Reversals Ch 04

CHAPTER FOUR

AGen

Julia took another sip of wine and gently rested the long-stemmed glass back to the table as Samantha smiled at her affectionately. The burgundy liquid looked regal in the soft lighting of the restaurant, sitting upon the pearl-white tablecloth adorning their table. Adding to the ambiance, a single rose rested in a slender, glass vase, infusing the air with a delicate floral bouquet. The tables and chairs were simple wood furnishings made from rich, dark-oak which added to a sense of old world European charm. It was a quaint, modest, little restaurant but what it might have lacked in decor it made up for in the quality of its food. It was one of Julia's special places to dine out.

After the argument with Eric, Julia had sent a text to Samantha to see if she was free for dinner. Samantha had cheerily replied that she was. So, after picking up a couple of new outfits, and a new pair of the most adorable, stiletto ankle-boots Julia had seen in some time, she joined Samantha at the restaurant.

Julia was still riding on something of a high after putting Eric in his place that afternoon. All during her small shopping spree, the image of Eric at the sink scrubbing dishes, after she'd ordered him to, kept replaying itself in her mind. Despite the misgivings she felt over the whole situation, that image, of a beaten and compliant Eric, had kept a pride filled smile on her face the entire afternoon.

"This really is a charming little place," Samantha said.

"We used to come here all the time, right after Eric and I got married," Julia said. "Haven't been here for awhile, not since he lost his job, but I felt like celebrating a little tonight."

"Does that mean you're accepting the promotion?" Samantha looked excited, ready to celebrate.

Julia returned a pained grin. "I wish it was that easy." She looked away, like she was looking for answers in some distant place. "Honestly, I'm really torn Sam," she said. "As nice as it would be, Eric and I are already having problems. We're going through a really rough patch right now. I don't even want to tell you how bad," she said. "I don't think his male ego can deal with me being so far ahead of him professionally on top of everything else right now." Her expression grew more grim as she considered the full scope of her situation. "I'm also fairly certain it means no baby for me. Not anytime soon anyway."

Samantha nodded, sympathizing with her friend. They both sat there for a few moments, still, quiet, a pall seeming to settle around them over Julia's situation. Breaking the tension of the moment, Samantha started to say something but then stopped just as suddenly as she had started, like she was struggling with what she wanted to say.

"What is it Sam?" Julia asked with a concerned look.

Samantha leaned forward slightly over the table and lowered her voice. "You remember what I said at lunch about there being a solution that would fix everything?"

"It's okay Sam. You don't need to apologize or anything," Julia said dismissively, shaking her head. "I ran through it a thousand times in my own head. I know there's no-"

"No, there is," Samantha interrupted. "There is a way. It's just... very unconventional," Samantha said soberly, looking intensely serious suddenly.

"What... what do you mean?" Julia asked.

Samantha shrugged her shoulders and took a deep breath. "I was thinking of waiting until I had more of the details," Samantha said flatly, "but... I'm afraid there's a good chance you're going to lose your promotion if I do that. Corporate is going to expect an answer soon, Julia. Very soon."

"I understand," Julia said. "So what's this unconventional solution?"

"Okay, let's talk about what I do know," Samantha started. "I called some contacts after lunch wanting to know if the things I'd heard about were true." Samantha's eyes narrowed into a pensive glare. "I want you to know, I talked to two womyn I respect a great deal, womyn that are in a position to know about this. Both of them confirmed the stories I'd heard were true. One of them even sent me a document from the medical group involved in the research."

"Medical group?!" Julia sat back in her chair feeling a little flush. "You're scaring me, Sam. What stories? What are you talking about?"

"Okay, I think this might be difficult for you to get your head around," Samantha said. "Even so, this isn't only about your situation but about the advancement of womynkind overall. It's important. You should know all your options, not just the limited options men want to put on you."

Julia looked a bit wide-eyed. "Sure. I guess it doesn't hurt to listen," she said with a quick shrug. She flashed a tense smile and leaned in towards Samantha and added, "I trust you Sam. After all, you did help me get Eric to start helping with the housework at home. You opened my eyes up to new possibilities, helped me understand I didn't have to live life exactly like my mom did."

Samantha smiled, her eyes brightened. "Exactly. And, that only made sense right? He was home all day after losing his job. He really didn't have that much to do. Yet, he still expected you to do all the housework - a typical man with expectations of male privilege. He wasn't thinking about his family so much as he was lost in the fantasy of gender based roles where he was supposed to be the primary breadwinner and the womon did everything else, including holding down a job, of her own, outside the home."

"It was so frustrating coming home from work and then having to cook and clean too. It was like I had two jobs and all the while he sat there watching TV or played games on his computer," Julia said with a scowl. She wrapped her arms around herself defensively, the memories of those times, the frustrations, the resentments, the arguments, still fresh in her mind.

"You need to remember the struggle you had with him over something as simple as contributing to his home and helping his wife," Samantha said, pleased to see Julia struggling to keep her anger at Eric under control. "The situation your in now isn't much different than the one from before. He's still practicing out of an archaic belief system where you're expected to give up everything for the children while he sits back and watches. In his mind, caring for an infant is 'womyn's work'. But, that's simply not true. There's nothing wrong, at all, with Eric taking on the nurturing role for his child. If your family needs one of you to become the full-time caretaker for your baby it only makes sense that Eric would fill that role because he's home all the time. He's not working, you are."

Samantha was convinced Julia had the makings of a strong willed feminist. She just needed to be pushed a little more to move her from the sense of security she derived from compliance with the traditional, patriarchal, values of her upbringing. If Samantha could get Julia to take the next step she had in mind, Julia would evolve. Eric would be forced to evolve too or leave Julia, if he could. Either was fine with Samantha.

"Except, like I said, I want to breastfeed my baby," Julia said matter-of-factly.

Samantha took a sip of wine then gracefully placed the glass back on the table as she smiled at her beautiful friend.

"What if I told you he could do that too," Samantha said solemnly.

Julia wrinkled her face with a confused look. "I... don't understand. Breastfeed. I said breastfeed."

"Exactly," Samantha replied with a nod.

Julia looked even more confused. "Am I missing something here? It's Eric, not Erica. He doesn't even have man-boobs. He's always been thin as a rail." She leaned over the table towards Samantha and lowered her voice. "There's nothing there to breastfeed with. Even if they could give a man something to make him lactate there's just nothing there to lactate with."

"And what if he did have something to lactate with?" Samantha asked with a serene smile.

Julia glowered at Samantha, clearly confused by the theme of the conversation.Â

"Okay, let's back up for a bit," Samantha began. "Let's say we had a perfect world where there were no men," she grinned at her private joke. "And in such a world, two womyn could get together when they wanted a child and they could decide who would carry the child and who would breastfeed and nurture the child as independent decisions. In other words, regardless of who got pregnant with the child, either partner or both could breastfeed their child. Now, in such a perfect world, if one womon was working, supporting them both, and the other womon not working, wouldn't it make sense, wouldn't it be the logical thing to do, the fair thing to do, to have the womon already home provide the breastfeeding and care for their child?"

"Well, sure, I guess that makes sense," admitted Julia. "I guess that would be a reasonable and fair thing to do. But like I said, Eric obviously isn't a woman."

"True, Eric isn't a womon, but he could be... upgraded," Samantha said.

"Upgraded?" Julia echoed in dismay.

"It's the only logical solution to your dilemma. You need to put breasts on Eric and have him breastfeed your baby."

Julia's jaw dropped open, aghast at the suggestion. "You're not serious, are you?"

Samantha nodded slowly and smiled.

"Sam? Really?! That's what that medical group does?!"

"It's one of the things they can do," Samantha said. "I know this sounds a little 'out there' but it really isn't. It's not something totally new. Eric wouldn't be the first man that breastfed a child. And when you think about it, having men develop breasts is progress for both womyn and men where their's more true equality for both. Womyn don't have to feel trapped between their children and their careers and men can explore their feminine side in a way never before possible. Men can now have that intense bond with their children that can only be had through breastfeeding. Eric can have that bond. Heck, men might even evolve into more caring persons. This really is the future," she said.

Julia sat there dumbfounded. But, it was obvious just from looking at her, that Samantha was serious.

"Well? What do you think?" Samantha asked

"I think I need a minute to digest this," Julia said. Samantha looked so relaxed now, even satisfied by their conversation. It seemed so strange, two women sitting at dinner, calmly discussing what amounted to the feminizing of men and the benefits it provided to humankind. Even stranger, discussing with another woman, the idea of putting breasts on her own husband! In essence, feminizing her own husband!

As Julia sat there trying to make sense of it all, the waiter finally arrived with the pasta salads they'd ordered earlier. Julia caught him leering at her cleavage as he placed her plate down. She couldn't help but wonder if that bit of rudeness would cease if men had boobs of their own. Samantha actually rolled her arms forward a bit, pressing her breasts slightly together and out, as he lowered her plate, intentionally drawing his attention to her. The plate hit the table a bit harder than it should have and Samantha giggled at the control her body could exert so easily over men. He walked away with an awkward nod, embarrassed.

"They're so easy to manipulate. I can't help myself sometimes," Samantha whispered.

Julia rolled her eyes at her.

Samantha was a beautiful woman. Teasing men for sport didn't seem entirely fair but it wasn't like she forced them to look or anything. There was a vibrancy about her too, a passion, and a commitment to women or, as she would say it - womyn. Julia had never really thought much about feminism prior to meeting Samantha. Naturally, Julia believed in equal pay for equal work, and more opportunities for women overall, that was just common sense. Samantha's brand of feminism went much further though. Over the months, she had emailed Julia article after article, all of them very pro-female and most of them stridently anti-male. Feminism wasn't something casual to Samantha, it seemed to be a crusade to her. She'd been trying to shift Julia's world view since they first met. Most of it had seemed so 'over the top' at first, but oddly, over time, some of it anyway, seemed to make more and more sense. But this? Put breasts on her husband? It seemed crazy. Wasn't it? But Samantha was right about one thing, it would solve Julia's dilemma with taking the promotion and having a baby with Eric.

"Okay, I'm not saying I'm interested," Julia said slowly. "Just call me curious. I really am. How is this supposed to work exactly?"

Samantha smiled and looked at Julia with satisfaction. "That was one of the main things I wanted to confirm before I talked to you about it." Samantha reached down to her purse on the floor and plucked out her phone. "I think I mentioned one of womyn I talked to sent me a document," she said as she worked with her phone to pull it up. "I made some notes. I think you need a background in biotech or genetics to really understand the thing, it's really complex stuff," she said as she tapped away.

Julia felt an odd mixture of anxiety and excitement growing in her. She couldn't be really considering doing this to Eric, could she? He'd refuse to do it, he'd have to. She couldn't force him to do it, could she?

Samantha began reading her notes, lowering her voice a bit to avoid being overheard, "They call it, Andromammary Genesis or AGen."

Julia mouthed the term to herself, familiarizing herself with it, "AGen".

"I'm paraphrasing now," Samantha said. "A human enhancement technology combining gene splicing, nanotechnology, molecular hormonal transmitters and supporting apparatus to provision, rapidly develop, and maintain mammary glands in the human male." She stopped reading and looked up at Julia. "We're talking about some really high-tech, cutting edge stuff. This is way beyond using female hormones and waiting months or years for breast development. From everything I read in the document, it's designed to put breasts on men so they can lactate, I think they said 'fully nourish an infant', in twelve weeks."

Julia's mouth dropped open again. "If that's true... I'd have months to convince him to do it so he could breastfeed our baby."

"There is one thing that might make it difficult for you though," Samantha said.

"Just one?" Julia asked with a soft chuckle. "I'm thinking it's impossibly expensive just for starters and that assumes Eric would even qualify for it."

"Actually, the way I hear it, they're looking for volunteers. I don't think there's even a cost," Samantha said.

"Wow," Julia said pleasantly surprised.

"Anyway, I don't think there's an issue with having them do the procedure. Not from what I was told. More than anything, the issue is getting Eric to agree to it," Samantha said.

Julia nodded. "Yeah, of course, I can't imagine any guy agreeing to something like that. Heck, I'm not even sure I'd want him to do it. I mean, it is appealing on one level, it really is. It would solve my problem. But the thought of Eric having boobs... forever?" Julia shook her head. "I just don't know what to think about that."

"Just remember, we're not talking large here. A small breasted womon can still breastfeed. Maybe they'd give him A-cups," Samantha said.

"That might not be too bad," Julia mused. "I bet he'd never want to go around topless again but I don't really have a problem with that. I can't run around topless whenever I want. Why should he be able to?"

"Exactly, think of it in terms of fairness and equality. Then it makes perfect sense," Samantha urged. "In fact, maybe that's a way to help convince him to agree to it, a basic fairness and equality argument. It is true. With you working and him home all the time, why wouldn't he want to breastfeed your baby?"

Julia nodded.

Samantha stared at Julia for a few moments, taking her in. She really was breathtaking. Curvaceous, sensual, poised. If only Eric was out of the way she reasoned, maybe, just maybe-

"Maybe I could force him to do it," Julia said abruptly.

"What?! Where's that coming from?" Samantha asked astonished.

Julia took a sip of wine and smiled coyly at Samantha. She knew her firebrand feminist friend would be thrilled to hear what had happened with Eric that afternoon. It was too delicious a turn of events not to share.

"Come on, give! I can see it in your face. What happened?" Samantha grabbed her wine glass too and began sipping. She looked giddy, excited, her smile infectious.

"Well, remember I went home early today?" Julia began.

Samantha nodded.

"I found out that Eric, instead of getting a job, has secretly been playing computer games during the day while I've been working my butt off to support us!" Julia said. "Honestly, I'm not sure if he's even making an effort to get a new job. I think maybe he likes the idea of sponging off me."

"Oh, Julia. I'm so sorry," Samantha said with genuine concern and pity in her voice.

"It gets worse," Julia said with disgust. "He wasn't even home when I got there today. He was out at a liquor store buying beer. He's taken up drinking. During the day." Julia had a look of revulsion on her face. "I guess his ambition is to become a drunk. On my money, no less!"

"Men. That's terrible!," Samantha spat.

"It really is. And the drinking seems to be getting worse despite the fact that we have a loser-drunk living in the building next to us that he can see everyday. He has to see where he's heading, right?," Julia said. "I feel so, so sorry for the wife too. That man is pathetic."

"Sounds like Eric is maybe walking in his footsteps," Samantha suggested.

"It's beginning to look that way," Julia admitted. "He's playing games all day, drinking all day, and barely lifting a finger around the apartment to keep it clean despite the promises he made to help out." Julia shook her head in frustration. "It's like he lost his job and he's regressed back to childhood and wants me to be his mommy now. What happened to the man I married?"

Samantha's face was twisted into a pouty scowl as she listened. "I've heard that complaint more than once. It's like men wrap their whole identity in their jobs and when they don't have one they just fall apart, crumble into little pieces and start behaving like children," Samantha said.

"Well, I refuse to let that happen to Eric and me. He's not going to play games during the day. He's not going to drink during the day. And he is going to be doing housework whether he likes it or not!" Julia said emphatically.

"You go, girl!" Samantha lifted her wine glass and they clinked them together celebrating Julia's resolve.

"So here's the sweet part..." Julia sat up a little straighter in her chair, the sense of pride she'd felt earlier swelling in her again. "I threatened to totally cut him off financially and leave him penniless."

Samantha smiled broadly, her face filled with excitement as she clapped her hands together politely. "Good for you Julia," she said sincerely. "I hope this doesn't come out wrong but I'm actually... proud of you."

Julia shrugged and smiled, basking in the praise.

The waiter came over to check on them, making sure to keep his eyes glued to his order pad, this time, as they ordered more wine. He returned quickly and refilled their glasses, making sure to keep his eyes on the table. It was obvious he was avoiding looking at either of the women for fear of being caught ogling again. After filling the glasses, he walked quickly away, like a peasant fearing the possible wrath of royalty.

"I knew you were the one with all the real power in that marriage," Samantha said.

"You were right," Julia admitted with a grin. "And, thank you for helping me see the truth," she added.

"You're totally welcome," Samantha said elegantly as she tipped her head down slightly in acknowledgment.