Shipping Clerk Ch. 03

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Day Two

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Obligatory Shower Scene

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In the morning when Andi woke up, she had hair in her face again. She really needed to figure out girling. She tried to put a ponytail in last night, but it seemed to have worked itself loose somehow.

She sat up, brushing the hair out of her face with her hands. It was just long enough that it would stay out of her face if she put it over her shoulders and tucked a few strands behind her ears. That felt better. She remembered her mom doing that exact thing.

As a shape-shifter, she knew that every time her body shifted, it renewed itself in an optimally-healthy way. "Do I even need a shower?" she wondered.

She sniffed an armpit experimentally. Ew, maybe not. On second thought... she removed the shirt and tossed on the bed, then sniffed the smooth skin again. Much better. Still, a shower might be in order.

Stepping into the hot shower for the first time in her female form, she made an important discovery - protect your breasts! She squeaked in surprise and quickly turned around, slipping a bit on the shower floor. She still wasn't accustomed to moving about in this new shape. The addition of two very large breasts was unhelpful, as well. Crisis averted and... now her hair was all wet. She hadn't planned on washing it, but she was now six inches shorter than she used to be and hadn't adjusted the shower head for her new height.

The water also seemed hotter somehow, as though her skin was much more sensitive. Andi took the washcloth and soap and began to scrub. This immediately alerted her to the fact that her scratchy old wash cloth was far too rough. It was appropriate for boy-Andy to use on his rough male skin covered in reddish-brown body hair, but not for the new girl-Andy to use on her soft, delicate, hairless skin. Andi wasn't very happy about this revelation, but decided that she was glad she found that out. Undoubtedly, there would be plenty of new things for her to discover in the near future about the way her new body responded to various types of stimulation.

Abandoning the washcloth, Andi decided to simply soap herself up using only the bar of soap. That proved interesting, as well. Andi had never soaped up a woman in the shower before, even though that kind of thing had been pretty common in the high school showers. At 18, all students involved in athletic activities - which was almost everyone - were required to use the school's adult locker room.

The government made a number changes in order to address the post-pandemic drop in fertility. One those policy changes was to mandate that all public high schools institute a coed shower policy. The reasoning was that if you herded a bunch of naked 18- and 19-yr-olds into a room, then nature will take its course. Andi chuckled at the thought. Poor boy-Andy, always watching from the sidelines as the campus elite played their sexual games. He wasn't bad looking at all, he just lacked the confidence or the social connections that the other teens had. Most of them had been in classes together for years. Andy was the perpetual outsider, the foster kid, changing houses, guardians, and schools every few months.

Competition for sexual attention was fierce, and boy-Andy had too many disadvantages to be the guy invited to soap up a sexy girl in the showers. But now, things were different! Girl-Andi had her own sexy female body to soap up. She did so... thoroughly... twice. Andi marveled at the sensuous feeling of running her soapy hands over her own soft, smooth skin. Shifters generally lost all or nearly all of their body hair on their first shift. Andi's supple curves were no exception. Other than her head and eyebrows, she was almost completely hairless. The lone exception was a small patch of downy, reddish fur in the center of her mons. Everything else was hairless, and Andi's delicate fingers roamed across her body's new geography in delight. She even caught herself moaning at one point as she soaped her overly sensitive nipples for the third... or maybe the fifth time, sending shivers of delight down the center of her torso. The one thing she didn't explore was the folds and crevices of her new vagina. She didn't think she was ready for that.

Actually, she did think that she was very ready for that but was concerned about being on time. Ms. Stotts informed boy-Andy yesterday that he needed to be on the curb at 8:30 sharp, and she didn't want him to be late.

Exiting the shower, Andi picked up her towel and began drying herself in the same way that she had always done. Ouch, now the towels were too scratchy. First the washcloth, now this! Or maybe she was drying herself too vigorously? It seemed to be a combination of both. Either way, when she got paid this Friday, Andi was totally going shopping! She needed new towels, that's for sure. And... she looked around and the bare walls, cracked tile floor, and the everything else that seemed inadequate.

Andi sighed sharply. Boy-Andy's chivalrous instincts had been right on target last night when he hesitated to shift into his female form. He was right, this wasn't the proper environment for her. Girl-Andi didn't belong in this place. She was better than this. She needed softer, fluffier towels. But clean, new towels didn't belong here, either. They, like Andi herself, would be totally out of place. Andi deserved better in life and she was determined to get it. Maybe she could get a loan or something? Or maybe the executive assistant job came with an apartment? Sometimes that was how it worked. Andi would ask.

Back in the bedroom, Andi laid down on the bed and thought of boy-Andy. It was odd to think of herself as two different people trading places, but that's how it seemed to her. She knew boy-Andy well. She had been him for most of his life. She thought of him, pulled him into herself, and shifted. As her body rippled and shifted, she had a strange thought. Boy-Andy seemed calmer now, not as anxious as he normally was.

Andy sat up, still holding that thought. He was calmer now. He did feel better than he had in ages. The constant anxiety seemed to have lifted and he felt almost light and airy.

So did his head. Andy shook his head forward and was delighted by a cascade of silky-smooth, clean and dry hair. So that rumor was true! When she lay down on the bed to shift, girl-Andi's tresses had been a sopping mess. Scratchy, decrepit old towels aren't much good for drying long hair, either. But now, thanks to the mysterious shifter virus, he had a full head of dry, clean hair.

"Being a shifter is awesome!" he informed the empty room.

After dressing in his work uniform, he brushed his hair with his mother's hairbrush and put it in a ponytail. He still wasn't sure what to do with his hair but felt that the basic manly ponytail was sufficient for now. He was about to place the brush on the nightstand in its usual place in front of the framed photograph of his mother when he had a sudden thought. Lina had been here! She invaded his safe space, the place he came to escape from her. She would be back, he thought, clutching his most precious memento to his chest. Instead of putting it down, he placed it in his bag where it would be safe. After a brief hesitation, he did the same with his mother's photograph.

Then he threw an old ball cap on and headed out, ready to face a new day. He was going to talk to his new lawyer this afternoon, his boss liked him, and life was looking up.

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Long Black Luxury Sedan

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Andy was on the curb with minutes to spare. "That was good," he thought, "I almost got distracted in the shower there. I may need to do a closer "inspection" tonight."

Once again, Andy felt the weirdness of the situation pass through him like a wave. A few minutes ago, he had been a sexy girl not-quite masturbating in the shower. Now he was just plain old Andy Grumman, standing on a corner.

Despite the early hour, the chess club was sitting under the shade tree. Andy wondered if they ever slept. Other than Wobble-Jack, they were the apartment complex's old men, drinkers... and witnesses. They called themselves the "chess club", but Andy had only seen them play checkers, drink, and talk. Half of them were in their early 50's. That meant that they would be dead within a few years. Andy's predecessor in the Shipping Department had passed away from old age at 48 years old. But not every workplace was willing to tolerate the presence of a doddering old man, and many of the chess club members had been discarded by their employers when they began to appear infirm.

These were men whose active lives were over, and they were just sitting there waiting for their time to run out.

One of them stood up heavily, wobbled a bit, then came over to where Andy was standing alone a short distance away.

"Hey, Jazzie," Andy offered.

Jazzie didn't respond, he just stood next to Andy for a minute, watching the parking lot. Occasionally, a car would arrive and take someone to work. They were all the least expensive single-compartment cars available. The exact same kind of car that Andy had always used.

Jazzie pulled a small dime-store cigar out of his shirt pocket and lit it thoughtfully, watching the half-busy parking lot. There was a time when most people had their own cars, but that was long past, and the parking lot was mostly empty. In the modern era, cars were serviced and recharged in centralized lots. They only came to you when you summoned them on your phone. That was why Andy had been stranded the day before when Lina cut his phone service off the day before.

"Morning, son, how are ya?"

"Fine, sir, fine," Andy replied. Jazzie was one of the very few men in Andy's life that he had ever had the opportunity to call "sir", and one of the even fewer men who had bothered to call him "son". When Andy had first moved in, Jazzie had assisted him in getting his dumpster-find furniture up to the third floor.

Jazzie puffed thoughtfully at his cigar. The action sucked his cheeks in, and Andy suddenly thought that his face looked a bit thinner than it had three weeks ago. "Saw that long black car, and them two fine ladies in it, droppin' you off last night."

"Umm, yeah," Andy dissembled, "I, my, umm, phone wasn't working and I needed a ride and stuff, and umm, my boss gave me a ride."

Jazzie nodded thoughtfully, breathing in the pungent smoke. A surprising number of old men took up smoking. They weren't worried about the long-term health effects, because they all knew that they didn't have any "long-term" anything.

Right... so," Jazzie continued after ignoring Andy's response. "Lotsa other people here got eyes, lotsa other people got ears."

"We seen the black car... that one right there," he said, pointing with his cigar. "We see the new hairdo ya think yer hidin' under yer hat. We heard the nasty screaming bitch last night, these walls are paper thin. Here's my advice to ya, son -- don't come back tonight. If ya do, pack yer things and go. Nothin' here worth keepin' anyway. You don't belong here no more. Maybe ya did before, but ya don't now. I ain't threatenin' ya none, I'm just trying to give ya some good advice, unnerstan' that, son?"

He started to turn away as the long, black sedan pulled smoothly up to the curb, but then turned back. "Oh, and Andy," he said, with the first trace of genuine emotion, "Give Abby a kiss for me, tell her it's from Grampie Jazzie."

Once again, Katheryn Stotts exited the sedan and ushered him inside, touching him gently on the back as she did so. Andy finally understood what was happening now - he really WAS the recipient of intentional chivalry. And it wasn't just Ms. Katheryn. Jazzie's warning was chivalrous, too. In his own way, on his own initiative, Jazzie had decided that Andy was worthy of protection. That was why he had provided that warning.

Marilyn, who was sitting across from Andy and Katheryn, noticed his pensive look. "Are you all right, dear?" she asked.

"Umm, yeah, fine," he replied. "That guy I was talking to, he basically just told me that the walls have ears and the courtyard has eyes. He said 'don't come back tonight' and I'm not sure what that means."

The Stotts exchanged concerned glances and then Marilyn carefully interrogated Andy to learn every nuance of the conversation with Jazzie. Once she was sure she had all the information, she said, "All right, Andy, don't worry about this anymore. Katheryn and I will handle it. Just like I handled the Carmel Corp issue yesterday. You did everything you could, and you brought it to me. Then I handled it and has all been taken care of. I spoke with Zahra Hosseini on the way here and she's very grateful that we managed to fix the mess that her lazy-ass son made out of that whole thing. Andy, you have industriousness and courage, you took the issue head on and provided me with everything that I needed to know. I have authority that you do not. You couldn't have fixed it on your own, so you brought it to me. That was the right thing to do."

"This new issue is also something that you don't have the means to handle, but I do. Once we get to the office, I will make some phone calls. This is no longer your concern. When we arrive at your apartment this evening, Katheryn will escort you upstairs to gather your most valuable things. You will never need to return to that place. Your friend Jazzie was right, you don't belong there. You never did. We'll take you home with us tonight so that you have a safe place to stay until we can get you better situated, do you understand, Andy?"

Andy wasn't sure what to think. Events were moving so fast. Now he was homeless? As soon as he thought he had a handle on this tale, it moved ahead so rapidly.

"I'm not sure?" he said tentatively, looking up at Ms. Katheryn.

Ms. Katheryn was sitting next to Andy with one arm protectively around his shoulders and the other on his thigh. She looked down at him and said in a very patient manner, "Andy, listen, whatever it is, we'll get it fixed, okay? You don't need to worry about it. You will have a place to say tonight. We'll stop by and pick up your important things tonight, okay? Tomorrow evening we can pick up whatever's left. Everything will be fine, Marilyn and I will handle it."

"It's probably nothing at all, loose talk only. I'm sure your friend Jazzie is just being extra cautious. I bet if you went home tonight like normal, everything would be fine. It doesn't matter. We'll put you in the guest bedroom tonight. We'll keep you there until we can find a better place for you. Free of charge of course."

"Guest bedroom" and "free of charge" didn't sound so bad to Andy. Heck, if they could afford to eat at Pasta Garden whenever they wanted, they probably didn't survive on ramen bologna soup!

Marilyn was tappity-tapping away at her tablet.

Katheryn sat next to him on the way to the office with her hand on his thigh. Now that the anxiety from the conversation with Jazzie was fading, her warm hands were triggering a raging hardon, a hardon that he knew he couldn't do anything about. The idea of making a move on Ms. Katheryn Stotts was unthinkable... but Andy was thinking it anyway. At least, that part of him that wasn't very bright was thinking about it. Andy surreptitiously shifted in his seat, trying to get more comfortable without being too obvious about it. Maybe she wouldn't notice. The stimulating hand withdrew, and Andy wasn't sure if he was disappointed or relieved.

He also noticed that his nipples had hardened and become more sensitive when he was aroused. They were even visibly tenting the fabric of his polo shirt. He didn't know if that was a normal reaction for a shifter or not, but he hoped it would go away. It was embarrassing. If he acted as if everything was normal, then they probably wouldn't notice.

Another thing he realized was that he had just been the prize in a power play. Katheryn just took him, as her prize, from her sister Marilyn. Katheryn was Marilyn's superior, so she took the young female breeder for herself. It was confusing and disconcerting to Andi to realize that they perceived him as a "young female breeder" even if he did not (yet) view himself as such. These are the dominance games that the Matriarchy plays - competition for control over the best breeders (and studs).

On the car ride, he told them about Lina's visit the night before and waved the offer letter at them. Katheryn reached toward the letter and Andy was afraid she was going to take it from him. If she had, he would have given it up. He knew he was in a very precarious situation right now and didn't feel like he had the power to tell her no. But instead of taking it, she pressed his hand back down.

"Keep that hidden, keep that safe, Andy," she admonished him. "Only show this to your lawyer, not to me. Understand? He'll help you navigate treacherous waters. That's what he lives for, this is his wheelhouse. He works for you, not me. Marilyn and I both want to protect you, but you need to learn how to protect yourself. That means only showing that to your attorney so you can get his advice. We're putting together our own, competing offer. I think you'll like what's in it. Marilyn and I want to keep you as a member of the Stotts Trucking family for as long as you will have us, is that clear?"

Andy nodded and leaned forward to put the letter back in his bag. When he leaned back, he discovered that Katheryn had moved her hand and it was now firmly wedged between the leather seat and his bottom. She wasn't grabby about it; her touch is very light. But it was there, and it felt very possessive and proprietary. Lina was possessive and proprietary, too. But she was grabby and grasping about it. Andy could see that now. But six years ago, as a lost 19-yr-old on his own for the first time in his life, he could not see that. After enduring so many years of indifference during his foster care years, he was just glad that somebody wanted him. The purely selfish and self-interested nature of Lina's desire was completely lost on him until it was far too late, and he was nestled firmly into her web.

The Stotts wanted him, that was true. They wanted him very much. But there were taking great care to ensure that he felt autonomous, and the master of his own destiny. They clearly wanted him to choose Stotts Trucking, but they wanted to make it Andy's choice. Lina and the Stotts had the exact same goal - control over girl-Andi and her rare and precious fertile womb - but they were going about it in completely different ways. Lina tried to browbeat him into submission. The Stotts were seducing him. It was working, and he liked it.

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Lunch With the Boss

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Andy carefully laid a napkin from the lunchroom out on his desk. He didn't want to make a mess. Messes bring attention to the mess maker, and attention is always bad. At least it had been until recently. Andy's life was improving recently, and he was starting to receive some positive attention. But old habits die hard, and he still felt that avoiding attention was best. Especially if it involved messes.

Next, he pulled the two breadsticks from the La Pasta Garden out of his bag and laid them on the napkin. He inspected them, his mouth watering in anticipation. Sure, they were stale, but they were still covered in salty and garlicky goodness. One had lint on it, and he removed that. Then he put his PB&J from yesterday out. It was kind of battered and squashed by now, but Andy figured that was all right. He was just going to chew it up anyway.

"Andy..." he heard from behind him. Startled, he spun around in his chair, almost making a mess by knocking his lunch askew. Ms. Katheryn Stotts, CEO of the company, was standing behind him.

"Oh, umm, Ms. Stotts, I was just..."