As soon as Mum left us yesterday, the twins and I began to teach Josie her dance routine and singing part. Fortunately she would only be a part of the harmony and also had a relatively minor dancing role. This was just as well as I imagine it would be quite difficult for her to do anything too ambitious wearing those high heels. She took it all in good part though, and worked hard. It seemed likely that with a little more practice she would be ok. We also looked at some recordings of the Spice Girls from the 1990s on You-tube to try and give her an idea of what we were seeking to achieve. They did seem rather old fashioned, but it was supposed to relate back to the 1990s.

There was also the second competition relating to costume from the 1890s, which would not involve music or dance but merely a costume parade. We’d each of us acquired or adapted a long dress to wear and needed to know how to move and gesture. We therefore went out for a walk to the local video rental shop where we selected a Henry James costume drama from the period. The stories were pretty dull but we were able to take note of how the female characters dressed and behaved at a ball.

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Aunt Jean had to leave for her work at 8.15 am this morning, and so the twins and I took responsibility for ‘advising’ Josie about what to wear and we kept an eye on her whilst she put on her makeup and did her hair. This time we were all a little more casual in our choice of clothes. We would normally have worn trousers for such a trip but on this occasion we agreed that everyone would wear a dress or a skirt for Josie’s sake. In her case I suggested a plain denim skirt and a plain pink blouse. Sue loaned her a shoulder bag and a purse so that she could carry some of her own money.

Josie did well once again on our shopping trip and didn’t appear to attract any attention to us. By mid-morning we’d managed to find everything on Aunt Jean’s shopping list and so we sat down for a coffee and a cake in the supermarket restaurant. After a few minutes we were joined by Sarah who was in the same class as the twins and myself.

‘Hi everyone, it’s so nice to see you all,’ she gushed. ‘Have you heard the news about Denise?’

‘Yes, we went to see her on Saturday morning,’ answered Karen, and commenced telling her the full story.

As she did so, I looked across to Josie who was now looking distinctly uncomfortable as a result of the new arrival. Joe was in a different year from Sarah, and had probably never spoken to her before, but she would no doubt have recognized her, all the same. Sarah, for her part showed no signs of any recognition.

‘Sarah, this is my cousin Josie, who’s staying for the week. She’s going to be taking Denise’s place at the convention next weekend,’ I said when Karen had finished talking.

‘Hi Josie, it’s nice to meet you,’ she replied without seeming to give the matter a lot of attention.

Josie offered a weak smile in response and continued to look decidedly uncomfortable.

‘I’m shopping with my mother, and was just going to look at the promotions on the cosmetics counter. There are some ‘buy one get one free’ offers on both lipsticks and eye shadow. Would anyone like to pair up with me to share the cost?’ asked Sarah.

‘Sorry but Sue and I both need to save our money for this coming weekend,’ commented Karen.

Now I know I shouldn’t have done this, but I couldn’t stop myself.

‘How about you Josie? You were telling us that you needed another lipstick,’ I said mischievously.

Karen looked daggers at me. At first my sister appeared surprised, but then she gathered her wits.

’You’re right, I could use a new lipstick and also maybe some eye-shadow,’ she said, somewhat to the surprise of us all.

‘Great, Josie, let’s go over and pick one shade of each,’ said Sarah.

Whilst they were gone, Karen told me off once again and accused me of putting the whole venture at risk.

‘I’m sorry, but I needed to pay her back for volunteering my services addressing those letters for your mother. In any event, I get the impression that she’s quite enjoying herself.

‘I just hope you’re right,’ she replied.

Ten minutes later Josie returned with a bag containing a dark red lipstick, some grey eye shadow, some eyeliner and a wand of black mascara. Apparently Sarah had shared the cost of the first two of these, but had to leave soon afterwards to meet her mother. Josie had then gone back and bought two more items for herself.

As she showed us her purchases, Karen turned to me and whispered: ‘I think you may be right.’

I therefore assumed that I was forgiven for my recent transgression.

When we got home Karen suggested that Josie should try out her new purchases whilst we prepared some lunch. When she re-appeared we found that she’d changed into a dress and put on some makeup quite expertly.

During the afternoon we began the task of addressing Aunt Jean’s envelopes, using a word-processed list on their home computer.

‘I am happy to help with the job, but why can’t this task be automated?’ asked Josie.

‘Unfortunately Mum isn’t very good with computers, and she started keeping her address list as an ordinary word processor file rather than entering them into a database’ explained Sue.

‘We keep telling Mum that she should start keeping her records a little more systematically but she never gets round to it,’ added Karen.

‘But it still ought to be possible to extract a useable address list from this file, would you mind if I had a go before we spend any more time writing them out by hand?’ asked Josie.

‘Yes by all means, we’ll let you get on with it as long as you’re fairly sure it can be done,’ said Karen.

‘Leave it to me. Reformatting files on a word processor and converting them into spreadsheet or database files was one task that Joseph had always been able to do well, and I don’t think the transition to Josie should have affected those abilities,’ she answered.

‘In that case, if Jenny and Sue will take responsibility for preparing the evening meal, I should be able to finish sewing the last costume’ said Karen.

By dinner time my sister had isolated and formatted an address list, and we needed only to buy some sticky labels for her to be able to print them out. Aunt Jean enquired about our progress when she came home and we confirmed that we’d made a start and promised that we’d have the job finished by the Wednesday, so she was happy for us to work on our dance routine and to hold yet another rehearsal once dinner was over.

‘Sue, I think you’ll need to get yourself a pink bra to wear with that dress,’ commented Karen to her as she handed it over.

‘Yes I agree, but I should be able to get myself one in town tomorrow,’ she answered.

‘Josie, we also need to find a way of hiding that give-away bulge between your legs. It is not so obvious in your blue dress but might be visible when you are wearing Denise’s Edwardian dress,’ continued Karen, who had apparently taken on the role of our wardrobe director.

‘The judicious use of some medical sticking tape to tuck away your penis and testicles should be able to sort that out,’ suggested Sue. ‘We can get some in Boots tomorrow’.

‘As long as it doesn’t hurt’ Josie replied.

‘Only when you come to take it off,’ I quipped.

‘I am not sure about that,’ said Josie.

‘Remember your promise about doing what we ask of you,’ added Sue.

‘What about when I need to go to the toilet?’ asked Josie.

‘Then you’ll have to sit down like the rest of us girls,’ I said.

Mum rang during the course of the evening to see how we were getting on. She spoke first to Josie, who presumably told her that all was well, and then came on to me. I half wondered whether I should mention the incident involving the lipstick purchase earlier today, but in the end decided not to. The incident didn’t reflect particularly well on me and I didn’t want to give her anything to worry about before the coming weekend. In the end Mum seemed quite happy and told me that she would ring again on Thursday, although I suspect she may be ringing Aunt Jean more often.

Before going to bed we compiled a list of what would be needed from the shops the following day including some computer labels, some flesh coloured medical sticky tape and a new bra for Sue.