"I'm getting to that, Debbie darling

secretly since I was a little girl I have desired to be a male. I always dressed boyish and my parents thought I was just being a tomboy but actually I was being what I wanted to be in fact. I hated my feminine looks. In addition to that, I have occasionally dressed as a man, not regularly but enough to keep my inner self satisfied. I do not think I could respond totally to any man. When we became serious about each other this became a deep concern of mine, whether I could be a real wife to you. After the space accident I was somewhat relieved, but felt duty bound to go through with it. When they installed you in this lovely feminine body my own love for you changed with it. Now I could love you as a girl. I can respond to you as Deborah but not as a male. I hope you understand. What I suggest darling, is that we let them operate on Julie and change me to Jerry, the name I have always called my secret self."

"Then we could marry and I'd be your wife?" I asked in some con- fusion.

"Exactly. You have been through so much already I don't want them mixing you up. I have been mixed up all my life and I think sex change is what I need. At least I believe that. I'd make a more masculine man, than you would."

"If you are sure that's what you want then that's what I agree to." I told her. "We'll tell the Doctor first thing and then we can start preparations." When she said that her mind was made up, we drove back to the hospital where we conferred at length with Dr. Gilmer. He asked a thousand questions of both of us concerning every part of our sexual appetites, past, and present, and then made his decision. "Perhaps fate has intervened and prevented a marital mixup such as is common today. I believe that Julie should become Jerry, and that Debbie should stay Debbie. We'll do it that way.

Now it was my turn to be faithful through months of agony for my beloved, while she endured the scalpel and became my husband to be. In my role as bride to be I learned everything expected of women and became efficient in housekeeping, cooking, sewing, and even began keeping a small child part time to learn motherhood. (There is artifical insemination you know and my husband, my lover to be, might want offspring). With all of these pursuits and visiting at the hospital, I was kept very busy, as you may imagine, so the months passed quickly.

24