The countryside sailed past as we made our way down the highway. The fields and farmhouses were really pretty. The people in this area must take great pride in their homes and land. It at least didn’t feel like the middle of nowhere since you could still see signs of activity from the homes in the distance.

We were on the way to a farm in this area that belonged to one of my trusty cohorts’ family. The idea was that our group of friends could spend some time away from the humdrum of daily life and enjoy life on the open pastures for our three day weekend. This minivan full of miscreants were my coworkers, as well as some of my closest friends. 

“Cows!” shouted Jenny from the driver’s seat, breaking me out of my thoughtful reverie. 

There were indeed cows. A whole lot of cows. I really hoped that there were some nice cows that would let me pet them. The thought of spending time with animals always did entice me. They were just so darn cute! A smile crept onto my face as I leaned closer to the window.

“Cows,” I muttered in quiet agreement. 

We started to slow down, and Jenny put on her blinker to turn into the upcoming driveway.

“And four wheelers!” added the dude-bro that was Alex, having spotted some ATVs that were sitting in front of the open barn that we were coming up to.

This elicited a fist bump between himself and his brother Kevin behind him in the back bench of the van. I could practically hear the amused eye roll from Kevin’s girlfriend Amy.

Lexi put her phone down and addressed the group with a cheeky grin. “Yeah, and there are horses that you can ride too. I just texted my parents that we were pulling into the drive. They should be out to greet us when we get parked, then we can sit down for lunch!” A fist pumped into the air for emphasis sealed the deal, and the rest of the car gave some cheers of approval.

It had been a long drive from our midsized midwestern ‘city’ to another similarly mundane part of the midwest and we were eager to stretch our legs and get some food. Spending the first four hours of your day piled into Jenny’s minivan will do that to you.

After a comically long driveway was finally behind us and the car was in park, we all practically bolted out the doors. On my exit, I walked to the side of the driveway and really admired the view for a moment. Rolling fields as far as the eye could see, the occasional house or barn scattered around, and the tall trees that lead off into some woods far to the sides. It really did feel peaceful here. 

I took the moment of respite as an opportunity to get some of the stiffness out of my muscles from being crammed into a mobile can of sardines all morning. Stretching my arms skyward toward the midday sun, I took a deep breath of fresh country- *cough* *wheeze* *cough*

“Woah there, you okay girl?” Jenny gently patted me on the back as I tried to regain my composure. 

After taking a moment to reclaim control of my lungs I said, “The cows, they are too powerful.”

Lexi, having heard Jenny and I’s exchange, started laughing so hard she snorted. It was cute, but I did feel like I was the butt of this joke. “I can tell that you aren’t a country girl. Cows are adorable babies, but when there are so many of them… Let’s just say that the air gets a little zesty.” 

Lexi, being the one that grew up here, was of course unaffected by the potent scent that permeated my very soul. Her long black wavy hair danced around as she was lost in her giggle fit.

A blush crossed my face, being the one most caught off guard by the smell of manure in the air. Thankfully, I was saved from further teasing by Alex with his own concern out of this situation. 

“Lexi, please don’t use the word ‘zesty’ for that smell. I don’t want to be thinking about cow droppings the next time I’m dipping my onion rings on lunch break.” he said with what sounded like genuine concern.

This only made Lexi laugh all the harder, much to Alex’s dismay. Jenny at least was ready to move on from the discussion of cows and their distinct aroma. Giving me a quick nudge forward, she started walking toward the front door where two middle aged folks were waiting for us hooligans so that we could eat a good, homemade lunch.

“Come on, get yourselves together. Momma’s gotta eat!” Jenny waved us on, leaving little room for argument. 

Grinning along with the antics of my friends, I followed Jenny up to the porch. Lexi was coming down from her giggle fit and started toward her parents as well. Alex walked along next to me, and the couple took the rear behind us with each of them having an arm around the other.

As we got within earshot, Lexi’s mom smiled at us and addressed the parade of young adults marching up to her porch, “Oh you poor dears must be starving, hurry on inside and grab a plate. Lunch is ready on the stove.” She had a very kind tone sprinkled with what sounded like southern hospitality. 

When Lexi got up the stairs to the porch, she gave her mom and dad a brief hug and a quick greeting while the rest of us waited to be led inside. Once we got through the door, my natural habit kicked in by examining and assessing the structure and design of the home. See, the place that myself and all my work friends here made a living was a locally owned home renovation business. We did most of the work ourselves, with the occasional subcontractor to work on what we couldn’t. Out of the business model that we ran, I was the lead interior designer that handled most jobs.  It was up to me to help the clients we worked with find the design that would fit their lifestyle and make them happy. Over time in this career, I had gotten rather opinionated about these things so whenever I entered a new place I would take some time to see if anything I saw gave me any ideas or sparked interest.

This home that Lexi’s parents lived in was a fairly typical country style farmhouse. Earthy tones with occasional splashes of brighter colors. Wood everywhere you could get it. Beadboard ran along the bottom few feet of the walls. And the cabinets I could see in the kitchen were beadboard too. And the ceiling. And the mantle. And… even the entertainment center. Something about this place tells me that someone must have had a fetish for the stuff. Damn.

I started paying attention to my surroundings again when we sat down around an ornate dining table that already had all the plates and cutlery set out for us. I had just been following along on autopilot while my brain went off on its tangent. So, I guess by ‘grab a plate’ Lexi’s mum meant to just take a seat. 

“Alrighty dears, just get comfy and I’ll be right back with the food.” With a hardy country smile, Lexi’s mom retreated into the kitchen.

Lexi’s dad sat down after the rest of us had a seat. He was at the head of the table, and he looked around at the group of us while they all idly chattered among themselves. I wasn’t really paying attention to any of the conversations around me, still a little caught up in my own thoughts. Out of the corner of my vision I noticed that his eyes lingered on me for a little longer than the others, and I could feel some anxiety about the look he gave me before moving on to the rest of my friends. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything. I would have been mortified if trouble had already started before the vacation had really begun. Oh jeez, I’ll be staying under his roof. I hope I’m just making a big deal out of nothing. I’m sure Lexi’s dad is a nice guy. Yeah.

Before my anxiety could build too high from my worries, Lexi’s mom came back in with the food as a helpful distraction. She placed the large pot on a hot pad at the center of the table. It looked to contain some kind of goulash I think. At any rate, it smelled amazing and I came to realize how famished I was from the long, rather boring, drive.

Lexi’s mom took her seat at the other end of the table from her husband and tapped a spoon to her glass of water to grab everybody’s attention. “I hope y’all were okay with water to go with lunch. I should have some tea and lemonade ready for dinner tonight. Anywho, let's go around and introduce ourselves before we dig in! I’ll go first. I’m Mary, Lexi’s mom of course.” Mary looked the part of the stereotypical housewife with short, curly blonde hair. She must have been in her forties or fifties, but held a fairly youthful appearance. A permanent smile tugged at the corner of her lips at varying intensities. The smile lines on her face were very plain to see.

“And I’m Stan, Lexi’s dad,” came the man at the opposite end of the table flatly. His voice caused me to turn my head toward the source, which was a mistake as he met my gaze and gave me another look. I averted my gaze as quickly as I could down to my hands that were fiddling around in my lap. He was kind of intimidating. He had an old grizzled looking face that really did a good job at making me feel like he wouldn’t mind getting his hands dirty. His clothes weren’t much different. Jeans that had been worn for years through hard work and mended any number of times and a plaid ‘farmer shirt’ as I liked to call it that must have been more colorful at some point, otherwise he really didn’t like anything brighter than slightly bluish gray. His grayed hair was buzzed short and simple, with a deep bald spot pushing his hairline towards the back of his head.

Completely ignorant to the tension in the air between myself and Stan, Alex went on to introduce himself to the table. Alex, the big wall of a man with a kind smile, was the person at work that tended to deal with most of the heavy work on our jobs. He worked with wood, drywall, flooring, vinyl, and whatever else was needed to get the job done. His straight, short, stylish black hair swooped gracefully to the side and his goatee was full and fluffy. He wore a loose T-shirt and baggy jeans typically, and today was no different. 

Next up was Kevin, Alex’s brother. Kevin was every bit as tall as Alex, no less than six foot, but not nearly as wide. He did make up for it with some absolutely massive biceps. His gym has known him by name for years. His duties revolved around helping his brother as needed, as well as installing fixtures like toilets, tubs, and other such built in things once the other parts had been finished. His short sandy blonde hair was a bit of a mess as usual, just sticking out at various angles. It really suited him though, along with the full on beard that he grew out recently. He liked to wear tight shirts that showed off his pecs and abs as well as cargo shorts whenever possible, even now as it was getting late into fall.

Beside Kevin was his girlfriend Amy. She was the newest addition to the workplace, having been hired only a few months beforehand. Her previous job as a secretary at a law office had been cutting staff and we happened to need someone to manage the books, so she was happily hired on at Kevin’s recommendation. . She had long straight hair down to her waist. She was fairly petite and short. She must not have been much over five foot none. She usually was the frilliest of the bunch, often wearing pretty dresses and accessories that all came together very well. She had a talent for fashion for sure, and her makeup accentuated her features nicely.

Then came Jenny, our landscaping guru. She could take even the most boring suburban lawn-based hellscape and turn it into a natural art piece. She does what I do inside, only outside. Oftentimes I feel like she does her part better than I do mine, though I try not to dwell on it. Her brunette hair fell down a little beyond her shoulders in a tightly waved curtain. She tended to have some colorful highlights that really worked well with her choice of fashion. Right now they were a dark and lovely green that went really well with her designer glasses. She wasn’t very tall, maybe five foot five or so. While she may have been average height, her curves were anything but average. She was all kinds of curvaceous. Her face was one that always was mistaken for being way younger than she was, but that didn’t stop the no nonsense look on her face when she had to corral one of the hooligans in the group. Her style didn’t change much from garden to home with overalls and a long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up donning her figure on most occasions.

Lexi skipped on the introductions since everyone here knew who she was. At work, she was kind of an all around person. She helped wherever she was needed, which was a lot of places really. However much she was being paid was not enough, but she really enjoyed what she did. She helped do designs if I was too overbooked, she helped on the job site with painting, trim, and other finishing touches, and just generally has lent everyone a hand in some way or another. She was a couple inches taller than Jenny and not quite as curvy, but no less pretty. Her aforementioned loose wavy hair was jet black. I think she may dye it to give it that deep of a black, not that it mattered. It really suited her. She was the target of a lot of envy for her natural looks. Without makeup she still had a great complexion and blemish-free skin. Lexi’s outfits were somehow exclusively tight jeans and blouses with a deep neck. I’ve never seen her wear much different than that unless you count winter jackets, which I don’t.

Ah shit, I was up next. I guess I can’t stay in my safe internal musings forever. “Hi, I’m Samantha. I usually go by Sam. Nice to meet you two.” Phew, glad that’s over. I, my bespectacled self, was fairly tall for a girl. I stood around five foot ten or so. My slightly messy brown hair lazily draped over my shoulders and a little beyond. I was wearing one of my favorite sweaters today and a pair of slim jeans, and had packed a few other similar outfits for this trip. My aesthetic could be described as cute, cozy, and homey. 

I couldn’t help but notice that Stan was staring kind of intently at me while I introduced myself. It really made me feel awkward when I spoke, and maybe a little worried again. I got the feeling that I knew why he was staring at me like he was. He had probably picked up that I’m trans.

I had come out and started transitioning years ago, and these days, most people just see me as Samantha and nobody questioned it. I had gone by Sam since long before I transitioned or even realized that I was trans though. The name always just felt right to me, even though other things didn’t feel quite so right at the time. So now Sam was short for Samantha instead of what it was before. 

Hormones had been fairly nice to me, as well as some much needed hair removal. It wasn’t very often that people thought anything of me, but on occasions like this one with Stan, some people picked something out that they noticed. They scrutinized me for anything they didn’t deem ‘feminine enough’ for me to be who I was. It hurt when it happened, but was fairly rare. My role at work was largely to do the client interaction to get what I needed for my plans and to find out what it is they wanted or needed. The majority had been wonderful or at least fine to work with, and the few that hadn’t been were made firmly aware of our strict ‘no discrimination’ policy. Only a couple of people caused trouble after that was brought up. Our crew was the highest rated home renovation business within a hundred miles bar none, so most people were incentivised to apologize and move on.

Again pulling me out of my thoughts was Mary, who made good use of her public speaking voice. ”Alright everyone, let’s say grace and then dig in!” Oh, it was one of these households. Well, it was easy enough to go with the flow and then move on. I held my hands out to Mary and Lexi on either side of me and lowered my gaze to my lap again to wait for this awkwardness to pass. When it did, we finally were able to eat. 

The food was really darn good. Mary was clearly skilled in her craft. Throughout the meal, Stan kept glancing at me in a way that made my skin crawl. We made some light conversation and talked about what we were going to be doing this afternoon. The brothers had convinced Lexi to go out and ride the ATVs that they had seen in front of the barn. Apparently Stan expected them to be put to use, so he had pulled them out for our group this morning. Conveniently, there were three of them for the two excited brothers and the tomboy at heart that was Lexi.

Jenny, Amy, and I decided to go visit the cows. We weren’t feeling very up to riding today, and would prefer to wait until Lexi could join us anyway, so the horses would have to wait until later. I was eager enough to spend time with some big animals that I mostly forgot about the apparent animosity coming from Stan. The food was eaten fairly quickly, and the cleanup was easy enough with all of us helping. Finally, with dishes taken care of, we all got ready to go about our respective plans for the afternoon.

MegaSuperKami

Well, so begins a story that I have been brewing for a while. My previous project was entirely too dark for me to be able to keep up. This project I have planned out to be much brighter. There will still be some dark parts, I'm sure, but I can get myself into the story and enjoy writing it far more than the last.

I have learned some other things from that as well, and hope that this work is a lot cleaner from a writing perspective. It will include some parts that are not nearly as clean, PG story-wise. Those chapters will be appropriately marked.

Any and all feedback is appreciated! Thank you for reading, and look forward to more. I already have drafts of multiple chapters that should be ready to release soon :)

I might aim for weekly releases so as not to burn myself out. TBD