RANSVESTIA

again. There is a source. That source was implanted in your body shortly after you moved into the Mallets' residence. It is not eternal, however, and will be about used up in a couple of months. It is a fairly high potency female hormone. Even now finding the source would be difficult and eliminating it more so." He became quite serious. The smile left his face and his gaze fairly bored into me. "So you see, there would be no real use in going to a specialist. With time your body will revert unless you take steps to maintain it so. You may want to do so since I see you've gone further in your femininization by the pierced ears, eyebrows and hair changes . . .'

"Now wait a minute, doctor, those were not all my idea."

"Uh huh. I suspected as much but you did do it. And tell me, did Mrs. Mallet have anything to do with it? I suspect so."

"Mrs. Mallet? Erica's mother? What does she have to do about it?" Even as I asked, some blocks of a puzzle in my head were beginning to fall together to form a picture-not a pretty one, but a picture, nonetheless."

"How do you think you came by the hormones? You see, Peggy, she didn't want you to marry Erica but could not come right out and say it since she figured you two would elope."

"And we would have," I interjected.

"Well, she hit on a plan when she saw you two in the garden. She must have been drinking, a sure sign that she was upset since she almost never does. Well, she called me and arranged for a hormone implant. Do you remember that cut you received? That was a cover- up. She also got an anesthetic, a knock-out drug, if you want to call it that. When you were both out, the implant was placed where the cut was and thus healed without another trace. But the inner results have resulted in these changes you've gone through. That is what hap- pened and why."

"And Erica? What did she have to say?"

"You see, Peggy, when you were made full-time, Mrs. Mallet figured Erica would lose interest, especially when the hormones began to work. Mrs. Mallet set you up to be a woman and has apparently done quite a job. However, her plans seem to have backfired."