The same routine went on for the rest of the week and each time she takes great pleasure in choosing him the frilliest, prissiest, most girlie outfit she can, which isn’t hard given the selection.
On Saturday morning, his mother and sister prepared to paint his old bedroom. “Perry said he’d help too Mother.” Jemima said as they moved the furniture to one side of the room.
“Well I don’t know what he’s going to wear… all the clothes he has are far too good for decorating.” her mother replied.
“I’ll find him something.” Jemima replied.
She walked into his bedroom where he sat wearing a prissy dress. “So you want to help paint my room?” she asked.
“I said I would.” he replied.
“Well you’ll have to wear these… you don’t want to get your pretty dress all messy do you?” Jemima teased, placing a small bundle of clothes next to him. She unfolded an old pink t-shirt with the Hello Kitty logo on it, a short denim skirt which already had a couple of paint stains on, and a pair of black leggings.
The t-shirt aside, these were exactly the sorts of clothes Perry would prefer to wear, if he was a girl, so he quickly changed in to them. They spent the afternoon painting one half of the room; the skirting boards and door frames white, and the walls a pale purple colour. Jemima kept saying how nice it was to have a new bedroom whilst Perry kept wishing it was still his room. At least he wasn’t wearing a prissy sissy dress… for now.
Once they’d done one half, he helped his sister move all her furniture away from the other wall. Wondering why their mother wasn’t helping, he asked where she was. “She’s gone to collect my new dressing table.” Jemima replied.
“Well… why don’t you have that one in my room?” he asked. “It is yours.”
“It’s yours now Perry” Jemima grinned.
“But I don’t need a dressing table.” he replied, “I don’t even….”
“…have any make up!” she interjected before he could finish.
“Don’t even want it!” Perry insisted.
“Well I was going to give you some make up… seeing as you’ve been such a big help.” Jemima replied, adding, “It seems pointless having a dressing table without it.” she smiled cockily as Perry visibly squirmed. “And I thought, later on, after you’ve got out of those scruffy clothes it would be nice to dress up and wear some.”
Perry looked down at himself. “I like these clothes.” he admitted. “They’re better than your dresses.”
“You mean your dresses!” Jemima grinned.
Perry felt himself blushing again, and wanting to change the subject, picked up a paint brush. They continued painting for another hour or so. In the mean time their mother returned and she and Jemima assembled her new dressing table. It was nowhere near as girlie as her old one and Jemima was chuffed to bits with it.
They had take away pizza for supper, and after that, Perry was shoved into the shower. Once washed, he returned to his room to find a skirt and blouse laying on his bed. As he was getting changed into them his sister appeared. “I’ve brought you a nice pair of tights to wear, and as promised, some make up.” she smiled, placing a few items on his dressing table. “There’s eye liner, mascara, a couple of lipsticks, and some nail varnish… have you worn nail varnish before?”
Perry looked at the items and shook his head. “Well there’s a first time for everything.” his sister smiled. “I know you’ve worn my make up before now… in fact you did quite a good job on Tuesday.” she said. “…apart from the ‘not asking’ bit.”
Perry hung his head and apologised again.
“That’s OK Perry… it’s all behind us now. I’ve got a nice new bedroom and I quite like having a little brother who’s also my little sister.” she smiled.
Perry smiled back, but didn’t really know why.
