As I walked down the stairs of Theobalds Grove station, I felt scared and thrilled. I was a girl. I had seen my reflection I really looked pretty. All the same I was waiting for someone to leap at me and scream;

“Look, that boy is wearing a dress!”

As we walked down the high street, with my hand in my mothers, I realised nothing was going to happen. She looked down at me and smiled.

“We are going to buy you a new dress. Would you like that Debbie?”

“More than ice cream mummy.”

“You will have to try dress’s on in the shop, but don’t worry, you look so sweet, no one will know our secret. If you’re a good girl, you can have an ice cream too.”

As we passed shop windows, I couldn’t help catching our reflection in the windows. I saw a beautiful woman, holding her little girls hand. I was used to shorts, but a slight breeze blew up my dress and around my thin knickers.

We arrived a Woolworths, mummy was about to open the door when a man with a hat on rushed in front and opened it for us.

“After you ladies.”

“Why thank you” my mother replied.

He tipped his hat, smiled at me and winked.

“I can see where your daughter gets her good looks from madam.”

“That’s kind of you, but we must rush, busy day.”

We walked into the shop, my mother’s heels clicking on the polished wooden floor.

“Did you know that man mummy?”

“No, men like to talk to pretty ladies, and we are two very pretty ladies.”

We went and looked at the clothing section. I was staring at the party dresses. They were fluffy frilly things that reminded me of birthdays and cakes.

“Would you like to try one on?”

“Could I? Will they let me?”

“Ladies try clothes on all the time, how do we know if they look good unless we try?”

“When you buy me shorts and shirts I never try them on.” I whispered.

“You don’t really need to with boys clothes, but girl’s clothes have such wonderful colours and fit differently, you need to try them on first.”

“Which dress do you want to try, choose one; I will pick out a nice normal dress for you.”

I picked out a blue party dress that had layers of soft blue nylon on the skirt. It had big puffy sleeves, and white lace around the edges.

My mother picked out a yellow checked cotton dress, the top of which had no sleeves. I could hear the party dress rustle as she opened the curtain to the changing room.

She unzipped my sailor dress and slipped the party dress over my head. I turned to let her zip me up. I looked in the mirror and saw a princess. I had always had dreams about being a princess. The lace on the puffy sleeves tickled my upper arms as I moved. The soft nylon tickled my legs. I was so aware of this dress. I twirled and saw the skirt rise and fall. I loved this dress.

“Can we buy it please mummy, please?”

“Sorry love, I know you like it, but when you are being my secret girl, I will be teaching you how to do housework and cook. That dress is not practical. Do you understand?”

I only knew that I loved the blue dress, but mummy was right I supposed. She gave me the yellow dress to try. While I was trying it on she showed me something else.

“How would you like these?”

“She held up the prettiest pair of knickers I have ever seen. They were soft and white, on the back and front there were rows of white lace. They looked like the party dress, only they were underwear.”

“Oh I love those, can I try them on.”

“No dear, you don’t try underwear on in shops. I know they will fit you. I will have to wash them before you wear them.”

It broke my heart when she hung the blue dress back on the rack, I glanced back at it as we made our way to the till to pay for my dress and new knickers.

Outside she knelt beside me straightening out my dress and hair and said,

“Since you were such a good girl, how would you like an ice cream?”

Dresses and ice cream, what more could a princess want?

Further down the high street was a new restaurant called a Wimpy. We went through the glass door and sat at a table. A waitress came over and asked my mother what she wanted to order.

“I’ll just have a coffee and a knickerbocker glory for my daughter.”

“Whats a kickerblocker glory mummy.”

“No, knickerbocker glory, it’s an ice cream, you will love it.”

My friends at school told me they had had something called hamburgers here, but not a knicker, whatever it was. I just thought about my new knickers in mummy’s bag, and how I wished I could wear them now.

The waitress came back with a tray. There was a huge tall glass full of ice cream with a cherry on top and a long spoon. She put my mother’s coffee in front of her, and the ice cream in front of me. My eyes were like saucers.

“Is this all for me?”

My mother looked at the waitress and said loudly,

“She was such a good girl at the dentist, having her check up, I promised her an ice cream.”

I could tell my mother was lying in case someone wondered why I wasn’t at school.

Soon I was attacking the ice cream with my spoon.

“Slow down dear, girls don’t eat like that. Slowly, carefully, we don’t want to spoil our nice clothes do we? I have so many things to teach you, and I think I’m going to enjoy every minute.”

Again I watched my reflection in the window, my legs peaking out under the edge of my skirt, kicking back and forth happily. Carefully eating ice cream. Just a lucky girl with the best mum in the world.

This was the best day of my life, I knew we had to leave soon, but I wished it would last forever.