RANSVESTIA

Helen Porter moved out of Jasmine Walk within the week, to the considerable relief of all save for Cathy, to whom nothing was a blessing. Now she complained of missing her confidante, her fashion guide, her closest companion. She kept it up until a white-knuckled awkwardly tense Jim Porter told her never to mention "that thing's name" in his presence again.

Time, however, heals all wounds, and soon the family was able to laugh over the bizarre affair of Kenneth Porter, they'd reverted to that name again, particularly after Greg's marriage to Justice Connolly's daugther, and his rueful explanation of how fantastic Kenny had been as a woman. Naturally, his new wife regarded the whole affair as much exaggerated. She and Greg quickly moved away from New Providence, spending more time in the States than in the Caribbean. particularly as Greg's role as corporation lawyer-in-training took him further and further afield.

Cathy, too, inevitably, had gone Stateside to procure a university degree in anthropology, She returned home so rarely from California that Kate and Jim finally left their house in disorder after an especially severe hurricane and headed west for a surprise visit to their daughter.

She didn't live on campus, as they had often supposed, but, with relief, they found her located in a moderately well-tended apartment building. She apparently shared a room with another girl, for the name, "Ursula Smith," was bracketed with hers on the tenants' mailboxes.

Her voice was terse on the intercom when she spoke to them, but she let them in quickly. She waited for them outside the fourth floor apartment, the door ajar. Cathy had grown taller and thinner than either Jim or Kate remembered, and, despite her bluejeans, she had become a surprisingly attractive woman.

"Mom, Dad," she said, almost casually. "Come on in. I thought Henrietta would have kept you at home."

"Oh, Josh and the boys can take care of that," said Kate, taken aback by the coolness of their reception. "We only really had damage to trees and shutters."

Cathy ushered them into the main room of the apartment.

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