Michael soon found himself being measured; height, chest, waist, and hips. Once she had his sizes, she began routing through the shelves. She took a bundle of Cellophane wrapped items under her arm and stepped over to the counter. “These are the Ashford ones.” She said as she placed the bundle down and worked through them. “Girls, girls, boys fourteen to sixteen, girls, girls, boys eleven to thirteen.” She stopped there and placed the 11-13 package to one side.

Michael glanced at the picture on the front of the package which showed the outline of a girl’s swimsuit. He then looked at the picture on the ‘girls’ pile and saw it was almost identical. “They’re both the same.” He observed.

The lady pointed out that his had ‘boys 11-13’ printed on it, and the others had ‘girls’ printed clearly next to the outline of the style. She went on to point out that the girls had a slightly higher leg and also crossed over at the back.

Karen then said, “Yours is more like a vest and trunks in one.”

Why the boys didn’t wear trunks was beyond him, but he was convinced his swimming costume was in fact a boy’s style and not a girl as he’d initially feared.

“I do like these skorts too.” The assistant said as she opened a clear plastic package and removed a burgundy item. It was heavily pleated and as she unfolded it, added. “It’s best if he tries these for size, the labels aren’t very accurate.”