Fiction byClaudette St.Onge © 2001-3, all rights reserved
THE REST OF THE FIRST WEEK
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.
During the next four days Maryanne learned even more things about acting like a nice girl should. Auntiie never let up watching him carefully. "Don’t slouch like that, Maryanne," she’d say. "It’s bad for your back and certainly doesn’t look very lady-like." She also made sure he always held his fork with his fingers and thumb and not like he was making a fist. She taught him to place his linen napkin across his lap slightly to the left, and also to keep his left hand in his lap while he ate after he had cut his food. And he was never to bend his face over his plate when he ate, but bring the food to his mouth with his fork while he sat up nice and straight.
"Nice girls wear white shoes during the summer, Maryanne. If you get a scuff mark on them, wipe it off with a damp tissue."
"Yes, Auntiie," he said for about the hundredth time that day.
Of course Auntiie gave him (and herself) a break now and then. Maryanne didn’t really have to help her with the housework as long as he kept his room nice and neat. During the afternoon he sometimes would take a little nap on his pretty bed. But he also was beginning to play with girl things a lot and to read the little magazines for girls. At first he did it simply because he was bored and couldn’t think of anything else to do. But after a while he began liking it. And Auntiie always made her little smile at him when she saw him playing with his paper dolls or dressing his doll.
They went into town to go shopping two more times that week. At first Maryanne was scared and embarrassed someone would see he was really a boy, but Auntiie told him that wouldn’t happen as long as he acted like a nice girl. He was too pretty now for people to think he was a boy. The stores they went to were all for women and girls only. When he had to try on a dress Auntiie would go into the dressing room with him to help him change. And sometimes she’d let him pick out certain things for himself.
"Pick out some nice panties, dear. You know which ones will make you feel pretty."
That was something else they had begun to talk about. Auntiie told him that when he began to "feel" pretty, he’d really be starting to think like a nice girl. She asked him if any of his dresses had become his favorites yet.
"No Auntiie," he replied. "They’re all pretty girls dresses,
but I don’t have any favorite ones."
"You will, dear," she said with that little smile. "You
will."
It was about this time that Maryanne began to realize that Auntiie was very smart. She seemed to know how he was going to act, what he would do and how he would feel.
He also knew that he was really starting to act like a girl all the time now. There were some things he didn’t like about it, but he was still afraid of Auntiie. The best thing to do seemed to be whatever she told him to do. He had no doubt that if he got into a big argument with her, he’d get a hairbrush spanking. But besides that, his Mommy had told him to do whatever Auntiie said.
Sometimes he would be sitting down and he would look at his pretty dress, and at Auntiie’s nice home (still a little scarey, but he was getting used to it), and think how they had some really delicious food in some of the restaurants and tea rooms they visited. Then he’d begin thinking that maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. Besides, it was only for a month. Auntiie still didn’t treat him very lovey-dovey like Mommy did, but at least she smiled at him from time to time now. He guessed he must be doing the things she wanted. He sighed and wondered if there’d be anything different happening during the next three weeks.
On Saturday, Auntiie took him to town once again to buy a really special pretty dress. They were going to go to a bridge party on Sunday afternoon, and while Auntiie played cards and gossiped with the other ladies, he would play with the other little girls. They’d all be wearing their prettiest dresses, and Auntiie wanted him to look extra nice for the occasion.
This time Auntiie took him to a special store. It was a very expensive store and was called Beverly’s, and Mrs. Beverly, the owner of the store, was a friend of Auntiie’s. Aunt Corinne told him that Mrs. Beverly was a very nice lady and would treat him just as if he was her own little girl.
When they entered the store Maryanne could see several girls with their mothers looking at dresses and things in the aisles. It was very pretty in the store with all sorts of girl clothes on display. Every time Auntiie took him shopping for clothes, he still felt a little nervous. Jane Beverly was on the far side of the store talking with a customer when she spotted Corinne. She turned the customer over to a salesgirl and made her way to her friend. A model when she was younger, Jane was still a striking looking woman. But time and a few pounds had made her decide to leave modeling and start her own business.
"Corinne! It’s so good to see you!" she said as she came up to her, placing her cheek against Corinne’s. Auntiie greeted her as well and then Jane turned her attention to Maryanne.
"And who’s this pretty girl you have with you?" she asked, bending down a bit as she looked at Maryanne with a big smile. Corinne had decided ahead of time that she would tell Jane who Maryanne really was. She was feeling proud about how nice she had changed him, and also wanted to see the reaction of Jane when she found out who Maryanne was.
"Oh, come now," said Corinne. "Surely you remember my sister’s child?"
"You mean Timmy, Marie’s little boy?"
"Yes," said Corinne. Marie has to spend a month in New York City on business, and Timmy is staying with me. He’s going to be my niece while she’s gone." Jane looked at Maryanne with a puzzled expression.
"Your niece?" she asked, somewhat incredulously.
"Yes," said Corinne. "He likes dressing up like a nice girl and wants to be my niece for the month. Isn’t he pretty? His name is Maryanne now." Jane shook her head a little, still not sure she was hearing things right. She wanted to talk to Corinne without Maryanne being there. Spotting a salesgirl without a customer, she beckoned her over.
"Well, Maryanne," she said, "it’s very nice to meet such a pretty girl."
"It’s nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Beverly," said Maryanne with a nice smile. Then the salesgirl arrived and Jane told her to show Maryanne some pretty dresses while she talked with Corinne for a few minutes.
"Go ahead with the nice lady," said Aunt Corinne. The saleslady took his hand and led him off down the aisle a little ways, believing him to be a real little girl. Jane turned her attention to Corinne.
"Corinne, what’s going on here? Some kind of costume party or something? What’s the joke?"
"It’s no joke, Jane," said Corinne. "He has to stay with someone while Marie is gone, and I told her that he could stay with me, but only if he became my cute little niece while he was with me. You know how I feel about boys."
"Corinne! You can’t do this to him…not for a whole month! God knows what it might do to him."
"Well, it may surprise you to know that his mother approves of it. And from what I can see, Maryanne is beginning to like being my niece."
"Even so, Corinne, you shouldn’t be doing this," said Jane. "I know there are plenty of women that dress up their little boy for an afternoon’s fun. But you can’t do it for a month!"
"Jane," said Corinne calmly, "he really is beginning to like being a girl. And besides, his mother wanted to dress him up like a girl herself but was always too busy. I told her that she could finally see what kind of girl Timmy would have been like when she gets back. It’ll probably improve his behavior, too."
"Oh, the poor child," said Jane. "A couple of crazy women toying around with his sexual identity at such a helpless innocent age."
"Nonsense!" said Corinne. "He’s a nine year old child. Six months from now he won’t even remember any of this. He’ll be back in his jeans and sneakers and running around with his pals as if it never happened. But for now, I think he’s finding it kind of fun to be a girl. You have to admit…he does make a very pretty girl."
Jane looked down and shook her head. "I don’t know…I certainly hope you know what you’re doing."
"Now," said Corinne, "I’m taking him with me to Catherine’s bridge party tomorrow. And I want an especially pretty dress for him. While we play cards he can play with the other little girls there. It will be good for him to make some new friends to replace those street ruffians he played with."
"This just doesn’t feel right," said Jane.
"Jane…Please," said Corinne. "Forget about your worries and help me to pick out a nice dress for him."
"Follow me," said Jane as they began heading towards the area where there was a better grade of dresses. They rejoined Maryanne along the way. As they began looking at different dresses, Jane found herself saying, "With that lovely blond hair, pink really is his color."
Maryanne heard Mrs. Beverly say "his color". But she was so nice to him it didn’t bother him that she knew he was really a boy.
By the time they had decided on a dress, word had somehow gotten around among the salesgirls that Maryanne was a boy. The ones that weren’t taking care of a customer gathered near the cash register and talked quietly with big smiles as they looked over at him.
"Jane, are you going to the bridge party tomorrow?" asked Corinne.
"Yes, I’ll be there," Jane replied. She would never admit it, but she was dying to see how pretty Corinne could make Timmy look. The new dress was boxed up and Jane bent down towards Maryanne to say goodbye.
"Maryanne, it was very nice to meet you, dear. I’ll see you again at the bridge party tomorrow. In the meantime you do as Auntiie tells you and be a good girl." She gave him a little kiss on his cheek.
"I will, Mrs. Beverly," he answered with a big smile.
Corinne was smiling, too.
When they got home, Maryanne carried the dress box up to his room, and carefully took the dress out and hung it in his closet for the next day’s bridge party. Then he came back down to the living room.
Aunt Corinne was standing in front of the large mirror near the front door. When Maryanne entered, Corinne looked over at her without any expression and told her to sit down on the couch. But Corinne herself remained standing, looking at Maryanne. Then after a minute or so, she began smiling at Maryanne and came over to sit down next to him.
Maryanne didn’t know what was going on. Auntiie was really smiling, not just the little mechanical smile she sometimes made. Or the smile that made her look like she’d just beaten someone in a contest.
Corinne slipped her arm around Maryanne’s shoulders as she sat next to him, something she’d never done before. Maryanne looked up at her with big eyes, wondering what was happening. Auntiie actually looked friendly to him.
"Maryanne," began Corinne, "You’ve been a very good girl this week. I know you probably thought I didn’t like you very much when you first got here. But I hope you’ll start to like me now, Maryanne, because I’m starting to like my little niece very much."
"You are, Auntiie?" he asked.
"Yes, dear," replied Corinne. "You see, honey, you’re not just acting like a girl because Auntiie says you have to. You’re doing it naturally like a real little girl. Are you starting to like being a girl, Maryanne?"
Maryanne hung his head down and sat there quietly, fingering the side of his dress.
"What’s the matter, dear?" asked Corinne. "Don’t be embarrassed. Tell Auntiie the truth, honey." She gave his shoulder an encouraging tug.
"I don’t know what’s happening, Auntiie. I don’t want to be a sissy, but…well, there seems to be a lot of things that I like now…girl things."
"See, Maryanne?" said Corinne. "Didn’t Auntiie tell you that you start to like it after a while?"
"Yes, Auntiie," he replied, "but is it bad for me to be feeling this way?"
"Bad! Why should it be bad?!" said Corinne. "Remember what Auntiie told you, dear….being a girl is better than being a boy."
"Yes, Auntiie," he replied.
"Now tell me what some of the things you’re starting to like are," said Corinne. "Do you like wearing a dress now?"
Maryanne began to cry and leaned against his Auntiie. Corinne hugged him to her side and kissed his cheek.
"Don’t cry, honey," said Auntiie. "This is the way you should be starting to feel…just like any other nice girl. It’s alright, dear. Don’t cry. It makes Auntiie feel bad to see her pretty niece crying." She took a tissue from her sleeve and began to dab at his tears.
"There. Now tell Auntiie what some of the nice girl things are that you like." She smiled down at him. Really smiled. Maryanne stopped crying and looked up at her. Auntiie seemed so different now, he thought. She was almost as friendly and nice as Mommy was. Maybe it would be okay to tell her.
"Well," he began, "I think I’m starting to like wearing pretty clothes and feeling pretty, too. And it’s kind of fun dressing up my nice doll that Mrs. Cabot gave me, too. But it’s more than just those things, Auntiie."
"What else do you like, Maryanne?" asked Corinne.
"I like acting like a girl, and having people think I am a girl, too," he said.
"Maryanne!" said Auntiie. "That’s just the way you should feel, sweetheart. And that’s how Auntiie and your Mommy want you to feel."
"Mommy, too?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, dear," replied Auntiie. "Your Mommy will be so happy when she gets home and sees what a nice girl she has now."
"But do you think she’ll still let me be a boy sometimes, too, Auntiie?"
"That’s up to her, sweetheart," said Auntiie, "but maybe by then you won’t want to be a boy anymore. You’re just starting to find out how nice it is to be a girl. You still have three more weeks before Mommy gets home, and by then you’ll like it a lot more."
"You told me that before, Auntiie, and I didn’t really believe you," said Maryanne. "But now I think it’s true."
"Well, I’m certainly glad to have you living with me as long as you try to be a nice girl." Corinne smiled down at him and tugged his shoulder again encouragingly. "You see, honey, I like nice little girls very much. More than I realized before. You’re making me very happy with the way your becoming a nice girl. And you’re so pretty! I’m proud to take my pretty niece with me when we go places."
"It sounds so…different to say things like this, Auntiie," said Maryanne. "But I can’t help it. I like being a girl now. And it’s nice when you take me shopping for pretty things to wear." Corinne was still smiling at him.
"You’re turning into the nice little girl Auntiie and Mommy wanted you to be, Maryanne. And it’ll make you and me and Mommy very happy."