"Don't do me any favors. If you want this youhave to say it. Do you want to be a girl?" Yes," I said louder and not without effort, "I'd like that. I ...ant tobe a girl." Good," said my mum smiling. "OK then. Get your shoes and go to the car.I'll take these clothes with me; maybe we can still get a refund." Now?" I asked, with a mixture of fear and excitement."Yes now," mum replied. "Go!" We need to go through some things," mum said later in the car. "Firstof all no peeing standing up. I don't. "So what brings you up here?" I asked after fetching another glass, filling it and passing it to the still standing young woman."A change of jobs. I don't start the new one for another week so I decided to visit Nan and Granddad. Given that I was up here, I thought I'd call around to see how you are getting on." Sit down then, you're making the place look untidy. You still pulling pints?" I asked as I sat in my usual reclining chair."Yup. Same old job, just different pub."She sat opposite and. We were based on Maluka Nui, in the Solomons, 'bout the middle of '43, I guess. Had the Nips on the run by then, and we were building airstrips like mad on every shitty little lump of coral in the South Pacific. I'd gotten a touch of malaria on the Canal, and now here I was playing guard dog to the damned Seabees, watching to see that no sniper took a potshot at those hotshot 'dozer jockeys.Kathleen her name was, the name the missionaries gave her. I couldn't get my mouth around her native. I went to every car show or cruise that was over night. My best buddy John and I would leave on Friday night and return on Sunday evening. One time when he and I were in Alabama for a weekend show he asked me what do you think Andrea does when you are gone all weekend? Even though I knew Tim was getting her pussy this particular weekend I just told John I'll just about guarantee you she laying in bed. He laughed and said what a bum. I laughed too. I always call Andrea when I'm about an hour.