I spent several hours last night and this morning going through my wardrobe and deciding which of my clothes I wanted to keep and which ones I could happily do without, just to keep Mum satisfied. By the end I had quite a pile of clothes laid out on my bed. Some were so old fashioned that nobody would be seen dead wearing them. Others were utterly hideous and I can’t think what can have possessed Mum to have bought them for me in the first place. (In one or two cases I don’t know what I could have been thinking about when I chose them for myself.) Once these really embarrassing clothes were bundled up in black plastic bags ready for Dad to take to the charity shop, there were still quite a number of dresses, skirts, blouses, tops, a coat and a couple of pairs of shoes, which I thought might be alright for Josie to wear, if she were interested. They are all of good quality and several of them have hardly been worn. Therefore, soon after Josie and Karen arrived, and I’d offered my congratulations on Josie’s success at the convention, I invited them up to my bedroom to have a look through the pile.

‘Mum is refusing to let me do any shopping for new clothes this holiday unless I first make some space in my wardrobe. Would you like to see if you could use any of these before I offer them to the charity shop, Josie?’

‘What about Karen?’ she asked.

‘If only I were a size or two smaller I’d be happy to have them,’ she responded. ‘But we do know that anything which fits Denise ought to fit you alright Josie.’

‘I’m only offering you the girly clothes, as I get the impression that you enjoy wearing feminine things,’ I said to Josie, pulling her leg just a little.

She blushed, but didn’t dispute the point.

‘Why not try some of them on so we can tell you whether or not they suit you, but you’ll have to be careful not to spoil your posh hair do,’ I said.

Over the next hour and a half Karen and I had Josie try on all my unwanted outfits and parade in front of us whilst we passed comment. Everything she put on seemed to fit her and most of them suited her as well. She has one of those faces that look good in a lot of styles and colour schemes. By tea time there were four large carrier bags full of clothes ready for her to take home.

‘Look I can’t accept all of these from you, Denise, whatever will your mother say?’ she said.

‘Believe me, when she gets home later this afternoon, Mum will be really pleased to find that I’ve followed her instructions at last. Dad will also be happy that he doesn’t have even more bags to deliver to the Oxfam shop.’

‘With these clothes and your shopping voucher you should have enough clothes to be able to spend the whole summer as Josie if you wish,’ Karen observed.

Josie began to look alarmed.

‘Hang on a minute, Karen, I’ve only agreed to stay as a girl for this week, that’s all,’ she replied.

‘Oh yes, I’d forgotten’ she replied innocently, but it was obvious from her face that she had other thoughts on the matter.

The remainder of their visit was spent happily by the three of us chatting together and looking at Karen and Josie’s photos taken the previous weekend. We also had a look at the convention website and found photos with all four of the gang at different times, I’m just sorry that I had to miss it as a result of that stupid operation. I’m also sad that I’m going away for such a long time, as it looks as if I’m going to miss some of the fun.

Mum returned soon afterwards and offered to prepare us all some tea. As predicted, she was pleased that I’d made some space in my wardrobe. She was also very happy for me to be passing some of them on to Josie, whom she still thinks is Jenny’s female cousin.

‘Are you sure it is ok, Mrs Crawford? I feel quite guilty taking all these nice clothes,’ said Josie.

‘You’ll be doing both Denise and myself a good turn, I have been nagging her for weeks to make some more room in her wardrobe.’

‘Alright then, but may I at least offer to help you get the tea as a way of saying thank you,’ replied Little Miss Goody Two Shoes.

‘Thank you Josie, since you have offered, and Denise is still supposed to take things easily, you can help me.’

They disappeared in to the kitchen together whilst Karen stayed to chat to me.

‘So what do you think of Jenny’s younger sister then?’ she asked.

‘Apart from being a little bit of a creep to my mother, I think she is cute and seems just like a real girl,’ I replied. ‘What do you think about her?’

‘As I said, she’s quite fun to be with and chat to, but life could get quite complicated, especially if we were to meet up with some lads when we go to Southport?’ said Karen.

‘You will only be there for a few days, so it would probably be alright as long as they don’t find out about ‘Joe’. What is more to the point is what will happen after you all get home?’

‘That’ll be up to Josie and her mother to decide, but those clothes you have given will at least make it possible for her to continue as a girl, if she wishes.’

‘That was one of the reasons why I sorted them out,’ I replied.

After tea Josie offered to clear up and load the dishwasher and Karen felt obliged to join her. Mum was quite pleased as she still had plenty of packing to do for our holiday. Later the three of us watched a girly video together and painted one another’s toe nails, whilst we waited for Dad to get back from his work. As we were about to leave, Karen was talking to my mother, so I went over to Josie and gave her a hug.

‘Thanks for letting me have the clothes Denise; I hope you have a good holiday.’

I quickly checked that both my parents were out of earshot.

‘Thanks, and I must say that you seem to be enjoying yourself so far this holiday, so I hope you’re able spend as much time as Josie, as you wish, over the next week or so,’ I said.

‘I’ll stay as Josie until next weekend, and then I’ll have to make up my mind what to do.’

‘There are four and a half more weeks of the holiday still to go, and now you have plenty of nice clothes to wear.’

‘Yes, but it rather depends upon how the others and my Mum feel about it.’

‘Remember that it’s your life; it is for you to decide how to live it. Just talk to them all about how you feel, especially your mother. You may well find people are far more sympathetic than you think.’

‘Thanks Denise, have a good holiday.’

‘I will and I hope to see Josie again after I get back.’

She didn’t reply, but I get the impression that she wasn’t repelled by the idea.

After my friends had left in Dad’s car, Mum turned towards me.

‘I quite like those two girls; they seem more sensible and polite than your other friends.’

‘Jenny and Sue, are alright but Karen is my real friend, although I must say that I’m getting to like Jenny’s cousin as well.’

‘Your Dad will have to drive back to Crawley for meetings whilst we’re away, and I’m sure that he wouldn’t mind giving them a lift. Would you like me to contact their mothers as see whether they could come up to stay in Wales for a week?’

‘It would be nice for them to come but I’m not sure whether Karen’s mother would let her go without Sue. Also I don’t know how Josie’s mother would feel about her daughter staying with someone she doesn’t know.’

‘So what should I do?’

‘Leave it with me, Mum; I’ll talk to Karen in the morning to see what she thinks.’