I was dreaming of Sarah, we were in our spot in the park by the creek. We were kissing. I had my hand on her breast feeling her nipples. They were rigid with excitement. I reached lower and traced around her crotch, my fingers found her clitoris, she was wet, she was writhing. Suddenly Greensleeves was playing. I opened my eyes. I was in Jenna’s room. The alarm was going off. I was masturbating.
Bugger I thought, time to get up. I climbed out of bed. My pyjamas had a wet patch around my crotch. I put on the dressing gown I had worn yesterday and headed to the bathroom.
I had breakfast and as I was finishing Ted or as I should call him Dad walked into the kitchen. He said "This is the 1st time in years you have beaten me out of bed"
"The new job starts today. I just want to make sure I have everything ready. Dad do you think you could drop me off or should I order a taxi?"
"Oh I can drop you there. What time are you starting?"
"8.30 start"
"Not a problem"
I ate my muesli then went to the bathroom remembering to take my contraceptive. I completed my normal morning routine, of showering, cleaning my teeth and grooming my hair. It just took a lot longer as a female.
I had decided to wear my hair similar to yesterday but couldn't replicate the look as much as I would have liked. I then tried to apply makeup and think I did a pretty good job. There was something about the medallion that transferred innate skills such as putting on makeup or walking in high heels. I used my new lipstick that Eileen had bought for me yesterday.
I thought I should get my clothes sorted so went to the lingerie draws. I decided a new job needed new clothes and selected a pure white, lacy bra and panty set which still had it's labels attached. I put them on and had a look at myself in the mirror. As I expected I looked good. I then put on another pair of 'Nude' pantyhose. My new white shirt and my new wrap skirt then went on. Again I looked in the mirror. Were I male I would be chasing the girl I saw.
I chose to wear the same shoes as yesterday as I had found them very comfortable.
Something was missing. Jewellery
I looked through Jenna's drawer and selected some diamond look stud earrings. I assumed they were fake, because if they were real the would have been very expensive. Lastly I chose a silver chain necklace similar to one I new Sarah had, and indeed I had once worn to her work when in Sarah's body.
One last look in the mirror and I was satisfied with how I looked. I had decided to play it safe and would take the tote bag again. I put in Jenna's purse, my lipstick, some tissues and even the small bottle of scent I had been given yesterday. One thing I had learned was that women's pockets if present were not functional. Everything you needed had to be carried in a bag. I glanced at Jenna's phone, 8.10 am. Ok I had better get Dad.
He was waiting in the kitchen. I asked him "Do I look alright?"
He smiled "Very nice Jenna. Are you ready to go?"
"I hope so"
At 8.25 we were parked outside the dental practice. Dad said either he or Mum would be there to pick me up at 5. I thanked him for the lift as I got out of the car. I opened the door and entered my new workplace.
Millicent was behind the counter and beckoned for me to come and join her. "Welcome to the team Jenna, I've done up the paperwork you will need to peruse and sign. Take it through to the backroom and have a look through. If you have any questions save them up as I have an 8.30 appointment and will be busy for a while. Maria will be here any minute, I will get her to show you the ropes this morning"
As she was talking Maria, Evelyn and another woman came through the door. I was introduced to Maggie who was Millicent's dental assistant. Maggie looked to be in her 40's and had short blond hair.
Evelyn took me through to the back room where I had been interviewed and showed me a cupboard in which to store my bag, where she also deposited her own. She stowed her own cut lunch in a fridge.
Evelyn left me and I sat down to go through the paperwork. I spent a half hour reading through an induction book for new employees. There was a letter outlining the agreed employment contract I had to sign. That was easy. But then there were forms for the taxation department, for superannuation, for direct debit of my pay. I didn’t know these things. I decided to fill in what I could then take the rest home and fill them out tonight.
Another form asked for personal details such as date of birth, address, phone number and email. The 1st two I now knew and I was able to look up my phone number from Jenna’s android phone. I went to phone settings to find an email address and noticed 2 email accounts attached to the phone. They were both set to only receive emails on request. I wrote down a Gmail address on the form. But made a note to myself to download and check out the emails once I had finished work.
It made me think. I had spent two full days as Sarah and the only calls I had were from Mum or Sarah. Did Jenna have no friends at all? Or had she another phone. I thought I might plan to snoop in the bedroom a bit more tonight. I had been in the lunchroom for an hour when Millicent stuck her nose in briefly and asked “How are you going Jenna?”
“I have filled in what I can. The rest I will have to do tonight. I think I would like to actually start working if that’s alright”
”Of course. Go down and give Maria a hand. Things are going to get busy soon”
Marie welcomed me when I entered the reception area. She explained then demonstrated the telephone answering technique and how to greet patients when they arrived. She then showed me how the appointments were set up on the computer system. 10 minutes later she said she needed a toilet break and left me in charge.
I took my first phone call and set up an appointment for Amy in a week’s time. Amy worked Monday to Friday, George only worked Tuesday – Thursday and Millicent worked every day except Wednesday as well as Saturday morning. Shortly after I greeted my first patient a 40 year old man in a suit who was to see George at 10am.
Maria came back and gave me a printed name tag ‘Jenna’ in a plastic slip. She said I should use it until a proper tag was made up. I pinned the tag to my shirt.
I watched and learned from Maria on how to accept payment from patients after their appointments were finished, how to ask if they needed to make a new appointment and how to compile the records which either the dentist or the dental assistant gave to us as the patient left the consulting room. One of our jobs was to record electronically what was in hand written notes. We had to keep the notes though and attach any images and store the patient’s records in the archive room.
A task I was given was to collect the archived records for this afternoons patients. And to have them arranged in trays, one for each dentist, ready in advance.
We were very busy and it was only me and Maria on reception. In a brief moment when we had no patients in the waiting room she told me that Lizzie, my predecessor had her baby come early only last Monday. She had planned to work until the end of April so her sudden departure had created a staff shortage. Another receptionist Linda was on a Cambodian holiday. So that just left Maria this week. She was very grateful to have some help.
For lunch I walked down to the shopping center and purchased a salad roll. I had my break after Maria had eaten her lunch. Only Amy and Evelyn, who worked as a team, ate with me. They asked general questions. Pointedly whether I had a man in my life. When I admitted I did not, Evelyn commented “If someone with your looks couldn’t get a man what hope is there for the rest of us” I’m sure I blushed. They expressed sympathy when I mentioned my sister’s fiancé had been seriously hurt in an accident earlier in the week.
The afternoon was hectic with all the dentists having a full book. After 3.30 we tended to get school kids coming through. The waiting area became a playground. I had to get the records of patients coming to Friday morning appointments. Millicent told me that for the next few weeks she would just require me to work 8.30 – 5 Monday to Friday. They had a part time receptionist who worked on Saturdays only.
Linda would be back next week and 3 reception staff would make life a lot easier for all of us.
I was surprised when Sarah turned up at the practice just before 5. She said that Dad had mentioned I needed a lift home and she had volunteered to get me. Millicent noticed her there and came and commiserated with her about Rod. Maybe Amy had passed on my news or she had been speaking to Eileen. I did not know. Sarah said there had been no change in Rod’s condition. He was still in the induced coma. She had at least managed to not get sick when allowed a brief visit after lunch.
I farewelled everyone, saying I would see them in the morning and after fetching my bag followed Sarah out to the car.
Sarah told me waiting at the hospital seemed a bit pointless. She was only able to see Rod from a distance with at this stage no touching was allowed. She thought she might return to work tomorrow to give her something else to think about. I asked whether she had been able to search the car for the medallion. The answer was no. She had been at the hospital most of the afternoon and had spent the morning with Mum. She just had time to take Biddy for a walk and feed him before coming to pick me up. She was going to stay for dinner at Mum and Dad’s.
I told her bit about my first day of work as we drove home. We arranged that I would retreat to my room once home, she would join me after talking to Mum and Dad.
We arrived back home. As I dumped my bag in Jenna’s room I realized it wasn’t actually my bag. I was doing the Jenna thing. That is, permanently borrowing items. I suppose it was part of keeping in character but I swore to myself that that was something I didn’t want to do. So I immediately emptied the tote in order to return it to Mum. After a visit to the toilet, I locked my bedroom door and went to see the rest of my new family.
“Hi Jenna” said Mum “I was just making a tea for Sarah would you like one as well?”
“Thanks Mum, that would be lovely. Here is your bag back, where would you like it?”
“You are welcome to keep it Jenna. Tell me about your day”
I spent the next 10 minutes describing what had happened at work then retreated to my room, taking the tote bag with me. I set the paperwork on the bed and searched the drawer with the iPad for anything that might help me fill in the missing bits and pieces. Besides the two diaries that I set aside to look at later and the iPad there was an instruction booklet for the phone but nothing else in the drawer except for jewellery. Maybe I should check in the office? I went to the room with the computer and found a filing cabinet and sure enough one drawer was filled with Jenna’s things including recent tax returns and bank and previous superannuation statements. I returned and picked up the paperwork from my bed and set myself up in the office to complete the forms.
I decided to write down Jenna’s bank account details and that I would just have to visit the commonwealth bank in the shopping center near work in a lunch hour and notify them that I had forgotten my PIN and arrange a replacement. I was thus able to complete the forms I needed for work.
I studied Jenna’s bank statements and noticed irregular electronic deposits, sometimes thousands of dollars, from the same account. There was no name attached. I mused that maybe she had a job that Sarah and Eileen didn’t know about? Or maybe a sugar daddy? That idea did not appeal. I also noticed that she was paying for a Post Office box. That was interesting. Sarah had said that Mum had told her Jenna sometimes came home with parcels. I would search for a key.
I returned to the room and emptied the hand bag Jenna had been carrying when we swapped. I had checked the purse for money, and had found the key to my room but otherwise had not gone through its contents. It was a largish bag with many compartments. I emptied everything out.
There was a small silver purse with $25 in notes and a lot of coins in it there were two cards from the Commonwealth bank one being a Mastercard. That agreed with what I had seen with bank statements. Jenn’s driving licence was there, I wondered why I hadn’t thought to look at that when I didn’t know Jenna’s birthday. In the picture Jenna’s hair was in tight ringlets. She must have had a perm. The licence was issued 2 years ago I noted.
There was a library card, a cinema discount card, a Medicare card and Myer discount card. There was a hair dresser appointment for next Monday. It was at Sarah’s friend Amy’s salon, the same hairdressers where I had gone when I was Rhonda. I realized now I was working I would need to cancel or at least reschedule the appointment. There was also an appointment card with a ‘Doctor Angela Richards GP’ on Monday as well. It was for 5.30 pm. So maybe I could keep that appointment.
Loose in the bag were two lipsticks, a tube of lip balm, nail polish of the color on my fingernails and a tube of sunscreen. A small can of deodorant, and a perfume spray. A small box of tissues and in a discreet bag some tampons.
Two of the bigger items were some trendy sunglasses in a case and a foldup umbrella. Smaller loose items included a nail file, some scissors, tweezers, a bottle opener, two scrunchies. Multiple bobby pins and safety pins were in the pile of items I had tipped out. There were a lot of loose receipts and tags and 3 pens. At the bottom of it all was a second key ring. One of the keys looked like it was for a post office box. The other 3 keys on the ring were a mystery.
There was a knock on the door. It was Sarah I let her in and showed her what I had found. I asked her about the two appointments and she said Jenna was a client of Amy's but she had not heard of Dr Richards. I asked if she would mind looking through the wardrobe and selecting outfits that would be suitable for work. While she was checking out the wardrobe. I repacked the handbag but used the opportunity to discard items that I thought were either rubbish or I would not need. Sarah commented that most of the clothes were more suitable for clubbing than work but found 4 dresses, 2 skirts and a handful of tops that she said would be ideal as work wear.
I asked if she could show me some simple hair styles that I might use. She showed me how to use scrunchies or bands to make a pony tail and how to use clips in my hair. When I explained how Mum had did my hair for the job interview she showed me how I could achieve that style myself.
I passed her the iPad and asked if she could try a few possible passwords to see if we could get in. As she sat on the bed looking at the device I sat down beside her and gave her a cuddle but as I tried to give her a kiss. She said "Not now, Mum will be expecting us for dinner we had better get back out there" She put the iPad down and left the room.
After sitting there for a minute a bit bemused by her sudden departure. I followed her out locking the door behind me. Another visit to the bathroom then I went down to the kitchen.
Mum and Sarah were setting the dining table. I asked if I could help but Mum said everything was under control, just go and fetch Dad. I walked down to the shed and opened the door. He was hand sanding a piece of wood. "Mum says to come in for dinner"
"How's my working girl?"
"Good Dad. I enjoyed my day"
"I'm glad to hear that" he came out, turning the lights out and locking the door behind him. He put his arm around my shoulder and guided me back towards the house. "Thank-you for being civil to Sarah, these last few days. She must be finding life pretty tough at the moment and needs all her family supporting her"
By the time we were back inside. There were piping hot dishes of Tuna casserole on the table. My new Mum was a very good cook. Dad asked me more about my job. In turn I asked every ones advice on superannuation funds. We decided I may as well just stick to the fund Jenna was already part of.
Sarah suggested "Rather than have someone drive you to and from work each day, why don't you use Rod's car for the next few weeks?"
This came out of the blue to me and Mum was obviously surprised as well. "Are you sure Sarah?"
"Well Rod won't be using it in the near future. We could rent it to you. Remember I have a mortgage to maintain and I will be down to just my wage for the immediate future"
"Well I wouldn't say no. Is the car insured?" I knew it was but had to maintain my cover
"Yes it is comprehensively insured. You pay rent to cover the insurance and registration and keep the car serviced. I would rather it was used. You could come back with me and collect it tonight"
"Thanks Sarah, I accept"
Mum had a stunned look on her face "I never thought I would see the day"
Sarah said "Time to watch Home and Away. We can collect the car once it finishes"
I sat down in the lounge and turned the television on to ‘Home and Away’ it was not a show I ever watched and I had no interest in it. But to maintain the character of Jenna I sat through the episode. Sarah began watching it with me but got up midway through to help Mum clean up the dishes and the kitchen. I started to get up to help as well but Sarah whispered “Don’t get up. Stay in character”.
When the episode finished I wandered into the kitchen where Sarah and Mum were having a cup of tea. I casually mentioned “I think I’m getting over that show”
“Come on Jenna let’s collect that car” said Sarah as she drained her cup
“Ok, I’ll just grab my bag. See you later Mum”
We drove directly back to Rod’s house and Sarah parked so that I would be able to get Rod’s car past. I followed her inside to collect the keys. She let Biddy in the back door. He was his usual overly excited self. Unfortunately he jumped on me and I ended up with paw marks on my skirt. I realized I probably should have changed into jeans when I had first come home.
I asked Sarah if I could use the computer I wanted to find out a few more details of the GP with whom I had an appointment on Monday. I found her practice profile which included a picture of Dr Richards. She looked to be a woman in her late 30’s.
I asked Sarah “What do you really think of Jenna’s prospects?”
“I didn’t want to tell Mum and Dad but the neurosurgeon suggested I prepare for the worst. He said even a partial recovery would be a miracle” she started sobbing. We sat on the couch and I gave her a comforting cuddle.
After she had appeared to have got herself composed again I suggested “Why don’t we move into the bedroom?”
She pulled away and looked aghast “You don’t get it do you?” The tears started flowing again “We don’t have the medallion and even if we did you couldn’t swap back into that broken body. You are Jenna now and you need to get used to that” she grabbed both of my shoulders. ”I love you, but it is as a family member. No longer a lover” and then the most devastating statement “I am no longer sexually attracted to you”
I found I could not stifle my own tears, I broke away and ran into the guest bedroom and flung myself on the bed burying my head in the pillow.
She was right. We did not have the medallion and barring a miracle would probably never see it again. This was my body now. I was Jenna for life. Maybe for another 50 years. If I ever wanted a family it would not be with Sarah. If I wanted my own family I would have to be the Mum.
Sarah left me alone. I suspect she had gone to the master bedroom and doing what I was, bawling into the bedspread. Why was I surprised she was no longer attracted to me? I knew she was a heterosexual female and I was in her sister’s body. Hell, I’m now a heterosexual female as well. I still did find Sarah very sexually attractive but maybe that was due to lingering male memories in my brain. Maybe it was because we had formed such a strong relationship over the last 3 weeks. I had thought she was the girl I would spend my life with. I realized my heart was broken.
Eventually I got my tears under control and departed the bedroom there was no sign of Sarah and the master bedroom door was closed. I knocked on the door and without opening it said. “I love you Sarah, but you are right. We don’t have a future together except as sisters. I’ll take the car keys and leave. I’ll ring at some stage tomorrow”
I took the keys for Rod’s car from kitchen bench leaving all the other keys. I said goodnight to Biddy then walked out the front door and got in Rod’s car. As I started the car I could see Sarah was standing behind the flyscreen door looking at me. I slowly reversed to car out the driveway and drove back to my new life as Jenna McKenzie. I cried all the way home.
……..