A few days before I was scheduled to play Dotty, my mother had decided to spring a surprise trip to Jackson on me. It seemed daddy had been given an unexpected bonus for the company he works for, Yazoo Chemical Corporation. And since it had been a few years since we've had a proper family vacation daddy had decided to rent a condominium down on the  Alabama gulf coast for a whopping ten days. With that in mind, mommy had decided that my wardrobe needed an upgrade. Since it was clear I was not going back. To be a boy.

Up to this point, my wardrobe had included a few token blouses, a few token skirts, and one dress for attending those rare church functions and fetes. Mom and I don't really go to church a lot. But dad does, he's a stout Anglican. Anyway once in a blue moon the mood would take me and I'll tag along with him, or mom and I would tag along and on those rare occasions I'll put on a dress. I think I've only worn a dress once since getting out of the hospital. And that was oddly enough the morning the doctor signed my discharge papers.

Anyway, Mom had decided I needed a few good sundresses for our trip, and she also decided I might need a new bathing suit. Since I was starting to develop in the chest. Modern medicine works wonders. Anyway as my body developed most of my old clothes just seemed out of place. My own taste was starting to develop too. I'd always been kind of a dark, brooding person. Before going into the hospital, I had fallen head over heels in love with the Twilight books, best known for sparkling vampires. Mom had been a huge Twilight fan back in the day, so she had all the books and movies. She also had the Hunger Games books. 

Those books had been a huge lifesaver for me, because it had given mom and I something to bond over. We both loved to read. When I discovered the Fear Street series, she was overjoyed, saying that it had been her favorite series to read too when she was in middle school. Anyway that bright Thursday morning found us browsing the racks of clothing at McRae's and a regional department store. Now if you're not from Mississippi, allow me to tame a moment and tell you a little about McRae's.

McRae's was a mid-range regional department store that was founded and based in Jackson, Mississippi the state capital. Everybody I knew shopped at McRae's, generations of southern belle's had depended on the department store for that perfect prom dress or that wedding dress. Generations of brides had picked out their chine from their, generations of Catholics had brought there confirmation gowns their.  It was the southern women's choice. Yes, I still brought some stuff from Hot-Topic, but that was on my own dollar. If mom was buying as she today, well most as she had agreed to swing by Hot-Topic to buy me a skirt and a top as a reward for volunteering to play Dotty, it would here. Where her mother had shopped for her, and her mother's mother before that and even her mother's mother, mother. One hundred and thirteen years of southern tradition right here.

Anyway it was still early, the mall Metrocenter had just opened. Again, let me tell you about Metrocenter Mall, Metrocenter mall hands down was the biggest mall in Mississippi. According to its website it could boost around a million and a half square feet or retail space. The mall was also the only mall in Mississippi to have a second story. Four main anchor stores included a McRae's, a D.H Holmes, a Dillar's and a J.C Penny and dozens of small boutiques. Including my personal favorite. Hot-Topic and GameStop.

Now, back to the story. We'd been shopping, Mother and I for a good forty minutes. Mom finally settled on a new Sundress and a new bathing suit, and a few summer blouses. As I watched her pick through the racks, I started to fidget a little and found myself googling random things on my phone. Anyway mom knew I could not provide much feedback since last summer I was a gloomy boy.
But thankfully she had an army of sales clerks to come storming in the moment she had a question. Finally she turned to me and with a smile said. 

“Alright Petal.” She said. “Time to get you squared away.” And with that we broke camp and started the hike across the store to the Junior section.

“So mum.” I sometimes mix British English in with American English. “I have a question?” I asked. As we passed through the Home Department section. Pass tables filled with china and passed beds piled high as the heaven's with white lace. 

“And I have questions, Petal.” She responded as she paused to look at a new mixer. I don't think mom enjoyed cooking, but she enjoyed collecting things. And she also enjoyed watching the Food Channel and the Art and Craft Channel. Right now she adores a woman who called herself “The Pioneer Woman”. Like every time she comes out with a new cookbook, she has to buy it. 

“Are you going to allow me to pick out the swimsuit and dresses?” I asked as I noticed a big sign ahead that read “Junior's Department”.

Mom paused and then turned around and smiled at me.

“Yes and no.” She said in a matter of fact tone of voice. “Yes, I'm going to give you the freedom to pick out a few sundresses, you're going to need more than one. And maybe two bathing suits, but I'm going to be the final judge. I'm not going to tell you what to buy, or pick it out. But I am going to set a few hard rules down.” She once more in a matter of fact tone of voice.

“One, I'm giving you two hundred dollars to spend. So with two hundred dollars, I want you to pick out two bathing suits, two sundresses and one good pair of sandals. Since your my daughter, I'm going to allow you to use my McRae's shopper's card. That gives you access to some good discounts and deals.” She said smiling.

“Now, two.” She said holding up two fingers. “Have fun. I want to see you develop your own sense of style. Each person has their own different fashion senses and their own personal taste. Have fun, take your time, try on different styles of shoes, I would advise that you go for a skirted swimsuit though. Because of personal reasons, it will hide something better than the traditional suit. But that's just me.” 

I nodded my head. 

“Okay have fun and I'll see you in an hour or two. After this we'll get some coffee and swing by Hot Topic and then maybe the book store. I think we'll skip lunch today and have an early dinner at LongHorn or something. Don't know about you girl but I've craving a steak.” Mom said, smiling. Then I think a light bulb popped up above her head, because she snapped her fingers and said.

“OH! Idea” She said a little too loudly because a dozen people stopped what they were doing and turned around and paused at us. I was a little embarrassed by all the attention we were getting. But mom really did not seem to notice at all. “Okay one more thing for the shopping list. I'm going to really put you to the test. I want you to find a kind of casual dress for this evening. Dress with matching shoes. I'm going to go find one too.” An mischief's smile played across her face. 

“And to buy those, I'm going to give you an extra one hundred and fifty dollars. Should be way more than enough.” She said as she pulled her purse around and handed me some folded bills. “Oh I'm so excited, our first mother and daughter shopping expedition” She paused and then added. 

“ And our first mother and daughter dinner date too! So perfect! Daddy went fishing with the guys so we don't have to rush home and start on dinner. Anyway have fun and I'll see you in a bit.” And with that mom left me alone. A stranger in a strange world. 

I was lost at first, I'd never done much shopping as a boy. I was completely over my head. So much so I was ready to throw my hands up and give in. But I took a deep breath. I knew I had to develop these skills, I was going to be a freshman in high school before long. I had a ton of catching up to do if I was going to pass as a girl. Okay not pass, I was beyond trying to pass, I had stopped trying to pass the moment I left the hospital. Flourish, yes that was the word I was looking for, I wanted to flourish as a girl. And to do that I needed to acquire a set of skills, skills that most girls had been homing since they took their first breath.  Skills that had been refined by dozens of mentors. Skills that I lacked and only had a scant two and a half months to acquire.

What happened then, nothing much. I started to pick through the racks of clothing. After a quarter of an hour I settled on my first dress, a knee length tropical print dress that was white and red. Suitable for family dinners at the local Outback SteakHouse or the local Seafood place. Knowing dad we'll be going out to eat a lot. So I figured I might need two dresses, one the folks would approve of and one for me to wear when I was alone. For that one I selected a ruffled maxi dress with floral print. The first dress was modest and flattering, the second one was fun, flirty and alluring. For both I decided to buy a pair of ankle strap cork heels, since I figured that would go good with dresses.

The total for both dresses once you did sales tax and you tossed in a pair of clip on earrings was one hundred dollars total. I was amazed, I had saved something like forty three dollars using mom's reward card and had earned like seven hundred points. Seven hundred points amounted to like seven dollars off my next purchase. Keeping mom's advice in mind, I finally settled for two. Both were skirted, one was more like a swim dress, I mean once was two pieces, flattering and cute, mom approved you know. The other came in two pieces, the other one was for when I was away from the prying eyes of mom and dad. For when I was around my peers. That was on sexy, flirty, alluring a skirted bikini with a tank top. Perfect to wear under a light cotton skirt I had and a loose fitting shirt. Oh yes, these were going to be the best ten days of my life. And again, thanks to mom's reward card. I earned double points and a steep discount. Both suits were mine for a jaw dropping fifty dollars, plus tax of course. But man was I getting the bug! I was catching shopping fever.

Finally I turned my attention toward the evening dress. Around this time I had attracted the attention of a few of the saleswomen. I mean, they had their eyes glued on me. And they followed me around the section. Thankfully none of them bothered to help me, I mean not to sound cynical or anything. But I could tell by the way they were dressed and the way they looked that most of them wanted me gone. They struck me as the kind of women who would ask question after question, very personal questions. The kind of people that would pull your teeth out to get the answers they wanted.

Anyway after another forty minutes I found what I was looking for, a black, knee-length cocktail dress that was both fashionably elegant and sophisticated. Perfect for parties and church fetes. Something that could either be dressed up and down. Add a pair of black low heel shoes and I was set. Another one hundred dollars and I was out of there.

I felt quite pleased with myself as I walked out of the lower entrance of the mall. The mall was starting to fill up with people. The walkways were filled with people. All jostling and pushing past each other. Wonderful smells were coming from all directions. Metrocenter Mall unlike its rival Northpark Mall over in Ridgeland did not have a food court, no instead small restaurants like Ruby Tuesday's, Red Robin and finally my personal favorite Sbarro's a popular pizza place that sold pizza by the slice. And I mean jumbo slices. Were scattered about the mall. You really had to hunt for them. 

For a moment I found myself swept up in all the hustle and bustle. Then I heard my phone starting to buzz from somewhere deep within the confines of my purse. It buzzed for a good minute before I fished it out. It seemed I had a text message from mom, the text read. “Changed my mind. Let's have a light lunch before we hit up Hot-Topic. Meet me at Sbarro's down by the fountain. My treat!” 

I blinked and smiled as I read the text over and over again. Sbarro's did sound good and the bowl of cornflakes I had this morning had pretty much gone through me. Mom always wanted an early start, so she had rolled me out of bed this morning before the sun rose. I barely had time to gobble down a bowl of cornflakes, a small cup of coffee and lump of sausage before she was rushing me to get dressed. Once I'd gotten dressed, it was out the door we went. By the time the first rays of morning were breaking across the cornfields, bean fields, and cotton fields that dot the countryside between Benton and Jackson, mom and I were heading South down Highway 59, our destination the princess city of Mississippi,  Jackson the state capital.

But none of that mattered now, it was time to regroup and take stock of what we've done so far. And so I make tracks toward Sbarro's.

To be continued~