John already had the notes in her hand and cornered handed them over. The woman took the money gruffly and returned John $10 in change. So much for getting a taxi home.
'Could I use your phone to give my wife a call?' John asked. He wasn't used to Sara's sweet tones coming from his mouth.
The woman looked at John in disgust. 'Your one of them are you? The answer is no. Get out of here. You are not welcome back' It was only from the terse reply that John became aware of what she had said. No doubt this woman thought John was a lesbian working as a prostitute.
Dejected John trudged out the front door.
At least she now knew where she was. She was in a hotel only about 400 meters from the club Bill had taken her to last night. With remorse she remembered it was a $35 cab fare to get to the club. Clearly the $10 she had in her hand was not going to be enough.
She started trudging up towards the club. It was on a main road. John thought she might be able to catch a bus to the city then a train out to her home suburb. Home was about a kilometer from the train station. Surely $10 was enough for public transport?
John soon realized everyone was looking at her. She supposed it was unusual to see a woman in a tube dress at 7.30am in the morning. Other pedestrians were either kids in school uniform or people in business attire no doubt heading off to work. She had to make a conscious effort to ignore the stares.
She found a bus stop and fortunately didn't have to wait too long. The men seemed to be staring at her breasts and women were giving her a superior look. She piled onto the bus. The driver gave her $2.50 in change and a half day ticket. He said it could be used on the trains as well.
There were no seats so John had to stand. She reached up to hold onto the rail and became aware that her breasts were in danger of popping out of the dress. It seemed like the man standing near her was also aware of this possibility, his eyes wouldn't leave her. She moved further down the bus to where she could hold onto a vertical column.
At every stop more people got on and soon the bus was packed. Soon she was tightly packed in and that's when the groping started. She became aware that someone was fondling her bum. She turned but the groping stopped and everyone looked innocent. However as soon as she turned around once more she felt it again. Was she imagining this? She reached behind as if to catch a fly and slapped at the offending hand. She found she had slapped a man's briefcase. He gave her a puzzled look.
Not before time the bus arrived in the city and emptied. John followed suit and walked the short distance to the train station. There she found a seat and sat down. She had a 15 minute wait for the appropriate train. 5 minutes later she realized she had been sitting with her legs apart and a group of school boys on the opposite platform were enjoying the view. She drew her legs together. Fortunately the schoolboy's train arrived and they disappeared but not before calling out to her to "Give us a flash"
The rest of the journey home was relatively uneventful. There were few outbound passengers so she had a seat to herself. All the same she made sure to cross her legs. Men continued to stare at her with lust and women with scorn but by now she growing immune to the implied criticism.
The walk from the station to the house was also uneventful. Max Rodgers who lived at the corner of John's street and who was as close as John had for a mate was cutting his front hedge. He stopped cutting and had a good perv at the young blonde woman walking up the street. John made sure not to look Max in the eye and tried to ignore him. She did wonder what Max thought when she turned into the driveway of John and Sara Young.
No one was home when John knocked so she went around to the backyard and retrieved the key John kept hidden near the vegetable patch. With that he went in the back door, relieved to be home.
Immediately he went to the cupboard where Sara had put the medallion after her change last night. She was very eager to become male once more. She was upset to find the medallion gone.