Archive-name: Changes/bates01.txt
Archive-author: 
Archive-title: Joe Bates' Story-  1


                               Chapter 1
                             THE AWAKENING

   As sunlight moved through the trees to the back of the apartment building,
it fell first on the roof and then slowly moved its way down the wall until
it found the window on the corner of the third floor.  Seeping through the
open blinds, it traveled across the floor, then up the bed, until it finally
reached his eyes.  Probing, flashing, searing into his eyes and then his mind,
he faced the realization that a new day had dawned, and it was time to get up.

   Hiding from the sunlight, Joe Bates placed his arm over his face, and
turned his head away, seeking the darkness.  As he did, he became alert to the
fact that something was different.  His arm seemed smaller, it did not support
his head as easily as usual. And his body did not weigh into the mattress as
it had before. His buttocks felt huge, like they were covered with padding. He
rubbed his hand across his chest, and was surprised to feel bare, soft,
bulging roundness, where there should have been thick chest hair. He turned
his head into the pillow, and it seemed  that the skin on his face was more
sensitive to touch than usual. He felt his cheek, and was amazed to feel a
smoothness and softness he knew was not his normal, early morning, scratchy
beard growth.

   Was this a dream? Did someone shave his face while he was asleep?  Surely,
it wasn't his longtime girlfriend Linda, who he had been  with last night.
They had been discussing marriage, and argued late into the night about his
thoughts about discrimination and sexism. Had she stayed over, or gone home?
He couldn't remember. The discussion had been pretty intense, but Linda really
loved him, and was always quick to make up. He groggily tried to jump start
his brain. He reached out for the other side of the bed, there was no one
there. He was alone.

   Rolling over on to his back, he trying to rub the sleep from his eyes, when
he saw his hand. It looked tiny, with slender fingers which had a enhanced
sense of touch. He pulled himself up. Sitting up straight he looked into the
mirror on the dresser. He looked in disbelief at what he saw looking back.
Instead of his usual face and usual stubble, he saw another face. It was his
face, to be sure, but different, with no morning stubble.  His eyes and
eyebrows were different too. His hair looked the same length but seemed
softer, or finer. Looking more closely he noticed his face too was softer,
more defined, smaller, maybe even feminine. He thought of his knee, which two
days before, he had sprained slightly while playing racketball with his friend
Jay. He moved his right leg, and yes, it still ached a little. It was still
him, no matter what the mirror said.

   Startled, he shot straight up in bed, and as he did so, the sheet fell from
his chest, exposing something which really threw him for a loop. Breasts.
They looked like female breasts. His female breasts.  Staring at disbelief at
the image in t he mirror. He raised his hand to his face to touch and feel, as
if to prove that the person in the glass was him. Again, he ran his hand
across his cheeks, feeling the softness, the lack of stubble, and then to his
cheekbones, which seemed higher and more pronounced.  As he looked, he
realized that he felt different all over. The most noticeable difference was
that he felt much smaller. Or, maybe every thing else seemed bigger. To be
sure, there were other differences too.. It felt like his butt was huge,
compared to his upper torso. The center of gravity of his body had, some how,
shifted lower.

   In curiosity, his hand ran down his neck to his chest, to those breasts,
which he cupped and felt with his small hands. His fingers moved to the large
nipples. His fingers could feel, and he could sense them hardening as he
touched them. Wit h that pleasant sensation, he also felt a reaction in his
groin, a sensation he  didn't recognize, a warmth, and tightening that was not
at all normal. What next?, he thought. He quickly placed his hand beneath the
sheets to check. He moved down a smooth, flat stomach to feel for his cock.
His pubic hair seemed finer than usual, but he wasn't exactly prepared for
what he found next. His penis was not there. His scrotum and testicles were
gone  too. Instead, his probing fingers felt a warm, soft slit, with moist
fleshy folds, which reacted to his gentle stroking by opening slightly. He was
not unfamiliar with the what he was touching, but found it difficult to accept
that he now possessed what seemed to be labia, a clitoris, and a vagina. A
cunt.

   Totally confused, he explored his body, feeling new sensations. The
unfamiliar softness and shape of his chest, a strange tightening of his pelvic
muscles, and the uncomfortable sensation of wetness in his crotch.  He ran his
sensitive finger s over the unfamiliar contours, and then, through-out his
body, over all the curves, bumps, and creases, that his hands and slim
fingers could reach.

   As he did so he began to slip back to sleep, and into a languorous state of
semi-dreaming. Soon, the clock-radio jolted him back into the now.  Work, he
thought, time for work. A weird dream, just a dream. At least it was an
interesting dream.  Convinced that's what it was, he cast the sheets aside and
swung his legs over the edge the bed.  Stepping out, his legs, which now
barely touched the floor as he sat on the edge of bed, tangled up in his
pajama bottoms, which somehow had slid down from his waist to his thighs.
Catching himself against the dresser, he looked down and saw that his dream
had not ended, and his body was still different. He new it was impossible, but
to his quickly clearing vision, it almost appeared that he had a, ah,
a....womans body.

   Reaching down to pull up his pjs, the legs now were long enough to almost
cover his feet as he stumbled out of the bedroom for some coffee to get his
overloaded brain engaged. looking down, he realized that although a guy could
walk around in his apartment with out a shirt, a guy with a chest like he had
now, couldn't. He grabbed a T-shirt and pulled it over his head, and covered
his protruding breasts.

   As he walked across the living room toward the kitchen, his brain
registered the differences it was experiencing, and started to make the
necessary adjustments for the shorter stride and wider hips. Everything
seemed so much larger. The kitchen counter was higher than his waist. He had
to stand on a chair to get a cup from the upper shelf. His conscious mind
continued to race ahead, thinking less about what had happened to him, but
what he was going to do about it.

   The first issue to be addressed he thought was work. He figured he couldn't
go to work looking like this, but he could call in.  Had his voice changed
too? He spoke aloud, It seemed the same... He couldn't tell for sure.  Pouring
a cup of coffee, he began to review the problems he faced.

   If he had indeed changed, then his job a problem. He couldn't report to his
job looking like this, like a woman. There were women at work, but none were
engineers. And besides, his peers new him as a man anyway. He could hardly
walk in, wit h this new size and shape, and just say "Hi guys, look what I
sprouted last night!"  He didn't think his present body shape would let him
pass as a man, but he figured his mind wouldn't let him pass as a woman
either. He would probably have to try have to try that though, since he was
quickly  running out of options. He had just read in Playboy, about some woman
who had  passed as a man for years. Maybe he could do that. But for now he
realized  that he was going to have to deal with the immed iate problem of
looking like  a woman. Then he sensed another immediate concern. He had to
urinate.  Strange, he thought to himself, it looks so different, but it  feels
almost  the same. He hopped quickly into the adjoining bathroom, and as he
did, he felt his breasts bounce uncomfortably. He cupped them with his hands,
and stopping  when he reached the toilet. The seat was still up from the last
time he used  it. As he reached into his pajamas, to stand, aim his penis at
the bowl, and  pee, he realized that he couldn't do that, at least he couldn't
figure out a  practical way. Irritated, he lowered the seat, pulled down the
pajama bottoms  and sat down. As he relaxed, the urine started to flow, and he
felt yet  another difference. The pee didn't come out in a tight stream like
normal, but seemed to come out as a heavier flow, and it seemed to him, from
near his  anal opening. He finished quickly, and started to get up, but
realized that his crotch was still rather wet. He took some t issue and
carefully wiped his unfamiliar genitalia. This will take some getting used to,
he thought. He flushed, pulled his pajama bottoms back up, and went back to
the bedroom.

   His pajama bottoms didn't fit, and, judging by the looks of the T-shirt,
and how it clung to his breasts, he was going to have get something he could
wear in public.  That meant he had to go shopping.  If he was going to go
shopping he would need money since all of his credit cards were in his name,
he was concerned as to whether he would be able to use them. With a name like
Joe, it might be possible to use that name in public, while pretending to be a
woman, but it said Joel on his c ard, and that didn't look like a womans name.
Identification was the next issue, his drivers license, insurance, the basic
ID's used during a normal course of a day.  This predicament couldn't be
permanent, and he was sure it couldn't be, but if he had to act like a woman,
then he was going to have to think about his job.  Well, he may have somehow
misplaced his balls, but he still had his engineering skills. At least he
thought he did. His brain seemed the same as always. If he could work out a
way to get back to his job, he figured, he could still do it. He would work
out that problem after getting some ID.  Besides, he still had some money in
the bank, which would last a little while, at least till he could get this
identity thing work ed out.  Writing checks might be a problem if his
handwriting had changed. He tested it with a pencil and his notebook.  His
small hand caused it to be a little different, but he figured it would get by,
and besides, an automatic teller didn't look at that anyway.  What was he
forgetting?  Suddenly, he realized. Linda! Linda would be expecting him to
call tonight. If he didn't, she would probably call him, since they usually
went out to eat on Friday evenings. What would she think, what would she do,
if...no, when, she saw him looking like this?

   He put his concern about his relationship with Linda aside, knowing that it
presented an insurmountable problem for now, and then he remembered Jay.  Jay
was a lawyer, very bright and skillful. Jay was his best friend.  Jay would
know how t o handle ID and the bank. He might even know of a doctor, who could
help him with his physical problems, but couldn't think of anything like this,
happening to anybody else. At least nobody who admitted it, he thought.  He
reached over for the phone to talk to, and arrange an appointment with Jay.

   He called his office, and Jay's secretary answered.  As soon as he heard
her voice, he knew he had a problem if he didn't sound like himself, so he
simply said hello and asked if Mr. Logan was in. Denise, Jay's secretary, said
no, that he would be in court this morning.  Joe asked if he could set up a
meeting with him today.  Denise asked if he was a client, and Joe got the
bright idea of pretending to be his own secretary. He said he was calling for
Joe Bates, and that Mr.Bates would like to have lunch with Mr. Logan, to
discuss some business.  Denise said Mr. Logan  would be free for lunch, and
suggested the health club where they both worked out regularly.  Joe said no,
the  Beacher Restaurant would be better for Mr. Bates. (n o kidding) He sighed
with relief as he hung up the phone. He had made the appointment.

   This can be worked out, he thought, Jay could help him solve the identity
issues, and the money issues.  Now for work.  He called in, and identified
himself as a nurse, and told the receptionist that Joel Bates had been
admitted for a gastro-intensinal problems and would be staying in the hospital
for a few days for tests, and possible surgery. He would not be in to work
until next  week at the earliest. Who knows? he thought, it might be true.
Remarkably, she  didn't ask which hospital so he didn't have to lie about
that.

   Feeling better for the first time since he awoke, Joe leaned back in the
chair and reached for his coffee.  As he did so he realized that he was
crossing his legs like a woman, and placed his feet flat on the floor.  Seeing
him through the o pen window, anybody would have thought he was just another
woman, maybe somebody's wife, sitting at a breakfast table drinking a cup of
coffee, free of the everyday need to go off to work.

   In reality, his engineers mind was once again going through the schematic
process of sorting, and collecting data in order to establish a plan.  He
reached out and started to make a list of things he would need. By now, the
realization had dawned that he had nothing to wear that would fit, and that he
had to go shopping for clothes. He also concluded that he was going to look
like an idiot while shopping.  It also occurred to him that he was going to
look even more ridiculous, since he had no idea how to dress like a woman,
what sizes they wore in clothing, or what size he wore, for that matter. Worse
yet, he was probably going to have to buy things like panties and brassieres.
Now, he sure knew how to take stuff like that off of woman, but he had no
idea how to buy, or even put those things on, like a woman.

   Finishing the coffee, he walked back to the  bedroom, and decided that he
better take a quick shower.  While he stood under the hot water, quickly
soaping and rinsing his unfamiliar body, he was almost afraid to look at it,
thinking that if h e would ignore it, the problems he was facing might simply
go away as quickly as they came. He grinned a sarcastic grin, as it occurred
to him that he didn't have to shave this morning. After the brief shower, he
went to the closet, and started looking for something to wear.

   His Jockey shorts just didn't seem to make it, he tried them on and found
that even  with the elastic in the waist they wouldn't stay on his hips.
Damn, he thought, I need to wear underwear at least. Then he remembered a
Christmas present from two years back. Carol was his girl them, and she had
given him three pairs of men's bikini briefs which he had never worn because
they were too snug fitting, and uncomfortable.  He found them in the back of
one of his drawers. He slipped on the black ones. Although they had been tight
before, they now fit pretty good. Of course, the "contoured pouch" crotch was
now strangely baggy on him. Then he tried on a pair of jeans to see if a pair
fit, and needless to say they didn't. One pair however, had just come back
from the laundry, and was tighter than the ones he had worn a few times before
washing. Slipping them on , he hoped they a chance of staying above his hips,
when he remembered his suspenders, the ones with clips. Putting them on, he
was able to hold his jeans up with some feeling of confidence. He then reached
down for his loafers. Sliding his small feet in, they felt like boats.  This
wouldn't do he knew, so he then pulled out some white socks and a pair of
Reboks.  They seemed too big, hell they were too big, but at least they sorta
fit with the extra absorbent socks on.

   Finally he came to the shirt, he tried on a couple  and found them too
large, but at least they weren't too tight.  He didn't have a bra, of course,
but the embarrassing jiggle of his breasts when he moved made him decide to
put a cotton sweatshirt over his shirt. He reached down to the night stand,
took his large Sieko aviators watch and put it on his thin wrist. It dangled
loosely, almost large enough to go around his wrist twice. he eyed the time,
as he put the watch in his pants pocket. He knew the mall would soon be open.
He had to get over there and buy some clothes so that he could meet Jay for
lunch, and start figuring things out.

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