Themed Birthday Party
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

Alison would never have been able talk me into it, but it was my father’s input that settled it.

“You aren’t making enough effort to get on with my wife,” he said. “And don’t keep on calling her Alison. She is your mother now. Call her Mom.”

It was hard for me to do that, even though my mother had been dead for 3 years and he had remarried two years later after dating Alison for a year, but at 13 it was like I was straining to keep the memory of my birth mother alive.

I actually quite liked my cousin Kathy, even though she was only just turning 10 and she was probably the most spoiled child in the state. But it was the idea of dressing up as a ballerina that horrified me.

“It is a themed birthday party, and the theme is ballerinas,” Alison explained. “Your father would be there but because he is away it will be all girls. Even I will be struggling into a tutu for the occasion, and so will you. It is likely to be more embarrassing for me than it will be for you. All you have to do is wear the costume and let me put your hair up.”

“My hair? What are you planning on doing with my hair?”

“You have enough hair for a nice ballet bun on the top of your head,” she said. “Beyond that you will only need a little bit of makeup and you will look absolutely gorgeous!”

It was to please my father that I went along with it. He would be told and his opinion mattered to me. It was just him and me, you see. Alison had come along and had pulled him out of his depression over my mother’s death, and for that I was grateful to her. I really had no ill-will towards her at all, it was just that I had nobody to lean on except Dad, and he was usually away or too busy.

“Can you just do it, Son?” he sighed. “I can’t stand all this nattering. It is just one afternoon – right?”

Alison had found the outfits from somewhere. Matching mother and daughter pink tutus and bodices, and pink ballet shoes. My bodice was flat in front and hers had room for breasts, but she was right about her struggling to wear it. We both laughed a bit at our own difficulties.

“Let’s agree that we’ll never do this again,” she said. “Now let me do your hair and makeup.”

She had wound her hair up into a tight bun and she was right – mine was long enough to do the same but with a little hairpiece to add volume. She brushed my eyebrows into an arch and insisted that just a few hairs be plucked. She added some light foundation, blusher, lipstick and mascara. I have to say that I copied her in doing some ballet moves that she had shown me, in her full length mirror. It is all about feminine grace, and everybody at the party but me would be female.

We laughed again at our clumsy attempts at ballet. I always tried to get on with Alison, but it seemed that now that I was dressed as a girl, she was ready to open up to me in a way she had never done before. I guessed that she had always wanted a daughter. We were ready. I just wore a jacket like she did to cover our tutus when we got into the car to head off to Kathy’s party.

Imagine my embarrassment when I got to the party and joined all the girls in ballet outfits only to discover that my 14-year-old step-cousin Logan, was in normal boys clothes! Where was his ballet outfit? I wanted to get out of my costume straight away.

“No, please don’t”, he said. “I think that you look really pretty as a girl, and a ballerina.”

I had the strangest reaction to those words, because there was no doubt in my mind that they were genuine. I could see it in his eyes. He really did think that, and he was prepared to tell me that he did. It was like what I imagined drunkenness might feel like – happy but not quite in control and flushing hot and pink in the face.

Would you let me take some photos?” he said. I should have said no, but instead I smiled and struck a series of ballet poses while he snapped away. You can see how happy I was.

Alison’s niece was also there and she giggled at me the first time that she saw me. But when she saw the attention that I was getting from Logan, I think that she was slightly jealous even though she was only 11. Anyway, at a tween birthday party nobody is expecting any of those invited to hook up with somebody, but I guess that is what Logan and I did.

He wants me to go out with him but of course I won’t be going to the movies or the park or the juice bar in that tutu. Alison says that she can help me find something suitable and that she can style my hair in a really nice way. She thinks that it is cute that I am learning about relationships, and it is a good idea to understand gender.

I am still uncertain as to where this will take me. I just know that I like the way that Logan looks at me. He says that I am way too pretty to be a boy, and I think he might be right.

Needless to say, my father is furious. Yes, my “just do it, Son” father. Men can be so difficult – right?

The End.

© Maryanne Peters 2024

Author’s Note: This story was inspired by an idea sent in by Christina Ballerina in her review of “Pollygeist” – “12 year old boy’s stepmom takes him to her 8 year old niece's birthday party which is a ballet themed so he is dressed up as a ballerina! He isn't pleased when he arrives that his 14 year old step cousin is dressed in his male clothes. Who will enjoy making him squirm more? His 8 year old cousin? Her friends? Will he be able to avoid being alone with his step cousin and his camera?”

I changed some ages but not by much. I suppose that this story will give rise to questions about “grooming” pre-teens, which is why I have avoided any significant pressure being used. The fact is that all children need to be introduced to gender, and for some being compelled into the normative gender can be truly wrong. What do you think?