She missed him a lot- it was last summer that he died, and Karen-ann loved her father, which is why she misbehaved.  Their mother tried everything, so this was the only answer. 

Her husband had never argued, and eventually let her take care of the finances, since she was used to doing it. She had been twenty years his junior, but had the same taste in almost everything, especially politics and discipline. She looked, but could not find anyone as open to a lot of her ideas as her husband had been. 

One day after his death last summer, Karen-ann started hanging out with a bad crowd. Her mother tried everything, but it nothing worked. If you have not guessed by now, they were not exactly identical twins - Karen-ann used to be Kevin-andrew, or Kevin-andy for short. So what happened? Well Kevin, who used to be his mother and father's good boy, started hanging out with the bad boys after school ended for the year. He had just turned  eight on June 3^rd and started fighting. He kept picking on boys that were smaller than he was, and girls too. He started to steal and break peoples' property - his mother tried everything. He was grounded, his video games were taken away from him, and, when he got them back, she replaced them with girl games, but he would not play them - it just made him harder to handle.  He was kept out of little league and was not allowed to see those friends any more. She still thought she could handle him as a boy, reading to him about petticoat punishment, both real and fictional. It is not that she disagreed with the method - she didn’t, and both she and her late husband just thought of it as a last resort.

So when was the last resort? After his grounding ended and the children were sent to a co-ed sleep-away for the first time, Kevin-andy attacked a girl a year younger than he was and pushed her face in the dirt, and the counselors, both male and female could not handle him.  His mother was called up - lucky she was on vacation too.  When she got there, the camp owners and four counselors, two female and two male, told of his behavior. 

"We understand his father died, but we have no way of controlling him, and we do not want to spank him or hurt him in any way, even though you gave us permission to do it. We have an idea, we saw it on the Internet, we will let the female counselors tell you about it.  We know you are a doctor; we would pay you for the summer - double your standard fee - if you stay here."

So the males left and the husband of the owner left, too; Kevin-andy and the women stayed.

"We found this web site on petticoat punishment for unruly boys.”

"I know about it, but I always thought it as a last resort, as did my late husband. We never thought we would have to do it to Kevin; he was a good boy and his behavior bordered on girlish. He even let his twin sister dress him up a couple of times and never complained. But when his father died I could not handle it. I took him to counselors, both male and female, my colleagues, but they both said he would not out grow this - he just looked at it as his father deserting him.  You have to do something drastic. We will not medicate him you know that. We do not believe in it, that is why you took him to us.”

"So they told me about doing this and I knew about this, but rejected it. I took him shopping for new video games and told him no violent video games, just baseball or a racing game without any crashes. So he said, "Thank you, Mommy."  I almost heard his old self come back, but it was short lived; he, like his sister, is a genius - his IQ is extremely high, so he found a way to reprogram the racing video game to make it crash.  Then he started to beat up kids again, and I had to ground him and take his new games away. Then camp was coming up - I thought the outdoors and the horsebackriding would calm him down. I am sorry, this is a last resort."

So one of the female counselors got one of the girls camp uniforms and told him to put it on. He said no. His mother said, “I have tried everything, with you and nothing worked, so from now on you will answer to the name 'Karen-ann.' Is that understood, young lady?  And you will start to think of yourself as a girl for now on, and you will listen to your sister, Karen-alice and other girls and your new counselor, debbie.  If you are bad, you will be spanked, and in front of all the girls, at night before you go to sleep.  I know right now you think I do not love you sweetie, but I do, my little darling girl.  You will be on a special diet for the rest of the camp, and before school starts there will be certain things reorganized - you know Mommy is a doctor, a ladies doctor.  One, you will be on female hormone therapy appropriate for your age and, before we go home, you will go to the local hospital here where Mommy works sometimes.  I made a appointment and told them, for the first time, I want an all-female staff a very pretty one.  You will physically become a girl too; you know we moved.  Well you will go to the same school as Karen-alice, an all- girls school.  Ii called and made the arrangements, the only thing I do not like is you have to wear uniforms: a jumper and Mary Jane’s, any colour. Most of your shoes shall be pink with some white, and one pair black. I am buying you girls underwear - you and your sister are exactly the same size; I will pick you up some baby dolls and nighties just like your sister's.  You both will wear the same things - she will pick out an outfit and you will wear the same thing. Understand? And when the hormones kick in you will feel more like a girl.  Now go to your sister's bunk house -  debbie is her counselor she will be in charge of you as all the girls will.” 

He was beside himself.  His hair was blonde and long and it was easy to make a girl hairstyle and put his hair in pig tails with a pink ribbon on each one and a big pink bow on the top of his head. He said nothing and he just knew that look from his mother, and knew when she looked like that you did not argue, you just obeyed.  He remembered Daddy only once got that look from her and he just said, “Anything you want, dear.”  He did not argue and never did anything to get that look again.

Now he was Karen-ann - no argument and no more acting out.  I had to be the best-behaved girl in camp. Now he went to the other side debbie had just walked in to; she said, "This is Karen-ann, Karen alice’s twin sister."

They all knew it was Kevin-andy and that he was being punished, but the girls did not tease him, which was strange.  They sort of felt sorry for him. Instead they treated him like one of the girls. It was late, 10:30 pm, so they went to sleep - they should have gone the bed long ago.  Karen- ann slept on the top bunk, over her sister. Tomorrow her hormone therapy would start.