made love to his wife, Dennis found that he could restrain himself no longer and so prevailed upon his wife to turn him into Denise once again. Gale, for her part, was more than happy to oblige. Understandably, it was another night in which the couple did not get a whole lot of sleep. Saturday evening was a repeat of Friday. As soon as Gale made it known that her requisite after-sex cuddle time had been adequately satisfied, Dennis asked to be turned into a woman once again. The week following that, Dennis made it all the way to Wednesday before he gave into his desires that in turn prompted him to ask Gale to invoke her grandmother's pendant and there by trigger the transformation that would change him into his feminine alter ego.

As the weeks went by Dennis began spending more and time as Denise. Oddly enough Gale did not seem to mind it one bit, nor was she in any way threatened by her husband's ongoing proclivity to experience sex as a female. In fact she actually encouraged it to the point where she taught Dennis how to invoke the pendant's magical potential on his own. She actual went a step further by hanging the crystal pendant from a small brass nail that she had taken it upon herself to hammer into the central most portion of the headboard of their bed.

The overriding factor was that Gale wanted Dennis to be happy and if lesbian sex made him happy, that was perfectly fine with her. For one thing, spending time as a member of the opposite sex kept her husband home nights instead of out carousing with a bunch of his no-account beer-guzzling buddies. Gale saw that as a blessing in and of itself. And for another thing, it was the ideal birth control method. No sperm transfer equated to no pregnancy, which in turn equated to no unplanned babies. Both Gale and Dennis wanted to be in a house of their own before they started a family. A steady diet of lesbian sex would help to insure that they didn't start cranking out babies before they were in a financial position to do so.

Besides, Gale knew that men needed hobbies and what better hobby to have than one that she could enjoy right along with her husband. Having accepted the fact that she was a bisexual, Gale realized that she had created the perfect win-win situation for herself. Her husband and her lesbian lover just happened to be one and the same person and that was perfectly okay with her.

The only thing that really bothered Gale was her husband's continuing refusal to wear feminine apparel when lounging around their apartment as a woman. More times than not Denise elected to go naked. And on those rare occasions when she did put something on to conceal her nakedness, it was either her ratty shaving gel stained bathrobe or a pair of bagged sweats. Neither of which was attractive by any stretch of the imagination.

Fed up by her husband's continued reluctance to wear women's clothing, Gale forced the issue by hiding her grandmother's pendant and threatening to keep it hidden until Dennis relented and started wearing feminine apparel around their apartment. Gale's threat did the trick. Though she was not the least bit happy about being pressured into it, that very night Denise spent the better part of the evening resplendent in a flirtatiously sexy outfit that left little to the imagination. In fact, it was one of the several tease-to-please outfits that Gale had worn during their honeymoon. Needless to say, Denise looked ravishing in the outfit, so ravishing in fact that it pretty much convinced her that wearing women's apparel was not an affront to her male ego nearly as much as she had presumed it would be.

That was one problem taken care of. The next problem Gale faced was to somehow cajole her husband into venturing out of their apartment in the guise of his feminine alter ego. She did that by simply laying down the law, stating rather emphatically that she would withhold sex until Dennis got past those silly inhibitions of his. No one would ever be the wiser. Everyone, Gale repeatedly told her husband, would accord Denise as the woman she appeared to be.

A squeamish Dennis grudgingly relented. And though he did, he only did so on two conditions. First, his first few forays out in public as a woman would be short ones. For example, he suggested that Denise's initial outing be nothing more than a trip to the local grocery store. Dennis' second condition revolved around attire. He made it plane that he was not about to wear anything that might draw attention to his feminine alter ego. Aware that she was making progress, Gale readily agreed to her husband's terms.

It took somewhere in the neighborhood of a month to a month and a half before Dennis really felt comfortable functioning out in the public eye as a woman. However, when Denise did reach that comfort level where she was no longer worried about what other people might think of her, she figured, 'What the hell! You've got it so you might as well just go ahead and flaunt it.' That being the case, her choice of attire went from down right dowdy to stylishly suggestive almost over night. Oddly enough, Gale wholeheartedly approved.

As time went on, Dennis began to spend even more of his time away from the job as Denise. Three nights a week became four and then five. Having checked with Gale to make sure she was okay with it, Dennis, having freely admitted that he was addicted to spending time as a woman, began spending the better part of his weekends femmed out to the max as well. The two of them even began to explore the possibilities of Dennis becoming a woman on a full time bases. As long as they remained together, Gale was not averse to the idea.

Then something happened that tabled those exploratory discussions of theirs. Gale discovered that she was pregnant. Dennis, aware that he was going to be a father before the year was out began to re-think the situation. As wonderful as being a part-time woman was, after a lot of soul searching, Dennis realized that being a full-time father was what he believed God had intended for him to do. Having made the decision to forego ever being a woman again. On the day that their daughter Stacey was born and once he was assured by the hospital staff that his wife and baby were doing just fine, Dennis drove to their bank right from the hospital. There, he purchased a safety deposit box in which he placed Gale's magical pendant. That evening when he returned to the hospital, Dennis informed Gale of what he had done and presented her with the key to the safety deposit. Aware of the sacrifice her husband was making for her and their child, Gale loved him all the more for it.

Though Dennis did miss those feminine sojourns of his, he never once regretted his decision. He knew it had been the right thing to do.

As a slightly perturbed and barely recognizable Dennis sat at the dining room table eating a grilled cheese sandwich that Gale had hastily fixed for him and wearing only her satin bathrobe to cover his nakedness, he groused, "So, I guess this is going to be my good deed for the day."

Gale chuckled at her husband's feeble attempted at levity. "Actually, I'd say that this is going to be your good deed for this year and then some. You do know that I really appreciate the fact that you're not mad at me for volunteering you to fill-in like this?"

"Well..." Dennis sighed as he looked down at his infant-sized pecker. "Seeing that you really didn't give me a lot of choice in the matter, I think I'm being a pretty good sport about it."

"Yes. Yes, you are. You're being a very good sport..."

Dennis spent a few minutes watching his penis withdraw into the multiple lip-folds of what was quickly becoming her vulva. Once complete, Denise cooed ever so sensually with her new honey sweet voice, "Do you have any idea how horny I am right now?"

"No," Gale replied as she cleaned away her husband's plate. "But I can guess. Now young lady, since we haven't got a lot of time, I suggest you go take a quick shower." Then as an afterthought Gale called out to the receding figure of her sixteen-year-old sexpot of a husband, "Oh, be sure to wear a shower cap. And you needn't worry about messing up your hair. I'll take care of that for you. I'll simply use the pendant's magic to do it up all nice and pretty afterwards..."

It was a quarter to seven when Gale finally finished applying the finishing touches to her husband's makeup. "Well, that takes care of that and I must say that you look fantastic. Come on," she urged. "You really need to take a good look at yourself in the mirror."

Denise did and was flabbergasted when she beheld herself in the mirror. "Oh, my God! You're right! I'm beautiful!"

"Yes... Yes, you are...." Gale mused thoughtfully. "Actually, as good as our daughter looked in that gown, I have to say that it looks even better on you."

"I just hope I don't break my friggin' neck trying to maneuver around in these heels."

"Trust me. You won't. It make take you a little while to get use to wearing heels again, but given that you use to wear them all the time, I think that you'll get the hang of them soon enough"

"True. But, do you know how long ago that was?"

Gale didn't get to answer due to the fact that their doorbell rang just then.

"I'll bet you that's them," Gale said as she headed off to answer the door.

Gale graciously invited Johnny Timbold into their home. He was looking rather spiffy in his rented tuxedo accompanied by his camera totting mother, Bonny Timbold, and her own sister Linda, Bonny's sister-in-law. They sat in the living room. "Denise!" she called up the stairs. "Your date's here."

Denise, looking like some fairy princess, dolled-up as she was, gracefully descended the stairs. Introductions followed and then, prompted by Johnny's mother to do so, the two teenagers exchanged floral arrangements while Gale, Bonny and Linda got busy snapping pictures of the young couple. Needless to say that even though Denise was having serious second thoughts about what she had gotten herself into, she put a smile on that pretty face hers and went through the motions of appearing to enjoy herself.

The stretch limo that Johnny Timbold had gone in on with several of his classmates came by to collect the prom-bound couple shortly after seven-thirty. Understandably, though she worked hard not show it, Denise felt extremely ill at ease and out of place in the company of so many teenagers. Having had a good relationship with her own daughter, a daughter who was only a year or two older then most of her presents companions, Denise had a degree of insight into both the interests and jargon of her teenage companions. And though she did, Denise still found it hard trying to keep up with the various conversations that were occurring all throughout their ride.

Shortly after climbing into the limo, Denise learned that her date preferred John over Johnny. In fact he informed her in no uncertain terms that only his mother still called him Johnny. She also learned that he was both an athlete and a fairly good student with a 3.3 grade point average. She also discovered that her date was going to be going to Bradley the following fall, which was ironic because it was the very same small college that Stacey was attending.

Though she managed to learn a lot about her date during the ride, he was not forthcoming with the information. Denise practically had to drag it out of him, making their sporadic conversation something akin to an interrogation. Wondering what the trouble was, it finally dawned on Denise. Given how fantastic and downright sexy she looked resplendent in her daughter's ever-so-flattering gown she probably intimidated him. Knowing that the evening would not only be a bust but an untenably long one if she did not find someway to get past her date's apparent shyness, Denise did something impulsive, something that surprised even her. She reached over and enfolded John's hand in hers. As she did so, Denise leaned in close so that no one else in the limo would hear what she had to say. "John, I'm really sorry to hear about your girlfriend's accident."

Upon hearing Denise say that, John thought it behooved him to set the record straight. "Actual she's more of a friend than a girlfriend. That's to say that while we went out together every once in awhile, we weren't actually dating. She was just going with me so that I would have somebody to go with, you know, so I wouldn't miss out on my senior prom."

"Oh..." Denise did not at first know how to deal with that information. So, unable to think of anything to say, she did the first thing that came to mind. Acting on impulse, she leaned in closer and kissed him full on the lips. It was not a passionate kiss, per se. Nor, was it a quick friendly peck. However, it was a nice kiss, filled with the promise of endless possibilities.

Shocked by what she had just done, Denise put the question to herself, 'Whatever possessed me to do something like that?' However, as taken aback by her impulsive action as her date was, Denise, unable to come up with a suitable explanation for what she had just done, lamely stammered, "Look, John, I know this is a little awkward for the both of us. But, you seem like a really nice guy and since we're going to be spending most of the night together, how 'bout we try to enjoy ourselves? I mean, I'm willing if you are..."

The kiss, coupled with Denise's little ad hoc speech, seemed to break the ice. Though it took a little more prodding on Denise's part, by the time the limo dropped the whole group of them off at the hall where the prom was being held, John had loosened up to the point that he was initiating the hand holding rather than Denise.

In a convoluted way, the whole hand holding business was really freaking Denise out. It was weird, but Denise thought she was going to have an ongoing problem with such physical contact as hand holding, slow dancing and the like. As it worked out she found that she rather liked having her hand held. 'What's going on here? I might be a girl on the outside, but I'll be damned if I'm not still all guy on the inside! And a heterosexual guy at that! I should be creeped-out right now. But, I'm not and that concerns me...'

What Denise did not know was that as soon as she climbed into the limo, Gale had used her grandmother's pendant to finagle with her husband's thoroughly entrenched heterosexual male mind-set. Aware that she was asking a lot of her husband, Gale wanted to ensure that it was an enjoyable evening, not only for her sister's nephew's sake, but also for her husband's. In order to accomplish that, Denise's psyche had to become a whole lot more femininely attuned than it had ever been before. Added to that, Gale also realized that it would be a lot easier for her husband to fit in if Denise began to think and, to a degree, behave like a normal teenage girl. Then, in an after thought, Gale saddled her husband with a subliminal desire that would have that bogus daughter of hers out on the dance floor for a good portion of the evening.

"Come on, John," Denise imploringly cooed as she took her escort's hand and with a gentle tug, began to lead him onto the dance floor. "I want to dance."

As much as she liked gyrating to the faster tunes, Denise found that she enjoyed the slow ones even better. Though it both shocked and amazed her, Denise found that she liked the sexual tension that being held in such an intimate embrace engendered. She thought she should feel put-off and alarmed when she became aware of the rather substantial vertical bulge that had taken shape in John's pants, signifying that she was having a positive effect on her date's libido. Yet Denise was anything but upset. The truth was she was not only flattered, but just knowing that she was having such an effect on John was starting to get her own juices flowing.

Realizing that her tits were becoming rock hard, Denise's mind reeled, 'What the hell's going on here? This isn't supposed to be happening!' Then, in a knee-jerk reaction born out of her emotional uncertainty, Denise pulled her head back. However in doing so, she took note of the desire that was clearly conveyed in the imploring cast of her date's eyes and her heart went out to him. Before any thought as to what she was doing, Denise, spurred on by her own emotional needs, hauled off and kissed John passionately on the lips. John, being no fool, seized on the opportunity and kissed her back. Euphorically, Denise soared on the sexual excitement that coursed and cavorted within her. She responded by spreading her lips in an open invitation for John's tongue to enter her mouth. Denise felt herself melt into this warm and wonderful young man.

It took a few minutes to recover. Saying that she would be right back, Denise excused herself and headed off in the direction of the little girls' room. Entering the ladies restroom, she opened her purse and withdrew from it her cellphone and dialed home. "Gale, what the hell's going on? What in the world did you do to me? Why am I not upset about John kissing me? I mean, as crazy as it sounds, I find that I really like it when he kisses me. It turns me on. In fact, I'm so horny right now it isn't funny..."

Even as Gale explained what she had done and why she had done it, she was in the process of accessing the pendant's magic potential to further tweak Denise's psyche, in effect turning her husband into a well-developed sixteen-year-old girl in almost every respect. By doing so, Gale hoped to negate any negative influence that the lingering remnants of her husband's male libido might impose.

Perplexed and feeling as though she had just been making a mountain out of a molehill, Denise hung up the phone and hurriedly scampered back to table where John sat impatiently awaiting her return. "Is anything wrong?" he felt compelled to ask.

"No..." Denise said as she sat down in the seat next to John and snuggled up against him. "In fact, everything's fine. The only thing that I can think of that would make it better would be if you quit asking stupid question and just kiss me."

John eagerly complied with Denise's request.

Much to Denise's dismay, the prom drew to its conclusion. However, her night with John Timbold was far from over. As soon as the whole group was piled into the stretch limo that awaited them, Denise and her date did not waste any of the precious time allotted them. Aware of what they both wanted, they began making-out as the soon as their chauffer turned the engine over. They continued necking right up until they arrived at the up-scale restaurant. After a wonderful 5-course dinner, they all loaded back into the limo and headed for the first of two after-prom parties they were scheduled to attend. Starting right where they had left off, John and Denise were pretty much oblivious to everything else that was occurring during the drive to the party. The two of them changed into less formal attire before entering the large basement club where the party was being held. Owing to the fact that another couple had already laid claim to the sofa, John and Denise commandeered the loveseat. Within minutes the two of them were once again totally absorbed with one another. Needless to say, John, who had fallen in love-lust with Denise, felt as if he had died and gone to Heaven. Denise, for her part, was not far behind and playing a fairly fast game of catch-up. She felt an attachment growing that made her feel warm and protected in a way she never felt before.

On the short ride over to the house where the second party was being held, John felt compelled to ask, "Denise, are you going out with anyone special right now?"

"No, not really..." Denise was noticeably uncomfortable with the direction their conversation was taking.

"Well..." John was having a hard time putting into words what he wanted to say. "Since you're not going with anyone in particular right now, I was kind of wondering if you might like to go out with me?"

Without thinking of the consequences of what she was saying and soaring on an emotional high as she was, an extremely hot and bothered Denise impulsively replied, "If you're asking me if I'd like to go out with you, the answer is yes. I would love to go out with you."

Several minutes later the implications of what she had just agreed to hit Denise like a proverbial ton of bricks. 'Oh, shit! Me and my big mouth! What the hell have I gotten myself into? More to the point, what's my wife going to say when she hears that I agreed to go steady with an eighteen-year-old boy? After she finishes laughing her ass off, she'll probably lambaste me up one side and down the other...'

Then, in the midst of castigating herself for the idiotic mistake she had made in agreeing to becoming John Timbold's girlfriend, it dawn on Denise that she was not at fault. Rather, it was her wife who was at fault. If Gale had not meddled with Denise's psyche the way she had, Denise would never have been in the emotional state of a sex-crazed teenage nymphomaniac in heat. And since Gale's interference, as well intended as it might have been, had been at the root cause of her husband's poorly thought out response, Denise, thinking as an impulsive teenage girl might, figured that it would be Gale's problem to untangle the mess she made.

Besides, Denise did not have time to ponder the problem further, given that John had reached up under the slinky satin halter-top she wearing and was busily fondling that super-sensitive left mammary of hers.

Thinking that he may have over-stepped himself, John rather sheepishly inquired, "Denise, do you want me to stop? I mean, if you do, just say the word and I will."

"Bite your tongue!" she sensually teased. "No! On second thought, don't you dare bite your tongue! I need you to keep that tongue of yours in good working order. As for your hand, let's just say that I happened to like it right were it is..."

Had they been able to go off on their own, Denise already knew that she would have gone all the way. As it was, John only got to third base and then only briefly, owing to the fact that the parents of the boy whose house was being used for the party kept popping in and out of the screened-in patio where the party was taking place.

Having said all that needed to be said, John escorted Denise to her door. With an endearing and passionate kiss, he thanked her and reluctantly bid her goodnight, adding in an afterthought that he would cherish the memory of their time together for the rest of his life.

As soon as Denise walked in the front door, Gale, who had been catnapping on the sofa awaiting her husband's return, roused from her slumber and began to pummel Denise with a whole raft of questions, starting with the obvious if not obligatory, "So, tell me, sweetie. Did you have a good time?"

With her teenage defensive system already bristling, Denise tersely replied, "Yes, I had a wonderful time. But, you already know that, don't you? I mean, you all but ensured that I would." At that, tears began streaming down Denise's cheeks.

Knowing that she was to blame for her husband's distress, Gale scrambled up and off the sofa and rushing over to her bedraggled and teary-eyed husband, enfolded Denise in a motherly embrace. "This is crazy!" Denise wailed in her misery. "Because of you and whatever it was you did to me, I think I'm in love with John."

Seeking clarification, Gale asked, "You mean Johnny?"

"He hates being called Johnny, mother!" Denise irately replied.

Though Denise did not pick up on the fact that she had addressed Gale as mother, Gale did. However, she knew it was not the time to explore the implications of what that portended. "So, I take it that the two of you had a nice time? By any chance, did he try to kiss you?"

"Yes!" Denise indignantly snapped amid her sobs. "And yes, if you must know, we kissed. We kissed a lot. And, let me tell you, even though he didn't have a whole lot of experience prior to tonight, he's one faster learner. And know this, mother. He didn't start it. I did. I was the one who hauled off and kissed him first. But you probably figured that all out on your own, given that you're the one who went and shit-canned all those manly entrenched inhibitions of mine, you know, that wouldn't allow me to do something like that under normal conditions. But, it's even worse than that. I don't know if you realize this or not, but whatever it was that you did to me turned me into sex crazed teenage nymphomaniac. Had John and I had the opportunity to get it on, we would have. That's how friggin' horny I was, and for that matter, still am. Because of you and what you did to me, as crass as it might sound, I want to get laid so bad right now I could just scream!"

In fact, Denise did scream, venting her pent-up frustration as a fresh reservoir of tears weld up in those ever so adorable and imploring eyes of hers.

Promising to change Denise back into a man again while her husband caught a few hours of much needed sleep, Gale, rather impishly produced a fingertip vibrator, implying that it might be a good idea for her bogus teenage daughter to use it to assuage her carnal needs. Though she waited until she heard Gale milling around downstairs, Denise, thinking her wife's suggestion a prudent one, slipped the vibrator unto her middle finger and got down to the business at hand.

Around three that afternoon, Denise woke up to find herself not only still festooned in the body of a shapely built sixteen-year-old girl, but still hopelessly smitten with one John Timbold. "Mother!" she stammered in alarm. "I mean, Gale! What's going on here? Why am I still a girl? I thought you were going to change me back while I was asleep."

Breezing into their bedroom with a pleasant smile emblazon on her face, Gale nonchalantly replied, "You're right, dear. I was supposed to change you back. But John called shortly after one and wanted to know if it was all right for him to come over this evening. He thought that you might like to go see a movie with him. So, I figured that it was better to leave you just as you are. I mean, I take it that you do want to see him again, don't you?"

Confused and a little putout by her wife's reaction, Denise sought clarification. "Are you saying that you're okay with all of this? I mean you don't mind me going out with him?"

"No. Should I?"

"Well, I am your husband."

"That's true..." Gale mused aloud. "But right now you've got admit that you look a lot more like my daughter than you do my husband. Added to that, I'm willing to bet that you feel a whole lot more like my daughter than you do my husband." With that, Gale's placed the fingertips of her right hand on the crystal pendant that dangled from a chain encircling her neck.

"Gale! Mom! Please! I..."

But the deed was done. Though she knew in her heart that Gale was really her wife, try as she might Denise could no longer muster the wherewithal within herself to address Gale by her given name. That had become a no-no. In an instant, things had drastically changed. It was now mom, mommy or mother. Added to that, Denise understood that she was no longer on equal terms with Gale. Denise was now for all intents and purposes regulated to the position of Gale's sixteen-year-old daughter and therefore, subservient to her wife's - her mother's decrees.

"Just so you know, Denise. I do love you and I not trying to be mean or degrade you or anything like that. But, given the selfless thing you did last night for someone you didn't even know, I think you deserve a reward. And, since you seemed to have really enjoyed yourself last night, I thought that you might like to spend some more time hanging out with John. Oh, and if you're worried about me, don't. I know it sounds crazy, and it probably is crazy, but I'm not threatened by any of this at all. I know that you love me, Denise. Granted, you love me as a mother right now because of what I did to you, but that's okay. I can live with that for the here and now of it. I just want you to have fun and experience what it's like being a girl for a while. The truth is: you deserve it..."

On Gale's urging, Denise called John and invited him to come over earlier so that he could join the two of them for pizza. John, for his part, was more than happy to oblige.

All things considered, the three of them got along famously. Gale, had learned through prior experience with her at times petulant daughter, Stacey, that teenagers have a marked tendency to be overly embarrassed by their parents for no other apparent reason other than the fact that their parents are just that - parents. Prior to John's arrival, Gale had used the pendant's power to magically negate that infuriating tendency in Denise. By doing so, Gale had eliminated one of the major factors that gave rise to open friction that often developed between a parent and their adolescent child. Though the two teenagers accorded Gale with the respect due her, the conversation was not inhibited by Gale's participation in it.

After dinner, Denise and John took off for the movies, leaving Gale to fend for herself. And that was all for the good, because Gale wanted to check on a few things while her husband was otherwise engaged. Locating the fireproof box where all their important papers were filed, Gale began to examine some of the more important ones. Pleased with the fact that all the pertinent documents she scanned showed that she and her husband had not one, but two daughters: Stacey, the older of the two, and Denise, the younger sibling. The clincher was her husband's birth certificate showed Denise to have been born female, the child of Dennis Allen Grimes (father) and Gale Ann Grimes (mother) some sixteen years earlier. Added to that, Gale happen to glance at the large eight by ten family picture that sat prominently next to the computer screen only to find that Denise's youthful image had replaced that of her husband's.

Though Gale had a hard time accepting the fact that the pendant's magic could actual achieve something on such a grand scale, she was nevertheless tickled to death that it had. It meant that after she checked the documentation in Denise's wallet to ensure that it too reflected the changes in sex and age that her husband had undergone, she could, if she wished, do something that she had been contemplating since Stacey went off to college.

John was happily amazed when offered a choice. Denise selected an action-pack adventure flick, the sort of movie that was right up his alley, over a sappy chick-flick. Throughout the movie, they held hands and cuddled shoulder to shoulder with one another. Afterwards they climbed into the cab of John's compact pickup and smooched for almost an hour before an extremely hot and bothered Denise reluctant informed John that it was probably for the best if he took her home.

Though it was the last thing that John wanted to hear at that moment, he did the prudent thing. He complied with Denise's request and took her straight home. However, when they pulled up in front of Denise's house, they ended up making out for almost another hour before a thoroughly turned-on Denise disengaged, saying that while she hated to have to call it a night, it was best if she did so. John, for his part, said he understood and that she had no need to apologize. Having urged John to call her in the morning, implying that she would love to spend Sunday afternoon doing something together, Denise kissed John goodnight and without further ado, slipped inside her house.

"So," Gale asked, "did the two of you have a good time?"

"Yes... Yes, we did..."

"Good... So, I take it that John likes you as much as you appear to like him?"

"Yes... At least I hope he does."

"I think that's pretty much a given, don't you?"

"Yeah..." Denise replied sheepishly.

"Well, young lady, you've had two full days. So, I suggest that you head on up to bed. Oh, and I think it best if you sleep in either Stacey's room or the guest room at for at least tonight."

Unable to comprehend the impetus behind her wife's suggestion, Denise felt compelled to ask, "How come?"

"Well, I've been thinking and I don't think it's a good idea for the two of us to share the same bed for the time being. I mean, while you're still technically my husband, I'm not at all comfortable with the notion of sharing the same bed with a sixteen-year old sex crazed nymphomaniac. Oh, just so you know, while you were at the movies, I made up the bed in the guest bedroom with that set of silky black satin sheets that we planned to give Stacey for her birthday. I kind of thought that you might want to sleep in there tonight. Oh, one last thing before I let you go. Just so you know, I put my vibrator in the guestroom as well. I did that just in case you might want to finish what you and John started while the two of you were parked out in front of the house for a good hour before you decided that it was time for you to call it a night. You'll find it on the night table, right in front of the alarm clock. Just do me a favor. I don't care if you moan and groan and whimper till the cows come home, but please try to keep those ear perching screams of yours to a minimum..."

"All right, mom!" Denise's voice bristled with a faint hint of indignation as she bounded up the steps.

It was nine-thirty Sunday morning when Gale entered the guestroom. "Denise, honey," she softly intoned once her husband began to stir. "I'm afraid I have some bad news. Last night after you went to bed, I decided to take a shower and wash my hair. Well, though I have no idea how it happened, the chain with my grandmother's pendant snagged on something and ended up breaking and though I tried to catch it, the pendant fell and shattered into hundreds of tinny pieces."

Grasping the implications of what that meant to her, a horrified Denise gasped, "Are you saying that I'm going to be stuck like this?"

"I'm afraid so, dear."

"This is terrible! I'm never going to be able to pass myself off as a sixteen year old girl!"

"I don't see why not. After all, you've done a pretty good job so far. And from where I sit, you sure seem to be really enjoying yourself, young lady."

Gale's remark took the wind right out of Denise's sails. Try as she might, Denise could not refute her wife's assertion. And because she could not, Denise, needing a way to vent her dismay, tried another approach. "Alright, mother. You win! When you're right, you're right! Thanks to you and whatever it was that you did to me, I have been enjoying myself! I mean, though it's been years, we both know that I've always enjoyed spending time as a female. Hell! Let's face it, back before Stacey came on the scene, I was addicted to spending time as a woman. But I went cold turkey and somehow managed to get passed that pervert part of my life. But, then Friday came and without even so much as asking my permission, you went and changed me into a girl again. Only this time, you went whole hog and messed with my mind, in effect turning me into the real deal. Then, adding insult to injury, you fixed it so that I can't even call you by your given name. You made it so I have to call you mom or mother or even mommy."

"You're right," Gale apologetically offered. "I probably shouldn't have done that."

"Ya think?" Denise sarcastically snipped. "So tell me something - mom!" she over-emphasized the word 'mom'. "Where's that leave us? I mean, I certainty can't going around acting like your husband looking like this, now can I?"

"No..." Gale readily agreed. "That's true. You can't. But you can be my daughter. In fact, I've checked all our personal records, and guess what? They all list you as being the younger of my two daughters. Now, I can't explain how that occurred, save to say that must have had something to do with the pendant's magic, but from everything I've seen, legally speaking, you are my daughter. I even checked the cards in your wallet this morning only to find that they reflect the new you as well.

"Well..." Denise thoughtfully sighed, "at least that's something we won't have to worry about. By any chance did you take a look at my birth certificate?"

"Actually, I did. Fact is that was one of the first documents that I examined."

"And, it shows you as being my mom?"

"Indeed it does."

"So, who does it name as my father?"

"As crazy as this might sound, it names you as your own father."

"How convenient! And, just where, might I ask, has dear old dad gotten to?"

"I guess that is one of the many things you and I are going to have to put our heads together in order to come up with some sort of plausible explanation to cover your, or I guess that should be -- his absence."

"You know something, mother, I'm already starting to miss dear old dad."

"To tell you the truth, sweetie, I am too. May I remind you that while I maybe celebrating my forty-fourth birthday in a couple more weeks, I would say that you and I enjoyed a fairly healthy sex-life. Regrettably, due to the unfortunate loss of my grandmother's pendant, that's all over now and I have to say that I'm sure going to miss it. But on the bright side, if there is any bright side associated with the onset of menopause, my sexual desire isn't anywhere near what it used to be."

In an effort to comfort the woman she now called mother, Denise interjected, "Mom! What are saying? Your sex life needn't be over. You and I can simply do what we did before we had Stacey."

"Oh no we can't!" Gale's reply was both stern and emphatic. "As far as I'm concerned when that pendant got broken two things occurred. I lost a husband and you became my daughter, which makes what you just suggested tantamount to incest. And I will not engage in an incestuous act with one of my daughters. Besides, if you give some thought to the matter, you'll find that you are no longer sexually attracted to other women, myself included."

Surprised by what her mother had just imparted, Denise felt compelled to ask, "I'm not?"

"No, sweetie, you're not. There isn't a lesbian bone in that beautiful new body of yours. When I tinkered around with that formally male psyche of yours, I made sure that as a girl, you're one hundred percent heterosexual. You see, I want to make sure that you and Bonny's son would have a nice time together at the prom. So, what I did was to tweak that new female psyche of yours to make you slightly boy-crazy. Now, I don't know if you've notice this yet or not, but girls will no longer be a turn-on for you. Guys however, will. And to prove what I'm telling you is the truth, let me ask you a question. While at the prom, did any of the other girls there do anything for you, you know, sexually speaking?"

"No..." Denise had to admit that other than looking at what the other girls were wearing, not one, not even a few of the hotter looking ones had done a thing for her. However, with the exclusion of her date, she could have said the same thing about the boys who were there as well. John was another matter altogether. She developed a thing for him while in the limo en route to the prom.

"So, you see, Denise. The way things are, you wouldn't want to engage in lesbian sex with me anymore than I would with you. It would be just too icky for the both of us. And by the same token, that's why I don't think it's a good idea for the two of us to share the same bed anymore, especially since I think its pretty much a given that we'll both be using a vibrator from time to time."

"Are you saying that you are not going to get upset with me if I use a vibrator to get off on myself?" Denise sounded incredulous.

"Of course I'm not going to get upset if you masturbate every now and again. For that matter, I don't care if you find that you want to do it every night. I'll grant you that you're a sixteen-year-old girl now, but it pretty much goes without saying that you're anything but a normal sixteen-year-old girl. For one thing, I turned you into a bit of a nymphomaniac. And, for another, you've enjoyed an active sex-life for far too many years now for me to expect, or for that matter, demand that you give it up now."

Having said all that needed to be said on that matter, Gale turned to a new topic. "Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, I owe you another apology about something else I probably shouldn't have done. You see, sweetie, to reinforce the bogus mother/daughter relationship I created for us, I put the fix in so that it would never cross your mind to give me a hard way to go about anything. That's to say that while you will grow out of it in a couple of years, for the here and now of it, you will find it almost impossible to defy me."

Regretting the liberty she had taken, Gale continued with her apology. "Now I know that I shouldn't have done that to you. And I promise that I will not abuse the power I have over you. All I can say in my defense was that it seemed to be the right thing to do at the time and that it was never intended to be a permanent thing. And it really isn't a permanent thing. Rest assured. You will grow out of it. I mean, you are, or rather you were my husband and the last thing I want to do is to impose my will on you. Besides, we have always made our important decisions together and I'm not about to change that now."

"So, tell me mother, how are we going to handle Stacey?"

"Shit! I haven't the foggiest. But, you're right. We're going to have to tell her something..."

They discussed the matter for the next several minutes without coming to any solid conclusions as to how to go about telling Stacey what had happened and how her father was now functioning in the role of her younger sister. "Well..." Gale said, wrapping up their discussion of the matter, "I don't know about you, but I'm famished. So, tell you what! If it won't embarrass you too much to be seen in the company of your old foggy of a mother, how about I take you out for breakfast? After that, since I know that you have plans to do something with your boyfriend this afternoon, we'll stop by Target and I'll pick you up an outfit or two to tide you over until we can get to the mall in the next day or two.

If Denise had any qualms about spending the rest of her life as a female, those qualms were pretty much put to rest that afternoon when she looked into John's eyes only to realize that she was well on her way to falling madly in love with him. She did not delude herself into thinking that John was the be-all and end-all of it. Fully aware that more than likely there would be several other men in her life before she settled on one, John would do for starters. But then again, Denise also realized that he might well prove to be the love of her life.

That evening, having secured his promise to call her later, Denise saw John on his way.

"So, do you think John's a keeper?" Gale asked Denise as that new daughter of hers reentered the house after seeing her boyfriend off.

"Definitely." Denise dreamily replied.

"I'll grant you he's cute, in a nerdy sort of way. But you do know that when it comes to looks, you could do a lot better."

"I know that, mother. Given how good I look, I'm well aware that I could date almost any guy I wanted. But I happen to like John. He's a nice guy and I consider myself lucky to be going out with him..."

The next day was Monday. Gale got Denise up a little after nine and told her to hurry up and get dressed because the two of them were going out. When Denise asked her 'mom' where they were going, Gale simply said, "The gynecologist. I called for an appointment for you shortly after they opened this morning and they said that if I could have you there by ten thirty, they could fit you."

Not all that keen on having to undergo the ignominy involved in having all those new girly gadgets of hers probed and prodded, Denise registered a complaint. "Mother! Is this really necessary?"

"Yes, sweetie it is. I mean, we both know that sooner or later you're going to want to go all the way with John, so just to be on the safe side, we need to get you on the pill and, to my way of thinking, the sooner the better. I'll grant you that I'm really looking forward to being a grandmother one of these days. But we certainly don't want you getting pregnant before you're ready. Besides, given that Stacey is adamant about her not having any kids, you're my only hope. But, even though you are, you needn't rush into things on my account."

As one might expect, Denise was not a happy camper having those all those new girlish gizmos of hers examined in what she thought to be such a disgusting and de-humanizing manner. The only thing that made her gynecological examination bearable was the fact that the doctor who examined her was a woman. Had it been a male doctor, Denise probably would have chickened out and told him in no uncertain terms, 'thanks but no thanks' and hauled that pert heart-shaped derriere of hers out of the examination room as if all the demons in hell were after her.

Oddly enough, even though she thought it was hilarious, Stacey did not have a problem with what had happened. After she got through laughing her ass off and repeated swearing that she would never tell another soul about how her mother had up and changed her father into a sixteen-year old girl, she welcomed that new 'sister' of hers into the family with a great big hug.

Twenty-eight days to the day after the prom, Denise experienced her first period. Needless to say she did not relish the experience. The fact is that she hated it. The only solaces that her 'mother' could give her was to inform Denise that menstruation was all part of being a girl and that she had better reconcile herself to dealing with her monthly flow, because, like it or not, she was going to dealing with it for many years to come

To be on the safe side, Denise waited a full two months after she had started taking the pill before she allowed John to pop her cherry. Oddly enough, Gale was complicit in her daughter's deflowering in that she presented the two teenagers with the perfect opportunity to assuage their carnal needs in a safe and unhurried environment. She did this one Friday evening by informing the pair during dinner that she and her sister were going to spending the better part of the evening playing bingo at St. Paul's, a nearby Catholic Church. Then, having said that, Gale went on to add in what appeared to be an afterthought, which of course it was anything but an afterthought, that she would not be home until eleven at the earliest. Though she knew very well what her mother was doing, Denise nevertheless promised Gale that she and John would be on their best behavior and that there was nothing to worry about because nothing untoward would occur in her mother's absence. Which of course was a boldfaced lie on Denise's part, a boldfaced lie that Gale had prepared her with prior to John's arrival at six.

Once dinner was over, acting on another of her mother's prudent suggestions, Denise asked John if he was up to watching a little TV. When he said that it was fine by him, she plopped a DVD into the family room's DVD player. Unbeknownst to John, the DVD that Denise selected contained what she hoped would be a most instructive episode from the fourth season of the Friends' long running sitcom. What she wanted John to see was a particular scene in which Monica, with Rachel looking on, used a hastily drawn figure of a woman to illustrate to Chandler Bing how he could best utilize his girlfriend's erogenous zones. The show depicted Chandler as having learned his lesson well. Denise only hoped that John had been paying attention.

Being a realist, Denise did not harbor high expectations for the evening. Having been through it herself all those many years before as a teenage boy herself, Denise was keenly aware of the inhibitions and awkwardness that played havoc with a young man's ability to perform even at a mediocre level. Added to that was the fact that while Denise was no newcomer to sexual tete-a-tetes, she had never before been cast as the female partner in a heterosexual relationship. As a man, she had always functioned in the role of the instigator, rather than in the female role of the recipient. So, in that sense, Denise was just as inexperienced as John was. However, there was no denying that she had more of an insight into what goes where than her boyfriend did. If anything, Denise knew that the evening would be an experience to be both remembered and improved upon. Practice, Denise knew, was the path to perfection. And as long as the evening was not a complete bust, Denise planned on practicing a lot.

Once Gale had left for St. Paul's bingo hall with her sister, the two enamored teenagers got down to the business of making-out on the sofa. Though she had to caution him to be gentle and to take things slow, all things considered Denise found herself rather pleased with the way John kept re-targeting his foreplay efforts, moving in a random fashion from one of her super-sensitive erogenous zone to another. The truth was that John was doing a pretty fair job of keeping Denise sexually off-balance, which in turn was driving that arousal quotient of hers right through the roof. Succulently put, while there was a lot of room for improvement, when it came to the art of foreplay, Denise gave John an A for effort, and a B- for the fumbling and at times, hesitant techniques he was employing. But even so, Denise had to admit that while John lacked Gale's skill and experience, she was definitely becoming aroused. That meant that even though sloppy, John had to be doing something right.

After about a half an hour of making-out on the sofa, a very hot and bothered Denise suggested that they relocate to her bedroom. Though he wanted nothing more than to make love to her, John balked and nervously began to question the advisability of doing as Denise urged. "But, what'll we do if your mother comes home early and catches us in bed together."

"You heard what my mother said. She won't be home until eleven. That gives us almost four hours to fool around. I mean, you do want to do it, don't you?"

"Yes..." John replied.

Denise could tell that while John was eager to make love to her, he was nevertheless uncomfortable with the idea that they might get caught in the act. "Relax. Trust me. Everything's going to be okay." Denise reassuringly countered as she took John's hand and imploringly drew him up and off the sofa.

The first time they made love John got off. Denise however did not. While Denise found the foreplay portion of their lovemaking to be a little rushed, it was nevertheless satisfactory. Denise winced reflexively when John penetrated her and broke her hymen in the process. Being a woman was not new but this was the first time a man penetrated her and the feeling was something more, something deeper than any vibrator could hope to accomplish.

As Denise expected, once John's manhood was nestled snuggly up inside of her, he proved to be a real eager beaver, energetically thrusting away to beat the band. Within moments of entering her, John was unable to restrain himself and shot his wad, spewing huge amounts of semen into her vaginal canal. Denise, for her part, had expected as much. Granted, she would have liked to experience even one half-baked orgasm, but she was not upset over the fact that she had not. The important thing was that the two of them were virgins no longer.

It was a start. Granted, it was not a great start, nor even a good start. But, it was a start and that was perfectly okay with Denise. She satisfied her man and that feeling satisfied her.

Their second attempt went a lot smoother than their first. Though they were nothing to right home about, John managed to induce in Denise a truncated string of low-grade orgasms using the finger-flick method of clitoral stimulation before he sought to assuage his own carnal needs though the tried and true method of copulation.

On their third go-around, a much more confidant John was beginning to show real promise as a lover. Denise was amazed at just how much his lovemaking techniques had improved in the span of just a few short hours. "Oh my God, John!" Denise dreamily murmured amidst the warm-fuzzes of a most delightful orgasmic after-glow. "That was fantastic.... Absolutely fantastic... You have no idea how wonderful that felt... God, I love feeling you inside me like that." In that moment she felt a bond she had never known. Lying in his arms she felt loved and protected. She felt truly feminine.

Unable to reclaim her youth the way that former husband of hers had, Gale had come to the conclusion that she would live vicariously through Denise. As soon as Gale arrived home from bingo, she began to debrief Denise. She wanted to hear all the gory details of what had occurred during her absence. Denise, having been pre-program to do so, eagerly complied, spilling her guts as it were.

As she set her pocketbook and keys on the coffee table, Gale casually inquired, "So, tell me. How was it?"

"Actually, it was better than I thought it would be."

"Did you enjoy it."

"Oh, yeah! I enjoyed it a lot."

The two of them talked for a good hour before calling it a night and heading up to bed. But before they did, Gale informed Denise that her sister had talked her into joining a bowling league that coming fall and that in order to get herself ready for it, she and Linda had made plans to start bowling together on Tuesday evenings that August. In other words, what Gale was in effect telling her daughter was that she was making another night available for John and Denise to fool around, thereby making it possible for John to hone and improve his skills as a viable lover.

John's proficiency as lover increased by leaps and bounds. And though he did improve, there was a problem and to Denise's way of thinking, it was a rather substantial one. Though he tried his best, John could not get passed his hang-ups when it came to oral sex. While he had no trouble to be on the receiving end of things, he couldn't bring himself to go down on Denise.

Oddly enough and very much to her own surprise, Denise found that she was not phased at all about performing the selfless act of fellatio on John. In fact, she rather enjoyed the sense of control it gave her. She just wished that John could reciprocate and go down on her and eat her out every once in awhile. Quite pointedly, Denise craved to once again enjoy the sexual release that she derived from being the recipient of oral sex.

One evening while she and her mother were in the family room watching television, a sexually frustrated Denise irately quipped, "I sure wished we still had your grandmother's pendant."

"Why, so you could change yourself back into a man again?'

"No!" Denise abrasively snapped. "I'd use it to turn John into a girl so that I could show him how good it feels to have somebody perform cunnilingus on you. I'm sure that once he got a taste of what's it's like, considering how giving and considerate he is, I don't think he'd have a bit a trouble returning the favor."

"That would probably do the trick, alright. And, you're right, it's a real shame that my grandmother's 'Husband Trainer' got broken."

As strange as it was, the disappearance of Gale's husband went practically unnoticed. While a few of the neighbors made mention of the fact that they had not seen Dennis puttering around in the backyard, cutting the grass or watering the lawn, no one made an issue out of it. No one thought to call the authorities. Save for those in the know, the memory of Dennis Grimes just up and faded away.

Fortunately, Dennis' departure from the scene did not create a financial burden for Gale. Though she had been a stay at home mom ever since she had given birth to Stacey, Gale, a former art major, had started a second career as a fairly successful illustrator of children books shortly after Stacey entered elementary school. Then, somewhere around the time that Stacey was in middle school, on a whim Gale tried her hand as a historical romance novelist and was surprised to find that she was fairly well received. Having paid their house off several years before, the royalties from her book sales would allow Gale to maintain a comfortable lifestyle for Denise and herself.

There was another interesting facet involved in all of this. During the second week of August, an official looking packet arrived in the mail from the local district high school, the very same high school that Stacey had graduated from the year before. Succinctly put, the cover letter for the enclosed packet confirmed that they had received Denise's transcript and that she was dully enrolled and would begin the fall semester as a senior on such and such a date. The packet also included such items as Denise's class schedule, bus schedule and a list of school supplies that she would need. There was also an additional letter which informed Gale that since her daughter was a transferee, she was required to attend a half-day orientation the week prior to the school's scheduled opening day.

Needless to say, Denise was not at all happy with the prospect of having to attend high school for a second time in her life. As far as she was concerned once was enough. "You know what, mom? This really sucks! I've decided that I'm not going!"

"It may suck, but like it or not young lady, you are going."

"Hey!" Denise complained. "What gives here? I thought you told me that I had a say when comes to the important stuff?"

"You do and you did. You said that you weren't going. I said that you were. And just so you know, this is one of those instances where what the mother says trumps what the daughter says. In other words, sweetie, come September, you're little ass is going to school."

Even as her mother made that declaration, the subservient mental sub-routine that was part and parcel of her female makeup kicked in and Denise's whole attitude about attending school did an abrupt about-face. "Okay," Denise replied contritely. "I'll go, but I won't have to like it."

Taking umbrage with the negativity conveyed in her daughter's half-hearted response, Gale sternly said, "Oh yes you will. You're going to like it a lot. In fact, you're going not only going to like it, but you're going to be the best student you can be. The truth is that if you take a moment to think about it, you'll find that you can't wait until school starts."

Denise suddenly realized that her mother was right. She was looking forward to attending school, especially since she was going to be a senior. She even entertained the thought that she might go out for the cheerleading squad.

As it worked out, Denise did not try out for the cheerleading squad. Having been a competitive swimmer during her prior high school experience, Denise, who was still pretty much of a tomboy at heart, went out for the school's swim team and made the team easily. In fact, she became one of its stars. She managed to win every race in which she competed thereby doing her part in helping the team win the county championship for the first time in a decade.

Encouraged by her English teacher to do so, Denise joined the drama club and after a lot of hard work on her part, landed one of the main supporting roles in the play that the club was putting on that year. By doing so, Denise found out that as a girl, she had a beautiful contra alto voice and could carry a tune without any problem whatsoever. Having played acoustic guitar for most of her prior life as the male she had been born to be, Denise decided to see if she if she might be able to one day pursue a career as a singer/songwriter. To that end, she started performing at various open-mikes sessions, which in turn lead to paying gigs and local festivals.

Denise proved to be a straight A student. She was also well liked by her teachers and got volunteered into playing on her homeroom's intramural volleyball and basketball teams. Displaying an exceptional aptitude for math and science, Denise found herself more or less co-opted into becoming involved in the student mentor program in order to help poorer students gain a greater understand of the subject and thereby improve their grades.

Feeling that most girls were too catty, Denise could never bring herself to form a strong one-on-one relationship with any one girl. Instead of having that one special girlfriend the way most girls her age did, Denise preferred to hang with a diverse group of kids, comprised for the most part of her fellow swimmers.

Advised by her mother to do so, Denise had spent most of her first summer as a girl boning up on how to pass herself as a teenager. Knowing that she had to learn the lingo, whenever she was not with John, she spent hours on end watching MTV and other such teenage oriented shows in the family room. Added to that, whenever she found the time, she would head over to the mall and spend a good portion of the day trying to assimilate the mannerisms and behavioral patterns of the average teenage girl.

Unfortunately John and Denise's relationship fizzled out with the arrival of fall. For one thing, though Denise never once complained about John's inability to perform oral sex on her, John knew that it was a source of constant frustration for her. He also felt that he was lacking in other ways, which in turn negatively impacted his self-esteem. Try as he might, John could never figure out what Denise saw in him which further degraded his performance. Knowing that as strikingly beautiful as Denise looked, she could go out with practically any guy she wanted to and John could never understand why she had picked him to go steady with of all people.

Just like her sister Stacey, John was attending Bradley College that fall. The problem with that was the drive to and from Bradley's campus was quite a haul and therefore did not lend itself to John's being in a position to come home most weekends. At best he managed to return home once every other month. Needless to say Denise did not like that at all. Fact is she hated it. Eventually, having formed a friendship with a girl whose dorm was in the next quad over from his, John suggested that it might be a good idea if he and Denise cooled it for a while. He even went so far to suggest that it might be a good idea if the two of them started seeing other people. Denise didn't take kindly to John's suggestion and told him in no uncertain terms just what he could do with his suggestion.

Denise did not take the breakup well. Gale, taking pity on her daughter's deplorable state, stepped in and informed Denise that she needed to stop wallowing in self-pity and get that pert and perky teenage ass of hers in gear and do something to get her mind off of John. Basically, Gale told Denise that she should forget about John and find herself some other guy to go out with, adding that if Denise did not take the initiative and do it on her own, she would use that motherly mandate of hers to compel Denise to start seeing other boys.

Though she did so grudgingly, Denise did as her mother suggested. For her part, Gale was relieved. It seemed her ability to countermand Denise's decisions was on the wane.

Starting in mid-November, Denise began dating in earnest. However though she dated a lot of guys during the course of her senior year, she never dated anyone for more than a month. Oddly enough, even though she was a self-avowed nymphomaniac at heart and a real make-out fiend to boot, Denise never went so far as to have sex with even one of the guys she dated. It was not so much that she was concerned about preserving her reputation; Denise just was not the kind of girl to engage in indiscriminate sex. If she was going to go to bed with somebody, it had to mean something.

As one might expect, the guys who sought dates with Denise were the proverbial cream of the crop: good looking, generally pulling good grades and tending to be athletes. The problem was, they also had egos a mile high and a mile wide, which was a real turn-off as far as Denise was concerned.

Denise realized what her problem was. She had her own Catch-22 to deal with. It was not that she thought that she was too good to go out with average looking guys. It was that average look guys thought that someone one as fine looking as Denise would never demean herself to go out with them. To get around that persnickety problem, Denise took it upon herself to make it known that she would not mind going out with this guy or that. Sometimes it would work and the pleasantly astonished fellow would call her and ask her out on a date. But, more times than not, the boy in question, expecting that he was being set-up to be the brunt of someone's cruel joke, would fail to call her.

Oddly enough, given that she was in a dating lull at the time, with just two weeks to go before her senior prom, Denise did not have a date for her senior prom. Gale had to find her one. Needless to say, though her date did his best to keep her entertained, Denise did not enjoy her senior prom the way she had John's. There just was just no comparison. The year before had been a Cinderella Experience for her. Even though she though she was the epitome of grace and beauty, resplendent in her new prom gown, Denise felt more like one of the sister-uglies than the belle of the ball that she appeared to be. She also knew what was missing. In order for her to have enjoyed another Cinderella Experience, she would need a Prince Charming and though it annoyed her to no end to admit it even to herself, John was her Prince Charming. Without him by her side, Denise felt hollow. And though she did, she put on a good face and went through the motions of enjoying herself.

Two weeks later, Denise graduated from high school. Guess who unexpectedly dropped by her graduation party to wish her well and drop off a graduation present? It was none other than the former love of her life, one John Timbold. While he had not planned on staying for the duration of the party, once he saw Denise he could not bring himself to leave. The truth was he had missed her as much as she had missed him and that is pretty much what he told her later when the two of them managed a minute alone together. Once all of the guests had gone and the clean up completed, John and Denise had a long heart to heart talk in which they confessed their undying love for one another.

Some four years later, with neither one them having dated anyone else and just a week or so after Denise had earned her college degree, the two them exchanged wedding vows and so became man and wife.

Interestingly enough, while Gale was helping her daughter get ready for the nuptial ceremony, she placed a jewelry box on the dresser where an excited and jittery Denise sat putting the final touches on her makeup. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but since your Aunt Linda bought you the shoes you're wearing, and John's mom lent you those lovely hair clips, and your sister came up with the blue garter, I guess it falls to me to provide you with something old. So, go ahead. Open the box. It's yours now."

Denise did as her mother directed only to fine that the jewelry box contained a very familiar crystal pendant and its accompany silver chain. "But, I thought..." she bewilderedly stammered as she gingerly lifted the 'Husband Trainer' clear of velvet lined box.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I know I told you it was broken, but it was a lie. Fact is I think it's sort of like Sauron's One Ring of Power in that I don't think it can be broken. The Good Lord knows I've dropped it enough times."

"Why?" a very confused Denise thought to ask. "Why did you do that? Why did you lie to me? Had I known that it wasn't broken, I would have changed back."

"I know, dear. And that's exactly why I didn't tell you. In retrospect, maybe I should have. But I didn't and I have to say that I'm glad I didn't."

"Well, I can simply use it to change back now, can't I?"

"The question is: do you want to change back? Or would you rather leave things as they are and marry John? I mean, there's no way you can be both my husband and John's wife."

"I know! I know!" Confused as she was, Denise was on the verge of a hissy fit. "And, I'm sorry to have to say this mother, but I want to be John's wife."

"There's no need to apologize, sweetie. Besides, you can't change back."

"I can't! How come?"

"Because the day you experienced your first period you became a full fledged female in your own right and since the pendant's magic only works on males, it will no longer have any affect on you. And the reason I know that is because it will no longer work on me either."

Seeing the look of shock and startled surprise spreading across her daughter's face, Gale figured that an explanation was in order. "You see, sweetie, though I never told you this before, I was born male just like you were." Having said that, Gale continued on to explain that at the tender age of thirteen, as the boy she had started off life as, she began to give her parents a royal fit. Unable to adequately deal with the problem at the time, they, in turn, packed him off to spend the summer with his maternal grandmother, who had a very unique way of disciplining her unruly grandson. She simply used her magic pendant to turn her grandson, Glenn into her granddaughter, Gale. Though she had hated it at first, as time went on Glenn found that he actually liked spending time as a girl, so much so that he asked his grandmother to make the change a permanent one.

Saying that she would be more than happy to tell Denise the whole story the next time the two of them had a few hours to kill, Gale moved on to explain why she had never given Denise the option to change back. Emphasizing the fact that she knew her husband had thoroughly enjoyed spending time as a woman before Stacey had arrived on the scene, Gale simply said that she had wanted to do something special to reward him for the sacrifice he had made. Gale then admitted that she had been toying with the idea of possible changing Dennis into her daughter a year or so before the opportunity ever presented itself. Gale made no bones about it. She had had a husband, a husband she dearly loved and cherished. But, having had a husband, what she now wanted were grandchildren. Stacey had made it perfectly clear. She did not plan on having any kids. Denise, therefore, was Gale's only hope when it came to her becoming a grandmother. "And, just so you know, dear. While I'm willing to wait a few years, I don't want just one grandchild. I want at least two. And, just so you know, I wouldn't complain if you wanted to have more..."

Once her mother had explained everything, Denise, having promised to make Gale a grandmother, felt compelled to ask, "I'm curious, mom. Whatever possessed you to give me your grandmother's pendant?"

"Well, given that she is your great grandmother, I think it's only right that it should go to you and I think that now is as good a time as any for you to have it. Besides, doesn't that future husband of yours still have that problem with the oral sex business?'

"Yes..." Denise sighed "I sorry to say that he does at that."

"Well, while I'm certainly not trying to tell you what to do, but if I were you, I'd..."

Needless to say that we the newlyweds boarded the plane to begin their two-week honeymoon in Hawaii, John was still plagued with those pesky hang-ups about going down on Denise and eating her out. However, by the time the happy couple arrived back home two weeks later, those hang-ups and inhibitions of his were a thing of the past.

Even as they were on their way to the airport's baggage claim area, John eagerly inquired, "Hey, honey? Do you think that after we get home you could see your way clear to a... Well, you know?"

"Yes..." she replied with a knowing chuckle. "I do know and, yes, if you're a good boy and perform well in bed, I might be able to do that for you. But, just so you know, I've got dibs on the black negligee. You can wear the pink one..."

The End