“Attention students, auditions are being held Friday at 3:00 pm for this year’s Christmas play. All students interested, please see Mrs. Freedman to sign-up. That’s all and have a wonderful day.”

The bell rings and all the students leave the room, except Montana. He had his homeroom teacher for English. He winces when he pulls his
English book out of his battered backpack. His arm was still hurting where his step-father had grabbed him and threw him against the wall for waking him.

His mother had died a few months ago and his stepfather has been acting strange lately. He writes down the notes his teacher puts up on the blackboard. He squints his eyes to try to make out the words and gives up. He reaches into his backpack and pulls out the broken set of reading glasses he has and put them on. Throughout the day he does his schoolwork, the best he can and when lunchtime comes along. He skips it because he doesn’t have any money for lunches. His stepfather wouldn’t give him any money

Once school is over, he heads home on the school bus and gets off at his stop. The rest of the kids that live in the same trailer park rush home to play their video games or watch movies. Montana wasn’t in a hurry to get home. He’s hoping that his step-father wasn’t home. As he got closer to the trailer, he didn’t see his step-father’s pick-up truck. He pulls his key out and heads inside the darkened trailer. His step-father forgot to pay the electric bill again. He heads into his bedroom and shut the door. He turns on the battery-powered Christmas tree he has in his room on. He watches as the fiber optic strands turn different colors.

He always loved Christmas. Especially, when his mother and he would make homemade Christmas cookies. Ever since she died, he hasn’t had much enjoyment. He and his step-father never really got along. His birth father had run off with another woman and his step-father had loved his mother but didn’t really care that much about him.

At first, when he was courting his mother, he pretended to care. He took him to the zoo and movies. Sometimes, he would let him come to work with him and help. His step-father was a construction worker and built houses. He didn’t mind going to work with him. He enjoyed working at the construction site and hanging with the other guys there, but he wasn’t into football or softball.

His step-father’s company sponsored a softball team and he had signed him up for it. He had tried his hardest to play, but he wasn’t any good. After the first three games that he played in and caused them to lose. He stopped going to practice and dropped out.

He pulls his books out and starts on his homework. When his stomach starts growling, he pulls the jar of peanut butter he keeps hidden in his bedroom from it’s hiding spot and the loaf of bread he keeps with it. He fixes himself a peanut butter sandwich and puts the rest back in its hiding spot. He works on his homework and finishes it up. By then, it has gotten dark outside.

He goes and takes a cold shower and changes into his PJs. He stares out into the night. The window on his side of the trailer looked out towards his front porch. He lays down on the mattress and covers up with the thin blanket. He slowly falls asleep and hopes this Christmas his wish will come true.

He is woken in the middle of the night as he hears his step-father come stumbling into the trailer drunk off his ass. He listens as his step-father curses when he hits the coffee table with his knee. He hears a thump as his step-father falls onto the sofa. He goes back to sleep because he has school tomorrow.

All week long his father comes home late and doesn’t give him any money for lunches. He does his laundry over at the neighbor’s house, for some work he did for them. As payment, they let him do his laundry and give him a nice home-cooked meal.

When Friday comes around, he goes to see Mrs. Freedman see if he could get a part in the Christmas play. He tries out for three different parts. The first one he tries out for is the second oldest son, then for the younger son and for the youngest daughter. He does a good job of reading for it.

There weren’t many people who turned out for the tryout. He was told that he would be informed by next Friday if he got the part or not. Since he missed the bus to stay behind for the tryout. He starts walking home. It wasn’t too cold yet and he didn’t mind the walk.

He didn’t see his step-father’s truck. He heads into the house and instead of going to his bedroom right away. He searches the sofa and finds some money that had fallen out of his father’s pants pocket. He finds a crumpled up twenty-dollar bill under the sofa. He notices that the electricity to the house has been restoring. He takes his backpack into his bedroom and counts the money he had found. He had a total of twenty-six dollars.

He locks the door as he heads towards the nearest Food Lion to buy some food to hide in his bedroom. He spends twenty-three dollars on groceries he could hide in his bedroom without his father finding out. The three dollars he has left, he will use it at school next week. Since he had all his homework finish. He grabs a can of spaghetti and heats it up in a pot, he had to wash it before he could use it.

Once he has his dinner heated up. He heads back into his bedroom and pulls out the portable DVD player he had bought from a guy a couple of trailers down from him. He had a couple of movies he had bought but never got a chance to watch. All because they didn’t have power. He sits and watches the movie and eats a hot meal.

As he is watching the Guardians of the Galaxy DVD. He wonders if he was going to be selected for any of the parts he auditions for. He didn’t mind playing a girl part. The girls that tried out for the part, weren’t that good. Hopefully, Mrs. Freedman will give him a chance.

After the movie is done. Montana hides everything before goes to bed. He snuggles down under his thin blanket and falls asleep, dreaming of being a big star.

Montana wakes-up and carefully look out into the living room to see if his father was there. He didn’t see him or his pick-up truck. He gets dressed and goes out to look for some work. He checks with some of the trailer park residents for some jobs to do. He finds a few people willing to hire him.

One of the couples he works for, suggest he head across the street and talk with the tree lot manager. He was looking for some part-time help. Montana figures he had nothing to lose and thanked the couple.

Montana looks both ways, before crossing the street. He spotted an older man that could pass as one of the many Santa Clauses that come out during the holidays. He walks over to the gentleman.

“Excuse me, sir, I was told you were looking for a part-time worker for the holidays? I was wondering if you still were?” Montana really hopes he was.

Chris turns around when he hears a young voice coming from behind him. He spots a young, short, teenager with shoulder-length auburn brown hair and fair skin looking at him. He had on a pair of brown work gloves and a worn patched blue jean jacket.

A smile appears on Chris’s face “I’m still looking. It doesn’t pay much, but I can guarantee you as many hours that you want to work, till Christmas.”

“I accept.” Montana was willing to take the job.

“When can you start?” Chris liked how excited the boy was.

“Today! If you’ll let me.” Montana couldn’t wait to get started.

“Alright, let's get your paperwork filled out and show you what you’ll be doing.” Chris takes Montana into the small travel trailer and has him fill out the necessary paperwork. Once the paperwork is completed, Montana goes about learning what he needs to do at the lot. Chris buys him dinner from a food truck that stopped by the lot. He works till 11:00 p.m.

When Montana goes home, he is tired of helping customers load their Christmas trees and wreaths. As he approaches where he leaves. He doesn’t see his step-father’s pick-up truck anywhere. Montana doesn’t think he has the strength to deal with his father. He goes in and takes a nice shower. The power was still on, so he was grateful for the hot shower.

When he is done taking his shower, he crawls into bed and falls straight to sleep. He had so much fun working at the Christmas tree and couldn’t wait to go back tomorrow. Now he hopes he gets the part in the show the school is going to put on.

He works all day, the next day and comes home at 11:00 p.m. again. He didn’t see his father at all when he came home or when he left in the morning. When Montana gets up and heads to school, his step-father isn’t home.

Which was a relief to Montana, because he was in a hurry to get ready for school. He grabs his backpack and heads towards the bus stop. Once he is on the bus, he sits next to a girl that lives in his trailer park. She was a nice person and near teased or picked on him.

“Hey Alice, you look nice today.” Montana loved how Alice was dressed.

Alice looks over at Montana. She knew he was a boy, but he didn’t look like it. If nothing else, he looked more like a tomboy.

“Thanks, did you finish Mrs. Kelly’s homework over the weekend?” Alice finished hers last night before she went to bed.

“Yep, I did it during study hall.” Montana tried to do all his homework during study hall. This way he could have the weekend to look for work.

“Do you think Mrs. Holiday has selected who is going to be in the play?” Montana wanted to be in it so badly.

Alice looks at Montana “I heard you tried out for one of the girl parts.”

“Yea, I tried out for the younger daughter part. There weren’t many girls that tried out for it.” Montana had two others that tried out for the part.

“If you get the part, do you know how a girl acts and moves?” Alice wonders why Montana tried out for it.

“No. However, it can’t be that hard.” Montana figures he could do it.

“Oh, really?” As she looks at him.

“Well, I didn’t mean it that way. If I get the part, will you help me, act like a girl?” Montana looks at Alice.

“If you get the part, I’ll help you.” Alice couldn’t believe she just agreed to help Montana.

They arrive at school and head for their first bell class. Montana had Earth Science first thing in the morning. Most of his morning classes were normal. By the time the lunch bell rings, he was hungry.

Instead of skipping lunch, because of a lack of money. He goes through the line and gets himself a hot lunch. He had some money from tips he received while working during the weekend.

He spots Alice with some of her friends. However, instead of intruding on them, he goes over and sits by himself. Mrs. Holiday said she’ll announce who got what part this afternoon.

When the last bell rings, Montana couldn’t wait to see if he got the part. He rushes putting his school books away. He got as much of his homework done. He rushes from his last bell, down towards the auditorium.

Montana rushes in and notices that Mrs. Freedman was standing on the stage. She directs him to the front row seats. All the other members of the drama club were there as well.

“Alright people, I know you want to know who is playing who in the play. So, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.” Mrs. Freedman looks at everyone present.

“Mr. Jersey, you have the part of the father. Mrs. King, you will be his wife. Mr. Harrison, you are playing Mr. Jersey’s boss.” Mrs. Freedman continues reading who got what part.

So far, the part Montana wants to play hasn’t come up yet. He sits patiently waiting for Mrs. Freedman to announce who got it.

“And playing the daughter is.” As she looks directly towards Montana “is Montana. You’ll be playing the young daughter.”

“Yes!” As he shakes his closed fist with a big smile on his face.

He goes up and gets the script. Mrs. Freedman has already highlighted his parts. As he gets the script from Mrs. Freedman.

“You know, you’ll have to wear a dress in this production. So, are you sure about this?” As Mrs. Holiday hands the screenplay to Montana.

“I’m willing to do whatever I need to for this part, Mrs. Freedman.” Montana means it.

“Well, I hope so, Montana. Your monolog for the part was good. I could have given it to one of the girls and just cut back on the parts, but I have faith, that you can pull this off.” She smiles at him.

“I know, I can.” Montana couldn’t wait to prove it.

Mrs. Freedman goes over what the schedule will be and how long they have before their first performance. By the time the drama club was supposed to end. Montana was already thinking about how he wanted the character to look and act.

He walks home since he had no one available to come and get him. He does stop by a McDonald’s to grab some food to take with him to work. He arrives at work and notices Chris helping a customer.

“Hey Chris.” as Montana puts his backpack and dinner in the trailer. They use the trailer to keep warm and to get something warm to drink.

“Hey, Montana. How was school today?” Chris knew Montana was waiting to hear back on the part he wanted.

“I got the part I wanted.” Montana was happy as a clam.

“Good, I know you will do it justice. Go ahead and eat your dinner and when you finish, come out here and join me.” Chris already had his dinner.

“Thanks, Chris.” Montana sits down and eats his dinner. Afterward, he goes to work.

The week goes by quickly for Montana. He has been working late every day and practicing his part every day with Alice. He yawns as he walks into the trailer. His step-father wasn’t home yet. He gets undressed and slips on his pajamas. He lays down on his bed and curls up under the blanket.

Hours later, he starts finding it hard to breathe. He wakes-up and there is smoke coming in from under his bedroom door. He drops to the floor and crawls towards the only window in his bedroom.

He could feel the heat from the fire. He could barely breathe as he crawls on the floor towards the only window. As he climbs out, he falls to the ground coughing. He could feel the spray of water as it hit near him. He looks up as a fireman picks him up off the ground and carry him to a paramedic. An oxygen mask is placed on him as he watches the firefighters try to contain the fires to his home. He wonders how the place caught fire. He notices his step-father’s pick-up truck parked in front of the trailer. It had caught fire and was ruined

Alice and her family spotted Montana over at the ambulance. They knew he would always come by to do work for money. They had hired him a few times.

Alice’s father walks over to Montana “hey, Montana. I’m sorry about your home and father.”

Montana looks towards Roger “My step-father didn’t make it?” There were tears coming from his eyes.

“Do you have anyone you can call to stay with?” Alice’s father looks at Montana.

“No, sir. Most of my relatives live in either Colorado or Washington state.” Montana didn’t have any relatives that lived in Alabama.

“You can stay with us until we figure something out.” Alice’s father just couldn’t abandon Montana.

He was a good kid and was given a shitty life so far. He helps Montana back to their place after he was cleared by the paramedics.

“Why don’t you go and take a shower, Montana.” Alice’s mother goes to the linen closet and grabs a blanket, pillow, and sheets, so she could make the sofa up for Montana.

“Mom, Montana can wear my spare pajamas.” Alice had gone to her bedroom and grabbed some pajamas, she never wears.

Alice’s mother holds up the pair Alice brought out to see if Montana could fit them. Alice was thin and tall like her father. Montana, on the other hand, was short and extremely skinny. He also looked like a tomboy with his hair length and style.

“He should be able to wear these. I don’t know what he is going to do for underwear.” Jenny knew none of her husbands would fit.

“He could wear a pair of my panties, mom.” Alice figures since Montana was going to be playing a girl in the school play. That he might want to see what it felt like to wear a pair of girl’s panties.

Jenny looks at her daughter “Montana’s not a girl, Alice.”

“I know mom, but he is playing a girl in our school play. I figure he might want to see what it is like to wear girl clothes.” Alice figures it might help him in the school play.

Jenny stands there and thinks about it. She didn’t know Montana was playing a girl in the school play and he did need to wear something.

“Alright, go and get a clean pair for him.”

“Okay, mom.” Alice runs to her bedroom and grabs a clean pair for Montana.

They had little roses on them. She heads back into the living room and hands them to her mother. She hopes Montana doesn’t mind wearing them.

Jenny takes them “why don’t you go back to bed, sweetie.”

“Okay, mom.” Alice hugs her mother and heads back to her bedroom.

Jenny heads towards the bathroom door and knocks on it before heading inside. She noticed that Montana was sound asleep in the tub. He had his head resting against the back of the tub. She also notices he has some bruising on his chest, arms, and legs. She looks down into the tub and notices Montana wasn’t very developed. She saw some scarring around his groin area.

She wonders what happened to him, to cause the scarring. She reaches down and gently shake Montana’s shoulder.

“Montana, wake-up sweetie.”

Montana slowly opens his eyes and for a second, he thought he heard his mother talking to him. He slowly becomes aware that Alice’s mother was gently shaking his shoulder. He looks up at her “sorry for falling asleep, Mrs. Morris.”

“It’s alright, Montana. After the night you have had so far, I can’t blame you.” She smiles at him.

“Thank you, for everything.”

“You’re welcome. We don’t have any boy clothes that will fit you. So, you’ll have to wear a pair of Alice’s pajamas and a pair of her underwear. I hope you don’t mind.” Jenny puts the clothes down on the toilet seat.

“I don’t mind.” Montana figures since he was going to be playing a girl. It might be an interesting experience.

“Good, I made the living room sofa up for you to sleep on. Why don’t you go ahead and get out of the tub and head to bed?”

“Okay and thank you again, Mrs. Morris.” Montana always liked Mrs. Morris.

Once she leaves the bathroom, Montana gets out of the tub and dry off. When he picks up the panties, she left for him. They felt no different than the tattered underwear he normally wore. They didn’t have the slit in them, where he was supposed to put his penis. Which he never used anyway. Since the accident, he had when he was eight years old. He was climbing a tree and fell.

On his way down towards the ground, he slipped and was impaled in his groin area. Since then, his penis has never worked right or got hard like a normal boy’s penis did. He always had to sit down or squat on the toilet seat at home and at school.

He puts the pajamas on and heads towards the living room. He notices that the sofa was already made up for him. He walks over and lays down.

“Sleep tight, Montana.” Jenny walks over and places a kiss on his forehead.

Montana smiles up at Mrs. Morris. His mother uses to do the same thing to him before she died. He closes his eyes and falls into a deep sleep. When morning time comes around, he is woken up by Mrs. Morris and given some of Alice’s clothes to wear. The legs on the pair of jeans he was given were too long and but the t-shirt he was given to wear, fit him okay.

Mrs. Morris does a quick hem job on the legs. They were lucky that Montana’s feet were smaller half an inch smaller than Alice’s feet. So, he was wearing an old pair of tennis shoes.

“Do you have practice, this afternoon, Montana?” Jenny was wondering what Montana’s schedule was.

“Yes, ma’am and work afterward.”

“Where do you work?” Mrs. Morris didn’t know Montana worked.

“At the Christmas lot down the street from here. Chris lets me work as many hours as I want too. “However, once Christmas is over. I’ll have to find another job.” Montana was going to miss working for Chris.

“What time do you normally get off work at the lot?” Jenny admired Montana for his dedication.

“I’ve been getting back here, by eleven o’clock. Chris normally gives me a ride home.” That was one thing Montana was thankful for. If he had to walk home, he wouldn’t get home till midnight.

“Well, call us to let us you are off work and on your way. Do you have money to get lunch and dinner?” Jenny was willing to give Montana
lunch and dinner money.

“No, ma’am. What money I had was burned up last night.” Montana was sad that the money he hid from his father had burned up. There was nothing, except the frame of the trailer left.

“Here, take this twenty and use it to buy yourself some dinner and lunch.” Mrs. Morris hands Montana a twenty-dollar bill.

“Thank you, Mrs. Morris.”

“You’re welcome, now hurry and go catch your bus.”

Montana runs out of the trailer with Alice. They get on the school bus together and sit side by side. Alice looks at Montana and couldn’t believe how much less he looked like a tomboy with one of her t-shirts and jeans on. His hair was shinier than it normally was and fuller.

“You know, you could easily pass as a girl right now.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Yes, you would. Here turn and face me.”

“Okay.” Alice pulls out some simple make-up and starts applying to Montana’s face.

She adds some eyeliner, blush to his face and lipstick to his lips. She pulls out a mirror and shows him “see, with just what you have on, you could pass as a girl.”

Montana looks at his reflection in the small mirror and couldn’t believe the girl looking back at him. He never knew he would look like a girl.

“Wow! I wonder how Mrs. Holiday will have me dressed for the play?”

“How do you take this stuff off?” Montana didn’t think he should wear it all day.

“Leave it on. Most of the people in school think you’re a girl anyway. So, no harm is done.” Alice knew a lot of her friends and most of the other students thought Montana was a girl, who was acting like a tomboy.

“Why does everyone in school think I’m a girl?” Montana was a little concerned about that.

“Really? Didn’t you know that’s the reason most people in school never socialize with you? No one could determine if you were a guy or a girl.
Even some of the guys in your physical education class wonder sometimes.” Alice knew a few guys that had questioned Montana’s sexuality.

“I never knew. I just kept to myself.” Montana never bothered to think about anything, except ignoring his hunger and the pain from his step-father abusing him.

The bus finally arrives at school. Montana sticks with Alice, until his first class. He does notice that he gets slight looks as he goes and sits down at his desk. During the day he notices more and more people glances at him. People that on an ordinary day would ignore him or give him the cold shoulder.

He couldn’t believe what they were severing for lunch. The food looked okay, as he picked what he wanted. He didn’t see Alice, so he heads towards his normal table to eat alone and read a book he checked out of the library.

He was glad most of his teachers were understanding about the fact his books and homework got burned up. It was only a few classes he had to redo the homework and get new books for. Tears form in his eyes when it hits him that his step-father was dead. After lunch, Montana heads towards the rest of his classes.

After school, he heads towards the auditorium. Today they were getting fitted for their costumes. They were performing a Christmas story. After the fitting, they practice for a while.

One scene they had to rehearse four times until they got it right. It was mainly the two main actors of the play, that couldn’t get their part. Montana did fine with his lines. The drama teacher was proud that she picked him for the younger daughter's part.

After Montana was done with practice, he heads towards work. Chris was swamped when he arrived, so he just left his dinner sitting in the trailer and went straight to work. When they finally stopped to eat. His food was cold.

Chris looks at Montana and was concerned. He heard that his home burned down and that his step-father died.

“How are you holding out?”

“You heard about the fire?” Montana was surprised that Chris heard about the fire.

“Yes, some of your neighbors stopped by and mentioned it.”

“I’m okay, but my step-father didn’t make it.” Montana tries to stop the tears from coming.

“Go ahead and let it out.” Chris holds Montana as he cries.

Once he stops crying, Chris gives Montana a handkerchief to dry his eyes and blow his nose.

“Where are you staying?”

“With the Morris family. They live a few trailers down from me.”

“Don’t you have any family, that would be willing to take you in?” Chris wonders what was going to happen to Montana, now that his step-father
was dead.

“Most of my mother’s relatives live out of state and so does my birth father’s family. My father, I don’t know if he knows or not.”

Montana didn’t know if his father knew what has transpired. It wasn’t like he has been there since he left. If given the choice, he would rather stay with the Morris family. They have always been nice to him.

“Well, if you need anything, Montana, feel free to come to me and I’ll help you any way I can.” A smile appears on his face.

“Thanks, Chris.” Montana returns the smile.

At the end of the week, the fire inspector had a report on what caused the fire. It had been a faulty wire that had caused the place to burn down. They couldn’t test Montana’s step-father, because his body was burned beyond recognition.

Mr. and Mrs. Morris were informed that they couldn’t get in touch with Montana’s birth father. The next of kin that had been put on Montana’s school record had been his step-father. Also, social services learned that Montana’s step-father had lost his job for coming to work all drugged up and the rent on the trailer hadn’t been paid for the past two months. Also, Montana’s step-father had spent all the money from the life insurance his mother had left.

Basically, Montana was homeless and penniless. His step-father had let the rental insurance that had been on the trailer, lapse. Since social services couldn’t get in touch with any living relatives, Montana was going to have to be put into a boys group home, unless the Morris was willing to take him in, which they did.

Alice and her mother Jenny help Montana learn how to be a girl. That way he could pass as a real girl during the play. As for clothes, since they were so close to Christmas, Jenny has some of the clothes Alice couldn’t fit any more tailored to fit Montana. The clothes Jenny gave Montana could have been worn by a boy or a girl. There wasn’t anything too girly about the clothes.

On the day of the play, Montana was nervous. He had never performed before a live audience before. The play goes off without any problems. Afterward, he and the rest of the performers step out and get very loud applause.

Christmas day, he is woken up by Alice. He has been sleeping in her bedroom, lately. Morris knew he didn’t have any interest in her and was enjoying wearing the clothes she couldn’t wear anymore.

Just before he walks out to see what gifts he got. He looks up at the ceiling of the bedroom and in a whisper voice “thank you, mom.” As he walks out of the room.