The Greenville Mall was like most rustic malls. Two major anchor stores and a concourse running between them. With the concourse being filled with varies name brand boutiques such as Rue18 and Forever 21 and oddly enough an Gothic Topic. The two major anchor stores were JCPenney and Belk. Belk's was located on the east hand side of the mall and JC Penny's was located on the west hand side of the mall. Aunt Cat decided that JC Penny's would hold greater promise for the gown she wanted me to wear and of course the bathing suit too. I can't forget the bathing suit either.

And so that is how this scene opens, with me standing beside a rack of bathing suits while my aunt Cat browses through the selection. From time to time she would pick up a hanger, hold it out in front of her and with a sad sigh she would shake her head and return it back to the metal rack.

“Hailey.” Aunt Cat said, taking a deep breath. “You're going to the one wearing the suit. Mind stop sitting there like a turtle on a rotten log and help me look. Because I have no idea what kind of suit would suit your taste. Picking out a bathing suit that women handle by themselves”

I blinked and blinked again. After a few moments I rolled my eyes and started to browse through the racks of swimwear. After a few minutes of searching I pulled out a bright pink bathing skirt. It came attached to a flimsy top that was nothing more than two cloth triangles with string running through them. I shrugged my shoulders and held the two items up to Aunt Cat.

“See. Pink will look good with your black hair. The bottom will cover your problem area and along with the dance belt will keep you smooth and modest. The top is sexy and will lure people in to dunk you. To complete the picture, I'll tie your hair in two pigtails with pink ribbons and paint your toenails and fingernails pink too.” Aunt Cat pauses. “Pink flip flops too.” She said smiling.

“That's a lot of pink.” I added as I reached down and looked at the price tag. My eyes almost popped out of my head. One hundred and twenty dollars for this. This was insane! This was totally insane! This was madness. I was just about to shove the suit onto the racks and walk away when Aunt Cat walked around me, saw the price tag and smiled a little as she reached into her purse and pulled out a small golden card.

“Hailey. Don't worry about money. Your uncle gave me his debit card. Your uncle and I have sixteen birthdays to make up. This is just one. So go ahead and go hog wild.” She said, smirking a little. A few moments later she was guiding me to a different area of the store. I soon found myself surrounded by formal dresses that were both beautiful and colorful.

“Okay, it's close to four o' clock now. So we don't have much time to shop for dresses. And Piccadilly is about to set out for dinner in about an hour. And we have a two hour drive ahead of us.” Aunt Cat warned. “I guess we can squeeze in another hour so we can buy you a few extra things.” She said, sighing. “Have any idea what kind of dress you want to wear?”

“Something that sparkles and is strapless?” I said blushing a little. “And that pink too! Coral pink!” I added and aunt cat blinked and blinked again, I felt she was debating on either smiling, laughing or throwing up her hands in defeat.

“Strapless! Hailey girl. I'm sorry to say this, but this is not the time to go strapless. I can sew you a little padding to fill out the bathing suit.. but.. in order for you to fill out a strapless stress your going to need something to fill them out. Like some breast foams and finding something like that here in this small town is like finding an ice cream truck in hell.”
I blinked.

“An 'ice cream truck in hell' what does that even mean?” I said as I started to look at the dresses they offered most of them ranged from the one hundred to two hundred dollar rang. I was starting to get the fever it seemed, the shopping fever. “Oh and I'm going to need a new pair of shoes to go along with this dress too! And a new outfit for my dinner date with the Stoners.” I paused. “A southern belle can't be seen wearing the same thing twice!” I added.

“Right..” Aunt Cat said as she watched me pull one dress off the rack behind the other. “It means it's almost impossible to find something like that in this town. We'll need to go into Jackson or Ridgeland or Pear to find something like that. I would say Greenwood. But Greenwood is smaller than Greenville, and I would suggest Vicksburg, but Vicksburg is a hundred and twenty miles away.” Aunt Cat said as she watched me shop.

“Oh heck, I forgot about buying you some bras and panties too.” She added. “I wish we had more time. I would love to take you to the Victorian Secrets they have here and get you fitted for a bra.” She said, sighing. “Damn. So much to do and so little time.” She said, settling down into a nearby seat.

“Oh don't worry. If you get tired I can drive us back home.” I said, smiling a little. “Plus the mall does not close till nine anyway. We still have plenty of time to get everything done.” I said and a small smile. And with that being said I pulled from the racks a strapless, pink satin dress that seemed to sparkle like a thousand jeweled stones when I held it up to the light.

“I guess we should buy you a strapless bra too.” Aunt Cat said with a sigh. “Since you are dead set on getting something strapless. I guess that's the style now. Just make sure it fits good, I don't want the dress slipping down and your forms falling out on stage. That would send the townsfolk running to the hills.” She said, grinning a little.

“That would be funny.” I said, smiling a little.

“Hailey, you have a weird sense of humor.” Aunt Cat said smiling as she shook her head. “If that's the dress you want, why don't you go ahead and try it on and then we'll go find you a pair of matching shoes. “

And with that I was ushered into the changing room. The changing room looked like something from the late eighties. It was small, smaller than a bathroom with barely room enough to turn around in. A full length floor mirror was provided but that was about it, there was no were to sit down. And it smelled, it smelled like plastic. The wallpaper too was starting to peel and the walls were covered with graffiti.

Now you would never expect a women's changing room to be covered with graffiti but this one was. And some of it seemed older than the earth. I had to pause and read some. One read. “ 'A' was here in the summer of two thousand and five.” I blinked and for a moment I wanted to know who this 'A' was. Another one read “Greenville Homecoming Queen Lily Anna Golden brought her gown here. Go class of ninety ninety nine!”

And the most twisted one of all read. “Little Peter can lick your pussy like an ice cream cone!” At that moment I wanted to know who this 'Little Peter' was. And why he was so good at licking ice cream. After spending too many seconds thinking about this more than any sane person should, I returned to the task at hand, trying on the bathing suit.
I'm not going to lie, it was a trick, the skirt part was simple enough. You just slip that one. The problem was trying to tie the top. I found you had to tie the strap around your back first before tying the ones that looped around your neck. But finally I managed to get it done.

“Oh Hailey girl!” Cried Aunt Cat. “You gotta see what Lavender Stone has done now, she gone put her foot in her mouth.” She said from outside the changing room. “Here girl, let me read this post she just posted on Facebook to you.” She cleared her throat. And then she started. “Major update on the Dunking Booth attraction that is going to run from mid Saturday morning to early Saturday afternoon. Hailey, the newest girl on the block, has volunteered to take the whole four hour shift in the dunking booth. As you guys know, Hailey Sharbrough is one of the famous Sharbroughs who's folks founded this town. “

“Okay.” I said blinking.

“Girl what she did is call you out. Pretty much given how many people are liking that post. And are sharing it, half the damn Delta will be expecting to see your pretty little self sitting in that tank. If you don't show up. There's a lot of talking going on.” Aunt Cat said.

I smiled a little.

“So.” I said stepping out. “Take a picture of me and post it on your Facebook account. Just like you did before and show them I'm not going to back down.” I said as I dropped my hands to my side. I then smiled a little and placed my hands upon my hips and stuck out my chest. I then turned my head a little and tried to act like I was going to wink. It took Aunt Cat a minute to catch on to what I was doing. But once she did, a smile a mile long formed upon her face. And a moment later she had snapped her photo. In fact she snapped a few dozen.

“Okay! Good thinking girl. Your a chip off the old block!” She said smiling as she watched the photos being uploaded to the internet. “Okay here what I'm going to add to the bottom. 'Shopping for a brand new bikini with my lovely niece Hailey Sharbrough at the Greenville Mall. Hailey has volunteered to staff the dunking booth at the first ever Sharbrough's Landing Festival. Come out and support her this coming Saturday. Five dollars for three throws, ten dollars to go up and press the button. All money raised goes toward the brave men and women of the Sharbrough's Landing volunteer Fire Department.'” She spoke each word out loud as she typed them on her phone. She then pressed enter and smiled.

A few minutes passed, and Aunt Cat kept her eyes glued to her phone. In the meantime however I walked back into the changing room and tried on the sparkling coral pink dress. Once I had wiggled my way into the dress, I walked back out and smiled as I peered toward my Aunt Cat who understood right off the bat what I was aiming for. Quickly she snapped a few more photos and like before she uploaded them to Facebook. Again she started to type out a message to go along with the shared photos. “Also, my lovely niece Hailey Shabrough has signed up for the first ever Sharbrough's Landing Beauty Pageant. Come out and support her. The event starts at five in the evening. Admission is five dollars. The winner will be crowned at five thirty. All money raised will again go toward support Sharbrough's volunteer Fire Department.”

I felt myself starting to smile a little. Aunt Cat smiled too as she pressed another button a few seconds later she said in something of a boasting tone of voice. “And posted. Now, lets get these two things paid for. We still need to get you some matching shoes, for both the dress and the bikini.”
“And a bra..” I added. “And another outfit for the dinner date with Mrs. Stoner this coming Saturday.” I added.

“Perfect.” Aunt Cat said smiling. “That means we have a week to get you squared away.”

I blinked and tiled my head.

“I have nine days to teach you how to walk in heels, girls. And trust me, when I'm done with you, walking in three inch heels will be second nature. You'll move with such stunning grace those old farts sitting behind the judges stand would never in a million years come to believe you were born a boy. Hell, you'll sweep them and other girls clean off the stage. Once you're crowned, all the wind would be taken out of that woman's sails. Right now we got her in check, soon it's going to be a mate.” Aunt Cat was rubbing her hands together and grinning like a Chester cat.

I blinked. I was a bit lost for words.

“In nine day's well get your name legally changed. Then we'll get you crowned queen of Sharbrough's Landing. You'll make a darn good name for yourself volunteering for the dunking booth. Get your name all in the papers. I'll make damn sure the Sarah Jason of the Yazoo Herald is there to cover your time both in the dunking booth and get a stunning photo of you getting crowned.”

I blinked again.

“Then I’m going to sign you up to play Dotty in the monthly Dotty Fundraiser. That's going to get your name in the Yazoo Herald again and make you  even more famous. And with your name about to be legally changed from Casper to Hailey. Well let’s just say that Mrs. Stoner is soon going to find herself up Jones creek without a paddle.”

“Aunt Cat, you scare me sometimes.” I said with a small smile. “But that's why I love you.”

“Delta Politics girl. Heck, I might even give Charlie Lightgap a buzz. He's the editor and chief of the Deer Creek Pilot. I'll have him cover the celebration too.” Aunt Cat paused. “In fact I think I will give him a call tomorrow morning.”

It was there and then it dawned on me. I was lost as a goose. I was totally out of my element. And I had only one hope for salvation. And that was to lean on Aunt Cat and Uncle Sidney and hope like hell they could use their connections to see me through the perils that lay ahead. Also another thought entered into my head. I wanted George Stoner to lick me like an ice cream cone too.