Summer Princess

Mom thought it might be a good idea to write this down, so I could show it to the therapist. I guess that’s ok, and better than having to do some “How I spent my summer” essay for school. I guess there are some advantages to being home schooled, at least for now. My summer started by going to Uncle Mike’s place, because my mom was sick, and she wanted me to have a normal summer for once.

Little did she know. When I got to his place, it turned out that Uncle Mike had bought a theme park. Yeh, I know, a theme park? What’s worse was it was a theme park with a princess theme. My Uncle had bought the place, lock, stock, and barrel from some old Chinese dude. He had spent most of the winter getting it ready to be opened, and everything was going well.

Until I arrived, and the girl he had hired to play the princess quit. Those two events were not connected, as far as I know. Indeed, she knew me from the last time I had come to visit my Uncle, and she seemed to like me well enough. The day she quit, she took me to the change room she was supposed to use, and pointed at a chest, and said, “I can’t wear that outfit, there is something . .. Wrong with it.”

I said, “What can be wrong, its an easy job, as far as I can tell.” She said, “Why don’t you be the princess then?”, and left. For a long time, I stared at the trunk, and then I opened it, and pulled out the outfit. It was beautiful, just what any fairy tale princess would want. The idea of trying it on entered my mind..

I began to think, “well, my Uncle needs a princess, and it isn’t likely he will be able to find anyone in time for the sneak peak he was planning for the local press tomorrow. “ I hope the therapist wont be too disappointed if I say it wasn’t the first time I had worn girls’ clothes.

Back home, not long after my dad died, I had come across a box of old clothes, and found an outfit that reminded me of our neighbour. I put it on, and did a little impression of her for my mom, who couldn’t stop laughing at how well I had her speech and manners down.

After that, I dressed pretty often, sometimes I was a girl, and sometimes I was a boy, but my mom never really seemed to mind one way or the other.

The neighbour found out, however, and tried to get my mom to stop me from dressing up, but my mom said, “Some people are too busy trying to live other people’s lives, and should just try and live their own”. As for me, I didn’t think about what I was doing much, beyond the fact that it seemed to bring a sense of happiness to our household at a time when we have very little.

So I looked at this princess dress, and felt like it was calling to me, and I striped down to a t-shirt and shorts, and put it on. Then, things got very weird. I did a little twirl, and suddenly I felt myself changing. By the time my twirl was over, I looked at the mirror in the change room, and I was a girl, from long blond hair to dainty toes.

I must have screamed, because Uncle Mike came running, and came into the change room, took a look at me, and said “Who are you? And where is my nephew, Ken?” “It’s me,” I said, “I’m Ken, Uncle Mike. Somehow, this costume turned me into a girl.”

I then took off the dress, and turned back into myself, which convinced him. I said, “This is going to work Uncle Mike. I will be the princess for the opening tomorrow, and then you can find a suitable replacement.” “Are you sure?” He asked. “I will be ok” I said. So it was decided.

I was pretty nervous, but I finally managed to get some rest. The next day, I was again in the dress, and ready to greet the first guests of the park. I soon found that more than just my appearance had changed. I found I moved gracefully, and seemed to know how to act like a gracious hostess for the guests.

I gave them a tour, and it ended at the “castle” that was the centerpiece of the park. It was there I would sit on a throne, and kids would come up and get their pictures taken with me, a lot like Santa Claus. After the day was over, I stripped out of the dress, and became myself again, with a bit of a sense of relief, but also with some sadness.

I checked online, and that night was able to show Uncle Mike how well the park had been received. It was a bit embarrassing to see that the princess featured heavily in the reviews and they spoke of “her” in the most glowing terms. I found I didn’t want to give it up, and used the reviews to convince Uncle Mike to let me continue for the summer.

That night, I had a dream, in which I got out of bed in my shorts and saw instead of my own reflection in the mirror, I say the image of the girl I became when I wore the costume. She was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t understand her language. Despite this barrier, I got the impression she was giving me her blessing, and wishing me luck.

The next day was the official opening for the general public, and I was very busy as the princess. After welcoming the first visitors, I spent the day wondering the park getting hugs from little girls and letting people take pictures with me, and reminding them of when I would be at the castle for the official tours. Soon, I was in a routine, and things went pretty smoothly for a while.

I still had the dream, but since it seemed like the princess was not unhappy with me, I was ok with that too. But one day, as I was doing my tour, I ran into a family that seemed to be struggling with their daughter. She clearly wasn’t happy being a princess, and one of the park employees who were dressed as knights was trying to make her happy. She had a brother, and I slid up to him and asked if he was having a good time.

“My folks keep trying to make my sister act like a regular girl, but she is much more into being a tomboy. She only let them take her here for her birthday if she was allowed to ride the Dragon Rollercoaster.” he sighed, and said “They didn’t even ask what I wanted, and its my birthday too.”

“Well, what would you want?” I asked. He looked very embarrassed, and said “Princess keep secrets, right?” I said “Yes, we do” He leaned close, and I got down on one knee, and he whispered “Somehow, me and sis got all mixed up. She would rather be a knight, but me, I wish I could be the princess.”

I gave him a hug, and said, “Well, you never know, I wasn’t always a princess, and if it can happen to me, maybe it will happen for you too.”
I then left them, and completed my rounds, but I was thinking hard. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I realized how, well, happy and comfortable I was as the princess.

Some, I was sure had to do with whatever magic it was that made me look like a girl when I was wearing the costume, but, as I said, I had worn girl clothes before, and never seemed to mind dressing up. What the heck did it mean? I had no clue, but I was starting to be curious to find out, and wondered how I could do it.

I wouldn’t be able to wear the costume away from the park without being recognized as the princess, plus I wanted to know how much of my ease as a girl was due to its magic. After the park was closed, I took the costume off, and then I called Sara, the girl who was supposed to be the princess in the first place, and went to her house.

I took the costume, and when I got there, I showed her how it transformed me into a girl. She was shocked, but asked me “Why tell me, Ken?” I took a deep breath, and said, “Because I am starting to like being a girl, and I need to know how much of that is the costume, and how much is me.”

She said, “Well, last summer when you were here, I thought you were a girl until your Uncle set me straight, so there really must be at least a little bit of it in you. So, what’s your idea?” I asked, “Can you make me a girl, without the costume?”

“What about the park?” She asked. “Hmm,” I said, “Tomorrow is Monday, and the park is closed, so I can do what I like” So she asked her mom, and I phoned my Uncle, and go permission to stay overnight and tomorrow. With her mom’s help, they made me over, and after they were done, I looked like a passable girl.

We went to bed (I slept in a spare room), and the next morning, they did their magic, and soon, I was as ready to go out in public as a girl without the benefit of the princess costume as I was likely to be.

“What name should you use?” she asked. “Well, I could go with Kendra” I said. “No way. How about Kallie?” she asked. “Its Greek. It means ‘most beautiful’ “ That made me blush, and we went with that.
“Where should we go?” I asked. “Well, we could go to the mall, although maybe that’s a little bit of a stereotype.” she said. “Well, that sounds ok to me” I said. And off we went. I had practiced being in the clothes, how to move, how to walk, all night long, and it seemed like I had got the hang of it, at least no one was pointing and staring at me.

We browsed the shops, tried on clothes and shoes, ate lunch, and went to a movie. I had been a bit nervous at first, but soon I was relaxed. As we went back to her house, she smiled at me, and asked, “Well, Kallie? What do you think?” “I . . . I feel, like I am more relaxed and happy than I ever had been as Ken. How did I miss this part of me, all this time?”

She said “Maybe you just needed permission to let the girl in you out.” I thanked her, and went in, and changed back into my boy clothes, and left to go back to Uncle Mike’s house. The next day, I was back at work as the princess, and didn’t really have any time to think about Monday.

But the next week, I went over to Sara’s house, and we did it again. That became our routine for the rest of the summer, and soon, I was being Kallie even when I wasn’t with Sara. In fact, I pretty much stopped being Ken any more than I absolutely needed to be.

As the summer came to a close, I packed up the princess dress for the last time, and said my goodbyes to Uncle Mike, and headed for home. I decided to take it with me, as well as the ‘Kallie’s’ clothes. When I got home, Mom was feeling better from her treatments, and after some idle chitchat, I started to come clean.

“Mom”, I said, “ I have something to tell you.” I had a rather unusual job this summer for Uncle Mike. I was, I was his princess at his theme park.” “And did you enjoy it?” she asked. “Yes, mom, and more. I found a part of myself. I found a girl named Kallie inside of me.” I said.

“Okay, and what do you want to do about that?” She asked. “I don’t know. I cant be Kallie full time, can I?” I asked. “Why don’t you show me Kallie hun, and we can go from there.” she said. So I took my stuff up to my room, and changed into some Kallie clothes, and came back down. My mom sat on the couch, and said “You look beautiful, sweetie.” I blushed.

She said, “We still have a couple of days before you are due back at school. If you are up to it, we will go out tomorrow as mother and daughter, and see how it goes. If this is what I think it is, I will call a friend of mine who is a therapist, and see what we can do from there, ok?” And so that’s what we did, and by the end of that first day, my mom was convinced that being Kallie filled a need in my life.

So she called her friend, and now I will be seeing the therapist tomorrow. Then tonight, I had another dream. I was dressed as Kallie, and the princess came to me, and said, “Thank you, Kallie. You have freed me from my curse, and now I can finally rest. “ “What happened to you?”

She told me, “A long time ago, I was cursed by what you would call a sorcerer. He trapped my soul in my dress, and put the conditions of my release in such a way he thought I would never be free. Only a boy could wear the dress. He would look like me while he wore it, and then he would have to decide to become a girl even when not wearing my dress. You have done so, and so I am free.”

“I guess your sorcerer never heard of transgender.” I said. “No” she said, “I am afraid I have to go now. The dress will just be clothes, from now on, I leave it with you, along with my thanks, and blessings on your journey into womanhood. I believe you will make it all the way, you have a great family, and a good friend in Sara.” She gave me a kiss, and faded. Now I need to sleep, its going to be a big day tomorrow, and then I have the rest of my life ahead of me too. Goodbye, princess, rest in piece.