A County Commissioner Named Bill Becomes Claire

Bill Hall sat in a beauty salon near Portland and ordered the full work-up: beard cover, foundation, eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick in a bold pink. And for the final touch, a short auburn wig coaxed over his own graying brown hair.

Hall spun around to face the mirror. He saw Claire for the first time.

An incredible feeling of rightness settled in, a kind of peace that had eluded the Lincoln County commissioner for many of his 58 years. It was so much more than the surface trappings.

"This is what I expected to see looking back at me my entire life," he thought, "and now it is finally real."