7. KNOCKING AT AUNTIE JOAN'S DOOR

Mum gave me a big encouraging smile as we neared Auntie Joan's house, and knocked on the door. 'You've done very well so far Timmy,' she said with a smile. 'Just keep things going, and that extra fiver will be all yours! I really want to see if we can fool that stupid elder sister of mine into believing that you are actually your twin sister Tina!'

The wily ways of women had long been a total mystery to me. So just why my mother should want to fool her elder sister Joan that I was actually my twin sister Tina, was yet another of those mysteries. However, I didn't have very long to consider the problem because the front door soon opened and there was Auntie Joan, complete with her coke-bottle spectacles and hearing aid, as usual. My mother quickly greeted her and they embraced as if they hadn't met for some months, although I knew they'd got together for tea and biscuits only the previous week.

'You haven't met my lovely daughter Tina for a while, have you?' said Mum, keeping a straight face as she smiled at me. 'Why, no!' said Auntie Joan. 'Give me a big kiss, Tina! My, what a pretty girl you are. It seems like only yesterday that you were running around with that twin brother of yours, Timmy, in shorts.  Yet here you are now, looking so beautiful in that pretty dress! My, I see you're wearing heels and stockings too!'

What could I do but return her sloppy kiss and follow my mother into the hallway and then the lounge.

So far, so good I thought. Auntie Joan clearly thought I was my twin sister Tina, and my extra five pounds was looking good. However, could I keep the deception up? I followed my mother into the lounge and managed to sit down in my best feminine manner, i.e., without sprawling and showing my petticoats and underwear. It was actually a great relief to finally get to sit down and rest my feet, because the shoes I had been walking in for some twenty minutes were really starting to pinch my toes. Even worse were the restrictive confines of the girdle!

However, at least I had now gotten used to having the unusual effect of wearing a padded bra, not to mention the continual rustle of the lacy petticoats under Tina's party frock. The nylons I was wearing didn't seem to be a problem, either. How long could I keep l this charade going , though? All I had to do was sit there looking pretty with my knees crossed, and let my mother do all the talking … or so I thought!


8. AN EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT

Mum and Aunty Joan chatted about this and that while I sat there looking as demure as I could. However, Auntie had been looking at my shoes and suddenly said 'Tina that frock really looks so pretty on you. I see you're beginning to fill out nicely up top, too. However, those shoes really need to be a bit more fashionable to match the rest of your outfit.

Can I just have a look at one of your shoes, please?' Well, I could hardly refuse, could I? So I carefully took off my left shoe and handed it to her. She examined it and soon found that it was a size 6B. 'Have you ever tried wearing higher heels yet, Tina?' she asked me. 'Er, no, Auntie,' I replied. 'Hmmm' she said and went out of the lounge leaving me in wonder at what was going to come next. I glanced at my mother who just shrugged her shoulders.  Shortly, Auntie Joan reappeared carrying what looked like a small shoebox, which was exactly what it turned out to be, seeing it contained a pair of new-looking black patent court shoes, with pointed toes and heels almost four inches high!

 'Now, Tina' said Auntie, 'you want to look a bit more grown up, don't you? Try these high heels on and see the difference they'll make to your pretty outfit. I only ever wore them once and they were a bit too tight for me, but you've got smaller feet than me and they should fit you perfectly'. The shoes did indeed look very fashionable and glamourous, but as I'd been having trouble walking in mere two inch heeled shoes, how would I manage those towering high heels?

However, what could I do but not try them on there and then, without seeming churlish. Secretly, I was hoping they would not fit my feet, but they turned out to be so perfect a fit on my feet that I felt like Cinderella being fitted with the slippers in that folk story. In fact, they were actually slightly wider at the front than the shoes I'd been fitted with a the shop, so they didn't pinch at all. However, trying to walk in four inch stilettos would surely prove another matter all together…

Standing up in the high heels seemed easy enough, although I noticed now that I was taller than Mum and about the same height as Aunty Joan. Strange how just a pair of shoes can change everything, I thought. 'Well,' said Mum, 'let's see how you get on walking in them, Tina!' So I took a couple of cautious steps forward, fully expecting to fall flat on my face, or worse, my bottom and end up revealing my frilly petticoats and stockings. However, it actually seemed easier than I thought it would be, so I took a few more steps before trying to turn around as gracefully as I could. Now that did prove to be almost my undoing, as I nearly lost my balance and had to hold on to the side of the nearby sofa.

'Oops!' I said as demurely as I could, 'almost went over there for a moment …'

'Don't worry' said Auntie. 'I think every girl in the world had exactly the same experience as you just did the first time she wore high heels and tried to do a 360 degree turn while wearing a flouncy frock and petticoats!'

'Yes,' added my mother, 'I can recall doing the same thing myself the first time I wore heels. It's all a matter of practice, Tina, like everything else. Now say a big thank you to Auntie Joan for the lovely shoes. They really do look that much nicer to complement your outfit than those flatter ones.'

'Thank you so much, auntie,' I cooed. However, I was secretly wondering just how the hell I was going to walk home in those towering heels, when I could barely turn around in Auntie's lounge without grabbing hold of the furniture. At least the flatties I had worn were relatively easy to walk in, despite being a bit tight at the front. These very glamourous-looking court shoes were nicer to wear, but there was no way I could see myself managing to walk over a mile in them, while trying to hang onto my flouncy frock in the breeze.

However, things took a turn for the better when Auntie said 'how's that twin brother of yours doing, Tina? He's such a polite boy and so well-behaved. By the way, aren't you two having a birthday shortly?'

'Yes, Auntie,' I replied. 'We'll both be turning 16 very soon now'.

'Well' she said. 'Consider those pretty high heels you're wearing as your birthday present, slightly early, Tina!  However, I haven't anything by way of a present to give your brother Timmy.' So she got her purse out of her handbag and gave a couple of pound notes to my mother. 'Here, get Timmy something you know he specially wants.'  Mum smiled at me and said, 'Thanks, Joan – I think I know just the thing that Timmy will appreciate.'

So it appeared my bicycle fund had gained an unexpected couple of pounds more, on top of the tenner I would be getting for doing the modelling gig as my twin sister Tina. Perhaps the whole modelling masquerade was really worth all the effort and humiliation after all?

However, there was still the problem of how I was going to manage to walk home over a mile in auntie's high heels, but that also was solved when Auntie Joan offered to drop us off at home, seeing as she was about to drive to Guildford to see some friends. Mum and I were indeed both grateful, with me even more so. The prospect of wobbling along the pavement for a mile or so in those stilettos while hanging on to my frock to stop the breeze blowing it upwards, was now solved. Fate moves in mysterious ways sometimes.