Monday had me back at school trying to pretend nothing was different. I imagined kids were looking at me and whispering. I was sure they were saying, “Hey, did you hear, he’s really a girl!”

I was standing at my locker, catching my breath, when Lisa showed up. She made a fist and lightly hit me on the arm. “What’s up, dude?” She
smiled, “or whatever!”
“Lisa … hush!”

“Oh, Aar…Amie. Nobody heard me. Are you paranoid?”

“I just feel like everybody’s staring at me!”

“Hey! That hurts my feelings!”

“Why?”

Lisa’s mom was gone. The door was unlocked, as usual, and I went in and made my way to her room.

“Hey Aaron … Wow! What’s the matter?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Nothing … why? Everything is normal….”

“Oh, come on Aaron, you’re all flushed! Your eyes...Have you been crying? Are you OK?”

“I’m not sure. I have the most unbelievable thing to tell you!”

“You definitely have my attention!”

“Lisa, when I share this with you, I’m going to trust that it doesn’t go any farther.”

“You got it! What is it?”

I looked in the mirror. “You look good!” I said it out loud. I was wearing my mom’s slinky blue dress, her jewelry and her makeup. I was alone; Dad was at work and Mom was shopping. I continued, “God, why didn’t you make me a female?” Actually, I wasn’t far from it; I was short and thin with little body hair. The hair on my head was nice and thick and I kept it long. It was inevitable, however. Soon I would
be developing facial hair, body hair, and my voice would change. It made me sick to think about it.

Milsy's roll-out of clocks in the palace comes to an abrupt halt when one refuses to function. Tarvan gets ready to depart for Teldor while Fulvin disappears again. Matters are complicated further when a small group of strangely dressed visitors arrive, one of them of high status!

What Milsy Did

by Penny Lane

23 - Unexpected Arrivals