Timmy was still looking at himself when Corinne came into the room.
She stopped next to him and looked at his reflection in the mirror with him.
“I meant to tell you, Maryanne,” she said, “it’s a good thing for girls to look at themselves in the mirror whenever they get the chance so they can see if they look alright. You wouldn’t want to be walking around all day looking funny because the bow on your ponytail came undone, would you?”
“No, Auntiie,” he answered.
“That’s a good girl,” Auntiie said. “After a while a lot of girl things will become automatic for you. Now it’s getting near dinner time. I don’t feel like cooking tonight, so we’ll eat out in a nice restaurant.”
Timmy groaned inwardly to himself. It was bad enough dressing and acting like a girl here. But going out where people would be seeing him really worried him.
“Do we have to, Auntiie?” he asked.
“Yes, Maryanne,” she replied. “And it will do you good, too. As long as you act like a nice girl, you’ll be surprised how people will think you are one. You certainly look like one. All you have to do is act like Auntiie has been telling you to. Besides, it’s about time you learned how nice it is in a really good restaurant where better people go.”
“Better people, Auntiie?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied. “Like my friends.”
The trip to the fancy restaurant turned out to be no big deal, but it didn’t start out that way. Wearing white gloves and with his purse hanging from his shoulder, he had entered the restaurant with Auntiie, tripped in the deep carpeting, and fell in a heap, his dress and slip all in disarray, his sweetheart panties in plain view. A man at a nearby table jumped up and helped Maryanne to his feet. Auntiie shook her head and thanked the man for his assistance. Then they straightened out his slip and dress and sat down. Pretty soon, Maryanne was eating the first shrimp cocktail he’d ever had. Later, after they had finished their dinner and were driving back home, Auntiie said a strange thing…for her.
“Maryanne, I’m sorry you fell down when we entered,” she said. “It was really my fault. I should have warned you about how deep the carpeting would be. I’m sorry, dear.”
“Oh, that’s okay, Aunt Corinne,” he replied. “I’ve fallen down a lot when I’ve been playing with my pals.”
“Perhaps, dear,” she said, “but nice little girls don’t fall down. Girls always move slowly and gracefully.”
“Yes, Aunt Corinne,” he said.
That night Auntiie showed him how to hang up his things, washed his face, combed and brushed out his pretty hair, and gave him a cotton baby doll nightie to wear. It was pretty, but it was even shorter than his dress and slip. He wondered why girls didn’t cover up their legs. He climbed into bed and pulled the covers up. Corinne looked down at him, but didn’t smile or make any attempt to tuck him in like mommy did, or to give him a goodnight kiss, either.
“Sleep well, Maryanne,” she said. “We have a busy day tomorrow.”
“What will we be doing, Auntiie?” he asked.
“You and I will visit one of my older friends. Naturally, I expect you to be on your best behavior. If you ever embarrass me in front of one of my friends, your bottom will be sore for a week. Good night, dear.” With that she turned around and left the room, shutting off the light and closing the door.
Maryanne lay thinking about everything that had happened to him that day. It still seemed so strange. He didn’t want to be a girl. Why wouldn’t Auntiie let a boy stay with her? He had always acted nice when he and mommy visited her before. And even though his hair was in a girls ponytail and
The maid that Aunt Corinne employed sometimes worked for Timmy’s mommy when Mommy was real busy. She had seen Timmy many times before. Her name was Juanita. A heavy set brown-skinned Hispanic woman with a gold tooth, she spoke broken English but was always very friendly and nice to him. She wore a plain black work dress.
When she arrived at Corinne’s house to change Maryanne’s room into something more suitable for a girl, Maryanne was already in a pretty dress Auntiie wanted him to wear when they went visiting. Maryanne had to go to his room to get his gloves and purse and Juanita saw him, but at first thought it was a girl she had never met before. Then she came closer, bending lower to see Maryanne’s face better.
“You Timmy!” she said in surprise, but still smiling.
“I’m Maryanne until my Mommy comes back,” said Timmy.
“So…live with Auntiie…being pretty girl now. You like looking pretty?” Juanita smiled down at him and primped the bow on his ponytail. Timmy had always liked Juanita, but was embarrassed that she was seeing him dressed as a girl. But the friendly woman just took it for granted that Timmy liked dressing like a girl, and she thought it was cute.
“I fix room for you today,” she said. “Make very pretty…you like when you see later. Nice for little girl. Auntiie call you Maryanne, now?”
“Yes,” said Timmy, and then suddenly hugged Juanita around her waist and put his head against her breast. He was sure he was going to cry, but Juanita patted his back and encouraged him.
“No cry…you make nice girl…very pretty. Auntiie make you look like nice girl.” Timmy knew she probably didn’t realize he wanted no part of being a girl. He looked up at her and managed a little smile, but he felt miserable inside. Finally he broke away from her, picked up his gloves and purse and waved goodbye.
“I have to go with Auntiie, Juanita,” he said. Still looking at him with her big friendly gold tooth smile, she primped his bow again.
“You go with Auntiie like nice girl. I make room pretty for you.” He left Juanita and found Auntiie waiting for him in the livingroom near the front door.
As usual, Corinne looked very stylish. She was wearing a tailored faded rose colored two piece suit and a white pillbox hat with a veil that came down to her nose. She carried a white leather clutch purse and wore white lace cotton gloves. Her three inch heels were white also, and Maryanne noticed the pink lace hem of her slip in a slit in the back of her skirt. He wondered why Auntie and his Mommy dressed so differently.
“Come along, Maryanne,” said Corinne. “We don’t want to keep Mrs. Cabot waiting.” They went out to her Lincoln and Maryanne got into the front seat, smoothing his dress behind him and brushing at some wrinkles in the front of it as he sat there. He hadn’t seen any boys on the street and was glad about that. He began to wonder if they would actually be able to recognize him even if they did see him. Juanita had seen who he really was, but she had been very close to him. Maybe as long as he stayed away from his friends they wouldn’t be able to tell who he was.
The dress Auntiie had him wearing today was a light blue dress with a lot of white criss-cross diamond shaped decoration near the middle of it above his waist and also on the bottom half of the skirt. It had short puffed sleeves and a little white round collar. There was a sash the same blue color that went around his waist that was tied in a big bow in back. The lace hem of the white bouffant slip he was wearing showed a little below the hem of his dress. Auntiie had also tied up his ponytail with a matching blue ribbon. And today he had on a lighter red nail polish.
Before Juanita had arrived, Auntiie had been teaching him what to say to Mrs. Cabot when they met. There was also something else she taught him how to do. It was something he was supposed to do the same time he was greeting her. Auntiie made him practice doing it until she was sure Maryanne could do it right.
After a while they came to a part of town where there were some really big houses, most of them made out of brick or stone with white columns near the front door. The houses were all separated from each other by big lawns and rows of hedges, bushes, and stone walls. Auntiie pulled her car onto a circular driveway of crushed stone and parked near the front entrance.
“Now remember, Maryanne…your best behavior,” said Corinne.
“Yes, Aunt Corinne,” he replied softly.
An old man in a black suit of some sort answered the door.
“Hello, Phillips,” said Corinne. “Mrs. Cabot is expecting us.”
“Yes, madam,” said the butler. “Let me show you to the drawing room.” He led the way to a side room down the wide hallway and knocked, paused, and then opened the door for them. “Mrs. Beliveau, madam,” he announced. A heavy looking older woman who had been sitting on a couch reading a magazine got up and came towards them.
“Corinne! I’m so glad you’re here,” she said. “I’ve so much to tell you.” Soon all of them were standing in the center of the room. Corinne and Mrs. Cabot put their cheeks together and then backed away a step.
“And who is this darling little girl you have with you?” said Mrs. Cabot, bending down towards Maryanne with a big smile.
This is my niece, Maryanne,” said Corinne. “She’s staying with me for a month while her mother is away on business. Say ‘hello’, Maryanne.”
Maryanne pinched the sides of his dress and slip together with his fingers and pulled them out sideways, at the same time putting one leg in back of the other as he curtsied and said, “It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs. Cabot.”
“Oh, what a sweet child!” exclaimed Mrs. Cabot. “Let’s all sit down on the couch.” Naturally, Maryanne was in the middle between the two women. But the couch was so big that there was plenty of room. Then Mrs. Cabot seemed to be thinking of something.
“Your niece…? Corinne, you only have one sister and no brothers, and your sister’s child is a boy. Or have I been missing something?”
“Well,” said Aunt Corinne, “Maryanne wasn’t always my niece. Up until yesterday she was my nephew, Timmy. But she likes wearing pretty dresses and being my niece. Don’t you, Maryanne?”
“Oh, yes, Aunt Corinne,” said Maryanne as he had been told to say. “I like being a girl and looking pretty. It’s much nicer than being a boy.”
“Well, I certainly think you should be, Maryanne,” said Mrs. Cabot. “You’re very, very pretty, sweetheart. And what a pretty dress you’re wearing!”
“Thank you, Mrs. Cabot,” said Maryanne. Helen Cabot continued to smile at him and looked closely at him at the same time. It amazed her how pretty the child was. She’d have sworn he was a real little girl.
After a few more comments, the two women began talking about a party that had taken place at an art gallery a week earlier. Maryanne sat quietly with one hand on top of the other in his lap. When twenty minutes had gone by, Mrs. Cabot pressed a small button on the side of a little table next to the couch. Pretty soon a lady in a maid’s uniform appeared.
“Yes, ma’am?” she said.
“Oh, Louise,” said Mrs. Cabot, “We’ll have tea. Make a mild cup for Maryanne.”
“Very good, ma’am,” said the maid, making an abbreviated curtsey, and then left.
Corinne immediately began to see disaster looming on the horizon. She had forgotten Mrs. Cabot always had tea and had spent no time with Maryanne at all as far as training her to hold and balance a teacup. She could imagine the loud metallic rattling she’d produce with her spoon, the tea dribbling over the side of the cup and filling the saucer, and the final horrible sound of expensive china hitting the floor.
“I’m not so sure Maryanne should have tea,” said Corinne. “She’s still only nine years old.”
“Oh, nonsense!” said Mrs. Cabot. “A girl is never too young to learn how to handle a teacup. Have you ever had tea before, Maryanne?”
“Yes, Mrs. Cabot,” replied Maryanne. “My mother and I used to have it together when I came home from school on cold winter days.”
“There! You see?” said the older woman to Corinne. “She can probably balance a teacup on her little knee better than either of us.”
“You mean in a mug, dear?” asked Corinne.
“No, Aunt Corinne,”Maryanne answered. “We always had it in her pretty china cups. The ones that say ‘English bone china’ on the bottom.”
Corinne could hardly believe her ears. She would never have thought of Timmy as being a tea drinker. She was still a bit skeptical and waited somewhat anxiously to see how Maryanne would actually do with a full cup of tea in her hands.
But when the tea arrived, Maryanne was equal to the occasion and had no trouble drinking his tea in a quiet and dainty fashion. Corinne was amazed. Mrs. Cabot cocked her head to the side a bit and looked down at her with a sweet smile.
“Maryanne,” she said, “your Auntiie and I still have a lot to talk about. It would be boring for you to just sit here quietly for another hour or so. Why don’t you and I take a little walk upstairs to a room that I think you can have some fun in while we talk.”
“I’d like that very much, Mrs. Cabot,” he replied.
“Please come along with us, Corinne,” said Mrs. Cabot. “I don’t think you’ve ever seen that part of the house yet.”
“Of course,” said Corinne. “It sounds interesting.”
They all got up and Mrs. Cabot led the way up the wide curving staircase. When they reached the top they went down the hallway a little distance, and then Mrs. Cabot opened the door and stood one side to let them enter.
Maryanne’s eyes widened in surprise. It was a girl’s playroom. There were nice ruffled curtains on the windows and about six or eight large wooden toy boxes in the room. There was also an over-sized doll house with a lot of furniture in it that could be re-arranged, a canopy bed for taking a nap, and at least a dozen beautiful dolls in the room. Some smaller boxes held lots of clothes for each of the dolls. And there were also books of paperdolls, coloring books, and some old issues of a couple of different magazines for little girls. Soft pink carpeting covered the floor.
“Very, very nice,” said Corinne as she saw the room..
“It was a playroom for my daughter when she was Maryanne’s age,” explained Mrs. Cabot. “Maryanne,” she continued, “why don’t you see if you can find something to play with up here while your Auntiie and I talk. I think it would be a lot more fun for you.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Cabot,” said Maryanne. “It’s pretty in here.”
“You’re welcome, dear,” said Mrs. Cabot. “We’ll let you know when it’s time to go. And there’s a bathroom right down the hallway.” The door closed as the two women left Maryanne alone.
Maryanne had never played with any girl toys before. At first he walked around a bit to see what else was there. He opened some of the large wooden boxes and in two of them were complete outfits for little costumes a girl might wear to a party or on Halloween. There was a ‘Little Bo Peep’ and an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ costume. But there were also some princess gowns and things, fairie costumes with little wings, a little Dutch girl’s outfit, and a couple that he didn’t know.
He picked up a fairly large doll and sat down on the bed with it, not really knowing what he’d do with it. There was a medium size box on the floor up against the wall where the doll had been. Inside he found a whole lot of clothes for the doll. He pulled the box closer to the bed and began to empty it, making little piles of the same type of clothes on the bed. Slips were in one pile, petticoats in another, and panties another. The little dresses and gowns he put on the bed separately. Soon he found himself dressing the doll so it looked like a lady wearing a big dress like they did down south a long time ago. There was even a big hat that went with the outfit.
Finished, he was sitting there looking at the doll in his left hand while he tugged the dress down with his right. All of a sudden, the door opened, and someone said, “Smile nice and pretty, dear.” Then there was a flash and both Aunt Corinne and Mrs. Cabot came into the room to take some more pictures of him with the dolls and things. Mrs. Cabot took a picture of Maryanne sitting on the bed with his doll in his lap while Corinne sat next to him with her arm around him. Then they switched places and Mrs. Cabot sat next to him.
“Oh, these will look so cute,” said Mrs. Cabot. “I’ll definitely get double prints and some enlargements.”
“Maryanne,” said Aunt Corinne. “now you’ll have a nice picture to send to Mommy. Won’t that be nice?”
Maryanne thought about that for a second or two before answering, and then replied, “Yes, it will be nice, Aunt Corinne. Can we take one more of just me and my doll?”
“Of course, dear,” said Mrs. Cabot. Maryanne smoothed his dress to make sure it looked alright, and then hugged the doll up to his cheek with a big smile. There was a flash and more little girl history was made. He thought that since Mommy wanted him to be a girl, she’d probably like seeing him hugging his doll.
Corinne was both surprised and delighted to see Maryanne acting so much like the little girl she wanted him to become. Things seemed to be going along just fine.
They told Maryanne that she could play for a while longer and went back down stairs. As they sat on the couch talking again, Mrs. Cabot said, “Corinne, I know some women don’t approve of dressing a little boy as a girl. But in Maryanne’s case I think it’s probably the best thing for him now. He really seems to like being a girl and doing girl things so much. I’m sure he must be happier this way. And he is so cute! Those delicate features and that beautiful hair! If he lived here with me I’d be dressing him myself. He’s such a sweetheart.”
“Yes,” said Corinne, “and it will make his mother so happy also.”
“Oh?” asked Mrs. Cabot.
“Yes,” replied Corinne. “She’s been wanting to dress him up herself for quite a while now, but the amount of her work kept her too busy.”
“Oh, wait until she sees him!” said Mrs. Cabot with a delighted squeal. “What a wonderful surprise for her!”
A little while later, Aunt Corinne and Maryanne left, Mrs. Cabot insisting that Maryanne take the doll he had been dressing up, and also all the extra clothes for it. Maryanne thanked her with a big smile.
“And I want you to visit me again, too, dear,” said Mrs. Cabot.
“You’re such a good girl I want to see you again as you grow into a nice young lady.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Cabot,” he replied, smiling prettily.
When they got home, Maryanne took the box containing the doll and clothes out of the back seat. But it was sort of heavy, and Auntiie saw him struggling with it.
“Here, let me take that for you, Maryanne.” She carried the box to the front door, told Maryanne to open it, and then set the box down inside on a chair.
“Now, before Juanita puts your nice dolly away and we see how pretty she’s made your room, let’s sit down and talk for a couple of minutes.”
“Yes, Auntiie,” he answered and sat down on the couch. Corinne sat down next to him after she took off her hat and gloves. Maryanne wondered if he was going to be scolded for not acting correctly at Mrs. Cabot’s house. But Auntiie looked down at him and actually smiled a little.
“Maryanne, you were a very good girl at Mrs. Cabot’s,” she began.
“You made Auntiie proud of you, dear. See how easy and nice it is to be a good girl? All you have to do is act like Auntiie tells you and you’ll fit right in with the other girls you’ll be meeting and playing with. You were a very nice girl today, and made Mrs. Cabot happy, too.”
“Really, Auntiie?” he asked.
“Yes, Maryanne,” she replied smiling a little more at him. “And I think you had a nice time today, too. Didn’t you?” Maryanne thought about it for a couple of moments.
“I…I guess I did, Auntiie,” he said.
“Did you like it when Mrs. Cabot told you how pretty you were and how nice your dress was?” asked Corinne. Maryanne blushed and nodded his head a little.
“Yes, Auntiie,” he replied with a cute smile, “because I thought that would make you happy…that I was doing the right things you wanted me to do.”
“Well, that’s nice, dear,” said Corinne. “But even if Auntiie hadn’t been there with you, wouldn’t you still have liked being told what a pretty girl you were?” Again, Maryanne paused and thought for a few seconds before answering.
“Yes…it was kind of…nice, Auntiie,” he replied truthfully, a little surprised at what he was saying. Corinne made a little smile as she looked down at him. Maryanne thought it was the same type of smile she had made when he first agreed to try and be a girl; like Auntiie had just won a contest or something.
Corinne didn’t make any comment about Maryanne’s tea drinking, or his apparent liking for dressing up his doll. She thought it was good that Marie had already shown him how to handle a teacup. But as far as the doll was concerned, she thought it was better not to say anything about it right now. She’d wait ’til she saw him doing it again and then say some nice things about it to encourage him.
“Maryanne,” said Corinne, “you just keep doing what Auntiie tells you and I’ll turn you into the nice little girl you should be and that your Mommy wants you to be, too. And you’ll have a lot of nice times like today. Alright, dear?”
“Yes, Auntiie,” said Maryanne. At this point, Auntiie didn’t seem quite as mean as he had thought she was.
“Now let’s go see what Juanita and her daughter have done to your bedroom,” said Corinne.
“Her daughter?” asked Maryanne.
“Yes, dear,” replied Corinne. “She was supposed to come over and help her mother after we left. But she just came to this country and doesn’t speak any English at all yet. You let me do the talking to them.”
“Yes, Auntiie,” said Maryanne. Then they went up to his bedroom.
Juanita’s daughter turned out to be a sixteen year old carbon copy of her mother, minus the gold tooth. Like her mother, she was dressed in a plain dark skirt and blouse clearly intended for housework. Her name was Maria.
But the first thing Maryanne noticed was the room. It was so pretty now. They had hung up a pretty wallpaper that was mostly light pink with little white, blue, and yellow flowers along with some green leaves that were sprinkled on it, widely separated from each other. And the curtains on the windows now were white cotton with big ruffles on them. Even his bed was prettier. It had a floral print spread over it that went down to the floor in a series of big white ruffles. And there were more lacy ruffles on his pillowcases. But the biggest surprise was a girls dressing table and a full length mirror of his own. Maryanne wondered how they could have made so many changes in a single afternoon.
“Do you like your bedroom better now, Maryanne?” asked Corinne.
“It’s very pretty, Auntiie,” he replied slowly. He was in a bit of a shock over how much of a girls room they had made it.
“That’s not what I asked you, Maryanne,” said Corinne. “Do you like it?”
“Yes, Auntiie…” he said hesitantly. “Yes, I do like it.”
“That’s good, dear,” said Auntiie. “It shows you’re making progress.”
“Progress?” he asked.
“We’ll talk about it later, dear.”
Then Auntiie did something that really surprised Maryanne. She began talking in Spanish to Juanita and her daughter. Quite quickly, too, as if she really knew the language well. Juanita said something back to her and then smiled at Maryanne. Maria looked at him also with a nice smile. Then she said something to her mother, and Juanita said, “Si…Timmy.” They were talking about him. Both mother and daughter smiled at him again. Juanita came over to Maryanne and put her hand on his shoulders.
“You like pretty room now…room for nice girl?”
“Yes, Juanita,” Maryanne replied. “Thank you very much.”
“No thank,” said Juanita. “Pretty girl should have pretty room.”
“Let’s leave them to finish cleaning up, Maryanne,” said Auntiie and we’ll talk a little bit in the livingroom.”
“Yes, Auntiie,” said Maryanne, and he followed Aunt Corinne down to the living room. They sat down on the couch together, Maryanne smoothing his dress behind him and placing his hands in his lap.
“Maryanne, when Auntiie first told you that she was going to change you to a girl, you didn’t think you’d like it. Did you?”
“No, Auntiie,” he replied truthfully.
“But being a girl doesn’t seem so bad now. Does it? In fact you’re beginning to like it. Aren’t you?” Maryanne had to think of what he wanted to say before he answered.
“Well, I still want to be a boy, Auntiie, but sometimes being a girl seems nice,” he replied. “Wearing pretty dresses, going places with you, knowing that I look like a girl, it’s all so different, but sometimes I like it.”
“That’s what Auntiie meant by “progress”, dear,” said Corinne. “You’re beginning to like being a girl. And every day you’ll like it more.”
“Really, Auntiie?” asked Maryanne, his eyes wider as he looked up at Corinne.
“Yes, dear,” she replied. “Pretty soon you might like it so much that you’ll want to stay a girl even after your Mommy comes home.”
“I will?” he asked.
“Maybe, dear,” said Corinne. “Once you really start liking it a lot, it will be hard for you to want to stop being a nice girl.” Maryanne thought about that quietly. He wasn’t sure he liked it, but it didn’t scare him like it had before.
“Auntiie, did Mommy really want to dress me up like a girl before she left?” he asked.
“Yes, she did, Maryanne,” said Auntiie. “You see, dear, you were such a cute boy, and Mommy hoped so much that you would be a girl before you were born. She wanted to see how pretty she could make you.”
“But when I was a boy my Mommy hugged and kissed me a lot,” said Maryanne. “I think she loved me when I was a boy.”
“Yes, she did, Maryanne,” explained Corinne. “But she’ll love you even more when she comes home and sees what a nice girl you’ve become. And you want Mommy to be happy, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he answered. “But maybe she’ll let me be a boy sometimes, too, so I can still go fishing and do boy things.”
“Well, perhaps, dear,” said Auntiie with a bit of a smile. “But maybe by then those things won’t seem important to you anymore. Maybe you’ll be having too much fun doing girl things to want to be a boy anymore. We’ll see.”
Maryanne thought about that. He didn’t really understand everything that was happening to him. Still, he found it hard to believe that he’d never want to be a boy again.
“Auntiie, do you like me more now than you did when I first came here?”
“Oh, I think you’re much nicer now, Maryanne,” said Auntiie. “And you’ll get nicer every day if you do as Auntiie tells you. Always remember, dear…being a girl is better than being a boy.”
“Alright, Auntiie,” he replied. “I will.”
“That’s a good girl,” said Auntiie, smiling down at him again.
