OK. I'll tell you another story about my sisters and me. This one was back when both my sisters were in scouts and I had dropped out.

I had dropped out of boy scouts. Cub scouts actually. I guess that I was just not the kind of kid that was going to put up with even that level of military discipline. Besides all the boys in my pack were the bullies that picked on me at school.

In our pack our den mother was the mom of the biggest bully. So I did not last long in that pack. That meant that when my sisters were at their girl scout meetings I did not have anywhere else to go. I was not going to go to my boy scout meeting just to be picked on. And mom would not leave me home alone. So I ended up at the girl scout meetings,

My mom was one of the leaders for my sister's girl scout troop. Both my sisters were girl scouts. My little sister was named Amelia, I was older by 18 months. I was the middle kid. Cara was a year and a half years older than me.

Amelia was a Brownie and Cara was a Cadette scout. I was the same age as the Junior scouts in their pack.

I was not a girl. So I was not a girl scout, but since I did not have a boy scout meeting to go to, I ended up going to a lot of girl scout meetings. I ended up there because that's where my mom and sisters were going. I ended up going to all the girl scout meetings that mom went to. Which was all of them. She and Mrs. K. were the two leaders. Mrs K was Sara's mom. Neither Mom nor I ever missed a meeting. Even when my sisters had somewhere else to be Mom went to the scout meeting and so did I.

At first I whined a lot, but after a while I guess I resigned myself to it. I guess it was better than the boy scout meetings. I was kind of uncomfortable at the girl scout meetings at first. I moped around and made a nuisance of my self, I guess.

That's what mom said. "Stop making such a nuisance of your self."

I was the only boy at these meetings, I was kinda on my own. At least at first. I started out by sitting off to the side and reading. It took a while but eventually I got conscripted into helping out with various things. Setting up, taking down. Setting out cookies and punch. Gopher tasks. You know. Go for this, go for that? Gopher.

One of the Senior scouts would say, "Hey Gopher! Go get some more cups." or one of the Cadette scouts would say, "We're out of glue. There's more in the closet. Gopher! Go get it for me?" They thought it was funny.

Well they thought it was funny. I tried to rebel. I mean they could at least use my name. But when I tried to stand my ground mom took the scouts side. She said, "We all get nick names, sometimes." So I was called "Gopher" by everyone.

Of course a lot of the girls had nick names too. They would call each other by them. There was 'Birdie' and 'Chickie' and 'Minnie' and 'Pepper' and 'Kitty', and a lot more. Plus all the plain old short forms. Like 'Ann' for Annabelle and 'Re' for Rene. And there were two Jennifers. One was 'Jen' and the other was 'Fer'. I guess that my nick name could have been worse than 'Gopher'.

Mom said, "It shows they like you." I guess that kinda made sense. Kinda. It was still embarrassing. I mean why not a cool nick name like 'Spike', or 'Rocky"? I had to be "Gopher." This was a school based troop. They met in the junior high school building and all the girls were from my school or from this junior high or the high school I would be going in a few years. It seemed that the girls all knew me. Even if I did not know all their names at first.

I slowly got more involved in helping out. Mom said I had to help out when I was asked and where I could. She said, "Make yourself useful. Help out when you can and when you are asked." It was better than sitting in a corner reading I guess.

That's when I started with setting up before and cleaning up after. Eventually I was helping with some of the activities, craft and merit projects the girls my age were doing. Beading and basket making and other craft projects like that. Some girls were doing a car care badge. I got to help some on that too.

I even learned the girl scout songs. I learned all of them in time. The troop sung at least one every meeting. Sometimes in the middle of their groups activities someone would start singing and eventually the whole room was singing along. It was kind of fun. I liked it and Wendy said I had a nice voice.

One time Sara handed a bunch of merit badges and a sash. "Sew these on for me, Gopher." She said. She was kinda bossy but not as bad as the bullies at school. I did not know what to do so one of the Cadette scouts, Ann I think, sat with me and showed me how to sew the badges to the sash. She would pin it down in the right place then I would stitch all the way around the whole patch. I had to use a thimble to push the needle up through the sash and the badge. I guess I was pretty good at it because in a couple weeks most of the girls were handing me their badges and sashes to sew. I had sewn a couple dozen before the leaders discovered what was happening.

When the leaders finally figured out this was happening they stopped it.

"You girls need to take care of your own sashes." My mom said. "Don't exploit Gopher's generosity." Now even my mom was calling me "Gopher". Sheesh!

The girls sewed their own badges from then on. But I was not totally out of it.

My Mom handed me a sash and all the patches and insignia it needed. She told me to sew all the patches and badges in the right places. She just gave me the Junior scout book and showed me the page on how all the patches had to be sewn on and said. "Finish this before the next advancement ceremony."

I finished all the patches including the troop location and numbers. This was troop 431. There was a Junior Aide award, four signs badges. Plus a Craft and Service merit badge and one for 'songster' and 'dabbler'. It took me three meetings to get all that done. I just kept my sewing project in mom's scout leader box and worked on it during activity time at our meetings.

When I showed my work to Mrs K, the other troop leader, she said that I did a good job on my sash. She told me to be sure to bring my sash to the advancement ceremony next week. I was not quite sure what she meant by "my sash". But since I was going to be there anyway I just put that sash back in mom's leader box.

Back in those days girl scouts all wore their formal uniforms to the advancement ceremonies and to special occasions and outings. Brownie wore a brown dress with the beanie hat. The Junior scouts wore a green dress with a barrette. Cadette scouts wore a skirt and blouse also with the same barrette. Senior scouts wore a skirt and jacket combo with an envelope style hat. All with gloves. They all did their hair stylishly. The older girls even wore appropriate jewelry and some makeup. Back in those days almost no one had pierced earrings so all the earrings were screw back or clips.

It was the advancement ceremony that next week and I was there sitting in the back as I usually did when they went through all the ceremony stuff. All the girls were in their uniforms. I had to say that I thought they looked smart and well turned out. Especially the Cadette and Senior scouts. There was something about a girl in uniform. I really liked how crisp and sharp their freshly ironed skirts blouses and jackets looked. All the scouts were well turned out for these events but I liked the older girls best.

Mom had made me dress up for the advancement ceremony too, I had to wear my best polyester dress pants, a freshly ironed white button collar shirt and my dress shoes. Loafers.

Like normal I helped setting up chairs and getting the bridge for crossover ready. As well as putting the troop, state and US flags in their stands. Then I took my normal place in the back of the room.

When the meeting started the girls did all the normal meeting stuff. Flag ceremony, the pledges, the oath and promise. I had to stand and say the pledge of allegiance with everyone else and the scout pledge too. I started getting good at the other things like the oath and promise parts.

Then Mrs K started the awards part. She called each girl that adanced or earned merit badges or other awards. She called each one up front and said a few words. Then giving each girl her badge and award certificate. There was one brownie crossing over to Junior and one Junior crossing over to Cadette scout at that meeting too. At the very end of the meeting Mrs. K. called my name.

"Chris?" She called again. "Are you here?"

She could see me sitting right there.

"Here!" I said and stood up when she waved a hand signal indicating I should.

"Please join me up front here." She said.

I looked around and saw my mom nod so I kind of sheepishly walked up the middle isle to stand in front of the group. Looking around I saw as much confusion among the girls as I felt.

"Christopher. Stand tall. Right here." Mrs. K. started. "You have had perfect attendance since the beginning of the school year."

I kinda gave her a side glance. Of course I had perfect attendance. I was there with my mom every time. Even my sisters had missed some meetings because of other events, but I was at every meeting. But I knew not to say anything.

"You have also demonstrated scout spirit and service to our troop by helping out with sewing tasks and joining in for setup and clean-up for each meeting. And you step in when you see a way to help. Plus you have learned the oath and promise and you can sing all the songs."

I nodded again.

"Therefor it is my honor to award you the participation pin for this year."

I put out my hand.

"But first you will need a place to pin it." She said. She nodded to my sister Cara who was standing just to one side.

Cara looked very smart in her dark green skirt and white blouse of the Junior scout uniform. She had her sash on. It was almost covered in merit badges. A couple of which I had sewn on. She had on her black low pumps with hose. Her gloves, green tie and barrette were all very prim and proper.

She walked over to me and said. "On behalf of the whole troop, It is with very great pleasure that I welcome you as a member of our troop and grant you the rank of Junior scout."

With that she unfolded the sash I had sewn all those patches on and hung it over my shoulder.

Another Cadette scout, Jessica, 'Jes', stepped forward and said. "For your help this year, troop 431 awards you with this participation pin."

She then pinned it to my sash.

Then mom stepped forward and placed a scout barrette on my head.

"Welcome to the troop 'Gopher'." Mom said and pushed a bit of loose hair behind my ear.

I was kind of shocked. These girls were being so nice to me. Were they making fun of me? No, they would not do that. I was just making the best of mom not letting me stay home alone. That's why I was at all the meetings. I did not really want to be a girl scout. I was a boy. Boys can't be girl scouts!. I started to have tears build in my eyes. I was starting to work up to a tantrum. At that point mom caught my eye and gave me the "Not now mister. Not if you know what is good for you." look. I put a lid on my anger and frustration. Soon it drained away.

Mrs. K. said to the troop. "Please help me welcome Chris as a new member of our troop with a round of applause. I know you will all make him feel welcome."

There was a round of applause. The girls all stood and clapped loudly. My anger and frustration were gone. They had been replaced by a feeling of pride and membership. When the clapping calmed down my mom said "I know you all will make Chris welcome and extend your friendship to him. Now it is time for us to close our meeting and have our reception. Color guard? Please close our meeting."

With that I went to sat back down. Wendy, a girl from my class, was sitting in the front row. She waved and indicated that I should sit next to her. She gave me a little one arm hug when I sat. That was surprisingly comforting. So that's where I stayed for the closing ceremony. I had pretty much calmed myself and had again resigned myself to my fate. At least for now. I was a girl scout.

As always there were cookies and punch after the advancement ceremony. I had set it up myself. We always have all the normal girl scout cookies. Thin mints were the most popular. I still like trefoils better.

The girls all greeted each other. They gave out hugs and complemented to everyone who had earned awards. The group of Junior scouts had formed with a few of the more experienced Juniors and were all complementing each other on their awards and what was involved in earning our merit badges.

Wendy said, "Lets join in with the other Junior scouts over there."

They were all in their green button up dresses with the bow tie and barrette. Like them I had my sash and barrette. My loafers even looked like the ones some of them were wearing. One of the other girls, 'Bunnie' was her nick name, game me a quick hug and a kiss on my cheek. Just like she did the other Junior scouts in the troop. I got a number of other hugs and congratulations that day.

I was surprised to be welcomed with congratulations and hugs. I had been kind of an outsider up till then, Now I was a member of the troop. It was fun to have such good friends. It seemed like just a few seconds later that it was time to clean up and head home.

All in all a surprising meeting for me. It felt good to be welcomed. Even if it was a bit weird for me to be a "girl scout".

---

It was a years later that I crossed over from Junior scout to Cadette. Yes I was still with the troop. My sisters had all advanced ahead of me. Amelia was a Junior now and she was quite ambitious. She would have all the Junior merit badges and awards before the end of the year.

I was quite surprised at all that had happened in that year. I had pretty much dedicated myself to be the best scout I could be. Girl scouts was so much more fun than boy scouts had ever been. I loved working on merit badges and I had learned a lot from the girls in the troop.

I had great friends in scouting. When we went to camp that first summer no one even questioned me being there. They invited me to join in all the activities and we all earned quite a few awards and badges. I had to sleep in my mom's tent at night but other than that I was just another scout among a hundred or so scouts at camp. It was pretty fun.

I even wore pretty much what they wore. Shorts and a scouting activity shirt with hikers or skimmers with a head band or maybe a straw hat or a scarf to help keep the sun off.

I did have to wear my formal uniform for evening ceremonies. But I was used to it by then. The first time I wore it was for cookie sales. I can tell you about that day some other time. Mom said I was a bit of a handful that day but I did eventually settle into my normal scouting character and earned my first cookie pin.

All us scouts wore our formal uniforms to evening ceremony at camp. Just like we did for advancement ceremonies and for our outings at home. Mom had been letting me grow my hair, which was kinda odd I guess, but lots of boys had longer hair now that the Beatles and the Monkeys were so popular.

I had earned lots of awards and badges. Including dressmaker, gardener, cook, traveler, homemaker, student, scientist and my cookie pins and activity badges. And I was working to earn my gold award before I advanced to Senior scout.

Wendy had become my best friends. She and her sister Nancy were lots of fun to hang out with. But I can write about spending time with them later too.

I hung out with Wendy and Sara and the rest of the girls at school. I guess that got me a few harsh words from some of the bullies. Hanging out with girls seemed to bother them. The last time I used the boy's lavatory they beat me up and gave me a swirly. That soon stopped when the girls started keeping me in their ranks. No would ever mess with four or five scouts all together. Even if I was one of them. The bullies stopped bugging me when I was surrounded by all my scout friends.

So I was ready to crossover from Junior scout to Cadette. I could hardy wait to wear my new Cadette uniform for our next outing. We were going to the air and space museum next week. I was so excited. I want to be an aerospace engineer when I grow up. I had already done all the science and engineering badges girl scouts offered.

I was in my formal Junior scout uniform. Actually it was a hand me down from Cara. I had on argyle socks and my penny loafers with a penny in them. My green scout dress was over a full nylon slip. That helped give my dress the right profile, my mom had said. I just liked the smooth nylon fabric. I had ironed my dress myself this afternoon so it was crisp and wrinkle free.

Mom had even bought me some special control panties that helped keep my extra parts invisible when I wore my uniform. I had taken to wearing them for most scout activities. When I forgot Wendy, or one of the other girls would remind me that I was "lumpy". I quickly learned to avoid that. I wanted to stand out, but only for good reasons.

I had learned so much from Wendy and Sara and the rest of the girls. I had internalized lots of it by now. I knew how to stand and how to sit and walk and even dance. I wanted to fit in and so I watched and I learned and I had practiced. Of course my sisters were only too happy to help out with little corrections and instructions when I was in uniform and some other play times too. I wanted to be a good scout. Mrs K. had told me "I was an asset to the troop," and that "We're lucky to have you." That made me feel good.

Mom let me wear some green and gold trefoil earrings. My ears were mostly covered by my hair by now. But if I tilted my head or flipped my hair they flashed Today she had curled my hair for me with the hair irons giving me smooth, shiny hair with a flip at my cheek. Amelia said I looked cute.

Normally my hair was pretty curly and I had taken to wearing a head band or a bandanna to keep it tamed.

I wore my sash and my tie. My barrette was pinned at a little bit of an angle. If I was careful and "ladylike" it would stay where it was pined.

I had my gloves buttoned and my hands placed in my lap with my ankles crossed under my chair as I waited patiently for my turn to be called up to crossover the little wooden bridge and join the Cadette scouts. Wendy and Sara were a month older than me and had crossed over the previous ceremony.

I was excited and proud to be crossing over today. I knew that being the best scout I could be was my number one goal for today.