Chapter Three – Passports and Payments
"How the fuck I am going to get my passport and references changed from Christopher Nyland to Candace Pops?" Candi sobbed into the phone.
Michelle sat up in bed patiently listening to Candi whine on the other end of the line. Her lover was getting impatient and was rubbing his erect penis against her silk stocking-clad leg. She covered the mouthpiece.
"If you ladder these sheers; you're buying me two new pairs and they're fucking expensive," she hissed.
"Well put down the phone and give me an alternative place to put this," her handsome paramour joked, pointing to his eight inches of manhood.
"How the fuck should I know Candi? I'm kinda busy right now! I told you there would be stumbling blocks that we hadn't thought of. There always are. I'll call you tomorrow," Michelle replaced the receiver back on her bedside table.
To do so she had to roll onto her side and as she did she felt her lover's hard cock nestle in her buttocks.
"Well I guess you finally found somewhere to put that thing," she giggled and pushed back against him.
All Candi could do was to sleep on it. She had seven days to come up with a solution to her document problem. The more she thought about it, the more ludicrous her ideas became.
Michelle called her the next afternoon with an option but it was dangerous and expensive.
"Ok, Candi. First off you have to stop calling me at all hours babe, my life doesn't revolve around your quest to become a tranny airline hostie," Michelle sounded angry.
Candi was taken aback at Michelle's hostility.
"I thought that we were sort of in this together," Candi said in a conciliatory tone.
"I said I want you to keep in touch and tell me how it goes; not come to me with your every problem babe. Anyway look; I'm sorry if I was angry at you but I do have a possible solution to your document dilemma," Michelle replied.
"But before you get all excited, I want you to know that it is both dangerous and illegal."
"I played a hypothetical game with Tony Carlotta this morning. I asked him who would a girl go to if she needed documents altered or forged?"
"After a little schmoozing and promising something special next time we meet he gave up the number of his forger."
"Wow, that is fucking amazing!" Candi whooped.
"Hold your horses darling. This guy is dangerous and I'm not even sure he'll do it and it's gonna cost you. Cost you a lot! You must be hemorrhaging money on this thing?"
"I'll pay it! I'll find the money any way I have to," Candi blurted.
"Ok but you be careful with this guy. I don't know him and I don't want to. I'm a legitimate businesswoman so do not tie me to this in any way. Understand?" Michelle decreed.
"Yes darling I promise and I'll try and be more self-sufficient," Candi sounded a little sorry for herself.
She wrote down the phone number of the forger and hung up the phone.
Candi dialed the number she had been given but it didn't answer for so long that she was about to hang up; then the receiver was suddenly snatched up.
"Yeah?" the voice sounded raspy and irate.
Michelle had said not to get her involved but she had said nothing about using the leverage of Tony Carlotta.
"I got this number from Tony Carlotta," Candi began.
This statement was not entirely untrue she reasoned.
"Ok you got my attention toots," the gnarled voice on the other end of the phone said.
Candi was a little delighted that the man immediately thought she was a woman.
"I have some documents that need to be..."
"Woah! Woah! Shut the fuck up you dozy bint. We don't talk business details on the phone. Get your arse over here and we will discuss your proposal face to face where I know that no one else is listening in," the forger seethed.
He gave Candi his address and told her to call around at 1 pm that afternoon.
Candi worked hard at her makeup to make herself look beautiful and used her Polaroid with the remote shutter release to take some headshots then she dressed for her meeting with the forger whose name she still didn't have. She decided on wearing her black pencil skirt, cerise satin blouse, grey hosiery, black heels, and black lingerie underneath. She threw on her camel coat, grabbed her handbag and headed out.
Candi stood out the front of a dodgy looking dilapidated building in a back street of Moulsham. She checked and rechecked the address she had written down and this was definitely it. The alley was dark and strewn with abandoned shopping trolleys, junk food wrappers, empty beer cans and bottles, cigarette butts, and condom wrappers. A stained pair of dirty knickers inside a cheap pair of tights had been discarded in a filthy doorway surrounded by several used condoms. 'Probably where a local prossie brings her punters,' Candi thought.
Candi knocked on a door caked with fading and peeling blue paint. When it wasn't answered she knocked again and this time it opened a crack and she could see someone peering at her and then it opened wide.
John Benstead looked to be in his early forties. He had stylish long blonde hair and was tanned and muscular. He was wearing a pair of tight jeans and a tighter T-shirt. A cigarette hung out the corner of his mouth but he managed to smile around it.
"Jeez babe you didn't tell me you were a stunner," he offered his hand and pulled her inside.
He checked both ways in the alley before he closed the door firmly behind him.
"Gotta be careful babe; you never know where and when the filth is gonna show up," he smiled and his teeth were perfect.
He might be operating out of the dodgiest areas of Chelmsford but he obviously spent a lot of money looking after himself; and by the look of that tan, a lot of time in Spain or the Caribbean.
"I'm John Benstead and you are?" John looked Candi up and down appreciatively.
"I'm Candi Pops," she replied, returning his smile.
"I bet you do," he grinned.
Candi looked around the old warehouse. It had been set up as an office and was sparsely furnished with a large desk with a chair well and a chest of drawers on either side. On top of the desk, papers were strewn everywhere and there were various stamps, ink pads, pens, glue, scissors and an abundance of office supplies.
A counter ran along one wall with boxes of various sizes containing papers and a tray of what appeared to be unopened envelopes; the kind that government pension and dole payments came in. There was also a small stack of what looked like cheque books. A precision paper guillotine and the obligatory kettle, teapot and tea making requisites sat off to one side.
On another smaller counter were a couple of cameras and other photography paraphernalia. Pride of place was taken up by a large office machine of some sort.
"That's my pride and joy," Jon said when he saw Candi staring at it
"It's a Xerox copier that I imported from America. It makes exact copies of almost anything on paper," John said with pride.
The place looked a little shabby and reeked of paper, ink, and other chemicals and Candi's nose wrinkled.
"I know it doesn't look like much but there isn't much I can't counterfeit or forge here, and everything can be packed into the back of my Ford Escort panel van in five minutes if I get word the Sweeny are inbound," John explained.
"So what can I do for you luv?" John took her coat and hung it on a peg and then slid in behind his desk and crushed out his cigarette in an overflowing tin ashtray.
He indicated a metal folding chair opposite the desk and Candi sat down, folding her skirt under her and crossing her ankles. She was getting very good at mimicking female behaviour.
"Well like I said on the phone I got your number from Tony Carlotta," Candi blushed a little at the lie.
"And that's why you have my full attention; although you seem a little young to be fooling around with Tony but he likes em' young and sweet," he looked Candi up and down again.
"Right. Em well. I have a passport that needs my name and picture changed. And I have these letters of recommendation and references that need the name changed and any reference to 'him' or 'he' changed to 'her' and 'she'," now she blushed profusely.
John looked confused but he snatched up and thumbed his way through the documents. Suddenly his face lit up with understanding.
"Of fuck! I get it luv. I never would have guessed that you're a...I mean that your...I mean..." John stammered.
"A bloke?" Candi finished his sentence.
"Well, I'm not anymore. My name is Candace Pops; I am no longer Christopher Nyland," she explained.
"And I took these pictures," she passed across the Polaroids she had taken.
"They're no good luv. Too big and in colour. It might well be 1975 and all, but Her Majesty's passports are still handwritten and have black and white pictures. They have this watermark and official stamp on them. See?"
He held her passport open to page three where the description and picture of the bearer was.
"I can sort of see the resemblance but you're a lot prettier now," he joked.
"It's good you've got a valid passport that I can make some changes to; having those exit and entry stamps from your travels will make it look more authentic. I'll take a picture of you, age it, and change the name and the title. To 'Miss' I take it?" he smiled.
"I'd heard that Tony had a penchant for transvestites and if they all look like you I can well understand why," he grinned.
"Anyway down to business. I can have the passport and all the letters done in four days," John said, behaving very professionally now.
"But it's gonna cost ya luv. Half a monkey," he lit another cigarette.
"Two hundred and fifty pounds! Fuck that's a lot!" Candi was surprised at the cost.
"That's cheap. You know how long I'll go inside for if I get caught forging passports?" it was a rhetorical question and Candi didn't answer.
"I'm giving you that rate cause Tony sent you. Half now. The other half in four days," he put his feet on the desk and blew smoke at the ceiling.
Candi had bought a hundred pounds with her hoping that would pay for everything. She lay it on the big desk.
"That's all I bought with me," Candi pointed at the money.
John stood up and reached over the large desk and scooped up the money. He dropped it into a drawer along with the Polaroids.
"Thought they were no good?" Candi said.
"Not for anything we need, but I like them," he winked at her.
"Right get yourself against that back wall where the sheet's hanging," he walked over and picked up one of his cameras and adjusted it.
"Good. Look this way and give us a smile," he aimed the camera and took half a dozen shots, some with a flash and some without.
"Right, see you in four days with the rest of the money then," he held open her coat and helped her into it and then he placed an arm around her shoulders to guide her to the door.
He craned his neck and looked behind her.
"You know you've got a great arse and a cracking pair of legs," he grinned mischievously.
This was the closest she had been to a man and it was very uncomfortable.
John opened the door and peered both ways up and down the alley and gently propelled her outside, patting her on the behind as she left.
Candi made for the entrance to the back alley just as a shabby looking bloke with his arm around an equally shabby looking woman entered the alley and started to walk towards her. 'This must be the prossie who uses the doorway,' Candi thought.
As Candi got closer she could see the prossie was wearing a stained leopard skin mini dress with her tits nearly falling out of it, laddered black fishnet tights, and scuffed black high heels. Her makeup was smudged, her hair dishevelled and they both reeked of gin and stale sweat. Candi turned away but not before the woman glared and sneered at her.
"Stuck up cunt!"
Candi kept walking and didn't look back.
Candi's next four days were taken up moving money around her bank accounts. She had a 'Super Saver' account that paid a good interest rate but the balance was supposed to be left in escrow for two years or penalties applied. She had no choice but to move the money into her everyday account and to make a substantial withdrawal and this required Christopher Nyland to present himself to the bank.
Christopher hated every second he was dressed as a man and as soon as the money was transferred he returned home and transformed back into Candi.
Candi was now starting to worry about money. She didn't expect to have to pay two hundred and fifty pounds for the passport and the other documents. She was getting seriously short of cash.
Candi read and re-read her letter of acceptance. The part which read 'Your poise, charm, decorum, ability as a conversationalist, and friendliness will all be assessed against our demanding criteria' was foremost in her mind and she spent almost every hour of the next four days practicing.
Four days after Candi had stood out the front of the dodgy looking dilapidated building in the back streets of Moulsham she found herself there again. She clutched her handbag tightly; in her purse, she had one hundred and fifty pounds, Stirling. The stained pair of dirty knickers inside the cheap pair of tights was still in the filthy doorway and the small pile of used condoms had grown.
John Benstead was his usual suspicious self when he came to the door but he greeted her warmly when he ushered her inside and closed the door behind her.
"Candace Pops, you look ravishing again today my dear," he smiled and looked her over.
Today she was wearing a red leather mini-skirt, white satin blouse, tan pantyhose and underneath red satin knickers and matching bra. Her hair was nicely coiffured and her makeup perfect, including bright red lipstick and matching fingernails.
All of this became evident to John when he helped her off with her coat. He lingered close to her while he did so and breathed in her perfume. His jeans appeared to even tighter today and there was a distinct bulge in the front which drew Candi's attention. He saw her looking and smiled and she blushed and turned away.
The same folding metal chair was offered as John took his place in the big armchair behind the desk and rummaged around and took out a large manilla envelope. He offered Candi a cigarette and she took it and he came around from behind the desk and lit it for her, once again getting close to her. As she was sitting and he standing, the bulge of his groin was at her eye level.
To Candi's relief, he sat on the corner of the desk and shook out the contents of the envelope.
"A fucking good job, if I do say so myself," he grinned.
He handed Candi the passport and it looked almost exactly the same as when she had given it to him; slightly battered and well used. It was dark blue with the Royal Seal on the front with a serial number typed on the top and 'Miss C Pops' handwritten in blurred blue ink on the bottom. On page three written in the same faded blue ink were her personal details but her name had been changed from Christopher Nyland to Candace Pops and her hair colour from 'brown' to 'brunette'. A person's 'sex' was not annotated on a British passport in the 1970s. Candi's address, phone number, and general description remained unchanged.
At the bottom underneath the 'Children' section which had been crossed through, the signature panel was blank waiting for her to sign it. Across the page was a suitably faded black and white photo of Candi that was far from flattering but definitely her. Both pages had official stamps on them and signatures of the issuing officer and to Candi, it looked one hundred percent legitimate.
"Passport photos are never flattering luv but in your case, it was hard to find one in which you didn't look gorgeous," John had a twinkle in his eye.
"I've changed the serial number on the front; if they ever look it up it will come up as belonging to a Miss Candace Pops residing at your current address. All you need do is sign it with this pen and I'll let it dry and distress it a little so looks as old as rest of the passport. Meanwhile, you can check out the rest of the guff," he smiled.
He leaned in close to her while she signed with the ink pen he had given her. Close enough for Candi to smell his aftershave and bath soap and realise how handsome he was. She cleared her head of this strange thought.
John took the passport over to one of the benches and worked on it while Candi inspected the letters of employment, recommendations, and references that she had collected whilst working in the service industry.
She had the letters laid out on the large desk and she bent over to examine each one. John's work was perfect. The typeface and the ink on any of the changes he had made matched perfectly with the original. Any reference to Mr. Christopher Nyland had been replaced with Miss Candace Pops and all references to gender had been changed to the female vernacular.
Candi was so intent on examining the letters on the desk that she was unaware that she had bent over so far that the back of her mini-skirt had ridden up far enough to show off the tops of her thighs and her panty-clad buttocks.
John was getting an eyeful of her taut shapely calves and thighs sheathed in sheer flesh-toned nylon and her firm buttocks clad in tight red satin panties. He surreptitiously rubbed at the growing bulge in the front of his jeans. He moved in beside her and dropped the passport on the desk and cheekily pinched her buttock.
Candi jumped.
"Hey!" she squealed.
"You was showing off yer knickers luv; just thought I'd let you know," John grinned.
Candi found she couldn't stay angry with the handsome man. She didn't understand why she felt this way, she had never been interested in men, ever!
She looked at the passport again and was impressed.
"They are all great John," Candi smiled at him.
John shuffled all the documents together and put them back in the manilla envelope and then put the envelope into a valise.
"I'll throw in the valise for nix but you still got a hundred and fifty nicker to pay, doll," he grinned.
Candi took her purse out of her handbag and started counting out notes on the desk. John could see how downhearted she looked as she did it.
"This is really hurting you isn't it?" John leaned in even closer.
"I'll be honest with you John; this will go close to cleaning me out," Candi sighed.
John moved in even closer and murmured in Candi's ear.
"You're pretty cute you know. Maybe we could work something out. I could knock say, fifty quid off the price."
Candi was very confused. What on earth was this guy on about? What could she possibly work out?
"I don't understand," Candi turned towards him and frowned.
"Come on baby you know what I mean," John reached out and stroked her face.
Now Candi was really confused and she shook her head accordingly.
John leaned in with the intention to kiss her and Candi finally realised what he meant and was about to reject John's advances in no uncertain terms. Having sex with Stephanie and Michelle whilst she was dressed as Candi was sensual and erotic, they were women, even though Michelle was trans, but John was a man. She had never contemplated having relations with a man; it had just never entered her head.
But it was too late.
John pulled Candi into his arms and kissed her. He kissed her softly with one arm around her waist and the other gently placed on the back of her head. His lips were soft and warm and his body was lean and tight and Candi was surprised and amazed at her reaction.
She found herself held in the arms of this handsome man and it somehow felt right. Candi felt so feminine. Being petite and lithe she was moulded to John's body, her tiny breasts pressed against his hard chest, and her hips pressed against his groin. He lowered his hand from her back and lightly cupped her buttocks.