Triptych

Meanwhile, there was Russ' masterpiece, Work In Progress that would, it seemed, remain forever unfinished.

The left panel, Man, showed Sheila as Stephen. Tall and slender, with fair skin and curly blond hair, there was something fine and delicate about his bone structure. He had only the faint suggestion of the bony ridge above his eyes that is typical of the male sex; his cheekbones were high; and his chin, more pointed than square, was fine and graceful. His eyes were large and luminous, with thick lashes, his nose small, and his lips full and sensuous. He had almost no visible larynx. Although his buttocks didn't show in the painting, since Russ had rendered a full frontal view of his model, the viewer couldn't see the sleekness of the full, firm-soft orbs that were as sexually ambiguous as his face, abdomen, arms, legs, hands, and feet. Because of the natural femininity of his features, Stephen looked like a man mostly because his hair was short and a substantial, if flaccid, penis hung, circumcised and manly, before a pair of decidedly masculine balls. It was easy to imagine him as a woman or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say, to see the woman within him-

-the woman who peered down upon the viewer from the triptych's central panel, Transwoman. The creature in the middle panel was splendidly beautiful. All that was masculine (which was very little) of the man shown in the previous panel had been expunged except for his genitals. In addition, some features that were absent in the male form were present in the transsexual version of him-or her. The short curly hair was not merely curly any longer; it was a shoulder-length cascade of fire and light which included great rings of curls that framed the lovely face. Although paint had added the fine touches to the figure's facial features, the pigments had been applied to simulate a flawless application of the cosmetics that enhanced a woman's natural beauty. The eyes, which were already rather feminine, even in the Man portrait, were highlighted with "eye shadow," "eyeliner," and "mascara," all painted with a deft touch of the brush.