"They're right, Joan, underneath all this I AM Ross, but I certainly don't feel like Ross tonight. Tonight, please call me Rose." She knew at that moment that he, at least for that evening, had surrendered to being totally Rose, and she had had that dollar signs climbing feeling that night, too. She just knew Adain would pay whatever she asked, and he had. With Rose it had been her delight in her friendship with Lou and Ed, her knowledge that they had a surprise planned for her that night, that had spurred her to 150 transition.
Obviously, something had had the same effect on Robert, as HE had obviously and almost certainly voluntarily crossed the line from androgyny to womanhood, and SHE loved it.
"I DO like, Robbie, in fact, I LOVE your new look. You look just the perfect receptionist/secretary, girl - and I do mean Girl, with a capital 'G'. What happened to Robert, the young man I was borrowing from my friends Lou and Ed?" She waved toward the chair in front of her desk. "Sit! Tell Auntie Joan all about it!"
Smoothing her skirt under herself in an entirely graceful and feminine manner, Robbie sat. "Well, Dr. Adk-"
"Call me Joan, dear. You are officially off duty for the duration of your story."
"Well, Joan. You know how fond I am of Louise and Edwina. They have been so nice to me, giving me a job and all, and they are the best friends I have here in Chicago. I've known for some time now that they like me to be feminine, and that they've been trying to ease me into becoming a girl, to trick me into it, so to speak. They don't know that I realize what's going on. They also don't know." here she gave a big smile and threw her hands up and out and then in to muss her hair in the old Marlo Thomas "That Girl" gesture of pure feminine exuberance, ".that I LOVE it! They've been having so much fun with their little games, and I like them so much, that I couldn't bring myself to admit it to them and spoil their fun. But a friend of mine, Stephanie, that I met at The Wine Bar, a little place on Rosco that I stop at occasionally, encouraged me to surprise them and jump completely over the androgynous step."
