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Okay, I'm back! For those who've been waiting patiently for this story
to continue, I'd like to say thank you and appologize for the delay.
Ch. 8 should be ready in two weeks. As always, any comments are
welcome and all e-mail will be responded to.

If you are interested in being notified when the next chapter is to be
posted let me know and I will put you on my list, Niether your name or
address will be seen by anyone else _unless_ you specifically tell me
to.

"Sound of Water" and "Fall Upon Me" are from the Poi Dog Pondering
album (Columbia catalogue number CK45335). Make yourself happy and
give it a listen sometime.

The "Barnaby" reference refers to a 1940's comic strip by Crocket
Johnson Balantine reprinted the series in paperback a few years ago
and I've been a fan ever since. It's kind of a "Calvin and Hobbs" WWII
style.

In addition to my standard copyright notice, I actually have to place
a

DISCLAIMER

on this chapter as Jamie (kinda) gets her first sex scene. So...  If
you are not 18, what the Sam Hill are you doing browsing this
newsgroup?!  Go read some Heinlein or Spider Robinson. They're
certainly more entertaining than I am.

Obviously, the characters and situations presented are fiction and any
resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.  Please
feel free to post or archive with notification. Otherwise, this work
should be considered copyright 1997 Jeffrey S. Rose and no part should
be published in printed form except for review/critical analysis, or
offered for sale without consent of the author.  -- Jeffrey S Rose
(jsrose@ix.netcom.com) "Lineage, social status; why should these
things matter so much? That's how grown-ups are. If that's so, I'd be
happier as a child, never growing up."
- Washuu (Tenchi-Muyo!, OAV#8, Hello Baby)

"All humans, without exception, want love. No organic or emotional, or
psychological damage can remove that need. Humans can survive, albeit
in pain, without being loved - but lock a man in a dungeon and he will
find an ant to love, or try to. The sociopath, who feels no emotions,
wishes he could love, and is driven mad by his impotence."
- Michael Finn "Callahan's Secret


New U Ch.7: Gross Adjustments - Jamie Jeff Rose 1997

"I am he as you are me and we are all together."
- Graffiti found of the headstone of a pair of Siamese Twins

"I saw a picture of you, and it took me through so many visions of you
I couldn t stand it.  But I , I sat it through."
- "Sound of Water" Kalea Chapman & Frank Orrall


The old comics shop had reopened and while browsing the contents,
finding books and toys that never existed with indecipherable
packaging, that delighted him nonetheless Jamie bumped into Rose. She
d been sitting in her old place, looking at a photo album. That she
appeared to have grown no older in the intervening years made no
difference in Jamie's heart. Joy blossomed simultaneously with fear
but joy won out. It always did.

Heartfelt embraces flew about the room and suddenly Jamie found
himself alone with her. They were in a kneeling embrace, naked on his
old bed (inexplicably restored after being given to Goodwill),
studying each other with lover's eyes.

For Jamie it was like drinking an ice cold Wild Goose after a long
hard dayin the sun. Cool relaxation washed away his burning
embarrassment as he gazed at her gifts. Rose had never been what most
people today would consider to be a beauty physically. She was short,
only about 5'2" and heavy, with dark brown hair and chestnut eyes that
dominated a face that alternately seemed to belong on a hobbit or a
pixy. Endless mirth seemed toreside there and made her body seem
lighter than physics should deem possible.

The great artists of the Renaissance would have drooled over her
luscious curves and pale skin. Most of his friends had thought her
fat, but Jamie d always found her plush body to be just right for the
caressing and kneading Rose took such pleasure from. He'd delighted
himself in discovering new ticklish spots under the drape of her ample
breasts, or at the joining of her well fleshed limbs, or even in such
unlikely spots as the crest of her shoulders.

Just hearing her gasps and giggles of delight as he ran fingers or
tongue around her form was nearly enough to get him off. The fine
sense of ecstacy he received giving his lover the attention she craved
was just as satisfying in its way as actually having his penis
comfortably surrounded and squeezed by her tight canal.

Jamie started to speak but Rose placed her finger to his lips and
said, "No words Jamie love. I have a gift for you." Jamie s back was
to the headboard, in contrast to nearly all their previous encounters
and Rose was taking the initiative. As she ran her the her fingertip
across Jamie's lips, she pressed lightly, causing him to bend
backwards. She followed his decent and now her hands ran up into his
hair, pulling him back into the bed's embrace.

Rose played with the hair on top of Jamie s head as she continued
lowering herself over him. Jamie's legs were still bent at the knee.
She had him trapped with his heels, touching his buttocks as she laid
over him and kissed him. He raised his arms to enfold her and run his
fingers down her spine, but she instantly broke the kiss, leaving his
lips feeling the moist embrace of the pale pink lipstick she favored.

"No Jamie love.", she grinned, shaking her head gently and brought
Jamie s arms down. "This is my gift to bestow tonight.", She brought
her mouth to his right ear and whispered, "Accept it in the spirit
with which it is given." With that admonishment Jamie gasped then
relaxed as Rose sucked gently on his lobe.

Jamie could barely remember the last time Rose had lavished such
attention on him. While he d never had to force Rose to make love by
any stretch of the imagination, typically he serviced his lady, rather
than the other way around.

"Ow!" There was a brief, unexpected flash of pain as Rose quickly bit
his earlobe.

Rose crossed from Jamie s right ear to his left with breaks to close
his eyes with gentle kisses and an admonishing brogue. "For every bit
o pleasure there s a equal bit o pain to match." It was a saying Jamie
s grandma had been fond of but he couldn t remember Rose ever using it
before. Not that he had much reason to think about such trivia as Rose
started in on his left ear.

The nip at the end hurt every bit as much as the first and Jamie tried
to shift positions but with his legs in the position they were, Rose s
weight held him firmly to the mattress. His arms, seemed light and
immaterial now, with no strength to push his playful lover away. Rose
had been stroking and massaging them as she d been nuzzling his ear.
Now she sat up on him and held Jamie s hands to her face. His arms
looked as light and thin as they felt. Even the thick hair that
covered them seemed diminished. Only his large pianist's hands looked
as they ought. Rose spoke again.

"You always treated me like your most precious treasure, Jamie love.
When I was with you, you always made me feel like a most gracious
Lady. You never satisfied your lust til I begged you for it. Before I
go again, I want you to always remember just how good you made me
feel.

"Remember how you kissed and caressed me all over til every nerve I
had screamed for release?" , she asked and proceeded to take each of
finger individually into her mouth to be sucked and tickled by her
tongue.  Letting him know that other appendages would fit quite as
nicely in that warm wet embrace. The sadness forming over her intent
to leave him again was mildly accentuated by the sight of his finger
being withdrawn from soft lips. The nail sparkled and glistened in the
night lights being cast through the window .

She shifted slightly. Not enough to allow Jamie to move his trapped
legs, but more than enough to let his old friend (now as stiff and
long as it had ever been) feel the gentle pressure of Rose s warm,
furry sex pressing down on his manhood. Jamie groaned , forgetting the
future and Rose smiled.

"That's more like it love," she said, lowering his hands and bending
back down to nosh lightly on his adam s apple she added, "I can feel
your attention." Rose whispered as Jamie s hips began to pump
involuntarily against her, "but like I used to, you'll have to wait
til I think you're ..receptive enough." Jamie's moan of delight at her
kisses reached new heights and Rose began moving down from his throat.
Her hands massaged and molded Jamie s shoulders as Rose's tongue poked
through full lips to rest lightly on the very tip of his right nipple.
Rose's marvelously talented hands continued down onto his chest,
compressing and molding Jamie as she began teasing his nipples with
her tongue and teeth in an exact replicationof the way he played with
her in years gone by. He was almost felt a twingeof sadness through
that even with all the attention his pecs were getting there was no
way for Rose to...

"Cushlamocree!!", Jamie screamed as Rose pulled his teat into her
mouth.  Jamie s back arched and his penis strove desperately to find
any orifice tolodge itself into.

Rose busted out laughing and pulled entirely off him. Jamie blushed,
panting. His vision was dimmer now, but he could swear she'd stretched
his tits. Rose began working on his legs and feet. After unfolding
Jamie s legs, she began massaging his feet.

"Yes, I think you re just about ready, but I don t want my Jamie love
cramping up on me.", Rose said between giggles, working her way up his
calf. "Ok Barnaby, lets see if I can make you a full member of the
"Elves, Gnomes, Leprechauns and Little Men's Chowder and Marching
Society." She was now following the pressure of her kneading fingers
with sweet kisses as she made her way up between his thighs. Jamie
felt the gentle pressure of Rose's nails on his sack now. Anticipation
broke into glorious relief when she began laboring over his swollen
member.

Jamie was already almost to his breaking point and knew from the past
that Rose had never been terribly fond of getting shot in the mouth.
He tried to withdraw, but Rose followed as if permanently attached.

"Hon," Jamie gasped. The effort to fit words to concepts was becoming
quite an effort. "I can't .... hooold it much .. longer!

Normally, Rose let her hand finish the job and had fun using the
throbbing organ like a squirt gun, Aiming it anywhere but at herself.
Tonight however, she increased the pace and as the first spasm ran
through him, she swallowed it and him whole.

Rose crawled up Jamie's spent frame and smiled down at him like the
cat that ate the canary while idly caressing his breasts.

"God Hon, that was...", Jamie paused. Rose s lips weren t pink
anymore.  They were a glistening scarlet. There was a similarly
glistening track running from her chin, down her body where she d
crawled up Jamie. She opened her still smiling mouth to reveal red
stained teeth and said, "_Now_ I think you're open to receive what I
have for you."

Jamie was wide awake, in a cold sweat and standing beside her bed. She
reached over to the chair she laid her terrycloth robe on before going
to bed and drew it about her shivering frame. The room was quiet and
dark but for the hum of the air vent and the dim light illumination
from the clock at Jamie s bed, which read 3:28am.

Tired but unable to sleep, all she wanted right then was someone to
hold onto; the way Anne had Saturday morning. Before coming here, she
d have just gotten some munchies and waited the feeling out. Telling
(then) himself the dreams were a reminder of why he made sure he had
no one to call or cling to.

"When others depend on you; it is a responsibility. Honor it. Becoming
dependent on anyone for support is a tactical weakness. Do not submit
to it.", Jamie's Rule #10 & 11.

As little as a week ago, she (then him) would have been consciously
tempted to scrap rule eleven and knock on Anne s door. Now? Well she
sure as hell didn't _want_ any munchies. She could (must) control
herself.  It had worked in the past and her mind had'nt changed,
right?  Her body on the other hand, was shaking like a leaf.

"Maybe a God's Blessing will calm me down.", She said to herself and
turned on the lamp by her bed, set up the one-cupper in her bathroom
and slipped into a night shirt to go with the robe. Her movements
seemed slightly jerky to her. It was taking real concentration to
place her hands and feet where she thought they were going.

Walking gently down the hall to the stairs, she noticed a light under
Dan'l's door. "Sweet dreams to you too.", She said under her breath
and went down to the bar in the rec room. Collecting half a shot glass
of Jamison's with some mint mixed in, Jamie returned to her room. The
light under Dan'l's door was off.

"Just a couple more hours til first light.", Jamie said and began
putting the ingredients for Irish Coffee together. Taking measured
steps she turned on her computer, and finished sorting through the
phone logs. The jolt from the coffee helped get her motivated while
the Jamison's mellowed her jumpy nerves. The routineness of sitting at
her machine began reaffirming the stability of reality.

Looking the list over, she began dropping numbers she knew were
harmless.  Ron, Matt, Ron's store, other neighbors, contractors, etc.
.. That left about thirty names. Some were familiar and the others got
plugged into an Internet search. She then ran a Search program through
C&P to list the owners of the numbers without names listed in the
logs. Only a fraction of that group saw hits. Not surprisingly, those
that did showed up as corporate numbers. The others would be
purposefully unlisted and she would need someone a little more savvy
in such in digging through the phone company s mainframes than she
was.

Maybe Davis was still at his old address. "Well, it won't hurt to send
out a quick inquiring note.", Jamie wrote a quickly and posted it to
the appropriate newsgroup. "Nothing to do but wait and see if he's
still out there."

So saying, she began creating a database in Approach to insert the
loose the names, numbers and what descriptions she d been able to pull
out of the net so far. At five, she closed it down, threw some clothes
on and went down to start breakfast.

* * *

Jamie didn t show up for breakfast Sunday morning, although she had
left sausage gravy and biscuits for everyone. At 9 am. Anne began
looking around the grounds for her. Jamie had made a habit of
scheduling any outside work for as early as possible during the summer
months. Switching off to things that could be done in the workshop in
the garage, or running errands, or whatever needed to be done inside
by one. On the other hand, she ritually kept her plate clean on
Sundays.

Still, Anne found her scratching around the bushes they d planted
around the front property line. The Eagles "Doolin Dalton" led her to
the new girl, searching through the mulch that defined the line of
bushes. Knowing that when she was concentrating on a project she
tended to block out what was going on around her, Anne approached in
as noisy a manner as possible on damp grass.

"Jamie, what are you doing out here? It's past nine. Did you forget I
wanted give you and Danny physicals today?, Anne asked. "And were did
you find those jeans?

Jamie threw a handful of small weeds away and stood displaying her
work clothes. She was barefoot and wearing a pair of her old size
36/31 Levis, using a short rubber tie down to cinch the waist in and
rolling the legs just above her ankles. She had been half hoping no
one would think to look for her today if she didn't make herself
readily available.

"It was such a beautiful morning that when I finished breakfast, I
decided to spent some time out here and do a little weeding.", ..and
thinking., she didn t say as she proceeded to dust off her hands and
brush small nuggets of pine bark from her knees before continuing. "As
for the clothes; these are some of my old things. Chris selections for
my wardrobe were very nice but I m not wearing a $50 pair of jeans to
weed the beds." "Go ahead and do Dan'l's physical first. I don t think
he would want me to be anywhere in the vicinity prior, during, or
after that and I need to clean up and anyway. Sides," Jamie added,
"he's made it pretty clear he doesn t want any thing to do with me."

"Jamie, I think he needs your support more than you or he realizes.",
Anne paused, as if considering whether to add to the comment. Then
shook her head and said, "Be at the Lab by eleven."

Jamie watched Anne's receding form, grabbed her boom box and started
back herself. She couldn t help but think the meeting of the world's
first artificially created fraternal twins had been, at best, a
qualified success. They hadn't killed each other (yet), but Dan'l
seemed determined to make their relationship as antagonistic as
possible. Given the absurdity of the situation though, it certainly
could have been worse.  Just how, Jamie was hard pressed to describe
but then, how do you handle meeting the person whose DNA had merged
with your own without so much as a turkey baster in common? Somehow
this situation didn't seem to be covered in any of the etiquette books
she d rummaged through in Jr. High.  Finally, she decided that just
catching a glimpse of Dani while calmly retrieving the luggage from
the car would be sufficient till Anne or someone could arrange
something more formal. Having made a decision, Jamie glanced at Chris
with a confidence she wasn t sure of and grasped the door knob before
anyone could have a chance to get to the door.  The car had just
stopped on the drive in front of the house and Beth calledas Jamie and
Chris approached the car. "Jamie, This is Rick Angstrom. Rick, our
Handyman, Jamie McGowan and you remember Chris." Jamie looked up at
the man who d just extricated himself from the car.  He'd somewhat
expected the stereotypical pot-bellied old rich dude who was living
his remaining years at the club. This man however, if he spent any
time at some club, it must be spending most of it exercising. At 6' 2"
he had not let his large frame go soft and with his iron grey hair and
rugged face, he had a presence that reminded Jamie of Robert Mitchum
at his best.  As Angstrom presented his immense hand, the first thing
that went through Jamie's mind was that it looked like he could
probably pick her with that hand. Just place the palm on the top of
her head and grip with the fingers.

She was supposed to put her hand in that?

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Angstrom.", Jamie said, watching that great
hand swallow her own. "I'll just get y'all's bags." She started to
pull away but Angstrom's grip did not loosen. He was still sizing
Jamie up.  "Now hold on a minute. We can t have a little thing like
you hauling all those heavy bags, eh?" In the dim illumination
provided by the driveway lights, he had initially thought that somehow
Dani had managed to teleport into the house and come back out. The
background check he'd arranged for Anne back in February had prepared
him for a heavy set man who d been reduced and feminized. Not a
replica of his daughter at 12. But then the posture and body language
was wrong, the face seemed distorted and while the voice was certainly
similar, pitch and a very mild southern drawl betrayed the girl before
him. When they got into the house, he wanted a better look at Jamie.
Why don t we all pitch in and then I understand there's some food
awaiting, hmm?"

"Really, Mr. Angs.."

"Call me Rick, Jamie."

Jamie sighed and extracted her hand, flexing it slowly to restore
circulation. "One more try" she thought. "Rick. Really, this is just a
part of my job."

"Hi Rick.", Chris said while grabbing Jamie shoulder. "That's a great
idea. Cut the macho posing Jamie."

Anne had popped the hatchback from the dashboard after killing the
engine and Jamie reached in to grab a couple of bags. She noted the
guitar case with interest, but decided not to touch it. She knew
better that to mess with another person's instrument without
permission. She picked out three large bags, she was the hired help
after all and Anne had said her job hadn't changed. Unfortunately,
Jamie's small hands and reduced musculature were unable to manage two
suitcases and the hanging bag she'd initially picked out. So she
contented herself with just the two cases and turned to stare into the
strangest pair of eyes she d ever seen outside of the mirror.

It was rather like looking into a distorted mirror. Jamie was looking
at a not quite accurate portrait of what she d looked like as a boy
late in sixth grade. A thick mop of unruly blonde hair reaching just
to the top of his(?) surprisingly broad shoulders had been worked on
extensively to force it to maintain the center parted style Dani
evidently preferred. As a male Jamie had always parted his hair on the
side, but to each his own. She knew from previous experience that you
could suspend a pencil vertically in Dani's bangs and it would stay
without any form of support. (She'd won bets on hat point for a number
of years until shortly after her high school graduation, when she
noticed the pencil slipping.) This framed a face with high cheekbones
and deep set eyes that stared back with the same turquoise irises that
resided in her own sockects. There were no personal revelations on
either side as far as Jamie could tell. Just surprise on both sides as
Dani was evidently not yet prepared to look into this mirror either.

Just as that revelation was seeping into Jamie's brain, she also
realized that two great weights had been released from her hands.
Dani's brief yelp of pain let Jamie know where those weights had gone.
Jamie recovered quickly and retrieved the bags, straining to lift
both. She apologized profusely while Chris snatched one of the
suitcases and admonished Jamie for not remembering she wasn't as big
as she used to be.

"Y..you're..?", Dani started, getting her(?) composure back.  "I'm
Jamie McGowan. ..Sorry about this." She said, trying to ease the
tension. Unfortunately the Ranma reference was too obscure for even
Chris to catch and Jamie added, "Somehow I don' t think this was the
formal introduction I had in mind."

Everyone began collecting bags and transporting them to the rooms that
were prepared.

* * *

Jamie gave herself the once over while showering. Her wavy hair
reached just between her shoulder blades and her body was had just
begun to really show the promise of what was to come. Scrubbing with
soapy hands along the her still developing lines, she realized that
even with the proper clothes, it would be impossible to pass as a
young boy for very long, if at all.

"It's a certainty that Mrs. McGowan wouldn t recognize her only boy if
she walked in right now.", Jamie chuckled as she carefully cleaned the
folds of tissue between her legs. She thought briefly about leaving
that area stinky to discourage what was likely to be her first
gynecological exam, but Anne would likely just lecture her about it
while Beth smirked and Chris would never let her live it down.

Later, while getting dressed, she began comparing her appearance with
what she remembered about her self-image as a boy of twelve or
thirteen. Her hips were still a bit slim for a mature woman, but if
the pair of jeans she was attempting to slip into now were any
indication of all the pants Chris picked up for her yesterday, there
was simply no way for them to be mistaken for a boy's (Was it really
necessary the jeans to be so tight, or for flowers and butterflies to
be sewn on the back pockets?)and unless she was willing to break out
the ace bandages, her (!) petite breasts would give her away the first
time she crossed her arms no matter how loose fitting a shirt she
wore.

Pulling on the lace-trimmed, white tank top she'd deigned to leave on
top of the hamper yesterday, she began thinking about everything she
would have to get used to in the coming years. The shirt had been too
cute (kawaii) for Jamie to think about putting on yesterday. Today,
she saw it as one more thing to reinforce this new aspect of her
identity.

Unless she wanted more dreams about impromptu circumcisions like last
night, she'd need to do what Capt. Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager needs
to do every week.

" I need to get my ship together.", Jamie giggled and stepped onto
bathroom scale for old times sake saw she was down to 120 lb.  "Heck
of a way to run a weight loss program"

* * *

Dinner that first meal didn t go much better. With the everyone's
luggage in, the conversation around the table started with the typical
'How was the trip?'  type fair. Jamie was finally able to get a better
look at Dani as "she" stuffed her face. The new boy had definitely
gotten the McGowan jaw.  Hard and sharp as a knife. His hair looked
wildly incongruous though. It was longer than Jamie had ever worn as a
boy. The bottom was showing all the waviness that had convinced her
(then his) mother to insist she (then he), keep it as short as
possible. Right now, it looked like it was trying desperately to tap
Chris on the shoulder. The top had been tamed somewhat and "poofed"
out with (what?), mousse she guessed.

"Oh well, there s something else I'll have to learn about", Jamie
thought as poked her fork down and heard it clank. Jamie looked down
at her plate and realized it was empty.

"What the. .." Jamie mumbled. "When did _that_ happen?" She looked up
from her plate and into Dani s face.

He stared back with a look of amusement on familiar features and said
just loud enough to carry, "Didn't realize how hungry you are? I m
still famished. Pass what's left of the Taco Salad, would you?"

Dani s tone was overly polite and there would be no mistaking the
contempt behind his words even without this weird feeling (Empathy?)
between them.  Jamie picked up her own empty plate as well as the
largely decimated remains of the salad, got up and dropping the salad
off with Dani went to the kitchen. Anne began talking about the
possibility of using nutritional supplements to help control Dani's
appetite.

As Jamie proceeded to the kitchen a sensation of fullness grew in her
stomach, until she felt quite ill. Rushing to the sink, she dropped
the plate into the sink and then her belly hoisted what she d eaten to
join the pate and silverware. Jamie consciously stopped breathing
through her nose, wiped her mouth and contemplated the matter while
eradicating the evidence.

She knew, with the door closed no one could've heard her spill her
stomach into the sink. So she didn't have to worry about anyone
rushing in to see this embarrassment.

She'd nibbled at everything since this morning, but in all honesty,
she had never been hungry. Just looking the full plate at brunch had
made her queasy. She remembered taking a few sample bites before
starting to put the clothes Chris got her away, but she never came
close to finishing the plate. She knew she'd taste tested everything
in dinner as she made it, but again the thought of an actual meal was
making her gall rise again.  Yet she'd sat across from Dani and ate at
least one (uurrpp!), full plate.  "In fact", she thought rinsing the
last of the mess down the drain, "I pretty much inhaled a full plate
without thinking about it. I didn t even feel queasy til I got away
from Dani." Pouring herself a cup of coffee to occupy hands and mouth
while thinking, she returned to find Dani glaring at her. Jamie
declined to comment that green suited Dani.

Conversation, after Jamie returned, drifted towards plans for "Danny"
and Jamie s future. It seemed "Dan" was going to start taking courses
at Loyola come Spring Session in January. Jamie was asked to consider
the option to go back to school as well. After all, who was going to
believe she'd been in college at age 5 or whatever.

"Anne tells me by January the two of you should have stabilized enough
that any further cosmetic changes would be unnoticeable. Rick said.
"That should give our two kids here more than enough time to help each
other get set up in their new identities. It also gives me time to
arrange the necessary record changes for Dan and ... Pardon me Jamie,
but I feel more than a little responsibility for you as well."

That startled Jamie. "How so?", she asked. The inclusion of herself as
one of his children made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on
end. She knew from the days she used to follow the markets that
Angstrom had been a _big-time_ money man before going into
"retirement" to spend more time with his new family. Although he d
supposedly shifted from the more mercurial  and of the market to
various "long-term" investments; evidently New U was among them. The
kind of money this guy wielded ultimately just kept breeding more
money unless you were a fool.  That kind of money also bred power.
Even if all of his money was solidly locked into long term
investments, his name was helping to keep them afloattil they could
pay off that investment. That alone gave Rick access to whatever
resources they had at hand.

His attention was now focused on Jamie. She wondered briefly how many
timeshis name would pop up on the phone logs before the events of this
past week.

Anne watched as Rick shifted uncomfortably in his seat and tapped his
pen on the pad he d been reading and taking notes on. "Rick was one of
our earliest supporters and helped give us a lot of contacts with
potential investors Jamie."

"Yes.", He said, "That's one of the reasons Anne was willing to hear
my pleas for giving Dan the treatment. What was it? A year and a
half...no, two years ago. Beth approached me about getting someone to
maintain quality and streamline the production facilities for the
clinic when it they got it on line.

"There are maybe a handful of people around the globe who are both
good engineers and really good setting up and managing production
schedules.  They command salaries that make even my head spin, but I
knew of a man who had been tops among their number. I suggested Beth
look up Harry Selznick.

He'd worked in a consulting role at several companies I helped build
up over the years. He was looking for work after some hard times. I
pointed out that New U needed the best. But they needed him cheap."

"Why exactly was Harry cheap?"Jamie asked.

"Got into some problems with the bottle after a particularly nasty
divorce. He'd been on the wagon for two years though and well, he'd
done well for me in all the jobs I'd brought him in on. I don't forget
useful people.

"Wait a minute. Selznick knew you were responsible for getting him
hired?" Jamie was stunned at the thought.

"No Jamie.", Anne said. "Beth approached Harry directly. He never knew
Rick's connections to New U except for the fact that Dani was being
treated by us. He also gave us the detectives who ran through your
history before we started direct interviews."

"We had some words after he fell into the bottle and out of his last
position." Rick said picking the tale back up. "I thought he might be
too prideful to take anything from me directly. Unfortunately, it's
turned out to be one of the worst calls in a my very long career.
Maybe ..." His got distant and then Rick shook his head.

"In any case Jamie, I feel I owe you some _goodwill_ at least. Your
records are going to have to be generated from scratch. Beth tells me
you will be the same biological age as Dan here when you stabilize.
Obviously, that won't jive with your real age of 31. Besides, my legal
contacts have informed me that your military records are virtually
untouchable and the state of Maryland actually has a law on the books
which disallows altering birth certificates for the purposes of sex
change. Then Anne informs me that it would be practically impossible
to prove your identity through any of the accepted practices anyway."

"True enough.", Jamie said thinking about where this was going. "We
already know my fingerprints have changed. I wouldn't be surprised if
my retinal, foot and ear-prints had altered as well, assuming they d
been recorded prior to this."

Rick returned to his notes,"Have you told anyone about this yet?"

"Haven't really had time. I'm going to have to do something about my
friends though. Matt's supposed to give me a hand with getting some
landscaping blocks this week. Somehow I think he might notice I've
changed my image since last week."

"What about family?" Rick continued.

"Actually, I'm not sure how to handle that yet. I'm not on the best of
terms with Dad since I went into the military but, my family tends to
pull together when the roof falls, so they may form a posse and go
hunting for vengeance - legal or otherwise. Dad's family is from the
mountains of North Carolina. Round there, you wrong someone s kin and
you re likely to pull back a bloody stump with no body attached."

"So? Sounds like they d be supportive of you." Danny said, sounding a
bit contemptuous.

"Problem is, assuming I can get them to believe I'm me, I think they'd
be likely to go after the company and the rest of y'all without
thinking.  Heck, if I can't convince 'em of my identity, they'll be
out for my blood too. You know any lawyer they talk to will be licking
his chops at the publicity for his firm." Jamie ran her hands across
her arms, up to her shoulders and back down to her elbows. "The
resulting hoo-ha would probably break New U as a corporation. After
all, the company experimented on an underage girl and a non-consenting
adult. Public opinion would sour on the idea of bio-reconstruction by
use of nanites and we could end up stuck forever."

"I doubt the results would be that severe.", Rick said.

"How well are IUD s selling in the States compared to Europe?", Jamie
asked.

"What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?" Beth
asked.

"IUD s are still considered the BC method of choice in Europe
supposedly," Jamie said, "but when one manufacturer put out what was
thought to be a defective version in the US back in the 70's, the
publicity killed the market here. Even though there were and are two
older, proven versions of the product available."

"And remember how Norplant was going to take the US by storm as a
wonder product? Then the suits started flying when doctors improperly
implanted them, or failed to tell patients that it produces the same
side effects as the pill, but went ahead and put them in women who
wanted to sidestep those effects? I was reading an article in US News
that said IUD s have a 4% failure rate and Norplant was even lower at
.05%. Yet for birth control in the US, they re used less than
diaphrams, condoms and spermicides and have failure rates ranging from
16% to 30%.

"And you just happen to remember all that? Danny asked "Why?"

"I grew up in a house built in the early 1900's. Used to be a farm,
then suburbia grew up around it." Jamie said. "By the time my parents
bought it, there were railroad tracks running behind it to the west,
two major roadways to the north and east and Middle River ran to the
south.", Jamie grinned, "There were three blocks of houses in that
rectangle, but those places had originally sold to workers at the
Martin Marrietta plant back during WWII. Most of our neighbors were
retirees or just marrieds." "When your most available playmates are
all either just getting ready for solid foods or just getting off
them, you have lots of free time to read when most kids would be
playing with their friends. I never lost the habit.

I read anything and everything that crosses my path. As a result, I
tend to carry a lot of trivia in me noodle.", Jamie said tapping her
temple.  " Anyway, I'm about half convinced I should wait til the end
of the year when we ll be close to full grown and try to convince Mom
and Dad I went in for a sex change operation." Jamie said returning to
the original subject.

"Dad likes to shave with Occam's razor and with a little luck, he may
cut himself with it. Only problem is, I don't think ... No, scratch
that. I know he'd never accept it, even if he overlooks the
impossibility of the time elapsed since I've last seen the family.
This is not something a Deacon expects of his boy."

"Course the other obvious plan," Jamie started, thinking aloud, "would
be to just report me missing and abandon my car out on 795 or Rt 301.
Nah, getting a body for later discovery would be impossible and I d
rather have Mom and Dad knowing I was dead than always wondering what
happened to me." In looking down at the table, Jamie missed seeing
Rick's normally squinty eyes widen.

" How soon before your family will expect to see you again?"Rick
asked.

"Hmm? Oh, Dad doesn t. Mom invited me down to Black Mountain for a
family get together on Labor Day, but I'm not really expected. As long
as I send cards... well Mom'll be unhappy and Dad would feign
disinterest. Or just blame me making Mom sad. Should probably have
Dan'l talk for me if I need to use the phone though." Jamie looked at
Danny. Dan'l . The name seemed to fit. "No offense, but if we re going
to keep them from noticing something's wrong straight off, you sound
more like I _did_ than I _do_.  If you take my meaning."

"Really?" Dan asked, batting his eyes. "I can t hear any difference
between your dulcet tones and mine."

" Dream on unto the heart of the sunrise. ", Jamie quoted and began
counting ten in Japanese to herself.

"Yes well, I think Dan can certainly help you with that. Speaking of
cars though, I'll need one Monday to meet with some people in Virginia
."

"Dad no!"

"Not to worry honey," Rick frowned at the incongruous pet name,"There
are things about this I need to oversee personally and some fires with
some of New U s investors that will need to be attended to before
things get any farther." Rick glanced significantly at Anne before
continuing with Dan.  "Your mother will come in to help you start
apartment shopping before the next week is out and the three of
you",he said adding Jamie back into the conversation, "should get to
know each other better."

Dan looked close to tears. Jamie had started another ten count, (This
time in German) when she felt Dan l s distress wash over her like a
wave that left her feeling vaguely nauseous again. She remembered the
look and feeling well as a teen.

"I don't want Mom seeing me like this!", The boy practically sobbed. "
And why should she be forced to spend any time with HER!.

Jamie thought briefly about how proficient at counting she was going
to be at counting before this was over and mentally winced at the
anger boring into the back of her head like a white hot needle.
"Despite the phrasing; It is a fair question Mr..Rick. Why should your
wife need to spend time with me?"

Rick s face went totally passive. Jamie could almost see him ticking
off numbers in his head. "This has been, and will very likely continue
to be a hard time for my family. My wife, Mary was looking forward to
things returning to normal for us. You can imagine how upsetting this
has been for her and I. Unfortunately, the fire breaking Anne and I
need to do with some of New U s associates, as well as the string
pulling required to create new records for you and altering Dan s will
require me to be running allover god s green earth for the next few
days." His face softened a bit as he continued.

"I don t want Mary to be alone any longer than necessary. Dan began
withdrawing from his mother since it became apparent that something
had gone wrong with the treatment." His gaze shifted to Dan and became
accusing. To the extent that he refused to allow his own mother to
travel with us to Baltimore."

"Dad, I thought there was a _cure_ waiting for me. I.."

"That will be enough young man." Rick cut in. "I indulged you at the
expense of your mother. That stops now."

He turned back to Jamie. "As you will be getting Dan acquainted with
what _he_ needs to know about being a man and he will be giving some
basic lessons in femininity, I'd like Mary to participate. To help get
the two of them reacquainted with each other." "In the meantime Jamie,
there are some details I have to settle with Anne, Beth, and Chris
here. Would you be so kind as to show Dan his room and help him get
settled in?"

"Hyeah, sure." Jamie said rising, "Dan l?"

Jamie gave Dan'l a brief tour of the house, trying to impress him with
what she'd done so far and intended to do in the future. She rapidly
understood that she was just boring Dan'l and began leading him to his
room. Being this close to him was weird. It was a constant battle not
to reflect the kid's anger back at him and start a real donnybrook,
just to have done with it. There was so much she had wanted to ask,
but just the act of breathing the same air as the kid seemed to annoy
him. Worse, the tension radiating from him seemed to be building like
a thunderhead.

"How'd you do that?", Dan'l asked as they got to the door.

"Do what?", Here it comes, Jamie thought.

"I've been stuffing my face since I got home from the clinic and not
once have I so much as belched." He said "A half-hour after meeting
the person who... After meeting you, I m right in the middle of
chewing and I feel like I m going to hork up everything I ate in the
past two weeks."

"I thought you looked a little green when I got back.", Jamie lost
track of what she was going to say, as her feet came off the floor and
the wall leaped up to smack her soundly in the back of the head. When
her eyes uncrossed and she found herself pinned to the wall, the
logical side of her brain began making a assessment as it had been
trained to. The emotional side was busy cranking the pots on every
sensory organ she had, then huddled in a corner to wait for this to be
over.

Item 1: While subject is the same approximate height, he out-masses us
by at least ten to pounds. (RE: The little tiff with Beth this
morning.) Item 2: From the opening conversation at dinner, when she
was a girl she was active in a variety of sports. Some of Rick s
remarks at dinner indicate Dan'l resumed physical training upon
release from the clinic.  Item 3: Subject has taken a wide stance for
better support and footing.  (Logic made an appreciative nod to
emotion for widening the peripheral vision.) Item 4 (Assumption):
Subject has had testicles for less than a week.  Item 5: This is
Angstrom's kid.

Summary: Think fast rabbit. He might or might not be open for a knee
to the groin or a heel to the instep, but you can't win a fight if he
blocks and do you really want this to draw Angstrom s attention?

"They tell me many of the decaffeinated brands taste just as good as
the real thing.", Jamie tried. When Her head bounced off the wall for
the second time today, she decided that had been an ill considered
comment.

"I got sick in the kitchen okay? I ate too much without thinking about
it and ralphed it into the sink.", Jamie said. The anger in Dan l
shifted to confusion. Jamie could see, no that wasn't quite right was
it? "You didn t just get gas or something. You felt my distress."

"That s not true.", He protested. His grip was slackening. "You ate
less, but ..."

"Dan'l, I just want to help. I know how weird this sounds, but I haven
t been able to think about eating more than a nibble here or there
since I binged yesterday and triggered the final phase of my
transformation by accident." Jamie could see, no, feel that she was
beginning to get through to Dan'l. "I didn't get sick til I moved away
from you. I wasn t able to get around my own stupid fear til your
appetite overrode it. You didn't even get queasy til I got sick. I
didn't know. I'm not your enemy." Jamie brought a hand up to touch one
of the arms still pining her shoulders to the wall. Her own control
was a key issue now. If she could just soothe Dan'l s anger with her
own control. Jamie's hand slowly grasped Dan'l's arm. "C mon Dan'l,
how bad can being a guy be? I spent thirty-one years as one."
"Whoops", flashed briefly through Jamie s mind as the Dan'l's grip
tightened again. She winced waiting for bonk number three. It didn t
come though. Dan'l just pushed Jamie away down the hall.

"I am not a boy!", Dan l shouted, "Now get out of my head, you bitch!"
Jamie watched Dan'l's shoulders slump a bit as the distance between
the increased. "Leave me alone." He said softly before going into his
room.

"Nothing's ever easy, is it?", Jamie said to herself and went back to
her own room. It was almost eleven anyway, and besides; if Dan'l
needed time to get used to the idea that he was going to be a guy, who
was she to deny it? She'd been ready to rip Beth's head off her
shoulders just this morning simply because she was close at hand.

Entering her room, Jamie thought about that while getting ready for
bed.  One of the parts of her self image she was proudest of, had been
finally acquiring a modicum of control of her emotions. As a child,
her partial seclusion from kids her own age (Two major thoroughfares,
a river and railroad tracks.), had made Jamie the obvious outsider . A
pariah, to be kept at a distance. Add his large size to that (He'd
been the biggest kid in most classes through Jr. High, til everyone
began catching up.), and when he wasn t being made fun of in general,
the boy frequently found himself on the top of the list when new kids
wanted to get their Tough-guy image established. Jamie was thirteen
before he started getting a real handle on the cloud of depression
that seemed to eternally follow him about.

Dan'l must ve been under enormous pressure all during her years of
cancer treatments. Keeping up a brave face under that sentence must
have taken everything she had. Being offered a chance to leave that
behind and pick up her life from where she d been before the diagnosis
must have seemed a dream come true. This must seem like Murphy has a
personal grudge against her. Dan'l probably saw Jamie as salt in the
wound.

While removing her shoes and socks, she was reminded of the giggle
Murphy was having at her own expense. The accelerated growth she was
going through evidently included body hair. The light blonde hair on
her legs was already long enough to be visable.

"Scum puppies." She said, removing the rest of her clothes and heading
to the bathroom to finish her now extended wash up for bed.

* * *

Dressed, pressed and if not smelling pretty (though there was more
than enough perfume in the shampoo), then at least clean, Jamie made
her way down to the living room without encountering Dan l. It was
still about a quarter til eleven when she got to the door to the lab.
She pressed the buzzed the intercom. "Is it all clear in there?"

The door bolts popped and Anne pulled Jamie in. "Great! We sent Dan
out with Chris and Rick a few minutes ago. C'mon in and put this on."
She handed Jamie a traditional hospital attire

Anne was in uniform for the first time in Jamie's memory. Normally,
she went around the house in whatever happened to be comfortable that
day unless she was going out or had company. In those cases she would
go with a conservative blouse an skirt. Today however, her white lab
coat (complete with name sewn over the right breast and stethoscope
tucked in left pocket.) covered a white cotton turtleneck. She even
was wearing those godawful white bellbottom slacks with white
rubber-soled shoes.  Jamie suppressed a giggle as she had flash of
Anne with short blonde hair instead of her natural dark brown. She had
her Comlok in hand and was talking to Commander Koenig.

Looking around while changing, she noted only one major change in the
room and her heart sank to see it. The surgical table in the middle of
the of the room had stirrups attached.

Anne began running Jamie through the usual gauntlet; Urine sample
(difficult, Jamie not only didn't have to go, but ended up having to
ask for a fresh gown afterwards.), Having her weight, height, blood
pressure, heart, lungs, checked with Anne talking the whole time.

"So how are we doing? Any special complaints?"

"Well, its only been what, a little over twenty-four hours?", Jamie
said, pulling her bangs up off her forehead and running the fingers
through her hair. "Other than the obvious stuff connected to growing
up again, I'm not sure what to tell you about."

"This is new ground for all of us.", Anne said smiling. "If it helps,
I can think of one thing. Your gestures are already starting to
change. You still like to walk when you talk but, when you re thinking
about something you used to rub the back of your head. Now you're
playing with your hair."

"Huh? Hmmm...Same basic response to stimulus, different form." Jamie
jumped onto the table so Anne could draw bloods. I guess a lot of it
is that kind of thing. Y'know, reaching for stuff and realizing you re
going to need a stool, that thing with the luggage was pretty
embarassing and since you mentioned hair. .. No this is stupid.

"Nothing is stupid Jamie." Anne said, drawing a second tube.

"Well, I never realized how much insulating value body hair has.",
Jamie said trying to pick at physical items rather than go into the
more peculiar aspects of the encounter with Dan'l. "I mean, it's kinda
like my first night in boot. You've seen recruit haircuts before. The
barber leaves you without enough hair to look tough and too much for
the Mr. Clean look."

Anne nodded and placed a bandage on Jamie's arm where she'd just
removed the syringe.

"It s the same way it was weird to feel air directly on my scalp; that
s the way my whole body feels.", Jamie continued as Anne unsnapped the
fastenings at the back of the gown and began examining her bust.
"Hurmmm, uh. ..When I went to bed last night and even with the jeans I
came down in... It felt different. Like I had never really directly
touched the fabric before. I'll get used to it but. .. is that really
necessary?" Jamie asked.

Her breasts were responding to Anne s manipulations and Jamie could
feel the burn of her blush spreading across her cheeks and down her
front.  "It's a little disconcerting."

"Raise your arms for me Jamie. I just want to make sure you re
progressing properly."

Jamie accommodated, sighing. "Also, my balance and coordination are a
bit off. I think maybe doing a little Tai Chi in the morning will help
with that though."

Jamie hadn t heard the elevator so Beth s voice came as a surprise.
"You know Tai Chi?" Beth smirked a bit as Jamie s hands flew down to
pull the remnants of her dignity back up with the gown.

"Well at least she retained her modesty. The computer should be
through chewing on Dan's bloods in half an hour and I've got the
samples prepped for Jason at Hopkins. Are these ready?" Beth asked
Anne.

"Yes they are. Next time I have a patient up here though, please buzz
the com first." Anne responded, handing over the phials containing
Jamie s blood. Pulling the buxom red-head aside, she whispered, "If
you'd come up her a couple minutes later. .."

"Okay Anne, I wasn't thinking.", Beth said. "I like the kid to, you
know." Walking back to the open elevator, she called "I'll have
everything ready for you by two Anne."

Anne turned back to Jamie, who was red as a beet. "Sorry, Beth's a
labrat at heart, and Chris has never had to work with patients before
either, so teaching them manners may take a little time." She
explained. Now, if you could lie back for me, Jamie. Why don't you
tell me about Tai chi."

Jamie allowed herself to be positioned and talked to cover her
embarrassment over the coming segment of her exam. "I had real
problems with my. .. temper when I was a kid. Yoga bored the spit out
of me, so I looked into the martial arts to try to find some
discipline. Unfortunately,



as big as I was, I could already literally throw most kids my age out
of my way. If I actually knew how fight, I thought I might get into
even more trouble."

"So I talked to a Sensei who suggested Tai Chi. It takes as much
concentration and body awareness as any other form of martial arts,
but it s very calming and peaceful. Very good for working through
stuff. I think I still have a book with some of the forms upstairs."

Jamie felt the section of the table between her legs drop away. "Maybe
I could go find it and-"

"Maybe you should have studied a less mobile form of meditation. Just
relax and I ll try to make this as quick as possible."

"How about painless?"

"Will you settle for uncomfortable?"

Jamie released her breath and tried to relax. Visualizing what Anne
was telling her about what she was doing and how it was being done was
nicely distracting from the discomfort of actually being there. She
told herself it was necessary no to look, to keep from squirming
during the stretching and poking and scraping. Especially since trying
to crane her neck wouldn't allow her to see anything except possibly a
scene from that nightmare last night. Finally, Anne said she was
finished and allowed

Jamie to clean herself and put her clothes back on.

While Jamie got dressed, Anne went down to hand off the samples she d
collected to Beth. When Anne got back, Jamie was just finishing tying
her shoes.

"Well, will I live doc?"

"Much longer than most if you re careful. Jamie, just on the basis of
a visual examination, you are a perfectly healthy thirteen year old
girl.  I'm sure Beth and Jason will confirm it when we get the results
of your tests back.",

Anne smiled and offered Jamie the Stool she'd been using. "However,
There are some things I need to discuss with you about. .."

"Chris went over the personal hygiene stuff yesterday.", Jamie
offered.

"That was part of what I was thinking of, but there are other
responsibilities a young girl has to herself that ..." Anne shook her
head

and blushed, "I've never had a girl of my own to discuss sex with."

"Geeze Anne", Jamie said incredulously. "C mon, I've had all those
talks years ago and while I may have regained my virginity, I don't
think I need a refresher course on what the plumbing's for. Besides, I
doubt even the raging hormones of puberty could convince me to let my
feet be swept out from under me."

Anne's blue eyes twinkled but she said quite seriously, "Even so, the
Treatment does have some very gender specific holes in the defense it
provides. For instance, when/if you become pregnant," She put a finger
to Jamie s lips to stop the coming protest. "This is important young
lady.  The nanites in your system are specifically designed to
recognize sperm as friendly . Otherwise you would never be able to get
pregnant."

"Hey, I don t even want-", Jamie started to protest anyway.

"But you might some day.  Remember what we talked about yesterday? A
hundred years is a long time. The important point is a side effect of
allowing you that capability. The nanites in your system also maintain
proper hormonal balance. Pregnancy alters that balance drastically. We
programed in an allowance for such deviations and sincethere was no
way to define for the nanites how to recognize a developing fetus,
when anything close to that hormonal shift occurs, all the defensive
nanites tasked to your sex organs will go inactive. Otherwise you'd
miscarry every time."

Jamie closed her eyes, thinking. "Don't both Norplant and the pill use
synthetic hormones to convince the body there's already a bun in the
oven?"

"Esserntially. Using any such drug will simply leave you open to
infection down there. To run down the main list of other options
though; Spermicides will be neutralized very rapidly. They're not that
dependable except as a secondary defense anyway. Diaphragms and IUDs
should not be used as they may actually make you feel ill when the
nanites bulid up to attack these much larger and tougher invaders. A
condom is about the only form of BC you can tolerate and should always
be used anyway, but make sure to use a quality brand. No reason to
take chances on a thin wall."

"Uh, If a diaphragm might make me feel bad, why wouldn't a condom?"

"A man spends much less time in a woman than her diaphragm does."

The next half hour was spent drilling on what was happening inside
Jamie and what she could expect in the future. Then Beth shifted the
conversation to when she came up from the lower level.

"I need to drop these off in Jason's safe box at Hopkins. Anyone for a
trip to the Inner Harbor?"

"It feels like forever since I've been out and about.", Jamie said.
"What say we do Phillip's . My treat."

Anne glanced at Jamie then to Beth, who shrugged. "Are you sure you
feel all right about being out?

"Hey, who's gonna recognize me?", Jamie was practically bubbling with
enthusiasm. "Besides, you just said I'm a perfectly healthy _thirteen_
year old. Yesterday I was twelve and I want crabs to celebrate my
birthday."

"Give me twenty minutes to get ready.", Anne said, watching intently
as Jamie ran out. While she was certainly attempting to behave
normally, the mood swings Jamie wasdisplaying over the past
twenty-four hours were a little worrying to her. Jamie had gone from
quietly upset to completely distraught, to treating her condition as a
joke, then being enthusiastic about meeting her new brother , which
turned to irritation during diner.  She was withdrawn this morning and
now she wanted to get out and about .

"Beth?"

"She s a teen again. They re not exactly known for their stability.
Twenty minutes?"

Jamie felt truly up for first time since last yesterday. It didn't
make any sense. She was a little sore from the exam and. .."I m not
enjoying anything. Dan'l is." The realization should have chilled
Jamie, but in a way it was nice to know that something was still
capable of making Dan'l feel good. The feeling got better as she
crossed into the living room and looked out onto the porch. A guitar
was playing.

Dan'l sat on the porch swing with his back to the window. Chris and
Rick were leaning on the rail, facing in. Chris nodded to Jamie and
started back into the house. The tune was familiar but it was meant to
have a banjo running counterpoint and she was having trouble
identifying it til he started the first verse.

"Fall upon me in my quiet pain.  Fall upon me again and again.  Across
wide open fields and grass down of green."

Dan'l's voice called strongly and Jamie found herself pulled into the
harmony for the chorus.

"I'm awake but my head is in the air.  Wide awake, take me walking
into the cold, cold air.

Chris walked up to Jamie, "He's very good.", Jamie said. "I used to
wish I could play like that. Anne, Beth and I are heading downtown. Do
you think.  .."

"I'll stay here with Rick and Dan. They need some time to talk and
Rick's headed out tomorrow. In the meantime let's us get you ready to
be seen in public.

"Beg Pardon?"

Chris took Jamie upstairs and put Jamie s hair into a french braid and
swiped some of Beth s makeup to give Jamie some color.

"It s the middle of summer and you're so pale. With arms showing we
can't add a lot but this'll help. I'd use my stuff, but our coloring
is too different. After Dan and I have some time to work with you this
week though I think we'll go out to start putting you together
properly. You don't even have a purse yet."

The trip to the harbor went well, with Anne shepherding Jamie who
genuinely enjoyed finally getting the two to sample a Maryland
traditional dish. It surprised the two women when the waiter took the
tablecloth and replaced it newspapers. The afternoon was spent with
Anne and Beth teaching Jamie to sit properly and the like while Jamie
taught them how to finesse the sweet rewards out of steamed Maryland
Blue Crabs. They split a half dozen, of which Jamie only had one, Anne
noted. The amount surprised them til they realized Blue Crabs are much
smaller than the king crabs they were used to on the west coast. The
reason for the newspapers became readily apparent.

The crabs were caked in spices that instantly got all over everything.
Jamie had soda but insisted Anne and Beth have at least one beer which
disapeared rapidly when Jamie reluctantly informed Beth what the
crab's 'Mustard' actually was.

It had to end sometime though and when they got back, Jamie went to
her room with the idea setting up the week's work schedule while beth
and Anne looked over what the computer spit out.. But when she got
there Dan'l was sitting by her computer.

"We have to talk."

End New U ch.7 Copyright Jeff Rose 1997













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