The Joiners pt 4.
by
Angharad

The girls had continued to drill Cary in movement and gesture all the time correcting any boy-speak, so he sounded more like a girl. Finally they let him retire to his bedroom where he sat playing computer games while listening and singing along to CDs of The Carpenters. It was like a subliminal way of learning the lyrics and melodies and as well how Karen had sung them. His mind was like a tape recorder and it transferred the music from his player to his mouth, where he repeated it as if he was some form of recording device.

He was thankful that he liked the music and that was all they wanted him to do, at least he didn't have to pretend he was Karen Carpenter, just sing like her. What he didn't appreciate was that he was effectively conditioning himself and the longer he went on the longer it would last and unless his voice broke, he would end up singing like Karen Carpenter and talking like a girl. In the words of the old joke, What do you call a boy with foresight ? - a girl.

Something he couldn't understand, apart from where the draught came that was blowing up his nether regions, was why he wasn't protesting more. He should have refused point blank to have his nails extended and painted. It was bad enough that Tara had lined up all his makeup on the top of his chest of drawers along with her spare magnifying mirror, which was a large circular one on a pedestal with a heavy base. She also laid out two brushes and a comb so he could do his hair. His main worry there was that when he went to bed his hair would stick to the pillow, but she reassured him that all the mousse and lacquer would brush out. He wasn't sure he believed her and he also wondered how much it would hurt. He once shut his hair in the car door and boy, didn't that hurt? His scalp was tender for days.

He was getting better at manipulating his mouse with the long nails. They did make his hands look much more elegant and feminine and part of him thought they looked lovely, or they would on Macey or Tara, not on him and he'd have to stop picking his nose or risk giving himself a lobotomy. He also wondered how difficult wiping his bum would be, though he assumed that women with long nails had sussed that one out before, in which case he'd have to do the same.

Tara let herself into his room, she'd heard him singing and saw him with earphones on and his eyes appeared to be closed. She filmed him again and he was totally oblivious to her presence, she therefore withdrew and quietly closed his bedroom door. Until he saw the video clip he'd never know she'd been there.

She popped in again when she heard it go quiet in his room. "Hey, better check your makeup, girl."

He wasn't sure if he liked the epithet but dressed as he was he didn't feel like saying so. Under her instruction he renewed his lip gloss and she told him to wear the grey shoes with the heels. On asking why, he had got used to the black flat ones and they were comfortable, he was told he needed to break them in and get used to them before Friday. He didn't argue, perhaps all this girl stuff was rotting his brain, the bit that hadn't been transmogrified into a Carpenter song recorder/player. Tara told him their mum had asked her to call him for dinner. He didn't feel all that hungry but he followed her down the stairs and into the dining room. which was where he suddenly met his father.

"Oh, who are you?" said his dad, looking him up and down.

Cary's mind still full of songs went completely blank. "This is Carrie, Dad," said Tara.

"Oh, are you staying to dinner?" asked his dad.

"She lives here," said Tara enjoying the bemusement of her father and Cary's embarrassment. He felt hot enough to spontaneously combust.

"You've lost me," said her dad.

"Stop messing about, Tara," said Penny coming into the room, "Carrie is really Cary."

Rob Carpenter received the news with a small start. "Really, is there something you need to tell me, Car-er-Carrie, wasn't it?"

"We're training her to take part in a karaoke contest on Friday." Tara's explanation did anything but explain anything. Rob Carpenter was a very easy going man. If his son had said he wanted to be a girl, he'd have discussed the pros and cons with Cary and the rest of the family and if he considered the request was genuine, he'd have supported it. So seeing his son dressed as a girl and looking quite convincing as one didn't faze him as much as bemuse him and Tara's explanation only confused things even more.

"I'll explain as we eat," said Penny and Rob nodded, "it's roast chicken, your favourite."

"Oh good," said Rob and took his place at the table while the others brought the poultry and the vegetables to the table. Rob carved the bird and his wife passed the plates around the table. It was perhaps a bit traditional given how otherwise modern thinking they were, but it was how they lived and it worked for them.

Penny explained about Cary being able to pretty well mimic Karen Carpenter which had surprised her. She played him the video clip Macey had sent to her and he was able to recognise it as such knowing how fond Penny was of the Carpenter's music. Seeing as his name was Carpenter from birth, Rob had enjoyed the music as well, though he wasn't as interested in it as the others, he'd rather play with his train layout or knock the house about.

"How does Carrie feel about this dressing up as a girl?" he asked looking at his son who blushed immediately and avoided eye contact.

"It's all right I suppose, it felt strange at first but it's okay now."

"What about Colm, what does he think about it?" Rob knew that the two boys spent a lot of time together.

"Yeah, he's okay, he wants me to win the competition."

"And you?"

"Well, I've come this far, I suppose I'd better give it my best shot."

"And there's nothing else about this?"

"Like what?" asked Cary blushing even redder staring at the table cloth, sneaking a glance at his dad every now and again.

"You don't want to be a girl, or do you like boys?"

"Rob, you're embarrassing the girl and it's very intrusive," interrupted Penny.

"Okay, sorry, Carrie, but if there is anything else driving this, don't feel embarrassed to come and talk to us about it."

Cary nearly fell off his chair at his mother's inference that he was a girl and his father's acceptance of everything. As soon as the silences meant the meal was finished, Rob was about to unwind by working on his railway lay out when Tara said, "Do you want to hear Carrie sing?"

Cary shot her a killer look but she ignored it and their two parents nodded that they would, "She's really good," said Penny to her husband. Cary noticed that his mother seemed to have forgotten his real gender and he wasn't sure what he thought about it and Tara was acting as if she'd never had a brother in the first place.

While the parents cleared the table Tara and Cary went into the lounge and he warmed up his throat while she switched on the borrowed karaoke machine. Cary opted to sing Rainy days and Mondays.

Rob and Penny sat on the sofa at the other end of the room while Cary stood with his back to them. Tara stood facing them and when she saw they were seated clutching a glass of wine each, she announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Miss Carrie Carpenter."

Cary turned around and holding the microphone waited for Tara to start the machine and after the introductory bars began singing,
"Talking to myself and feeling old,
Sometimes I'd like to quit,
Nothin' ever seems to fit,
Hangin' around
Nothin' to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down."

At the end of the song Penny was grinning like a Cheshire cat, as was Tara. Cary was looking for some reaction and Rob was looking as bemused as before. After a pause of several moments he said, "That really was you singing, not the machine?"

"No, Dad, that was me."

"If I closed my eyes I could see Karen Carpenter in my mind. You sounded just like her. What that means exactly, I suppose we'll have to wait and see."

"What d'you mean, Dad?" asked Tara feeling that perhaps her father wasn't as open minded as she thought." Cary held similar impressions but kept silent.

"Just as I said, we'll have to wait and see, as a performance it was very good and if Cary really was a girl, I'd only be worried about her being exploited by so called agents and entrepreneurs . If it gets out that it's a boy who has the voice that made the Carpenters superstars and who dresses as a girl, who knows what will happen."

"But she's almost foolproof, I mean you didn't recognise her, did you?" Tara tried to protect her project.

"No I didn't recognise her, she is very pretty and looks and acts very convincingly as a girl, but what happens when people find out?"

"We're all pledged to keep her secret."

He shook his head, "Tara, my love, Carrie has the same amazing voice that Karen Carpenter had, if she wins the competition and say, starts performing as a female singer, sooner or later someone will find out and the more successful she is the bigger the story will be. Think of the stories that were told about Karen Carpenter's death, one newspaper suggested she was found dead and naked in her wardrobe. I don't want Carrie or any of us to end up with lurid stories told about any of us, because these days the accuracy of the press is pathetic and the tabloids don't care who they hurt and I don't have the money to sue them for damages, if I could anyway. I mean they might suggest we're making Cary dress as a girl against his will."

Cary's head was spinning, what was going to be a bit of laugh and prove he was good at something, was fading into a potential nightmare. However, one thing that was clear in his own mind was, he was cooperating voluntarily and he said so, "No one is making me do anything, Dad, I agreed to it."

"I know, Carrie, and I know because I don't believe Tara or Macey would force you do anything you didn't want to do and I also know if your mother thought they were, she'd have stopped it." Penny nodded in agreement. "But that may not stop others making the accusations."

Reality had entered into the dreams of the teens and they now had to deal with it. It was two rather disheartened youngsters who went to bed that night, Cary not sure how he felt about all of it anymore and Tara, after she spoke briefly to Macey on their mobiles. The two girls decided on a council of war the next day while the honorary girl in the next room tossed and turned and felt anxious and angry in equal measures. 'Bloody press could make me out to be some sort of queer just because I'm a boy impersonating a girl, what's it matter what I am, it's how I sing that matters, isn't it? Not what sex I am.' He began to appreciate how people who changed their gender faced difficulties he'd never even considered before and whatever happened with his Carpenter's tribute, he had a new respect for them.

The next morning Tara woke her brother and asked him to shower and wash his hair and she'd style it for him. He said that he wondered if their dad had killed the idea. "No, he's added his perspective and remember he's an architect, they're like lawyers always looking for problems, besides we hadn't actually thought any further than the karaoke contest. Anyway, go and shower and I'll put out some clothes out for you, we're going over to see Macey and Colm and discuss what Dad said.

"Is it worth it? I mean after what Dad said?" he sounded disenchanted with the whole idea, yet he'd worn the nightdress again and he hadn't tried to do anything to alter his long painted nails. Tara felt she had to encourage him to want to win the contest.

"Did I tell you that there's a hundred quid for the first prize?"

"I suppose we'll be splitting that four ways?" he mused.

"That would be the fairest way," his sister responded.

"Yeah, I do all the work and take all the risks and we all get the same."

"There aren't any risks, apart from the fact you become a girl when you wear skirts, and even if someone found out, we just tell them it was dare or a prank, to see if we could get away with it."

"D'you think anyone would believe that?"

"Why shouldn't they?"

"I dunno, perhaps anyone who didn't like me, in school I mean. I'm hardly the most popular boy in the school am I?"

'You'd be one of the most popular girls if you came in a skirt,' she almost said but held her tongue. "If they heard you sing, they'd all love you, you have a special talent, Carrie. Come on, get showered and let's get you ready and have some breakfast."

"Is Mum taking us to Macey's?"

"Dunno, you shower and I'll ask her, we can always catch the bus."

"Oh," said Cary and she bustled him into the bathroom.

By the time they got downstairs, after Cary dressed and under supervision did his own makeup and Tara did his hair, his mother was filling the washing machine. "I put your bras and panties in the top drawer of your tallboy, Carrie."

"Yeah, thanks," he said because he felt he had to say something, as she had done something for him. Yeah, his bras, like every other boy.

He sat down and was buttering his toast when Tara showed their mum something on her phone. "How expensive are they?" she asked Tara.

"Depends on how good quality you want, they also do sort of pants things with padding."

"I thought her bum looked okay, even in that tight skirt, yesterday."

"Yeah, she has a bit of a girly bum, but the socks don't really look that realistic do they?"

"And these are what?" Penny was pointing at the screen.

"Silicone stuff, I think."

"Send me a link and I'll have a look later, but I'm not spending a fortune for a one off."

"I think she enjoys being Carrie, don't you sis?"

"Don't I what?" asked Cary not really listening to the conversation.

"Enjoy it."

Thinking she was talking about the music because he was thinking about it and where they could buy the actual sheet music, he fancied trying to drum to some of the songs, if Karen Carpenter could do it, perhaps he could too. "Yeah sure."

"Oh," said his mother, "Okay, I'll see."

"Thanks, Mum, I'm sure Carrie will enjoy them."

It was Tuesday, by next day delivery, they could be here in time for Friday's competition, so thought Penny Carpenter and they probably would sit better in the bra. Not like real breasts but if he was going to become Carrie on a regular basis, she'd need something better than rolled up socks. Mind you, if she started dressing as a girl on a regular basis, it may be worth having a chat with the doctor - just in case. She saw stories about trans kids in the papers all the time, perhaps they had one of their own. She'd have to wait and see what happened and what Cary wanted to do about it. Was Cary really Carrie? They'd called their son Cary because she loved the Cary Grant film Charade and she almost considered Audrey if she'd had a girl, because she thought Audrey Hepburn was so beautiful and talented. Instead, she had a Carrie but she'd love her just as much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjFoQxjgbrs