(I just finished a run in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", hence the idea and the title. :-)

Just to clear up some things about Danny. Danny was not, that he knew of, a transsexual; he was not a transvestite, or a sissy, or any of those things. He had never put on an article of womans' clothing nor had he ever had any desire to do so. If you had asked him about any of the above he would have said, "Trans ... whatsit?"

On the other hand, Bobby was not a macho asshole either. He was, everyone said, a genuinely nice kid. Physically, he had girl potential; he was 5' 8" tall, weighed about 125 pounds, and had androgynous features. Given his last name, he had, while growing up, been plagued with taunts of "Hey, Sweetie Pie" or "Doesn't Sweetums look precious today!" from the local bullies. That usually didn't last long as his father had, having faced the same last name difficulties while he was growing up, started him in martial arts classes at the age of five. Danny did not particularly like to fight, but neither was he going to be pushed around, and after about 3rd grade, it was only the occasional new bully in town that gave him any problems.

Danny did have long hair - very long hair. He liked it. It was the one thing about him that, had there been any others, might have led to him being called feminine by the people who saw him. He had, however, at the time our story opens, made a major decision, that, as he was now practically grown up, it was time for a haircut. The need for money and the lack of good job prospects for a boy with hair to his butt may have had as much to do with his decision as a new found sense of masculine maturity, however.

Oh, The Closet Fixation. There was a mystery to his sister's closet that had not existed in her closet at their old house. He had seen Penny enter this new closet several times, dressed in jeans, not made up, and with unkempt hair. He had seen her emerge dressed to the nines for a date--clothes, hair, and makeup immaculate. The time between entering and leaving The Closet (He had come to think of it as capitalized.) had been between three and five minutes. He had learned the hard way that questioning his older sister about anything was not a good idea, so he had remained silent. This "home alone" time was as good a time as any to investigate.

Onward:

Danny entered the closet. The front part was practically bare, as his sister had packed for college, but, as he suspected, he could not see the back of the closet for his sister's older clothes hanging toward there. Danny had read his Sherlock Holmes: If one discards the possible, then the impossible must be true; there had to be a doorway in the back - a doorway to somewhere else.

He pushed through the remaining clothes, felt a wave of disorientation sweep over him, then blackness. He found himself standing on a street that had seen better days in what looked to be a particularly gritty neighborhood of a large city. It was a gray, overcast day. Gray people were passing all around him, and they were all women - or at least he thought they were all women; they all seemed to have breasts, but they were all dressed in clothing with a very definite hint of masculinity. Mostly they wore suits - pants suits, but there were a few skirts. There were however, no bright colors, no sparkling jewelry, and no long hair, although the styles were feminine.

The one exception to the blah colors was the pink mist that seemed to surround the lamp post by which he was standing. As he was wondering about this he felt a hand on his arm pulling him backwards. His training was such that he could easily have broken the hold, but for some reason he made no move to do so. A soft feminine voice spoke. "Quickly, get inside. What do you think your doing, missy, letting that long hair show!? Don't you know the Femstapo are out looking for girls like you?"

*Missy? Girls like me?* Danny thought, confused enough by this that he let himself be guided through a door, which the woman quickly shut behind them. A quick glance told him that he was most likely in a beauty parlor and that this beauty parlor was most definitely not a unisex salon. Everything reeked of femininity, from the pictures and photos of especially girlie girl hairstyles to the pink and floral print wallpaper to the smell of cosmetics and hair styling products. He began to feel like he was drowning in estrogen. He turned attention to his captor.

She herself was a vision of femininity. Her hair and makeup were flawless, and she was wearing a pink smock and a black skirt; one inch black patent heels adorned her feet and danny felt that they were a bit formal for her work. He then wondered how he knew that, and how he recognized the smells as makeup and hair care products. He had never in his life been in a beauty salon. He came out of his revery to notice that Pearl - she had on a name tag - had pulled back and was looking at him now with a shocked expression on her face. "You're a hu-man." she stated in a melodious voice; "A male child hu-man."

Pearl

Danny was a bit put off. "Well. yes, of course, but I'm almost 18." he replied.

"Oh, dear," Pearl fretted. "How did this happen? You really shouldn't be here, you know. Wait! Did you notice anything about the lamppost?" she questioned him.

Danny replied that he noticed that it seemed to have a pink mist around it.

"That explains it." she said to herself. Then to him, "A special effect I borrowed from a friend who runs a water park for women. Welcome to Vaginia. I think your hair is the key. Were you planning on having anything done to it?"

A bit puzzled, Danny replied that he had just decided to get it cut.

"Cut." Yes, that would be a good idea for here. I see possibilities. Would you like me to do it for you? Free? For your hair, actually; I can use it for a wig."

Danny had a million questions, such as why wasn't he freaking out over all this and what the hell kind of name was Vaginia for a country, but somehow he was drawn to trust Pearl. He simply said, "OK, I'm in your hands."

Pearl made a sweeping gesture toward a salon chair by a wash basin and said in a very poor Dracula impression, "Enter of your own free will."

And Danny did.

Pearl drew a cape - pink - around his shoulders and then pulled his long pony tail out from underneath it and unbound it. She turned on the water and leaned him back so that all his hair rested in the sink and his neck fit into a depression in its edge. As she began to massage the shampoo into his hair, Danny felt the most wonderful relaxing sensation he'd ever felt. By the time the cutting started, he was in a trance-like and very agreeable state.

Awhile later: "I think you'd look lovely as a redhead. (Danny was a drab brunette) Does that sound nice, dear?

"Yes." Through a haze, *Redhead?*

Still later: Danny was brought out of his hazy daze by a feeling of tugging on his head and objects being placed in it. "What?"

"Just adding a bit of curl. That's all right, isn't it, dear?"

"Yes." By this time Pearl could have suggested sexual reassignment surgery and Danny would have said yes. Would that be on the agenda at a later time?

Danny at this point

Danny felt wonderful warmth surrounding his head, but didn't realize he was under a dryer. The next sensation was tickles on his face and dimly he heard, "Just a makeover, darling, it comes free with the hair."

Deep down it felt wrong, but on the surface, oh, so right.

Finally he felt the effects of comb and brush and spray and pins. "An updo, dear. A girl's first hairdo should be special."

"Girl ??" he managed to get out through the haze.

"Why yes, dear. You saw the pink haze. You have a ways to go, true, but the spirit is there. You don't mind, do you?"

His brain fought it, but what came out was, "No."

Finally. "OK, sweetie, you're done ... for now. We must hurry and get you back before the Femstapo senses you." Pearl helped Danni to her - No, damnit! Danny to his feet. The use of the old bullying term "Sweetie" had started to clear away the haze. But before he could really protest, they were out the door and by the lamppost, and Pearl was bidding him goodbye. "I'm sure we haven't seen the last of each other, Danni", she said as she gave him a little shove. "It has been a pleasure working on such a potentially lovely young lady. Say hello to Penny for me. You two do need to talk."

And then the pink haze around the lamppost caught him and he fell into blackness. Once again he was disoriented, but quickly realized he was back in his sister's closet. His head felt much lighter, and as he staggered out into her bedroom, he placed his hand to his head and felt his hair. He could tell it had indeed been cut, but something told him it was not a style he would get from Joe the barber. He could also taste something suspiciously like strawberries on his lips. He swung around and looked in the mirror atop Penny's vanity.

"OHMYGAWD !!!!"

What Danny (Danni ?) saw.

to be continued ?