This is a little Christmas Present for my readers. It is a tale from Sunny Australia - Beautiful one day; fantastic the next.
Merry Christmas and a very good New Year. I hope to meet you all again in 2022.

Chapter 1 To be …..or not

To be truthful you would have thought that I had it all. Good parents, good school, good siblings, good genes – well – not so good genes I have to say. I inherited more from my mothers’ side than my fathers’. He was a strapping six footer and she was merely five foot four in heels’

My parents called me Albert and with a surname of Beattie you can guess how many nanoseconds it took for me to be known as Bertie Beattie or even Bertie Beetle when I started school. I suppose that was better than the name my two sisters gave me. That was ‘Brunt’, denoting not only my short stature but also the amount of scorn they heaped on me as a daily occurrence.

I was born in the middle of the seventies, in the Tweed Hospital, right at the most northern tip of New South Wales, in the sunny and lucky country of Australia. If you could ask where you wanted to be born; that location would be top of a lot of peoples’ lists. Sun, surf, great people, great opportunities locally and then even more slightly further north on the Gold Coast. It was, at the time, a heaven on earth. I was taken home and grew up in Bangalow, just inland from Byron Bay. These days the first thing you think of is rich yuppies and hippie communes but back then, both of these were either in the future or else in their infancy.

My folks had bought a typical two-story Queenslander on Rankin Drive for less than twenty thousand dollars. It needed a touch up and a painting but my father was a good do-it-yourself devotee and when I was brought back to it, it was a picture postcard house, your typical wooden structure, full veranda all around, big windows and lots of flow-through ventilation. It was a lovely place as a child and I loved playing around under the house.

My two sisters, Bernice and Brittany, were two and three years older than me and had all the distain that well brought up young ladies could muster. By the time I was four they were well into primary school and by the time I was in primary they were looking forward to going to the secondary school. Brittany led the way when she went to the Byron Bay High School, making friends with daughters of the new money that was finding the place attractive. When Bernice followed her she had a ready gang a year above her that allowed her to avoid any chance at being picked on as a ‘new girl’. Of course, they were way ahead of me by the time I started at the ‘BB High’ and would never even think about looking after their diminutive brother. In fact, they sometimes went out of their way to make my life a misery. It was no good talking to my parents about it, as far as they were concerned I needed to make my own way in the world and a little bullying was, as they said, ‘character building.’

My parents had given up on well-paid employment to join the laid-back lifestyle as market stall holders. The area was renowned for its markets and they had most of every Saturday and Sunday in various places around the area. It was a lifestyle beneath my sisters but I was happy to help out so, by the time I was into my teens I knew every stall holder from Pottsville to Lismore, had a good knowledge of our products and had good relationships with our suppliers as my father would take me when we went to place our orders.

Our stall was a riot of colour and movement whenever a breeze was blowing. We sold womens’ summer holiday clothing, much of it made by small dressmakers in the area. My mother and I would set up at every site, that being something my father could not contemplate. He did, however, instil in me a love of the barter, the joy of the deal. We made enough money to make our life pretty easy and we had a van for the stall, along with a car for the family. My sisters were happy to have the results of this largess but could never bring themselves to actually help; unless it was helping themselves to some of the stock.

Life was, for me, pretty good by the time I got to fifteen. I had a bit of a growth spurt and was now a bit taller than my mother. I stayed fit by doing enough sports at the BB High to make me a minor star, so warding off the remaining bullying. That was except for Wayne Watson, a lad from the class that Bernice was in who had thought that being bad to me may allow her to be nice to him. I suppose it had worked, after a fashion, because he did get to take her to dances and the movies in Lismore or Tweed Heads. She allowed him to spend his money on her and he took it as being allowed to spend time in making my life difficult. Brittany, by this time, was boarding up in Brisbane and attending some arts course at uni there.

I had friends at school who I hung out with but my weekends were taken up on the stall, helping my mother sell dresses, skirts and tops. My father, as I said, would take us there and then he was off for much of the day, searching for the right deal. One Saturday he got back to the stall in the middle of the afternoon with an armful of sandals that he wanted my mother to look at. It seemed that the stall selling these was going to stop coming due to ill health and we now had the connection to the importer. They came from the Philippines and were good, cheap and would be a great addition to our own stock. Over the next week he took the van and when he got back the space under our house became crammed with boxes of shoes that added to the bags of clothing already there.

I was then in the last year of High School and was not good enough to go to Uni. I had been attending drama classes and had become a reasonable actor. In our last year we were doing Hamlet and I was cast as the man himself. I spent many hours at home learning lines and would make my mother laugh whenever I held something on the palm of my hand, quoting “Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him well, Horatio.” “To be or not to be” became a mantra of mine. Does one just go with a flow and allow things to just happen or does one resist, and so resisting, win or lose the battles that come your way. We never got to present that play, unfortunately. We were into dress rehearsal and I was on stage about to give that great monologue and what I said was “The bee, sir, the bee.” Our drama master stood up and called me an insufferable idiot and to get on with the proper lines, starting with ‘To be’. I said “No sir, the bee!” and he said “What bee, moron?”

When I said “The bee on your collar, sir” he went to swat it off, not a good move. Next thing we knew he was on the floor in a fit and the upshot was that the school nurse was called, gave him a shot and he was carted off to hospital where he remained for some weeks. It seems he had an allergy. No-one else in the school was game to take on the responsibility of producing the play so I finished my final year without strutting the stage in a meaningful role.

When I left school it was straight into a hectic market season. The venues were becoming well known and the whole area had become a ‘must-do’ tourist mecca. Byron was well into its rebirth as a yuppie surfer destination; Nimbin was the hippie magnet and druggie centre that didn’t do the region any harm when it came to income. Our problem was that the rise in local wealth meant that a lot of our dressmakers had raised their prices and my father went to the Philippines to talk to our shoe maker and find low cost clothing suppliers, coming back to tell us that a container was on the way.

When it arrived it took up a lot of the garden while we emptied it. With Bernice now having followed Brittany to the Uni in Brisbane we put their beds against the wall, moved their vanities into my room and erected shelves which we filled with stock. Although the products were cheaper, we sold them at our usual price which made the income look very good. I was behind the stall with my mother and we did very well, the only problem being that some customers disregarded my suggestions as to their best buys which were, usually, only proved correct when my mother got back to the stall and reiterated my advice.

One day, at the Uki market, Wayne came around and started bad-mouthing me when I was behind the stall alone. Unfortunately for him my father had returned and was behind him. Wayne got a clip around the ear and was told that his father would be spoken to. One person who Wayne did fear was his own father, a bigger bully with a penchant, or so I had been told, for using a leather belt on his wife. He pleaded with my father not to say anything and promised that he would be good in future. He did not have Bernice to look good to so I suppose it was just habit that caused him to have a go at me. That day did stop him bothering me and he even got a little pally whenever he saw me at markets.

Late the following year my parents decided that they needed a treat and told me that they had booked flights to the UK and the Continent for a three month holiday. As I was now old enough to look after myself; I was able to run the stall through the ‘winter’ season by myself. They would be leaving in the first weekend of May to take in spring in the northern hemisphere.

We did a couple of weekends as trial runs where I took the van, set up the stall and managed it all by myself. There were two problems to this situation. One was that I could not take a break for the toilet; or to get food, without having to ask a neighbouring stall-holder to watch my stock while I dashed off. The other problem was that I came up against buyer resistance.

I had the product, I had the sales ability and I had the knowledge to help my customers but something stopped them buying. The takings for those two weekends were down forty percent. My mother was at a loss to know why this happened but my father saw the answer straight away “It is the reason I don’t help with sales” he said “Albert sells when you are there to back him up but women find it hard to take advice from a man, especially when it comes to what looks good on her. What we need on the stall is a woman that can sell for us.”

Chapter 2 Be –wear

That week we tried to solve the problem. There was no way my sisters would come back to serve at the stall. “Like a shop-girl, never” said both of them in unison when asked by phone. I suppose that they were now overqualified for selling off a market stall.

It didn’t stop them both later becoming secretaries in offices. That, to me, was not much different to being a sales girl but they obviously thought differently. We asked around among their friends to see if any of them were happy to help but, without fail, we got a negative response. When asked they all said that they had higher ambitions or had well-off boys on the leash, ready for the society wedding that they had in mind.

In the end my mother said “If we can’t get Albert a girl who can help him, perhaps we can get a guy to help Albert when we turn him into a girl.” I think she was joking but the idea took hold. They took pictures of me and played with them with coloured pens to see what I would look like. The next weekend I was joined by my mother again but this time there was a significant difference. This time it was two women behind the stall.

On the Monday my mother had pitched the procedure to me. I was to be made to look like a girl and she convinced me that it would be the ultimate role for such an actor as me. She had already raided our stock, being so certain that I would fall for her flattery. On the Tuesday she raided the clothes that my sisters had left behind and checked out the teenager make-up they had left in their vanities. On the Wednesday a friend of hers who ran a salon came to the house and I was de-fuzzed, fitted with stick-on boobs and a semi-permanent gaff and that night went to bed wearing a nightie ‘to get used to the feeling and the concept’. The feeling was pretty amazing for this young guy and if the concept was to get me excited it worked tremendously; I had to rinse out the nightie during the night after I had a wet dream that had a soft dick ejaculation that left me laying there panting with the extreme feeling of relaxation after the best jerk-off I had ever had.

Thursday was a big day for me as I was dressed in a mixture of hand-me-downs and stock items, thankfully some of our old stuff that was made from better fabric. I had been dressed in a bra and pant set which did support my silicon boobs and, in a peasant blouse and long skirt I was given a new pair of sandals every two hours, getting higher with each new pair and being ordered to walk around until I could walk naturally. By the time I was walking in four inch heels I was moving differently to compensate for the height. My mother kept on at me about needing to glide, rather than stomp. I had played a couple of girl parts at school but the intensity of all of this took me by surprise.

Whenever I went to sit down I was told to sweep my skirt under me until it became second nature. As I walked I had to talk to her and try to use a softer voice as well as use my hands more, smile a lot and never, ever, swear. I had a new nightie to wear Thursday night and when I went to bed I snaffled one of Bernices’ teddy bears that she had ‘grown out of’ and cuddled it. It worked really well as I had a very good sleep and had a dream where I was about to be crowned as a beauty queen. The sad thing was that I was giggling and thanking everyone and then said “I need to piss, see you later”, waking up and definitely needing to piss.

Friday was the ‘coup de grace’ as I was dressed with fresh undies, shown how to put on tights, given a teenage confection of satin and lace to wear and endured my mother putting a light make-up on my face. When I looked in the mirror I looked almost exactly like Bernice when she wore this dress a couple of years before. I was then taken, in the car, into the town where a salon awaited my attendance. There my hair undertook a full transformation with a wash, condition, addition of extensions and finally a colour job. By the time they finished I didn’t just look like Bernice, I looked better that either of my sisters and they had been among the prettiest girls in High School.

I had to remove my tights to get a pedicure and then I had nails added on my fingers that looked like talons when I first saw them but the lass doing my fingers told me not to worry as she filed them back a bit into a suitable shape. Pierced ears; well you can’t look like a teenage girl without them. The last session was make-up to suit my colouring and features. When they allowed me to replace my tights and shoes I looked in the mirror and saw the girl of my dreams, the beauty queen from last night and never a hint of Albert.

My mother then took me shopping. She had decided that if I was to run the stall on the weekends I should really stay in character during the week. After all, I couldn’t go around in my normal clothes with girls’ hair and boobs, could I? So we loaded the car with a range of things just for me after a harrowing two hours in an underwear shop in Byron. In the street I even saw a couple of my old school chums who looked at me a smiled. I was thinking that I was the centre of amusement until one of the girls from school saw me and said “Hi, Bernice, I didn’t know you were back in town. Give me a call and I will arrange a girls’ night out.”

My mother told me after that I should have got an Oscar for my performance as I chatted with her, saying that I was just in town for a couple of days and would be back in Brisbane before tonight. We air kissed and she went off happy. I then realised that my old school chums were smiling at the person they thought was Bernice and that it may not have been a good move to have smiled back. After the underwear and nightwear we hit a shoe shop for ‘proper’ shoes for me, being told that I can’t get around during the week in stall sandals. I questioned the cost of all this and my mother said that she was not coming back to find me in a shambles because I had been rumbled. “Beside” she said “we may extend our trip if we like it and we will need you to be making money while we are away. It will also be your training for when we retire.”

Back at the house on Friday afternoon it was the evening meal with me now as Bernice. In the evening my bedroom got an overhaul. My pictures being replaced by some from the girls rooms, my clothing going into their wardrobes and mine being filled with my new outfits. My drawers now contained bras and pants, slips and nighties and the two vanities had been cleared of all the out-of-date stuff that was replaced with the items from the salon that were ideal for my colour and features. My mother had even found an old badge that she had made when she thought the girls may help out so I would start Saturday morning as Bernice Beattie with a name badge to prove it. The last thing was the addition of a number of handbags, scarves and accessories that had been left behind in my sisters’ rush to go north.

Saturday morning we started earlier than usual. I appeared for breakfast with a robe over my nightie and we then went off for showers, me being told not to get my hair wet, that being saved for weekdays when I had more time. My outfit for today was a colourful top, one of our sales items, teamed with a short denim skirt and the four inch sandals to suit. My mother did my make-up, saying that next week I would be in training to do my own, and we were off in the van with me driving, a ‘P’ plate front and rear. We set up at the market and, before the crowds arrived, I was shown the ladies toilets and ordered never to veer towards the mens.

It was a good day for us. What really surprised me was how easily I could interact with our customers; my advice being considered and followed more often than not. We took alternate breaks for the toilet and a drink, chatted with our fellow stall-holders who asked where Albert was and, when it was time to pack up, we put everything in the van and my mother gave me a hug. “Bernie” she said “It has been a wonderful day for me, my son becoming the helpful daughter that her sisters never were. How about we go somewhere for a meal, your dad will be off with his mates at the pub by now,”

With that market being at Murwillumbah, we were only a short trip to Tweed Heads and a very nice Italian place overlooking Greenmount Beach on the Queensland side of the border where we had pasta and a glass of wine. This was, for me, a very adult experience as my folks were never much for eating out except for dad and his odd Saturdays with his mates.
My mother did not dwell on my small lapses during the day; instead, she praised me for all the times I did well and gave me a few more tips on perfecting my impersonation of Bernice. It was when she started telling me of different things that Bernice would do I had to stop her.

“Mum” I said “I am not Bernice, even if that’s what’s on the name badge. I do not want to be Bernice because she was not a very nice person to me. I want to play me as a new person, finding her own way. If anything, I have thought about it today and would rather be called Allie to give me room to put some flesh on this body you have created.” She looked startled for a moment and then smiled; telling me that a new badge will be made on Sunday at Uki as there was a guy there who did badges to order.

When we got home she supervised my cleansing procedure, telling me that I was getting it right and we hugged when she left my room, saying “Goodnight, sweet Allie, pleasant dreams.” I said “Sweet dreams to you, too, Mummy. Thank you for everything.” I went off to bed in my slinky nightie, cuddling my teddy bear and my dreams had me, for some strange reason, dancing in a crowd of other girls and boys. This was strange because, as Albert, dancing was nowhere in my skill set. The scene seemed to shimmer and shift and I was dancing to a slow number, being held by someone strong and manly and I felt a sensation of being loved and wanted. Then I could feel his manliness against my thigh and I said “Excuse me, darling, I need a pee.” Of course, I woke with a start and a very full bladder finally insisting that my glass of wine had hit the exit bar.

Chapter 3 Be Cool

Sunday we had the Uki event to do and it followed much the same lines as the Saturday, with good crowds and many wanting to spend money. I wore a summer dress from our range and it proved a winner, with us selling out our stock of them by mid-afternoon. I was now, officially, Allie. My mum had gone off and spoken to another stall-holder and came back with a shiny red heart with ‘Allie’ across it which quickly replaced the plain old Bernice badge.

Before the end of that day I was laughing with our customers, being looked at closely by their teenage sons and was really enjoying myself. I had always done the best I could on the stall before but this was a new facet, actually enjoying the whole experience. It was then that I decided on two major things in my life. The first was that I would make our stall a roaring success and the second was that I would be the best Allie I could be, and not just for the next few months. We were now getting into the wet season and the markets quietened down, which allowed me to develop Allie a step at a time.

My folks must have spoken because when my father came to help us pack up he called me Allie. He had come in the car and he drove me in it with mum following when we went home. On the way he told me that he was very proud of me helping out and that he rather liked having a nice daughter around the house. I laughed and told him that, at least, I wouldn’t be bringing any boyfriends home. He shook me when he said “Don’t be so sure of that, Allie, not looking the way you do now. I would say that you may be the centre of attention when word gets out about the stunning new girl at the markets.”

The next few weeks had an order to them which set Allie into a fully moulded person. My mother spent several days with me at the vanity teaching me how to apply make-up until I could almost do it with my eyes shut. My father gave me all the information on our suppliers and I had their catalogues to look at, seeing some things I thought may work. He made notes of all my suggestions and, before they left, another container was put on our front lawn. This time he had ordered enough for six months or more and we cleaned out the garage and transferred all of our remaining stock and the shelves into it before we unloaded the container. The van and car would now have to live outside until we sold off all of the stock. It did give us back the two rooms that the girls had used and I spent some time in overalls wielding a paintbrush before we set them up as bedrooms again.

Christmas was a very funny time. Neither of the girls were interested in coming home so my folks decided that we would go to them. We had rooms booked at a hotel in the CBD of Brisbane. We packed a couple of bags each, put them in the car and drove north, crossing the border and up into the big city. It was not a place I had been to often and was completely overawed with the size of the place and the hustle and bustle. In my hotel room I put my things away and started to get ready for our dinner as a complete family and that’s when it struck me that they had not seen the ‘new’ me.

I sat on the bed and hyperventilated for some minutes before I decided that they would get hit with both barrels. I had one of the dresses that had been left over from our original stock. It was a mini in sparkling red with white trim, just right for a Christmas meal; if you were a model, that is. I also had a pair of red heels that went with it. I really don’t know why I had brought these with me but it may just be that Allie was thinking for herself and thinking about making a statement. I took a lot of care getting ready, sitting at the vanity in the room for an hour getting the make-up just right.

When I was ready to leave the room I inspected my image in the mirror. Good looking girl in a red mini and heels, nice jewellery, good hair-do, hint of perfume and essentials in a small red shoulder bag. I was ready to shock! And shock I did as I bumped into my parents on the way to the lifts. My father just stood there with his mouth hanging open until my mother told him to shut it or else he would be catching flies. She looked me up and down and then gave me a careful hug, saying “Allie, sweet daughter of mine, you are going to knock them dead tonight.”

My folks had taken care to look good as well because they had booked a table at a good restaurant. The three of us went down to the lobby and walked to where we were to meet my sisters. I had hoped that they would have taken some care in their appearance tonight but, no. There they were in loose tops and skin-tight jeans looking like they were about to go bowling, rather than a meal with their parents.

They saw my folks and waved and we approached them. Dad whispered “Stay back a bit, Allie” as we got closer because we could see some confusion on their faces. They hugged and kissed our parents and then Bernice said “No Albert with you, typical of the Brunt. So, who is this girl, then?” Our mother smiled and said “No, he decided to stay home rather than spend another moment being derided by you two. This is Allie, she has stepped in to help us with the stall while we are away and she is very good at it.”

That set the tone of the evening. I was demure and lady-like while they were typical tertiary students, drinking a bit too much and telling me that they were sorry if I had to put up with their daggy brother. They did try to tap our parents for money which was rebuffed by my father saying that every penny was needed to use on their up-coming trip. I said as little as possible, playing the unwanted guest at the party and, when they said goodnight I even got a pair of air kisses with a “Happy New Year and don’t let the Brunt catch you under the mistletoe.”

We walked back to the hotel, my mother putting an arm in mine after my sisters were out of sight. “That was interesting” said my father, in a whimsical manner. “They had no idea who you were and cared even less. I sometimes think that they must have been foisted on us by the nurses in the maternity ward and my real children spirited away.” We were dressed right so we went to a night club where my parents danced together and I found myself dancing with a guy.

Actually, I danced with two or three guys with the last one holding me close as we swayed to a slow song. It was almost my dream and he kissed my neck a few times as we swayed. I was starting to feel him growing against my thigh when there was a tap on my shoulder and my father said “Sorry, mate, but we need to get our daughter home as we have an early start in the morning.” I smiled at the poor guy and said “Goodnight, sweet prince, maybe another time.” He took my hand and kissed it, saying “Goodnight, princess, perhaps one day I can save you from the ogre who controls you.” We all laughed and went our own ways.

That night I undressed in front of the mirror, seeing the girl that I was and the object of lust I may have become. I got some toilet paper and lay on the bed with the light out, imagining what the result of the night could have been if I was a girl without a protective father and rubbing my gaff. When I filled the wad of paper I was in another world, one which had never occurred to me before. I knew that I wanted to experience my imaginings in real life, some way or another, and wondered just what I was becoming. Was I turning homo or was I turning into a straight girl. I just didn’t know, just then.

I flushed the paper away, did my cleansing, put on a nightie and had a wonderful sleep. In the morning we met in the dining room for breakfast and spoke about the previous evening. I found out that I had been closely monitored and that the timing of the interruption was carefully considered so as to not cause me any embarrassment. I thanked my dad and my mum said “I thought it was a hoot that neither of your sisters twigged who you were. As soon as we told them you were helping out they simply dismissed you from their minds as if you were nobody. I am sad that they have turned out that way but they are, at least, now away from home and having to look after their own lives.”

We spent the whole Christmas in Brisbane, seeing the sights and going to a couple of shows. It was nice to have them all to myself but even nicer to be doing it as their daughter. My mother and I hit the New Year Sales before we left and there was a big pile of new outfits and shoes in the back seat with me when we went back home. In January my mother took me into the bank and we opened an account in the name of Allie Beattie and I took out the bulk of my savings from the Albert Beattie account, putting them into the new one and just leaving enough in the old one to keep it open.

The second Saturday in January we started our new market year with the Byron Twilight event and it went very well, some of the new things I had chosen being very popular. That evening was a turning point in my life. I had been to the ladies and was spending a few moments looking at jewellery on another stall when a voice beside me said “Bernie, well, I never thought I would see you back here again. Have you forgiven me?”

I froze for a couple of seconds before turning to face the person looking intently at me and said “I am sorry to disappoint you, Wayne. I don’t think that Bernice has a forgiveness bone in her body. I am Allie, by the way.” He looked into my eyes and then said “Yes, I can see that you are not Bernice now. I am sorry to have bothered you. Her eyes were a different colour. Yours are more like Alberts.” That’s when the penny finally dropped.

“Albert?” he whispered. I pulled him away to a quieter spot and said “No, Wayne, not any more. I am Allie Beattie, a new and better daughter to help my parents out by looking after the stall while they are away overseas. Anyway, what on earth did you do to need forgiveness from Bernie the Bitch?” He laughed and said “She was mad when I dropped her. I had finally had enough of her ways. I had a crush on her for years but cracked when I found out that I was only a smoke-screen. She had been in a relationship with that Sally in her class for some time but needed me to disguise it.”

I said “My sister was a dyke, oh the shame of it. I hope our mother never finds out.” He grinned and said “You shouldn’t use a derogatory word like dyke, you know, not standing there as a boy in a dress.” He thought a bit more and said, “No, not a boy in a dress, a very pretty girl with a secret. A secret I can keep if you let me see you some more.”

Chapter 4 Be Kind

I smiled and told him that I would be happy to let him see me some more, especially if he would help me out once my parents had gone away in setting up and pulling down the stall.

At that he smiled and told me that it would be a pleasure. His job at a fitness centre was just weekdays as others did the long hours of weekends. We walked back to the stall and I said “Mother, you remember Wayne Watson, don’t you?” She laughed and said “The guy who was Bernice’s beard.” She saw me jump and carried on “You are not the only one in the family to have studied Shakespeare, you know, young lady. I had an idea that she was moving into another camp with her attitude. You, young man, should have bailed out earlier, it would have saved you a bunch of heartache.”

He just hung his head and muttered “But I thought I loved her, Mrs Beattie, she led me on and I have to admit it was good to see our reflections in shop windows. It was the reality that wasn’t so hot.” My mother asked “Why are you here and why now? I guess you sussed Allie by now?” He said “I did, but it was only when I looked into her eyes. I thought it was Bernice for a moment or two; but a much more feminine Bernice. I want to help and Allie said I could be a help when you are going on holiday.” My mother made her decision and said “Right, you can start right now. Stand behind here with Allie while I take a break.”

She went off and Wayne stood with me while I served customers. At one stage I asked him to crack open a package under the counter as we did not have the size the lady required on display and he did it with calm efficiency. He even made conversation with waiting customers while I sorted out the one I was serving and we made a good team. At one point I wondered where my mother had got to as she had been away for a while and then I saw here by a tree, cup of coffee in her hand, watching us work. Wayne did not profess to have any knowledge of our stock but a few of the ladies commented that a handsome lad like him must have had experience in trying to remove similar items from young ladies. He had the manners to blush.

When things quietened down he stood beside me and said “I wondered why you did this; a lad selling ladies stuff. I see it now; it is great to be chatting so freely to a whole bunch of women without someone thinking you are out for something. It is quite refreshing.” He then looked directly at me and added “It is even better to be next to you all the time.” When my mother returned she said “Next week, Wayne, do you want to start helping then?” When he nodded she said “We can’t pay much, usually we offer product from the stall but I can’t see you needing any of that, unless you were taking it for your mother or sister.”

He said “In all honesty, I would do it for free but a drink or two during the day and a meal would be perfectly all right.” He helped us take the stall down and pack the stock away in the van. We both gave him a hug and he went off smiling. In the van my mother said “I think that you have a conquest there, my girl. He knows who you are and what you are but if I have ever seen a smitten lad he fits the bill to a Tee.”

I sat there and thought about things. Wayne had been friendly for some time now but this was a real turn up. Did he think that I could be a woman for him or was he just playing about? On the other hand, did I think that I could be his woman? It was all too hard for the moment and I felt that my role-playing was coming apart for the first time. It had been so easy so far, all the strangers I had met had thought that I was Allie, a young woman, and here was a guy I had known most of my life who just wanted to be near me. It just did not add up.

During the following week we did stock-take; except for my regular visit to the salon. Alice, the girl who looked after me, made sure that I was hairless and was looking after my nails. We also took off the gaff every couple of weeks and I had a shave there. Even with her poking my dick away while she shaved me I felt nothing. It just did not react the way it used to. I always came out feeling a million dollars and this week it helped bolster my flagging bravery.

The next weekend I did the whole bit on my own again, Wayne being at the venue when I arrived and we had the stall up in no time. He stayed the whole day, except for his breaks, and was able to keep the ladies entertained while I was on mine, although I didn’t hang about when I went off for a pee or a drink. He even was able to sell a couple of items when the customer knew what she wanted. We packed up and I gave him his money for the drinks and meal he had and we hugged again, although I did detect a little more tenderness as we did so.

The Sunday was a game changer. We were set up at Pottsville Beach and were doing quite well up until mid-morning when the crowds seemed to evaporate. I looked around and I saw a storm cloud brewing over the sea. I called to Wayne and said that we have to get everything packed away quick because the stock was so light it would be halfway to Brisbane if we got caught. We pulled down in record time, along with all the other savvy stall-holders, closed the van and, because it was close to lunch time I grabbed his hand and said “Quick, if we get to the pub we can have lunch there and may be able to set up again this afternoon.”

We ran to the hotel and just got under cover when the heavens opened and the wind started to blow. Those who had not been quick enough were rushing about trying to put sopping wet stock away and we stopped for a moment to look back. Just then there was an almighty crack of thunder right after flash of lightning and I jumped about a foot in the air. That’s when I felt two strong arms around my waist and a voice whispered in my ear “Don’t be afraid, Allie, I’ll look after you.”

I stood there, watching the rain fall, and leaned back into him to let him know that I appreciated his words. He held me tighter before I stood tall and said “We had better queue up if we want to eat. My shout, you just saved our bacon there.” And I gave him a kiss on the cheek. We had a solid meal, we were not going anywhere. I used the hotel phone to call home to tell them that we had packed the van before the rain hit and was now having lunch in the hotel while we waited out the storm. My mother told me not to worry about setting up again because the customers would not come back now.

When we had finished our meal we went back out onto the veranda. The rain was still bucketing down in an unrelenting torrent so we went back into the hotel and found a nice settee in the lounge bar where could wait for some relief. Wayne got us both a glass of wine and we sat on the settee to drink them. Before long I was leaning against him and he had his arm around my shoulders. We chatted about the coming months while my folks were away and it was nice just to feel his body against mine. I did need to go to the toilet and a girl came in as I was touching up my lipstick. She told me that my boyfriend was a real hunk and that I was a very lucky girl.

Going back to the settee I agreed that she must be right in the hunk department. As to him being my boyfriend; he was a boy and he was a friend so I supposed the description was apt. That being the case I must be his girlfriend and the thought made me giggle. He stood up, saying “You’re happy, I see” and I said that a girl in the loo had made a comment that made me giggle. He took my hand and we went back outside to see the sky clearing and the water rushing down the gutters. He picked me up and carried me over to our van and his car.

I was like a feather in his arms and when we got to the van I had my arms around his neck. His face was close and I was squiffy so I kissed him lightly on the lips. We opened the door of the van and he deposited me on the seat with my legs outside and my skirt riding up. Before I could swivel on the seat he pulled my head close and he kissed me. It started lightly and then developed into a proper tongue play. I was hooked; there was no going back to being Albert. I wanted to be Waynes’ woman as that kiss progressed. As he backed off there was a cheer from the hotel veranda and we both cracked up laughing.

He kissed me again and I swung my legs into the van and he closed the door. “See you next Saturday morning at the Bangalow Flea Market, that is, if I can stop myself calling you up and asking you out.” I said “Why wait, you can ask me out now, how about Wednesday evening. We can go to the pictures in Lismore.” We agreed that he would come by my house at six and we would go to Lismore. I watched him walk awkwardly to his car and get in. We both left together and I followed him towards Byron Bay wondering just what on earth had I been thinking. I was a boy and I had been happy kissing another boy in public.

Chapter 5 Be careful

I think my mother saw through me the second I slid down from the van seat and closed the door. I walked into the house and she said “Someone looks happy. Sometimes the best ray of sun is behind the storm cloud.” I just said “You betcha!”

We checked over the stock, seeing that the packing was done on the double, and my folks decided that we had done well. Dad wanted to know how well Wayne had gone and I told him that he had done so well he was taking me to the pictures on Wednesday evening. Come Wednesday I was in two minds about it all. Was I actually having a boy take me out on a date? Would he expect more of what we did Sunday? What do I wear?

By the time he picked me up I was as feminine as I could be. I had a silky dress on over my sexiest undies and I felt as good as I looked. Tonight I was ready to be as much his girlfriend as I could and my confidence was at an all-time high. He turned up at six and I kissed mum cheerio while my dad shook his hand and then I slid into his car and we were off. The car that he drove was a good twenty years old and had a column shift automatic and a vinyl bench seat. I should not have worn something silky because I slid from side to side as we went around corners and, somehow, ended up sitting right next to him with his arm around my shoulders. It was like something out of a movie.

The movie itself was all right, what I did see of it. We sat at the back and kissed a lot. We had eaten a light burger meal and when we came out of the cinema we went to a local club where they had a band playing. We danced and kissed, kissed and danced and when we left I was ready for anything. He parked at a local beauty spot and we sat in the car and cuddled. He then said, very matter of factly “Allie, I think I have fallen in love with you. Not because you are now the prettiest girl I know, or even the fact that your kisses are heavenly; no, it’s the inner you that I have got fond of. It’s the way you walk, the way you talk, your kind and generous soul. You could have held a grudge against me for ever but you set it aside, even before you changed. I am humbled by your very being and am captured by your beauty.”

My answer was to kiss him again and then I said “Wayne, my love; you make me feel special. You make me want to be your woman and one day I may just be the woman you want. The girl at the pub last weekend told me she thought you were my boyfriend and also a hunk. What made me giggle that day was the thought of being your girlfriend. That was before we kissed the first time and now it is no giggling matter. I think I love you too but we had better take it easy; there is a lot of time we have to work together before my folks get home and I want to spend as much of that time as possible with you at my side.” We kissed some more and then he took me home.

His kiss as he dropped me off was very loving and special and he said he would be at my place Saturday morning because the market was close by in Bangalow. When I went to bed that night I had a dream where he and I were in bed together and his weight was holding me down on the bed while he reamed me in a way that I would have thought impossible in real life. I woke to a shuddering spasm that left me breathless. Another nightie for the wash.

My mother must have noticed the number of nighties I was rinsing out instead of just putting them into the laundry because, Thursday afternoon after she had been shopping, she presented me with a pack of large sanitary towels and a six pack of cotton panties “For nightwear, dearest.” I blushed and she said “We girls all go through it, sweetie, it’s not just boys who have wet dreams. Your grandmother gave me a similar package when I was fifteen and had a mad crush on a boy.”

The weeks leading up to their eventual departure saw Wayne and me running the stall. Dad left me a comprehensive list of suppliers and contact numbers and Mum just had one bit of advice. “Be careful, darling. Watch the money, watch the stock and, most of all; watch out for yourself. Wayne is really a nice boy who was led up the garden path by your sister. Sooner or later he is going to want more and you, my girl, are going to want to give it.“ That’s when she gave me a paper bag which I opened after they had left and found to be several packs of condoms.

I drove them to the airport with their luggage. We had to go to the other side of Brisbane to get there but the new roads were making it easier every time we went that way. I hugged them and cheek-kissed before they went through emigration control and my father said, “We will send you postcards, Allie. You keep up the way you are going and everything will be good when we get back. I love you, my daughter.” My mother gave me the tightest hug and said “Allie, darling. Make sure you do the vacuuming and keep up with your laundry and you’ll be all right. If I have to come home to a spring-clean I’ll be mad!” And then she grinned and said “I love you, daughter of mine; just you be there and safe when we get back. There’s a note by the phone with my sisters’ number if you really need help but expect to be nagged if you ring her. She is one of those Joh Bjelke-Petersen followers and is not known to be very forgiving.”

After they had taken off I left the viewing platform in a daze. I had a house to look after, a business to run and a boyfriend whose kisses I craved. Here I was, in the middle of the Brisbane Airport, in a dress and heels with tears in my eyes from seeing my folks off and no-one was pointing at me saying “Look at that guy in a dress”. Actually, no-one had said that for the last four months I had been Allie. Seeing it was still morning I decided that I would treat myself to a little retail therapy on the way home so drove into Surfers Paradise and parked at the big shopping centre in Broadbeach. By that time it was time for lunch.

I ate in the food court and then strolled around the shops just looking; going in and trying things on if they appealed. By the time I got back to the car I had a bunch of bags and was a couple of hundred dollars lighter. The important thing was that I had done all of the shopping on my own; the clothes I had bought were things I liked and, when I looked in shop mirrors, suited me. It was my first outing as an independent girl and was another watershed moment along my path. A couple of dresses I had bought were with Wayne in mind and what they may do towards furthering our relationship.

I got home late in the afternoon and put things away carefully and then took stock of my wardrobe. There were now items that I had inherited from my sisters that needed to go but not the red mini. I went and got some big plastic bags and started filling one; when I finished there were three. This, I thought, may be the time to draw a line in the sand so I went to my sisters rooms and culled all of the things I would never wear, rehung those that showed promise and bagged all of Alberts things that would never fit him now with breasts to consider. There were a couple of pairs of sneakers that would do if I went running but it was cathartic to tie the tops of another four bags, so sealing the past for donating to a charity bin.

Before the next weekend of markets I rang around to our old dressmakers to see if they had any new products that I could sell and made appointments for the following week to go and see those that sounded promising. My idea was to widen the range on the stall to include more formal outfits alongside the beach and holiday wear we had always sold. The other thing I did was write letters to our overseas suppliers to ask if they did ant menswear to complement the womens side, so giving Wayne something he could sell himself.

That Saturday was the Bangalow Flea Market followed by the Byron Twilight event, always a big day. Wayne turned up at the house early in the morning so I gave him a hot drink and piece of toast before we left in the van. It was a lovely day and we did very well and then went to the Services Club for a meal before setting up for the evening. When we took the stall down that night we were tired, but happy. Sunday was Channon, off to the south near Lismore. I had arranged with Wayne that he stay overnight and had made up a bed in Brittanys’ old room. When we had talked about this there was no thought that anything untoward was contemplated but as we drove home with him behind the wheel of the van I found myself looking across at him and wondering.

At the house he carried his bag in and I showed him where he was going to sleep and where the bathroom was. I nearly asked him to sleep with me when we kissed goodnight but he didn’t do anything ungentlemanly and it was not my place to instigate something we may not be able to stop. I had to wait until he could get over the fact that I did not have all the plumbing that my appearance indicated and was happy just to know he would be there in the morning at the breakfast table.

Chapter 6 Besides

I knew there was one item of my old wardrobe that may be handy and it was. A dressing gown was not something that Wayne had ever needed at home but came in handy that Saturday night, especially when we passed in the middle of the night on the way to the toilet. I had a satin one over my nightie and had the upper hand if we both wanted to go at the same time.

The gentlemanly thing almost unravelled at about six when we both zigged when one of us should have zagged and I found myself enveloped in his arms in a very lovely and very prolonged kiss. I could feel his morning glory standing erect and put my hand on it to feel pre-cum which I wiped on my finger and brought up to my lips to taste. That was enough for him and he dashed into the toilet and I heard paper being pulled from the roll, followed by a groan from him. At the breakfast table he apologised for being forward and I told him that we were both moving forward every time we kissed. Beside, we did love each other and some sort of sexual event was getting closer with every passing week.

Channon went well and Wayne was becoming very interested in the dance of selling. He got me to assist with one lady who was being stubborn and I suggested she try on the skirt she was holding. We had a set of steps up to the van so someone could go in and change and, when she came out again she looked in our big mirror, smiled and said she would take it. Wayne was learning about style with every passing show.

The following week we decided to do the long day on Saturday again with Murwillumbah, followed by the Byron Twilight and then Uki on Sunday. That meant he would stay over again. I was getting to like having him around, even if he was still being stubborn about my little secret still. One day he may bite the bullet; no, that’s not quite what I was looking forward to. Towards the end of the week I had two new catalogues in the mail; one with a new range of womens outfits and the other with a range of mens summer wear. I would show it to Wayne over the weekend and see what he thought.

An odd thing happened at the Twilight market. One of the organisers came to talk to us and wanted to know if we could join the organising committee. We said we would discuss it first as it would mean going to a meeting during the week, once a month. It was nice to be asked. Wayne was rather happy as he had spent much of his life being his fathers’ whipping boy and then Bernices’ pretend boyfriend. He really appreciated being spoken to as if he was someone for a change.

Saturday night we dozed off entwined together on the settee and I woke up in the middle of the night with my head on his shoulder and his arm around me with his other hand cupping one of my breasts. It was a lovely feeling of being wanted but my bladder insisted that I extricate myself and go to the toilet. When I moved he woke up and smiled and followed me to the loo. I went to my room and started taking off my clothes to get into bed and he knocked on my door and popped his head in as I was sliding the nightie over my head. He wished me goodnight and told me he loved me so I went and kissed him.

Bad move! He reacted in typical male fashion and lifted me off the floor to take me to the bed where he laid me on it while still kissing me, He then wished me goodnight again and left the room, saying “Big day tomorrow, better get some more sleep”. I hardly had time to get mad before I was asleep again.

The following week I ordered a small consignment of the new stock and a range of menswear that Wayne and I had agreed on. That weekend there were two markets in Byron, the Flea and the twilight and the Sunday was Bangalow so there was not a lot of driving involved. Wayne went home Saturday once he had helped me park the van. I hoped I wasn’t going too fast for him and had frightened him off. Sunday he arrived at the local market with his sister, Wendy, with him. She had been a couple of years behind me at school so would be now have just finished her final year.

He asked me if Wendy could help out today and I said she could with payment being one of our dresses and she almost jumped up and down on the spot. We set up and I told her to pick something and change into it in the van, so being a model of the product, like me. The market seemed to be very busy, we were now getting towards the end of June and the weather was very pleasant at that time of year. We did all right and Wayne gave me a hug and a kiss as they left, after helping pull the stall down. Wendy said that she had enjoyed it and wondered if she could help again. I said yes because it left a girl on site whenever I needed a break. An item a week wasn’t too much of a cost as I was sure we lost one to theft, almost every week.

The following weekend we were in a new month again and well into the winter season. The one thing with this part of the world is that our winters are mild to warm and it does not rain much; unlike our summers which coincides with the rains; making things hot and muggy. It is that time of year you do not wear closed shoes because any sweat you leave in them becomes mould in a few days. Winter, though, is good and we get the ‘Mexicans’ up from the southern states in droves. June through to October was our best time and the stall was a hive of activity during this period. I hoped that Wendy would stay on because this would be the first time I had run the stall through the winter on my own and would need all the help I could get.

Some boxes arrived at the Post Office for me to pick up during the week and it turned out to be the new trial stock. I rang Wayne and Wendy and they came over on Thursday evening and we checked it all out. They left with what they would wear on Saturday and we had put the stock into the van. I had sat them both down with a soft drink and had outlined what the coming months would entail. Wayne was happy with our current arrangement because of his day job but I told Wendy that I could pay her daily with cash, depending on the sales and she was happy with that. The one thing that worried me was that, when she was trying on different outfits, I saw fading bruises on her stomach. I told her that we could set up the other spare bedroom for her if she wanted to stay over and there was a real shine in her eyes when she hugged me to say thank you.

Saturday we did Brunswick Heads followed by the Byron Twilight and then Sunday we had a choice of locations. I chose Pottsville and hoped it didn’t rain again. The two of them stayed over on Saturday night so there was no chance for any passion and that was the way it panned out over the next few months. Weekends was purely business and if Wayne wanted some kissing time he would come over during the week. I had been getting regular postcards from my parents and one asked me to be home at a particular time as they wanted to ring me from wherever they were on that day.

I sat by the phone and, when it did ring, I was dozing so it made me jump. It was lovely to speak to them and my mother wanted to know all the things that I was doing so I told them about Wendy joining us. She was happy as long as it did not take a bite out of the profit as they wanted me to make sure there was a good total in the bank because they intended to stay away another three months. I told her that I was topping it up every week and that I was transferring money into their credit account as well so everything was good. I did not tell them I was trialling menswear or that we had been asked to go on the market committee and had accepted.

That first weekend with the menswear was an eye-opener. We just about sold out and also did well with the more modern outfits as well as the more formal ones I had brought in. It was time for another container load and the following week the three of us sat down with the catalogues on Tuesday evening and I filled in a massive order for stock. The container was dropped on my front lawn two weeks later.

Through July, August and September it was full on. We did every market we could get to and I became a regular in the bank on Mondays. Tuesdays I would spend time visiting local suppliers to bolster the variation of my stock. Wednesdays was my house-work day and usually ended with Wayne taking me out for a meal somewhere before we parked for a cuddle. Thursdays was making sure the van was ready for the weekends and Friday I went shopping. Once a month I attended the market committee, often with Wayne, and we got involved with all the red tape that I had not seen before. If it was not Council Regulations it was Health and Safety or some other government department that needed a check-list answered.

It was at one of these meetings that another committee man took me aside and told me that he knew of a shop in Byron Bay that was coming vacant and that it may be an ideal site for a clothing outlet so I could sell weekdays. Now that sounded interesting so I thanked him and got the details. I took Wendy with me when I inspected the place. It had already been a swimwear outlet and was going to be left with racks, shelves and even a few mannequins. All I would need was point-of-sale equipment and it would be good to go. I took on the lease and went to see my bank about the latest in sales payments, cards were becoming more used in those days.

The day I got the keys we put newspaper over the windows and set to with some paint. It took two weeks to refit the shop during the weekdays for me and Wendy with Wayne popping in after his work to help out. With the markets it was very draining so I pulled back from the double show Saturdays, concentrating on the Twilight one so I could spend the time on the shop. We opened for business on a Monday morning with Wendy now a full-time employee as manageress with me doing short hours during the week. She did short hours on weekends as well while Wayne and I did the market. It took a month before we needed to get another container in and just three weeks before we needed an assistant for Wendy. Luckily she knew of Jason, a lad from her class at school, who was at a loose end and was also quite the dandy so he came on as a part-timer selling both the mens and womens fashions. I knew that our window of opportunity would be the high season and that we may have to shorten the hours during the humid summer but it was a relief to know that we were ticking over with sales now, seven days a week.

When I went and picked up my parents from the airport they were glad to be home and both of them looked fabulous with their northern hemisphere tans. That week we had another container delivery which took up the yard again, the grass where it sat now almost dead from containers being on it. My father said, ‘What’s this, another one, I thought I had got enough in to last beyond our trip?” He almost fell over when I said “No, I think this might be the fourth.” Once they were out of the car and inside my mother said “OK, buster, what’s the deal, you can’t do three containers at the market, even on a good day.”

Chapter 7 Be Amazed

I made them a hot drink and put the books on the table, saying nothing. My father started going through the figures with astonishment and then said “Bugger me, she has.” I had a print-out of our current business account and gave it to my mother and she gasped when she saw the bottom line. “We ought to go away more often” she said to dad. He stopped and looked up when he got to the page where the shop came into the system. He asked “What on earth is this, a lease on a shop and a wage bill every week? Are you crazy, Allie?”

I said that when they were over their trip I would show them the shop and my mother snorted “Suddenly I’m over the trip; I want to see what you’ve been up to behind our backs, young lady.” They freshened up and I took them into Byron and showed them ‘Allies’ Apparel’ and introduced them to Wendy and Jason, once they were clear of customers. In the meantime they looked over the stock and dad saw a shirt he liked and I told him there was plenty at the house that he could pick from, once we had emptied the new container. Mum was amazed at the more formal items I had imported as well as the new range of local suppliers’ goods that were now much more realistically priced. Not only did we now have the clothes and shoes, the shop carried a range of bags, scarves and jewellery that we did not do at the markets.

They did not have much time to speak to Wendy and Jason before more customers came in so I showed them the back area of the shop where there was changing rooms and a toilet next to the small kitchen. Another door took us into a fairly large store-room with racks of clothes ready to go out on display and shelves with the other items stacked on them. I explained that the garage was now able to take a car again but was needed to sort out the incoming stock into shop and market requirements. I told them that the shop was turning over about as much as we used to sell on an average day at the market but now doing it five days a week.

They were quiet as I guided them back out to the car, waving at Wendy on our way through the shop. As it was late in the afternoon now I suggested that we go to one of the hotels and have a drink before I buy them dinner to welcome them home. Mum laughed and said “On the expense account, is it?” That made dad just crack up and we had to sit for a while before everyone was fit enough to move. I went to the hotel and parked, going inside where I had provisionally booked a table for us, verified that we were here and then asked them what they wanted to drink.

We sat in the lounge bar and they wanted to know the details so I related just how I had gone from a womens’ summer wear stall at the market to a full service outlet in the town. Mum wanted to know how I was with Wayne and I told her that he would be coming to join us for dinner after his work. I said that we were kissing friends but no more, at present. I then did tell them that I had commandeered my sisters’ rooms for Wayne and Wendy if they needed to sleep over. I said it had happened when we did three markets on a weekend but that I had cut back to two now. Just then one of the other committee members came in, saw me and came over. I introduced him to my parents, he chatted a bit and they told him that they had just spent six months overseas to come back to find that their daughter was now a force in the local business scene. This, mum said as a bit of a joke, and she was gobsmacked when he said “Yes, she is certainly a breath of fresh air on the Market Committee. We have been discussing some changes that we will put in place before the next high season that she has put forward.”

After he left us dad just sat there with one eyebrow raised until I said “What!” He them smiled and said “Your mum and I took on the market stall as a way to slow down from the busy jobs we had. It kept food on the table and a roof over our heads. Now you have gone and thrown a spanner in the works by being a real business mogul. You have put together a great little enterprise that we can stay away from or else put on our serious caps and be part of. What do you want us to do, Allie?”

I said “Daddy, dearest, I have done what I thought was right as the opportunity arose. If you want to be in charge then you are in charge. We are a family and the shop is part of our family business, as is the stall. The only difference is that it is in the one place and we can’t move it to different towns like we can with the van.” Mum just said, quietly “That does not stop us opening another shop somewhere else, hey?”

Wayne came in and had a drink with us before we went to our table for a meal. My folks interrogated him and he told them that the last six months had been the best of his life, with his weekday job and the extras he got from the market days he was better off than he had ever been and the icing on the cake was working with me. Between courses mum looked me in the eye and said “Excuse us, lads, but we girls need to powder our noses.” I got the hint and followed her to the toilet. She asked me how many condoms I had used and was surprised when I said “None.”

It was an odd feeling, standing next to my mother in the ladies touching up our make-up and talking about condoms. Not something I could have imagined in my wildest dreams a year before. Before we left the toilet she put her arms around me and gave me a huge hug, saying “I am so proud of you, my wonderful daughter; you are amazing.” Back at the table we found that the boys had gone off to play a game of eight-ball so we sat while she told me more about the holiday and why they needed it. That was the moment I found out that they had started with the stall after my father had a melt-down at his work due to the very high pressures in his job. She told me that coming back to find a burgeoning empire may not have been the best thing but that she now saw that he was interested in life again after the big trip.

I told her that what I had done was for the family and it was up to the family to steer us into the future. She then pointed out that the family now had paid staff to think of and guarantee a future for. Whatever we did would affect more than just us and that, I found, was a very sobering thought. When the boys came back we had dessert and then cheese and biscuits with a cup of coffee for me; spirits for my folks and a beer for Wayne. Dad proposed a toast to Wayne and me “To the empire builders of Byron Bay, my hearty congratulations.” He then said “Wayne and I were talking while we played; I suggested that we opened a menswear shop with him in charge and selling the ladies items on the side, a bit like a mirror image of Allies’ Apparel. We can look at a smaller town but I wondered if we could find a suitable shop in Murwillumbah or Lismore.” My mother and I just sat there with our mouths hanging open.

There wasn’t much that could be said after that so we just left it hanging in the air. Dad was looking brighter than he had been for years and mum sat there with a smile on her face, sipping a gin and tonic. Dad and Wayne spoke about the range of menswear we now sold, Wayne being the expert on this and he had some ideas that he now expressed that I had not heard before. I was wondering where this fashion expert had come from but then, as I thought back, realised it had always been around, just hidden away. Then it struck me; he had hidden it from his father as being not manly enough to be considered. That’s why he worked as a fitness trainer; that was macho enough to be acceptable. Wendy selling dresses would be an ideal place for her in her fathers’ mind. I wondered what would happen when Wayne told his dad that he was going to sell menswear in a shop.

The next day I let my folks sleep in while I got my breakfast and then went out and opened the garage and the container, contemplating what was needed for the shop first. I had two piles of boxes in the garage when my dad came out to join me, saying “I’ve come for that shirt you promised me, love” and I pointed to a stack of boxes still in the container and said “That’s them, if you help me unload them I may give you one or two.” He laughed and we spent the morning unloading the container. At one point I got him to help me pull the stall out of the van and we loaded up the shop goods we had and took them to the back door of the shop. I went through the front, said hello to Wendy and then opened up the back door.

We stacked all the new stock for Wendy and Jason to unpack and I closed up before we went back home and put the stall back in the van, adding some of the new products for the next market. Dad could not stop smiling and it was wonderful to see. Mum called us in for lunch and she complimented me on what she had found in the larder “I half expected instant meals but you, my girl, have been looking after yourself properly and that is really nice to see.” Over the meal I outlined what my usual week now entailed and my father decided, on the spot, that we needed another car. The only thing would be – do I get the current one and they get one for themselves or else the other way round. I said there was enough turn-over to lease a car for them and, that afternoon, I took them to see our bank and arranged an amount we could work with that didn’t upset the income and would even help our tax situation.

By the end of the week we had two cars and the van with all of them now registered under BBB Holdings. That weekend Wayne and I sat back as my folks ran the next market, mum selling the womens’ wear and dad getting in the groove with menswear. It took them a while to get to grips with all the variation in stock we now carried but it wasn’t long before we were all looking after customers. This weekend should have been the end of the season but the ‘Indian Summer’ we were in had extended our selling days. We had another three weeks of this before the rains started and the markets became hit and miss affairs. The shop, though, kept on moving stock. We put in a visitors book to find out where our customers had come from and found out that we were getting a lot of visitors from the Lismore / Casino / Ballina area so the upshot of that was that we started to look for a shop there.

In the meantime, Wendy, mum and me put out feelers to our suppliers for more catalogues and any ideas of new product. It all came to a head when we were told about a site we may not have considered. It was in Lismore, not far from the main shopping area but had been a car yard, the previous tenants building a bigger yard out of town. We showed interest and the owners knew that it would be a difficult site to relet so we ended up with a very good deal where we got a six month rent-free period. This allowed us to make the changes needed. The car showroom became the shop with a much bigger footprint than in Byron. A couple of offices became changing rooms. The workshop became our store so that we did not need to have a container dumped on our lawn any more. The car yard was cleaned up and parking spaces measured out and painted. Before it was all completed we got three containers delivered into the service bay area, all secure once the doors were locked. When Allies Apparel Lismore opened we had the mayor and some other dignitaries booked to do the sash cutting and the local radio broadcasting live. Dad was back into his element.

Chapter 8 Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

I was on tenterhooks as we got up to the opening day. We had employed a couple of Lismore girls with fashion credentials to serve in the shop and a slightly older guy to sell the menswear. Wayne would be the manager and do some selling and had put his notice in with the fitness centre.

When his father found out the brown stuff hit the fan. In the week before the opening Wayne got home with Wendy and his father stormed in demanding just what was his son doing, giving up a good manly job. I heard that after Wayne had told him that he was sick of trying to get flabby men to exercise and that he was going to sell menswear in future; his father then said “Like Wendy, then, a sissy job for a sissy” and Wendy said that selling clothing was a very complicated job and not sissy at all and that was when her father hit her. Wayne could not let this go on and tackled his father, so getting a pasting before his mother, now thoroughly sick of her husband, took a rolling pin and finished the fight for good.

I got a phone call from Wendy who was howling her eyes out and incoherent so the three of us piled into my folks car and went to Wendys’ house. When we arrived there was a bunch of vehicles with flashing lights outside. We finally got the story out of Wendy. The upshot was that Wayne was in hospital with a fractured jaw, Wendy had the biggest black eye coming up that I had ever seen, her mother was in the front room making a statement and her father was laying in the kitchen with a big dent in his skull, not going anywhere until the police had taken lots of pictures.

I took a punt as we had a policewoman in the room with Wendy and asked her if she still had all the bruises on her body. She closed her eyes and nodded. The policewoman asked quietly if she could see and Wendy took off her dress. It was enough to take your breath away. Wendy had bruises that looked as if she had been punched in the stomach but it was her back that made me gasp. There were rows of scars that looked like the tip of a leather belt across it. The police woman asked if she could take a picture on her phone and then asked if Wendy was the only one in the family with the scars and Wendy shook her head.

The policewoman left us to go and speak to a superior officer and I gathered that the officer with Wayne was asked to check his body for scars as well. When the policewoman came back she said “Wendy, dear, I suppose your mother has similar scars?” and Wendy nodded. “Where does he keep it?” and Wendy said it was in the bottom drawer of the bedside table on his side. The policewoman went off again and I got Wendy to put her dress back on and sat there just holding her while she sobbed.

This, I believe, tilted the investigation on its head. Where they had been looking at getting Mrs Watson on a manslaughter charge, the whipping with a belt would make the case very easy for a good lawyer to turn it into an acquittal on the grounds of self-defence. The fact that both children had already been hit hard enough to cause major damage would be the icing on the cake. I went to see if Mrs Watson was all right. My mother was with her and holding her close while she sobbed. The policewoman with her was writing up notes and looking at the picture of the scarred back on her phone. This was a classic situation where the dirty washing was bound to be hung out for all and sundry to gossip about. No wonder they were both weeping and no wonder Wayne had never let me see his back.

I went to find my father and the senior police officer and found them chatting like old friends; something I then found out they were. I asked if the house would be able to be slept in and was told not until forensics had been through it and they were on their way. I then asked if either Wendy or her mother were going to be charged with anything and, when I was told that was unlikely, I suggested that they could stay at our house as we had the two spare rooms already made up.

Wendy was able to go straight away so we got her to pack a bag and my father took us home and then returned for mum and Wendys’ mum. I got Wendy settled in to the room and we sat in silence with a cuppa and she then said “Allie, thank you for what you are doing. Your sisters would never have been this kind. You know Wayne loves you, don’t you?” I nodded and said “We have been close but I now know why he never took things further. It must be a burden to have those scars and he must have been too embarrassed to let me see them.” She nodded, saying “It is something we will both have to live with; the pain and fear may go but it will take a serious operation to get rid of the scars.”

Just then the car came up the drive and we went to help mum and Eve, Wendys’ mum, with her bags. I had not realised that our mums had been at school together, my only knowledge of mums’ past being Brisbane based; it must have been her roots in this area that brought them back to live. We moved Waynes’ stuff from the other room to the end of my wardrobe and put Eve in there. She was much better now but it had been an awful experience for her. I wondered whether she had shock from killing her husband or else from suddenly being free of him.

Wendy and I went to the hospital to see Wayne. I kissed him on the forehead and told him that I thought he was a very brave guy and he grunted through his wired jaw. There were notepads and a pen so he grabbed one and wrote “What happened after he hit me?” I looked at Wendy and she closed her eyes and said “Wayne, our mother hit him with a rolling pin. Last I saw of him the police were taking pictures of his body.”

His eyes got very big so I said “Wayne, sweetheart, it’s all good. The police have called it self-defence and your mother is at our house staying in the room you used. Wendy will be with us for a while because I think your house is not going to be released for some time.” Wayne looked at his sister and wrote one word on the pad. He wrote “Bill?” and that created a whole new situation. Wendy said “Do you think so?” and he nodded.

Wendy said “Allie, I think we should go to the police station now. it is time I made a statement. Please stay with me as I do it and please don’t shun me when you hear what I say.” I nodded and we told Wayne that we will find space in the house for him when he is let out of hospital and we left him to go to the police station. The officer from today was still working, no doubt writing up his notes, and we asked to see him with someone as a witness with a recorder. When we were all sitting in an interview room he opened up with the usual statement of time, place and occupants and then said “What do you want to say? I do have to tell you that there will be no charges laid against the three of you so I hope you are not going to admit that it was all a set up to get rid of your father.”

Wendy grabbed my hand and almost crushed it. She said “No, sir. What I am going to tell you is a secret that we have held in the family for some years because we did not know how to tell anybody and also because we did not know for certain the thing we suspected.” The officer nodded for her to continue. “I was about five, I think, and Wayne would have been eight. My father had not bought the tipped belt then so we only had been slapped about a bit, to keep us in line. We had a much older brother; I think he may have been a child of my father and another woman. His name was William and he would have been about thirteen at the time and was almost as big and strong as my father. He was an angry young man, always complaining and talking back to my parents. One day he wasn’t there and my father told us that he had run off. That weekend he was all sweetness and he put us on the bus Friday evening to Tweed Heads. When we got back Sunday evening there was a big new vegetable garden in the back. We were afraid to say anything and it wasn’t long after that he found his favourite belt at the market.”

The officer thanked her for her bravery and said that he would follow it up. He ushered us out of the station, telling me that he knew how to get in touch if he needed to. Two days later we had two policewomen at the door to tell us that the vegetable garden had, indeed, been the grave of William and all of his belongings. Wendy and Eve were determined that they were not going to let all of this spoil our shop opening and told us, in no uncertain terms, that they would stand tall because they now had a future.

The opening in Lismore went off without a hitch. Eve, Wendy and Wayne were there and we shut the Byron shop for the day so Jason was along as well. My father welcomed everyone, the Mayor gave a little speech and cut the ribbon and the main platform of our little empire was opened. There were a crowd of Lismore and Byron customers waiting to spend their money and it took all eight of us to look after everyone, Wayne and Eve stayed by the doors to monitor the security with Eve being gracious and Wayne grunting in a friendly way.

I did find out that Eve had been a good seamstress in her day and suggested to my mum that we could set her up in the shop to do special dressmaking to give her something to keep her occupied. Eventually that is what happened, with her renting a small house nearby until some closure could be made on her old family home. It would be a while as it was now classed as a crime scene in a likely murder case even if the perpetrator was already dead.

With the Lismore shop now off and running and also being the place we could get our containers delivered to, we made some effort to tidy up the house, Wayne was sleeping on the back veranda until his mother moved out and it was quite a good time with the six of us. We almost had to take a vote when it came to using the bathroom until dad got a portable loo and shower block put on the space where we used to have containers. It was one of the ones that they had for the bigger markets but was not in demand because of the weather. By the time it was needed again Wayne and his mother were living in Lismore but Wendy stayed with us to be closer to the Byron shop. She did go through a lot of concealer before her eye healed but she was a resilient girl and nothing was going to stop her now. She had endured so much hardship and pain but the future, for her as well as the rest of us, now looked rosy.

Chapter 9 Be Better

The Lismore shop was the real turning point to my life. With my parents behind me we worked towards increasing our holdings. Wayne stayed with Eve in Lismore to manage the three other staff and make sure things went well. He was in his element.

Wendy and Jason kept the Byron shop ticking over nicely and we all had a part in ordering new stock to sell. I kept my routine with visiting our local suppliers, now with more contacting me to see if we had room for their product. My parents now did the markets again and I sometimes helped out, along with Wayne and Eve whenever they could. While Lismore was not a holiday spot, as such, it did have a good size customer base. The Byron shop was very busy through the next tourist season as were the markets.

That high season some of the ideas we had discussed at the committee were put into place. The first change was that we clustered like stalls together with the food outlets some way away with the committee organising a rest area with tables and chairs, eventually buying them as the concept proved very popular and actually acted in keeping customers at the market for longer. The other thing that we had put in place was the joining together of a few small organisations to concentrate the administration without the various bodies losing any money, so being able to have all of our Byron Bay, Bangalow, Brunswick Heads and Mullumbimby markets being set up in a similar way so the customers knew where they could find things whichever one they were at.

For the following year my dad took my place on the committee to give me time to do other things. I had discovered that I could take a tertiary course in marketing and business management part-time so started doing that in the beginning of the next school year. It took up a bit of time but I found that a lot of things we learned were things I already knew from real life. I was enrolled as Allie Beattie and living as a girl was now a totally natural thing for me. In the same period I saw a doctor and was now taking hormones. I saw Wayne regularly as I visited the big store and we would slip into the old service bays for a cuddle and kiss. We had discussed our situation and had decided that we would hold off on anything serious until after I had transitioned.

During that season we were getting a container every twenty days and needed to hire part-timers to help unload and sort, with Wayne as overseer. We had leased a second van which I used to transport the stock from Lismore to home and the other shop and my parents were working towards building a second stall that we could have as an emergency or even to operate two stalls at the same time if there were overlapping markets. The other thing I got involved in was products for the various events in the area. I tendered for the supply of tee shirts and other products for the Blues Fest in April and the Music Festival in June for the following year and got them both.

The first was for Festival product only but the second was all local talent so was approached by a number of bands to bring in specific merchandise. This meant dealing with a few artistic types to design the shirts and logos. It took up a lot of time but my time spent with local suppliers proved invaluable. Any stock we had left over after the events we could sell at the markets or even in the Byron store afterwards so overstocking was not a factor. When we did do the two events we had both stalls set up some way apart and pulled in all of our staff. Wendy, Wayne and Jason did one with mum; I did the other with dad and the three from Lismore. What was a bonus was that we had access to all areas for both events and everyone had a great time as well as selling heaps.

What was wonderful to see was my father taking interest in everything that we did, including working the stalls. Wendy and Jason were getting very friendly; being together for the better part of the week can do that for you. He knew about her scars, as did everyone in town after the news broke. There had been a wonderful upswell of sympathy for the Watsons as the news of the earlier murder became known. The house was eventually released to them and was immediately sold to a ‘Mexican’ for a good price; who pulled it down and built a tilt-slab monstrosity with three bathrooms that was only occupied four months of the year.

Wayne traded his old car in on something newer and Eve traded her husbands’ truck for a small car for herself so life moved on. She paid us a peppercorn rental for use of two rooms in the Lismore shop and made quite a good income making better clothes for the local ladies. She eventually started seeing the widower of one of her customers and her life became much more pleasant than it had been before. When I visited her in her new home I found him very friendly and funny. He was a lovely man and they both had a good life together after they married.

Wendy and Jason took their time but did tie the knot and put a deposit on a small place in Lennox Head, well away from the waters’ edge. That left me and my folks rattling around in our home that now felt a bit bigger. I commandeered one of the spare bedrooms for an office and set up with a desk and filing cabinets for our growing mass of paperwork. We did make our accountant very happy every tax time but it was money well spent as he was constantly advising us of things we could do to save money, seeing that our turn-over was now considerable. I studied hard and got my accreditation in both the marketing and business management and started looking for more places to expand.

I started going into an area and staying a few days to see what I could find out. I would walk the streets, go into the shops, have coffee in cafes and chat with the staff about the local shopping. Within five years we had Allies’Apparel shops open in Warwick, Tenterfield and Grafton, all being supplied from Lismore with our new delivery driver and our third van. The part-timer container unloaders were now full-time storemen and the old car yard was invaluable for the space we could expand into, the owners building us a dedicated store and despatch building on the part that used to be parts and used car storage.

Also, within that five years, I had some surgery done to make my breasts real and my genital area turned from an ‘outie’ to an ‘innie’ Wayne and I got married in Byron Bay, honeymooned in Broadbeach and bought a bungalow in Ballina. It had to have a few main things that we insisted on. It needed a good size bedroom with big built-ins; it had to have space for a good office and it had to have parking for at least four vehicles.

The funny part of it all was that my sisters had no idea of what we had achieved. They had stayed aloof, keeping their new partners in the dark regarding their ‘market moron’ parents and equally moronic brother. Brittany came down to Byron Bay once, her new husband in tow and a bulge to show how she had captured him. We found out later that he was an office manager in the firm where she was a secretary and they stayed at a hotel in Byron. I heard about it when Wendy rang me to say that my sister was in the shop and gushing about the wonderful outfits they had, I told her to give Brittany a discount for knowing the owner but not to say who the owner was.

She spent up big and then went off to introduce her husband to his in-laws. She had a big surprise when she got to the house. It had been subject to a complete make-over and was now a magnificent Queenslander with bright paint and a manicured garden. One our vans and my folks’ latest car were in the drive when they arrived. I had rung to tell them that Brittany was in town and then quickly made my way there. I had driven the van which had ‘Allies’ Apparel – Lismore, Byron Bay, Warwick, Tenterfield, Grafton’ painted on the side and had quickly changed into one of our latest imports before I left home.

When she arrived we were sitting on the veranda with drinks in our hands and saw them get out of their car and gawp. Both my parents had changed into something good to make a first impression. She noticed the side of the van and had to clutch her husbands’ arm when she read it all. Mum called out “So lovely to see you, Brittany. Who is this handsome young man? Hold on we will come down.” She let them in and she and Brittany hugged and air kissed while dad shook has with the ‘gubbins’. I held back and then came forward, saying “Hello again, sister, so nice to see you again.” She said “Sister, my sister is in Brisbane at some biker do with her dyke partner.”

Mum laughed and said “If you are talking about Bernice then she has found her own level and she’s welcome to it. This is Allie, your other and younger sister who you met and ignored last time you saw her in Brisbane, all those years ago. There has been a lot of water under the bridges since then, I can tell you.” Brittany looked hard at me and said “Albert?”

Dad now put his bit in, “No, not Albert, this is Allie, the person who stood up for the family when you and your sister refused to help. We needed a girl to sell clothes at the markets so we made one from a very helpful boy who has surprised us by being a mistress of marketing. What we have now is down to her and her alone. We went off to Europe leaving her in charge of our stall and came back to find her with a stall and a shop and two employees. We now have five shops and over twenty five employees and your mother and I have fun with the stall on the weekends without worrying if we are making enough to pay the bills. She is also now Mrs Allie Watson, married to poor Wayne that Bernice used to hide her lesbianism and who is a wonderful son-in-law.

Brittany had to sit down and her husband looked pale. He and my father went off to the back yard so they could fire up the BBQ while Brittany joined mum and me back up on the veranda for a chat. Well, we tried to chat but she was just full of questions about the shops and even asked about the family wealth, to which my mother said “Enough to get by, dear, but not enough to share with a greedy daughter.” While we were eating our charred chops and some salad the husband asked me if I had any idea of the value of the house. It turned out that the company they both worked for was into real estate and he thought that it may be worth over a half a million now and would probably be over a million in twenty years. I have to say that he was good at his job because, when both my folks had gone, the place was valued at over one and a half million. Not bad for an outlay of around twenty grand. When Brittany left I did not get a hug or a kiss and my sister looked at me as if I was a turd she had found on her shoe.

We did open another shop, this time in Surfers Paradise and it was the last one. I had no need to expand and they all ticked over nicely. My parents and I sometimes set up the stall some weekends and then we stopped going, concentrating on the festivals which had a big turn-over in a very short time. They spent their waning years travelling in style, Wayne and I joining them sometimes. The company continued to grow until we got noticed by a national clothing chain that ended up making an offer for the shops and contracts. I made sure that our employees would be looked after and paid them all a thank-you bonus before we signed the papers and walked away quite well-off. We kept the festival business to give us something to do. I don’t think that I could have done any better if I had stayed as Albert. I have a loving husband and a couple of children we had adopted; I have a sister-in-law who had been elected as the state member and had been helped by our money.

I never saw Brittany or Bernice again and had no pressing desire to do so. I often wondered how my niece or nephew had turned out and sometimes thought about going into Brisbane to visit them; but I stayed busy and, unfortunately in the end, that trip was sadly not to be.

Marianne Gregory © 2021