Cindy at Music Camp By Teek © 2019 Chapter 07 Goodbye Frank

Summary: It is time to say Goodbye to Frank. Samantha sets out to make sure Cindy is dressed appropriately for the rest of camp.

The Littles at Cindy’s table were full of questions about the top performers that came to their table and talked to Cindy. No one even appeared to notice that Frank wasn’t there, or that a girl was now sitting at a table that previously only had boys at it. Around the rest of the cafeteria, speculation, disbelief, and wild rumors were spreading like crazy. Marcus, George, Jessica, and Samantha, who all sat at different tables, were being asked a ton of questions about the new girl. Of those that knew the truth, none of them said a thing about Frank. Even the girls that cut Cindy’s hair had a ton of questions. They kept it a secret that Cindy had been pretending to be a boy, but they had no idea the kid they helped was such a talented player.

The teenagers were not going to just accept what Marcus and Mr. Elks said. To them, Cindy looked like she was six or seven years old, and there was no way they were going to accept that a six year old was the best performer at camp this summer. It just couldn’t be. As they figured, they had been playing their instrument longer than Cindy had been alive, and for some, twice as long as she had been alive. This Little, who still carried around a dolly, could not be better than they were. Many felt better saying this, but in the back of their heads they could still hear Mr. Elks and Marcus believing that she might be the best. If they believed it, could it actually be true?

Dinner went quickly, but not fast enough for Cindy. She was the center of attention for the whole cafeteria. The only good thing was that no one saw Frank, they only saw the little girl Cindy. She heard what the teenagers at the next table were saying. They desperately wanted to hear her play, so they could prove that they were better than her. She also felt really good when the kids at her table were all excited that a Little might be a better player than the teenagers. They didn’t want to prove that they were better than her, they just wanted her to be better than the teenagers.

When the table had finally been cleared, many kids tried to come over and talk with Cindy. They bombarded her with a ton of questions. Seeing that Cindy didn't want to answer the questions, Mrs. Sterling decided that it would probably be best if she escorted Cindy over to Mr. Elks table. Mr. Elks had Cindy sit down next to him, and told everyone else to go to their after dinner activities. Everyone had signed up for something at breakfast, so slowly they turned and headed for the door. Some were finding excuses to hang around, like needing to tie their shoes or helping tables that still had some clean up to do. Mr. Elks finally left with Cindy and headed for the dorms.

“It really is okay that I stay at your house Mr. Elks?”

“Oh yes Cindy. My wife is all excited to have a little girl in the house again. She even pulled out some of Lizzy’s old toys.”

“Does she know I am not a real girl?”

“A real girl,” Mr. Elks chuckled as he looked down at the little girl next to him holding a dolly tight in her arms. “What is a real girl? You like dresses and dollies. You probably want to play with the girls at recess instead of the boys.”

“Yeah, but . . .”

“A real girl is one who views themselves as a girl instead of a boy,” Mr. Elks said smiling. “In your heart and brain, who are you? Frank or Cindy?”

“Cindy,” she said without a second to think about it.

“Then Cindy, you are a real girl,” Mr. Elks squeezed her hand as they walked on in silence.

Just before reaching the dorms, Mr. Elks looked down at Cindy, “There should be no one in the dorms with everyone at their evening activities. Are you all packed up and ready to go?”

“Well, sort of Mr. Elks.”

“Sort of?”

“Yeah, everything in my boy room is packed up. In fact, the only thing left in there are my dirty clothes.”

“Where are the rest of your things?”

“There in Samantha's bedroom,” Cindy said as they entered her boy dorm room. Cindy grabbed the laundry bag, but Mr. Elks took it from her.

“I will get that,” he said as he headed out of the room. “Let's go up to Samantha’s room and get your other stuff.”

“But we are not done yet!”

“Ahhhh, Let’s go up there anyways.”

When they got to Samantha’s room, Mr. Elks saw a few of Franks clothes on Samantha's bed, “Are these yours?”

“Yeah, all I have left to trade with. I hope it will be enough to get girl clothes for the rest of camp.”

“I will let you in on a little secret,” Mr. Elks smiled down at Cindy. “There is a washer and dryer at my house, and if you asked my wife nicely, I am sure she would wash some clothes for you.”

“Really?”

“Yup. Now do you have a backpack in the suitcase? It was a required item for camp.”

“Yeah, a plain black one.”

“Go ahead and get it out and leave it here on the bed. That way whatever you trade for tonight after evening activities, you can bring that stuff back to my house in your backpack.”

Cindy quickly got out her backpack and zipped back up the suitcase. As they left the room, Mr. Elks was carrying the suitcase and laundry bag. Cindy was holding tight onto the Molly doll.

It was a short walk and they were at Mr. Elks’ house. It was just on the other side of the Library.

“My oh my, aren’t you just the cutest little thing,” a lady said as Cindy walked into the house.

“Cindy, this is my wife Barbra.”

“Hello Mrs. Elks. Thank You for letting me stay here this week.”

“Oh, and so polite too. Cindy it is my pleasure to have you as company. We haven’t had a little girl in the house for years.”

Cindy was shown the guest room. It had a queen size bed in it, a dresser, a closet, and some toys in the corner, including a doll house. There was another door, which looked like it went to a bathroom. The bed had a pink pillow, and a white bedspread with a unicorn on it.

“I hope you like it dear,” Barbra said. “I dug out Lizzy's old Unicorn bedspread. I thought you might enjoy it. Much better than the plain brown one that had been on the bed.”

“It is fabulous. Thank you Mrs. Elks.”

“Oh, don’t call me that dear. Please just call me Barbra.”

Cindy wasn’t sure about that, but she just smiled and nodded.

After putting the suitcase on the bed and the laundry bag in a laundry basket on the other side of the dresser that Cindy had missed, Barbra took Cindy on a tour of the house. Cindy especially liked Lizzy's room. Even though she didn’t live there anymore, the room had many things from her youth, including a bunch of Precious Moments Figurines, two china dolls, and some My Little Pony figures.

Barbra then brought Cindy back to the guest room, “Sweetie why don’t you help me put away some of your clothes into the dresser. You are going to be here all week, no reason to live out of a suitcase.”

The flute was the first thing unpacked, and it went on the top of the dresser. Next was Cindy’s stuffed panda bear, which was put on the bed’s pillow, along with Molly. The toiletries went in the bathroom. The panties, socks, and tights went in the top drawer. T-shirts, skorts, and leggings went in the second drawer. The nightie went under the pillow. Barbra went to hang up the dresses, but when Cindy pointed out that she wouldn’t be able to get them down, they went in the bottom drawer of the dresser. Some things Cindy left in the bag, like her coats, and sweaters. Cindy stuffed her boy swim trunks, pajamas, and underwear under the coats, hoping Barbra didn’t see them. It had been too warm for coats and sweaters anyways during the last week, so Cindy hoped they could hide the boy stuff for this next week.

“Sweetie, these are not enough clothes to get you through the rest of the week. It looks like I will need to do some laundry for you. Why don’t I take your laundry bag and go wash the clothes in there?”

“No, that is okay Mrs. Elks, I mean Barbra,” Cindy quickly replied, rushing over to the clothes hamper to block her. “The clothes in there are not mine, they are Frank’s.”

Barbra looked at Cindy with a very confused face, “Why do you have Frank’s clothes? Where are your clothes from last week?”

“Oh, Mr. Elks didn’t tell you,” Cindy said looking across the room at Molly and her panda. “I am Cindy, but I was pretending to be Frank last week. I am really a girl, but everyone thinks I’m a boy, all because I was born with a wee wee."

“Oh my,” Barbra said going over and giving Cindy a hug. “That must be really hard for you.”

“Yeah, but my friends are helping me here at camp. Samantha traded some of my Frank clothes for girl clothes, and after activities she will try to trade some more. She is trying really hard to get me enough clothes for the rest of the week.”

“That sounds like a really good friend you have there, Cindy,” Barbra said as she let go of the hug and looked at Cindy in the eyes as she kneeled on the floor. “If you don’t have enough, just let me know and I will do a load of clothes for you before you run out.”

“Okay Mrs. Elks.”

“Whatever you need sweetie, just let me know,” Barbra said giving Cindy another hug.

There wasn’t much time left to play, but Cindy did spend a little bit of time exploring the doll house while Barbra sat on the bed watching her.

“You’re what, six years old Cindy,” Barbara inquired as she watched Cindy play.

“No Mrs. Elks, I mean Barbra. I’m not six. I’m nine,” Cindy turned away from the doll house for a moment to look at Mrs. Elks. “Yeah, I know. I don’t look it. I have always been small for my age. Samantha is seven and I fit in her clothes.”

“Nine? Oh my, you are a big girl. Bob just said one of the little girls were coming to stay, he didn’t say how old you were. I just assumed you were six based upon your size. I am sorry for making that mistake.”

“That is okay. Sometimes, I wish I was even smaller than my current size. I really like some of the dresses that are size 6x and smaller. At least, there are a few things in size 7-8 that are still cute.”

“You like the frills and lace, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Cindy said with a dreamy look on her face.

“Lizzy was the same way when she grew out of size 6x. I ended up ordering a lot of stuff off of Amazon.com when she first grew out of 6x clothes. It was easier to find the cute dresses on there in 7’s and 8’s than in the stores.”

Cindy continued to play with the doll house. At seven o’clock Barbra let Cindy go join Samantha. She was told to come back at 7:30 when all the Little’s needed to return to their dorms. Cindy ran out of the house and over to the dorms. She found Samantha and a few other girls in the bedroom already trading clothes.

“Can I try on those bright blue sneakers?”

“Yeah Elizabeth,” Samantha said as she waved at Cindy entering the room. “What do you have to trade?”

“I have some Frozen sneakers that light up. Mom got my sister and I matching sneakers. I don’t want to be wearing the same sneakers as my baby sister.”

Samantha looked at me and quietly asked, “Frozen light up sneakers?”

I nodded my head with a big smile on my face.

“They fit. I’ll take them,” Elizabeth declared.

“Not so fast Elizabeth. Cindy has to try on your shoes first, and you must include at least some hair accessories. Have any Frozen hair clips? She also needs more socks and underwear. Can Cindy have one of the ‘just in case’ pairs that your mom packed you.”

Elizabeth looked down at her feet, “I . . . I . . . I am not sure about that. Can’t we just swap the shoes?”

“How often does your Mom dress you and your baby sister up to look exactly like each other?” Samantha inquired with a devilish grin on her face.

“Okay, okay. I want to trade the sneakers. But I can’t,” Elizabeth hesitated. “Wait, I have a Frozen t shirt I want to get rid of.”

“We only have one t-shirt left to trade, are you okay with a plain green one?”

“I’ll take anything. I just want the Frozen t-shirt to disappear. My sister always wants me to wear it every time she wears hers, and it is one of her most favorite shirts.”

Samantha smiled, “Okay, shoes, t-shirt, a hair accessory, a pair of panties, and either socks or tights. Do we have a deal?”

“Shoes and t-shirt are a straight swap. I can do that. I will even throw in my Frozen head band. Panties and socks? I have to go home with all the panties I came to camp with. I just have to. If I don’t, Mommy will think I wet or pooped some and threw them away to hide the accident. I just have to show Mom I am a big girl, and I don’t do that anymore.”

“hmmmm, need to go home with the same number of panties,” Samantha thought for a minute and then smiled. “If she is afraid that you might have ‘accidents’ at camp, did she send several extra pairs?”

“Yeah, lots of extras. I don’t know why. I haven’t had an ‘accident’ since my birthday, except at night, but I have Pull-Ups for that. Mom said she would send me to camp with only Pull-ups, no panties, if I didn’t stop having daytime ‘accidents’. She sent me to Kindergarten a few times in Pull-Ups. That was so unfair, I am a big girl in school, not a baby. I have to show Mommy I’m not a baby anymore who needs Pull-Ups in the daytime like my sister. I am so happy she sent panties to camp. They all have to come home with no poop or pee in them.”

“Since you have lots of extra panties,” Samantha smiled. “What if I traded you four clean panties for some of my used pairs? That way, you will go home with the same amount. If your mom asks why so many are used, tell her you changed a few extra times because it was so hot out.”

Elizabeth thought for a minute and then nodded yes. She ran out of the room, still wearing Franks blue sneakers.

“Little kids are so easy to get stuff from,” Samantha said once Elizabeth was out of ear shot. “She is tall for her age, which confuses everyone, but she is the youngest kid here at camp this summer. She only turned six, a month ago.”

“You know you are only a year older than her Samantha,” Cindy pointed out.

“Actually, almost two years older. I turn eight, three weeks after camp. She is entering first grade, and I am starting third grade when school starts.”

Cindy looked around the room at Samantha and the three other girls in the room, “I didn’t come to camp last summer because I still occasionally wet when I slept, and my mom said that kids who still need pull-ups can’t go to camp. Only big kids who can keep the bed dry get to go to camp. She was wrong, but I didn’t know that until the first night at camp.”

“A lot of the six year olds wear Pull-ups to bed, and some of the seven year olds,” Samantha said.

“Even some of the eight and nine year olds wear Goodnites to bed,” one of the other girls in the room said. “But, they try to hide it from the other kids.”

The other girls in the room nodded their agreement.

“Were there kids on your floor that wore Pull-Ups or Goodnites to bed,” asked Samantha?

“Yeah, a few,” Cindy said after thinking for a moment. “I don’t know how many. The six and seven year olds don’t try to hide it, so it was easy to see them wearing them under their pajamas. They were way down at the other end of the hall, which made it hard to tell how many. Larry got in trouble the other night for teasing one of the kids in a Goodnite. Our Dorm counselor said that no one was ever to get teased over something like that. If the body can’t control it yet, the body can’t control it. A kid can only control what their body lets them control. I had never thought of it that way before.”

“I was lucky,” Samantha said. “I stopped needing them when I was three. When I got to camp this year, I was surprised how many kids still wore Pull-Ups to bed. There is even one girl who wears them during the day. I guess if you still have ‘accidents’ then Pull-Ups would be better than panties.”

“I wonder at what age they’re not needed anymore,” Cindy pondered?

“Some people must wet the bed forever,” Samantha declared. “When I asked Mommy about Goodnites, she told me they came in two different sizes. One for kids my age and one for teenagers. I have seen commercials on TV that show Pull-Ups for grown-ups. At the store where mommy gets my medicine, I have seen across from the Goodnites, bags that had real diapers for grown-ups, not Pull-Ups. That must be terrible to never get out of baby diapers.”

Just then, Elizabeth came running back into the room with a bunch of stuff in her hands, “Here, try these on.”

Cindy grabbed the sneakers and tried them on. They fit perfectly. She left them on, since she needed to return the Mary-Jane shoes she was wearing. Cindy then started to put the things Elizabeth brought in her backpack.

“Will you trade that,” Elizabeth questioned?

“The Backpack,” Cindy asked?

“Yeah, I have a Frozen one I could trade with you.”

“Go get it. Let’s see what it looks like.”

Elizabeth was out the door and back in a jiffy.

“Here, Mommy bought one for sissy and a matching one for me. I like Frozen, but I wanted a Brave backpack. Mommy said we had to have the same backpacks. Frozen is her favorite movie, so everything has to be Frozen.”

Cindy made the backpack trade. A few more girls came in and Samantha was trading right up until 7:30 when Cindy had to leave. Samantha did it though. She got enough clothes for the rest of the week. There were no more Frank clothes. Cindy now only had clothes that made her look like the girl she was. As she ran back to Mr. Elks’ house, there was a huge smile on her face. With Molly hugged tight and the new Frozen backpack on her shoulder full of girl clothes, Cindy was here to stay. At least until the end of the concert on Saturday.