Cousins in arms 2(5) Little drummer boy

Note to readers. Don't read if you don't like poor grammar, this is rough.
This is a work of adult fiction. No resemblance to reality should be inferred or expected.
Copyright… are you kidding?

Edited by Amanda Lynn.

After Halloween, there was a time when I had nothing to do. Well, I had to do my homework and chores at home. I mean lawn mowing was already over and snow shoveling will start who knows when. Cindy had a babysitting job. She was busy three or four days a week. I envied her so much! Even in summer months, she was getting more in a week than I in a month.

The worst part of it was I knew how to babysit. I’d helped Cindy sometimes. But I was too young. And I was a boy. Christmas was nearing and I had no money. Well, I had a little but it wasn’t enough for all presents.

It was a Saturday after the Halloween party. It was a sunny day. The ground and lawns were dried a little. I used the moment to pick dogs’ feces in the neighborhood. Well, it’s a job like all others. I didn’t like it but I was paid five dollars a week for every lawn. That made some money kind of allowance other kids had.

I had this job finished already when I saw Ray and Ozzie approaching me. They exchanged glances. Then they nudged each other.

“Hey, Ari,” Ray started, “Ozzie here wants to ask you a favor.”

“My dad has some recycling business,” Ozzie started, “I want to help him and make some money. But I’m stuck at home with kids. You see, my mom passed out three months ago…”

“Oh, my… I’m so sorry…” I blurted out.

“I can’t go and help my father on weekends like I did when mom was still with us. I don’t have enough money to pay the agency and all the other girls I know they are busy. And then Ray said maybe you…”

“Do you know I’m not a girl?” I asked him.

“Sure I do.”

“What kids by the way?”

“Erica four and Melody six.”

“Oh… Are you sure about me with girls?”

“Definitely,” Ozzie confirmed nodding his head yes.

“It’s not fair!” asserted Cindy.

“How so? We both are working now,” I retorted.

“Because you are working now on weekends you don’t do home chores,” she said.

I dusted and vacuumed and did laundry during weekends while Cindy was babysitting. I was busy at weekends now as was she.

“We’ll do home chores after school…”

“WE?” Cindy shouted. “I WILL NOT. That’s your job.”

“Is NOT,” I complained. “It’s OUR job. I was doing it for you cuz you’re babysitting.”

“I’m still babysitting so…”

“Me too!” I didn’t want to give in. “I need my money too.”

“I say it’s not fair,” Cindy repeated herself. “I need the money and you don’t. I give all my clothes to you…”

“And then I’m mistaken for a girl. Thank you very much!”

“It’s not clothes. It’s like you move and talk like… like other girls in dance squad.”

“I DO NOT!” Her accusation was unreasonable. I had never mimicked the girls. The dance routine wasn’t real life. I was performing better than them. It was girls that were copying my moves during their practice.

“YOU DO,” she teased wiggling her ass in front of me.

“Stop it,” mom ordered. “Ari is right. You BOTH have to do home chores.”

I was tempted to stick my tongue at Cindy but I’d suppressed that urge.

Money is a good thing. I’d say it’s a very good thing. Especially when I got more than I’d expected. Ozzie and his dad paid me for cleaning their home, doing the laundry, and making lunch and dinner for girls. Girls were eager to help. Our weekends were not only watching TV. We went together for groceries and spent less money on all weekend meals than the cost of one pizza order. As the thrift store was nearby we checked it every time we went for groceries.

We didn’t buy anything for girls. They just watched what was available. They were too young for real shopping. I was looking for a pantsuit (mom said it was exactly as it was named) for myself. I also needed shoes and parka or overcoat. Instead of regular shoes, I got boots on the platform. They were to the middle of the calf and I could wear them under jeans or over leggings. Either way, they looked good. And they added more than an inch to my height because of the platform and some heel. They had fake fur bands that I could put atop of them wearing with leggings.

Another week I got a duffel coat. It was long and had a hood and detachable red tartan linen. It was snug but otherwise, its sleeves were a little longer than needed so there was a reserve for my growth spurt. It was heavy and that’s its only con.

But I didn’t get the pantsuit. The sales lady said she would put it away if there would be any. I could get the suit coat only. There was one that fitted but it had buttons on the wrong side.

Ozzie and his family were attending the same church as my family. That’s what we were attending when and if we had time. We went there at greater holidays like Christmas and Easter. During Christmas season there was a fir decorated in the church. Kids were showing what they’d learned during Christmas Eve service. Then the priest was handing them presents. As Cindy and I were younger we did the same. Usually, we sang in church ensemble. But a few years ago we had more time to attend the church every Sunday. And we practiced with other kids after the service.

Ozzie’s dad didn’t complain. He said he was ok with it and offered some money if costumes were needed. I didn’t know at the moment what it will be so I didn’t take the money. We browsed through youtube listening to various Christmas songs and nursery rhymes. We settled on ‘The little drummer boy’.

The melody is simple. The words are easy to learn. We practiced all weekend. I had come to them on Wednesday after school and we practiced a little more. The coming Saturday we had what to show for their dad and Ozzie.

We had another two weeks to polish the performance. My role was to help girls mouthing the words if they would forget or if they would be shy.

It was still a couple of weeks until Christmas when Cindy had brought a new dancing costume home. A year before their dancing group was a part of the cheer squad. They had the red-yellow-black cheer uniform. It was ok but it wasn’t pretty. The costume was different. It was a long-sleeved white leotard. Green and blue were the only colors but it looked like the gradient of them on white background. Without any glitter on it, Cindy was shimmering while moving in a new costume.

“Ari, would you be so dear to come to my school tomorrow after classes?” Cindy asked. “There will be our very first practice in new costumes…”

“And?” I asked. She did want something from me. They had stopped using the field behind our backyard for their practices. In early October the weather changed and they moved to the gym. She had never invited me to the practice at her school afterward.

“I… I want you to do my make-up,” she stammered.

Make-up for Cindy made sense. She was useless even to put lipstick on her lips. That’s no matter how many times mom and I had shown it to her.

“You will need another set of colors,” I said.

“Why? What’s wrong with what I have?” she wondered.

“Your old uniform is red-yellow-black. Red lipstick, red nails, and pinkish-grey shadows were ok. Now the color scheme is white-green-blue.”

“So what? It’s just make-up.”

It was so every time we were talking about something color related. Every time it was like the very first time. Cindy had no sense of color coordination.

“When your practice starts?” I asked.

“Two hours after classes.”

“There’s Walgreens on the way. It will do,” I offered. “I’ll buy it and bring your recipes.”

Cindy growled and rolled her eyes.

“Oh, you’re welcome dear,” I said and she stuck her tongue at me.

The next day after school I was shocked by so many choices of make-up items in a not very big store of Walgreens. It was much more than in Wal-Mart. There were present not only different kits by color tone. There were large kits of almost all colors and individual items. Add to this that all items were in three or four price categories. And those price categories were mixed. I almost made a fatal mistake when a sales lady approached me. She asked what I was looking for. I told her about new costumes and said I wanted a teal shadow with some gold or brass glitter. She offered me a few and I selected one. She was ready to ring it when I noticed a price tag on the backside of it. It read $86.00. I couldn’t spend so much. Cindy would never give me my money back. I said it to the saleslady.

She chuckled and put away what was too expensive. Some items were on sale. Among them was one which matched my color scheme. The last in my list was nail polish. No way could it be red or pink. I tried to memorize the costume in my mind and turned both to blue and green shades. There it was – the loveliest among all colors – turquoise. But its price was twelve. It was much above the price of other nail polish bottles. Most of them were two or three dollars for the bottle. I decided it would be my present for Cindy. I ringed it separately and wasn’t about to give her its recipe.

I’d spent almost an hour at Walgreens and I had to hurry to have some time for Cindy’s make-up. Nail polish needs two covers and they dry ten-fifteen minutes each.

I found Cindy and others already in costumes. I started with Cindy immediately. Their squad is arranged in four squares four girls in each. Vanessa, Eve and Ronnie were with Cindy. They asked to do their make-up too. I coated Cindy’s nails first and gave the nail polish to girls to do it by themselves. I was doing Cindy’s eyes and lips meanwhile. Then I put the second coat on her nails and did her lips. For lips, I took the contour and then filled with a transparent lip gloss. As I was finished with Cindy I did the same to the other three girls. We were done in a time when the boys’ basketball team finished their practice and left the gym for dancers.

I watched their dance routine while sitting in the bleachers. The new costumes looked oh so darling. My choice of make-up looked great. The other twelve girls were in what they had usually on for school. That was ruby lipstick, pink or red nails, a lot of black around their eyes.

After the practice, I was waiting for Cindy and girls at the window in front of the gym door.

“Hi,” I heard the voice from behind me. I turned around. It was Mrs. Reece, the coach.

“I like your make-up,” she said.

What? I wasn’t wearing any. Maybe I had painted myself with it accidentally. I touched my face in awe.

“Oh, no, not on you,” she chuckled. “Did you make Vanessa’s square?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Will you show other girls how to do it?”

“Sure I will.”

“Will you next year attend this school?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“And you’ll join our squad then. Or do you like cheerleaders more?” Mrs. Reece inquired.

“No…”

“Have you other plans already?”

“No, but… I’m a boy,” I said.

“Like Cindy? It’s not a problem,” she said throwing her arms in the air. “You may stay a tomboy to the rest of your life.”

“Oh, no! I’m a boy, not a tomboy.”

“Boy? Don’t play a prank on me girl. You know, I’ll check it.”

It never happened to me this way. I was mistaken for the girl a few times like ‘Miss’ in the store or ‘Ladies’ when I was with Cindy. But it never was so aggressively. I was sure Mrs. Reece knew I was a boy and accepted me as I was. She saw me as a girl. What will she think about me after she gets to know the truth?

Two days before Christmas Eve I got my present. That’s I got a real dark grey almost black pantsuit from the thrift store for only eleven bucks. I had enough time to clean it for that disinfectant smell to disappear.

At Christmas Eve, I put my new suit on and through the backyard went to Ozzie’s home. I helped girls to get ready. They were already showered clean. I helped them both into white tights and dresses. The younger Melody had a red velvety dress while the older Erica – dark green. Both dresses looked the same except they were in different colors. Both dresses had white petticoats making the skirts puffy. I braided ribbons of the same shades of green and red in their hairs, green for Melody and red for Erica. This way they both matched each other. Black Mary-Jane’s and whites gloves followed for both. At last, I dabbed them both with the perfume I’d bought for this occasion. It was perfume for kids with ‘Frozen’ motives on the bottle.

Ozzie’s dad said he had to take picture of them with his camera. So they posed in the living room. Then they posed with Ozzie. Then I took the picture of all their family.

We came to the church a little early. We were in time to get places for girls and me in the first rows. The service started shortly. The lights were turned off and only the tree was lighted by the single star on its top. We all were singing “The silent night”. That was a real tearjerker. Good, it was dark. I didn’t want others to see I was crying.

Later after every other song or another step of liturgy more and more lights on the tree were turned on. When the service was over the whole tree was lit as well as big altar candles too. The priest ushered kids to the fir and the tremendous sack with gifts. The first as usual was the church kids’ ensemble. They played a piece of three wise men. Later there was a band of local polish community. They sang a couple of melodious Polish Christmas carols.

Then were Erica and Melody announced as Werner girls. I positioned them and then I knelt in front of them a little to the side to not obstruct their view. They were wonderful and all assembly was cheering and clapping afterward. They curtseyed as I had taught them. After they got their presents they returned proudly to their seats.