“Jenny, my daughter helps, but one of the children is not at all well.”
“I need a job for the summer, if you want someone to give you a hand?”
“Really?” asked Mary, warming to the idea.
“I’m not a brilliant cook, but I could peel potatoes, wash up, make beds and do stuff like that. Oh, and I’m really good at making breakfast. At college, I do most of the cleaning as the others I share with are really untidy.”
“It’s an idea, but I can’t afford to pay much.”
“I don’t want much, bed and board, and some pocket money. I’m sure your daughter will be grateful to get some time off, or does she need the money?”
“I have to be honest, I don’t pay her. She does it out of love. Oh, we did help them buy their cottage when they got married.”
“Sounds fair to me.”
Mary looked at the girl. She was such a delight to have around, and unlike so many young girls, she was not wearing makeup and expressed herself clearly, signifying her ability to communicate outside her peer group, a rare talent in this day and age.
“What about your parents?”
Once more, Tamsyn allowed her ‘other self’ to put forward the information that came as much a surprise to her as it was fresh to Mary.
“My parents died some six years ago. I live with my uncle and aunt. They were doing the room up to run a bed and breakfast. They’ll be only too happy to see me off earning a crust and not sponging off them.”
“Won’t they want you to help?”
“Possibly, but then me and my aunt tend to cross swords if we’re together for too long. I’ve sort of outgrown my welcome there. I’m not really into farming, and they resent having to bring me up as well as their own children. I’m not being nasty, as they are super people, but I can sense that things are a bit stretched. They’ve three sons of their own and never expected to look after me as well.”
Mary smiled. The girl was human after all. She was beginning to think she was a paragon of virtue; it was refreshing to find she admitted to not being as perfect as she looked.
“I’ll talk it over with my husband, but I don’t think we’ll be able to let you have a room here, we’ve several bookings for it as from next week. Can I let you know tomorrow?”
“If you like. I don’t want to be a bother.”
Mary hoped they could work something out. She liked the girl, and as Jenny did everything under sufferance, it would be refreshing to have someone enthusiastic and cheerful about the place.
Mary prepared the meal, with a little help from Tamsyn. She couldn’t get over the fact she had someone in her kitchen that smiled all the time. Her laughter and giggles were a real tonic, as Mary found herself grinning inanely as well. It was infectious.
Dan came home just before she was due to serve the meal to the first couple. He was a stocky man with a ruddy complexion and unruly red hair, greying now at the sides. He wore his roll-neck sweater like a badge of office, and he smelled of engines and the sea.
After kissing his wife, he saw the girl washing up. He frowned and looked at Mary.
“Dan, this is Tamsyn. She’s a student at Portsmouth and comes from Perranarworthal. She’s offered to work through the season, just to let Jenny have a rest. The problem is, she needs a bed, but all the rooms are booked.”
Dan frowned. He knew that Jenny was hardly ideal, but he wasn’t sure they could afford to pay any wages. The profit margin was slim enough without paying for help. He knew, however, that Mary’s back wasn’t up to lugging the vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs, and making the beds was a real chore.
“I could spruce up the attic. There’s a bed and basin up there. What sort of pay were you thinking of?”
“I don’t need much, how about a fiver an hour. I could do four hours every morning and extra whenever you need?”
“Every day?”
“I’d need one day off, but I don’t mind moving it about.”
Dan worked out that that was about £120 per week, with bed and board and probably an extra couple of hours here and there, it would be ideal. As she was a student and not earning over the tax threshold, he wouldn’t have to declare it, so it would be a private deal and to their advantage.
He glanced at Mary and cocked his eyebrow. She simply smiled and nodded. It seems she had already made her mind up.
“Okay, Tamsyn, is it?”
“Yup.”
“You’ve got a deal. The attic may take us a couple of days to get straightened, but it should do you okay. It’s bigger than the single rooms in any case.”
Tamsyn’s smile got bigger and she surprised Dan by kissing his cheek.
Mary chuckled and took the food to the dining room.
Tamsyn helped. On the way back, Mary handed Tamsyn her money back.
“Forget it; I don’t have the heart to charge you. Not if you’re part of the family now,” she said.
Tamsyn only took half the money back.
“I still need the room and I haven’t really started yet.”
Mary smiled, nodding. She was pleased that Tamsyn understood the way things were done.
“Could you be a love and go tell that Mrs Tanner that dinner is being served?”
"Is that the American lady?"
"That's right, dear."
“Sure.”
Tamsyn ran upstairs and knocked on Miriam’s door.
“What?” came the strident voice from behind the closed door.
“Dinner’s being served, madam,” she said, grinning at the fact the stupid woman would never know who she really was.
“Okay already, I’ll be down in a few minutes!”
“Right you are,” Tamsyn said, as English as she could be without even trying. It took no effort to speak with a local accent, but to be posh took some effort. She wondered whether the ability to sound authentically American was possible. She’d enjoy trying it out later.
She went to the bathroom next to her room. For the first time, she sat on the toilet and urinated as a girl. She grinned throughout as she enjoyed the strangely familiar in a different way. She then stripped off and took the time to examine her new body.
It was better than anything she could ever have imagined - not an ounce of fat, with firm, lithe muscles on a perfect frame. Her figure was about as perfect as she could wish for, firm round breasts, not too big but large enough to satisfy her desire to feel voluptuous. A narrow waist and gently rounded hips gave her that hourglass figure that many women spend a fortune on with plastic surgeons and health clubs.
Her face, though, was a reason for her permanent smile. Beauty is an enigmatic quality. In some women, too large a mouth can detract from their perfection, in others the space between the eyes or the end of the nose.
Tamsyn was perfect, or so she believed. Her face seemed almost symmetrical, with a small, straight nose, full lips and beautiful eyes. Her teeth gleamed like pristine pearls, in a perfectly straight setting. Her pert chin and arched eyebrows gave her an impish appeal, which combined with her wonderful smile, radiated warmth wherever she went.
She experienced a warm feeling of pure joy. Her life as Allun had been worse than bad; it had been soulless and simply miserable. She understood it had been partially Allun’s own fault, but it became easier to do nothing than to do something about it. For that, there was guilt and shame.
Yet now, she had done something and had no regrets at all. She felt no guilt over Miriam, only a perverse sense of justice, as the woman was now left with the freedom to be miserable all by herself.
She dressed herself, marvelling at the clothes and how well they fitted her new body. She felt completely at home in this body, revelling in the sensations when she touched various intimate parts and wondering what it would be like to be touched there by another.
She looked her reflection in the eye.
“Well, Tamsyn, do we fulfil our ambition and get you a man?”
She smiled.
“You bet your sweet ass, sister!”