OTHER CHAPTERS | ALL STORY LIST
Monday morning arrived. Andy stood in front of his closet. His blue suits hung in a row. He touched the fabric. The wool felt heavy. He did not want to wear a suit.
He pulled out a pair of khaki pants and a light blue shirt. The pants felt tight around his hips. He looked in the mirror. His hips looked wider than he remembered. The waist of the pants dug into his skin.
Andy changed into jeans. The jeans felt better. He left the house in jeans and a t-shirt. His earrings caught the morning light. His ponytail rested on his shoulder.
At work, Rich stood by the coffee machine. He looked at Andy's ears. "You pierced your ears?"
"Yes," Andy said.
"You have diamond studs in your ears."
"Yes."
Rich laughed. "First the chick car. Then the ponytail. Then the smooth legs. Now earrings. What's next? A dress?"
Andy poured his coffee. He walked away without answering. Rich's words stayed in his head. Not because they hurt. Because they made him think.
He went to his cubicle and closed the partial door. He opened a new browser tab. He searched for "men wearing skirts." The results showed pictures. Some men looked happy. Some looked strange. Andy looked at the images for ten minutes.
His phone buzzed. A customer needed a quote. He closed the browser and worked until noon.
That afternoon, Andy drove to a customer two hours east. The car hummed along the highway. The beads swung. The earrings sparkled in the rearview mirror. Andy watched his reflection. His face seemed different. The jawline looked less sharp. The cheeks looked fuller.
He arrived at the customer's office. A woman at the front desk looked at him. "Can I help you?"
"Andy Parker. Here to see Tom."
The woman looked at his name on the screen. "Follow me."
Tom was a large man with a grey beard. They shook hands. Andy presented his products. Tom asked questions. Andy answered. The meeting lasted forty minutes.
"You look younger," Tom said as Andy packed his bag. "Did you lose weight?"
"A little," Andy said.
"It suits you."
Andy drove home. The time passed quickly. He arrived at his apartment before dark. Paul sat on the couch playing video games.
"Nina called," Paul said. "She wants you to come over."
Andy changed his shirt and drove to Nina's apartment. She opened the door wearing shorts and a tank top. Her hair was wet from a shower.
"Your earrings look good," she said.
"Thanks."
They sat on her couch. Nina turned on the television. A home improvement show played. Andy did not watch. He looked at Nina's clothes. Her shorts had a curved waist. Her tank top had thin straps.
"I want to ask you something," Andy said.
"Okay."
"Do you think I could wear your shorts?"
Nina turned to look at him. "My shorts? They are women's shorts."
"I know. My pants feel tight in the hips. Your shorts have more room there."
Nina stared at him for a moment. "You want to wear my clothes because they fit better?"
"Yes."
She stood up. She walked to her bedroom and came back with a pair of khaki shorts. "Try these."
Andy took the shorts. He went to the bathroom and changed. The shorts fit perfectly. The waist sat at his natural line. The fabric did not pinch. He walked out.
Nina looked at him. "Those do fit you."
"I told you."
She walked to her closet again. She pulled out a grey t-shirt. "Try this. My shirts are cut shorter. They will sit better with the shorts."
Andy changed shirts. The grey fabric ended right at the top of the shorts. No extra fabric bunched around his hips. He looked at himself in Nina's full-length mirror.
"This looks better," he said.
Nina crossed her arms. "Andy, this is strange. You are wearing my clothes."
"They fit. My clothes do not fit anymore. I do not know why my body changed, but it did. I need clothes that work."
Nina sat on the bed. She thought for a minute. "Okay. We can go shopping this weekend. Get you some clothes with a different cut. But not women's clothes. Just different men's clothes."
Andy agreed. He changed back into his own clothes. The jeans felt tight again. The shirt hung too long. He drove home feeling uncomfortable in his own skin.
The next morning, Andy woke early. He drove to a customer three hours away. The highway stretched through farm country. Andy watched the sunrise. The earrings caught the light. He touched his ponytail.
At a rest stop, he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. A man washing his hands looked at Andy's reflection. The man looked at the earrings, then at Andy's face, then back at the earrings. The man left without saying anything.
Andy drove the rest of the way. He finished his meeting by noon. On the drive back, his chest itched again. He scratched. The hair had started growing back. He stopped at the same drug store. He bought two tubes of hair removal cream.
That night, he applied the cream to his chest, his legs, his arms. He stood in the shower and watched the hair wash down the drain. His whole body felt smooth. He dried off and applied lotion. His skin looked pale and even.
He put on loose shorts and a t-shirt. He went to the kitchen. Paul looked at him.
"Did you shave your arms?" Paul asked.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to."
Paul put down his fork. "Andy, I have known you for three years. You never cared about body hair before. Now you have earrings, a ponytail, smooth arms, and you want to wear women's shorts. What is happening?"
Andy sat down across from Paul. "I do not know. But I feel better than I have ever felt. The car, the changes, everything. I feel correct for the first time in my life."
Paul opened his mouth to speak. His phone rang. He answered and walked into his bedroom. Andy sat alone at the table. He looked at his smooth arms. He touched his earrings. He smiled.
The car waited outside. The beads hung from the mirror. The blue paint glowed under the parking lot lights. Andy walked to the window and looked at the car. He did not know what the car had done to him. He did not care.
Andy and Nina went to the mall on Saturday. They walked past the men's stores. Andy looked inside but did not stop.
"There is a place that sells casual clothes," Nina said. "Good quality. Not expensive."
They entered a store with bright lights. Racks of shirts and pants filled the space. Nina led Andy to the men's section. He looked at the pants. The waists looked narrow. The hips looked straight.
"These will not fit me," Andy said.
"You have not tried them."
He picked a pair of khakis in his size. He went to the changing room. The pants pulled up to his thighs but would not close at the waist. He tried a larger size. The waist fit, but the legs hung loose and baggy. He looked ridiculous.
Nina knocked on the door. "How is it going?"
"The pants do not work. My body shape changed. Men's pants assume straight hips. I have curves now."
Nina handed him a pair of women's pants from the rack. "Try these. Same color. No one will know."
Andy pulled on the women's pants. They fit perfectly. The waist sat at the right place. The hips had extra room. The legs fell straight. He walked out of the changing room.
"Those look like normal pants," Nina said.
"They are comfortable."
They bought three pairs of women's pants in neutral colors. Beige, grey, black. They also bought women's t-shirts with higher necklines. Andy paid with his credit card. The cashier did not look twice.
That night, Andy drove home. The car hummed. The beads swung. He looked at his reflection. The ponytail, the earrings, the smooth skin. He looked like a different person.
Paul sat in the living room. He looked at the shopping bags. "What did you buy?"
"Pants. Shirts."
Paul did not ask to see them. He turned back to the television.
Sunday morning, Andy woke with a sore chest. His nipples hurt. He touched them through his shirt. They felt larger than before. He went to the bathroom mirror. The nipples had grown. The skin around them had darkened.
He called Nina. "Something is wrong with my chest."
"Wrong how?"
"They are bigger. The nipples changed."
Nina arrived twenty minutes later. She looked at Andy's chest. She touched the skin.
"This looks like breast tissue," she said.
"That is impossible. I am a man."
"Men can grow breasts. It happens. You should see a doctor."
Andy made an appointment for Tuesday. He spent Monday in the office. Rich made a comment about his hair. Mike asked if he lost weight. Andy said nothing about his chest.
Tuesday morning, Andy drove to the doctor's office. The car felt different today. Slower. Heavier. The beads did not swing as much. The radio played static.
The doctor was a woman named Patel. She listened to Andy's description. She examined his chest. She ordered blood work.
"Your hormone levels are unusual," Dr. Patel said. "Low testosterone. High estrogen. Have you taken any medications?"
"No."
"Any supplements? Herbal products?"
"No."
Dr. Patel wrote a prescription. "I want you to see an endocrinologist. Something changed your hormone balance. We need to find the cause."
Andy took the referral. He drove to Nina's apartment. He told her what the doctor said.
"The car," Nina said. "It has to be the car."
"That makes no sense. Cars do not change hormones."
"You changed after you bought it. Your personality, your body, everything. The car did this."
Andy wanted to argue. But he could not find a better explanation. He looked out the window at the light blue hatchback. The paint seemed to shimmer.
"Let me drive the car for a week," Nina said. "If I change too, then we know."
"No. I do not want you to change."
"Then sell it. Get rid of it."
Andy shook his head. "I cannot. The car feels like part of me now."
Nina grabbed her keys. "I am driving it. One day. Just to see."
She took the car keys from the hook. Andy followed her outside. She got in the driver's seat. She drove away. Andy stood in the parking lot, watching the blue car disappear around the corner.
He waited at Nina's apartment. Four hours passed. Nina returned. She looked the same. Her hair, her clothes, her walk. Nothing changed.
"See?" Andy said. "The car did nothing to you."
"I drove for four hours. I felt fine. Normal. Maybe the car only changes the owner."
"Then selling it will not help. I am already changed."
Nina handed back the keys. "Keep the car. But see the endocrinologist. Maybe medicine can reverse this."
Andy agreed. He drove home. The car felt smooth again. The beads swung. The radio played a song he liked. He parked and sat inside for ten minutes, just breathing.
The endocrinologist appointment was Thursday. Dr. Reyes reviewed the blood work. He asked about symptoms. Andy told him everything. The chest growth, the smooth skin, the wider hips, the emotional changes.
"Have you been exposed to any chemicals?" Dr. Reyes asked. "Pesticides? Plastics? Industrial solvents?"
"No. I drive a car. I visit customers. I eat normal food."
Dr. Reyes prescribed testosterone gel. "Apply this every morning. It should balance your levels. The changes might reverse."
Andy took the prescription. He drove to the pharmacy. He picked up the gel. He sat in the car, holding the box. The beads hung above him. The earrings caught the light.
He applied the gel that night. He rubbed it into his shoulders. The gel dried quickly. He went to sleep.
Friday morning, Andy woke up. He looked at his chest. No change. He applied more gel. He drove to work. The car felt the same. The time passed quickly. He arrived at the office before he remembered leaving home.
That evening, Nina came over. She looked at Andy's chest. "Any difference?"
"No. The gel does nothing."
"Maybe it takes time."
Andy touched his chest. The tissue felt denser than before. Larger. He measured himself with a tape measure. Thirty-eight inches around the chest. Two inches more than last week.
He sat on the couch. Nina sat next to him. They watched television without talking. Andy's phone buzzed. A message from Paul.
"Rich said you look like a woman. I told him to shut up."
Andy put down the phone. He looked at Nina. "Do I look like a woman?"
Nina hesitated. "You look like someone who is changing. I do not know what you will look like next week."
Andy went to the bathroom. He closed the door. He looked in the mirror. The face staring back had softer lines. Rounder cheeks. Larger eyes. He touched his jaw. The bone felt less sharp.
He turned on the shower. He stood under the hot water. The gel washed off his shoulders. The car waited outside. The beads hung from the mirror. Andy closed his eyes and let the water run.