The next morning, James peels his eyelids apart knowing full well that yesterday’s events were entirely real.
He wasn’t even granted a brief moment of ignorance before remembering.
His mother mentions nothing about it over breakfast so neither does James, although he is tempted to ask her about the navy blue sailor dress… did she buy it or did he imagine it?
After breakfast, his mother told him to have a wash and brush his teeth.
He does as he’s told before getting ready for school, but on opening his drawer he finds it empty… completely empty.
There are not even all those pairs of knickers inside.
“Mum!” he hollers from the landing.
His mother replies with ‘who?’ in a stern tone.
“Mummy,” he says.
“Yes dear,” she replies as she appears at the foot of the stairs.
He tells her that he’s no underpants and that the drawer is empty, adding that he’d checked the others.
“You’ve still got your spare knickers in your handbag haven’t you.” she reminded him.
“I can’t wear those at school!” James insisted.
“But!” he moaned when his mother said that he could.
“No one’s going to see them unless you want them to.” his mother told him, adding that she wouldn’t blame him if he did since they’re so very pretty.
When he entered the kitchen wearing his school uniform, his mother checked that he hadn’t decided to ‘go commando’ instead.
“That wasn’t so hard was it?” she grinned.
James stuck out his lip and insisted he wouldn’t when his mother told him he’d get used to them.
“Does that mean I have to wear them all the time?” he asked as he realized it probably did.
His mother told him that if he’s good and compliant, then she’ll let him wear his old underpants on PE days.
“But if you persist with this whining James, you’ll wear your knickers every day… and that includes PE days.” she told him.
John grimaced and grumbled something negative.
“If you don’t believe me, then try me.” his mother threatened.
Being silky and close-fitting, he spent every moment at school that day knowing full well that he wore the prissiest pair of knickers he’s ever seen beneath his school pants; and having his name embroidered on the front, there’s no denying they’re his.
He sees Paul in the corridor and they vaguely acknowledge each other, but don’t speak.
Paul is a couple of years above John and to look at him, no one would suspect he’s a petticoatee.
He also sees Timothy at lunchtime and glumly tells him,
“I think my Mum’s starting to do what yours does.”
“Sorry,” Timothy replied.
“I guess she wouldn’t’ have even heard if it until my mum came round.”
“Nah she had,” James informed him. “It’s not your fault.”
The next day James was granted a pair of his old underpants for the day, but the moment he arrived home his mother insisted that he put some clean knickers on.
He had a little whine but his mother reminded him about the ‘no whining’ rule.
She gives him a pair of knickers with green lacy trim but apart from that, they’re identical to the others with ruffled lace covering the bum and a big frilly love heart with his name embroidered in large ornate letters on the front.
“Why don’t you just put them in my drawer if I have to wear them every day?”
“Well that would be easier wouldn’t it?” his mother replied.
“But as things stand, I’m not sure if I can trust you not to ruin them to avoid wearing them,” she told him.
“And the same goes for your dresses.” she added before informing him that all his ‘nice’ clothes will be kept somewhere safe until she can trust him with them.
The fact she used the plural ‘dresses’ confirmed to James that he hadn’t imagined the navy blue sailor dress.
He knew he hadn’t but in its absence, there was a slim outside chance that he had.
It wasn’t an ideal situation to be in, but since his mother let him wear his own clothes over his knickers, it could have been worse.
On Saturday and as usual, James accompanied his mother to town to help her with the shopping.
Doing the rounds of all the charity shops wasn’t unusual either, but now his mother is browsing the girl’s clothes as well as everything else… it is unusual.
Especially when she purchases a dress!
Thankfully she doesn’t make him try it on or even imply it’s for him, although James is sure it is.
When they get home, his mother tells him to hang it in his wardrobe.
“Don’t I have to wear it?” he asked.
“Not unless you want to.” his mother replied.
Of course he doesn’t, so he simply hangs it in his wardrobe and tries to forget about it.
On Sunday he wakes up to see the navy blue sailor dress hanging on the front of his wardrobe.
“I knew this was going to happen.” he moans to himself as he realised that the only reason it’s there is because he’s going to wear it today. “Still… it’s better than my others.”
In comparison to the dress he wore for Timothyr’s party, this one is far more preferable.
It’s relatively plain and being knee-length it’s not stupidly short either.
Beneath it though, he wears a girlie vest, his thick plain stockings and his suspender belt, plus a pair of knickers with his name emblazoned in the centre if their big frilly heart.
On his feet, he wears a pair of deck shoes which he’s had for ages.
Mum says they’re perfect for the dress, but adds “…although a nice pair of Mary Jane’s would be nicer.”
“What are they?” James asked.
“I think I prefer these,” he adds after his mother describes the Mary Jane style.
“I bet you prefer that dress to your other one too.” his mother says.
“Well… I’m not going to say that I like it… but I do prefer it I suppose.” James diplomatically replied.
He’d prefer it even more if he didn’t have to wear such frilly underwear beneath it… even normal girl’s knickers would be better than the frilly monstrosities he’s wearing.
“You’re not going to make me going outside are you?” he asked.
“Not unless you want to go out.” his mother replied as she peered out of the window towards the overcast day.
She turned to her son and said, “I figured that since it’s bit gloomy, today would be a nice day to stay in and…” She tailed off and looked him up and down. He knew what she meant.
Apart from having to wear a dress for the entire day, it was a normal Sunday.
John doesn’t like his sailor dress in the least, but in comparison to the dresses he saw in Timothy’s room and those they all wore for his party, he knows that it could be much worse than this.
He watched TV, read his magazines, tidied his room and put his laundry away.
He did notice that his clean laundry contains no underwear but knew better than to question it.
“I wonder when I’m going to have to wear that?” he asked himself as he hung his school shirts away.
He knows he’s got three dresses, but only one is in his wardrobe and that’s the one from the charity shop.
It’s a sort of brown tartan with strands of red, green, and blue in the weave.
It also has a white collar and short white sleeves which make it look really daggy.
It’s the sort of frock that plain Jane’s and geeky girls might wear for a disco.
Throughout the following week, James was given a clean pair of knickers each morning by his mother, unless of course he had PE.
This meant that on Tuesday and Thursday, he could dress completely as a boy for school.
A couple more girlie items appeared in his wardrobe too, but he wasn’t told to wear them.
Alongside the daggy tartan, frock hangs a cream blouse with a lace-trimmed yoke and a dusty pink button-down skirt.
He also finds a few new T-shirts as well as a pair of turquoise cropped pants in the drawers and he’s in two minds whether or not to mention them to his mother.
On Friday afternoon however, he feels that he can’t put it off any longer.
“I was beginning to wonder how long it’d take you to notice.” his mother replied.
“Do I have to wear them?” he asked.
“What do you think?”
“Well… I guess so… otherwise they wouldn’t be there.” James replied.
His mother told him that the main reason they’re in his wardrobe is so he can get used to having the things that all petticoated boys have.
“Does that mean I’ll always have girl’s clothes I my room?” he asked.
“Well, not always.” his mother assured. “But for the time being,” she added before informing him that they’re not really girl’s clothes. “…they’re your clothes.”
“Oh,” James replied. “So… do I ‘have’ to wear them?” he asked again since he still hasn’t had a straight answer.
His mother tells him that she didn’t buy them just to look at and suggests that he might like to try something on.
“Which one though?” he mumbles. Jame’s mother says that it’s entirely up to him, so he saunters to his room and has a think.
The cropped pants are by far the least girlie, but their colour is just weird.
The three T-shirts also aren’t as girlie as the blouse,
but since one has a Minnie Mouse design,
the other has a She-Ra: Princess of Power print and the third has a glittery butterfly motif… they’re all clearly girl’s T-shirts.
“I had a feeling you’d wear those.” his mother smiles as he returns wearing the blue She-Ra T-shirt and the turquoise pedal pushers.
“Why do they call them pedal pushers?” he asked, “And why do they fasten at the side?”
“So they look nicer from the front.” his mother said. James also pointed out that they’ve haven’t got any pockets and his mother said he doesn’t need any.
“Everything you need can go in your handbag,” she says.
“As for calling them pedal pushers…”
“Oh,” James replied after learning about the style’s cycling heritage.
“I wasn’t sure if I had to wear some tights with them,” he said.
“Stockings.” his mother corrects.
“I think they look nicer without,” she added before asking what he thought.
James looked down at himself and although he wasn’t keen on the blue-green pants or the fact that the T-shirt has the word ‘princess’ on it, he said they’re ‘OK’.
“I’ve never heard of She-Ra though.”
His mother grinned and told him that she isn’t on TV any more.
“It’s probably older than you is that T-shirt,” she said, before telling him that She-Ra was a cartoon heroine with super powers.
“A bit like Wonder Woman… if you’ve heard of her.”
“Everyone’s heard of Wonder Woman.” James retorted.
“Glad to hear it.” his mother smiled. “Wonder Woman was my favourite when I was a girl.” she dreamily added.
“And Supergirl too… but the film was awful!”
“I liked that,” James replied although he was about seven years old when he watched it.
John wore his pedal-pushers and She-Ra T-shirt all evening, then on Saturday morning his mother laid out the cream blouse and dusty pink skirt.
Since he’d already dressed in his casual boy clothes, James asked “Do I have to wear that today?”
“I thought it would be nice to finally see how it looks on.” his mother replied, adding that he could try it after they’ve done the shopping.
As usual, they trawled through the charity shops before hitting the food shops to get their groceries.
In the market hall, his mother had a good long look at the tights and socks stall and chose him a few packs of ‘nice’ socks.
Noticing she’d selected a pack of girl’s ‘school’ socks, Timothy discreetly asked if he’ll have to wear them for school and hoped he wouldn’t.
“Not if you’re good,” she replied. “But you could if you wanted to.” she added.
“Why would I want to do that?” James asked. “If I wore those everyone would know.”
“Know what?”
“That I’m…” he paused to ensure he didn’t say it too loudly. “…petticoated.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if lots of boys at school are just like you.” his mother suggested.
“I would.”
“Well we know that Timothy and his friend Paul both are.” she stated.
“Yeah but they don’t want anyone else to know either,” he replied.
His mother suggested that boys are ‘funny’.
“Why?” James asked in a whiny tone.
“Because when a girl gets something nice to wear, she can’t wait to show it off or tell everyone…” his mother said,
“…but when a boy gets something nice they want to keep it secret.”
“That’s because some things are too nice,” James replied.
“And boys aren’t supposed to look too nice.”
“Some boys are.”
“Boys like me!” he grumbled. James hoped this would sound more defiant than it did, but his voice lacked conviction so it came out more like a question.
He could have kicked himself when his mother replied in the affirmative.