“Anyone I know?” she said.“No” I said.“But you're being careful, right?” and I said “Mom, we're not having that talk, I'm way past that�...�� and she said “I know, honey”.“How's Cait?” she said after she'd had a sip of her coffee.“He told you about that?”“Yeah. Plus I haven't seen her here in weeks, and that never happens does it?”“I guess not” I said and I wanted to tell mom about it and I wanted to ask her for advice on how to fix everything again but I couldn't figure out how to do that without. Lookingclosely he thought he detected facial wrinkles appropriate to the age hehad assumed. Also, his mouth felt strange and when he inspected his teethhe found they were improbably white and suddenly. realised they weredentures! He reached up to check his wig and discovered it was no longera wig but his own hair. These revelations did not have the devastatingimpact on John one would expect, oddly he took them in with insoucianceand revelled in the other changes he discovered, his breasts were. In truth the masquerade license of the night was nearly unlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod, and gone beyond the bounds of even the prince's indefinite decorum. There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made. The whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger. I found my voice, feeling my breath moving my vocal cords, my tongue and lips shaping the words. ‘I thought it’d be less of a shock than when you first found out what I was.’ I put the emphasis on the word ‘was’. Tim reached out a hand to touch my face hesitantly. ‘You mean…?’ I nodded. ‘But – but how?’ I smiled. ‘I was given the choice,’ I said simply. His face was a mask of confusion. ‘But… is this what you want?’ I nodded. ‘I want to be with you, and with Sally.’ Again he was lost for words..