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This story may NOT be archived in ANY FORMAT whatsoever in existence today or under development now or developed in the future for public display, FOR FREE or PAY without the expressed WRITTEN consent of the author. Midnight downloads is available electronically, for free. It will NEVER be found on a pay to access site with the author's permission!

This is a work of fiction. Any people, places or locations within are purely fiction and the product of the author's imagination, or their names are used to add realism and/or for satirical purposes. Their use does not constitute any type of endorsement or agreement, in part or in whole, with any belief or message, expressed, implied or otherwise inferred by the author and the story/story line, nor do they imply any endorsement of the story or author.

This story contains scenes of EXTREME VIOLENCE, mature subject matter and deals with alternative lifestyles. If you are not comfortable with these concepts and materials, STOP reading NOW. If you are under the age of seniority and consent where you live, or if these types of materials are illegal for you to read, possess or download, you must STOP reading NOW and you may NOT download this story. If you are very religious, this work will probably anger you. Do not read it. Do not download it. Hello, nice to see you, GO AWAY. You'll be more comfortable at http://www.disney.com please go there instead of here.

 

Midnight Downloads
by Wendy-J
Wendy-J@KimEM.net
© 1999-2004 Wendy-J All Rights Reserved.
Unauthorized distribution or archival prohibited.

 

Part-17
Wednesday Afternoon September 9^th

After classes ended, Sam went directly to Tina's car.

"Tina always goes straight home after class," she thought. "And if her afternoon was anything like her morning, she's gonna need someone to hold on to."

After waiting for her to show up for twenty minutes, Sam began to worry. "What's taking her so long?" she thought to herself. "I hope she isn't in trouble."

And then Sam saw her. Tina was slowly making her way across the parking lot with a really big, jumbo economy size…the only word for him was NERD. Just like that, in all capital letters, with bold typeface and italics. He was at least six inches taller than Tina's five foot nine or ten and had to weigh in at over two hundred eighty pounds, most of it centred in his hips and butt.

"Oh shit, he looks like a human pear," Sam thought mournfully, as she looked at the behemoth walking with her girlfriend.

It wouldn't have been so bad if he weren't wearing the stereotypical horn-rimmed glasses with the tape at the bridge of the nose…and the pocket protector stuffed with pencils and pens. But his crowning glory, as a nerd anyway, was the plaid patterned short sleeved sport shirt he was wearing.

"Oh gods no, Tina, not him!" she thought. "Anyone but him!" Sam wanted to cry.

Their conversation was animated. He was talking with his hands, describing something, and Tina was nodding enthusiastically.

"TINA!" Sam yelled, waving at her. Sam put her books on the roof of the car and waved again, then took off towards them at a trot. The nerd's face fell. She could see his attitude change and she watched his posture fall from across the parking lot.

"I see we have another winner here," Sam said to herself as she trotted up to her friend.

"Hey! Wha'sup?" Sam gasped as she caught up with the unlikely pair.

"Hi, Sam! This is Jon. He's the new guy I told you about…the one in my homeroom."

"Hi," Jon said meekly, looking down at Sam.

"Hey," Sam said as she gave Tina a peck on the cheek. Tina looked startled and then she smiled demurely, a gentle blush coming to her cheeks.

"Um… We were just discussing some new animation techniques," Jon said defensively, obviously ill at ease to be seen with Tina by her "boyfriend."

"Yeah, Sam. He has this really wicked animation software at home, and he was telling me about a plug-in he wrote for it and…"

"Yeah, uh…whatever." Sam said, obviously disinterested. "Uh…Tina, remember, we promised your Mom…"

"Oh yeah, I forgot! After last night, she'll be calling the house every five minutes to see if we're home yet. I'm sorry, Jon. I really do have to run. See y'-tomorrow in homeroom, 'kay?"

"Uh… Yeah… Sure… See you tomorrow. Hey, you still want to try that software?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh yeah! Bring it in, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," he said, brightening at the thought of talking to Tina again.

"See you tomorrow!" Tina said brightly, waving to Jon as she walked away with Sam.

They hadn't gotten one row of cars away when Sam took Tina's hand in hers.

"You know," Tina said speculatively, "I think you're jealous."

"ME?!?"

"Yes, you," she said with a smile.

"Of him? … You're right."

"Don't be; he's a nice guy and all, but…"

"Doesn't do it for you, huh?" Sam asked with a snicker.

Tina pulled her hand back and stopped walking. She just glared at Sam. "You're the LAST person I'd expect to be judging people based on their looks. He happens to be a very sweet guy, in case you were wondering. He might be really insecure and a real nerd in your book, but I happen to like him! If you can't cope with that…"

"Whoa! Slow down there, Missy. I'm sorry, I was just teasing! If you say he's nice, I believe you."

"Sorry," Tina said contritely as she took Sam's hand in hers again and continued on to the car.

"Were you really jealous?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"Yeah," Sam said, "I was."

Tina grinned a Cheshire cat grin as they walked to the car. She started swinging Sam's arm back and forth in time with her steps. To her, it seemed like she was walking on clouds… big, pink, fluffy clouds.

**********************

The whole ride home, Tina chattered about her classes and her new friends, Leticia and Rochelle. Sam just sat in stunned silence.

"Is this the same person I grew up with?" Sam thought. "From pariah to socialite and bubbling chatterbox overnight; I just don't believe it."

Tina pulled the car to the kerb in front of the house.

"Damn…"

"What's the matter, Tee?"

"I forgot about these," she said, pulling the lab sheets from her purse. "Feel like taking a ride?"

"What are those?"

"I have to get a blood work-up done for Dr. Bennett. I was supposed to get it done Monday, but with everything that was going on…"

"Yeah, sure. I'm up for a ride."

Tina pulled away from the kerb and headed for the address on the forms. Forty-five minutes later, the girls were back in front of the house. This time Sam was driving…and laughing.

"I can't believe you passed out."

"I don't like needles," Tina said morosely.

"How come you don't park in the driveway or the garage?" Sam asked. "It's big enough for both cars."

"Well, it used to be a skinny driveway with a separate one car garage, remember?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, I got in the habit of parking on the street. Besides, it's easier than backing out onto the street or backing it into the garage," she replied matter-of-factly as she reached into the back seat for her books.

"Oh." Sam slammed the car door as she looked at the neighbourhood again. It was quiet; there were lots of trees… it almost looked like they were out in the country. The houses were set well back from the street and had a lot of room between them. It was had to believe a neighbourhood like this was only a few blocks away from her parents place. There the houses were close together, the yards were small and there was no room for garages or driveways. If you wanted to know what your neighbours were having for dinner all you had to do was open the window and sniff the air. If you didn't smell anything, a quietly spoken question would be answered immediately and without the need to repeat it, if their widows were open.

"I wonder if your Mom's home," Sam said as she fished her house keys out of her pocket. "I don't see her car."

"She's probably making up for all the time she lost dealing with the two of us," Tina said as Sam unlocked and opened the front door for her.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I hope we didn't cost her any sales."

"Who, Mom? Nah, give her a couple 'a months, she'll sell city hall," Tina said with a smile.

"You don't have any heavy assignments that you need help with tonight, do you?" she asked as she hung her jacket in the closet.

"Nah, it's the first day of class, remember?" Sam replied as she looked on, something obviously bothering her. "I won't know if I'm having problems in a class for a while yet."

"Good. I have to catch up on my Philosophy homework. I've missed two classes since last Friday. I'd better get busy."

"Yeah, Uh… Tina?" she said, a pained expression on her beat up face.

"Yeah?"

"D'you think you can set me up with a computer?"

"Sure! Um…" Tina's brow furrowed with thought. "Will an old Pentium be okay?" She was warming up to the subject. "I don't have anything hotter right now."

"Hell, I'd settle for an old Blackard Smell-486-SX," Sam said with a relieved grin.

"Think you can set it up? I really have to get to my reading."

"I won't have to configure it or anything… will I?"

"Nah, just set it up; you know, plug it all together and turn it on," she said. "C'mon, help me get it out of the closet."

"Okay!" Sam was excited. She was finally getting a computer.

Then something happened to the time-space continuum -- time seemed to speed up while she seemed to slow down. Tina was on her knees, digging in her closet, her head and shoulders hidden from view.

"Here's that old track ball!" she cried triumphantly.

"Huh?!?" Sam exclaimed as a grey rectangle with a cord attached sailed out of the closet, whizzed past her head, and landed on the bed. It was followed by what looked like a cue ball from a pool table. Sam ducked as it sailed past. It landed on the bed, bounced off, hit the floor with a thud and rolled under a night table. It even sounded like a cue ball when it hit the floor.

"Hey! Watch it will you!?!" Sam snapped at her.

Tina went on enthusiastically as if she hadn't heard anything at all. Probably because she didn't. "That way you don't have to worry about trying to use a mouse on the bed."

"But…"

"Use these cables so that you can bring the keyboard and the trackball over to the bed." Some wires sailed out and landed on Sam's shoulders and arms as she flailed, trying to catch them.

"The bed?" Sam asked, perplexed.

Tina was oblivious to Sam; she just went on digging in the closet. This was obviously getting way out of hand. Sam's mind just couldn't keep up.

The pile of "stuff" grew rapidly as Tina rooted through the boxes in the back of her closet. A constant stream of technobabble poured from her mouth as she dug around. When she finally emerged from the closet for the last time, there was a huge pile of stuff on the floor with wires and cables snaking over and through it all.

"There, that ought 'a do it," Tina said with satisfaction. "C'mon, let's get this stuff in your room!"

They made several trips back and forth from Tina's room to Sam's, carrying the gear. "Okay, just set it up on the dresser, plug this surge protector into the wall and plug everything into it."

"Surge…"

Sam was feeling overwhelmed. Her brain felt like it needed a surge protector. This was much too much, much too fast.

"Mom said she was getting you a desk, so you can move the 'puter to it when you get it. Think you can handle all that?"

"Uh…I think so, but…"

Tina grinned. "Cool! Holler if you have any problems. I really need to study."

And with that, Tina vanished from the room. It was almost as if she'd been teleported or Apparated out.

Sam just sat on the floor and stared at the pile of cables, boxes and parts. Her mind was reeling.

"This is a computer?" she asked of no-one in particular. "If you'd asked me, I would have said it was a pile of junk!" She looked at a small blue box in the heap. Picking it up gingerly between two fingers by the thick, grey cable coming off the back of it, almost as if it had cooties or something, she lifted it up over her head so she could see the front of it. "iomega Zip-100, whatever that is. Well, no time to learn like the present," she said as she put the box down and proceeded to make room on the dresser for all the stuff Tina gave her.

…"Just plug it all together and turn it on." Sam said derisively as the computer took shape. It took a while to figure out where all the cables and wires plugged in, but she did it, sort of. She still had a few spare parts, though.

"Well, the computers at school don't have these, so I guess it'll be okay," she said hopefully, looking at a small ball-like thing with what looked to be a lens in it and something that resembled a miniature printer.

"It can't be a printer," she thought, looking at the "Lexmark 5700" colour inkjet printer connected to the computer.

Holding her breath, she turned on the surge protector, switched on the monitor, powered up the printer, pushed the "ON" button on the speakers, and hit the power switch on the huge "CowPie-2000" desktop computer. In the fading light of the fall day, her dresser looked like a NASA control station with all the glowing lights. The machine beeped once, causing her to jump. Then, she heard a loud click, the screen flashed and a bunch of words and numbers scrolled by so fast that she couldn't read them. Then the screen just…went…blank. Her heart started to pound and her mouth went as dry as the Sahara. Had she hooked something up wrong? Then, at long last, the familiar Micro$oft splash screen appeared, wavered, and glowed brightly.

"Whew, what a relief." Her heart rate started to return to normal. Boy, it was an old computer, but it was a computer. Then…it demanded a password. "Shitshitshitshitshit! TINA!!!!!!"

**********************

After Tina hooked up the little Connectit MiniCamII, an A-B switch, the Blackard Smell PageMaker and the Zip Drive, she wiped out the password and set up a new user name on the computer. Then she plugged it into the LAN, pressed some keys, and typed some stuff. It was amazing how fast she could do that with her nails.

"Okay, Sam, I gave you a user account on my server," she began. "Now, Mom has AOHell, so I logged her on and set up a temporary user account for you under her screen name till we can get you your own account. Your temporary password is 'password', all lower case. That's for the server access and AOHell. Change it to something that has numbers AND letters when you log on, okay?"

"Okay."

"I mean it."

"OKAY!"

"Right, so, the server has a modem sharing system on it so you don't need to hook the computer up to a phone line to get onto the net; you just log on through the LAN by double clicking on this icon and typing your username and password. Think you can handle it?"

"What's my username?" Sam asked.

Tina giggled.

"Tina!"

"Um..." she giggled "'tinasguy'."

"Tina's guy... Tina, I'm gonna..."

"That's what it is! All one word, no punctuation, all lower case."

"You..."

"You want a computer with access to the LAN and the Internet, right? 'tinasguy'-and 'password', all lower case.

"Gee, thanks."

"A computer is almost useless unless it can access all the resources available, Sam. Don't be afraid to experiment and try things. You can't blow anything up or break anything by running the programs and clicking on things. Treat it like a toy and you'll have fun with it and learn how to use it. Act like it's gonna bite you and it'll always be a big scary mystery to you."

"Okay. Thanks, Tina," she said aloud. "tinasguy... you're gonna pay for that," she thought.

"Have fun; I gotta get going or I'll be late."

"But..."

"I still have to get to student services at the university and get my regular ID, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Um..."

"Mom should be home soon."

"Thanks. Hey, are you turning into a mind reader or something?"

"Nah, I just remembered that you used to have to cook for your Mom, that's all. Hey, that's right! Your Mom gets out of the hospital today! My Mom should be bringing your Mom home with her."

"I know, I can't wait to see her," Sam said excitedly.

"Don't worry about dinner; Mom loves cooking in her new kitchen. If you don't mind her telling you how to do everything -- including how to boil water -- you can help her if you want, but she really won't mind cooking alone. She says it's relaxation therapy for her. Besides, you'll want to help your Mom get settled and get caught up."

"Yeah. Hey, get smart, huh?"

"Yeah, right, 'Ninety-Nine'," Tina replied referring to the female lead, Barbara Feldon, of the 1960's television show 'Get Smart.' "See y'-later; have fun with the old clunker."

"Thanks, Tina. Have fun at school," Sam said, giving Tina a tender kiss on the lips.

"Hey, I gotta go, that's not fair."

"I know. That's why I did it. See y'-later, 'New, Really Hot, Senior Babe!'"

Tina groaned as she headed out the door to Sam's room. "Don't remind me."

"Bye-ee!" Sam called out, mockingly.

"Internet, huh?" she said in a quiet voice as she sat on the bed and picked up the old Kensington trackball. "Let's see what all the hoopla's about." With that, she double clicked on the icon Tina had showed her earlier. With the cable modem on Tina's server and the ultra fast LAN, the login prompts and recognition screens flashed by. In no time at all, Sam was hooked.

**********************

The first thing Sam did on her "New" computer was a little web searching. She found all sorts of sex-related info on transvestism, transsexualism, and homosexuality, but she found lots of good solid data, too. She explored the World Wide Wait and delved into concepts that, until recently, were so totally alien to her. All she understood going in was that people should be happy in life and that people should do what made them happy as long as it wasn't at the expense of another.

Sam had been surfing away for a bit over an hour when the doorbell rang. Looking at the clock, she noticed that it was just after five. "I wonder who that can be?" she mumbled as she headed for the door.

Sam peered out through the peephole in the door, and saw it was Dr. Dewinter. Sam groaned and opened the door. "Hi, Doc. I was beginning to think I was going to escape having to see you again."

"No such luck, Sam. Is Jan home?"

"No, she's prolly picking my mother up at the hospital. Still wanna come in?"

"Yes, I'm still going to give you that exam. Let's go. Your choice -- bedroom or kitchen."

"Bedroom," Sam sighed dejectedly.

In the bedroom, Brandy had Sam strip down to her skivvies and gave her a thorough going over. "Does this hurt?" she asked, pressing on a rib.

Sam winced, "A little."

"But not enough to make you jump out of your skin," she said redundantly. "Good. I can't believe the resiliency of youth. You have a clean bill of health, young lady. Go ahead and get dressed."

"Thanks, Doc. So, are you gonna stay for dinner?"

"No, Sam, I'm afraid I can't. I have several more stops to make tonight," she said, writing on a tablet. "Give this to your Aunt Jan when she gets home. I have to run. And take it easy on that nose! I almost can't tell it was broken."

"Yeah, right. If it weren't for the Technicolor paint job and the swelling, you mean," Sam said through a grin as she buttoned her jeans. "Dr. Dewinter?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I…" Sam stopped talking and just reached up and gave the physician a hug. "Thanks, Doc." They separated and started for the door.

"I have to get going, Sam. Take care of yourself."

"I will. You'll tell Mrs. Winchester I can go back to work, won't you?"

"Of course. Remember to give Jan that note."

"I will," she said as she closed the door. Sam all but skipped back up to her room, happy for the reprieve.

Sam went back to her web searches. What she found only served to confirm the beliefs she'd formed over the past few days. At least most of it did. Some of the views enraged her. They were as if Hitler had never died and the holocaust he inspired was the right thing to do. She had to keep reminding herself that these people had as much of a right to their opinions as she had to hers. But it was hard. Damned hard.

The one thing she found so fascinating was the preponderance of male to female related sites, fiction, non-fiction and informational. It was almost as if there were no female to male transsexuals and transvestites. There were plenty of sites talking about lesbians and lesbianism from the female perspective, but the gay male sites outnumbered even these at a ratio of more than twenty-to-one. She refused to believe that society was as skewed as that. But the more she read the more she thought she understood. It came as a sort of epiphany or great revelation.

"I think I know why…" she started to say out loud, just as she heard the front door open. She jumped up and ran for the door.

"MOM?!? AUNT JAN?!?" she yelled as she ran down the stairs, her injuries forgotten. "MOM!"

"Hi, Honey." Sam smothered her mother in a hug before she could say anything more. The two just stood there and cried in each other's arms.

"Why don't I go and fix us some dinner while you two get settled?" Janice said gently. "Sam, why don't you show your mother to her room? I'm sure she'd like to relax before dinner."

"Yeah, thanks, Aunt Jan." Then, suddenly she remembered Dr. Dewinter and the note.

"Aunt Jan? Dr. Dewinter stopped by earlier and gave me a check-up," Sam rushed on, reaching into her back pocket as she spoke. "She said I should give you this."

"Thank you, Sam. Did she have anything else to say?"

"Just that I'm fine and I can go back to work anytime. Oh! And that she's sorry she couldn't stay for dinner."

"Thank you, Sweetie." With a smile, Janice turned and headed upstairs to her room.

"Let me look at you, Samantha," Donna Boone said as she held her daughter at arms length. Well, one arms length, anyway. Her other arm was in a cast from the elbow down. She had a bandage above her right eye covering a few stitches and her face was a little black and blue. "I like the hair, I think, but the clothes…"

"Let's get you upstairs first. Then we can talk about it, okay Mom?"

"Sure, Honey. So tell me all about your new school."

Jan took the note up to her room before she opened it. She was relieved to see that it was nothing more than an apology for skipping out on dinner and a reiteration of what Sam had said, but in much more detail. She got changed and went downstairs to fix dinner.

Sam and Donna chattered on about the new things in Sam's life until Jan called them down for dinner. They ate in the dining room, a change for Sam.

"Normally," Jan said after she swallowed a bite of food, "we just eat in the kitchen, but I think that's a bit too relaxed for this. This…is an occasion."

"Jan, I just want to thank you again for taking care of my little girl," Donna began. Sam winced at the endearment. "And for putting me up like this. There's no way I can ever repay you for all you've done."

"Donna, this is as selfish for me as it seems to be big-hearted." Janice began. "Ever since Frank and I got married, I wanted a big family. Over the years, we were only able to have one child, Tina. Then Frank died in that plane crash and I was devastated. I lived for my daughter; she is the only thing that's kept me going these last seven years. And when you look at her -- err…him…no, her -- today, it was well worth it. Lately, I find myself wondering if things would have been different if Frank had lived, but…"

"But you're just as happy to have Tina?" Donna finished for her.

"Well, it's more like, I just want my child to be happy. Tina was never really happy as a boy. He was always getting teased and getting into fights because of his looks. He didn't have any friends…" Janice was close to tears.

"Donna, I still don't know if this experiment is the right thing to do or the right way to go, but if it makes her happier to be a girl than it does being a boy, then I want a daughter."

"I thought I was going to try and talk you out of it while I was here, Jan. But I think you've made a wise choice. Right, Sam?"

"Oh, Mom, do you mean it?"

"Yes, Honey, I do. If it's what makes you happy, be the best enigma anyone ever saw," she said with a laugh. As her laugh faded, Donna's face became somewhat more serious. Turning to Janice, she began, "Now, about Sam's staying here…"

"Donna, first your husband needs to get well, so you're staying here, too. I thought we settled that in the car."

"Yes, we did, but my daughter…"

"After it's safe for you to go home, where she stays is up to her. She's eighteen and can make her own decisions on that score. If she wishes to stay here, I'll be ecstatic to have her. I have more than enough money, so it'll be no problem supporting her and supplying her with everything she'll need and most of what she'll want. She'll be able to attend the best schools and get the best education money can buy. After all, it is only money and I always wanted at least two children. With her here, I have my wish come true, if only for a little while.

"I know how hard it is to lose someone you love, but you aren't losing Sam; she's just growing up and doing what she needs to do for herself. I won't try and keep her here if she doesn't want to stay, that I promise you, but I hope she does want to stay. I wish she were my own, and that's how I'll treat her -- as if she were my own."

Donna was crying silently. "Janice, you're right, of course, but I have such a hard time thinking that my baby has left home because of something I failed to do."

"Donna," Jan began, but Sam finished it for her.

"Mom, I almost didn't leave because I was scared and didn't know where to go. I was lucky that Aunt Jan was here. If I didn't have the strength to do that, you'd still be there with him, getting beat up until he finally killed you. I know why you didn't leave. Hell, under the same circumstances I wouldn't have left, either. We both need to get professional help to get through this. Right, Aunt Jan?"

"Yes, Honey, that's exactly right. Now then, we have a wonderful steak dinner, why don't we enjoy it?" Jan did her best to make dinner a light hearted and enjoyable affair. The conversation centred on school and the classes Tina and Sam were taking. Only over dessert did the conversation turn back to the more serious things, like Sam's distaste for all things feminine. After dinner, they all pitched in to help cleanup.

They were taking the dishes out of the dishwasher and putting them away when Donna said, "So, let me get this straight. This all started because of a college paper?"

"As hard as it is to believe, yes," Jan chuckled. "You see, she'd been researching the topic of his paper when she ran across this web site called 'Fiction Mania'. She wound up reading stories all night and…"

**********************

Tina came home at nine thirty, a little later than usual and totally exhausted. She went into the kitchen to get something to eat and saw her mother at the little table, having a cup of tea. The matching side chairs had been pulled up to it to accommodate the new residents of the house. "Hi, Mom," Tina said, giving her mother a quick peck on the cheek. "How was your day? Sell the rest of the city yet?"

"I wish! I did well enough, I suppose. So how was your day? Sam said it got interesting this morning."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Did she tell you about it?"

"Um hmm," she said, nodding her head. "Care to talk about it?"

"I think so. Le'me get something to eat, and then we can talk. I'm starved."

"I'll do that for you. Why don't you sit down and relax?"

"Okay," Tina said as she got a glass out of the cupboard and the jug of milk out of the fridge. "Did Mrs. Boone get out of the hospital yet?"

"Um hmm," Jan said as she put a steak in the broiler. "She's upstairs with Sam now."

"How'd that go?"

"About as I expected. Donna was very upset over the whole thing. She feels she should have done something more to help Sam."

"Man, that must be rough," Tina said.

"So how was class tonight?" Janice asked as she put some potatoes and vegetables in the microwave.

"Um... well..."

"Got a bit more attention than you thought you would, huh?" Jan smiled.

"Yeah, I mean, yes. I had no idea it was this bad for girls."

"It's not all girls, Honey, just the pretty ones. You used to look like a girl before, Sweetheart, you just didn't dress the part. Now that you are, all the wolves are coming out of the woodwork."

"Boy, that's an apt description. It took me fifteen minutes just to get to the car!" Tina laughed.

"So, tell me about this morning," Jan said as she set a plate of steaming food down before her daughter.

"Well…" Tina launched into a detailed account or the morning's "Front Lip" news.

"You're kidding me! Him?!?" Jan asked incredulously as Tina told her about Bradley Thorndike.

"Yeah! Can you believe it? Anyway, then I…" Tina continued to tell the story as she ate.

**********************

Upstairs, Sam and Donna were sitting on the bed, surfing the web together. Earlier, they both had a good laugh over some of the more way out short stories at Fiction Mania. They just had to see the site for themselves after hearing Janice's version of how Tina wound up in skirts. Some of the writing was just plain awful, portraying the characters of the stories as the Hollywood stereotyped queens that pass for transvestites and transsexuals on the tube. The spelling and grammar were worse. And the things that the writers were describing… It was just too much to try and keep a straight face. It was obvious a good bit of the writing was strictly from personal fantasy and not experience or reality.

"You know, Mom, we're laughing, but I think I can see how some men would feel like this," Sam said as she stopped laughing at one of the short stories. She started showing her mother how she had come to her conclusions earlier in the day and drew parallels with the story lines they'd just finished reading.

"See what I mean, Mom?" Sam said as she typed in another URL in the address bar. "Darn it," she moaned when AOHell beeped at her again and asked her if she wanted to stay on line. "I have to get another account," she thought, and acknowledged the "nag screen." She hit the "BACK" button on the browser by accident as she was going for the "GO" button.

Donna nodded her head as she looked away from the screen. "It sure seems that way, Honey."

"Does it still bother you that I don't want to look and be like a typical girl?"

"Yes, Sam, it does, just not as much. I always wanted a pretty daughter who liked the things I liked. Who wanted to go shopping for dresses and pretty things with me. I got angry when you said that you didn't like those things, Honey. I felt…I felt like you were saying and doing those things to spite me. It was almost as if you were saying you don't like me, by saying you don't like the things that I like."

"Oh, Mom… I never…"

"I know that, Honey, but that's how I felt. It's not right, but it's honest."

The door was open, so Tina knocked on the doorjamb. "Hi, Mrs. Boone! Welcome home!" she said brightly. "May I come in?"

"Home…" Donna said it wistfully. "I wish it was home, Sweetie, but it's nice to think you feel that way."

"I don't know about Mom, but I do. This is your home, too. Hey, Sam, Whatcha looking at?"

"Just showing Mom the Web. I found a couple of sites that…"

Tina looked at the screen. They were at the Fiction Mania site. What she saw was:

FICTIONMANIA
Fiction: Something Invented by the Imagination
Mania: Excessive Enthusiasm
For Fans of TransGendered Fiction...

"Oh no..." Tina moaned, stopping Sam in mid-sentence.

"What's the matter, Tina?" Donna asked, a smile on her face.

"Um… Nothing, just… It's nothing."

"Yes, dear, we know. Sam was just showing me the Web. And I wanted to see what got this whole gender-bending escapade rolling."

"Um… Mrs. Boone…I uh…"

"Tina, we read some of those stories. I don't think there's anything wrong with a creative imagination. And you have to admit, some of those stories are really very creative. I don't approve of all of them, but they do help me to understand some of the fascination with it all."

"Well, it's just…" Tina started to try and explain herself.

"Don't, Tina; now is not the time or the place. Most of that stuff is erotica, pure and simple. Very little of it has a message that goes beyond that. It has little or no redeeming value beyond entertainment of a sort. I understand and appreciate erotica. I'm not a total prude, you know."

Tina looked relieved.

"Now, since I'm going to be living here for a while, why don't we dispense with the Mrs. Boone stuff? Would you feel comfortable doing something like Sam has decided to do with your mother?"

"I think I'd prefer to, Aunt Donna."

Donna's smile was radiant in reply. "Come here, Honey; let your Aunt Donna give you a big hug."

While Donna was hugging Tina with her one good arm, Tina looked over Donna's shoulder at Sam, rolled her eyes to the ceiling and mouthed the word "HELP!" Sam just beamed a smile at her and vehemently shook her head no.

"Why don't I leave you girls alone to talk," Donna said as she released Tina from her one armed bear hug. Then, with a smile on her face, she got up and headed for the door. Stopping just shy of the hallway, she turned and, as an afterthought added, "And leave the bedroom door open." And with that, she walked out of the room.

Sam and Tina looked at each other and started giggling uncontrollably. When they finally settled down, Tina asked, "Is she always like that?"

"Yup!" Sam, giggled again, "and boy, are you in for it."

"Why? What'd I do?" Tina asked plaintively.

"You wear dresses, you look cute and now she's your Auntie Donna!" Sam giggled again. "If you thought your mother was bad…" She broke out in gales of laughter.

Tina sat and stared at Sam as if she'd lost her mind. When Sam finally stopped sniggering, she asked, "So what? My Mom's now your Auntie Janice. What's the big deal?"

"Well," Sam snickered again, "Mom always wanted a pretty little girl to take to the hair dressers, and go shopping with, and buy pretty dresses and frilly things for. All my aunts and uncles have boys. I was the only girl in the family. Till now," and she went into hysterics again.

"Oh no…"

"Oh yes! I'm finally off the hook! ThankyouthankyouTHANKYOU!"

"It can't be that bad," Tina said prayerfully.

After a bit of teasing, Sam and Tina settled down to discuss Fiction Mania in general.

"So, do you like those stories?" Sam asked Tina.

"Before I answer that," Tina said, her mind racing for a safe answer, "let me ask you the same question, with a qualifier -- if you do, why? And if you don't, why not?"

"Smart ass," Sam accused.

"It oughta be, it attends college," came the smug rejoinder.

"Ooooh, you… All right, it's a shame the site is closing down because I do like some of the stories. I like the ones that don't have violence and um…forced feminisation and stuff. I think they're sweet, almost romantic in their hero's, er…uh…or heroine's quest to be liked and attractive. Besides, I think they're sexy, too."

"And do you find yourself getting aroused reading them?" Tina pressed.

"Yeah, sure, that's part of sexy and erotic, I'd say."

"Me, too." Tina said.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Sam complained. "You didn't answer the question!"

"Sure I did," Tina said smugly. "I simply agreed with your evaluation and opinion."

"But…"

"Look, Sam, I'm living one of those fantasies. I mean…"

"I am looking, Tina. I look every minute of every day."

"Huh?"

"I'm living one, too. Not the same one you're living, but it's kinda the same. I don't want to be seen as just a girl. I don't want to be little more than window decoration for some macho ass who thinks he's god's gift to women, you know?"

Tina nodded her head in agreement.

"But I don't want to be a man and have to worry about how macho I look and act all the time, either. I can't cope with all the posturing and head games men play all the time. I just want to be me. I'm somewhere in-between and I like it that way. Thanks to your Mom and Linda, I have a chance to be just that: Someone who's somewhere in-between. I think it's a total rush to be feminine and masculine all in the same instant."

Tina just smiled at her. "I think it's a total rush too," she said.

"Tina?" Sam looked scared.

"What?"

"Do you want to go all the way?"

"Huh?!?" Tina's eyes got huge.

"Not sex, you pervert," she said with a nervous smile, "I mean become a girl. To have the operation and all."

"I really don't know, Sam. I really don't know. I've been lying in bed nights lately and thinking about it for hours. I like the way everyone treats me, I like all the pretty clothes, too, they feel nice, I look nice. I like all of that. But do I want a sex change? Hell, Sam, that scares me. It seems so final, so…"

Sam placed a finger on Tina's lips to quiet her. "Shh…I know…so scary," she said quietly. Tina just nodded her head. "Now, answer the question, in your own words, not mine."

"Yeah, I like the stories," Tina said, blushing furiously. "I like the ones where the main character has help from his or her family and friends, or the ones where he or she's doing it with friends like that one by Ellen Hayes."

"Do you find them erotic?" Sam asked.

"Uh huh," Tina gulped.

"Which ones?"

"My Lady's Wiles, Tuck, Seasons... ones like that."

"Tuck?" Sam asked.

"Uh huh," Tina said. "They're too long to read in just a few minutes, but I have 'em on the server. Just do a file search on the 'E' drive under stories."

"Um…is that a request?" Sam asked, a smile on her face.

"NO!" It was almost a shout. "You just asked which ones I liked and I told you, that's all." Tina was getting tied up in emotional knots. She was definitely on the defensive.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you upset, I just wanted to understand how you feel."

"Sam?"

"Hmmm?"

"You don't think I'm weird, do you? I know you said you didn't yesterday, but… You weren't just trying to make me feel better…were you?"

"No, Honey, I wasn't just trying to make you feel better. I meant every word I said. I'm just as confused and scared as you are."

"You? Scared? Why? It's not like you're trying to decide how you're going to spend the rest of your life."

"Maybe I am, Tina," came the quiet reply. "Come on, show me how to find those stories. I want to do some reading before bed."

"But…"

"I told you," Sam said softly, "I like those stories just as much as you do. Besides, don't you have a Philosophy paper to write?"

"Yeah, but I still have more research to do." The fact that she'd never told Sam she had a paper to write never occurred to her.

"Then shouldn't you be doing your research?" Sam pushed.

"Well…I guess so. But why does it feel like you're trying to get rid of me?"

"Because, if you don't get out of here, I'm gonna jump those pretty little bones of yours. And with my mother in the house and your mother, the walking ghost, we're gonna get caught," she said with a laugh.

"Now, show me how to find those stories and get out of here so I can read them and… Just and," she said with a grin.

"Yeah, Mom is quiet, isn't she," Tina laughed.

"Here, watch closely; it's really simple if you think about it. Then you can have all the fun you want with 'just and.'"

**********************

Once Tina gave Sam the password and showed her how to access the stories, she gave her a hug and a kiss goodnight and went to her room to do her research. Sam closed her door, got into a nightshirt then got in bed. She pulled up the Tuck saga and started to read from the comfort of her bed.

"You know," she thought, "I just might not move this thing when I get my desk. This is really cool."

Her mother popped her head in around midnight. "Hey you! Shut that thing off and get to sleep!"

"Yes, Mom," she giggled. She marked her place in the story, saved it to the hard drive of her machine, and turned out the lights. It was nice to feel safe and warm.

**********************

Tina, after returning to her room, logged on to the web and started another of her "Midnight Download" sessions. This time, however, she was doing it with a sequential downloader, a little program she'd written to download the entire story file database from the servers at FM. It accessed each story sequentially, by the date it was added to the database, utilizing the "super search" functions of the FM servers. Then it then downloaded the story and moved on to the next one in the list. She watched it run for a while with satisfaction before she decided to do a little hacking.

Tina set up an automated hacking routine on her server to dial in through a gadget of hers to prevent tracing and used the telnet features of her server and a dummy account she'd set up at the university. Then while it was busy hitting the DMV she used a second phone line and dialled directly into the DMV using another one of her homemade gadgets so that the DMV couldn't track her. Then Tina changed her data in her record with the DMV. Satisfied with her results, she decided that it was time to be going to bed and curled up with one of her texts from school. She had a smile on her face as she drifted off. She was thinking about Sam and the last time they'd made out. She had very pleasant dreams indeed.

**********************

Continued in Part-18

  

  

  

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