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Sugar and Spice (c)2004 By Cherysse St. Claire This is my most difficult story to date; difficult to write, difficult to read. The sex is intense; the violence, more so. Most men will not have the patience to sit through it; it takes too long to get to "the good parts". Most women will not have the stomach for it; in places, it hits too close to home. I don't know whom that might leave as an audience, but I felt it was a story worth telling. While this may be a work of fiction, its analogs - and the social dynamic that shapes and propels them - happen in this country every day. God help us all. *** Like any nine-year-old, Sharon Brennan wanted a best friend, someone she could play with, confide in, and entrust with her deepest, darkest secrets. There were other girls at school, of course, and the assertive, engaging young girl made friends easily. But she never had the opportunity to spend time with them outside the classroom. The other girls all lived in Aurora; Sharon, along with her mother and brother had moved to a lavishly-appointed home outside the city limits, owned by her mother's friend and co-worker. That alone would not have been fatal, but Sharon had to take care of her younger brother every afternoon until her mother returned from work. That meant she usually had to hurry home on the bus - with her brother in tow - after school. Even if she wanted to stick around to be with her friends, what would she do with him? It just wasn't fair! It wasn't that Sean was loathsome or hateful to her; far from it. He was only a year younger and really kinda cute. Sean had been a "preemie" who, physically, had not caught up with other boys his age. He was small, with a slender build and delicate, symmetric features. He had also inherited their mother's thick, satiny copper-colored hair and emerald eyes. Sharon envied him more than a little. Unlike Sharon, Sean was painfully shy and insecure, unable to make friends easily. He adored his big sister and would do anything she asked. Sharon took advantage of that. By default, Sean became her playmate and companion - on her terms, of course. She chose how they would occupy their time together while awaiting their mother's return. When they played together, it was usually with her Barbie Doll. She had him help her dress and undress Barbie in different outfits according to the different scenes she had imagined. Sean seemed not to mind such girlish pursuits in the slightest. If it made Sharon happy, he was happy. To Sharon, it was almost like having the girlfriend she wanted. Still, he was a boy - unless... Inspiration hit the mischievous girl. One day, upon returning home from school, Sharon told Sean they were going to play "Dress Up" in a new way. She took her brother's hand and led him to the bathroom. She filled the bathtub with warm water, to which she added some lilac-scented bubble bath. Stripping the school clothes from the expectant boy, she helped him into the tub and washed him head to toe, allowing him to soak a while. She helped him out of the tub, patted him dry, then applied lotion to his hands, arms, feet, legs, and torso. When she had finished this task, Sean's entire body was smooth, fragrant, soft to the touch. Leading him next to their shared bedroom, she dressed him in a pair of her panties, dress, pantyhose, and shoes. After dressing him up, she sat him next to her at their mother's vanity table. She polished his fingernails with her mother's deep red nail polish, then his lips with the matching shade of lipstick. Sharon had tried it on herself and didn't like the way it looked, but her mother had described it as her favorite shade. She had remarked that it flattered her auburn hair and made her feel sexy. The young girl had to admit; it did flatter her mother - and looked just as good on her red-headed brother! She played with his longish tresses, brushing them this way and that until they looked just so, fixed it in place with hairspray, pinned a bow to one side to make him look even more feminine. A final spritz of her mother's favorite perfume, and voil?! She and her 'girlfriend' were ready to play. They spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Sharon's Barbie doll. Sean was a little unsure of himself at first, but took readily to his sister's direction. By the end of the afternoon, Sharon had coaxed Sean into becoming the giggly, confident, and outgoing 'best friend' of her dreams! Sean, in turn, felt closer to the sister he adored than ever before. Their mother returned home to observe, unnoticed, her two children engaged in their rapturous new mode of play. In a matter of moments, she ran through the gamut of emotions from shock to horror to bewilderment to curiosity to wonder. She presented herself to the playmates, assuaged their fear that she perceived this new game as "something naughty", and joined in their play. Before long, she allayed her own fears as well. She determined neither child was being hurt, physically or emotionally. This was something they both enjoyed, and in which she could perceive no harm being done to anyone. In addition, her little boy, as a little girl, possessed a sense of self-confidence, poise, and joie de vivre he had never displayed as a male. Searching her own emotions, Nora Brennan couldn't help but feel a twinge of bittersweet rapture. She knew Society would see this as wrong, an aberration. Her heart told her otherwise. For the first time in a long time, something seemed to be working out for the better... Nora was a still-stunningly-beautiful redhead with a 'past'. She had left that life behind over a decade before; gone back to school, earned a nursing degree, gotten a good job at the clinic in Aurora, gotten married and had the two children that had become her life. Her past had caught up with her just before the birth of her second child. The moment had been ugly. Nora's husband walked out on her, claiming she had deceived him and that he wouldn't remain with a 'woman like that'. If she had deceived him, it was a sin of omission; she hadn't told him everything about herself for fear of losing him. Damned if you do, damned if you don't... Whatever her sins, Nora Brennan was suddenly alone with one child already, another on the way, and an ex-husband who wanted nothing to do with her, much less provide financial support. She coped as best she could. When she was finally backed into a financial corner and faced with losing her home, she and her children had moved in with her best friend who, in turn, began pulling some strings to help her obtain child support. Even so, the stress had caused her to give birth six weeks early. She had almost lost the baby altogether - almost. Nora had believed her second child was going to be another girl. She had even picked out a name she adored for Sharon's new sibling. Nora had not been disappointed when Sean was born. She loved her son just as much as she loved his sister. She was especially taken with his uncanny resemblance to herself. Yet her instincts told her something was not right, not the way it had been intended to be. As the years passed, she grieved for his obvious lack of self-confidence and inability to make friends - other than his sister. She would observe him wistfully, and wonder what might have been. She was also keenly aware of the burden she had, necessarily, placed on her daughter. Nora felt guilty about cutting Sharon off from other friends by having to take care of her brother. Seeing them together this way, happier than they had ever been before, she knew she had found an answer to both problems, if only until Sean was old enough to take care of himself. Perhaps, just perhaps, it was a way for Sean to find himself at last, to enable him to open up freely to others. No, that probably wasn't a practical notion. Still, Nora Brennan was elated with even this much. From that moment on, Nora nurtured their game of "Dress Up" in any way she could. She had convinced Sharon that just dressing Sean up would not be enough; it would only confuse him further, possibly making the painfully shy, retiring boy even more so. While dressed, he should be a 'she' as completely as possible - with a feminine identity and personality. The name Nora had originally chosen for her unborn second child - the one she had altered to reflect his unexpected gender - came back to her now. She suggested it to Sharon, who was just as thrilled as her mother. Together, they sat down with the newly-feminized Sean. They suggested, since he was having such a good time playing "Dress Up", wouldn't it be fun to pretend to be a girl like his big sister? He could be 'Shauna' and wear all kinds of pretty clothes, just like Barbie. This would be their little secret; they wouldn't tell anyone outside of "family". Mama and Sharon would just adore that; wouldn't SHE? The child's reply had been as enthusiastic as it had been predictable. Mother and daughter patiently, lovingly, trained 'Shauna' to dress, walk, speak, act, and think like a girl, until it became second nature to her. The older sibling especially took to the task. No plastic doll could ever hope to compete with her walking, talking, interactive 'Barbie'. Gradually, "Dress Up" became any time Shauna was not in school. The 'game' became pretending to be 'Sean' and fooling all their teachers and friends at school into believing she was a he. Nora allowed Shauna's hair to grow out and took her with Sharon and herself to have it trimmed and styled, reinforcing the child's perception of herself as a girl. Nora delighted in taking her two daughters out with her. This all made sense; it was as it should have been in the beginning. In a lifetime of bad choices and unintended consequences, this one thing was very, very right. Nora was not alone in that perception. Evelyn Rossi, a magnificent blonde beauty, was entranced with the development of her new "goddaughter". Since before Sean/Shauna's birth, she had been an integral part of the Brennan "family". It had been Evelyn who had taken the struggling, expectant mother in when all other avenues had been closed to her. Her home had been their home as long as Sharon and Shauna could remember. The siblings enjoyed having two mothers to look up to. They both admired Evelyn's strong, self-assured personality and take-charge attitude. The younger 'girl' was even more enamored with Evelyn's personal style of dressing and grooming. While she was the consummate professional at work, her personal style was flashier, more provocative, in a very "80's-retro" way. Whatever outfit Evelyn might wear on any given day, whether for business or pleasure, she always wore skyscraper-high-heeled shoes. She appeared to flow, rather than walk in her high heels, hips swaying alluringly. Shauna had been entranced with those stiletto stilts and the alluring woman's grace in them. The reactions of the men who beheld this vision on her 'pedestal' - and Evelyn's subsequent ability to manipulate them to get her way - were not lost upon the impressionable young girl, either. Shauna had seen photos of her own mother - in her "wild and crazy days" before she got married - dressed in the same provocative style. Evelyn had remarked it was what Shauna should expect from two girls who grew up on "the left coast of the Hudson." Shauna had learned that her mother and Evelyn had been best friends long before their careers in Health Care, but did not know any details of that long-ago existence. Her other 'mom' kept long hours, frequently not coming home until late at night. When she was home, she still worked in the privacy of her study - usually with the door shut. Nora told them such was the life of a Manager; her friend was all but married to her job. For all of Evelyn and Nora's efforts, the four enjoyed a more-than-comfortable, if not lavish lifestyle. And then Nora Brennan died. Her ex-husband, father of her children, had taken exception to her long-standing efforts to seize his assets and garnish his wages - then taken a semi-automatic pistol to the hospital where she worked. The devoted mother of two died in a storm of point-blank nine-millimeter malice, her beautiful face destroyed, her life force extinguished before her body hit the ground. Her attacker thudded to the floor next to her moments later, felled by a security guard's return fire. Blood, teeth, and gray matter gushed from the gaping exit wound in the back of his skull. A local television news crew had been in the office next door, taping a human-interest piece on breast cancer survivors. The shocking 'scoop' had been uplinked to the station before the first police car screeched to a halt at the front door. One more human tragedy had played itself out: "Two dead in a shooting rampage at a local hospital. Exclusive film at eleven." Another tragedy had yet to be resolved. Although Sharon was in school that day, 'Sean' - in one of his rare non-school appearances - had accompanied his mother to the hospital for a routine vaccination. He had been sitting at his mother's elbow, reading Highlights For Children, when his father burst in and opened fire. Nora Brennan and her ex-husband had died in a fountain of blood and gore before the terrified child's eyes. The networks picked up the clip of a dazed nine-year-old with lifeless eyes, drenched in the mortal remains of his slaughtered parents. The image haunted the nation for days. There were the predictable calls for more stringent gun control, tighter security, anger management, grief counseling, more protection for the Lazy, Inept, and Privileged. Then, the media moved on to newer, fresher atrocities, as the media always does. Evelyn Rossi was inconsolable. The two had been best friends since their childhood in New Jersey. Evelyn had also been an integral part of the 'past' Nora had withheld from her husband. In fact, that 'past' had been the reason they had both moved to Aurora those many years ago. To her horror, Evelyn realized she had been instrumental in her friend's assassination as well. A careless reference to their mutual past, intended as an insult to the disgusting slug's manhood, had been the 'loose thread' that eventually unraveled Nora's marriage. It had been Evelyn who subsequently convinced her longtime friend to pursue the ex-husband through the courts, as much to ease her own guilty conscience as to punish his lack of one. Knowing men as well as she did, Evelyn believed she should have foreseen his reaction. She would have, had they still been on the East Coast. "Evie" Rossi would never have been that careless. In spite of her position of authority, she and Nora both had succumbed to the same small-town complacency as those who had lived there all their lives. That she would adopt and raise Nora's children as her own was little comfort for the loss of the one person with whom she had shared everything. 'Everything' included Nora's unqualified joy in Sean's feminization, and how 'her' personality had flowered so dramatically. All of that now seemed lost. 'Sean' had been devastated by the death of his mother. The trauma had somehow locked the child into that male persona; 'Shauna' refused every effort to bring her forward. The child had become more withdrawn, isolated than ever before - with two exceptions. In time, Evelyn replaced Nora as a mother figure, exuding an aura of strength and confidence. The child bonded with his new protector and had drawn upon this strength, as well as the comforting presence of his big sister. He clung physically and emotionally to both as though they were the last two people on earth. The massacre had taken place in October. As Thanksgiving came and went, the child was still too terrified to leave the house, much less go to school. Often Sharon would return from school to find her brother cowering in a dark closet, shivering in terror in the fetal position under a pile of clothes. The two frantic family members struggled mightily to reach the child and heal his fractured soul. One thing Evelyn could do was get Sean into therapy. She had a close friend who was perfect for the task. Claudia Rafferty was an M.D. and Ph.D. in Psychiatry. Juvenile trauma had been the cornerstone of Claudia's practice, which now focused on the effects of juvenile trauma on adult identity disorders. Dr. Rafferty used a broad spectrum of medical and psychiatric tools, including hypnosis, to help men and women of all ages in recognizing and resolving their emotional conflicts. Upon learning of Sean's 'duality', the psychiatrist expressed keen interest in his case. That she would be able to return a favor to an old friend sealed the deal. Evelyn had no doubt Sean would benefit greatly from Claudia's care. The problem was, Claudia Rafferty was in New York. A series of phone calls led to a workable plan. Owing to the tightly-knit bond between the three, Dr. Rafferty decided to approach Sean's case as a family problem, requiring a family solution. Evelyn, Sharon and Sean flew to New York for Christmas Break. They spent two weeks in the city and consulted with Dr. Rafferty every day. First came an exhaustive battery of lab tests. Sean surrendered samples of every conceivable bodily fluid and tissue. While the lab was analyzing the samples, Dr. Rafferty met first with all three together, then each individually. Sharon recounted the origins of 'Shauna' and how much she had enjoyed dressing up her little brother and turning him into her 'girlfriend'. She added her memories of her mother's participation in the transformation and the delight all three had shared. Evelyn discussed the atrocity that had occurred at the hospital, Sean's proximity to the catastrophe (Claudia remembered well the poignant video clip that had so haunted the national conscience), and her fruitless attempts to salvage the child's withdrawn, morose personality since that day. She related her perception of 'Shauna' as a happy, sociable, well-adjusted little girl who had completely submerged since the shooting. Since that time, only a near-catatonic 'Sean' remained, functioning on a minimal level at best and not at all if Evelyn or Sharon were not nearby. She summarized with Nora Brennan's expressed desires for her child. Almost as an afterthought, Evelyn related Nora's uneasy suspicion that something about her youngest child was "not right", even before they had begun to dress him as 'her'. As before, Sean was minimally responsive. Claudia was able to elicit happy memories of his mother and sister dressing him up, of being 'Shauna' and loving every minute. When the doctor attempted to draw upon his recollections of that horrible day at the hospital, he shut down. The child expressed no memory of that day at all. The therapist believed him. She knew from past experience the human mind, especially a child's mind, was perfectly capable of, and likely to, repress that kind of trauma; lock it away deep in the subconscious. That way, the conscious mind could cope with living, if only on a diminished level. That process was a double-edged sword; the person could function, but would usually never heal until he faced the trauma head-on and worked through it. The gifted therapist had dealt with this kind of human misery before and knew what she had to do. Beginning that same afternoon, Sean underwent a course of intensive hypnotherapy. Day after day, the doctor labored to retrieve his repressed memories and sort out the jumble of emotions locked up in the young boy-girl's head. Her findings were disturbing, but not in the least surprising. Claudia Rafferty met privately with Evelyn and Sharon to review the results of Sean's therapy and tests. One recurring theme established itself above all else; Sean loathed being a boy. Nora Brennan's intuition had been confirmed by the lab results. Sean had been born with Klinefelter's Syndrome, a genetic disorder whereby the subject's genetic code contained an extra female chromosome. Many XXY males showed no unusual symptoms at all. Others displayed any combination of mild learning disabilities, female secondary sex characteristics at the onset of puberty and Gender Dysphoria as they matured. Sean was giving every indication of being a poster boy for the latter group. Even then, he was showing elevated levels of estrogen atypical of male children at his or later ages. Nora and Sharon's game of "Dress Up" had unwittingly tapped into the boy's latent gender anomaly and given it focus. Normally, this was a complex, though treatable condition; after therapy, the subject would elect to either revert to his masculine self or continue to full transition. Claudia indicated she had had experience with both options. On the other hand, Sean's situation was anything but normal. There had been every indication Sean had been transitioning to 'Shauna' in a fairly typical manner. The shootings had not only stopped that process dead in its tracks, they had created a clearly-defined schism between the two identities. Consciously, Sean remembered nothing of the event. Subconsciously, every gory detail was etched vividly on his brain. Somehow, the child had come to believe he had been the cause of Nora Brennan's death. He knew full well his parents had been quarrelling over the issue of child support. 'Sean' had been there that day, but had been powerless to stop his rampaging father. For that, he blamed himself, accepted full responsibility, and was beating himself up over it, emotionally. At first, 'Shauna' had recoiled in horror, refusing to come out at all. Now it appeared 'Sean' was intentionally suppressing her. It was unclear at that point exactly what his motives were; to protect her from the feelings of guilt or, in some bizarre, scorched-earth twist, to punish her along with himself. That there was absolutely nothing either one could have done to prevent the tragedy was completely lost on his conscience. With Shauna repressed and Sean's devastated self-esteem mentally lying in a bloody heap next to his lifeless mother, it would be a long, long time before 'Sean' would be strong enough to become a functional individual - if ever. Evelyn was stunned. Sharon was reduced to tears; now she felt responsible for the emotional trauma her sibling had endured. The therapist reassured her. 'Shauna' would likely have evolved in some fashion with or without her intervention. Sharon, through her creation of 'Shauna', had nothing to do with Nora's death, nor Sean's resulting trauma. If anything, the elder sister, her late mother, and stepmother had aided her sibling's potential recovery by offering him a way out. It was that 'escape route' they now had to discuss... Sean's remaining time in New York was spent in continued intensive hypnotherapy. Dr. Rafferty commented that he was an ideal subject for the therapy and was using powerful psychotropic drugs to intensify the effect of the 'suggestions' she implanted in the youth's subconscious. Evelyn and Sharon had been invited to attend one session. It was eerie to see the young boy-girl in a trance-like state, responding to the therapist's instructions. It was eerier still to see him acquiesce so readily to the slightest suggestion. Claudia had implanted a 'trigger phrase' that, as a result of his intensive conditioning, would 'convert' Sean to his trance-like 'induction state'. That saved precious time, time used to untangle Sean's twisted psyche. The plan called for weekly follow-ups with Sean via Internet webcam, with office visits every three months. In addition, Evelyn and Sharon received special training of their own, since they would be Dr. Rafferty's 'eyes and ears' on site. The three returned to Aurora and their lives. Two of them braced for the ensuing struggle - and the gamble they had agreed to take. Sean appeared modestly more at ease with himself and was at least willing to try school again. The school administration had pledged to bend over backwards to make his assimilation into everyday routine a smooth one. Of course, they had no idea of the gender issues involved and Evelyn Rossi, mindful of small-town attitudes towards the subject, thought it best not to bring them up. Evelyn, remembering Claudia's detailed instructions, prayed the predicted pattern of behavior would unfold and vowed her utmost efforts to see it through. Sharon carried renewed hope for her sibling's future - as well as a simple little phrase she and Evelyn had committed to memory. The first step was the most difficult; waiting. It began innocently enough. Since the tragedy, Sean had stuck to one or the other like glue. Gradually, it became clear he was bonding to one. He wasn't rejecting his sister by any stretch of the imagination; he just began spending more and more time with Evelyn. His former fascination with her provocative personal style seemed to return. His mentor welcomed his company, even in her most personal moments; dressing, styling her hair, or doing her makeup. Every little thing she did, every movement she made held his rapt attention. Rather than being unnerved by the intense scrutiny, Evelyn welcomed his attentions, identifying them as the first sign of the healing process Claudia warned her to watch for. "Baby steps," the therapist had advised, "wait for him to make the first move." "I wish I could look as pretty as you." The words had come out of nowhere. Evelyn had been getting ready to go out that evening. It was definitely an 'evening look' - far more dramatic than she would do for the office. Although she had been advised to expect something like it, Evelyn's heart still skipped a beat. She knew exactly how to respond. "You can, SHAUNA. Here, let me show you how..." The joyful stepmother spent an hour doing her child's face, taking her step-by-step through the process of transforming herself into a youthful heartthrob. His copper tresses, having been allowed to grow since his first tentative steps towards Girlhood those many months ago, were arranged in a very feminine style to compliment his face. That he had offered no objection to the invocation of his feminine identity was the most telling sign the first cracks in Sean's steely facade had begun to form. Claudia Rafferty's intensive recovery efforts were finally coming to fruition. It took months. 'Sean' slowly loosened his death grip on his conscious self and 'Shauna' began to emerge from her shell. Evelyn went to great lengths to help the young girl flourish alongside her sister. Sharon, ever the precocious one, had entered puberty at age eleven. So did Shauna, with the help of a hormone and anti-androgen regimen authorized by Dr. Rafferty and prescribed by an endocrinologist at the hospital. Shauna's daily pills were augmented with weekly booster shots administered at home. Shauna's body responded quickly to the intense therapy, catching up with her sister's development. It became apparent both girls had inherited their mother's genetic coding for lush, womanly curves. As her body developed, Shauna's personality made a spectacular comeback. It was like the old days, when she pretended to be 'Sean' to fool everyone at school. There was one significant difference now; even more than her older sibling, Shauna was proud of her blossoming figure and loved to flaunt it. The two amassed a shared wardrobe of trendy outfits designed to make them look "sexy" - with just enough drab, bulky boy clothes to get 'Sean' by at school. Shauna understood the necessity for the daily deception, but that did not make the practice any more palatable. At the onset of her teen years, the younger sister exhibited no interest in adopting the fresh-scrubbed 'schoolgirl look'. Instead, she solicited Evelyn's advice on which color combinations of makeup to use, how to apply it, and how to wear her hair for maximum impact. Evelyn was delighted to aid her younger child achieve the provocative look she desired. Claudia pronounced the teen's proclivities as a healthy step in the right direction - as far from 'Sean' as possible. The teen tease began going out 'en femme' with her stepmother and sister; downtown, to the mall, to a movie or dinner. She flirted openly with teenage boys, to the amazement of her companions. Their experiments with hairstyles and makeup complimented 'Shauna' - at the expense of 'Sean'. There were occasions when the 'boy' went to school bearing traces of makeup that had not been completely removed, or his ponytail was a little too fluffy or wavy and smelled faintly of hairspray and perfume. On a few bold occasions, the 'traces' of makeup had been freshly applied. This and other irregularities had caused 'Sean' to be sent home from school on more than one occasion for "inappropriate manner of dress". School was not the best of times for the gender-conflicted youth. It was the one place she could not be 'Shauna'. Everyone in school knew of Nora Brennan, if they had not known the woman personally. Many had; Dr. Harrison, Nora's former boss, was on the school district's approved list of physicians. He handled dozens of student physicals, inoculations, and general healthcare. Of course, everyone in school knew Sharon - and 'Sean'. Sympathy only lasts so long; casual cruelty goes on forever. Although 'Sean' wore loose-fitting clothes to disguise his blossoming body and had long since been excused from Phys Ed classes for 'medical reasons', his appearance and mannerisms continued to morph - and the name-calling began. To make matters worse, another symptom of Klinefelter's had been diagnosed; Shauna was mildly dyslexic. It wasn't a major impediment, and she was tutored on the side to overcome her disability. It did cause some embarrassing moments when 'Sean' was required to read aloud or do math computations on the chalkboard in class. That caused her to be labeled 'stupid' in addition to the other hurtful epithets. Throughout middle school, then high school, the knowing looks, sly smiles, and taunts became daunting. Sharon adored high school; she had a close-knit circle of friends, had joined Drama Club, and was even on the Pom-Pom squad. None of those activities were even options for 'Sean'. They all required approval by someone else - faculty or peers - and that wasn't going to happen in her case. Sharon had encouraged her sibling to go out for activities, to become a 'joiner' like herself. She couldn't understand Shauna's polite rebuff. Was her little sister anti-social after all? Shauna seethed. How do you explain Discrimination, Harassment and Bigotry to someone who has never experienced them, never will, and therefore has no point of reference from which to see them for what they really are? Saying to them "You just don't get it" doesn't help when they really don't, can't, and won't. Shauna convinced herself those mundane activities didn't mean anything to her; nor did Sharon's popularity among her peers. The younger sibling gritted her teeth, dug in, and waited for HER time. Shauna avoided her many tormentors by hiding out in the school library as much as possible. Spending an hour or so in the library after school enabled her to take the late bus, missing the bulk of the miscreants - the ones making her life a waking nightmare - who stormed out of school as soon as the bell rang. So, too, did it enable her to ride home with Sharon, who usually had Pom-Pom practice. Best of all, there were few people in the library after school. If nothing else, Shauna could sit in one of the computer carrels and do her makeup and hair. Needing something to occupy her time in the library, Shauna began playing with computers. Of course, she was no stranger to either computers or the Internet, having her standing appointment with Claudia Rafferty every week. The library computers had Internet access and a database of interactive training courses. The young girl started a course one afternoon, just to pass the time - and progressed from there... It was the school librarian that first noticed the strange, effeminate boy appeared to be spending an inordinate amount of time on the computers after school. She had assumed he was on the Internet, playing those damn interactive shoot-'em-up games - or worse - like the other boys. She quietly approached him from an oblique angle one afternoon. He was so engrossed in what he was doing, he was not aware of her approach - as she had intended. The woman was amazed to observe he was actually breezing through a training module for Microsoft Access. Acting on a hunch, she accessed the online training database and did an inquiry on the student ID he used to reserve the computer. The system's response made her jaw drop. She brought it to the attention of the Principal, who had an identical reaction when the results were verified. Some phone calls were made, impassioned words exchanged - and, in the winter of her eleventh-grade year, seventeen-year-old 'Sean Kyle Brennan' became an officially-certified Microsoft Office User Specialist. Shauna was a bit miffed at having to yield the credit for her accomplishment to 'Sean'. She was proud of her achievement, nonetheless. She chose to deflect any praise from others with a polite "Thank you" and nothing more. The girl didn't want to dwell on the sincerity - or complete lack thereof - of sentiments from people whose opinions no longer mattered to her. There were other certifications to earn - which DIDN'T require someone else's permission or approval... Paperwork in any business environment is a chore. Nowhere was that more true than the Aurora Regional Medical Center. Evelyn had been promoted to her current position because she had sold the Board of Directors on the fiscal benefits of establishing a central business and records office to service all of the practicing physicians, eliminating the need for each doctor to retain business staff and the subsequent duplication of effort. The problem was, that central office then became deluged with mountains of paperwork. Evelyn had petitioned for, and was granted, a centralized data processing network. The rack-mounted, multi-processor server and main console were in Administration, while the local desktop computers in each doctor's office were linked to the server as client workstations. Any doctor - or his staff - could access and update their clients' records remotely, while all the heavy-duty record-keeping, billing, and other 'back-office' functions were done centrally. Owing to the sensitive nature of the data kept on the server, it was protected in depth; Internet proxy and software firewalls, 128-bit encryption, regularly-updated anti-virus software, and closed-circuit security cameras. The catch was, the system required a real person with enough skill and intelligence to use all the new, complex hardware and software tools. Evelyn could do it fairly well, but she had other, more pressing responsibilities. She had already gone through several temps who got lost trying to understand the nuances of the various programs and commands. When Evelyn had shown off her 'baby' to Shauna, the young girl had sat down at the operator's console and, in an hour, made child's play of tasks others had thrown up their hands at. Not only did she understand the processes, she jotted down a series of notes, which she later transcribed into an Operating Procedures Manual. No one had to hit Evelyn over the head with a brick; Sean was recruited to work a couple of afternoons a week, plus Saturdays until the end of the school year, then full-time over the summer. The clinic would get a young, but much-needed, tech-savvy office assistant. Sean would get valuable work experience, a very-welcome source of regular income and, if Evelyn could get her way, a chance to be 'Shauna' in a real-world environment. But Shauna who? Many people at the hospital fondly remembered the personable, vivacious Nora Brennan and her two children. It was one thing for 'Shauna' to visit the mall, go out for dinner, or any number of benign social activities. Even a town the size of Aurora would offer at least THAT modicum of anonymity. A real-world job required real-world identity and documentation. A real-world job at a location where you are already known is trickier still. People are not dumb; if 'Shauna Kay Brennan', beautiful and vivacious redhead, went to work at the hospital, someone would put two and two together - and it would be all over town in a day or two. The result would not be pleasant. Compounding this problem was the teen's obvious inclination towards getting noticed. Shauna, like Evelyn, was not cut out for the conservative small-town mentality. She clearly desired to live her life 'on the edge', as Evelyn had at her age. The more experienced woman's intuition told her "Shauna Kay Brennan", good little girl from West Bumfuck, would not be nearly enough to satisfy her youngest child. What to do? Shauna was reaching the end of her rope. Officially, the school administration recognized 'Sean' as "gifted, but troubled" - after earning certifications in office automation, networking, operating systems, database administration and Visual Basic programming entirely on her own initiative. Unofficially, 'he' was a "fag", "fairy", "sissy", "homo", "little gay boy", and "geek" to the other kids in school. The desperate boy-girl dreaded the thought of enduring another year of abuse from the same old tormenters. Worse, she felt she could no longer turn to her sister for emotional support. Sharon's inability to grasp Shauna's situation at school made her part of the problem, not part of the solution. What Shauna dreaded most was another year of living a lie; the same ghastly nightmare of getting up each morning, donning clothing she loathed, hiding the feminine body and persona of which she had become so proud, and pretending to be someone she no longer was and wished to God she had never been. Evelyn could hardly ignore the fact the problems with her younger child were far from over. Where her rehabilitation had been steadily improving, now they had taken a turn for the worse. Granted, the concerned stepmother wasn't the ideal June Cleaver model mom; business required much of her attention. When she did seek out her children, Shauna was withdrawn, moody, irritable, or just not there. Sharon altered between anger and tears over her sister, confiding Shauna all but "bit her head off" if Sharon even looked at her the wrong way - whatever 'way' that was. Still, the older woman tried. She brought home dinner - spicy Thai, a family favorite - one Thursday night in early May. Sharon was delighted to see her - and famished. When asked about Shauna, she shrugged her shoulders, avowing she hadn't seen her sister since morning. 'Sean' hadn't been on the late bus, but her bedroom door was closed and Sharon thought she had heard noises from within. Evelyn went to the bottom of the stairs and called Shauna twice. When she received no response, she mounted the stairs, went to her daughter's door and knocked. "WHAT!" "Honey, I have dinner on the table." "GO AWA... I... I really don't want any right now, thank you." "Shauna Kay Brennan, get your butt down to the dinner table right now! I haven't seen you in three days and I am invoking my parental right to see my baby's bright, happy face and hear her tell me how much she loves and appreciates me!" There was a long pause. "I... I'll be down in a minute, Mom." It was more than a minute. Evelyn wished it had been a LOT more. 'Sean' slowly entered the dining room. His hair was a mess. He was still dressed in his school clothes - or what was left of them. He sat in his chair, gingerly, placed his napkin carefully in his lap, lowered his head and just stared vacantly at his plate. No words were spoken; none were necessary. The tracks of his tears were clearly visible, as were the black eye, split, swollen lip, and multiple bruises. Evelyn and Sharon just stared. Even that was too much for the distraught boy-girl to take. In a blinding blur of motion, his napkin slammed down on his plate and he was out the front door, the sounds of his wracking sobs vainly trying to keep pace. Before Evelyn could move a muscle, the telephone rang. She took it in her study. It was Emma Carson, the school librarian. Evelyn put it on the speakerphone, leaving her hands free to rub her temples. "Ms. Rossi, I'm sorry to bother you at home. I probably shouldn't be calling at all. Principal Baines told us to keep our mouths... well, I just had to know if Sean was all right. Did he file a police report? I really think he should." "A POLICE REPORT? WHAT FOR?" "Oh, my, he didn't tell you? There were six or seven of them, waiting outside the library door for him to come out. I recognized them from the football team. Ask Sharon; she knows their names. They follow her around like puppy dogs. There was nothing I could do to stop them. I called the police as soon as I saw what was going on, but everyone was gone before they arrived. Sean is such a sweet boy and works so hard in his studies. He's just a little... different. Oh, my, he's not in the hospital, is he?" Evelyn assured her, no, Sean wasn't in the hospital and everything would be fine. Breaking the connection, she wondered if anyone would be able to assure HER everything would be fine. The Principal had instructed the librarian to keep her mouth SHUT? THE BASTARD! Sharon was standing in the open doorway. She had obviously heard it all. Evelyn just glared at her. The elder sister opened her mouth, then closed it. Twice. "I didn't know. Honest. How could I?" Before Evelyn could say a word, the phone rang again. This time it was Claudia Rafferty. Evelyn thought it would be a good idea to put THIS call on speaker as well. "Evie, what the Hell is going on in that town of yours?" "Apparently, you know more than I do. I used to think I knew everything that went on here. I'm now finding out I was wrong." "DEAD wrong if you're not careful. Where is Shauna? Is she all right?" "She, uh, just ran out. I was about to go after her." "You'd better. I got a call from her just as I was about to leave the office. I spent an hour and a half on the phone with her. After she hung up, I was so shook, I couldn't even dial your number." "What did she tell you?" "She was MOSTLY INCOHERENT the whole time. Between the sobs, I managed to get she was jumped by a half-dozen of your finest local Neanderthals." "Was she... raped?" "I couldn't tell. I was only able to understand about every third or fourth word. You said she ran out the door. You don't keep a gun in the house, do you?" "No, of course not. I... she wouldn't HARM herself, would she?" "She might, but I was more worried about something else. You know how we say abuse is a learned behavior? If an adult was abused as a child, there's a good chance he will become an abuser himself?" "Yes. So?" "SO, much of how we deal with our emotions, particularly in times of stress, is learned from our own experiences. Now, think about HER role models for 'stress management'." "OH... SHIT!" "Yeah, 'oh, shit'. Here is what I want you to do. Hang up the phone. Call someone; Police, Coast Guard, Boy Scouts, Ladies Auxiliary, whatever you have in that miserable excuse for a community, and FIND HER! Once you have her home - SAFE - call me on my cell. We can decide what to do from there." Evelyn did as she was instructed. She noticed Sharon had disappeared. As she dialed, the distracted stepmother thought she heard the girl in the bathroom, losing her dinner. Evelyn would have joined her, but she had another daughter to find... In the end, no one found her, despite the considerable resources Evelyn brought to bear for the search. The distraught parent had been coordinating the effort from her home. It had been two mostly sleepless days since Sean/Shauna had bolted out the door into the night. Evelyn had gone to the kitchen to get ice for one of her rare highballs (she really needed one at that point). The child was there; dirty, disheveled, standing at the counter, munching from a stack of Ritz crackers. She eyed her stepmother without the slightest trace of emotion. She merely stood there, chewing slowly. Sharon entered the kitchen behind her stepmother. Spying her sister, she gasped, stretched out her arms, and advanced towards the boy-girl. THAT elicited a response. The wretched-looking waif started backing away, until her back was pressed against the far wall. The terror in her eyes was unmistakable. The back door was two steps to her left - and still open. Evelyn's hand moved like lightning. She seized the elder sibling's arm, halting her in mid-step, then pulled her back. She took her eyes off the terrified child only long enough to utter one terse command. "GO!" Sharon looked stunned. She beheld her sister once more, tears welling up in her eyes. She nodded slightly, turned, and dashed out of the room. The two, parent and child, beheld each other warily from opposite sides of the kitchen. For one of the few times in her adult life, Evelyn Rossi was at a complete loss for what to do or say. Shauna decided for her. Popping the last cracker in her mouth, she peeled herself away from the wall, and walked slowly, cautiously, across the room, skirting her startled parent by a wide berth. She made it clear by her body language direct human contact was the LAST thing she wanted. "Good night, Mom." She didn't even turn around. She just walked through the door, up the stairs, and into her bedroom. The door shut with a quiet click. Evelyn, who had followed at a discreet interval, just stood at the door, not knowing what else to do. On one level, she couldn't help but admire the girl's pluck. Evelyn hadn't just called 'somebody' to carry out the search; she had called EVERYBODY. Somehow, a distraught seventeen-year-old trauma victim had eluded the considerable resources Evelyn had brought to bear for two days, then appeared in her own kitchen as easily as you please. Sharon joined her stepmother outside Shauna's door. A thin strip of light seeped under the door and reflected on the shiny hardwood hallway floor. They heard the water splash in the tub, followed a few seconds later by the activation of the showerhead. The water ran for a long time, punctuated by an occasional splash. The shower ceased at last. There came a faint metallic "tink" as a towel was pulled from the rack. A few minutes later, soft footfalls made their way across the bedroom floor, followed by the rustle of bedclothes. The thin strip of light went out; then, nothing. Sharon and Evelyn just stared at each other for a moment. They turned on their heels and went their separate ways; Sharon to her bedroom, Evelyn downstairs to her study - to call Claudia. Evelyn and Shauna were on the plane to New York the next morning. That it was 'Shauna' was beyond a doubt. Her face was made up - not a lot, but noticeably - and her freshly-washed hair had been brushed until it glimmered. She had done her best to camouflage the damage to her face. She smiled, weakly, spoke when spoken to, but mostly just stared... elsewhere. Sharon had desperately wanted to accompany them, hold her sister, something. Both she and Evelyn knew that was impossible until they had a better idea of what was going on inside Shauna's head - and why she had reacted so violently to the mere sight of her sister. As it was, the trip would merely be a 'turnaround' for Evelyn. Claudia wanted time with Shauna alone. The girl would be staying at a shelter for battered women on West 63rd Street, where Claudia stashed her other crisis victims. She would be well cared for - and watched - when she wasn't in session with the deeply-concerned psychiatrist. Evelyn's sole mission was to see Shauna arrived safely. Then, she would be back on the plane to Aurora. She would return to New York in two weeks to pick up her child and, hopefully, some answers. Fourteen days never passed so slowly. "This is a mess!" In all the years she had known Claudia, Evelyn had never known her to be anything other than cool, calm, and collected. She watched with concern as Claudia paced her office. If Claudia was worried, so was SHE. "Thank you for that keen professional insight. Now I can return to Aurora a happy woman." "If I could, I'd keep you right here - and Shauna with you." The doctor stopped short at mid-room, smiling ruefully. "Sorry. I guess that wasn't very professional of me, was it? It's just that it's been so long; you, me, Nora... They were good times, weren't they?" "The best. I understand why you wanted to stay in New York. We missed you." Claudia gazed at a spot on the floor, lost in reverie, then re-focused on the problem at hand. "All right, here it is. I'll start with the good news." "The GOOD news?" "I think so. I was as surprised - shocked - as you are now. 'Shauna' has become a much stronger, more resilient personality. She meets or exceeds all the criteria for Title Five of the Benjamin Protocols; that's the Real Life Test. By the time she is eighteen, she will be ready for Title Six; that's surgery. At least, she WOULD be if we could proceed with the RLT. The biggest problem she faces is the inability to live full-time as a female. Damn that town you live in! I know better than to ask if you would consider moving. Your business is not exactly portable, is it?" Evelyn smiled wistfully and shook her head. "I understand. It took a long time to get to where you are. You can't just walk away from it all. And strong as Shauna is, she is nowhere near ready to deal with New York or L.A. on her own. Dammit! She resumed her pacing. "OK, here's the bad news. 'Sean' is slowly killing her. More precisely, the fallout from the shootings, plus everyone else's current perceptions of - and reactions to - 'Sean' are killing her. He and the recurring trauma he evokes are like this big weight around her neck. It is bending her over farther and farther and eventually will break her." "What happened to her two weeks ago?" "To HER? Nothing! That's the point. We have been exceedingly lucky - if you want to call it that - all of the evils that have been visited upon this child have happened to 'Sean', not 'Shauna'. He is like a big lightning rod, deflecting harm away from her - towards himself. She knows about them, and agonizes over them, but they haven't touched 'her' personally - yet." "All right, what happened to HIM two weeks ago? Was he... raped?" Claudia pursed her lips and nodded. "Repeatedly. The rape kit wasn't able to extract any usable trace evidence because of the long delay and the shower he took. Given the number of assailants, the relatively limited extent of the trauma to the surrounding tissue - and I stress RELATIVELY - suggests they at least used some kind of lubricant, possibly K-Y." "But the librarian said everyone was gone by the time the police arrived." "They were. They dragged him off to the locker room. Evidently, there wasn't much of a search. They took their time with him." It was Evelyn's turn to purse her lips. She gripped the arms of her chair so tightly, her knuckles turned white. Claudia noted that - and knew what it meant from long-ago experience. She spoke her next words quietly. "If it means anything to you, 'Sean' is accepting full responsibility for this, just as he did before. I don't think it's a Martyr Complex. I think he is... protecting 'Shauna'. He doesn't want any of this to touch her. He was almost successful. She knows about it, certainly, and it is causing her a lot of pain. To her, it's like watching her brother get beaten up for her - and there is nothing she can do about it. In another time and place, I would call 'Sean' a real stand-up guy." Evelyn thought about that a moment, then slowly nodded her head. She eased her grip slightly. "What does all this have to do with Sharon? Why was Shauna so terrified of her?" The doctor stared at the floor again. She returned to her desk, sat down, and clasped her hands on the desktop before her. Knowing "Evie" Rossi as she did, she wanted that massive buffer of oak between them. "While they were raping him, they told him Sharon wouldn't 'put out' for them. She told them to find some slut who actually liked that sort of thing. They told him they took that to mean her little gay boy brother." Evelyn was out of the chair like a shot. Claudia reared back in her chair, expecting the worst. Instead, Evelyn wheeled on one foot and... just paced. Claudia Rafferty honestly believed if her friend had been a male, she would have put her fist through the wall. "Those... sick... FUCKS!" It took a minute for Evelyn to regain her composure. She resumed her seat, pulled it forward, and clasped her own hands on the desk. Claudia recognized the peace offering as such, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. "Okay. How do we help Sean? Obviously, he won't ever set foot in that school again." "That is not even an option. We don't help him. We CAN'T. That's out of our hands now." "What do you mean?" Claudia leaned forward and covered Evelyn's hands with her own. "I mean, that kid has been through a personal Hell that no one should have to experience in a dozen lifetimes, let alone seven years. Do you remember how I once described 'Shauna' as an escape route? Now, she is a lifeboat. 'Sean' is sinking. He is no longer a viable personality. Whatever he had left to give, he gave to her. If we are going to save 'Shauna', we have to cut her loose - and let 'Sean' go. We need to distance her from the past and any negative associations with it. If I had my druthers, I would blank her memory right now, move her to a new home, possibly a new city, burn every shred of boy clothing, maybe even change her name. I would rather have her struggle with who she IS than who she WAS." "Why the scorched earth? Couldn't we just achieve the same effect by letting her live as Shauna? Another school, certainly. Wouldn't those memories fade in time?" The psychiatrist slowly shook her head. "Remember I said 'Sean' was ALMOST successful in shielding 'Shauna' from everything that happened to him? This time, SOMETHING GOT THROUGH. There is now an indelible physical and emotional link between 'Sean' and 'Shauna'. As long as it is there, and she knows where it came from, there is a direct connection, like a doorway, to all the memories that are destroying them both." "Can't you just suppress it through hypnotherapy?" "I don't dare; not THIS one. If I do, I might damage her development as a woman. It is that powerful, that primal. The best I can do is redirect it to another perceived source; classic displacement therapy. In order to have any hope of success, we have to remove 'Sean' from the equation completely." "What IS it?" Claudia paused for a long moment, marshalling her thoughts. Her voice barely broke the stillness. "While 'Sean' was being raped, when all those cocks were pounding into him, one after the other, 'Shauna' liked it. Not the pain, violence, and humiliation done to her brother; the act itself. God help us; she has a taste for it now - and she knows she got it through him." That gave Evelyn much food for thought. The idea had actually begun tugging at the back of Evelyn's mind while waiting to return to New York to pick up Shauna. It had been tantalizing, yet unthinkable. Gradually, it beckoned like a siren's song. She jotted down some notes, then searched her personal records, made some telephone calls, pulled some strings and called in a few favors. It COULD be done. Then, Claudia had confirmed her worst fears. At the same time, her old friend's analysis had reinforced her own notion that the 'unthinkable' plan had suddenly become her best option. She was certainly the one who could make it happen. That realization elated her. The question was, SHOULD she? To do the job right, she would have to indoctrinate the girl into a lifestyle she almost certainly had never imagined. Shauna had shown tantalizing little hints that she might be receptive, but Evelyn would need a whole lot more than hints and glimmers before she would be willing to commit herself - and her daughter - to the plan. The process itself would be involved, potentially dangerous, and brutally final; once begun, there would be no stopping and no turning back. Evelyn grieved at the thought of subjecting her own little girl to it. She had no doubt it would be successful - if the girl was strong enough. Claudia thought so and Evelyn fervently hoped her friend was right. Even if she was, the Shauna they had known and loved would be lost, possibly forever. Evelyn took solace in the knowledge that, if she did not do this, Shauna would certainly be destroyed completely; pummeled by her personal demons, then ground to dust under the wheels of a cold, intolerant society. Anyway, it wasn't like Evelyn hadn't done it before... Evelyn enlisted Sharon's help. She had to have it. Although she considered them both her daughters, Sharon was Shauna's only remaining blood relative. It would be unthinkable to do this without the elder sister's tacit approval at least. It would also require Evelyn to reveal to Sharon information about herself, her life, and her work that few living people were privy to. For that, SHARON would have to be strong. The elder sibling went through her own Hell as her stepmother detailed the plan. First, she had to endure Claudia Rafferty's assessment and revelations. Sharon didn't make it to the bathroom this time. If her stomach was not yet in enough turmoil, she next had to digest Evelyn's 'background information' - from which the concerned parent had carefully withheld any reference to the girl's own mother. The same thoughts and fears Evelyn had already faced now daunted her daughter - magnified a hundredfold by her lack of the older woman's life experience. She realized, as her stepmother had, this might be her baby sister's only chance for anything but a life of torment and misery. Sharon also knew one fact better than anyone; however this turned out, it was all the result of a little boy's total, unwavering devotion to his big sister. That thought would haunt 'Big Sister' the rest of her life. In the end, she could do no less for him - or HER. Sharon pledged her unwavering, unconditional support for the plan. She had been ready to go to college in the fall. She deferred her enrollment, electing to take a Nurse's Assistant job Evelyn had hastily arranged at the hospital, enabling the elder sister to stay home and assist Evelyn in Shauna's 'rehabilitation'. She had long since given up playing with dolls, but had never outgrown her fascination for dressing up her life-sized, living 'Barbie'. She had her misgivings about Evelyn's strategy, but would see it through for Shauna's sake. The final pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. Armed with her elder daughter's endorsement, Evelyn briefed a few key players and leveraged certain others. On the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, she played her opening gambit. The family grilled on the patio that Friday evening. Evelyn and Sharon sat down with Shauna over bratwurst, baked beans and potato salad to discuss her accomplishments and future. Evelyn acknowledged how proud she was of her younger daughter; despite everything, the girl persevered. She expressed her deep sympathy for the young girl's torment, caught as she was in "gender limbo". They would arrange for her to make up her final exams over the summer and find a different school for her to attend in the fall. Until then, she would enjoy an extra-special "Summer Vacation". Since Shauna would be out of school and working every day at the hospital, why not spend the entire summer as a girl? Her stepmother and sister were entirely supportive and, if done correctly, she would 'pass' easily. The problem was, she would have to assume a completely different identity. No one outside the family would know who she really was; otherwise, her 'cover' would be blown and her life in Aurora would become even more of a living Hell. Shauna had no problem understanding that. The answer was, she would become 'Shauna Carlisi', Evelyn's niece from New Jersey. It would be alleged the teen temptress had grown up way too soon, made some bad choices; gotten involved with a local street gang and dropped out of school. The gang had fucked with her head, made her do things no good girl would dream of doing. The New Jersey authorities had intervened and sent her out of state, away from the gang's influence. Still, it would be a long road back for the girl. She couldn't be expected to lose all her bad attitude right away - if at all. Even in Aurora; there might be some setbacks along the way... That way, at the end of the summer or if it all got too overwhelming, 'Shauna Carlisi' could disappear without a trace and 'Sean Brennan' could reappear for school. But maybe, just maybe, if it all worked out, it would be 'Sean' who would disappear - and 'Shauna' would be able to stay permanently. The more detail Evelyn revealed, the wider Shauna's eyes got. Shauna was floating on air the entire weekend. The three of them were inseparable that long holiday weekend; two movies, a theme park, restaurants, reveling in the simple joys of being a family. Together, the three created memories that would last a lifetime - at least, for two of them. The two cherished every moment, knowing it would be a long time, if ever again, the three of them would be together and this happy. They began Tuesday morning. A "day of beauty" at Evelyn's favorite salon resulted in a whole new 'look' for the all-too-willing teen. Narrow, artfully crafted, high-arched eyebrows and long, curly eyelash implants highlighted her made-up face and plush, ruby lips. Her copper-colored tresses were layered, then permed, yielding a shoulder-blade-length mane of full, fluffy curls. And she had nails; a full set of long, curving acrylics, polished crimson to match her lips. Each earlobe had been double-pierced and the piercings bore gold studs. An afternoon of shopping garnered a new wardrobe to compliment Shauna's provocative new image - and something else. On cue, Sharon had suggested Shauna would look really hot with a tattoo. Evelyn had known of Sinful Skinful, the tattoo parlor on Taylor Street and offered to take them there. Sharon was enthusiastic; Shauna had tittered nervously. The siblings had heard whispered rumors about Taylor Street and its forbidden delights, but had never dared venture there. Evelyn parked her car in the city garage two blocks farther down Taylor. They walked the short distance back, passing a dance club, adult bookstore, and what was very obviously a huge 'gentlemen's club'. The two storefronts immediately adjacent to the tattoo parlor caused both sisters to stop dead in their tracks and gape in awe. The signs above their doors read "Fantasia" and "Altered Ego", respectively. The former's display windows featured mannequins in risqu? lingerie and dresses, shod in high-heeled platform sandals. The latter's windows revealed an amazing assortment of erotic fetish garments, footwear, bondage gear and accessories. Evelyn promised she would return with them one day soon to peruse the shops' wondrous wares. Once within the walls of the tattoo emporium, the enthusiastic Sharon had opted to have a blue dolphin scribed on her own left ankle. She chided Shauna that a tattoo was de rigueur for the younger girl's new 'look' and offered to help her select the right one. The elder sibling had perused the walls filled with sample art and had spotted the dragon. It was superbly detailed, but long; it would extend from Shauna's ankle almost to her knee. Evelyn had recalled there was a Union City street gang named "The Dragons" which used that mythological beast as their emblem. It had been their practice to mark their 'bitches' with a tattoo just like that one, that other gangs would know the girl to be Dragon 'property'. Evelyn had mused the intricate body art - and a juicy bit of gossiped 'explanation' in the right ear - might indeed be just the right touch to sell the authenticity of their 'Jersey Girl' to the people of Aurora. Shauna could not resist their subtle persuasi