Chapter 2

The next morning, his mother was busy writing a list while Bill played the violin in his room. Around mid-morning, her mobile rang, and her husband told her that the two of them had an appointment at the clinic at two that afternoon. She went up to Bill’s room to tell him that she was going to get them sandwiches for lunch as they were going out after that.

They had some time together as she made their lunch and Bill looked at the list that his mother had left on the table.

“Mum, his list has a lot of things on it that I’ve never heard of. What are ‘enhancers’?”

“They’re things that go in a bra to give you a bit of a silhouette. Most teenage girls use them before they start puberty.”

“You want me to wear a bra!!?

“Of course, dear. Every girl wears a bra, sometimes well before she needs to. It won’t take you long to get used to it, although it may change your stance when playing, to cater for the slight changes in body shape and frontal weight.”

“What about these other things, under ‘foundation’? Do I have to learn to lay bricks?”

“Silly Billy. They’re all make-up items. We’ll need to get you a full kit after we’ve been to the salon. Everything depends on what the clinic says this afternoon, but I’m trying to think of everything you might need if Billie-Jean is to become a real person.”

“Thanks, Mum. I do have a lot to learn.”

“If I do your hair and we put a bit of lippy on you, we can take you to the salon and give you a make-over. After that, we can go shopping for some basics, which will then allow us to get you more specialised clothes from the stores in Coventry. There will be a lot of new underwear that you will need to get used to. I had a look at a couple of sights on the web, last night, and there is a place in the city that does special panties that hide your winkle but still lets you pee.”

They ate their lunch and tidied up, then got into the car to head to Gaydon. At the clinic, his mother filled in forms for both of them and then they waited to be called. His mother went in first, while Bill read an old music magazine. When she came out, he was called in. In the doctor’s office, he was asked to strip and put on a hospital gown.

The lady doctor who checked him over was asking questions as she did so. Obviously, his mother had told her that he had gender problems. She looked at all of his scars and exclaimed that he had a good case to sue his previous school about the bullying. In the end, he had to remove his boxers so that she could examine his genitals.

She asked him if he had ever had wet dreams or masturbated, and he had to ask her to explain what she was talking about. Finally, she looked him in the eyes.

“I want you to tell me the truth, Bill. This is very important. Have you ever been kicked or hit in your groin?”

“It was in primary. A couple of bullies had pushed me over and one kicked me there. I was walking strange for a couple of days.”

“Did you tell your parents?”

“No. I didn’t want to worry them. I didn’t want to appear weak in front of my Dad.”

“Right! We’ll draw some bloods and I want you to pee into this beaker. Then you get dressed and I’ll bring your mother back in.”

She took three tubes of blood, and he went behind the screen to pee. Then he washed his hands at the sink and redressed. When his mother was brought back in, they sat in front of the doctor’s desk and his mother took his hand. The doctor ended making some notes and looked up.

“Mrs. Rose, Wendy. From what I’ve seen, you’re in excellent health, and there is nothing wrong with you that we need to worry about. Bill, however, has some very complicated problems that may explain his general appearance. In my examination, I could not find any testicles. Bill has told me that he had been kicked in the groin in primary school. When we have the results of the blood tests, I fully expect that they will show a drastic lack of testosterone. I am going to send him to another area for an MRI on his lower abdomen do determine just how much damage was caused, then we can decide on any other treatment.”

“Does that mean that he has arrested puberty?”

“It means that we may be able to direct his puberty in the direction he wants to go, by hormone treatment. I think it’s too late to make him big enough to play in the front row of a rugby team, but he may be a good jockey if we send him down the male path. He will, however, make a very pleasing lady if we make him into a female.”

His mother pulled out her phone and swiped a couple of times before showing it to the doctor.

“Like this? That was taken yesterday. Somehow, the school brought round a girl’s uniform.”

“Wow! She isn’t going to need much work to pass easily. Are you sure that you’ve never had any desire to dress up, Billy?”

“Never, doctor. I thought that if I was supposed to be inspected in that uniform, everyone would have a good laugh and the woman would take it away and bring back one for a boy.”

“All right. I’ll email this scan request upstairs. If you follow the signs to the radiography department, the receptionist there should be able to give you an appointment time. It will take a few days for us to collate the scans and the test results, so make an appointment with my receptionist for a few days’ time.”

They thanked her for her time and walked out of the office. After making the appointment, they found their way upstairs and found the right desk. The receptionist there looked at her computer and rang the MRI operator. When she had finished the call, she smiled broadly.

“I’ve been told that the MRI will have a short period when you can be fitted in. The area that will be scanned isn’t very big. If you can be back here in an hour, it can be completed before you go home.”

“Is there somewhere that we can sit with a drink?”

“There is, just go towards the back of the clinic and you’ll find a coffee lounge.”

“I must say that this is a big place for such a small population. Well-equipped as well.”

“That’s because we have so many people working at both Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover. Within a couple of miles are as many people as a small town. Both of the big companies support us, and we also take the overflow from Warwick.”

They went back downstairs and found their way to the coffee lounge. When they were sitting, Bill looked at his mother.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about being kicked. I didn’t want to appear weak, so I hid it and carried on.”

“It’s all right, Billy. It was a long time ago. All we have to do now is to sort things out for the future. I was thinking about your records at the school. Somewhere, there must be the paperwork with William John and the note that you’re male. I expect that someone will ring us to ask about that. I have an idea that may help. I can forge a new name on your copy of the birth certificate. The easiest would be to change William to Willow, and the John to Jean.”

“You can do that?”

“Yes. Before you came along, I was working in graphic design. All I need to get is some paper similar to the certificate copy. We have a very good scanner in the computer printer in your dad’s office. I just copy the original, make the changes, and then copy that onto the right paper. It’s how I funded my university days, making IDs for the partygoers.”

“Wow, a real mega-criminal!”

They laughed together, and then she got serious.

“If you take the girl route, it doesn’t end when you finish school. It will be for ever.”

“I know, Mum. I suppose that after a few years, I’ll take it as normal. There are several good women violinists, but I can’t think of any famous women pianists or clarinet players.”

“There’s always Mrs. Mills.”

“Who was that?”

“She was all the rage in the sixties and seventies. Think about the TV show with that Mrs. Bucket singing and you have her down pat.”

“That bad!”

“Yes, it was. She sold lots of records, though. Anyway, I’m wondering what you’ll be doing with music when you go to school. That woman did say that there was an orchestra.”

“I suppose that I’ll have to wait and see how the Willow grows.”

They went back to the waiting room and sat, thinking their own thoughts, until Bill was called in.

“Bill Rose, is it? Take your clothes off and put that paper gown on. Make sure there is no jewellery or anything metal. The machine gets angry if we put metal down the tube.”

When Bill was ready, he was put onto a moving bed and given some headphones. The operator asked him what he would like to hear, and he chose Beethoven. With the opening chords of ‘The Emperor’ in his ears, he was slid into the tube and told not to move a muscle until everything was silent. For a good fifteen minutes, the music was drowned out by loud clicks, whirrs, and other noise. He stopped listening to the music and imagined the sound of the machine as basis of a musical piece.

When it was quiet, again, he was slid out of the tube and helped to stand up.

“That wasn’t too bad, now, was it? We got some good cross sections, and the doctor will be able to tell you what you need to know. Get dressed and enjoy the rest of your day.”

Instead of going directly home, his mother drove them into Warwick. She had looked up printing supplies on her phone and had found a place where she could buy the correct paper. Back at home, she found the birth certificate and then the two of them started preparing the dinner. Over dinner, she told her husband what had happened during the day. After dinner, Bill went up to his room to catch up with the playing that he had missed by going out.

The next morning, he looked on in wonder as his mother scanned the birth certificate.

“It’s a good job they don’t use the old style, that would never let me do this.”

She put the printout on the desk and taped it down, then used a minimal amount of fluid, which she had carefully mixed with concealer from her make-up, to match the slight tinge as she obliterated some letters. When she was happy, they went off for a morning tea as it dried. Back at the desk, she used a very fine piece of sandpaper to make sure that there were no visible edges. The name was now Will J. She had a kit of implements that Bill had never seen before and picked an old-style nib on a stick. She spent a long time writing to match the paperwork before she started adding the letters needed. To Bill, it was like watching an old master painter, and he held his breath with each letter.

When she lifted her head, the paper now had the name ‘Willow Jean Rose’, and the male now had the ‘fe’ in front of it. He clapped and she smiled.

“You know what, Billy. I think that when you’re in school, I may see if I can get a job in graphic design again. That brought back so many good memories.”

They went off and had lunch to allow the ink to be fully dry. Back in the office, she removed the tape and opened the ream of special paper, then scanned the new version. To Bill, after the new one had been printed, it was almost an anti-climax to hold the two certificates. They felt the same, they looked the same. It was just that one was his old self, and the other was for his new self. Both went into the folder with his paperwork, and they tidied up.

The next day was totally different from any day he had known. He was dressed in a pair of his Mum’s older panties, his best-fitting jeans, a pair of lilac socks from his mother’s drawer, and a lilac tee with the picture of a boy band on the front. The outfit was finalised with a pair of the school shoes, and some time that his mother spent on his hair. They went into Coventry to a salon, where they both had appointments.

The rest of the morning was an eye-opener for Bill. He was waxed everywhere but his groin, had a new hairdo, new fingernails, a pair of studs in his ears, while his mother had a make-over of her own. He was sat in front of a mirror while a girl worked on his face, plucking his eyebrows and making notes of what colours worked best for his complexion. When they walked out, both he and his mother had bags with the products that worked best. Bill was now definitely Billie-Jean, looking like a smaller version of his mother.

They went to the car to store their bags, then went into the West Orchard Shopping Centre, parking the car and going in to get some comfort food from the Macca’s there. After that, they went into Peacocks to get some more clothes. The first stop was somewhere that the old Bill would have run from, or else stood looking at the floor. His mother asked the salesgirl to measure his band size, and with that information, they examined the racks of bras. With the nightmare of trying a couple on out of the way, they ended up with six bra and panty sets, as well as an extra dozen panties and a sports bra for the PE lessons, and some nighties and a new dressing gown.

After that, they moved to the teenage section and bought some skirts and tops. Finally, much to Billie’s relief, they stopped at the shoe department. She had started complaining that the school shoes were too tight, so she was properly measured and walked out in properly fitting shoes that looked a bit less ‘sensible’ than the originals. They did buy a couple of pairs of the school shoes to replace the ones which would have to be given back.

They went back to the car, with Billie-Jean now wearing a pink top and a short denim skirt, with pink socks in her new shoes. After the bags were safe in the car, her mother grabbed her hand and took her back into the shops. This time, the object of the hunt was a couple of handbags and some cheap jewellery, followed by getting a good coat for when the weather turned.

Finally, they went outside the shopping centre and her mother took her to the Job Shop, where she looked at the vacancies as her mother gave details to a clerk in regard to her skills and her contact details. Billie-Jean was noting the cards asking for people to join bands, but nobody was advertising places in an orchestra.

Back at home, the usual preparation of dinner was different while wearing a skirt and catching her new nails on things. When her father arrived home, he took one look and grinned.

“Well, who’s my girl?”

“I am, now, Daddy. How do I look?”

“Absolutely beautiful, my sweetness. It didn’t take long to turn you into a stunner. How do you feel?”

“Different, but in a nice way. I’ve spent all day as a girl and have been called love and sweetie a lot. I’m still me, inside, but a happy me. I look like I’ll fit in with the other girls, now, and that makes me feel safer. Mum spent an awful lot on me today.”

“That will be just the start, if I know my wife. No matter how many things you have in your wardrobe, there will always be that one thing that you haven’t got but need. Don’t worry about the money, sweetheart. I’ve got a good job and a good future. You are the most important person in this family, right now. I know that you will be the famous one here, by the time you leave home. Then, I will think of you as I see you now, and smile.”

After dinner, Billie went up to her room to try to play a while, mainly to see how her technique was with the new nails. It wasn’t that bad; the nails even improved her plucking on the violin strings. When it was time for bed, there was a whole new procedure of cleansing before she could put on a nightie for the first time and get into bed. She was laying there, thinking about things, when she realised that there was something missing. For the first time, she knew that she wanted a plush tiger. Not a bunny, not a teddy, not a doll, but a tiger.

On Friday morning, she had a shower with a shower cap on, and then dressed. She put a bra on and added the enhancers for the first time, then slid a matching panty up her legs. The whole experience was odd but wasn’t upsetting. There was a new pair of jeans that actually fitted, and she chose a bright red top that had caught her eye yesterday. Red socks and the new shoes and she was ready to face the day. But not until after she had tried to do a little make-up.

A half an hour later, she looked in the bathroom mirror and decided that enough was enough, and that this would have to do. Downstairs, her mother had finished her breakfast, so Billie made herself some toast and poured some orange juice. As she was eating, the phone rang, and her mother answered.

“Yes, this is Mrs. Rose.”

“All right, I’ll bring the proper papers in for you this morning.”

“Will there be anyone in the music area, as my daughter is keen to see what’s there.”

“All right, We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

She hung up and came into the kitchen.

“That was the school. It seems that there is some problem with the paperwork, and they want to view your birth certificate. It’s a good job we keep things safe. As soon as you’ve tidied up, we’ll put what you need in one of the handbags and head to the school. You look lovely, this morning. The make-up is just right for daytime. Your father researched shops that sell the other things you need. There is one which sell gaffs on-line, as well as inners for your bra. We ordered some so they should be delivered tomorrow.”

Billie went up to her room to make her bed and get a black bag from the shopping. Her mother came in and showed her all the things that she needed to carry, including a purse with her money. This was the first part of being a girl that seemed wrong, but when she had put her hand in the jeans pockets, she had found that they were only a couple of inches deep.

They left the house and drove to the school. This was the second day of truly being Billie-Jean. As the scenery passed by, she thought about playing in an orchestra as Willow Rose. It had a nice ring to it.

At the school, they went to the admin area, where the old copy of the birth certificate was produced. Her mother told them that there had, indeed, been a William Rose at the school, and the copies must have been misfiled as both being for W.J. Rose. They tore the old one up and replaced it with a copy of the one that her mother had produced. Everyone was happy, and they were given a map of the school and told that there was a couple of groups in the rehearsal rooms.

As they walked towards the rehearsal rooms, the lady who had brought the uniform over came out of a building. Billie smiled at her, and her mother gave a wave.

“Hello there, Miss Russell. You look worried.”

“I am. We have a concert to see out summer this Saturday night. We had a five-piece metal band to close it, but one of them didn’t turn up for rehearsal today. I’ve just rung his home and he’s got measles, so we won’t see him for weeks. I’ve got to give the others the bad news.”

“Surely you could get a stand-in?”

“Not at such short notice, Billie-Jean. They are going to play covers of some band that I’ve hardly heard of. It’s going to be a short concert.”

They followed her into the music building and then on to a room where four lads with longish hair were sitting and waiting.

“Lads, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad is that Jim has measles and won’t be around for some weeks. The good news is that this is Billie-Jean Rose and her mother. Billie will be starting with us at the beginning of her second year. Billie, meet Geoff, Garry, Grant and Gerry.”

The four all said hello as they were pointed out. Geoff smiled at Billie.

“Welcome to the madhouse, Billie-Jean. The four of us usually play twelve-bar and rock numbers as ‘G-Force’. We were going to play some Deep Purple covers on Saturday night. Jim, who has now let us down, plays the organ. We were supposed to run through the set today.”

“I play keyboard. What songs were you planning to do?”

“We open with ‘Child in Time’, then ‘Woman from Tokyo’, ‘Speed King’, ‘Highway Star’ and finish with ‘Smoke on the Water’. Because we’re covering Deep Purple, we called ourselves ‘Shallow Blue’.”

“So, the ‘Live in Japan’ album.”

“You know it?”

“It’s been something that I’ve played around with as a release of pressure. I have earphones and a keyboard with feed-in from my MP3.”

“How would you like to try out? Our gear is set up in the theatre.”

Billie looked at her mother and Miss Russell. Wendy had a smile, and Miss Russell was almost bursting.

“Come on then, let’s go and see if we can save the show.”

They followed her to the main theatre. It was set up with seats, except for about twenty feet in front of the stage, so some of the audience could dance if they wanted to. Wendy turned to Miss Russell.

“What’s the occasion?”

“The music and drama groups can do an optional summer project which adds to their overall marks. No set subject. Some of the drama people do skits or short plays. The music side do recitals, but we don’t do a full orchestral item, due to the logistics. The show is filmed by the drama group for a DVD which is sold through the school to raise money for equipment.”

Billie had followed the boys up to the stage, where she saw a bank of amps, and a drum set. A portable keyboard was set up to one side, along with a bass guitar. On the other side were two guitars. She knew enough that whoever played them were serious about their instrument, as one was a vintage Rickenbacker, while the other was Fender of a similar age. When she got to the organ, there was all the music on the top.

Geoff looked at her.

“Do you read music?”

“I do, but I’ve also got a weird brain. I remember every song I hear. Classics are a bit harder, as they go on for a long time, but pop music at four to ten minutes is all right.”

They turned everything on, and Billie twiddled on the keyboard, moving some knobs to see if it produced the same sort of sounds that the one at home did. She pressed the middle C key so that the others could tune up. Geoff and Gerry tested the microphones. Grant did some warm-up rolls on the drums and Garry stood beside her with his bass ready to start. He said, quietly.

“This is going to be interesting. Nod to me if you get flustered and I’ll slow things down, if I can. Grant follows my lead.”

Geoff looked at everybody.

“Let’s go!”

It was Billie who opened the set, with the organ playing the only quiet part of ‘Child in Time’. She wondered if her mother would enjoy the performance. Miss Russell looked anxious. She took a quick look at the music as Geoff joined her with the guitar. And then they were off, into the world of Purple, a time well before she was born, but still as powerful as it was in its day, some fifty years before.

Marianne Gregory © 2025