Zoom Doom 2.

Beth jumped out of the chair still half asleep and nearly fell of the high wedge sandals. "Mum? What are you doing home?"

"Ben? Why are you dressed in Debbie's clothes? How long have you been doing this? Who did your makeup for you?"

Beth glanced at the clock behind her mum and realised that she had slept for nearly two hours. Her mother looked around the room trying to understand what she had just encountered.

"I'd better go and change, sorry I fell asleep."

"So I see, I take it you've been dressed like that all day?"

"Er, yeah," said Beth.

"You didn't go shopping like that?"

Beth looked at the floor and felt herself blushing as her embarrassment levels shot through the roof. Tears weren't that far away and she was more concerned about messing up her makeup than anything else because she knew that neither of them ever got anywhere by crying in front of their mum, that only works with men or if you're a very small child. Neither situation pertained here.

"You did go out in that?" gasped her mother. "My god," she exclaimed.

"No I wore a coat as well, it was raining and I borrowed Debbie's old brown boots."

"Oh, so that's all right then." The mother paused, "Are you completely stupid, what if anyone had recognised you?"

"No one did." Beth shrugged still staring at the carpet.

"How d'you know?"

"I was there, all right," she snapped back. "I wasn't breaking any laws or messing with little kids, so why don't you..." she turned to go up to her room.

"You stay right there, Missy, I haven't finished with you yet." Looking around and smelling the dinner was ready, her mother told her to help get the dinner finished and they'd talk afterwards. The desire to flee the field was uppermost but Beth sniffed back a tear, carefully wiped under eyes to avoid smudging them and went into the kitchen.

"You ironed all these?" her mother looked at all the clothing on hangers and draped over chairs.

"Yes, who else?"

"Thank you." She tried to ameliorate her shock which had possibly appeared as anger, it was total surprise. They worked together on finishing the roast chicken dinner and while Beth made the gravy, admittedly from granules, her mum carved off enough meat for both of them and they sat opposite each other at the table.

Beth wasn't very hungry and just pushed her food around the plate. "Come on, you have to eat and it is delicious," enthused her mum.

"Having someone bawl me out doesn't help with my appetite," Beth replied blushing again.

"I'm sorry about that," said her mum, "it was a bit of a shock, I'm getting a bit used to it now. Who did your makeup, one of the girls from school?"

"We can't have anyone in, can we? I did it."

"It looks pretty good, what have you used for boobs?" asked her mum trying to distract her child and dissipate her own feelings by appearing interested.

"Rice in balloons." Beth felt the questions were a little intrusive and she bet that Debbie had never had to answer them.

"Hmm, can I feel?" before Beth could say anything, her mother rubbed and poked one of her breasts. Seeing the surprise on her child's face she quickly withdrew the hand and apologised.

Beth ate very little of her meal but did drink a cuppa afterwards, they had cleared up the dirty dishes together and dealt with the leftovers, most of which went into the fridge.

"Tell me, how long have you been borrowing your sister's clothes?"

"A couple of weeks."

"D'you like being a girl?"

Beth held her arms out encompassing her whole body and said, "Duh."

"Okay, I suppose the trouble you went to means you enjoy it." She paused trying to understand the situation. "Are you gay, I mean d'you like boys?"

"I prefer chicken," said Beth trying not to sound too contemptuous.

"Yes, very funny, well do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Like boys?"

Beth shrugged, "Never thought about it, why?" The realisation dawned. "You think I got dressed up to attract a boy?" She blushed this time with a hint of anger.

"I'm trying to understand why I came home and found my son dressed up like my daughter, only prettier and certainly more help in the house. That's why I'm asking questions, I need to know what you want to do and why and what I need to do to help you decide what you want to do. Is that okay?"

With tears now filling her eyes Beth nodded.

"Look if it's something you feel you need to do for a bit, that's okay, at least I won't be surprised again. I'm grateful for all the work you've done but I hope you did all your schoolwork?"

Beth nodded, trying not to cry and to smudge her makeup.

"You're quite good with your makeup, who showed you what to do?"

"I watched some stuff on the internet."

"It looks really nice, is that Debbie's old stuff?"

"No, I bought my own, all right?"

"No need to snap. Did you ask the girl in Superdrug?"

"No, I knew what I needed and bought it."

"You know more about it than I do then," admitted her mother. She sipped her tea, "What do I call you, when you're being my younger daughter?"

"Beth," said a very quiet voice.

"Did you buy any nail varnish remover?"

"No, I forgot." This time Beth blushed because she had made a mistake.

"So how would you have coped with your painted nails dressed as a boy, or did you plan to stay as a girl when I got home?"

"No, I fell asleep in the chair and I don't know what I'd have done about the nails, I hadn't thought that far ahead."

"How long are you going to dress as a girl?"

"I hadn't decided."

"Okay, well now I've seen you and see that you actually look a bit like Debbie but prettier, I suppose as long as you're not going out, it's okay to do around the house, at least until your sister comes home or we can have visitors again. Is that okay?"

"I enjoyed shopping today." This was true once she'd got over the nerve-racking bit, and until the boots pinched her toes.

"I expect you did, but I think it's a risk too far and I'm asking you to respect my judgement on that."

"Oh, okay. Who's going to do the shopping then?"

"Well if you're doing some of the housework, then I suppose I shall. Let me know if you need any girl things."

"Like what?" sighed Beth.

"More makeup or tights or whatever, you're not using um sanitary towels as well, are you?"

"What?" gasped a now shocked Beth.

"Well, I remember seeing somewhere that some transvestites try to experience as full a feminine experience as they can."

"I'm not a transvestite, Mum, I'm just seeing what it's like being a girl, okay?"

"Fine, I'll treat you as one. Now, what's on telly tonight?"

"I think I'm going to have an early night, if you don't mind, Mum." It was nine o'clock and although Ben usually stayed up quite a bit later, Beth felt exhausted. It had been a very exhilarating but also exhausting day.

She came out of the bathroom having just cleaned off her makeup and cleaned her teeth when her mother breezed into her bedroom and handed her what looked like a nightdress. "I got this for Debbie last Christmas but forgot to give it to her, you might as well have it. I take it you haven't any nighties?"

"No, thanks, Mum."

"It's okay, Benth, I mean Beth."

They both smiled and as soon as her mother left, she changed out of her dress and into the nightie. It wasn't the same without boobs but she wasn't wearing a bra in bed, too uncomfortable. The nightdress was silky rayon type material with shoelace straps and a vee neck. I felt really nice against her skin as she slipped between the bedclothes and snuggled up. She reflected on her day, it had been pretty amazing, the shopping and the way her mum had recovered from her shock and not been as negative as she could have. "Good job I did all that ironing," said Beth to herself believing it helped in convincing her mum there were advantages in having a daughter. She slipped off to sleep quite quickly wondering what tomorrow would bring, her mother thinking much the same when she went to bed an hour later.

The following day, Beth grabbed an old wrap that Debbie didn't use these days and followed her mother downstairs to help with breakfast. "Hello, sweetheart," said her mum, "No boobs today?" she added observing Beth's lack of padding in her breast area.

"No I'll do that when I get dressed, I didn't see any point in sleeping with half a pound of Uncle Ben's shoved up my nightdress."

"I suppose when you put it like that," her mother chuckled, "come on, let's get some tea on the go," she busied herself with filling the kettle while Beth grabbed the sliced bread and slipped a couple of pieces into the toaster.

"This nightie is really comfy, Mum, thanks for giving it to me." She leant across and pecked her mum on the cheek.

"I think it's a fair reward for your labours yesterday, I was impressed at how much you managed to do and I'm very grateful." They both smiled at each other.

Her mum left after eating her breakfast promising to get the shopping including some nail varnish remover. They each pecked the other on the cheek and Beth knew that wouldn't have happened with her as Ben, so there seemed to be a subtle change in her mum's acceptance or attitude, though she wasn't holding her breath. She wait and see what happened and also what happened when Debbie did her weekly Zoom call on Sunday.

If she could get Debs onside, it could ease her freedom in the house, but it was a bit of risky strategy as they'd never even discussed such things in other people, let alone in the family and people seem to operate on several levels when dealing with those who are close to them, possibly because they have stronger feelings for family but also they can be influenced by how other may judge them by association with the oddball sibling.

She got dressed and used some more of Debbie's old clothing, although it was in almost new condition, then did her hair and her makeup. It was still only eight o'clock and she knew that Debbie didn't do much before nine. With her heart pounding she dialled her sister's mobile.

"Is there anything wrong?" was Debbie's response.

"No, I just wanted to ask you something."

"Oh, okay, what?"

"Is it okay if I borrow some of your stuff?"

"What sort of stuff, not my underwear," she sounded as if she was joking, but she wasn't.

"Nah, some of the old clothes at the back of your wardrobe, the ones you never wear."

"I was going to give them to Oxfam, but you can have them if you want, but what exactly do you want them for?"

"To wear, I'm playing silly buggers with Zoom classes."

"I'm, not sure I understand, Ben, but look I have to go, help yourself but keep out of my undies, okay?" She rang off saying to herself, "Weird or what?"

"What is?" asked her roommate.

"My brother, he wants to borrow some of my old clothes."

"Don't you ever borrow any of his?"

"Uh, not without a course of antibiotics first."

Her friend laughed, "Charlie borrows mine all the time, but then he always was weird..."

Beth felt happier about not being refused by Debbie at the outset, though she realised she had some way to go to get her approval or acceptance, on further consideration she decided she'd settle for acceptance. She rolled up the sleeves of the pink jumper she had on and did the dishes and tidied up the kitchen. Dinner would be something with the leftover chicken, so would lunch, the meat she hadn't eaten last night would make a decent sandwich with some pickle.

She looked on the internet and found a recipe she could follow and she thought they had all the ingredients. She'd do a chicken fricassee, assuming there was enough rice left over after she made her boobs. Then the thought of that made her laugh but also consider something else. In the end she decided to do the fricassee but would use pasta.

The rest of the morning was taken up by schoolwork via the internet and she was busy changing the bed when her mobile rang. It was Debbie.

"You did ring me this morning, didn't you?" she asked sounding less than confident.

"Yeah, why?"

"About borrowing my clothes?"

"Yeah, is that okay?"

"Are you wearing them now?"

"Yeah, is that all right?"

"S'pose so, what you wearing?"

"That long-sleeved pink top and the straight denim skirt and the pink wedge sandals."

"Oh okay, uh - does Mum know?"

"Yeah, she's okay with it as long as I stay in the house."

"You haven't been out like it have you?" Debbie sounded aghast.

"Yeah, had shopping to do yesterday, nobody seemed to notice and I needed some more makeup."

"You're not using my makeup are you?" She had visions of talking to a clown on the other end of the phone.

"No, I have my own, so you won't catch anything."

"I can't believe you're dressing up as a girl, why?"

"Why can't you believe or why am I doing it?"

"Why you doing it?"

Beth blushed as she answered, "Because I wanted to know what being a girl felt like."

"Oh, okay, send me a selfie."

"Hang on a minute, I was changing a bed."

"Crikey, quite the little wifey," said Debbie laughing unable to imagine her brother in her clothes and looking anything but a mess and even less able to imagine him doing housework.

"Yeah well, Mum's working stupid hours so I'm trying to help her, hold on I'll do a pic and send it to you." Beth checked her makeup and hair and took the photo sending it a moment later.

"Is that really you?" asked Debbie.

"No, it's Snow White, who d'you think it is?"

"You look like a girl."

"Duh, it's not rocket science is it?"

"Dunno, some girls I know seem to think it is. Who showed you how to do your makeup, you did do it yourself?"

"I watched a couple of videos on the internet and bought the stuff and practised. The same with my hair. Mum seemed quite impressed with me."

"Yeah, can see why, so you're Mummy's little helper now?"

"Sort of."

"I'll have a better look at you when I Zoom you on Sunday, but you can borrow any of that stuff at the back of my wardrobe. See you on Sunday, br - um Sis." She rang off leaving Beth to go back to her bed changing and leaving her with a warm feeling when she called her 'Sis'.

At four o'clock her mother rang, "You told Debbie then?"

"Yeah, I felt I needed her permission for me to use her stuff."

"It doesn't usually bother either of you normally, you both just take what you want without asking."

"That didn't apply to her clothes."

"No, I suppose not. She seemed quite impressed with your selfie?"

"So she said."

"She also said she wanted to talk to you as Beth on Sunday."

"Yeah, I think so, why is that a problem?"

"I don't think so, as long as she's on her own. Anyway, the reason I rang is I've got to work on tonight, we got some more off sick and we need some more bread and milk, can you get some?"

"You want me to change back..."

"Not a lot of point while you're wearing nail varnish, is there?"

"Um, I s'pse not."

"Have you got enough money to get it?"

"Yeah, there's a fiver on the kitchen table anyway. I'll use that, but I can get some out of my account if I need it."

"I wish I didn't need to ask you to get the shopping but they'll all be closed by the time I finish, take care and try not to draw attention to yourself."

"Okay, I'll put a hat on my second head."

"Beth, behave yourself. If I didn't need the stuff for breakfast I wouldn't ask you."

"Don't worry, Mum, I won't accost too many boys while I'm out."

"It's not you accosting them, it's them accosting a pretty thing like yourself, you don't have any experience of getting shot of them."

"No but I've seen Debbie in action, so I have an idea of what to do, besides, I don't plan on giving them cause to speak to me."

"You take care, my girl, send me a text to let me know you're back safe."

"I'm only going to Waitrose, not down the Limpopo."

"Just do what I say, all right?"

"Yes, Mum."

"Oh and see if you have enough to get your nail varnish remover."

"I have, Mummy dearest, trust me."

"I have to, sweetheart, oh oh, I have to run, text me."

Beth clicked off her phone and felt a buzz, she was going out again and her mother called her a girl and said she was pretty. Wow, now what to wear on her feet, she really needed some shoes of her own. She explored the cavernous space that was Debbie's wardrobe and she found a pair of black ballet pump styled shoes. She tried them on and they felt fine. She pulled on some tights and the shoes and then after checking her hair and makeup, made sure she had a mask and used the same bag and coat as yesterday.

Her journey was much more matter of fact than yesterday, she felt more confident as she'd done it before and she was doing it with both her mum's and Debbie's knowledge and sort of blessing. She managed to get the wholemeal loaf they usually ate in the thick-sliced variety and a four-pint bottle of semi-skimmed milk. She got some more rice and smirked as she put it on the belt at the checkout resisting the urge to touch her rice-filled balloons holding out her bra.

Back in Superdrug she bought the nail varnish remover and some gel eyeliner, then she spotted a pair of shoes in the charity shop. The lady in there was clearing up to close but she allowed Beth to try them on. They were a black court shoe with a two-inch heel and had hardly been worn. They were a fiver and well worth the money. Beth walked home still in the ballet flats but she'd just bought her first female piece of clothing, a pair of shoes and they fitted, felt good and looked great and best of all, the lady in the shop said she looked good in them and didn't have a clue she'd just served a boy in a skirt. But then as Beth strolled home, she wondered if the woman in the shop had served a girl or a boy - the more she wore Debbie's clothes, the more comfortable she felt in them and the less like a boy.

It was a slightly worrying thought, but like most young people, she simply shoved it to the back of her mind and hurried home to try the new eyeliner. Yeah, being a girl was much more fun than a boring boy - now if only Covid could last until the school holidays.