The first month went by without incident. My brother Charles had been sent to a boys detention center til he turned eighteen at the least. My mother had seemed to the resign herself to his fate, knowing it wouldn't really change him.

I had gotten pretty well use to wearing nothing but the dresses during this time period. My younger siblings,

especially Randall asked a lot of questions. He knew even at that early age that boys don't wear dresses. My sister Pamela seemed to enjoy having a ad hoc sister, someone to play with, with her dolls and other girly things.

Luckily my friends had gone off to summer camp so there was little chance of being seen or caught. I sometimes changed almost as soon as mom came home into my boys clothing. Even when I did with my friends gone there wasn't a lot to do. I did meet up with a girl though. Her name was Laura, she was very pretty. She was only 13 or had just turned that age. She had the prettiest auburn hair that came down to her shoulders. She was a little over 5

foot tall, which is big for a girl. The day I met her I had changed into my boys clothing and had just went out the door. I actually bumped into her as I was running out of driveway, not watching where I was going. She fell down from being hit so hard. I immediately stopped to make sure she was alright. She was really upset with me.

She began yelling at me, telling me how stupid I was for not paying attention to as to whom was on the sidewalk.

I apologized as quickly as possible, helping her up off the ground. My mother who had heard all of the commotion had come out onto the porch. "what are you doing? she screamed at me. "Don't you watch what your doing, you could have seriously hurt that girl." I asked her if she was okay or she needed help. She asked me to help her onto our porch so she could sit for a minute or two.

Once up on the porch, I went inside and got her some lemonade and a damp towel. When I came back out my mother was talking to her. I listen as I found out she was new to the neighborhood and only moved in about 3 days ago.

That would explain why I didn't know since I had been in the house in one of my dresses. I stayed away from the windows pretty much think anyone going by could see me. I hadn't learned about light refraction yet in school.

You know like if its dark outside and you turn on lights in the house, you can see inside but not outside, the same being with the bright sunshine outside. I hande her the lemonade and my mother the damp towel. She used it to try and remove the dirt that had soiled her clothing. After cleaning her up as best as she could my mother went back into the house. I sit down opposite her and we began to chat. I found out it was just her and her mother who had moved in, her father was gone, not dead just gone. No one knew where he had went, he had just left one morning and never returned. We talked about what was in the neighborhood and offered to show her around if she liked, but it would have to be on a day my mother was home. I told her I had to babysit my younger siblings.

She said okay to that and asked me if I would walk up to the school with her. I said okay since she would be attending the same school as me, at least I'd have someone to go there with. On the way she asked me what the kids there were like and what they wore to school in September since it was still hot or warm outside. I told her about Eric and some of the bullies to watch out for, I didn't know of any of the girl bullies, although I had heard there were, personally I didn't know for sure. As far as wearing clothing, generally it was what you felt comfortable in, the guys wore shorts and tees mostly, the girls either wore skirts or light dresses, depending upon the weather. Some of the girls did wear shorts and tops or just their jeans. Remember I am a guy, I looked at these girls.

After showing her where the school was we headed back home without a lot of chatter. I told her I'd see her tomorrow as I dropped her off at her home first.

I went on home, Randall was sitting there watching some cartoon show and looked up at me all smiling. "what?,

What are smiling at? I asked him. "Bobbys got a girlfriend, Bobbys got a girlfriend" he started singing. "I do not." I called back to him. He kept it up trying my patience, so i just went up on into my room. My mother I heard from downstairs telling him to quiet down, but you know how little ones are. He quieted down after a while

until I came back downstairs, then attempted to start again, but was to be quiet or he would be in trouble. Pamela. had came back in to hear some of his ranting from the backyard. "Who is she?" she asked excitedly. I told her that Laura had just moved in the neighborhood a couple of days ago and I hardly knew her. "Do you think she would come over and play with me? she asked. I didn't know, and worried if she did come over how I would keep her from finding out about my dresses. Sometimes, my sister would let family secrets out, not knowingly or hurtful

it was just her innocence the she had to things around her.

We had an early dinner that day, so the rest of the day was just whatever was on the TV, or use some boardgames with Randall and Pam. At eight the little ones were put to bed after their baths and the house had pretty much

settled down for thw evening. Being nothing but reruns over the summer I got tired quickly and took myself to bed.

It was Sunday, mom didn't have to work, so I had the day to myself. I put on a pair of campshorts with all of the pockets for rocks, bugs or whatever I found to put in them, along with a white polo shirt, my sneakers and I was out the door. I had barely made it to the sidewalk when Laura called out to me. "hey, hey, wait a sec" she called out. "I didn't get your name yesterday, you know mine." she said running up to me. "My name is Bobby, well Robert actually, but you know how people sometimes call by nicknames" "Well hello Bobby." she said. "What are you doing today? I told her that I really didn't know, I though about going down by the river and watch the ducks and such. She thought that was cool, she had never been on nature hikes before. I offered to let her come

along if she wished, she did. We walked on down to the river, it was a bit cooler there with the breeze coming across it. I showed her where the ducks congregated and saw some new ducklings. "aren't they pretty?" she squealed. "I could take them home if I was allowed" I told her that wouldn't be fair to the ducks or the ducks mother. I told her how would she feel if a higher life form took her away from her mother for a pet. She stood there think about what i had just said. "you know your right" she began, " it would be right to separate a family,

even animals need to belong. I'm so sorry when what I had said earlier, I didn't think of the ducklings, their mother, just my own needs I guess." I told her thats alright, alot of people don't think like I do. Some people look at them as dinner even. She told me she could never ever think of eating such a thing as a baby duck, its gross. We continued along the river, I showed her a couple of sleeping owls up in the oak trees that permeated the forest that grew along the river. She looked in awe at some of the other things I showed her. Like all of the creatures that lived under the rocks, or the fish in the water. I was going to show her some of the bugs, but thought better of it, most girls get squeamish around them. As we were walking back I picked up a couple of rocks and threw them in the river and walked closer to it. We were standing on a raised embankment looking out as the river flowed past us. I turned to help her up when my foot slipped and wound up slipping into the river. I was soaked clear to the bone, my shorts being like denim seemed to absord the whole river or least thats what it felt like. They were heavy from the water and I had to hold them up to keep from losing them. I pulled myself back up onto the embankment, now adding mud to the weight of my shorts. She reached out to grab my hand, but I was afraid I;d lose my shorts if I let go. I managed to pull myself up enough to stick out my other hand to her. She grabbed

onto and pulled me the rest of the ways up. I was a total mess, water, mud and god knows what else i had drug up with me. She looked at me and started laughing. Not just giggling, I mean as hearty a laugh she could muster. She said I looked like a drowned pekinese dog, my hair all matted, my shirt sopping wet against my chest. I looked down at myself and joined her in the laughter, I knew I was a sight to behold. I started to get a chill from the water that soaked me through and told her we should head back home. We fairly quickly made it back to her home, her mother was on the front porchas we arrived. Her mother looked at me and immediately came down and got a hold of me. "Your shivering like its mid-december." she said, "lets get you in the house to help you get out of those wet clothes" I tried to tell I was fine, I'd just go home a few doors down. "You can't," she said

" your mother just left with two small children." Oh great I thought, she hadn't told me she was going anywhere,

but then again I didn't ask. Mrs. Johnson help me into her house and removed my sneakers, she didn't want mud tracked in. I stood there shivering, although the clothing was warming a bit. "Come on now," she stated, "lets get these off of you." she grabbed my shirt and pulled it up over my head before I could say anything. She then sent Laura for a couple of towels to dry me with, as laura was leaving she called out and some dry clothes as well.

Mrs Johnson then directed me to their bathroom and told me to remove my shorts. I did as i was told not wanting to be disrespectful of her graciousness. I closed the door to the bathroom and removed my shorts. I noticed several scratches as I removed them. My underwear wear also coated with mud, so I asked her if I should remove them as well. Yes, she called out, then take a shower to remove the last of that gook. I took them off and got into the shower. The hot water felt good against my body. I notice they only had these flowery body baths and shampoos. I had little choice but to use them. I did my hair first withsome sort of lavendar scented shampoo, it smelled nice and did a good job, next the body wash was called NEW SPING, it depicted a bunch of flowers on it. I pour some onto a washcloth I found and washed myself head to toe. It smelled like the fresh bouquets you smelled in the florist section of the grocery stores. I rinsed and called out to Mrs. Johnson i was done as I stepped out of the shower. I noticed that my shorts and underwear were gone, I hadn't heard anyone enter while showering.

"Where are my clothes?" I called out to them. Just then there was noise on the other side of the door. "Sorry, It took us longer to figure out what to give you. You clothing is in the washing machine. They were to filthy for you to wear home." Mrs Johnson went on, "Laura has a couple of things you can wear for now, you can return them later or tomorrow" I opened the door and peaked out, not wanting to expose my nakedness to them. Mrs Johnson was standing there with the clothing for me to put on. She looked at me smiling and said "sorry but theres no boys here as your mother knows, this is the best we can do. we did find white panties though, they should fit and no one will see them anyway." She handed me the clothing and i shut the door. My mind was racing, what did she give me, a dress, a skirt, what!! I slowly unfolded them to discover it was shorts and a top, along with apair of white plain panties, not much different then speedos some boys wore. I quickly pulled them on along with the shorts and the top. The shorts were definitely girls, they were powder blue with a full elastic waist, no pockets

and at the bottom of eacxh leg were embriodered daisies with small leaves around them. The top matched the shorts

except it had to daisies, one left, one right, that looked like the had grown out of your bellybutton sort of.

Mrs. Johnson was now calling me to hurry and come downstairs so she could see how it looked. I carefully opened the bathroom door and went out into the hallway, I could hear the rustling in the front room as I headed there.

I peaked around the corner, Mrs. Johnson was sitting in the chair to the left while laura was sitting on the sofa.

Mrs. Johnson spotted me almost immediately. "Come on in here, lets see how it fits." she said. I was nervous as all get out, here I was boy about to be exposed wearing girls clothing to someone I hardly knew. Beckoning me again I went on into the living room. "My, my, my," she began, " don't we look nice, those fit you very well Robert". How did she know my name, then I thought maybe Laura had told her or even my mother from the days before.

She had me turn around so she could see how they fit from behind as well. "You know Robert, except for you hair,

most people would thing you were a girl from behind." she stated. I must have turned red as the setting sun from what she had just said. "Don't be bashful," she went on. "I only meant it as a compliment" Thats the kind of compliment boys did not want to hear, but I thanked her for the compliment anyways.

"I'm going to have to go home soon, are my clothes done yet so i can go?" I asked. "No, they're not, its an old washer so it isn't working as fast, if it doesn't quit again on me." said Mrs Johnson. Just then we heard a loud grinding sound coming from the basement. Mrs Johnson ran for the basement stairs and down them quickly. "Oh damn," I heard her cry out. A few minutes later she came back upstairs. She was holding my clothes in her hands.

they were torn to shreds, there was no way for them to be fixed. I just stood there with my mouth agape, I couldn't believe it. "I am so sorry Robert, the agitator had grabbed them and pulled them up under it, the gears done the rest I think, I'll replace them as soon as possible, please forgive me>" she said crying. It wasn't her fault, it was the washing machine. I told that it was okay, to not cry over this, it was just something that happened, sort of like my falling into the river. Laura just sat there with a smile on her face. It seemed bizarre to me, like she knew something but wasn't going to say anything. You know like she was being sneaky about something.

It wasn't until all of this excitement was over with when I realized I'd have to walk home in these girls clothes. What was I going to do? My mother still wasn't home, or at least I couldn't see her car in the driveway

or sticking out of the garage. I also realized that my shoes were still muddy from the river, I had no shoes to wear or socks to protect my feet from the debris. that was usually strewn across the sidewalks from passing cars.

That included broken glass, that was one of the reasons my siblings couldn't play out front. I looked at Laura and back to Mrs Johnson "So now what do I do?" I asked. They both looked at me and just sort of sighed, not really knowing, although I still suspected Laura knew more about what had happened to my clothing then she let on. That smile on her face was almost beaming at me now. "Come on Bobby, lets find you some shoes, you can't wear those ratty muddy shoes home. I think I have a pair that will fit you for now." Laura called as she headed for her room.

I followed right behind.

As soon as we were in her room, she turned to me and said, "That isn't what I was going to give you to wear,

but my mother stopped me from putting out what I wanted. Do you know what I wanted to see you in?" I shook my head back and forth indicating no. "Well," she continued, "I wanted to see you in this," as she pulled this pink dress out of her closet, It was like a princess dress, frothing in lace and ribbons, "I think you would look so cute in it with your light blue eyes and light skin." I was taken aback at this revelation, did she know of my dresses at home, had I accidently came too close to the windows at home, I didn't know. "Can you do me a favor?" she asked. What was my reply. "Can you put it on for me, just to let me see if i was right, you know I helped you earlier, you owe me." I didn't want to disappoint her and started stammering for reasons not to, Im a boy, I'd look silly, your mothers home, for every reason it seemed she had an answer. Finally I gave up, but I told her as long as no one ever knows about it. I'd do it. She told me to remove my/her top and handed me a camisole top, it was white with a rosebud just below the my chin area of my chest. She then had me raise my arms and pulled the dress over my head, walked around back and buttoned it up. She pulled the three inch ribbon around my sides and tied it into a large bow. She came around back in front and stepped back with her hand on her chin. She stepped forward and straightened the skirted portion then stepped back again. "Somethings not right , its not hanging properly." She stated. She asked if i still had the shorts on, I nodded in ascent. "Thats It" she gleamed "Remove them now" I was startled but attempted to reach up under the dress to pull the down or off, but could reach the hem of the shorts. She slipped to her knees reached under and yanked the shorts down to my ankles, unfortunately the panties came to. She started laughing like she had done earlier only louder. Unbeknownst to me her mother heard her laughing and came to see what was going on. She came into the room and saw me in the dress, she covered her mouth with her hand attempting to stifle her laughter. There I was in a pink sissy dress with the shorts and panties pulled down to my ankles. I looked up and in front of me was a mirror, I saw what they saw, I started giggling almost as loud. It was almost like a part of the three stooges movie when they had dressed as women, only this time I was the stooge replacing them. When we composed our selves Mrs. Johnson chased Laura out of her room,

helped me remove the dress, almost forgetting to pull the panties and shorts back up. Soon I was back in the living room. We were still snickering with laughter, Laura got up and left and returned with the pair of shoes we had originally went after and handed them to me along with a pair of anklet socks. I slipped them on fairly easy and the shoes did fit. Mrs Johnson went out on to the porch, then called to me "Your mothers home". I knew I had to go but was still worried about being seen. Laura offered to go with me, but Mrs. Johnson said no, we'd all go over, someone had to explain why I was wearing the girls shorts and she would do it since the washer had destroyed my boys clothing.

My mother came to the door after Mrs. Johnson had knocked. "Yes, can i help you?" my mother said. Mrs Johnson began, "you already met my daughter thre other day, Laura, well I was meaning to come over anyway to meet you and to tell you thank you for assisting her in regards to the accidental meeting of your son and her. Today however it seems I have repaid your favor with a favor of my own, sort of." My mother looked past her and saw Laura and I right behind her. "Robert, why, whose shorts are those? whats going on? my mother inquired. "Let me continue," Mrs Johnson said. "Robert and Laura went down by the river and somehow he fell in, dragged himself out,

coating himself in mud from head to toe. They came back right away after he slipped. He was soaked to the skin and filthy. You had just left with your other two children, so I had him come in to clean up. Laura got him some clothing while he took a shower. I had put his clothes in the washer and unfortunately somehow his shorts got tangle on the agitator, his shirt was pulled in afterwards it appeared, ripping the to shreds. I'll replace them as soon as possible if you want, I am sorry. That old washer has got to go before it does additional damage to our clothes. Again I'm sorry, please forgive me. My mother looking at me and then back to Mrs. Johnson began to speak, but had to clear her throat. "Its Okay" she finally began, "the shorts he was wearing were old anyway and probably needed replaced after this year, so don't worry about them. I'm just glad they are safe, a boy drowned last year in that river. I've told him several times to stay away from the waters edge, that is a swift river and could have easily swept him away, your daughter helped him, no telling what may have happened if she had not been there. Maybe it was fate that brought these two together, who knows. Thank you for bring him home and I'll return Lauras' clothes as soon as I clean them.

The chatter then turned to something that did not really concern me so I ooched on by them and went on up to my room. It had been a day I will remember always, I just hoped that it would be as the last few hours had been, what with the dress and the.....