We ate in the dining room. Our Moms had prepared a real feast, and there were many of our favorite dishes in addition to many of the vegetables and ot...er items that our Moms enjoyed. I saw our girlfriends hesitate to eat some of the things, but Mother Clare spoke to them about the foods that were new to them."It's all right to eat everything here. When we first came here many years ago, we, too, were startled by some of the foods that we weren't familiar with, but we saw everyone else eating. She had left my hair a little shaggy, but it was much more restrained. My beard had become a respectable bushy sort of thing, instead of the rat’s nest that it had been before. If I were some other person looking at me, I might think that I had gained a modicum of respectability… at least until I opened my mouth. Claire nudged me towards the stairs. ‘Now go to bed, Vinny.’ I collapsed onto my bed a minute later, feeling more at peace than I had in eight weeks. I didn’t even notice that the. "You're a beautiful woman Catherine," Uncle Geoff said. "You've did theright thing." You've made me proud C.J," Aunt Jessica looked into my eyes. "I alwaysknew that Catherine was there. There was no doubt in my mind should'vebeen a girl. Our little Alice from all those years ago has fully emergedfrom her cocoon," she winked. "And that contract you have got with Stormis well deserved."Catherine and Samantha were the last to arrive. Like everyone else theywere wearing evening wear. I had to smile. Clothes straight from the factory. Come on, out you get!"Fluffy had never been interested in clothes. All she'd ever needed were jeans and shorts and sweaters and T-shirts, so she could play with the boys without looking too obviously like a girl. Of course, that had now changed suddenly and dramatically. She was beginning to wonder about what she ought to be wearing, given her suddenly extravagantly-developed figure. It might be fun to look in all these exciting shops. She couldn't afford any.