One – An Invitation

“Really, Sonny, you could do it,” his sister assured him.

“Tessie, be realistic, I’d be found out,” he protested.

“But you’ve gotta. The girls have been counting on playing in this tournament. It’s supposed to be a fun day, not a real serious golf tournament. We can’t disappoint them, can we?”

“Tessie, you know I’d do almost anything for you, but this is too much. You want me to play in a girls’ golf tournament? They’ll find me out.”

“No they won’t Sonny. We got it all figured out. You can look so pretty and girlish they’ll easily accept you as a pretty girl.”

“Aw, come on. I’m a seventeen-year-old boy, Tessie.”

“Not when you wear my clothes. You look just like me. You’ll easily pass.”

Sonny Warner had to admit it; he was essentially a carbon copy of his nineteen-year-old sister when he put on her clothes. The two were exactly the same height, about five feet, six inches and Sonny weighed only five pounds more than his sister; they both had straight light brown hair, with his only a few inches shorter than hers.

“You know you looked so cute in my golf outfit, Sonny,” she said.

Sonny smiled, recalling the time a few months earlier when Tess got him to put on her new golf outfit with its pink polo shirt and teal-colored shorts. When he was younger, she often dressed him up as a girl when they were playing, always praising him by saying he was such “a pretty girl, prettier than me.” As much as he liked wearing dresses – he favored sun dresses – Sonny realized as he entered his teen years that his dressing might cause him trouble and he cut back on his dress-up times. Besides, Tess began to have other friends and with schoolwork she had little time to entertain her younger brother in prettying him up. In addition, once their mother found out that Tess had been helping Sonny to dress as a girl, Tess had backed off.

Nonetheless, every so often, when the two were alone she’d suggest he try on one of her outfits, and he happily obliged her. Her excuse always was: “Model it for me, Sonny, so I can see how it hangs.” At times, he’d fully dress for his sister, taking a bubble bath to start, putting on panties, breastforms, a bra, skirt and blouse; she would help him paint his toe and finger nails, put on makeup and fix his long hair into a lovely feminine fashion.

When he wore the golf clothes recently, his sister also donned a similar outfit. They posed for a picture, using a self-timer on the digital camera.

“We look like sisters, Sonny,” Tess exclaimed when the two viewed the picture.

“We do!” the boy said.

“I’m jealous. You’re prettier than I am,” Tess giggled.

“I am not, Tessie. How could I be prettier? I’m a boy.”

“No, Sonny, you know you’re more girl than I am,” she insisted.

In looking more closely at the picture, Sonny realized that he indeed may have been the prettier of the two; he also noticed that he appeared to be the more girlish of the two. His slender legs and arms showed little muscle tone, compared to the firm sinews and hardness of his sister, who had always been athletic, even to the extent of being the point guard on the high school girls’ basketball team.

“I’m not,” he repeated.

“Don’t let it bother you Sonny. You’re two years younger and are still developing.”

*****
Sonny remembered that episode as he considered his sister’s request that he become the “girl” who was needed to fill out a foursome for a Country Club girls’ golf tournament, after one of the girls on the team had fallen and broken her wrist. The realization that he looked like a girl both bothered him and excited him.

Two years before, when she was still seventeen, Tess was hired to waitress special events at the Riverside Country Club, easily the most prestigious club in the area. She proved to be a popular and efficient waitress and when she turned eighteen began serving food in the club’s Rushing Waters Lounge.

Her natural beauty attracted the eye of another employee, Juan Garcia, a young assistant pro who mainly taught the children of members the basic skills of golf. Tessie was not above doing some innocent flirting, and soon enjoyed giving the tallish, dark-eyed man a flick of her hip when she was in his eye. He took up the cue and the soon the pair began talking to each other.

“You appear to be quite athletic, Tess,” Juan said her one day.

“I guess I am. I played on the high school basketball team,” she volunteered.

“You may know that for a couple of years now, the club has allowed employees the chance to play golf on Monday mornings, when the club is closed to members. Now, they’ve also agreed to let me give golf lessons to those who haven’t played before,” he said.

“That’s cool, but I’ve only golfed during a day camp program when I was younger,” she said.

“Oh, you should try it again. I bet you’d be good at it,” he said.

She took him up on it and by that first summer’s end – thanks to her natural athleticism and Juan’s personal attention to her – she had learned to hit the ball as well as most of the male members of the club. She also realized she loved the game and its constant demands for perfection. She began taking Sonny out to public courses, where he quickly became a decent golfer, though he still couldn’t hit his drives as far as his sister could.

The following summer, Tess’ solid record as an employee prompted the club manager to ask her to recommend another girl who could be hired to operate the snack shop that served the swimming pool and tennis club area.

“We don’t serve beer or liquor there so we can use a responsible high school or college student,” he told her.

“Most of my girlfriends are busy this summer,” she replied.

“Keep looking or else we’ll have to place an ad,” he said.

That night she mentioned the job opening to Sonny who had been looking around for a job for the summer; of course, she didn’t mention the manager had wanted a girl, thinking that there was no reason Sonny couldn’t do the job. He was certainly responsible, she knew.

“Oh, sis, that would be great to work with you,” he said.

The manager took a bit of convincing that Sonny would be suitable for the job, claiming that most teen boys he knew wouldn’t be patient and friendly with the members’ children that made up the majority of the customers of the snack shop. In the end, he agreed to hire Sonny. After several weeks, the manager found himself so pleased with Sonny that he added on extra hours to work banquets as a waiter.

Spurred on by his sister’s growing interest in golf, he also took advantage of club policy to use the golf course on Mondays, as well as to take lessons with Juan. In short time, he proved to be a quick learner of the skills needed to play the game relatively successfully. While his drives continued to be pathetically short, the rest of his game improved and soon he became one of the best scoring golfers among the employees.

Tess had truly become intrigued with golf and in a short time had become particularly adept at hitting strong drives, almost as long as most male golfers. Juan was able to locate two sets of ladies clubs that had been lying around unused at the club and sold them to Tess and Sonny at a ridiculously low price. Sonny never did learn to hit balls as far as his sister, but he quickly proved to be accurate on his short shots and in putting, occasionally actually beating his sister in the final score in spite of her more hefty drives.

*****
Tess continued to press Sonny to play for the women’s team, stressing that she didn’t want to disappoint Juan. It was Juan who first proposed creating an area-wide golf tournament among the dozen private country clubs in the area. There would be a weekend tournament for the members of each club to compete against each other, with a one-day tournament on the following Monday for employees of the same clubs. Clubs would field both men’s and women’s teams.

Tess was captain of the Riverside Club’s employee women’s golf club. Suddenly the team faced the prospect of having to withdraw when Mindy Sullivan, a club office employee and team member, broke her wrist.

“Please fill Mindy’s spot,” Tess pleaded. “No other girl among the employees plays golf and you could easily pass for a girl. So you could play as my sister, Sonja.” She used the same name he had chosen for himself in their dress-up times.

“What if I get found out?” he protested.

“You won’t, Sonny, but I don’t think it’ll matter much, since there is no money involved. Still, it’s important to the girls.”

Sonny knew Tess’ determination that he play went further than that; he knew she wanted to impress Juan, with whom she had become infatuated. He truly didn’t want to disappoint Tess since she had been supportive as they were growing up. Besides, he considered his sister to be his best friend.

“You know I want to help you, Tessie, but still, isn’t it being dishonest?” he asked.

“Maybe a bit, like a white lie, but there’s no money involved in the event. It’s more for fun.”

“I don’t know, Tessie.”

“It’ll be fun, and the other girls like you and you hit the ball like a girl anyway, Sonny, so you’ll fit in, and how often do you get mistaken for being a girl?”

Sonny blushed, remembering the time when the starter at the public golf course told them, as they awaiting their time to begin their game, “OK, girls, you’re next up.”

Like Tess, Sonny had become nearly fanatic about the game, probably because it was the first sport in which he ever found himself halfway competitive, even if he did “hit like a girl,” as his sister said.

“All right, I’ll do it,” he said finally.

Tess drew him into a strong embrace and hugged him and Sonny found himself excited by the idea that he’d be one of the girls, even though he was frightened to death.

*****
It was only natural that Sonny Warner would consider Tess to be his closest and best friend. Raised by a single mother, the two children had often had to fend for themselves with only the cursory supervision of a next-door neighbor. By the time Sonny had turned eight, Tessie literally became his surrogate mother, walking him home from school and then supervising his playtime while assuring he completed his homework.

The boy had always felt safe with Tess, who could keep him free of the bullies who seemed to focus their attention on him. As a slim boy with skinny arms and legs, Sonny was not strong and was an easy target. His shy, gentle nature made it difficult for him to stand up to the taunting and often he was drawn to tears after even the most mild of torments.

“Look at the little girl cry,” Sonny’s principal neighborhood tormentor, Bobby Jenks, yelled after him one day that summer as he chased the boy home.

Sonny’s experiences in seeking to play outdoors so often ended in such terrifying episodes that he chose to stay indoors. The family lived in a so-called Polish flat in a neighborhood of 100-year-old three-story homes that housed three families, with the cheapest rents paid by those in the lowest level where the Warner family lived. It was constructed so that there were plenty of windows that were high enough to bring in the outdoor light. In spite of the dark sensation that you might get in descending down the six steps from the front walk, the flat actually had a cheerfulness about it that also could be attributed to their mother’s effort to keep it clean and bright.

His sister, forced to forgo playing with her own friends by her responsibility to watch over Sonny, seemed to accept the chore in good humor. She enforced her mother’s rules that neither television nor video games were to be played in the after-school hours. “Both of you do your homework first and then read,” she ordered them.

Sonny found great comfort in reading and by age ten was able to understand adult novels, many of which he found in his mother’s bedroom that had been stored in a box from his grandmother’s collection. He was fascinated by a book called “The Robe” that told the story of Jesus and how Roman soldiers gambled over the robe of Jesus while he was being crucified. He curled up on the couch – imitating his sister’s girlish posture – and spent most of the summer devouring the fat book.

When he had finished that book, his sister gave him Harper Lee’s classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which Sonny quickly found compelling.

“Scout is so marvelous in this book,” Sonny gushed to his sister about the six-year-old girl who is the center of the story.

“See, girls can be cool,” Tess said triumphantly.

“I know,” he said, smiling.

Finishing that book, he found an old copy of Jane Austen’s “Emma” from among his grandmother’s books. The arcane language bothered him at first, but he kept at it and was soon enthralled by the young Emma and her hesitant adventures into love and romance.

“You really like books about girls, don’t you Sonny?” his sister asked one day.

He reddened at the realization that his world of fiction – and imagination – seemed to be taking on a strong feminine direction.

“Well it’s all I could find in grandma’s old books,” he replied, his voice taking a hurt, defensive tone.

“What about those Jack London books? I saw several of grandpa’s old books there,” Tess asked.

“Maybe I’ll do those next.”

Sonny knew it was a lie; he would not venture into his grandfather’s old adventure books. He had his eye on another book by Jane Austen in the box, “Pride and Prejudice.” He found his imagination running rampant as he read the books, picturing the lovely young girls in petticoats and flowing dresses, seeing them dancing with their beaus in lovely ballrooms and sitting in a carriage holding hands with a handsome young man. While reading “Emma,” he imagined himself as a young girl all prettied up in the elaborate dresses of the early 1800s waiting for her first date with a boy from the neighboring estate.

The boy rarely played games on his computer; rather, he had become adept of using Google to learn about various topics. Enthralled by his fascination with the fancy clothes of the early 19th Century, he typed in “Victorian women’s dresses” in the search engine and soon his screen was flooded with colorful imagines of the outfits – mainly those multi-layered, full-length dresses that covered a young girl’s body fully.

Sonny wondered what it would be like to wear such outfits, to swirl about a ballroom and to curtsey daintily before a handsome young suitor. He remembered the scenes in the old books of the girls helping each other to dress, giggling about various boys and wondering if they were pretty enough to draw the boys’ attention. Perhaps in a previous life, he thought, he might have been one of those pretty young girls.

He was taken shaken out of his reverie by his sister’s voice: “What in the world are you looking at?”

“Huh,” he said, looking up at her, his face bursting into a bright blush.

“What’s a boy like you care about old dresses?” she demanded.

“Huh? Oh, I just wondered how they looked.”

“You’re weird,” she said. “Well, at least it’s not porn.”

*****
“You need to get out to the club at nine o’clock Monday for a practice round of golf with the other girls,” Tess told him.

“What will they say when they see me as a girl?” he asked, suddenly fearful of the reaction they might give him.

“I think they’ll be in awe. You’re so pretty, Sonja,” his sister said, smiling.

“Sonja,” he said, reflecting on the name. “I kinda like being a Sonja and you could still call me Sunny, with a ‘u’.”

“Yes, and you really do look so bright and sunny when you’re all dressed up. And, you know the girls all like you because you’re so cute when you’re out in the snack shack.”

Sonny nodded. The older women workers seemed to “mother” him, often urging that she should eat more and put on some weight, while the younger women enjoyed his conversation. Sonny felt comfortable with most of the female employees at the club, as if he were one of them.

Though the dread of being laughed at or ridiculed hung over him like a cloud, he couldn’t help feeling giddy over how cute and pretty he might be as he golfed.
*****
Unlike many handsome men, Juan Garcia was friendly and open. He was moderately tall, just about six feet, with a wiry body. Long sinewy sun-darkened arms and legs contrasted with the teal blue colors of the golf shirt and shorts, both carrying the club’s logo discreetly placed above the left breast and near the bottom of right leg of the shorts.

“So glad you could join us, Sunny,” Juan said, reaching out his hand to the boy.

“Thank you, sir. I only hope I can do my share for the team,” he said, finding his hand small inside the calloused large hand of the assistant pro.

“Just relax and have fun, Sunny,” he said.

Mindy, her arm still wrapped in a sling, stood by and smiled, enthralled by the pretty girl who was replacing her. He wore a white skort that covered only about one-third of his thigh, a pink cap-sleeved golf shirt and pink golf shoes with white ankle socks. His brows had been trimmed and he had put on a light blush and gray eye-liner along with a neutral lip gloss; he wore a white baseball cap, and pulled his ponytail through the gap in the back of the cap. He loved how it bounced as he walked.

Mindy walked over and put her arm around the boy, holding out her phone. “Here, Tess, take our picture,” she said. “Isn’t Sonja here like the cutest girl ever?”

“You both are like the cutest!” Tess said smiling.

Just then, Juan approached and gave Mindy a digital camera. “Here let’s gather all the girls together for a team picture,” he said.

After some jockeying around, the four girls, with Juan in the middle, posed on the first tee of the golf course. As they stood there while Mindy readied herself to snap the picture, Sonny felt Juan’s left arm wrap around his shoulders, gently massaging his slender arm; his sister stood on the other side of the young pro and he imagined that Juan’s arm was also draped around her shoulders as well. At first, Sonny felt he was merely demonstrating the camaraderie that comes naturally around teammates, but for some reason the boy felt Juan’s fingers were suggesting something far more sensual and he felt his member growing hard. He worried that the growing erection – even as short as his was – might show.

Finally, after several takes, the picture-taking was completed. Juan told the group to do some warming up exercises while he went to get Slamming Sammy Dorsey, the club’s top professional and onetime tour golfer, who would also work with the girls that morning as they trained for the competition. The plan was to have about a half hour of group instruction on the driving range before embarking on a nine-hole practice round. The four girls were to go out in groups of two, one group accompanied by Juan, and the other by the club pro Sammy Dorsey.

“I don’t know about that Juan,” Sonny whispered to his sister after the young man left them. “I felt his hands all over me it seemed. Did he do that to you?”

“What do you mean? All he did was to put his arm around my shoulder like we’re teammates, that’s all,” she said.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe it was just me, but it felt like he was feeling me up that way played with my arm, even letting his hand wander down my back.”

Tess looked at your brother. “Are you sure? He didn’t touch me like that,” she said.

“Well, it just felt strange, but then I’m new at being a girl. I guess you probably get used to it.”

“No, no, no,” she protested. “Girls don’t like it when guys feel them up, unless of course it’s their boyfriend. He shouldn’t do that, but then you are so pretty he probably forgets you’re a boy.”

Sonny blushed. He was beginning to like the idea that as Sonja he was so enticing and fetching, particularly to a gorgeous man like Juan. He wondered, however, why Juan would feel him up as if he were a girl, since the young golf pro was fully aware that Sonja was Sonny. Hadn’t he instructed Sonny in the training sessions?

“Well, if Juan so much as looks at you again with lust in his eyes, Sonny, I’ll bean him with my wedge,” she said, lifting the pitching club out of her golf bag.

Sonny smiled. “Don’t worry sis, I’m too young for him,” he said.

“Don’t kid yourself, darling. Young girls like you seem to excite most men.”

“I won’t let him, Tessie, since I know you thought he was hot for you,” Sonny said.

“He was, until I got this harebrained idea to turn you into a replacement for Mindy. God you’re enough to distract any man from his best girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry, sis.”

“It’s not your fault. You just naturally make such a cute, lovely young girl,” Tess said, tears forming.

“Oh Tessie, I love you so much. Nobody could have a better sister,” Sonny said, taking his sister into his arms and hugging her.

“I know,” Tess said, clearing her eyes and stepping away from Sonny. “You’re such a darling brother. Now here comes Juan and Mr. Dorsey. I guess we’re going to start our round.”

*****
“I didn’t know you had a sister, Tessie?” the tall, short-haired blond woman queried.

“Well, I didn’t have until now. Let me introduce you to Sonja,” Tess said, introducing Sonny to the two other members of the Riverside team. The girls all had met Sonny during their work, but were clearly startled to see their cute, young male co-worker now appearing as such a lovely young lady.

“My, she’s so beautiful,” Heather Bender said. She was a tall, athletic woman of about thirty years old, with a careworn face, but her sparkling blue eyes and ready smile masked the troubled life she had led as an unmarried mother of two boys. She had been a champion golfer in high school and college until unfortunate affairs with two men ended badly, leaving her on her own with two kids. She had been a waitress at the club for nearly ten years, but had been able to indulge her love of the game on the Mondays during which the club permitted its employees, including caddies, to play.

“Heather is our long hitter, Sonja,” Tess explained.

“Welcome aboard Sonja,” Heather said, obviously playing along with the charade that Sonja was a real female and a newcomer. “I never knew you had such a cute little sister, Tessie.”

“I’ve been trying to hide her from the boys,” Tess teased.

“I can see why. I only hope she can score on the golf course as well as she probably scores with the boys,” Heather said.

Sonny felt his face grow red with the gushing that was going on between his sister and Heather.

“Well she can’t hit the ball very far but she’s dynamite around the greens and I think she’ll do fine,” Tess said.

“I hope so, but I’m kind of nervous since I’ve never been in a tournament before,” Sonny said.

“Just have fun, kid,” Heather said.

A shorter, chunkier woman, maybe the oldest of the group, joined them.

“Maria Lopez rounds out the foursome, Sonja,” Heather said, introducing the newcomer.

She proved to be a quiet woman who said little; her expression rarely changed but Sonny instantly found he liked her. Maria was the club’s hired bookkeeper whose father had been maintenance supervisor for the club; the family lived in a house on the course grounds and she had grown up learning the game and had become an accomplished recreational golfer.

“Pleased to meet you Sonja,” Maria said finally, her stoic expression changing quickly into a warm smile.

“I just hope I can keep up with you ladies,” Sonny said, finding himself at a loss for words.

“Don’t worry about it, Sonja, you know golf is a game you never really can master. Just enjoy the lovely green grass and the trees and the blue skies,” Maria said, smiling.

*****
For the nine-hole practice round, Sonny found himself playing with Heather and Juan. He had wished that Tess would be in his group, but she was paired with Maria and the other golf pro. In the tournament itself, the golf team would be divided into two groups, and each would golf against two from another team. It was to be played on a Monday, and after 18 holes the individual scores of the four golfers on each team would be totaled and the team with the lowest total score would win.

“I think we have a good chance to win,” Juan said, as the three approached the third tee. “I’m so impressed with how far you can hit, Heather, and Sonja, you’re something around the green.”

The two had scored pars on both the first two holes, but Sonny had to scramble by sinking long putts on each green. He was embarrassed by his puny hits, his drives rarely going much beyond 150 yards, while Juan hit his nearly twice as far and Heather – her sinewy arms and legs showing her strength – hit drives of more than 225 yards.

“You’re not a very strong girl, I can see, but maybe we can do something about your swing to give you more distance,” Juan said. The golf pro had been made aware that Sonja was in reality Sonny, and had clearly gone along with the charade.

“I suppose I could work out to build up my muscles,” Sonny said.

The boy had always been ashamed about how weak he was; he tried to play some of the other sports both on the playground and at school, but usually did so poorly that he hated to display his ineptness. Besides, he loved doing stuff with his sister, like dressing up and play-acting and, when he was younger, to play with her dolls.

“Well, let’s try something with your swing,” Juan said. “We’ve got time now.”

Juan demonstrated how Sonny could adjust his golf swing to get longer hits. Sonny watched and then tried hitting a ball as instructed, but failed on his first attempt.

“No, like this,” Juan said, getting behind him and reaching over to place his hands over Sonny’s as he addressed the ball. Juan then guided Sonny in several practice swings. As he did so, Sonny felt the warm breath of the young golf pro on his neck and felt his own bottom being cradled into Juan’s crotch.

“I think I got it, Juan,” Sonny said, growing excited by feeling the warm body of the man who seemed to be almost plastered onto his back. He wondered, too, if he felt Juan’s penis hardening.

Juan stepped away and Sonny took a breath, trying to compose himself.

“Now, go hit two balls and see how you do,” he ordered.

Sonny looked at him, his own face growing flushed. As he did so, he noticed Heather standing at the side of the tee; she had a critical look on her face.

Sonny’s first hit was a disaster; his concentration was shaken by the encounter and he nearly missed hitting the ball. Quickly, before anyone could say anything, Sonny teed up another ball and hit is straight and true, farther than any ball he’d ever hit in his life. It went at least 175 yards.

“There, Sonja, you can do it. Just keep that up and you’ll soon be the top ladies’ golfer in the club,” Juan said.

“Have we had enough lessons now, Juan?” Heather said her voice sharp and edgy.

Sonny immediately felt shamed by the attention he had received from Juan; it was apparent that Juan was favoring him not only because he needed the instruction but because he had been captivated by his soft, feminine beauty.

A few minutes later, Heather approached Sonny; Juan had hit his ball to the right while Heather and Sonny hit to the left. The two girls were together and Heather said in a low voice: “Don’t get too interested in Juan, dear. You’ll just end up in tears. He’s known for going after young girls like you.”

“Thanks. I sensed that,” Sonny said.

“And if he follows form, he’ll suggest giving you golf lessons for free.”

“Well, I need ‘em, don’t I?”

“Yes, dear, but I think I can help you out right now as well as he can. And there’ll be no consequences in the end.”

Sonny nodded.

“You know us girls have to stick together,” Heather said.

“Of course,” he said, smiling to himself, knowing he had been fully accepted as a girl.