As the door opened, a bell bracketed to the wall rang. “Welcome to the Magic Shoppe,” the tall, thin man behind the counter announced. “What can I do for you today?”

The man in his mid-thirties approached the counter. He mostly ignored the maid sweeping near the front of the shop. “I hope you can help. I need to be a woman.”

“Interesting. How long have you wanted to be a woman?”

“I haven’t.”

“I knew this would be interesting.”

“I’m in love.”

“Congratulations.”

“He doesn’t know it.”

“That can be corrected.”

“He’s also straight.”

“He is?”

“As an arrow. I’ve known him almost thirty years now. I was the best man at his wedding. He cried on my shoulder when his wife left him. We been together longer than most marriages. I love him. And if not for anatomy, I’m sure he could love me the same way.”

“But you aren’t a woman. You have never felt like you were a woman. You don’t dream of being free to show the world the woman you’ve always been.”

“No. I’m not trans. I’m not even gay. I’m not exact straight though, I guess. I’ve dated. I’ve been in long term and casual relationships with women. But, the only relationship that has lasted is the one I have with Henry. My family won’t care. My job won’t care. I can’t go on without doing something about this. I need to be a woman.”

“I can see this wasn’t a spur of the moment decision.”

“I first heard about your shop three years ago. Today, I’m here.”

“Okay. Do you live with Henry now?”

“No, we both have separate apartments and live alone.”

“Perfect. You need to tell anyone who might try to find you that you have to go out of town for a month, or a similar excuse if that wouldn’t work.”

“Doable.”

“Then you will follow my instructions to the letter when I give you this potion. Three days after you take the potion you will be a woman, forever after.”

“If it only takes three days. Why do I need to disappear for a month?”

“Because if you know what’s good for you, and you are willing to follow my instructions to the letter as I’ve asked, you will spend the rest of the month being a woman not in Henry’s presence. If you expect him to fall in love with a woman, you should learn to be a woman before asking him to love you.”

“You can’t love someone if you don’t love yourself? Is that the idea?”

“Yes. You don’t want to be a woman. After spending a month as a women, I hope being a woman is your favorite thing. Even more so than being in love with Henry.”

“That is incredibly wise. I’ve always wanted to go to Rome. I have the miles for first class tickets. I could indulge that fantasy while making my other fantasy a reality.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“What will this cost me?”

“Three hundred dollars and an invitation to the wedding.”

“You think there’ll be a wedding.”

“I am a wizard.”

“Well, be on the look out for an invitation to the wedding of Henry Marston and Lorraine Foster.”

“Lorraine?”

“Lorraine sounds like my name, Lars. What’s wrong with Lorraine?”

“Is that your mother’s or grandmother’s name?”

“I just think it sounds cool.”

“It did. In the nineteen forties.”

“I’ll workshop it. I’ll have a month in Rome to figure it out. Oh, how will I get to Rome without a passport?”

“You wouldn’t. But you need to figure out the name before you take the potion. When you do, all the databases with your name in them will change to the new name and your gender will be updated. So figure out something else a bit faster, please.”

“Okay. I guess I won’t be taking the potion tonight.”

“No, you won’t. You will read the instructions which tell you you have to wait for the full moon three days from now.”

“Oops. Okay. Good day.” The man left the shop.

The proprietor had a smile on his face until his woolgathering was interrupted.

“You can be a real prick,” the maid said after the man left.

“You were aware of that exchange?”

“I’m enjoying the spell you’ve cast on me. But, whenever someone comes in, I am myself.”

“Fascinating. I didn’t know you were an actress. I should strengthen the spell.”

“No need. The next time one of the portals opens…” On cue, a dust portal opened in front of her. As the dust fluttered to the floor, she shook her head, made a tsk-sound and swept the area where the dust landed. She moved on to the next dust pile oblivious of the moment of lucidity that had been cut short.

“Fascinating.”

*****

She awoke drenched in sweat and stunk of death and decay. The instructions had said the process would be arduous, painful, and uninterruptible. After feasting for a day, she had writhed in pain and delirium for three days. She didn’t want to move. She reached out and found several bottles of water. She drank one down quickly and nursed her way through another. She climbed out of the bathtub. She was going to have throw out the sheet and two pillows as the instructions had said.

She grabbed a couple large trash bags and double bagged the bedclothes that were ruined in the tub. She turned the water on and showered. Her skin didn’t like the hot water but she really needed to get rid of the slimy stuff covering her body. When she reached for the shampoo, it wasn’t the kind she was used to. It was some kind of botanical and hibiscus thing. The soap was feminine body wash. She hadn’t purchased such things. The spell had transformed more that just her body, she guessed.

An hour later she dried off. She patted her skin dry. This wasn’t how she normally did it. But, she had seen women do it before. She wondered how much her mind might have changed.

She stood in front of the mirror in her room and laughed. “He was right. I don’t look like a Lorraine.” She turned her face side to side getting used to it. She did the same with her body silhouette. She squeezed her boobs. “I can deal with this. I guess my masculinity never defined me.”

Her entire wardrobe had changed. There were stockings in place of socks, a variety of shoes, panties, shirts, blouses, dresses, and so on. The instructions had said she should spend some time putting on a bra a few times, putting on a buttoned shirt a few times. She wasn’t sure why buttons mattered until she found out they were backwards.

As preparation for her new life, before the transformation, she had rented a temporary phone. On her normal phone, she had set a new missed call message that said she would be out of the country and unreachable for a month, giving a date a week after her return from Rome. She turned off her new phone and left it in her bedside table. The new phone had no contacts in it.

A few days later she was seated on a plane in first class on her way to Rome. She felt a little foolish when she was asked her name and had to think about it. The seat next to her was occupied by a woman about her age. When the woman saw her looking her way, she said, “Hi, I’m Natalie, Natty to my friends.”

“Cora,” the former man said. “Cora to my friends.”

Natty laughed. “I can’t wait to get to Rome.”

“Me, too. I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“Me, too. I have a whole itinerary.”

As they discussed their plans to see all of Rome in three weeks, they realized that while the day to day plans didn’t match, all the destinations did. They were even staying in the same hotel.

“We should shack up,” Natty said.

“You are attractive, but…”

“Oh, silly. I didn’t mean it like that,” Natty said. She gave Cora a look up and down. “Though, maybe I should have.”

They laughed.

After an hour, Cora said she wanted to try to sleep so she’d be fresh and be getting over the jet lag as fast as possible.

Natty had had the same idea and they didn’t really speak again until the flight was landing. They shared a van to the hotel and decided they didn’t really know one another so they’d stick to their own rooms. It also meant they wouldn’t have to share a bathroom. The hotel did set them up with adjoining rooms.

It was early evening and they met up again a few hours later to have dinner in the hotel and see if they wanted to do anything together the following day.

Natty had rearranged her schedule she would be at most of all the same attractions as Cora on the same day as Cora. The first few days they tended to share rides to the attractions and go their separate ways. Meet for lunch. Hit up something the other told them about during lunch. Then share a ride back to the hotel.

Over dinner, they would talk about their experiences.

“We should just hang together the whole day,” Cora said.

“We should. I wanted to do that the first day. But, you remind me of a friend. And sometimes I need to back off when I get excited about something. Let them come to me when their ready. Do you have a friend like that?”

“No. I’m probably that friend. I usually hate the unexpected.”

“Yeah. I can see that.”

*****

After a week, Cora was laying in bed after midnight. She hadn’t figured out how to make herself orgasm yet. But she was determined to learn. Her mind tried to imagine Henry touching her and that was nice. But she realized she had no idea what it felt like to have a man touching her. She remembered the number of times when they’d been around the city and Natty would take her hand. She hadn’t realized how much she’d enjoyed feeling her touch.

Cora didn’t feel attracted to any of the men she’d seen in Rome. She knew the cab driver from the other day had been hot. But he didn’t rev her engine. Thinking about Natty did. But, still. Not enough.

Her fingers were cramping and she was about to give up when she heard Natty’s voice. Cora wanted to laugh as it was apparent Natty was doing what Cora was failing to accomplish.

“Oh, yes. Yes. That’s the spot. You want to put that in my mouth? What are you waiting for? Anything for you.”

The litany of dirty talk was helping Cora build toward her own orgasm. It almost sounded like Natty had a man in her room. But Cora couldn’t figure out when she would have met a man.

Natty’s chatter became less coherent and more boistrous. Cora was begging her not to stop silently as she was the closest she ever gotten to the end. “Yes, Yes. Oh, god, your tongue is divine. Yes. Cora, Yes!!”

Cora came. It felt very weird because she was also in shock from Natty calling out her name. Her body didn’t care and she came again before collapsing on the bed. She wanted to think about what she had just participated in. She wanted to think about how the orgasm had differed from male orgasms. But, the gentle warmth radiating through her body dragged her into a blissful sleep.

She became aware again with a tapping on the adjoining door. “Cora?” Natty calling out her name was far less strident in the light of day.

“Coming!” As she stood up, the combined thoughts of Natty no longer calling her name in passion along with her own saying, “coming,” had her bent over laughing.

“Are you hurt? What’s that sound?”

“Give me… Give me a couple minutes. I am dying. But from laughter.”

“What? Dying? Laughter? What’s funny? Do I amuse you?”

“Please stop.”

It was ten minutes before Cora opened the inner door. She wasn’t fully dressed. Her face was wet; her eyes were watery.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Cora laughed again. “I’m sorry. Maybe we should sit.”

Natty was concerned but didn’t say anything.

“Last night I heard…”

“Oh, my, was I loud? I’m sorry if I kept you awake.”

“Oh, no. It wasn’t that. I was, um, doing the same thing.”

“Oh, I guess that means I didn’t keep you up.”

“I don’t, um, orgasm easily. But with you’re... um…”

“Enthusiasm?”

“Yeah, that, I manage to come last night for the first time.” Natty looked at her funny and Cora quickly added, “in a long time.”

“That’s great. Glad I could help.”

“Yeah, I went over the top when you said my name.”

Natty turned beet red. “I…”

“It’s fine. I was… I was thinking of you… And…”

Natty kissed Cora. She was about to pull away because she knew Cora had become stiff as a board in her arms. Cora melted and kissed her back before the kiss ended. They kissed for several minutes. Until Natty broke out laughing.

“What’s funny?”

“That’s what I want to know. If you had feelings for me, why were you busting a gut earlier.”

Cora laughed. “It’s kind of stupid now. I came last night when you called out my name. And then when you were trying to get to answer, I said, ‘Coming,’ and it made me laugh because I was so nervous about… this.”

“That wasn’t as funny as I’d hoped.”

“I’ll make it up to you like this.”

*****

They were dining at a restaurant near the hotel. It was the first time they’d left Cora’s hotel room that day. Cora was a little wistful between the salad and the entrée.

“What are you thinking?”

“I came to Rome to find myself.”

“And?”

“I did not expect to find you. I’m a little confused.”

“By what?”

“There’s this guy I like, who I thought I loved but could never tell him. We hang out together and he doesn’t see me that way. Now there’s you. Who I assume sees me that way given what we were doing all day. I… It’s complicated. I was hoping time away from him where I could just think would clear my head.”

“And I messed it all up.”

“Not your fault.”

“We don’t have to be a couple. What happens in Rome…”

“That’s not how that saying goes.”

“Right. When in Rome, toga party!”

Cora managed to finish her eyeroll before chuckling.

“Do you need to make a decision right now?” Natty asked.

“I suppose not.”

“Then don’t worry about it. You and I are here. We’re having fun. I didn’t come to Rome expecting to find love either.”

“I know. I just... How long have you been thinking… about me… like that?”

“Since we went to Piazzo Navona. The weather was gorgeous. We were sitting on one of the benches near the central fountain. You were telling me something about one of the figures that I wanted to pay attention to. Instead, all I could see was the sunlight passing through your hair. I wanted to kiss you right there.”

Cora blushed.

“I’m sorry. No. I didn’t mean to make this awkward. I… We can do separate things…”

Cora kissed Natty. Natty was hesitant at first. The kiss lingered and became both women’s world for a while. Years later, they would both be able to recall every detail of the kiss. Time passed and neither could say how the kiss ended.

“Oh, stop,” Cora said, breaking the kiss’ spell. “Yeah, I’m embarrassed. It isn’t often someone waxes poetic about light in my hair. That was so beautiful. Like the kiss we just shared.”

“Are we going out or staying in?”

“We kiss like that when the attractions are closed tonight. Let’s go see places with a good vista that we can hold hands and stare at for long romantic silences.”

“And you called me the poet,” Natty said. “We should dress warmly. Vista sites are generally windy.”

“Twenty minutes?”

“Put a little hustle in it. Fifteen.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

The day was magical. They spent the day in hills surrounding the city looking out over it, holding hands, kissing, giggling, eating. For both of them, the holiday in Rome began on this day.

After dining, Natty suggested they go to a nightclub for some dancing before returning to the hotel for their first evening sharing a bed.

The dancing was seductive. Both took turns being the hunter or the prey as they teased and tantalized the other. They left early. The walk back to the hotel was less leisurely than they would remember. They rushed up to Cora’s room, it being closer to the elevator, and were on the bed together immediately. Shoes, dresses, and other clothing littered the floor. What time they fell asleep was known by neither of them.

*****

A couple weeks later, they were landing in the airport from where the journey had begun. Cora became serious as the waited at the luggage carousel. “I’d love to take you home and spend another three weeks alone with you. But I have a lot of things to take care of. Let’s set up a date somewhere for next Saturday.”

“Do we have to wait until Saturday?” Natty said. They were standing close together. Natty’s hands were on Cora’s hips.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I really need to get a grip on some things. I told you I had some recent changes to deal with.”

“But you wouldn’t be specific.”

“There will be time for that in future. I promise. But not now.”

“Okay. I trust you. Let’s try not to blow each other’s phone, too.”

“I get the feeling you want to break up.”

“No, I just want to deal with the guy I told you about. Next time I see him, I’m sure he won’t make me feel like he did before I met you.”

“I hope not.” Natty said. Her phone indicated her ride was waiting. She kissed Cora. “That’s my ride. See you a seven sharp on Saturday.”

“You will.”

*****

The week flew by. After listening to her normal phone blow up the notifications for ten minutes, she finally picked it back up and went through them. She called her mother and sister and told them what she’d done. Her sister ribbed her for falling in love with a different person after making such a drastic change to herself.

She sent a simple text to Henry: Back from Rome. Want to get dinner Friday?

An hour later she received a text from Henry: Sounds great. Can’t wait to hear about your trip.

Friday, she arrived at the restaurant early. They weren’t busy so she was seated immediately. Henry was already twenty minutes late when a familiar face approached her table.

“Cora?” Natty said.

“Natty? What are you doing here?”

She sat down. “I’m meeting you.”

“We’re meeting tomorrow.”

“Yes. And we’re meeting now Lars.”

Cora’s eyes went wide. How did Natty know her old name?

“Henry?”

“In the newly made flesh,” Natty said. “I have a story. It was about six weeks ago that I went to that Magic Shoppe on seventh…”

They spent the next hour laughing and cursing the owner of the Shoppe. They traded stories about telling loved ones about their change. They complained bitterly about their new found monthly event happening for the first time that week.

“The Shoppe guy had to know.”

“He did. So did you, didn’t you?” Cora said.

“What do you mean?”

“I know you, Henry. You didn’t accidentally call out my name while pleasuring yourself in the next room. You knew who I was then.”

Natty looked a little sheepish. “I highly suspected. It wasn’t until a few days later that I confirmed it with how you spoke and commented on things.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“And break the spell? I’ve loved you for years. And I think you loved me. And we were too stupid to tell one another.”

That sobering thought brought the mood down momentarily.

After a moment, Cora said, “How did you get Natty out of Henry?”

“To really embrace the change, the Shoppe owner suggested I pick a name that didn’t sound like Henry. You?”

“He only told me Lorraine wasn’t a good idea?”

“Well, thank god for that.”

Cora acted hurt until a smile finally graced her face. “I suppose there are far worse fates then spending the rest of out lives together as women.”

“I can think of a bunch, sure,” Natty said.

“Well, since we can’t go back, we can move forward.” Cora raised her wine glass.

“To us.”

They toasted to their future.