An hour later Jon stood in the kitchen awkwardly balancing on the chocolate brown suede pumps with four inch heels. He had wanted to wear flats but Sherry had insisted he started to get used to wearing heels. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, shuddering at the odd feel of the black tights that encased his legs and the tight tan pencil skirt that pulled them together. Whilst his mom made some coffee, he fiddled with the bra straps digging into his shoulders, weighed down by his large breasts covered by a white silky blouse with flouncy sleeves.
"Stop fiddling with those Sandra" Sherry barked.
"But their so heavy!" Jon moaned "how do you cope with them!"
"Well I guess I've grown up with them" she shrugged "But even I have to deal with the backache I feel at the end of every day" Sherry put the coffee down on the kitchen counter in front of him and went to open a window. "I'm afraid it's just part of being a woman Sandra, along with aching feet, periods..."
"Sherry do you have to!" Jon yelled, he didn't need anymore reminders about what his life would be like from now on.
"Sorry honey" Sherry said to her new twin and pulled up a kitchen stool next to Jon. Sherry fished around in her purse until she found her Menthol 100s and lit one. Jon looked on with a mixture longing and disgust, desperately fighting the urge to copy her. He hated the thought of being a smoker and was determined to resist it.
Sherry blew out a long stream of smoke and shook her head at him. "It's no good Sandra, remember you're just like me now and I know how bad you want one. As long as I smoke so do you and I have no intention of giving up anytime soon"
Jon crumpled and pulled his own cigarettes out, fished one out the pack with long nails painted a dark plum and lit, coughing at the harsh taste "Oh my Gaaawd Sherry, it's so disgusting! I begging you to give up so I can stop as well!"
Sherry shook her head. "You remember all those years of nagging and belittling me? Well now you get to see what its like to be addicted to smoking. Let's see how you like sneaking out for a cigarette and sweating every time your stuck in a non-smoking area" she smiled smugly at Jon's distressed look. "Anyway, enough of that we have to start thinking about your future"
"What future!?" Jon grunted petulantly "I'm 42, my life's over"
"Nonsense, I won't have you talking like thats sis...yes thats right, don't pull a face, you're my sister Sandra now and it's time you accepted it" Sherry said bluntly "First we need to think about getting you a job. Now Alice at number 32 says her husbands boss needs a new secretary. I think that would be a good role for you, I'll give her a call in a minute"
"Secretary! But I want to be a Sports Physio!" Jon cried
"Sandra dear, get a grip. Your 42 years old, you have no qualifications and lets face your not going to college. Jon wanted to be a Sports Physio, Sandra gets to be a secretary"
Jon took a drag of his cigarette and wished he had never seen that rock. "I can't believe this is happening to me"
"Well believe it, because Sandra honey it's happened and crying isn't going to help! If you don't want the job maybe I should take it and you can take my place here keeping the house! No, I didn't think so" Sandra replied pointedly "look I know it's going to be hard, but once you've settled in, you'll feel better and maybe we can even have some fun together"
"Fun?" Jon asked warily
"Yeah, come on you must have wondered what it would be like to have a twin?" she smiled "We can go shopping together, maybe take a vacation together....OOOH Sandra we could starting dating together!"
"Dating!" Jon said with panic.
"Oh yes Sandra, there's this over 40s speed dating night in town. I've been wanting to go for ages but haven't had the confidence to go on my own, now you can come with me!" Sherry said excited.
"But...you think they'll be girls who'll want to date me now I look like this" Jon asked incredulously.
Sherry looked back at him like he had gone mad "Of course not Sandra, but they'll be plenty of guys who will, we're not bad looking for our age"
"Guys! But inside inside I'm still a guy myself!" Jon cried.
"Tough luck honey. Remember your just like me now and as long as I'm after a guy, so are you!" she said stubbing her cigarette out in the ashtray to underline her point "Now go into the den and type a resumé up, I'll get an email address off of Alice. She watched with a sense of satisfaction as Jon stubbed his own out and minced out with his heels clicking on the floor.
Once she was sure he was gone, she pulled the rock out of its hiding place and wondered how far she should take this....
