Copyright 2007 by madengineer3
I wish to thank Talynnda11 for kindly editing this story.
This story is purely fictional, all participants are of legal age.
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"Gabby" Brown was not an overly popular man. He wasn't despised or avoided, he just didn't seem to have anyone who was emotionally close to him. He wasn't a joiner; that is he didn't belong to many, if any, clubs or societies. In fact, when neighbors thought about it they couldn't even tell you what he did for a living; or for that mater if he did anything for a living. Neither could anyone tell you how old he was or where he had come from. You could say that he seemed to be a "nonentity". The funny thing about all of this was that even his most nosy neighbors didn't seem to even notice that they weren't curious about his life. Whereas most people would wonder about a man who didn't have a wife, or significant other; didn't have company or many guests, and didn't seem to have all the little household chores that other people had: nobody thought of any of these things if "Gabby" was the person being discussed. In fact nobody even remembered when "Gabby" first moved into the area, or who had previously lived in his house. For that matter, "Gabby" was almost never discussed.
On the other hand; Samantha, or Sam, was known to almost everyone in the area. She was despised by most of the people, ridiculed by others, and scorned by most of the rabid fundamentalists. In this area a large majority of people fell into the class of judgmental, legalistic, and rabid fundamentalists. Sam had been labeled a "loose woman", to use the old expression. Most of these people used the more modern term, slut. Everyone "knew" that Sam slept around. Everyone "knew" that Sam had no morals. Everyone "knew" that she belonged at the bottom of the barrel. Sam, herself, believed much of this as well. After all, could so many people be wrong? And, if they weren't wrong, what was the use of trying?
Sam had been raised by parents who had been part of the "hippie" slash "free love" drug culture. She had forcibly been exposed to sex, by her parents and brothers while she was yet at home. Both of her parents were multiple drug users as well as alcoholics. Before she was twenty she had already had more than one abortion due to her father's incestuous desires.. Sam "knew" that most people thought she was trash.
On the other hand there were the children of the Drake family. Pastor Drake was the local legalistic fundamentalist pastor. The Drake children were looked at as being pure, wholesome, all American kids. John Drake, the oldest of the children was a junior in a college a hundred miles away. John was an mathematics major with a physics minor. He had played sports and been a founding member of his high school's chess club and class valedictorian.
In college as well as in high school John was popular with many of his classmates. But John had a big secret problem. John was absolutely sure that he should have been Jane! He was a young woman trapped in a young man's body. With his strict upbringing, John could hardly admit to himself that he had a cross-gender problem. He didn't want to be this way; it simply was the way that he was put together. It wasn't until his junior year in college that he "found out about" transsexuals. There was a fancy junior year ball and it was socially expected that all the juniors would attend. John had little desire to go, but the social pressure was great. At almost the last minute a classmate, Mandy, had asked him to be her escort. Mandy was a physics major with a math minor, the mirror image of John's course of study. They had been in many classes together and had been lab partners in many courses. They got along well. They played chess together and discussed the college and world situation. John was comfortable around Mandy, which, to John, was surprising. John decided that taking Mandy to the dance was the "easiest way out" of his current situation.
The dance had been a great success. Mandy had talked John into walking her back to her apartment. Unlike most students, Mandy had no roommate.
John was reluctant, at first, but then agreed to go with her. When they got there she invited him in for a late night snack of pizza and soda. John agreed, after all this wasn't a romantic date. When they got into Mandy's apartment she put the pizza in the oven and told John she was going to get into more comfortable clothes. A few minutes later Mandy returned wearing a thin tee shirt and short shorts.
Mandy asked John if he considered her to be a close friend. John indicated that she was probably his closest friend. Mandy then asked him a very serious question; "Since you are my closest friend there are some things I should tell you, but before I do I need your solemn promise that you will never divulge what I'm about to tell you. Can you do that?"
"Yeah, since it is you I guess I can."
"This could alter the way you look at me, and I don't want to hurt our good working relationship. It's just that keeping this secret is eating me up inside."
John replied "There isn't much that you could say that would keep us from being friends."
"John, I've been watching you since we were freshmen together. I have been suspicious that we share the same problem. I was born as Manny Dixon, but the soul and spirit that were put into my body required me to shift my name to Mandy. I'm a pre-operative transsexual. Does that shock you?"
John sat there and tears started to roll down his face. For several minutes he couldn't speak. During this time Mandy was looking on with deep concern.
Finally John reached the point where he could speak again. "Mandy, you have no idea how much your honesty means to me. No idea. I was brought up in a home where such things were never discussed. Please tell me more."
The evening didn't continue much further before John asked Mandy to keep a secret. Mandy agreed, but had a somewhat knowing smile on her face.
"Mandy, my name is John but I should have been born Jane. I have the same problem but have no idea how to resolve it. It's tearing me apart. If I tell my folks, my parents will disown me and pretend I was never born. To them God never allows mistakes like this to happen. They will look at this a moral problem, not what we know it is. What do I do?"
The discussion carried on for most of the night. It was decided that their senior year John would room with Mandy and start letting friends at college know that he was Jane. John also started the hormone treatments and other steps toward physically being Jane. He also went before the local judge and had his legal name changed to Jane Drake. After all, most college towns and college campuses are a lot more accepting than many small towns. John informed his parents that since he had an extremely heavy work load his senior year that he wouldn't be coming home until after graduation. This decision postponed the eventual day of reckoning.
Everything was going well, until graduation. John had been accepted by most of his classmates as Jane. It was at the graduation that the "effluent hit the impeller". When his parents came to the graduation, they took one look at him, told him that he was no son of theirs, and that he was not to contact them or visit them. They turned around and left. Even though he had expected it, it was still a crushing blow.
Jane decided that he had to face his friends back home. Jane had discovered the soothing effects of the responsible, moderate use of alcoholic beverages during her senior year. Mandy had introduced him to responsible drinking.
Mandy insisted on coming with Jane on this visit. She had a very good idea of what lay ahead of Jane.
Jane's homecoming was, to put it mildly, cold and hard. Most of her/his friends had no use for him as a her. They couldn't understand how he could do this to his parents. Jane and Mandy, had wisely decided to stay in the town's hotel during this visit. It was in the hotel's bar that Sam walked over to his table. Jane and Mandy were sitting there commiserating. "Is that you, John?"
"Yeah, Sam, it is. My name is now Jane and this is my friend Mandy. Does my change shock you? Are you going to get all high and mighty with me too?"
