Diane Woods - Short Stuff: A Transgender Tale

Short Stuff

By Diane Woods

Illustrations by Ellen Patterson

Chapter One

In Beginning There Was Leonard

Ive always been on the short side. Significantly on the short side. And it bugged me for yearsgave me a little bit of a Napoleon complex, I guess it would be fair to say. I stood only 55 in my bare feet, and I was skinny, to boot. So, I had been the subject of terrible bullying as a kid. Thing is, I never took it. I always fought back. And I usually gave as good as I got, even though most of my opponents were bigger.

But I also had a serious secret that none of those bullies knew about: I liked to dress like a girl. I mean, I loved dressing as a girl. But as a young person, living at home, it was difficult to really indulge in that. I got better as I got older, and by the time I was in college (and I made sure to commute to college so that I didnt have to live in a dorm) I was getting better at my crossdressing.

And that was when I found my stature (or lack of it) to be a blessing. Because when youre desperately trying to pass as a female, one thing that helps tremendously is being of a female-appropriate height. And in that regard, I hit the jackpot.

Mind you, I never let either my stature or my transgender secret get in the way of pursuing female companionship. In fact, I was drawn to tall and buxom women, blonde and sexy, maybe as a way to proving to the world that height wasnt the only measure of a man.

I dated Janice throughout college, and she absolutely fit that type. But it wasnt a purely physical relationshipI loved her, and she loved me, I honestly believe. In fact, Im sure she did, in spite of how our story ultimately turned out.

Once I was done with law school, Janice and I married. It was what people did, once they got to a certain age and job security, right? Of course, I told Janice about my crossdressing before we ever got married. That was one of the most difficult things Ive ever had to do. I mean, given my insecurities and all, I was sure she was going to laugh at me and dump me, taking with her that expensive engagement ring I had given her.

But that wasnt the case at all. She had insisted on seeing how I looked when I was dressed as Laurathat was my femme nameand so one night I spent an hour or more preparing for my presentation to the woman I hoped would still be my fianc when I was done.

I remember I came out of the bathroom, my heart pounding, and I tried to talk to her in a voice that wouldnt sound too absurd, but which would still sound appropriate to how I was dressed.

Oh my God, she had gushed, when she saw me. And at first, I took that the wrong way.

Oh, honey, she continued, Youre beautiful. Turn around, let me see.

So, I did as I was told. And she started taking pictures of me with her phone.

Be careful with those, I said. Anyone else sees them, it could get

Relax, you chicken, she laughed. No one would ever think these were anything but pictures of a very pretty girl. I assume that bust of yours is just padding, right?

I laughed then. And assured her that it was indeed just padding. Even though, deep down, I knew I would have loved if I didnt need such contrivances.

We got married soon after that. And I ended up going into a law practice with her brother, Everett. We were a tiny firm, Patterson and ONeal. Everett Patterson had been my friend since before law school. We got along with each other as the best of friends, which helped tremendously with starting up a small two-man law firm from scratch.

We both knew that wasnt the most lucrative way to go, but we were each fiercely independent, for our own reasons. And fortunately, Everetts family had wonderful connections within the legal community, so we started getting a steady stream of outsourced legal work from some of those larger firms. It helped us pay the rent (and sometimes, ourselves) through those early days.

And my marriage seemed to be going very well as well. Everett had not yet found the right girl, in spite of the efforts of both Janice and I to fix him up with someone appropriate. None of those introductions seemed to take, though.

Heres the interesting thing, though: Janice didnt mind my time as Laurafar from it. I mean, she liked having time with the regular me, as well, but she didnt mind if I spent most of the weekend as Laura. In fact, she very quickly became something of a coach for my hobby, helping me perfect things like my makeup and my walk and even my voice.

Its like I have a husband and a girlfriend all in one package, she told me once, giggling. And yes, we did sometimes engage inahemmarital relationswhile I was Laura, rather than Leonard. So yes, I felt like I had hit the jackpot in that regard, as well.

Thing is, Janice really did more than accept me as Laura. At some point, she began to encourage it. I mean, really encourage it. To the point where she liked it if I changed into Laura as soon as I got home from work, and she liked having me as Laura for as much of the weekend as we could manage.

And she could be a demanding taskmaster!

Look, she told me, I put a fair bit of effort into how I look. If youre going to be a girl, youre going to have to meet my standards. I cant have you walking around, looking or sounding like a man in a dress. Do you understand, Laura? This has to be done right. If were going to be going out into the world as two women, I cant be embarrassed by you revealing yourself. Understood?

I nodded my head, as I looked up to her. She was taller than I was in normal situations, but when she wore heels (and she liked to wear quite high heels) she was like an amazon next to me.

I need to hear you say it, Laura. In a proper tone of voice, too.

I concentrated on getting my best Laura voice working.

I promise, love. Whatever it takes, you have my word.

I saw a gleam of something in her eye, then, when I said that, but I took it for mere arousal or excitement. It was something deeper and more intense, I would eventually figure out. But at that moment I didnt understand what I had just agreed to.

My wife had always been a perfectionist. That was something I admired about her. Her brother could be the same, although not quite as rigidly so as Janice was. But now that perfectionism had been directed to my little hobby. Which sort of became her little hobby as well.

The first step in her regimen was to start adding soy supplementsa lot of soy supplementsto my diet. I mean, she had me taking thirty tablets a day. And washing them down with soy milk.

Honey, this will be good for your health generally, and based on my research, it should soften your skin and maybe even do more than that. Well see.

Just as long as it doesnt get in the way ofyou know, I looked shyly down towards my lower abdomen.

God, no, she protested. Of course not. Cant have that, lover.

She was right about the soy. It took a while, but after four months I noticed definite changes in my body. They were kind of subtlemy skin did feel softer. But I also noticed a pleasing, if modest, sounding of my bosom. These changes were not so great as to get in the way of my presenting as Leonard at work, though. But I could definitely feel the changes happening.

I know it was a bit of an unusual life, an unusual marriage. But I was certainly happy. My parents did sometimes comment about how thin I was, and how youthful looking I was, to use their phrase. But if they suspected anything (or perhaps had deduced something about my personal hobby, they never said anything to me.