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Mum came up with an incredible suggestion to me the other day. She proposed that I might like to take my brother Joe with me on holiday for a couple of weeks, staying with Uncle David and his new fancy woman in Dundee. What is there for me to see or do in Dundee? Its only claims to fame are stodgy fruit cake, an incompetent poet and a bridge that fell down!* I told her flat that I had no particular wish to be saddled with the company of a fourteen-year old sociopath in a foreign country where the weather is usually dreadful and the natives can barely speak English. It was bad enough that I was expected to look after him at home on those occasions when her work required her to spend a night or two away.

‘Your brother is not a sociopath — he’s just a little shy that’s all,’ she replied. ‘I know he can be hard work at times, but I’m getting anxious about him now that the summer holidays are about to begin. He doesn’t seem to have any friends since Martin and his family moved away from the village in March.’

‘Exactly — he’s a sociopath. Why can’t he enjoy some of the things that other boys do? At least then I might get to meet some of the elder brothers of his friends, rather than being known as the sister of the ‘Village Nerd’. It is difficult enough to meet decent looking boys in this God forsaken place as it is.’

Mum sighed and didn’t press the issue as she knew that she was going to require my co-operation during the summer holidays. Maybe Joe isn’t quite a sociopath, but even when he did have a friend they used to spend all their time on their computers but never doing anything remotely interesting like playing games or downloading music.

We live in Rusper a village not far from Gatwick Airport in southern England. I am sure there are worse places to live but there are only a few teenagers locally, and we have to go to secondary school in Crawley which is four miles away. Unlike my brother, I have lots of girl friends of my own age (sixteen), but most of them, including my best friend Sue, live in Crawley. Sue has a twin sister, Karen, although they are not very like one another. Karen’s best friend is Denise, whose parents are quite wealthy. They live in a big house in Ifield which is mid-way between Rusper and Crawley. The four of us are currently preoccupied with preparing for a costume convention at the end of the month. The organisers have taken over a hotel in the Midlands for a weekend, and the participants are expected to wear fancy dress costumes relating to the theme of the convention.

‘So what is this convention all about?’ Mum wanted to know, when I’d asked whether I could go.

‘The theme this year is ’the nineties’’ I replied. ‘There’ll be prizes for the best song and dance acts from the 1990s, and also for the best costumes from the 1890s. It was Denise’s idea that we should all attend and her parents have bought her a lovely long dress to wear for the costume parade.’

‘I won’t be able to buy you any expensive costume.’

Life has been a struggle for Mum, as a single parent, but things have begun to get better since she has begun to work full-time.

‘I know: the rest of us poor souls will just have to make do as best we can for Saturday night. However, Sue and I are keen to go in for the song and dance competition on the Friday night and the others have agreed to help us. We’re going as a typical 1990s girl group based on the ‘Spice Girls’. We’ve worked out a routine and have a karaoke version of one of their records. We are going to call ourselves ‘Angelica’ and we’ve been helping one another to make suitable outfits. Denise’s mother is going to loan us different coloured wigs for the show,’ I replied.

‘I thought that there were five ‘Spice Girls?

‘There were, at first, but after 1998 there were only four of them, but in any event we’re just basing our act on them, not copying outright.’

‘What about your accommodation?’

‘I’ll be sharing a hotel room with Sue, and Karen will share with Denise. I have been saving up out of my pocket money.’

‘How are you intending to get there?’ she asked.

Denise’s mother has agreed to drive the entire group of us to the hotel in her six-seater car, together with ‘Aunt Jean’, they will be sharing a room as well.

(I should have explained that Aunt Jean is Sue and Karen’s mother, who is also quite friendly with my mum.)

‘I would trust Jean to keep an eye on you and the twins and make sure you don’t get themselves into trouble, so I suppose you can go, but I’m going to need your co-operation in return.’

‘In what way?’ I asked suspiciously.

‘I’m going to have to leave on Sunday afternoon to travel up to Manchester to get ready for an exhibition on Monday morning, so I’ll want you to look after Joe for me again. However, I can take this Friday afternoon off instead. It is the last day of term and you will be released at lunch time. I thought we could all go shopping together in Crawley to make sure you have plenty of supplies whilst I’m away.’

‘I’ll look after Joe on Sunday night, if I have to, but I can’t go shopping with you. The girls and I are going to need to work on our costumes on Friday. However, you could give us a lift to Sue and Karen’s house, if you like, and collect me again in the evening.’

‘Alright Jenny, I’ll give you a lift over to Crawley and collect you afterwards but what are we going to do about your brother?’

‘Couldn’t you take him shopping with you in the afternoon and then in the evening he can either watch television or else play on his computer’ I suggested.

‘I suppose so, but I’m getting a bit worried about him being such a loner all the time. I don’t suppose there would be any way in which you could involve him in this convention that you are planning to attend?’

For a second I was appalled at her suggestion, but then I recalled the arrangements.

‘Sorry Mum, but all the bookings have been made some time ago, and he would have no costume to wear. Also there would be no room for him in the car when we go, and in any event, it would involve him spending some of his money, and you know how he likes to hoard it all the time.’

Mum sighed again, but accepted the inevitable.

‘I’d better check with Jean first that it is going to be alright for you to spend Friday afternoon and evening there,’ she said.

(* Wikipedia has articles on Dundee Cake, William Topaz McGonagall, and the Tay Bridge disaster, if you are interested.)

I’ve never met Denise’s mother, and from what I’ve heard she has more money at her disposal than sense. However, if she is also willing to include my daughter in this trip to a so-called ‘convention’, I’m not going to complain. I therefore agreed to let Jenny go but began to wonder about what I was going to do to entertain Joe whilst his sister was away for the next weekend. It would be better if I could take them both away on holiday for a couple of weeks during August, but unfortunately that isn’t realistic. I’ve only just secured my promotion after several years of working part-time so that I could look after the kids. My new job involves a fair amount of travel and occasionally spending nights away from home, but Jenny is now old enough to take responsibility for her younger brother, and in any event, he is almost fifteen and is usually quite trustworthy.

Last week I asked Joe what he planned to do during the summer holidays. I even offered to pay for him to go away to a summer camp for a couple of weeks, but he didn’t seem interested in any of my suggestions, and said he would be alright on his own at home. It isn‘t that I think he is likely to get himself into any trouble; quite the opposite in fact. For most boys of his age the prospect of six weeks with no school and the opportunity to go out with friends would be wonderful, but I can’t complain about his lack of progress at school; his latest report was excellent. I just wish he could enjoy life and socialize a little more.

As expected, Jean was perfectly happy for Jenny to spend Friday afternoon with her daughters and even invited the three of us to have dinner with them afterwards. This suited me well as it would save me from cooking and I’d wanted an opportunity to discuss my worries about Joe with her for some time. Jenny managed to bribe her brother to co-operate with this plan and come with us to Crawley on Friday by offering to help him with some of his housework chores. I collected them both from school after lunch, together with Jenny’s two friends and dropped the three girls at Jean’s house where they intended to spend the afternoon working on their costumes. Karen and Sue (the twins) had been given responsibility by their mother for preparing our evening meal and laying the table as Jean, ran a hairdresser’s shop and beauty salon in town and so wouldn’t be home until 6.00pm. As soon as we’d dropped them off, Joe and I completed the bulk of the family shopping for the week, took it home to stow it, before setting off to go back to Crawley for our meal.

Over dinner, the three girls were complaining that their other friend, Denise, had failed to turn up for school in the morning, or for her fitting during the afternoon, although she’d previously assured them that she would be doing so.

‘We’ve tried to ring her several times,’ said Jenny, ‘but her mobile has been turned off, and there’s no answer from her home number either.’

‘It is a nuisance because I’ve almost finished her dress for the ‘Angelica’ routine and I just wanted to make sure its the right length,’ said Karen.

‘You don’t need to get in a panic, as you still have a full week before the convention,’ said Jean.

‘But we'll need to spend that time rehearsing if we are going to stand any chance of winning a prize,’ said Sue.

At the end of our meal the three girls politely asked whether they might be excused to carry on with their work, and I volunteered to help Jean with the washing up. Joe parked himself in front of their television set in the dining room, which was a little bit annoying as he wasn’t entirely out of earshot of the kitchen, but fortunately Karen returned to the room soon afterwards and came to my rescue.

‘Joe, are you watching anything in particular at the moment?’ she asked.

‘No, not really,’ he answered.

‘In that case would you mind giving me a hand please?’

‘Doing what?’

‘Come upstairs and I’ll show you.’

He shrugged his shoulders, turned off the television and followed her. This was my opportunity to talk to my friend.

‘Jean, I’m getting quite worried that Joe seems so down since his friend moved away a couple of months ago and he spends most of his time on the computer at home.’

‘I don’t think you need to worry Carol, lots of boys enjoy playing violent computer games these days, but they soon grow out of it,’ commented Jean.

‘No, I’m not worried about him playing violent games, in fact many of the things he does on the computer are quite constructive, but the only contact he has with other children is via chat rooms. I’m anxious in case he becomes clinically depressed, particularly as he seems to have no particular friends from school, and isn’t interested in sports or the things that other boys in the neighbourhood enjoy,’ I said.

‘Not all boys like football,’ she commented.

‘I know, but he seems to have nothing in common with the other boys in the village.’

‘Are you worried that he might be gay?’ asked Jean.

‘That wouldn’t worry me as long as he was happy, I think it is a bit early to be worrying about his sexuality; I just wish he would get on with his puberty and start growing into a man.’

‘He seems to get on alright with Jenny.’

‘They don’t squabble like some other children, but she has her own friends and interests and doesn’t want to be lumbered with a geeky younger brother hanging around all the time. I wish I could spend more time with him, but this new job means I have to spend a fair amount of time away on business. I’ve struggled for ages for this opportunity and seem on the brink of rebuilding my career, although I don’t want to sacrifice the happiness of my children in the process,’ I said.

‘I’m not sure that a mother can do a lot in those circumstances, he really needs to spend time with youngsters of his own age’.

‘I know but I can’t force him to make friends with other boys, or girls for that matter.’

Jean sighed.

‘I’m not sure what to advise, Carol, as I have no experience dealing with teenage boys, but I would try not to be too anxious. Things will probably work themselves out in time. The main thing is not to put any pressure on him. What about Joe’s father, could he perhaps spend some time with him?’ asked Jean

‘Joe has never met his father, and Jenny was only eighteen months old when we went our separate ways. I believe he has re-married and now has a new a family somewhere back in Ireland. If Joe wants to track him down at a later date, then of course I’ll help him do so but otherwise I would rather let things stand. He’s managed without a father so far, and I don’t want to complicate things.’

‘I know what you mean. I was devastated when my Jack was killed in an accident at work, especially as the girls were only five at the time, but in retrospect we’ve coped quite well without him,’ commented Jean.

‘It must have been difficult for you.’

‘Yes it was awful at the time for us all, but the compensation has at least enabled me to set up and run my own small business’.

We finished the washing up and put away the crockery and continued our conversation in the kitchen for half an hour when Sue suddenly appeared from upstairs.

‘Mum, please may we borrow your long wig?’ she asked.

‘I suppose so, as long as you’re careful with it, but what do you want it for?’ asked Jean.

‘Just give us ten minutes and then you can come up and see’.

I was disappointed when Denise didn’t turn up for her costume fitting this afternoon and then failed even to let us know why she wasn’t coming. Sue and Jenny think that she’s just a spoiled rich kid, but she’s always been alright with me and has never let me down like this before. Sue and Jenny can get a little cliquey together at times and the presence of Denise is normally a useful counterbalance because she tends to see my point of view. Everyone assumes that just because Sue and I are twins we must always think alike and agree with one another, but we’re not genetic twins, don’t look alike and have quite different personalities. We just happened to have shared the same womb together.

Although Denise didn’t turn up, I’ve been making good progress with the light blue dress that she’s going to wear on Friday night. It is a ‘baby-doll’ style and I just needed to make sure that the length was right for her and then finish off the hem. In the absence of Denise I might have used the tailor’s dummy in mum’s room, but this was being used by the others. That’s when I had the idea of asking Jenny’s younger brother to help. He’s about the same height as my friend and although not exactly the same shape, there was nothing that a little bit of padding couldn’t rectify. I therefore dragged him away from some mindless television programme downstairs and explained what I required.

‘Joe, would you mind putting on this dress for me just for a few minutes whilst I check the hemline as Denise hasn’t turned up?’

He looked surprised by the suggestion.

‘Couldn’t one of the others do it for you?’ he asked.

‘No, they’re both taller than you and Denise are, and in any event they’re busy next door. You would be just about right if we provide you with a pair of boobs to make it fit properly. Please do this for me, it will only take a few minutes and I promise not to tell anyone.’

‘I don’t know Karen,’ he said looking distinctly embarrassed.

Jenny sometimes complains about her brother, but I’ve always found him to be alright, just a little bit shy. If you smile and speak nicely to him, pat him on the head and offer him a sugar lump he’s not immune from a little feminine persuasion.

‘Please Joe, it’ll be a great help to me,’ I said in my best entreating voice. ‘I want to get this finished tonight.’

He sighed.

‘Go on then.’

‘Good!’ I said, giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek, which made him turn the colour of a beetroot.

‘If you strip down to your underpants, and pop this on for a few minutes’ I said handing him one of my bras, you can fill the cups with your socks. By the way, what shoe size are you?’

‘Five, but why do you need to know that?’

‘Just right, you can put on a pair of my pop-socks and Denise’s high-heeled shoes, that way your height will be exactly right.’

Joe didn’t look at all bad wearing Denise’s dress and shoes, and he was also quite co-operative in either standing still or turning round when I needed him to do so. In fact we chatted together quite happily as I finished off the hemline, and I was just beginning to revise my opinion of him, when the other two suddenly appeared from the next room.

‘My goodness Joe, you look brilliant in that dress, that colour really suits you,’ gasped Jenny, clearly surprised by the sight of her brother.

He went bright red for a second time, and I began to feel a little sorry for him.

‘I have an idea, just wait there for a minute, everybody,’ said Sue, and disappeared downstairs.

There was no stopping my sister and Jenny once she’d returned bringing Mum’s long wig with her. Within minutes they’d substituted the pop socks for a pair of tights and had him sit down at the dressing table to make up his face and put on the wig. Any protests from Joe were brushed to one side, but I did at least manage to secure from them both the solemn assurance that this evening’s events would go no further — I could just imagine what his life would be like if it became common knowledge at our school.

‘Nobody at school will get to know, remember we’re not due to go back for six weeks,’ said Sue.

By the time our mothers came upstairs to join us, the dress was finished, and Jenny and Sue had made a pretty good job of making up his face and had brushed and styled the wig. They’d even given him some of Sue’s jewellery to wear. The overall effect was quite stunning, and entirely convincing. He looked just like a girl; and quite a decent looking one at that.

‘What do you think Mum?’ asked Sue triumphantly as they entered the room.

‘Er … I think he looks lovely,’ answered Mum, nervously looking towards Aunt Carol to see how she was going to react to seeing her son dressed as an attractive young lady.

‘I hope the girls haven’t been bullying you into dressing like this?’ asked Carol, looking severely at her daughter, in particular.

Joe could have used this opportunity to drop us all in it, if he chose to do so, but he didn’t. In spite of what Jenny says about him, he seems to be a good sport.

‘No, not really, I agreed to model the dress for Karen as Denise hasn’t turned up. I wasn’t exactly expecting the wig and makeup as well, but I don’t mind as long as they all promise not to tell anyone,’ he answered.

‘We’ve all sworn to keep it a secret,’ I added, by way of confirmation.

‘In that case, I must say that you do look most attractive dressed as a young lady,’ said Aunt Carol smiling.

‘In fact, you look so good in that costume that if Denise doesn’t arrive soon, you would be able to take her place in the competition next weekend,’ joked Sue. ‘I’m sure that nobody would notice the difference.’

That was a bitchy thing to say about my friend, but she did have a point. Joe didn’t respond and appeared to be a little bit embarrassed by the suggestion, and no-one else took it seriously; after all we were relying on Denise’s mother to drive us there. I looked across at Joe and had a sneaking suspicion that he might even be enjoying the attention being shown to him for once. It was at that point that the telephone downstairs rang and mum left to answer it and Aunt Carol followed her soon afterwards.

Before we returned Joe to the state in which we’d found him, the others wanted to take his photograph, but I wouldn’t let them do it without his prior agreement, which was not forthcoming. We did, however, indulge in a little more gentle teasing. Of course he protested that we’d tricked him and forced him to wear the dress against his will, but I still had the impression that he didn’t really mind that much. In fact we hadn’t even begun to turn him back into a boy when Mum called us all to go downstairs.

The girls have put a lot of work into making those costumes, and Karen, in particular is becoming a very competent seamstress. I wasn’t sure what to think about their dressing up Jenny’s brother in that way, in front of his mother, but he didn’t seem too upset about it. However, I had to leave them all soon afterwards to answer the phone downstairs. It was Denise’s mother, Alice, on the phone.

‘Jean, I’m terribly sorry but Denise has been admitted to hospital with acute appendicitis and is scheduled to have an operation tomorrow evening’.

‘Oh that is a pity, I hope she’s going to be alright.’

‘I don’t think her condition is thought to be particularly dangerous as long as they can operate before there is any chance of it bursting and her developing peritonitis. However, I’m afraid that neither Denise nor I will be able to go away next weekend. I‘m really sorry to let you all down. Is there anyone who could go in our places?’

‘I’ll talk to the girls and see if they know of anyone, but the main difficulty is going to be getting there together with all of their costumes, as I don’t drive’.

‘I would ask my husband to take you all and collect you again afterwards but he has to be away on business that weekend, That was why I’d offered to come in the first place,’ she said.

‘Don’t worry Alice, I’m sure I can work something out. Your priority will be looking after Denise.’

‘Thanks for being so understanding, and I am so sorry to let you down. By the way, Denise has asked if Karen would be able to call in to see her at the hospital tomorrow morning to discuss the arrangements’.

‘I’ll tell her,’ I said, putting down the phone.

I now wish that I’d learned to drive, but I simply couldn’t face taking lessons immediately after Frank’s death, and then, before I knew it, I was spending all my time on the business or bringing up the twins. However, we live near the town centre and public transport in Crawley is not too bad, so it has never been a major issue before now. I was quite relieved that Carol was with me when I had to break the bad news to the girls. I asked the three of them to come downstairs. . Joe also came, still wearing Denise’s dress, high heels and my wig.

‘Girls, that was Denise’s mother on the phone, I’m afraid there’s some bad news; she’s in hospital with appendicitis.’

‘Is she going to be alright?’ asked Karen.

‘I would imagine so, but neither Denise nor her mother will now be able to go to your convention next weekend, and I don’t drive, so unless you know of someone else to take you, I’m afraid we’ll have to cancel.’

I could see from all their faces just what a blow this would be.

‘Mum, how about you? Your work car would be big enough for us all. Would you be able to drive us there instead next weekend?’ asked Jenny.

Carol thought for a few moments before replying.

‘I’m not sure. I suppose I could probably re-arrange my schedule for next week and take next Friday as annual leave. The car would certainly be big enough, but what would we do about accommodation?’

‘Alice and I had arranged to share a hotel room for the weekend, Karen and Denise were going to share another and also Sue with Jenny. You could take Alice’s place Carol, and then Joe could share a room with his sister,’ I said.

I then turned to the twins, ‘girls, if Joe were to come instead of Denise would you be able to arrange a suitable costume for him as well?’

‘The only problem is that we’ve already entered the group competition as an all-female singing group and our entry would be meaningless if one of the contestants were to be a guy,’ said Karen.

‘Also I’m not sure that a teenage boy and a girl would be allowed to share a bedroom, even if they were brother and sister,’ added Jenny a little sourly. I suspect that she’d been looking forward to the prospect of sharing a room with her best friend.

‘Well I can’t leave Joe at home alone for a weekend. If he doesn’t go I won’t be able to take you,’ said Carol definitively.

‘I’ll go along as a spectator,’ suggested Joe.

‘But that would still leave us one short for our entry. The dance routines are all designed for four,’ said Sue.

‘Since Joe looks so good wearing Denise’s baby-doll dress he could always pretend to be one of our girl-group in the first competition, if he were willing to learn the song and dance routine. That way we would only need to find him an 1890s male costume for the Saturday competition,’ said Karen.

‘I am sorry but I’m not prepared to appear in public pretending to be a girl,’ answered Joe, looking rather incongruous as he did so since he was wearing a baby blue dress, long wig and high heels.

‘It is only fancy dress Joe,’ said Karen, soothingly.

‘Quite a few of the girl entrants will be dressing up as guys,’ added Sue.

‘Maybe, but it is different for boys,’ said Joe. ‘I’d never live it down at school if it were to be discovered.

‘I imagine there will also be some other guys dressed as girls as well. In any event, it is most unlikely that there will be anyone else who knows you at the convention,’ added Karen.

‘Even if there’s no-one present who knows me, there’ll be pictures and a list of competitors on the convention website and so some of your friends at school will be bound to have a look,’ said Joe. ‘They’d soon work out that I must have taken part dressed as a girl’.

‘In that case the answer would be for you to spend the whole weekend as a girl. There would be nothing to stop you from registering in a female name, pretending to be my cousin. Your real name would never be recorded and nobody other than the six of us would ever know your true identity,’ said Jenny.

‘That’s a good idea,’ said Karen. ‘Also, I know that, Denise has already bought herself a rather special costume for the Saturday night, which we now know will fit you. She may be willing to lend it to you,’ as well.

‘Hang on a minute! I’d be bound to be found out by someone during the course of a weekend’.

‘I don’t see why, as long as you’re careful, you look most convincing to me at the moment,’ said Jenny.

‘But I’ve never worn high heels before, or put on makeup, or coped with long hair,’ he complained.

‘We could teach you all those things over the next few days, and we would promise to look after you during the competition,’ said Karen. ‘We all think that you really look convincing as a girl wearing that dress and long wig. Your voice hasn’t yet broken, so you also sound like a girl’.

‘Mum, would it be possible for Joe and Jenny to stay at our house for the next few days, if he agrees to the plan,’ asked Sue. ‘That would give us plenty of time to provide him with the necessary practice in wearing female clothes and for us to teach him some of our dance routines and finish working on the costumes.’

I hesitated for a minute before answering, This was all beginning to get out of hand.

‘I would have no objection, but it is up to Joe and his mother to decide without you putting on any pressure,’ I replied.

Jenny looked across at her mother looking for an answer from her.

‘I would only be willing to go along with the proposal, if Joe were agreeable,’ replied Carol.

The three girls turned and looked pleadingly at the young man, who now seemed a little overwhelmed by the enormity of what was being suggested.

‘Please Joe, say yes,’ said Jenny.

‘I don’t know’ he said abstractedly. ‘I’ll need a little time to think about the implications of what you’re suggesting. I’m not saying no, but I have to be sure that there would be no danger of me ever being found out.’

‘Joe, I promise that nobody outside this room will ever know,’ re-iterated Karen.

I felt it was time to come to his rescue.

‘Now hold on a minute, everyone, before anyone can make any decision about next weekend there are a number of questions that need to be resolved. First of all, Carol needs to find out whether she can have the time off work next Friday and borrow the firm’s car. Karen, you will need to visit Denise in hospital tomorrow morning to see if she is prepared to let you borrow her two costumes, and then go to see her mother to find out whether Carol and ‘her niece’ would be able to take over their bookings for the convention. At the same time I’ll contact the organisers to find out if it is too late to change the names of the entrants. I therefore suggest that we should all meet tomorrow lunch time when we’ll be in a much better position to decide what, if anything is going to happen next weekend. That way Joe will have time to sleep on the idea before deciding whether or not he is agreeable to the plan. If he isn’t happy about it, then that will be an end of the matter’

All concerned accepted that this was a sensible course of action.

‘I have to work in the salon tomorrow, but can probably arrange to take a long lunch break,’ I continued. ‘I suggest that we should all meet here at 1.30 pm and then make a final decision about what is happening next week. If Jenny and Joe want to stay here after that they will need to bring a change of clothes with them.’

‘I think I’d like to change back into my own clothes now,’ said Joe.

‘Yes of course, I’ll help you,’ said Karen.

Once Joe and Karen had left us, Sue approached Carol and myself

‘Is there anything that Jenny and I can be doing to help in the meantime?’ she asked.

‘I suppose you could sort out between you some female clothing that Joe could wear if he were to agree with your plan and stay here next week,’ said Carol.

The twins and I have invested a lot of time and effort into our costumes and our dance routine. It would be a disaster if we were not now able to attend the convention. I’m sure that if I were to be left alone with Joe for an hour I’d be able to persuade him to co-operate. However, before Mum drove us home on Friday, she took me to one side and ‘suggested’ in a serious voice that nothing more should be said to him on the subject, until the following lunch time.

‘But Mum, this competition is really important to all of us, and he has the answer to our problem in his own hands’.

‘I know, but you’re asking quite a lot from him and so you will have to let him make up his mind in his own time’.

‘I’m sure that I’d do the same for him in other circumstances.’

‘That may be so, dear, but let him decide.

‘I don’t see that it is any great issue; he may even find that he enjoys himself,’ I said

‘Maybe so, but please let him decide for himself,’ she said.

I felt so frustrated in the car going home, not knowing whether I should be trying to plead with him or merely order him not to be such a wimp. Mum did have a quiet talk with him in his bedroom later on, but she wasn’t trying to put any pressure but merely to find out his thoughts and answer any questions.

‘What did he say,’ I asked Mum later that night.

‘I believe he’s very much in two minds whether to agree or not. He has no other plans for the weekend and he would like to be friends with the others. He certainly doesn’t wish to be the cause of you all having to cancel your weekend. However, he’s worried about what people will say if they find out that he entered a competition dressed as a girl.’

‘But that is so stupid, it’s only a fancy dress competition after all, who cares what other people might think?’ I said.

‘I know dear, but it is different for boys — it somehow goes to the root of their gender identity.’

‘Hmph, he doesn’t have any gender identity?’ I replied scornfully.

‘That attitude isn’t going to help you.’

‘I suppose you’re right, but what did you say to him?’

‘I told him that he made a very convincing girl earlier this evening and that I don’t think anyone else would be likely to find out. However, it was up to him to decide, and not to let himself be bullied by you or your friends.’

‘Thanks a lot,’ I replied.

‘I did also say that if he was willing to go then we’d all promise to help him, as much as we could.’

‘Alright then, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what he decides.’

Nothing more was said by me to Joe concerning the convention until our group met once again for lunch today, although my friends and I had been frantically texting one another with the latest developments. I told them that Mum had rung her manager and arranged to reschedule her week so she could take the following Friday as leave. He also had no objections to her using the firm’s car during the weekend. However, as a result of the changes she would now have to leave home for her business trip after lunch on Sunday and would be away until the Thursday night. If necessary, I would have to look after my brother for four nights, and was busy planning what I might do to him during that period if he refuses to co-operate. Mum did say that she would be happier if we both were to stay at Jean’s house until she got back.

Sue told me that her mother had been in touch with the organisers of the Convention and explained the situation regarding Denise and her mother. They would be happy to substitute any names in the competition and would also amend the room bookings as necessary, but needed to know all the details by the following Monday morning when the brochures were due to be finalised.

I managed to scrounge a lift in to Crawley this morning from one of our neighbours and so I was able to join Karen and Jenny when they called in to commiserate with Denise in Crawley Hospital. Her family is wealthy and so we found her occupying a private room, where she was waiting for her operation later that evening.

‘How long are you going to be in here for?’ asked Karen.

‘If all goes well, I should be out by next Wednesday, but I’ll still have my stitches in and the doctor insists that I won’t be fit enough to attend the convention on Friday Also it’ll be a few weeks before I can do any dancing.’

‘You must be really disappointed,’ said Sue.

‘Yes,’ she answered sadly. ‘Mum bought me this lovely long Edwardian-style dress , complete with matching underclothes especially for the costume competition on Saturday evening. I’m not sure when I’ll get to wear it now’.

‘We may all have to drop out of that competition, unless Jenny’s mother can take us, and I fear that the Spice Girls idea will also have to abandoned without your presence,’ said Karen.

‘Surely there’s someone else who could take my place next week. They would be welcome to borrow my costume?’

‘It would need to be someone whose parents had a big car and would be willing to take us all as Mum doesn’t drive. Can you think of anyone?’ asked Karen.

‘Not really, at least nobody that we like, and who is also my dress size’ she said.

Sue looked at her sister and myself.

‘Are we going to tell her?’ she asked.

‘Tell her what?’ asked Denise.

‘I think we’ll have to,’ I said.

‘But she must promise to keep it an absolute secret if we do,’ added Karen.

‘What secret?’ said Denise suddenly taking more of an interest.

‘We are considering a possible replacement, but you must promise to keep their identity secret, even from your mother if we tell you,’ said Sue

‘Alright, I promise; who have you got in mind?’

‘Jenny’s kid brother Joe,’ continued Sue. ‘When you failed to arrive yesterday evening, Karen persuaded him to model your blue dress, whilst she finished off the hem-line. With a little bit of padding in the right places, he is the same size as you are. He looked brilliant in the dress, particularly after we added my mother’s long black wig and a little bit of makeup.’

‘So you want young Joe to be one of the Spice Girls?’ asked Denise incredulously.

‘Believe me he could easily get away with it if he were only willing to co-operate and learn the dance steps! What’s more, if he agreed to come, then he and my mother could take the places of you and your mother and we would all have a lift to the convention,’ answered Karen.

‘You said, ‘if’; hasn’t he agreed to go ahead with the plan?’ Denise asked smiling.

‘No; not as yet, but we are all still working on him. We’ll have to sort out another suitable costume for the Saturday evening as well.’

‘Male of female?’

‘We think it might be easier and safer for him to stick to being female for the whole weekend.’

‘In that case, it is easy. You can tell him from me that if he agrees to fill my place as one of the ‘Spice Girls’ then he may also borrow my Edwardian dress on Saturday,’ said Denise.

‘That would be really brilliant. Thanks very much,’ said Karen.

‘There would be one condition, however, which is that you must all come to see me at my house for a dress rehearsal next Thursday afternoon. I should be fit enough to see you all before you leave on Friday’ she said.

‘I’ll agree provisionally, as long as Joe can be persuaded to go along with the plan,’ said Karen smiling.

‘What shall I tell Mum?’ asked Denise.

‘She doesn’t know Jenny’s mum and has never met Joe; so I suggest that you say to her that both of your costumes will be worn by Jenny’s cousin who happens to be staying with them for a couple of weeks.

‘Alright then, I’ll telephone her to say that you’ll be calling round to collect the costume later today.’

When she heard the story, Denise’s Mum was pleased to know that the other girls would not be let down as a result of her daughter’s operation, and that she needn’t feel guilty about withdrawing her offer to drive the group. She even agreed to deliver the brand new outfit to the twins’ house when she drove into Crawley later that morning. Karen then rang her mother to ensure that we all got our stories straight if Denise’s mother should accidentally meet with up with her in town.

As soon as we got back to the house, Sue and I organized some clothes which Joe might wear over the next week, if he agreed to co-operate. They were provided by the three of us, mostly things that we’d grown out of. Denise’s mother dropped off the costume and also the various tickets for the events shortly before lunch. We were expecting Mum and Joe to arrive at any minute, and everything was now in his hands.

After our visit to Denise on Saturday morning, the six of us met together at our house for lunch. Karen and I had done the dutiful daughter act and prepared sandwiches for everybody. The two mothers reported back on their favourable discoveries. Jenny’s mum also explained that she would have to re-organise her schedule to take the next Friday as leave to make up the time. Thus it would be necessary for her to be away for four nights in the coming week. My Mum immediately came to the rescue by saying that Jenny and her brother would be welcome to stay with us for those nights — which of course would also suit Karen and myself (as long as he decided to co-operate). Karen reported our conversation with Denise. Joe didn’t look too happy that we’d let someone else in on the story, but Karen explained in her soothing voice that it was necessary to secure Denise’s agreement and that we’d also sworn her to absolute secrecy.

It appeared that all the potential obstacles had been overcome and it was now up to Joe to decide whether or not our plans for the next weekend could go ahead. He was well aware of the trouble that everyone had gone to, and the weight of expectation that was now on him. Yet the scale of the task and the complication of the arrangements seemed to be growing all the time. At first it had been suggested that he should enter a single competition dressed as a girl. Then it grew to his spending the whole of next weekend as a girl. Now it was clear that we were also expecting him to dress as a girl for the whole of the next week in order to gain the necessary practice, and that we would also be holding a dress rehearsal at Denise’s house on Thursday afternoon.

‘Are you sure I couldn’t just go along as a male spectator?’ he asked fairly lamely (as if this was going to satisfy us for all our trouble).

We were expecting a little bit of token resistance on his part, and we'd agreed a strategy beforehand. Karen and I would begin by playing the roles of ‘Miss Nice’ and ‘Miss Reasonable’ respectively, whereas Jenny would come in as ‘Miss Nasty,’ later on, but only if it proved to be necessary.

‘I doubt if the hotel has a spare room vacant for a single male,’ I said. ‘But if you agree to come as Jenny's female cousin she wouldn’t mind sharing a hotel bedroom with you and we would all help you to get ready’.

‘Joe it would be such a shame if you were to attend but didn’t enter the competitions, particularly as we now have two brilliant costumes for you to wear. In any event, without your presence it would spoil our group entry,’ said Karen using her best ‘pretty please’ voice.

My sister has always been better than me at persuading people into doing things against their better judgment. That is why she was selected to be the potential ‘Miss Nice,’ with me in reserve, and then Jenny only if he didn’t agree to play ball. Joe looked as if he might be on the point of agreeing, but there was still something that was preventing him, so my sister came up with a suggestion.

‘Look Joe, before making up your mind will you at least try on Denise’s other costume?’ she asked. ‘It’s a lovely dress and I promise that you’ll really look great wearing it.’

I think Joe quite likes my sister - not in a sexual way — but as a friend. Somewhat to the surprise of everyone present, he agreed to do so, and so the three of us hurried away to find him some suitable underwear and Mum’s long wig to wear. Our two mothers said nothing, not wanting to put any more pressure upon him. Denise’s dress was made of pale pink satin and was both glamorous and expensive looking. It fitted pretty well except it was a little tight at the waist and there was a slight bulge evident between his legs. The colour suited him well.

‘Don’t worry, there’s a corset that will hold in your tummy on the night and we can easily find a way of disguising that tell-tale bulge,’ said Karen.

Believe it or not, I actually felt a little envious of him wearing that dress, although it would have been too small for me to wear. In fact everyone admired the dress, saying how well it suited him, and that he made a truly convincing and attractive young woman.

‘I could also put on some extensions to make your hair and finger nails look better if you wish,’ commented Mum.

Everyone looked expectantly towards him, but still he didn’t answer.

‘Alright it is decision time now Joe, you can’t keep the girls waiting any longer,’ said Aunt Carol.

Jenny’s brother sighed, and then he shrugged his shoulders.

‘All right then, I’ll agree but only on the condition that everyone promises to do all they can to help me to avoid detection and to keep my taking part a secret. Also, I don’t want to become the butt of your jokes during the coming week, or afterwards for that matter,’ he said.

Everyone looked relieved, and we were about to begin making detailed plans, when my sister announced that she’d like to say a few words on behalf of the other members of our team. I looked across at Jenny, but she’d no more idea than I did about what Karen was about to say.

‘Go ahead then,’ said Joe.

‘First of all, Joe, we appreciate what you are agreeing to do for the sake of our entry, and we accept your conditions,’ she said.

Jenny and I murmured our agreement, but Karen wasn’t finished speaking.

‘However, we also have some conditions as well. If you are going to remain undetected, then you will have to co-operate willingly with us, and get as much practice as possible over the next week. It isn’t just a question of your dressing as a girl and learning our dance routine but also learning how to walk, talk, and gesture as a girl, as well. It is therefore essential that you spend the whole of the next week living as a girl and even thinking like a girl, in order for you to have enough time to take it all in.

‘I couldn’t go home dressed as a girl, I’d never live it down in the village if anyone saw me,’ he said.

‘I know, and Mum has said that there would be no problem with you and Jenny staying here for the week. It needn’t be all work, and I’m sure that we’ll have some fun together over the next few days, but you must willingly co-operate with us. So if we ask you to paint your toenails then your answer should be, ‘what colour?’ Do you understand?’

Mum smiled at my sister’s use of metaphor, but seemed to agree with the general drift of her meaning.

‘I think Karen is right Joe, the only time I’ll have available to fit your hair and nail extensions will be this weekend. Since you’re going to be looking like a girl for the next week you may just as well get used to wearing female clothes at the same time’.

We looked expectantly, waiting for a reply.

‘I suppose I don’t have much choice. I’ll agree to Karen’s conditions as long as you all agree to mine,’ he said.

Even Mum and Aunt Carol looked pleased by his decision. Jenny, Karen and I were ecstatic and we hugged and kissed him to thank him and assure him how nice he was going to look in his various costumes. But even this wasn’t enough for my bossy-boots sister who started to assert herself once more.

‘My first suggestion is that from this point onwards, until after the competition, we should forget all about ‘Joseph’ and give you a girl’s name,’ she said. ‘We should also start referring to you as ‘she’ and ‘her’ between ourselves.

For a moment I thought that Karen might have gone too far and that he might chicken out and change his mind, but after a few seconds he smiled and replied: ‘Which one?’

‘Good for you, I think you’re getting the right idea,’ said Karen laughing. ‘However, I think we can probably let you choose your own name, as long as we approve’.

‘Shall I use my mother’s middle name - Josephine?'

We looked at one another and Jenny and Karen both nodded.

‘Alright, as long as you don’t mind us calling you ‘Josie,’ I said.

He nodded, and even looked quite pleased with himself (or perhaps I should now start saying herself)..

Now that the decision had been made, both Mum and Aunt Carol were preparing to leave us.

‘I have to get ready for my trip,’ said Carol, ‘but if you like, I’ll call in tomorrow and take everyone out to lunch before I begin my journey. I should like a chance to see my new ‘daughter’ once again before I go away’.

‘Hang on just a minute Mum,’ said Jenny disappearing upstairs.

She returned a few minutes later with the clothes that Joe had brought over and also those that he’d been wearing until fifteen minutes beforehand.

‘Please will you take these clothes home with you, Joe won’t be needing them over the next week; Josie has plenty of things to wear.’

Aunt Carol looked across to ‘Josie,’ as if to ask ‘her’ permission. She shrugged once again as if to tell her mother to go ahead. A few minutes later Aunt Carol left, taking with her all remaining traces of her son.

I was a little surprised by the events of the last day, but Joe, (or perhaps I should now start saying Josie), seems to be more cheerful than I’ve known him (or is it now her?) before. I think I agree with Karen and I’m going to have to stick to using ‘Josie’ and ’her’ for the next week otherwise life will get really confusing. Although Carol had to leave quite quickly I decided that I’d better ring and compare notes with her when I got a chance. In the meanwhile she seems to be happy enough for me to help the girls with their plan.

‘I’ll need to fix Josie’s nail extensions at the salon, and the best time for me to do that will be after we close this evening. I should also be able to attach her hair extensions at home afterwards.

‘What are we going to do about providing her with some boobs?’ asked Jenny.

‘Mum, whatever happened to those silicone breast forms that gran used to wear after she had her operation?’ asked Sue.

‘I think they’re in a box in the loft somewhere,’ I replied.

‘Will it be alright for Josie to borrow them?’ asked Jenny.

‘She’s welcome to them, if you can find them.’

It was almost time for me to leave and go back to work

‘I suggest that you girls should work out between you the clothes that Josie will need to wear during the next week, and stow them in the wardrobe in the spare room together with Jenny’s clothes.. You will also have to find her something to wear for this afternoon before she spoils that new dress’.

‘Don’t worry, we’ve already sorted that out,’ said Sue.

‘I am also sure that between the three of you, you will also be able to provide her with some necessary items of makeup from your own supplies’ said Jean.

‘No problem,’ said Karen.

Finally, young lady,’ I said turning to Josie, ‘Whilst I’m at work this afternoon I would like the girls to help you to put on some makeup and give you a few basic lessons in deportment, and then for you all to come to the salon at 6.00pm this evening’.

‘Come on Josie, no matter how nice you may look, you can’t stay in that dress all afternoon, let’s find something else for you to wear,’ said Karen.

Josie did as she was instructed, and Jenny started helping her new sister to take off the dress, and had a close look at her body.

‘It is quite fortunate that Joe was a late developer,’ she said, ‘it seems that we won’t need to shave Josie’s legs, armpits or chin’.

I had to smile at the expression on Josie's face as I was leaving. I don’t think the poor girl had realized until then just what she was letting herself in for.

~o~O~o~

During my afternoon tea break I gave Carol that phone call, to find out what she was thinking about events and to make sure that she was happy for me to continue helping the girls.

‘I’m not sure what I feel about it all,’ said Carol. ‘On the one hand I am pleased for Jenny and the twins’ sake, but it was a little disturbing to be suddenly calling my son Josie and referring to him as ‘her’.

‘I’ve never had a son, but I think I know what you mean,’ I replied.

‘Yet she doesn’t seem to be unhappy, and half of me wonders whether she’s enjoying all the attention.’

‘Yes, I’d noticed that as well.’

‘Perhaps we should just let them get on with it, as long as Josie doesn’t seem to be unhappy.’

‘I think you are probably right,’ I said.

‘Alright, that’s what we’ll do, but please keep in touch with me over the next day or so and let me know what has been happening.’

~o~O~o~
The four girls came to the back door of the salon at 6.00pm, having walked together through the town centre at the end of a busy Saturday afternoon. Josie was wearing my wig, a tight black cotton skirt, a white cotton blouse, tights and some black leather shoes with 3-inch heels. Her face was made up quite effectively, so I guess one of the girls must have done it for her. I also noticed that they had pierced her ears and put in some studs. They certainly were addressing every last detail, but all in all she looked quite attractive and not remotely like a fourteen-year old boy

‘How did you get on this afternoon, Josie?’ I asked.

‘Alright I suppose, the others have loaned me some of their clothes to wear

‘We’ve concentrated on some fairly ‘girly’ clothes for the next few days as she needs to get used to wearing tight skirts and high-heels as soon as possible, so they don’t feel at all unusual by next weekend’ said Jenny.

‘We also found those breast forms, but they are only taped on for the time being, we’ll stick them on properly just before the convention.’

Josie now looked quite well endowed for her age, and as they were covered by her clothes I’d never have known that they were not the real thing.

‘We’ve also given her a first lesson in using cosmetics, and we’ve all contributed some items so she’ll be able to have some supplies of her own,’ added Karen.

‘You really are all taking this seriously.’

‘Yes of course, it is through attention to detail that Josie will not be exposed next weekend’ said Sue, rather pompously.

‘I hope you don’t mind Mum but we’ve also loaned her one of your spare handbags,’ added Karen.

‘So I see,’ I replied. ‘No, I don’t mind, but I would like it back in due course.’

Josie seemed to be a little bit overwhelmed by everything, so I sought to bring her back into the conversation.

‘How did you get on during your journey here this afternoon Josie?’

‘I was very nervous to begin with, but fortunately we didn’t come across anyone from our school, and I gradually gained confidence as we went on,’ she said.

‘Nobody gave us a second look, it was just four teenage girls out shopping together,’ commented Sue.

‘I think you’re very brave, and I wish you the best of luck,’ I said returning the conversation to Josie.

‘Actually my feet are now beginning to ache a bit in these shoes,’ she continued.

‘That’s exactly why you’re going to need to wear heels for the next week, so you can get used to them in time for the convention,’ added Jenny, without showing a trace of sympathy.

I could see that the poor girl was going to be bossed about by the others, if I was not careful so I suggested that they should go and order a take away pizza for our tea, whilst I began to fit the nail extensions on their friend. I told Josie to come in and sit down.

‘Now remember what we told you about keeping your knees together when you are sitting,’ added Jenny. ’Nothing will give you away faster that leaving your knees apart so that everyone can see up your skirt’.

‘Please, give the poor girl a break everyone, it took you years to learn all this.’

Once the others had left, I invited Josie to sit down,

‘Are you still alright with all this?’ I asked.

She hesitated for a moment, looking downwards to avert my gaze. Whoever had applied her eye-makeup for her had done a very good job.

‘Yes, I think so.’

‘You know, the others are right, you do make a pretty girl,’ I said.

She smiled demurely and thanked me.

‘Alright then Madame, we’ll make a start on your hands,’ I said. ‘These will feel a little odd at first, but they’re quite strong and I’m sure you will have got used to having them by next weekend. After tea I will ask one of the girls to put some lacquer on them for you, whilst I sort out your hair extensions’.

‘Karen wants me to paint my toe nails as well,’ she commented smiling.

‘That’s a job you can do for yourself later in the week’ I said, ‘they won’t be visible when you go in for the competition’.

‘Alright then, I’ll do the job myself, but I seem to have a lot to learn over the next few days’.

‘Yes, that’s true, and how do you feel about the prospect of living as a girl for the next week and wearing makeup?’ I asked.

‘So far it has been alright as long as nobody gives the game away. In fact I am now looking forward to the next week. It’s a little bit like an adventure’.

Jenny and the twins arrived back with the food after about forty minutes, just as I was finishing the last nail. Everyone admired Josie’s new elegantly shaped nails and noted that she’d quite slender and attractive hands. I quickly packed the equipment I was going to need for the hair extensions and we then made our way home where we ate the pizza. After tea, Karen washed up, Sue went back to work on her costume and Jenny started to sort out the spare room where she and her sister would be staying for the next week. I started to braid some tracks in Josie’s hair ready to sew on the extensions. Karen finished her task first, so she took responsibility for giving Josie a manicure and then polishing her finger nails.

By the time Jenny came down, she was astounded with the transformation of her former brother who now appeared to be just like the younger sister she’d always wanted. Josie was no longer wearing a wig, but had long brown hair of her own, that had been nicely cut and styled. She also had immaculately polished finger nails.

‘Wow Josie, you are really lucky, I would love to have people chasing round after me fitting hair extensions and painting my lovely long nails like that,’ she said.

Josie smiled and looked quite smug.

‘Well you’ll just have to save up your pocket money to have them done,’ she said.

When I called in to say goodnight to our two visitors at bedtime, I found them both wearing nightdresses and sitting at the dressing table. Josie was brushing Jenny’s hair for her.

‘I quite like the idea of having a younger sister’ commented Jenny smiling.

I had to speak quite sharply to my sister and Jenny this morning as they were making silly comments about Josie after breakfast. She may have been out of earshot at the time, but that way could lead to disaster, if she were to hear and get upset, she might withdraw her cooperation.

‘Now listen you two, you have both promised that Josie wouldn’t become the butt of your stupid jokes. Remember that she’s doing us all a big favour, and this plan is only going to work if you show her a little more respect.’

They stopped giggling.

‘Actually, we’ve both been very respectful to my sister so far this morning,’ said Jenny. ‘I’ve promised to help her to sort out her hair as soon as she emerges from the shower, and Sue is going to give her a makeup lesson’

‘Good; let’s keep it that way with no more jokes or snide comments. It would be a disaster if she changed her mind now. So what else do we have to do today?’ I asked.

‘Mum wants to try sticking on the breast forms this morning, and then Aunt Carol is coming to take us all out for lunch. This afternoon we will need to begin going through the dance steps together.’
 
 
Jenny was as good as her word and she showed her sister how to deal with her newly acquired long hair and put it up in rollers. Sue decided to postpone the makeup lesson until after Mum had finished with the breast forms, and got on with her costume instead. I decided to give Mum a hand as I was interested to know how they worked.

Josie had proceeded to dry herself after the shower and finished off with some scented talcum powder. She was now flat-chested having removed her padded bra, but still looked surprisingly feminine in her borrowed dressing gown and with her long hair and polished finger nails. Mum asked her to lie on her back on her bed, whilst she carefully put each form in its correct place and drew round the outline using a felt tip pen. Then she stuck a number of shaped pieces of velcro directly on to her chest inside the area to be covered by each breast, and then stuck the corresponding pieces on the back of each form.

‘These Velcro patches should carry most of the weight of each breast for you but we’ll glue them to your skin around the edges as well,’ she said.

Josie didn’t say anything, but looked a little anxious, so I smiled and assured her that it wasn’t going to hurt.

Mum carefully spread a thin line of glue just inside each outline and a corresponding line around the edge of each form. After waiting for a little while for the glue to cure, she carefully placed each one in turn and quickly wiped away any surplus.

‘Josie, I want you to hold each breast in place whilst I carefully smooth round the edges with my finger tips to ensure that they are firmly stuck down.’

Once she had finished, this task, Mum removed all visible traces of the felt tip pen using some ‘wet-wipes’.

‘I’m afraid these will not be easy for you to take off when the time comes, and you mustn’t try and do it by yourself without using the right solvent. On the other hand, your new breasts should be quite secure, even in the shower, and they will not do any harm to you even if you they remain attached for a little while’.

‘How long is that?’ I asked Mum.

‘We’ll check that everything is alright on Wednesday, and if so we can re-attach them in time for the convention.’

‘May I sit up now and have a look at them Aunty Jean?’ asked Josie.

‘No I would like you to stay put for a little while longer please whilst I put on a little flesh-coloured concealer to disguise the joins’ said Mum. ‘You’ll need to learn how to do this job for yourself if you are going to wear a low cut top and show off your cleavage’.
 
 
Ten minutes later Mum at last gave Josie permission to sit up and allow her new breasts to dangle freely. They were not particularly large breast forms, but once they were free they seemed to grow under the influence of gravity and also to pull the surrounding skin into shape. At first Josie was worried that the weight might cause them to fall off, but it soon became obvious that they were quite securely fixed to her, even though they did constantly seem to move, almost of their own accord.

‘So how does it feel to have a couple of extra pounds pulling down on your chest?’ I asked.

‘They feel a little odd, and keep moving about as I move,’ she said as she stood up and walked around. ‘I can see now why girls need to wear bras to keep them under control.’

‘Yes, welcome to our world. Come and have a look at them in the mirror’ suggested Mum.

‘I can’t see where they begin and I end,’ she said.

‘Good, that’s the idea. You should think of them as if they were a part of you for the next week,’ I added.

Mum left us and I proceeded to show Josie how to put on and adjust her bra so that her new appendages felt a lot more comfortable.

‘They feel a bit more under control now, but I am sure the extra weight is making me stand and move differently’.

‘That’s only to be expected, and it will help in making you look a little bit more convincing’ I said.

I went to my bedroom and retrieved a particularly low cut top that I didn’t wear too often myself as it made me feel a little self-conscious..

‘Here, try this on, it’ll show off your cleavage and you can wear it with the black skirt you wore yesterday’.

Josie put it on and again looked at herself in the mirror.

‘They look pretty impressive don’t they?’ she commented, blushing a little, but also quite pleased with herself.

‘Yes they do, but I think you need to wear a pendant with that top, something that will attract the viewers’ eyes down towards your cleavage. Hang on a minute, I have just the thing’.

I returned a few minutes with a silver chain with a ruby coloured pendant, which I put round her neck.

‘There’s also a pair of matching earrings if you don’t mind me taking out those studs,’ I said.

‘Alright then, as long as you can help me put them in, I’m still not quite used to having these long finger nails’ she answered.
 
 
Jenny and Sue were most impressed by, and I suspect were even a little envious of, Josie’s new breasts. Whereas before she was obviously the youngest in the group, she now seemed to have the body and looks of a sixteen or seventeen year old. They were amazed that she could wear such a low cut top without it being obvious that her breasts were not the real thing.

After we’d all stopped for a coffee and to admire Josie’s boobs, Sue proceeded to give her a first lesson in applying makeup. My sister is a good teacher on this topic, carefully explaining what everything was for and the effect she was hoping to achieve, both demonstrating, but also allowing her to do part of the job by herself. Where Josie’s lack of experience showed through, Sue carefully showed her how to repair the damage.

‘Oh, there’s so much to learn, I’ll never manage to pick everything up in a single week,’ commented Josie, fretfully.

‘You needn’t worry about the competition itself,’ said Sue, ‘we’ll help one another to get ready, and I expect Mum and Aunt Carol will help us as well. However, there may be other occasions over the weekend when it will be useful if you can put on your own makeup, without our help. So if you do your best every morning for the next week, you will gradually get the hang of it.’

As soon as Sue was finished, we both helped Josie to take out the rollers and brush her hair. We then called Mum and Jenny to come and have a look.

‘My goodness Josie, I thought you looked pretty good last night, but now you’ve turned into a real beauty,’ said Mum.

Josie looked embarrassed by the comment but we could also see that she looked pleased as well.

‘Thank you everyone. I really think that I’m going to enjoy myself over the next week.’

I arrived at Jean’s house at midday on Sunday and rang the doorbell. It was answered by a poised and sophisticated young woman, aged about seventeen, with long hair and prominent breasts. I assumed she must be a friend of the twins, and it took me a few seconds before I realized, that the ‘she’ standing in front of me used to be my son.

‘Oh my God, Joe! Whatever have they done to you?’ I asked in unfeigned amazement, as soon as I realized who it was.

For a second the recipient of my astonishment also looked surprised, but then responded.

‘Remember it is going to be ‘Josie’ and ‘she’ for the next week, Mum, ‘otherwise it could get embarrassing if someone were to overhear you.’ she replied blushing at my initial reaction.

‘Alright, Josie, but what have they done to you?’

‘Don’t worry, nobody has done anything to me that cannot be undone without too much trouble,’ she replied, this time with a smile.

Before I could give any other reaction we were joined by the others, who wanted to know my opinion of the transformation of my son into a second daughter.

‘I was expecting that you might be able to turn him into a fairly convincing looking fourteen year old girl, but I’d no idea that I would be meeting such a beautiful young woman this morning’ I replied. ‘You’ve all done wonders, and she might easily be taken for being sixteen or seventeen’.

I noticed Josie looking bashful as I said this, but she also looked quite gratified as well.

‘Now that we have her looks sorted, we’ll have to ensure that she can also talk and act like a girl in time for next weekend,’ said Karen.

‘In that case, we can begin by going out for lunch together to give her a little more experience of appearing as Josie in public,’ I replied.

Jean and I, and our respective daughters therefore went out for a meal together at a country pub in a village over towards Horsham. It was a nice sunny day and so we had our meal at a table in the garden. We all stuck to soft drinks, however, as I would soon be driving and the girls were all under age.

As far as I could see, Josie’s appearance and demeanour didn’t excite any particular attention from the customers or bar staff, other than that she appeared to come from an unusually well-dressed group of young women. I could see a group of lads at another table ‘giving them all the eye’, but that was only to be expected, and nobody made a move as it was obvious that the girls were out with their mothers. We all chatted together quite happily, and no-one overhearing our conversation would have guessed that there was anything unusual about any member of our little assembly.

Soon after she’d finished her meal, Josie turned to her sister and whispered, ‘I’m going to need to use the toilet’.

‘No problem,’ answered Jenny, smiling. ‘The ladies toilet is just over in the corner there. If you like, I’ll come with you, this time, just to make sure you’re alright and to help you to repair your makeup, afterwards.’

‘Thank you, I should appreciate that’.

‘I think I need to go as well,’ said Karen.

‘Me too!’ added Sue, not wanting to be left out.

’If nothing else, the events of this last weekend appear to have improved relations between my two,’ I commented to Jean after they left.

‘I think Josie is proving to be a good influence on all three of them, as long as you are also happy about it,’ said Jean.

I thought for a moment before replying.

‘I suppose I’m happy about it, as long as she is as well.’

'So far, that seems to be the case,' said Jean.

Inevitably it took the girls a little while to return, and they were all giggling together as they did so. I looked across to Jean, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, as if to say, ‘I really don’t know what to make of it.’

‘Come on now girls, I need to take you back to Crawley as I'll soon have to leave for my business trip.

The four girls seemed to be chatting happily in the rear seats of my work six-seater car. Inevitably Jenny and Sue sat together, but Josie seemed to be getting on well with Karen as well. Jean sat in the front with me.

On the way home Jean reminded her daughters that they had previously promised to write addresses on about five hundred envelopes for her business over the next few days. It was in return for their mother taking three days off over the next weekend, and was for an advertisement that she wished to send to all her customers.

‘As Jenny and I are staying can we help you with the task as well?’ asked Josie.

‘Yes of course, if you are willing to do so?’ replied Jean.

This offer went down well with both Sue and Karen, less so, I suspect, with Jenny, but the four girls agreed that they would begin the job the following afternoon after having spent the morning doing the household shopping at the local supermarket.

We arrived back at Jean’s house at about 2.45pm.

‘Before I leave, may I have a brief private word with each of my daughters?’ I asked.

‘Yes of course you can, please come in and use the front room,’ said Jean

As we entered the house Jean shooed the others out of the way and I took my newest daughter to the front room for a chat.

‘Are you sure you are alright with all this Jo ... sie?’ I asked. ‘I didn’t realise that your sister and her friends were planning to take it quite so far.’

‘Yes I suppose so, and in any event it is a bit late for me to be having second thoughts now that I've acquired all these appendages,’ she answered looking down at her finger nails, but I couldn’t help but notice her boobs, set off as they were by a ruby pendant.

‘It might represent a waste of everyone’s efforts, but if you were truly unhappy and were beginning to have second thoughts, I would support you,’ I said.

‘To be honest, I’ve quite enjoyed myself so far, as long as no-one else finds out, but what do you think I should do Mum?’ she said.

‘I think that you must decide for yourself. If you want to know my opinion, I was rather taken aback by the extent of your transformation a little earlier on, but I’m now beginning to get used to the idea of having two daughters, if you do not object,’ I replied smiling.

‘Alright then I will stick with the promise that I made yesterday, but please don’t get too keen on the idea of having a second daughter, remember I’ve only agreed to stay as Josie for this coming week’.

I smiled.

‘Yes, of course, my dear. Well good luck, I’ll be keeping in touch by telephone and will see you all on Friday morning,’ I said giving her a hug and a kiss. ‘Now will you please tell your sister that I’d like a quick word with her.’

Josie left, and a few minutes later, Jenny took her place.

‘Jenny. I want you to promise me to behave sensibly over the next few days and particularly to remember that you’ve promised to look after your sister and ensure that nobody else finds out her secret’.

‘I will Mum, you don’t need to worry. I’ve always wanted to have a sister and it will be good fun teaching her how to act like a girl’.

‘Alright, but be sure to take good care of her, and remember that she’s risking a lot for your sake, and the sake of your friends. Despite appearances, she isn’t as grown up or experienced as you are.’

‘Don’t worry Mum, I promise that I’ll look after her.’

With that I went and thanked Jean once again for letting my two stay, said goodbye to the twins and drove off, wondering how my new daughter was going to get on over the next few days.

As soon as Mum left us yesterday, the twins and I began to teach Josie her dance routine and singing part. Fortunately she would only be a part of the harmony and also had a relatively minor dancing role. This was just as well as I imagine it would be quite difficult for her to do anything too ambitious wearing those high heels. She took it all in good part though, and worked hard. It seemed likely that with a little more practice she would be ok. We also looked at some recordings of the Spice Girls from the 1990s on You-tube to try and give her an idea of what we were seeking to achieve. They did seem rather old fashioned, but it was supposed to relate back to the 1990s.

There was also the second competition relating to costume from the 1890s, which would not involve music or dance but merely a costume parade. We’d each of us acquired or adapted a long dress to wear and needed to know how to move and gesture. We therefore went out for a walk to the local video rental shop where we selected a Henry James costume drama from the period. The stories were pretty dull but we were able to take note of how the female characters dressed and behaved at a ball.

~o~O~o~
Aunt Jean had to leave for her work at 8.15 am this morning, and so the twins and I took responsibility for ‘advising’ Josie about what to wear and we kept an eye on her whilst she put on her makeup and did her hair. This time we were all a little more casual in our choice of clothes. We would normally have worn trousers for such a trip but on this occasion we agreed that everyone would wear a dress or a skirt for Josie’s sake. In her case I suggested a plain denim skirt and a plain pink blouse. Sue loaned her a shoulder bag and a purse so that she could carry some of her own money.

Josie did well once again on our shopping trip and didn’t appear to attract any attention to us. By mid-morning we’d managed to find everything on Aunt Jean’s shopping list and so we sat down for a coffee and a cake in the supermarket restaurant. After a few minutes we were joined by Sarah who was in the same class as the twins and myself.

‘Hi everyone, it’s so nice to see you all,’ she gushed. ‘Have you heard the news about Denise?’

‘Yes, we went to see her on Saturday morning,’ answered Karen, and commenced telling her the full story.

As she did so, I looked across to Josie who was now looking distinctly uncomfortable as a result of the new arrival. Joe was in a different year from Sarah, and had probably never spoken to her before, but she would no doubt have recognized her, all the same. Sarah, for her part showed no signs of any recognition.

‘Sarah, this is my cousin Josie, who’s staying for the week. She’s going to be taking Denise’s place at the convention next weekend,’ I said when Karen had finished talking.

‘Hi Josie, it’s nice to meet you,’ she replied without seeming to give the matter a lot of attention.

Josie offered a weak smile in response and continued to look decidedly uncomfortable.

‘I’m shopping with my mother, and was just going to look at the promotions on the cosmetics counter. There are some ‘buy one get one free’ offers on both lipsticks and eye shadow. Would anyone like to pair up with me to share the cost?’ asked Sarah.

‘Sorry but Sue and I both need to save our money for this coming weekend,’ commented Karen.

Now I know I shouldn’t have done this, but I couldn’t stop myself.

‘How about you Josie? You were telling us that you needed another lipstick,’ I said mischievously.

Karen looked daggers at me. At first my sister appeared surprised, but then she gathered her wits.

’You’re right, I could use a new lipstick and also maybe some eye-shadow,’ she said, somewhat to the surprise of us all.

‘Great, Josie, let’s go over and pick one shade of each,’ said Sarah.

Whilst they were gone, Karen told me off once again and accused me of putting the whole venture at risk.

‘I’m sorry, but I needed to pay her back for volunteering my services addressing those letters for your mother. In any event, I get the impression that she’s quite enjoying herself.

‘I just hope you’re right,’ she replied.

Ten minutes later Josie returned with a bag containing a dark red lipstick, some grey eye shadow, some eyeliner and a wand of black mascara. Apparently Sarah had shared the cost of the first two of these, but had to leave soon afterwards to meet her mother. Josie had then gone back and bought two more items for herself.

As she showed us her purchases, Karen turned to me and whispered: ‘I think you may be right.’

I therefore assumed that I was forgiven for my recent transgression.

When we got home Karen suggested that Josie should try out her new purchases whilst we prepared some lunch. When she re-appeared we found that she’d changed into a dress and put on some makeup quite expertly.

During the afternoon we began the task of addressing Aunt Jean’s envelopes, using a word-processed list on their home computer.

‘I am happy to help with the job, but why can’t this task be automated?’ asked Josie.

‘Unfortunately Mum isn’t very good with computers, and she started keeping her address list as an ordinary word processor file rather than entering them into a database’ explained Sue.

‘We keep telling Mum that she should start keeping her records a little more systematically but she never gets round to it,’ added Karen.

‘But it still ought to be possible to extract a useable address list from this file, would you mind if I had a go before we spend any more time writing them out by hand?’ asked Josie.

‘Yes by all means, we’ll let you get on with it as long as you’re fairly sure it can be done,’ said Karen.

‘Leave it to me. Reformatting files on a word processor and converting them into spreadsheet or database files was one task that Joseph had always been able to do well, and I don’t think the transition to Josie should have affected those abilities,’ she answered.

‘In that case, if Jenny and Sue will take responsibility for preparing the evening meal, I should be able to finish sewing the last costume’ said Karen.

By dinner time my sister had isolated and formatted an address list, and we needed only to buy some sticky labels for her to be able to print them out. Aunt Jean enquired about our progress when she came home and we confirmed that we’d made a start and promised that we’d have the job finished by the Wednesday, so she was happy for us to work on our dance routine and to hold yet another rehearsal once dinner was over.

‘Sue, I think you’ll need to get yourself a pink bra to wear with that dress,’ commented Karen to her as she handed it over.

‘Yes I agree, but I should be able to get myself one in town tomorrow,’ she answered.

‘Josie, we also need to find a way of hiding that give-away bulge between your legs. It is not so obvious in your blue dress but might be visible when you are wearing Denise’s Edwardian dress,’ continued Karen, who had apparently taken on the role of our wardrobe director.

‘The judicious use of some medical sticking tape to tuck away your penis and testicles should be able to sort that out,’ suggested Sue. ‘We can get some in Boots tomorrow’.

‘As long as it doesn’t hurt’ Josie replied.

‘Only when you come to take it off,’ I quipped.

‘I am not sure about that,’ said Josie.

‘Remember your promise about doing what we ask of you,’ added Sue.

‘What about when I need to go to the toilet?’ asked Josie.

‘Then you’ll have to sit down like the rest of us girls,’ I said.

Mum rang during the course of the evening to see how we were getting on. She spoke first to Josie, who presumably told her that all was well, and then came on to me. I half wondered whether I should mention the incident involving the lipstick purchase earlier today, but in the end decided not to. The incident didn’t reflect particularly well on me and I didn’t want to give her anything to worry about before the coming weekend. In the end Mum seemed quite happy and told me that she would ring again on Thursday, although I suspect she may be ringing Aunt Jean more often.

Before going to bed we compiled a list of what would be needed from the shops the following day including some computer labels, some flesh coloured medical sticky tape and a new bra for Sue.

We were all most impressed with Josie yesterday; not only with the way in which she handled the incident involving Sarah, but also her suggestions for addressing the envelopes for Mum. She seems to be gaining in confidence when we are out together and I don’t think anyone that we’ve come across in Crawley has had any suspicions about her so far. She has even seen one or two people from her class in town, but they are in a lower year than the rest of us and so we ignored them, and since Josie now looks a year or two older than Joseph I don’t think any of them would have identified the girl who was keeping us company. Josie therefore seems to be getting on fine when she is part of a group although I still wondered how she might manage out on her own. I therefore made a suggestion to the others over breakfast.

‘Why don’t we send Josie to a lingerie shop on her own today to buy my bra, whilst the rest of us get the other items we need? It can be a special project for her and will be a good way of demonstrating to us how well she’s doing as a girl,’ I said.

‘Which shop do you have in mind?’ asked Jenny.

‘La Senza, in County Mall, near to the station. I can usually find what I’m looking for there.’

‘I’m not sure that I’d be confident enough to go on my own, and in any event, I wouldn’t know what to buy for you,’ Josie commented.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll explain to you what colour and size I need, and if you bring the wrong one back then you’ll just have to take it back to the shop and change it,’ I said with a smile.

Jenny and Karen agreed that this would be a good plan and assured her that she would be fine. After a little bit of persuasion and reassurance from us all, Josie eventually agreed do the shopping on her own. When we got to town I handed over some money and provided her with detailed instructions as to what I wanted. Jenny, Karen and I went looking for the printer labels and the surgical tape and we all agreed to meet up in a café half an hour after we’d left her.

We were at the rendezvous on time, but Josie didn’t show up and after ten minutes we began to become a little anxious in case something had happened to her, or we’d had expected too much from her. Eventually she arrived twenty five minutes later than promised, and carrying two bags from La Senza.

‘Is that one alright Sue?’ she said handing over the smaller bag.

I looked inside.

‘Yes, that looks fine thanks, but what kept you for so long?’ I asked. ‘We were just beginning to get worried about you’.

‘Sorry, but I had to go to a cash dispenser to withdraw some money from my account,’ she replied.

‘Why was that?’ asked Jenny

‘Well, I know you will all think I’m crazy, but in the shop they had a really lovely matching set of lingerie in my size for half price. The set was in the same colour as the baby blue dress that I’m going to be wearing on the Friday night, so I decided to go out and buy it.’

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders as if it was the most natural thing in the world for her to do. As you can guess, we were all surprised by this admission. All the same, we asked to see her purchases and couldn’t help but admire the light blue silky bra, camisole, suspender belt and knickers that she showed to us, nor deny that they were a real bargain for the price she’d paid, even if she would probably only have the opportunity of wearing them on one occasion.

‘They are great but now we’ll have to buy you some stockings to go with the suspender belt,’ said Karen.

During the course of the afternoon Josie was true to her promise and successfully printed out Mum’s entire address list on to the sticky labels, whilst the rest of us helped to stick them on to the envelopes. The completed pile, ready for posting, was waiting for Mum, together with her evening meal when she returned home from work.

‘These are really brilliant, and they look so professional; thank you very much girls.’

‘It was Josie who printed the labels, we just stuck them on the envelopes,’ admitted Karen.

‘You also now have a separately formatted file containing the names and addresses of your customers, if you ever need any more labels, added Josie. ‘It could form the basis of a new record keeping system.’

Mum was so delighted that she readily agreed to help us to manicure one another’s nails and pluck each other’s eyebrows during the course of the evening. Of course Josie had only recently had a manicure so she spent the evening experimenting with the makeup she’d bought, putting in and taking out some earrings into the newly healed holes in her ears, and trying on different outfits. We also insisted on her modelling her new lingerie in front of us all, together with the matching stockings we’d bought for her afterwards. She was clearly a little embarrassed when we asked her to do so, and so we kept our comments to how nice she looked. However, as soon as she went back up to the spare room to get changed, we had a brief discussion, which also involved Mum.

‘On Monday she bought herself some makeup and today it was some sexy lingerie, I think your sister Josie has been discovering that she enjoys being a girl,’ I said to Jenny.

Jenny was about to respond, when Mum interrupted.

‘Now remember that she is only doing what you asked of her. I remember Karen said that she wanted her both living as a girl and also thinking as a girl, so you can’t blame her for doing what you asked.’

‘You’re right Mum, and she has been making a very good job of it so far,’ answered Karen.

Before we went to bed on Tuesday Mum helped Josie to remove her breast forms, suggesting that she should leave them off for the next day, and then she would help to attach them again on Thursday evening so they could then stay put until we returned home after the convention. I watched: it was a little bit of a fiddly job, involving the use of a solvent, but eventually they came off without too much discomfort. The skin underneath was a little bit pale but there was no sign that they’d done her any harm

My sister Karen has been keeping in regular touch with Denise’s mother to find out how her friend was progressing. She was relieved to discover that all had gone well with the operation, and that Denise was due to be sent home on Wednesday afternoon. Karen asked if she might visit her friend on that day, but her mother requested that she should leave it for one more day, so as not to wear her out. However, she was perfectly happy for the group of us to go ahead with Denise’s original suggestion of holding a dress rehearsal at their house on the Thursday afternoon.

The weather on Wednesday was wet, and so the four of us spent the bulk of the day at home rehearsing, catching up with Mum’s housework or else in preparing the evening meal. We hoped that in return Mum might be willing to help us to do one another’s hair during the course of the evening. When she returned home from work Mum was amazed at the clean and tidy state of the house and her meal ready. She helped Josie to stick on the breast forms once again then us all to wash and set our hair. She also gave detailed instructions as to how we should deal with it when getting ready for our rehearsal the following day.

Whilst she was putting Josie’s hair in rollers I heard Mum raise the topic of computerising her business records with her, following the comment that she’d had made the previous evening. Both Karen and I have told Mum that she needs to do this, and we’ve shown her how to use a word processor, but we aren’t computer experts. Mum once even went as far as buying a special software package for her business but has never used it. She is a little bit technophobic and has never had the time to stop what she was doing, take stock and then begin to convert her existing word processed and paper records.

‘What sort of records do you keep Aunt Jean?’ asked Josie.

‘Well there is the appointments diary, our list of customers, our stock records and then of course my accountant keeps sending me these spreadsheets, although I never know what to do with them, other than read the printouts. Everything is in a bit of a mess really.’

‘It may not be as difficult for you to automate everything as you think. It may be possible to reformat your existing records and insert them in a database. It would require some more detailed investigation to be certain, but I could probably help if you wanted me to,’ she answered.

I could see that Mum was surprised that someone who was not yet sixteen could make such a suggestion. She said that she would think about it and speak to her again.

I rang Denise yesterday evening and we had a long chat. It was the first time that we’d spoken since her operation and we were both anxious to exchange our news.

‘How are you feeling?’ I asked.

‘I'm alright I suppose; a little bit sore, and I’ve been told to take it easy for a while and must not exert myself as I still have stitches and a dressing in place. I just hope the scar won’t be visible when I wear a bikini.’

‘Operation scars these days tend to be much smaller than they used to be. When are they taking your stitches out?’ I asked.

‘I have an appointment at the Outpatient Department next Tuesday morning,’ she replied. Then, as soon as I'm discharged Mum and Dad are planning to take me to our cottage in North Wales for a while afterwards.’

‘How long for?’ I asked.

‘They are talking about staying until the beginning of September, although Dad will have to come back for some meetings at his work from time to time.

‘So I won’t be seeing you much this summer,’ I said feeling a little disappointed.

‘I am sorry,’ said Denise, ‘I’m not too happy about it myself, but they want to take me away somewhere where I can take things easy and won’t be tempted to go out dancing or shopping. Maybe after I’ve been there for a week or two I'll be able to persuade Mum to let you come out and stay with us as there’s plenty of room.’

'OK then,' I responded flatly.

I was rather disappointed by this news as Denise had become my best friend over the last few months, and now I had the prospect of a fairly bleak summer in the company of my sister and her friend.

‘We’ll have to see when the time comes, but in the meanwhile is it still alright for us to come to your place tomorrow afternoon and hold a rehearsal?’

‘Oh yes; I’m most anxious to meet my stand-in and get to know how he’s getting on.’

‘Her new name is Josie, at least until after the convention is over, and she is doing very well indeed. Denise, please remember that you promised to keep this to yourself. Josie really looks and acts the part well and so the only way her secret is likely to be uncovered would be if one of us lets something slip.’

‘Yes, of course, I’ll be careful what I say tomorrow. As far as my parents know, my place is being taken by Jenny’s cousin.’

‘Good, let’s keep it that way for Josie’s sake.’

‘By the way, how will you all get over here tomorrow?’

‘As there are four of us and we’ll be bringing our costumes, I suppose we’ll have to take two taxis.’

‘Shall I ask my Mum if she can pick you up in her station wagon?’

‘Yes please, if she’s willing to do so.’

Denise’s Mum rang me back ten minutes later and confirmed that she would collect us at 2.00 pm. She also invited us all to stay for dinner, and promised that her husband would drive us home when he got back from work in the evening. I went in to see Mum to check that this would be alright with her. She was just finishing off Josie’s hair, which was looking really smart.

‘Are you sure that Josie is going to be alright tomorrow afternoon?’ Mum asked. ‘After all Denise’s parents have no knowledge about her true situation’.

‘If Josie can manage to go in to a lingerie department on her own and buy herself some girlie underwear, I don’t think she should have too much trouble dealing with Denise’s parents,’ Sue said.

I noticed Mum smile, but she didn’t say anything. Josie blushed a little.

‘Maybe I did get a bit carried away and was being reckless on Tuesday, but I don’t think anyone realised about me,’ she replied.

‘I’m sure she’ll be alright, as long as we can do something about hiding Joseph’s left over dangly bits, as a bulge will be visible when she wears that tight pink dress,’ Sue continued.

‘Well don’t do anything too drastic, remember that Joseph is going to need those dangly bits in good working order next week,’ said Mum laughing.

Josie looked as if she wasn’t sure whether we were joking or not. She did however accept that we were going to have to do something, no matter how embarrassing it might be for her.

‘You’ll soon discover that any girl has to suffer a little discomfort for the sake of her appearance,’ Sue suggested.

‘Most girls will have to suffer far greater indignities than that during the course of their lives,' added Jenny.

Josie reluctantly agreed to let us do something for her after Mum had left for work this morning. I’d privately warned the other two about making any funny or derogatory comments about her anatomy beforehand — it was going to be embarrassing enough for the poor girl as it was. We invited Josie to come through to my bedroom, take off her knickers and lie down, whilst we decided what to do. She did so but looked extremely embarrassed.

‘It’ a strange looking organ, I’m glad I don’t have one of those,’ I thought to myself, but said nothing and adopted a detached and professional attitude to my task. I also gave my sister a sly but nevertheless sharp kick when it seemed as if a smirk was about to break out on her face. I put on some latex gloves from the medicine cabinet, and began the task of strapping the organ out of the way by using strips of surgical tape.

‘Remember she still has to be able to urinate, so don’t make it too tight and don’t cover the tip’ Sue suggested.

Jenny looked on in horrified disgust, but kept her thoughts to herself.

‘How does it feel Josie?’ I asked, when I’d finished.

‘It doesn’t feel particularly uncomfortable at present but I’ll have to see what I feel like when I need to have a wee. The main problem is that with these breasts in place I can no longer see myself down there’.

‘That’s alright, most girls are unable to see themselves down there. If necessary you can always look at yourself using a hand mirror, but the whole object is to hide everything from view’ Sue said.

‘By the way how are your breasts feeling today?’ I asked.

‘They are fine, they are both securely fixed and not at all sore.

‘Good, so they should be alright until Sunday?’

‘I guess so.’

‘That’ll be one less thing for us to worry about.

Jenny handed her sister a pair of clean knickers to put on, and I went and found the tight skirt that we’d asked her to wear on Saturday, and to try it on for a few minutes. Josie walked around, sat down, crossed and uncrossed her legs, whilst we all looked carefully before confirming that there were no signs of any giveaway bulge.

‘If you can bear to keep it stuck down until the competition on Saturday night, that should be the answer to the problem’ said Jenny.

‘I’ll have to see whether I can urinate like this first of all,’ said Josie.

‘Let us all have a glass of orange juice, and then we’ll wait and see what happens’ said Jenny.

Ten minutes later Josie announced that with a little bit of discomfort and after some minor adjustment down below she’d managed to empty her bladder, and wiped the tip without too much trouble. Since it would inevitably be painful for her to keep pulling off the sticking plaster and then replacing it, she was willing to leave it in place for a few days until after the competition.

Once we’d finished sorting out Josie’s nether regions we tidied up the house and began to help one another to get ready for our dress rehearsal. As usual, Jenny and Sue helped each other in Sue's room, and so Josie came through to my room. As she was fixing my hair for me it occurred to me that I was right in what I’d said to Denise. Josie was doing remarkably well as a young woman, given her age and lack of experience.

I was relieved to learn that Denise’s young friends had found someone to take her place, and that Jenny’s mother would now be driving them to the convention. Denise and I had been looking forward to a weekend away with Jean and her daughters, but there was nothing that either of us could do about it once she was admitted to the hospital. However, at least I no longer have to feel guilty about letting them all down. I’ll also be quite pleased to get away to our cottage in Wales with Denise for a few weeks as soon as she’s able to travel, but I’ve made it clear to her that we will be taking things easily this time. There will be no more of the usual exhausting shopping trips to Liverpool or Chester; there is no more space for new clothes in her wardrobe or chest of drawers as it is.

After she came home after her operation Denise asked me, if I would collect her friends so that they could come round to our house and cheer her up. I was happy enough to do so long as she promises not to try anything silly such as attempting to dance along with them. I’m getting to know Karen quite well, and think that she is a sensible girl but I’ve only seen her sister and their friend Jenny on a couple of occasions. They are a little more flighty, but I guess they’re all typical teenage girls.

When I arrived at Jean’s house at lunch-time there was also another girl with them. She was a little shorter than the others, about the same size as Denise. She was quite pretty with lovely long brown hair, which looked as if it had been styled recently.

‘Hi Mrs Crawford and thanks for giving us all a lift this afternoon, said Karen. ‘By the way, this is Jenny’s cousin, Josie, who will be taking Denise’s place at the Convention,’ she continued, referring to the newcomer.

The new girl smiled a little shyly and shook hands with me.

‘I was very sorry to hear about Denise, and glad she’s now recovering. I hope she wasn’t too disappointed about having to miss the competition,’ she said.

‘Yes, she was a little upset, dear, but her father and I plan to take her away on holiday as soon as she’s signed off by the hospital,’ I replied.

‘That’ll be nice for her. Thank you for letting me go in her place, and lending me her costume.’

She struck me as being a polite, sensible kind of girl.

‘That’s all right, my dear. I was just pleased to know that the other three won’t be disappointed as well. I understand that your Aunt will also now be going in my place.’

The new girl looked puzzled for a second, but Jennifer joined the conversation.

‘Yes, my cousin is staying for a few days and then Mum will be driving us to the convention. She is also going to stay for the weekend in your place. By the way, she asked me to find out how much she owes you for the tickets.’

‘Tell her not to worry about the payment, I’m just glad that she’ll be able to take over from me. I’m also relieved that Jean will have a second adult to help keep an eye on the four of you.’

‘But we would never give anyone any trouble, would we girls?’ said Sue to the others, laughing.

The new girl smiled but seemed a little hesitant.

I’d told Denise that she ought to stay in bed on Thursday morning but that we’d help her to go downstairs to sit on the sofa once her friends arrived. I therefore directed the four girls to go up to her bedroom.

‘Come in everyone and put your costumes on my bed,’ said Denise as they entered.

I stayed for a little while as the visitors made enquiries as to my daughter’s health, but I could see they were all waiting for me to go. This was fair enough, I know that I wouldn’t have wanted my Mum present when I was with my girlfriends at that age. As soon as I left there was loads of excited girlish chatter and giggling coming from her bedroom, which of course immediately subsided as I re-entered the room half an hour later with some drinks for everyone. The girls did however permit me to join them to watch their song and dance routine in our sitting room.

‘Girls that was very good,’ I said, ‘you all look great, just like a real 1990s girl group.

(I wouldn’t have said anything else to them, but in actual fact it was quite true.)

‘Thank you Mrs Crawford. Three of us have been practising for much of the last fortnight and Josie has worked hard over the last few days to fill in for Denise,’ said Karen.

Denise looked impressed as well.

‘Alright, so that’s the first competition covered. So now may we see you in your historical costumes,’ she said. ‘Josie, would you like me to help you get changed and put on that dreaded corset?’

Before Josie had a chance to answer, I interrupted.

‘No dear I don’t want you doing anything that might put a strain on your stitches. I’ll help Josie to get dressed’.

The new girl seemed to be horrified by the prospect of my helping her to get changed.

‘No, honestly Mrs Crawford, it will be alright I’ll do it for her’ said Karen, ‘after all we have to be able to get one another ready on Saturday evening’.

‘Mum, if I promise not to do anything to help, can I at least go with them and watch Josie get herself ready,’ said Denise, ‘after all she will be wearing my dress’.

‘Alright then,’

The girls took another forty minutes or so to get changed into their long dresses and to help one another to style their hair. I knew from experience that the dress I’d bought for Denise would require the services of someone to tie of the laces on the corset.

Eventually the four of them came downstairs in their new outfits, and paraded round the sitting room. They all looked lovely, but there was no doubt that Josie looked the best, and I felt quite sorry for Denise that the dress which had been bought for her would now be worn by another girl, but of course I couldn’t say anything. That didn’t prevent my daughter from saying what was on my mind.

‘All four of you look really great, but I’m bound to be a little biased since I chose Josie’s dress in the first place, so I think that looks best of all.’

Josie didn’t say anything and avoided the gaze of the others, but I could see she was quite pleased.

Our visitors changed back into their everyday clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon entertaining Denise in her bedroom until it was time for tea. After tea they all watched a video until Jack announced that it was time for him to drive them all home.

‘Good luck to everyone tomorrow evening and over the weekend,’ said Denise as they were leaving, ‘I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you all. And as for you Josie, I’m amazed at the progress you’ve made over the last week’.

I wasn’t sure exactly what she meant by that but Josie seemed to glow with pleasure.

I try to keep in touch with both of the children each day by mobile phone whilst I’m away from home. I’ve been relieved to find out that, despite the slightly unusual circumstances in which I’d left my son, things seemed to be working out well this week. In fact it is a long time since Joe (or Josie as ‘she’ now insists on being called) has sounded so animated. I found it easier to think of her as my younger daughter when she was standing before me, in person, but I’m gradually getting used to the idea of relating to her as a girl on the phone. Even Jenny has been positive about the progress of her younger ‘sister’ whilst I’ve been away. I had no particular concerns when I spoke to them both on Monday and Tuesday, but Jenny did let something slip during her conversation with me last night, which concerned me a little.

‘Josie has been out and got herself a lovely blue lingerie set to go with that baby-doll dress that Karen was making.’

‘Where did she get them from?’

‘La Senza, in County Mall.’

‘You mean ‘she’ went out and bought them for herself? Using her own money?’

It has always been something of a family joke that Joe would only ever spend his pocket money on upgrades for his computer, and then would spend weeks scouring the Internet looking for the best possible deal, before he did so.

‘Well the rest of us were hardly going to pay, it’s bad enough that we have to loan her the other clothes that she’s been wearing this week.’

‘Why on earth would she want to do that?’ I asked.

‘Well they were very reasonably priced,’ answered Jenny, seemingly surprised by my question.

I’d already spoken to Josie by then and didn’t want to make an issue about it, but nevertheless decided that I would use the next opportunity to have a talk with Jean about the incident. I wasn’t too sorry when Jenny announced later in our conversation that the four of them would be going to visit Denise on Thursday afternoon and staying for dinner and that I shouldn’t bother to ring them. This would at least give me the opportunity to have a private word with Jean before I saw them both again. I therefore told Jenny to keep an eye out for Josie and to warn her to take care when they went out.

I arrived back in Rusper at teatime on Thursday, unpacked my suitcase and then repacked it again with the clothes that I was going to need for the weekend. I fixed myself something to eat, and washed my hair, before telephoning Jean. I was glad to find that she was at home when I rang her and I knew that her daughters were out together with my own children..

‘Hi Jean, how have you been finding things over the last week?’ I asked.

‘Everything has been fine, thanks Carol. My girls have never been so co-operative nor given me less trouble before. I’m sure it must be the calming influence of your daughters’.

‘I suppose I really want to know how my youngest ‘daughter’ has been getting on.’

‘Honestly, there have been absolutely no problems since you left us on Sunday. In fact Josie has worked hard to become a convincing young lady. As far as I know, nobody that she has come across has recognised Joseph or raised any question about her sex. I must admit that for the last day or so I’ve also tended to forget that Josie used to be a boy and now think of ‘her’ rather than a ‘him pretending to be a her,’ answered Jean.

‘Oh’ I replied, a little surprised.

‘She’s also been really helpful to me in sorting out a computerised list of my customers. In fact, all told, I’ve been most impressed with your younger daughter,’ she continued.

‘You don’t think she’s taking things a little too far?’ I asked.

There was a slight pause.

‘Well I did ask you whether you were alright with their plans, and you implied that I should go ahead and cooperate.’

‘Yes I know, and I’m not criticizing you, Jean. But I’m not sure how I should react to the news that she’s been out and bought herself a bra and pants. One minute I’m telling you about how worried I am because of Joe’s depression, and now you’re telling me that ‘Josie’ is having a really good time living as a girl.’

‘She also bought herself some makeup on Tuesday,’ added Jean.

‘Really? Do you think this may go deeper than we imagined, and that she’s transgendered?’

‘She has only been living as Josie for just over four days, so it is a little early to be jumping to too many conclusions, but I think you should consider it is a possibility.’

‘I see,’ I replied not knowing what else to say at that point.

‘What would you reaction be if Josie did confirm to you that she was transgendered?’

‘I don’t know. I’m not sure of the implications of that would be. I just want her to be happy but wouldn’t want her do anything she might regret later on.’

‘Well she certainly doesn’t give the impression of being unhappy at present.’

‘What do the others think about it?’

‘I’m not sure; they just seem to accept her as one of themselves.’

‘What do you think I should do?’ I asked.

‘I don’t think there is anything you can do before the coming weekend other than to accept the idea of having a second daughter. I think that once you get used to it, you will be quite pleased with the result.’

‘So you think that we should continue with the weekend trip to the convention?’ I asked.

‘Oh yes, all four of the girls have put such a lot of effort into getting themselves ready, I don’t think we could possibly back out at this stage.’

‘But then what?’

‘I’m afraid you’ll just have to play it by ear, but there should be plenty of opportunity for us to talk about it further over the weekend if you wish. The main thing is not to worry too much at this stage, and just enjoy the prospect of having two daughters for a while.’

‘Alright then Jean, what time shall I collect you all tomorrow?

‘We need to check in to the accommodation between three and five, and it is likely to take you about three and a half hours to drive there, so why not come over at about midday so we can have a quick lunch together before leaving’.

‘That will suit me,’ I replied. ‘Now that I have spoken to you I am quite looking forward to the weekend’.

Once I’d finished the call to Jean, I logged on to our computer and searched Google for references to ‘transgendered’. Somewhat to my surprise I was quickly overwhelmed with references and so had to begin to refine my search by combining it with words and phrases such as ‘young people’ and ‘advice for parents’. Before I knew it, it was nearly midnight and I’d downloaded and printed out half a dozen files, several of which contained exactly what I was looking for. There was a lot for me to read and think about over the next few days.

Our dress rehearsal yesterday went very well indeed and we were all in good spirits as Denise’s Dad drove us home. I therefore used the opportunity to have a quiet word with my sister before we went to bed.

‘Jenny and I have been looking forward to sharing a hotel room together at the Convention, I don’t suppose you’d be willing to share with Josie, since you seem to get on well together?’ I asked.

Karen smiled.

‘So you would allow your twin sister risk her maidenly honour,’ she said in a mock surprise.

‘I hardly think there’s much danger of that since we’ve stuck ‘her’ penis between her legs, quite securely,’ I replied.

‘Alright then, I don’t mind sharing with Josie, if it is alright with her. At least I won’t then have to put up with your untidiness.’

‘Thanks, Sis, and I won’t now need to complain about your snoring.’

I sent a text with the good news to Jenny, who was sharing our spare room with Josie. Five minutes later Jenny confirmed that the new arrangement would be ok with her sister as well.

Mum was ready and packed by nine o’clock this morning, but she had to pop in to her work for an hour or two to make sure that everything would be alright over the weekend. She left us to get on with our own packing during the course of the morning, but insisted that there would only be room in the car for one large suitcase per hotel room, so Jenny and I, and Karen and Josie would have to share cases. I took responsibility for drawing up a packing list for everyone. We also arranged over breakfast that everyone would bring their stuff to my bedroom so we could co-ordinate our packing, and make sure that nothing was forgotten

‘We are all going to need our two costumes plus one further change of clothes,’ I said. ‘Make sure that you pack enough underclothes, a nightdress or pyjamas, two pairs of shoes, any jewellery you’re likely to need, a grooming set for your hair, cosmetics, handbag, money, a camera and tampons if you are likely to need them.’

Jenny was on the point of making a clever comment with respect to the last, but Karen was able to get in a subtle kick to her shins before she could do so and without Josie noticing.

Over the next hour we neatly packed the two cases, double-checking that everything was included. By this time Mum had returned from work, and seemed quite pleased that we’d made such good progress.

‘Alright girls, I now suggest that you should all change into your clothes for the journey, and put on some makeup, so that we can close up the cases and take them down to the hall to await Aunt Carol’s arrival.’

I was changed first followed by Josie who’d put on a rather attractive dark red shirt dress (loaned to her by her sister), together with Karen’s pendant and earrings and a pair of my high heels. As usual, she looked pretty good.

‘May I finish off my makeup in your room, Sue, as Jenny is using the dressing table mirror in the spare room?’

‘Go ahead.’

Karen came in at that point.

‘You know Josie, to look at you put on your lipstick and mascara I would have sworn that you had been doing it every day for the last year or so, and not just a few days’ commented Karen.

‘Well isn’t that what you wanted, for me to look and act as much like a girl as possible?’ she answered, defensively.

‘Yes of course, I think you make a great girl,’ she answered, sounding as if she really meant it.

Josie smiled, and then looked at her polished finger nails.

‘I don’t suppose that either of you have some darker nail polish that I could borrow; this colour doesn’t go very well with my lipstick and the dress’.

My sister and I exchanged significant glances with one another.

‘How about this one?’ I said handing her a bottle from my dressing table. ‘But I suggest you ask Mum to put it on for you whilst Karen and I take the cases downstairs.’

Aunt Carol arrived soon afterwards to find our luggage packed ready in the hall and Jenny Karen and myself laying the table and preparing some sandwiches.

‘Hello everyone, how has it been during the last week?’

‘We have all had a great time teaching Josie how to behave like a proper young lady’ I replied.

‘So where is she now?’ she asked.

‘Having her nails painted by Aunt Jean: she insisted that her nail varnish should co-ordinate with the dress she was wearing,’ answered Jenny rolling her eyes in mock disgust. ‘She has turned into a real girly girl during the last week’.

‘Now then,’ said Karen coming to her friend’s aid, ‘let us have no sibling rivalry. Josie is only doing what we all asked of her, and in fact has been doing it very well’.

A few minutes later we were joined by Jean and Josie, the latter sporting some immaculately polished finger nails.

'Hi Mum, it's nice to see you,’ she said. ‘I would give you a kiss but I don’t want to spoil my makeup’.

‘Well young lady, you certainly look the part. How have you been over the last week?’

‘I have been having a good time and, believe it or not, I’m actually looking forward to the convention?’

Once again, Karen, Jenny and I exchanged glances. It seemed as if we’d done somebody a good turn.

It was just before 5.00 pm when we arrived at the hotel. There were dozens of other teenage competitors, some of whom were already dressed in their costumes. Mum and Aunt Carol suggested that we should verify the times and locations of the two competitions whilst they checked in at the hotel reception and picked up the keys to our three rooms. Apparently there had been no difficulties arising from the last minute changes and we were pleased to discover that all three rooms were adjacent to one another. As soon as we’d returned Mum handed out the keys to each pair and suggested that we should go to our rooms, quickly unpack and then come down for an early dinner so that we would have plenty of time to get ourselves ready for the first competition.

Jenny, Karen and I had been looking forward to the convention for a long time and we chatted together excitedly comparing our own costumes with those of other competitors, but I noticed that Josie was no longer joining in with us. In fact, for the first time since she’d become Josie, she was showing distinct signs of nervousness. Aunt Carol must have noticed as well.

‘Are you feeling all right Josie?’ she asked.

‘No Mum, I’m not feeling well. I’m sorry to let everyone down but I don’t think I can go through with the competition tonight,’ she said.

My sister, Jenny and I looked at one another, absolutely horrified.

‘Whatever is the matter Josie, you’ve been so confident until now?’ asked her mother.

‘I know Mum, and I feel dreadful about it, but it has gradually been dawning on me what I’m doing and what would happen to me if I were to be found out during the course of this weekend,’ she answered.

‘I am certain that nobody here has given you a second glance, except perhaps to admire your good looks,’ suggested my Mum.

Josie didn’t look convinced.

‘Josie, you’re not going to do anything so unusual, you are merely entering a competition as a member of a team, all of whom will be wearing fancy dress,’ added my sister in her kind voice.

‘I know but it is pretending to be a girl in front of an audience of several hundreds of people. I don’t think I can go through with it.’

‘Oh Josie, you can’t back out now and let us all down. Remember how I said I was so proud of having you as a sister,’ added Jenny.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Josie beginning to cry.

‘Look why not at least let us go in for tonight’s competition as we really need your help. If you really hate it, we can easily withdraw your entry for tomorrow night,’ said Karen.

‘I don’t know what to do,’ said Josie, sniffing.

‘Would it make any difference if I were to help you to get yourself ready?’ asked Aunt Carol.

‘Maybe, I’m not really sure,’ she continued sounding rather pathetic and forlorn.

‘Alright then, Carol will help Josie to get ready in our bedroom. I’ll help the other three of you if required,’ said Mum.‘

‘Aunt Carol took Josie away and the rest of us were left looking at one another and wondering whether our entry would be going ahead or not.

‘Alright girls, the only thing you can do is to get yourselves ready, as if nothing had happened. I’ll be happy to help in any way I can,’ said Mum.

I’m not sure what Aunt Carol said to Josie, but forty five minutes later the two of them joined the rest of us. She’d changed into her costume and renewed her makeup, and was looking pretty good in her baby blue dress, high heels and her hair in two pig-tails. Of course Aunt Carol isn’t a professional hair and makeup artist, like Mum, but a few last minute adjustments by the latter improved things.

‘How are you now Josie?’ asked Mum as she put in a couple more hair grips.

‘I am still feeling pretty nervous, I’m afraid,’ she answered.

‘Well you look like a real beauty, and if I were your mother I’d be proud to have you as my daughter for the weekend’.

‘Thanks for all your help Aunt Jean, I’ll try not to let everyone down tonight’.

We were all astonished when my sister almost wimped out at the last moment last night because, up to that time, she’d impressed us all with her poise and self-confidence. I was about to tell her that if she let us down I would make it my business to inform everyone in our school (including the first years) about how she’d spent the last week and that she’d even bought herself some girly lingerie. However, Karen must have read my mind as she nudged me before I could open my mouth and whispered that we should leave the adults to deal with the crisis. Sue, Karen and I therefore had to get ourselves ready without knowing whether or not we would even be performing.

Eventually, ten minutes before we were due to go on stage, Mum arrived at our room with a nervous looking Josie, who had changed into her baby blue dress, and her hair was in two pigtails.

‘Hi Josie, are you alright now?’ asked Karen.

‘I think so,’ she replied.

‘Well you look really lovely in that blue dress, doesn’t she girls?’ Karen continued.

Sue nodded.

‘Yes, you look great, Sis,’ I said, actually meaning what I said.

Josie blushed a little but thanked us.

In the event all turned out well. Despite the initial upset we seemed to grow in confidence once we walked out on to the stage and gave our version of Wannabe (the old songs are usually the best). Though I say it myself, we gave a fairly polished performance. Sue and I were lead vocals, both strutting our stuff, in our sequinned trousers:

‘I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want,’ began Sue.

‘So tell me what you want, what you really, really want,’ I responded

Josie and Karen dressed in their girly-girl outfits came in with the line:

‘If you want my future, forget my past..’

By the time we’d reached ‘If you want to be my lover’, Josie was provocatively wiggling her bum and tossing her pigtails from side to side in time to the music, eliciting both a cheer and a couple of wolf whistles from the audience. Mum stood in the wings with a look of amazement and horror. Nobody tripped or stumbled during the dance routine, despite the fact that we were all wearing high heels. In fact we were all were pretty good and our performance seemed to go down well. I also noticed that Josie’s sexy lingerie and suspenders, which had been quite visible to the audience, were exactly right. She had noticed what was needed to complete the costume when the rest of us had failed to do so.

After taking a bow, we left the stage with the applause still ringing in our ears. As we came off, I noticed Aunt Jean in the front row having recorded the whole thing on her digital video camera.

‘See it wasn’t so bad was it Josie!’ I said once we were clear and had regained our breath.

‘No, I suppose not,’ she answered looking intensely relieved, but also very happy. ‘But I’m glad it’s now over.’

‘You were great Josie, and, what’s more, you didn’t let us down,’ said Karen giving her a hug and a kiss. ‘We’re all very grateful to you for filling in for Denise at such short notice.’

‘Yes, well done Josie,’ added Sue.

I nodded briefly to show my agreement.

‘Thanks Sue, but it was you and Jenny who did most of the singing, although I think we all danced alright as well. I am sorry, everyone, for nearly losing my nerve.’

‘That’s all right, as long as you don’t let it happen again,’ I said.

‘I think that everybody deserves some congratulation, but we three didn’t have the additional complication of coping with a change of gender, at the same time,’ said Karen.

Josie beamed with pleasure so I decided it was time to put a stop to all this gushing.

‘Alright ladies, that’s enough of all this mutual-congratulation, let’s go and watch the remainder of the competitors and await the results,’ I said.

A couple of the later acts were exceptionally talented and we knew there was no way that we were going to win, but by the end of the show we felt that we’d acquitted ourselves quite creditably. In fact ‘Angelica’ was placed fourth in the competition, with only one vote less than the third place (four lads emulating a boy band from the nineties).

‘I’m sorry girls, you were really unlucky; with only two more votes you would have won our prize,’ said Tom, the singer from the group. ‘Can we make it up to you tomorrow by buying you all a coffee?’

‘What do you think girls? I said addressing the twins; (at the time Josie was busy talking to Mum and Aunt Jean).

Karen and Sue both nodded their agreement.

‘OK guys, we’ll see you at reception at 10.30 tomorrow,’ I said.

‘Will you be wearing your Spice Girl costumes again in the morning?’ asked another lad from the group.

‘Why do you want to know?’ I asked.

‘If you did, we could also wear our costumes and arrange to take a joint photograph of both groups together,’ he answered.

‘It’ll be fun for us all to wear our costumes again,’ said Karen.

Sue seemed to agree, so I agreed as well.

‘In that case we’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow, girls,’ said Tom, just as Josie, Mum and Jean joined us.

Whilst Mum and Aunt Jean were congratulating the twins, I mentioned to Josie that her services were going to be needed again in the morning.

‘Nobody said anything to me about wearing this costume tomorrow as well,’ she said.

‘Well you’ll want to wear something nice when we meet the lads again, and in any event, we’ll need to get some decent photographs taken of us all to go on the convention web site,’ I said.

‘I just hope that nobody is ever able to recognise ‘Joe’ in the costume, said Josie.

‘I honestly don’t think you need to worry, you look really hot in that baby blue outfit,’ I said.

My sister blushed, but she was beginning to regain her confidence and I don’t think she minded what I’d said.

There was a disco after the competition and we all found ourselves dancing for an hour or so whilst our mothers kept an eye on the handbags and chatted together. Once again Josie showed herself to be quite a sexy little dancer and several guys made their way over in our direction, but we’d promised her that we’d all stick together for the evening. Eventually we made our way back to our rooms feeling quite elated.

We discussed the arrangements for the Saturday with the mums over breakfast this morning.

‘We’re intending to put on our ‘Angelica’ costumes again and spend the morning going round the convention,’ said Sue. ‘That group of lads have asked whether they can be photographed with us.’

‘I assume these lads think that they’re going to be meeting four girls, so please be careful for Josie’s sake,’ said Jean.
‘Yes of course, we’re all very proud of Josie after her performance last night and won’t let her get into any difficulties,’ added Karen.

‘Will you be able to get yourself ready this morning, Josie?’ asked Mum.

‘Yes I suppose so; the worst of the nerves seem to have passed, although I’m still not sure about entering the competition on my own this evening.’

‘Denise will be really disappointed if you don’t do so,’ said Karen.

‘See how you get on this morning, and then you can make your mind up after lunch, if you like,’ suggested Aunt Jean.

‘Alright.’

‘So let’s go and get changed into our costumes, girls,’ I said.

‘Jean, how would you feel about looking round the shops this morning?’ asked Mum as we were about to leave.

‘Alright then, if the girls don’t need our help.’

Once again Josie made a pretty good job of her hair and makeup, somewhat better than I would have done at her age and we set out to find the guys. In fact they proved to be quite good fun. Like us they were accompanied by two sets of parents and so had to be on their best behaviour, but we all had a laugh together all the same. They had come down from the West Midlands, whereas we’d travelled up from Sussex so we were never likely to meet them again after the weekend, so there was no question of pairing off, just eight young people enjoying themselves together.

‘Angelica’ appears to have made a name for ourselves and we found that we’d become minor celebrities overnight. We were even asked for signed publicity photographs of the group, as if we really were a girl group. We had to disappoint those who asked, but were always happy to have our photos taken with anyone who wanted. I even got the impression that Josie enjoyed herself as well. If she was a little hesitant at having her photograph taken at first, she’d managed to get over it by mid-morning was getting in to provocative sexy poses along with the rest of us.

Midway through this morning Carol asked me if I’d like to stop for a coffee and have a chat. I agreed, having been expecting just such an invitation all weekend.

‘Jean, I’m glad to have this opportunity of talking without the children being around. As you probably realize, I’m still a little concerned about Joe or Josie. I don’t know whether to feel pleased and proud about last night for Josie’s sake or be anxious for Joe’s future.’

‘We can’t keep referring to ‘Joe or Josie’ all the time, which one is it to be?’ I asked.

Carol sighed.

‘I supposed we should still refer to ‘Josie’ and ‘her’ at least for the remainder of the weekend.

‘I agree, but before we go any further, can you explain to me exactly what it is that is worrying you?’

‘It’s just that she seems to be taking the role of Josie so seriously. I was a little disconcerted last Sunday when I first saw the way in which you’d all transformed her looks, but I came round to the idea because she seemed to be enjoying herself so much. I began to worry once more when I’d heard that she’d been out and bought herself some underwear, and then by the way in which she’d got herself ready yesterday morning, when I came over to collect you. Then there was that performance last night!’

‘I know,’ I said, ‘I have it all on video. But isn’t Josie just doing what we all asked her to do?’

‘Yes she is, and maybe we were wrong to do so. But it now seems to be more than just a question of doing the other girls a favour. Apart from the understandable bout of nerves last night, Josie seems to be so much more confident and happy as a girl than Joe ever was as a boy. It’s as if she’s an entirely different person. I just wonder whether we have encouraged my child to explore something much deeper in his or her psyche.’

‘But surely it is better to have Josie who is happy rather than Joe who is depressed?’ I said.

‘Yes, of course, but I am worried that we may be encouraging her into something that she may regret later on.’

‘In that case why did you persuade her to take part in the competition last night?’

‘I didn’t try to persuade her one way or the other. I just said that the decision was one for either Joe or Josie to make and that I would go along with whatever he or she decided. I also said that as far as I could see Josie made a very attractive and convincing young lady, who was unlikely to be recognized as anything else. I reminded her that the others were relying on her, but if Joe really couldn’t bear to remain as Josie any longer, I would find a local hotel for us both to stay for the night and that we would go out and get him some male clothing as soon as we could in the morning.’

‘Was it Josie or Joe who responded to you?’

Carol sighed.

‘It was Josie. She told me how much she’d enjoyed her week living as a girl and didn’t want to let the others down. I got the impression that she was more concerned about what you and I must think of her than worried that she might be recognized as being a boy. I tried to reassure her that we both accepted and admired Josie and that girls would too, especially if she didn’t let them down. I think it was that re-assurance that gave her the courage to go on.’

I thought for a while before responding.

‘Josie’s recent conduct certainly raises some questions about Joe’s sexuality and gender identity, but she is still only fourteen. I don’t think you should try and force the issue, one way or another at the moment. After all, it was only a week ago that you were worried that Joe was so depressed and had no friends. Now you’re worried for almost the opposite reason,

‘I know, and as far as I’m concerned Josie can remain as she is for as long as she likes, but I do wonder how she would cope at home in our village or at school if it were to become widely known.’

Jean thought for a moment.

‘What do you think will happen after we get home tomorrow and Josie has to change back into Joe?’

‘I don’t know, I’ve a horrible feeling that he will again become introverted and depressed, and that if anything, I will be more worried about him than I am about her now’.

‘In that case, why don’t you let Josie continue to stay with me and enjoy herself for the time being if she wants to do so, but without making it a big issue. After all, the girls seem to accept her and enjoy her company. Just try and make it clear to her that either persona would be equally welcome to you’.

‘Perhaps I am worrying about nothing’.

‘No I don’t think you are worrying about nothing, you should certainly keep your eye on developments and maybe have a heart to heart conversation with him or her at some point, but I would advise you not to try and force the issue this weekend.’

‘Alright, Jean, thanks for the advice.’

Our conversation moved on to other topics.

‘Do you have any plans to go away on holiday later in the summer?’ I asked.

‘I haven’t booked anything because of the uncertainties of my new job, but I’d like to do something with my two if I can,’ answered Carol.

‘Me too, but the trouble is that at this age they often prefer to be with their friends to being with one another or their mother.’

‘In some respects it would be easier for me if I did have two daughters rather than one of each’

‘Why do you say that, Carol?’

‘I have to go to Southport for an exhibition on Monday and Tuesday of the week after next. My travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by my employers, and I could easily book a second room in the same motel for the kids. We could even add on the weekend as well for very little extra so the visit would be four nights. However, I doubt if Jenny will want to go without Sue, and if I ask Sue I will also have to ask Karen. Now if Joe were willing to travel as Josie once again next week then I could offer to take your two girls with me as well. The five of us could easily share two double rooms in a motel, as each room contains two large beds. Of course the girls would have to look after themselves during the day but I would keep an eye on them each evening and make sure that they didn’t get into any trouble.

‘Why not discuss the idea with your two. I suspect that Joe might be willing to spend another weekend as Josie if you were to explain the circumstances. I’m also fairly sure that my girls would be happy to go with them, and I’d have no problems with you taking them’.

‘So you think my scheme might work?’ asked Carol.

‘I think you should discuss it first with Josie before saying anything to the others so that there would be no question of anyone putting any pressure on to her.’

‘Alright then I’ll raise the matter with her this evening when I am helping her to get ready’.

‘Actually Carol, I was going to make a suggestion about that. Would you mind if I helped Josie to get ready instead of you tonight and you helped the other three?’

‘I suppose not, but why is that?’

‘That Edwardian dress that she is borrowing from Denise is something rather out of the ordinary. I think that I could probably give her a special hair style to match, and I’ve brought some contemporary jewellery for her to wear as well. If you are agreeable, I really could make her look a picture tonight,’ I replied.

‘Why are you offering to do this for Josie and not for your own girls?’

‘The others are quite capable of looking after themselves, and to be honest, I should be quite pleased if Josie were to do better than all three of them in the competition tonight, it would be an object lesson to them all,’ I said smiling.

Carol gave a small chuckle.

‘Alright then, assuming that Josie’s still willing to go in for the competition tonight, you can get her ready. I will have to find a chance to have a talk with her alone tomorrow morning.’

In retrospect, I was quite pleased that the others had accepted the invitation from those lads, as we all had a good time on Saturday morning. It was also nice to put on my costume once again and I’m getting used to the different feel of the clothes. The high heels still make my calves ache, but they do make my legs look so nice. I’m even getting used to the new plumbing arrangements down below, and now think nothing of having to sit down to go to the loo like the others. Likewise, I wasn’t unhappy when Jenny suggested that Karen and I should share a room since she seems more empathetic towards me than the other two. She also seems to treat me just like any other of her friends and I like that. Once I’d got over the bout of nerves yesterday evening, I told myself that I would forget about Joe and his problems until we returned to Crawley, and rather concentrate on enjoying myself as Josie for the weekend. So far it seems to have worked very well.

We stuck around with Tom and his friends for most of Saturday morning and must have posed for hundreds of photographs both individually and in groups. We were also photographed by the organisers of the convention, who wanted to add our pictures to their website. They were quite a lively group of lads, but nobody tried anything on, or made me feel uncomfortable, so when they suggested that we should meet again after lunch none of us had any objections. We found Mum and Aunt Jean in their room at 1.00pm, having just returned from their shopping trip.

‘So, what are you planning on doing this afternoon girls?’ asked Aunt Jean over lunch.

‘We haven’t finished going round the stalls yet,’ said Karen.

‘Are you going to continue to be dressed as the ‘Spice Girls’?’ asked Mum.

‘It’s ‘Angelica’ if you don’t mind, and since most other people seem to be wearing their costumes from last night, I don’t see why we shouldn’t stay as we are until it is time for us to get ready for this evening,’ said Jenny.

Sue and Karen both agreed with the suggestion

‘What about you Josie, is that alright with you?’ asked Mum.

‘I suppose so,’ I answered, ‘as long as the others remember that I am only gradually getting used to walking in these high heels.’

‘Well at least you won’t have to wear high heels for the 1890s fashion parade this evening, they didn’t wear them in the 1890s,’ said Karen.

‘I know but I am not looking forward to having to wear that corset,’ I replied.

‘Remember that you will need some extra time to get yourselves ready for tonight, so I suggest that you should come back to your rooms to get showered by about 5.00pm.’ said Aunt Jean

‘Alright then,’ said Karen.

‘Carol and I have agreed between ourselves that I will help Josie to get herself ready tonight and she will help the rest of you.’

Jenny and the twins had already received advice from Aunt Jean about their makeup and knew what to do with their respective hair styles and so there was no argument. The others got up to leave, but I waited behind for a minute.

‘Aunt Jean I’m not sure whether I am up to entering the competition as an individual tonight; it was different last night because then I was part of a team.’

She smiled and took my hand.

‘Josie, of course it is up to you to decide but if you were alright last night, then I’m sure you will be fine again tonight. In fact we’re all looking forward to seeing you wearing Denise’s dress this evening. Believe me, by the time I’ve finished with you tonight you will look so lovely that you will make all the other competitors jealous, so please say that you’ll enter.’

She said it with such conviction, that I felt I could hardly refuse.

‘Alright then, if you’re sure I will be alright’.

‘Is there any way you could come back an hour earlier than the others, I should like to wash your hair and then put it up in rollers before I try to style it?’

‘I could always make the excuse that my feet ache and come up to your room at 4.00pm,’ I replied

‘Good, please do that and I’ll see you then’.

Two hours later I knocked at the door of Mum and Aunt Jean’s room. They were both in and appeared to have been discussing some documents that Mum had downloaded from the internet.

‘Before you come in Josie I’d like you to go and change out of your existing clothes and just put on a dressing gown and slippers,’ she said. When you’ve done so bring all your clothes for tonight to this room.

I did as instructed, returning five minutes later.

‘Carol, as I said, I’ve something special in mind for your daughter this evening and so I wonder whether Josie and I might have exclusive use of this room for the next hour or so?’

‘Alright then, replied Mum appearing a little surprised. ‘I’ll take my things through to Josie and Karen’s room and get ready there.’

Five minutes later she’d left us.

Getting ready for the previous night had taken forty-five minutes, but this was nothing compared to what Jean had in store for me.

‘Once you’ve showered and washed your hair, you can put on your knickers, bra and a bathrobe for the time being. I,know that bras didn’t exist in the Edwardian period, but you can change again later,’ she said.

I had to take care to avoid getting the tape holding my penis in place from getting wet. I then dressed as instructed and sat down in a chair in front of the mirror. Aunt Jean started to put large rollers into my hair, before covering it with the hood of a hairdryer.

‘Whilst your hair is drying we’ll have another look at your finger nails,’ she said pushing back the cuticles, and then replacing my nail polish with a delicate shade of pink.

She then made a start on my complexion, using a variety of creams, powders and wands to create an even tone

‘I’m now going to have to shape your eyebrows a little’ she said.

‘Be careful, remember I’ll need to go back to looking like Joe soon,’ I cautioned.

‘Worst luck, I thought to myself, but of course didn’t say so.

‘Don’t worry Josie, the changes I do make won’t be too obvious.’

‘I should also like to stick on of some false eyelashes, but don’t worry they are not the kind that will make you look like a drag queen’.

‘How will I get them off?

‘If you leave them in place they will probably stay on for about a week and then come off in the shower, but I can take them off for you whenever you want. If you wish I will do so when I come to remove your breast forms and hair extensions’.

‘Alright then, I suppose I’m in your hands,’ I said.

Before we do your hair, I think it’s time for you to put on your Edwardian style underclothes and get used to wearing the corset. ‘I am afraid it will feel constricting for a while, but you will get used to it,’ she commented as she pulled at the laces.

‘But Aunt Jean I can’t breathe’

‘Take short breaths for now, you’ll gradually get used to it in half an hour or so’.

I sat very still whilst Aunt Jean expertly made up my face and eyes and then piled up my hair into an elaborate hair style incorporating some flowers and ribbons. As I looked in the mirror I was amazed at the gradual transformation that was taking place in front of me. Eventually she helped me to put on the dress and the matching shoes and finally added a necklace, bracelet and some earrings of pink garnet.

‘Can you breathe ok now?’ asked Aunt Jean.

‘Yes, just about’ I answered.

‘How about the shoes?’

‘I can’t say that they are comfortable, but I expect I’ll be able to cope with them for this evening, and they do look nice’

‘Alright then, you can come and admire yourself in the wardrobe mirror’.

I stood looking at myself in amazement. Everything about my face looked just right, from my long eyelashes and shaped eyebrows, my beautiful complexion and elaborate hair style and beautiful earrings dangling from my earlobes. I then admired my shapely figure and beautiful dress.

‘Well, young lady, so what do you think of yourself?’

‘I think I look lovely, thank you very much’ I said.

‘So do I’ added Aunt Jean. ‘I must say that I’m rather proud of my efforts this evening. So let’s now go and see how the others have been getting on.’

Each of the others had made an effort to look her best and had acquired an Edwardian style costume of sorts, but no-one could compete with me in that beautiful satin dress and little pink flowers in my hair.

‘Josie, you look unbelievable,’ said Karen when she caught sight of me. ‘Denise will be absolutely delighted when she sees the pictures.’

‘I am afraid none of us will stand any chance in the competition now,’ commented Sue ruefully.

‘I suppose we only have ourselves to blame, for bringing her here in the first place,’ added Jenny.

However I got the impression that they were also quite pleased for me.

‘It is alright for you three, but I can barely breathe in this corset,’ I commented.

‘Good! It will teach you an object lesson. If you are going to look so beautiful you must be prepared to accept some discomfort,’ said Jenny laughing.

Mum came in at that point, having changed her own dress for the evening. She took one look at me and audibly gasped.

‘You look absolutely gorgeous dear. I’m really proud to have two such lovely daughters’.

 
We suspected that Mum might have been plotting something special for Josie, after all the dress she was going to wear did look lovely, and she was the only one among us who was small enough to be able to wear it. When Josie left us an hour early, pleading aching feet, we realised what was happening. There were a couple of sour comments about ‘favouritism’, from Jenny and Sue when we got back to our rooms, but I soon put a stop to them.

‘Come on you two, Josie has done a lot for us over the last week. It is only through her co-operation that we are here, and had the opportunity to perform so well last night. The least we can do is to be nice to her this evening.’

‘I suppose so,’ said Jenny, ‘but I’m going to have a lot of ammunition in future if I ever have any trouble from my so-called brother.’

‘Remember your promise, Jenny,’ I said.

‘Oh don’t worry, I won’t actually say anything to anybody, but that doesn’t mean that I might not threaten to do so.’

I left them to get changed and went to the room that I shared with Josie to have a shower and get changed myself. When I got there I found Aunt Carol getting herself ready, apparently having been evicted from her room by Mum and Josie. There was no problem, however, as she’d already taken her shower and got dressed by the time I arrived and was just fixing her makeup. By the time I emerged from the shower she was almost ready and about to leave, but seemed to be waiting to ask me something.

‘Tell me, Karen, how do you find sharing a hotel room with Josie?’

‘It’s fine,’ I said. ‘We get on well together. She’s tidy and considerate, which is more than can be said for my sister.’

‘But you wouldn’t have wanted to share a hotel room with Joe?’

‘Good heavens no; it would be so embarrassing. I wouldn’t know what to say to him,’ I replied.

‘I see,’ said Aunt Carol and left me to continue to get myself ready.

As soon as I was finished I re-joined Sue and Jenny in their room. Sue was also ready, but Jenny was a little way behind us as she’d had to wait to use the shower. I must say that Sue looked pretty good in her costume and I even wondered whether she might have a chance in the competition later. She and I were busy admiring one another’s efforts when Josie and Mum appeared and quite took the wind out of all our sails. Josie looked absolutely stunning and I’m afraid there was no comparison between my sister and her.

‘Just look at you!’ I said, hardly able to believe my eyes.

’You look very nice in that outfit,’ added Sue, probably now realising that her own ambitions had just taken a dive.

Jenny, who had her back to the door as she was putting the finishing touches to her own eyes now turned and caught sight of her new sister. Her jaw visibly dropped.

‘Wow! The shame of it, being put in the shade by my own little bro.. I mean sister.’

Jenny clearly didn’t know what else to say, so I started to tell Josie how lovely she looked when Aunt Carol suddenly re-appeared. She took one look at her and she too gasped audibly. It also took her a second or two to know how to react.

‘How are you feeling Josie?’ she asked.

‘Nervous, but I think I’m alright,’ she replied.

‘Well you certainly look stunning.’

‘In fact you all do,’ she added in what was clearly an afterthought.

Josie looked both bashful but also quite pleased with herself. Jenny continued to look flabbergasted.

‘I’m going to have to get myself ready, but there’s no reason why the rest of you shouldn’t go down to the ballroom now,’ said Mum.

The second competition was going to be judged solely on the basis of the best costumes worn. In the first round all of the contestants paraded before the audience, who then were each permitted to vote for five men and five women to go through to the next round. The five contestants of each sex, who received the most votes, would then be interviewed in front of the audience, and the invited judges would vote for the most attractive male and female costumes. Both Josie and Sue made it through to this final group, and performed fairly well in front of the judges. Sue came over as the more confident and polished, whereas Josie came over as a shy and demure little thing but who looked truly gorgeous. I suspected that this would go down well with some of the guys in the audience.

‘How did you think we did Mum?’ Sue asked as they two both returned to our group to await the results.

‘Well I am biased, but I thought you both were great,’ answered Mum.

‘I don’t think I have ever been so nervous in my life, and I thought I was going to faint in this corset,’ said Josie.

‘You came across as two beautiful young women and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for both of you,’ I said.

The finalists were invited to return to the stage

‘Come on Josie, they’re about to announce the results,’ said Sue.

‘Sue please don’t run, remember, I have to move slowly in this dress’

They had just returned to their places in time to hear the results.

‘…. And the winner of the best female costume is …. Josie Stevenson’.

Josie walked on to the stage in a state of shock and disbelief. She was presented with a bunch of flowers and a Debenhams shopping voucher for two hundred pounds, whilst the audience applauded. She was then asked to hold the arm of the best male contestant, a good looking young man called Richard, and the pair did a circuit of the room together with the audience applauding. Before they left the stage the organiser reminded them that he hoped they would both be able to attend wearing their costumes the following morning for a photo shoot.

Josie was very much the centre of attention for the rest of the evening, receiving many congratulations from her new friends, and also from people she’d never seen before. She was asked to pose for many photographs. She was even asked to dance a few times but politely declined.

Sue took her defeat very well and was quite gracious, declaring that Josie deserved to win. Likewise, once Jenny had gotten over the shock of seeing her former little brother look so beautiful, saw the funny side of the events, even though she would not be able to share the joke with her other friends. Everyone seemed to take pleasure in Josie’s triumph and regard her success as a mutual project. Josie now seemed to enjoy being the centre of attention and admiration of the other competitors.

‘Aunt Jean, would you be able to help me get ready in my costume again tomorrow morning please? The organisers want to take some publicity photographs for next year’s event,’ said Josie as they were walking back to their rooms at the end of the evening.

‘Yes, but I’ll also need to help you take down your hair tonight as well so as not to spoil the flowers. I am afraid you will need to sleep in rollers as well so as not to spoil the styling,’ said Mum .

This last comment caused some amusement to Sue and Jenny who were walking with them.

‘See Josie, we warned you last night that you’d have to suffer some discomfort for the sake of your looks,’ commented Sue.

‘Believe me I already have been doing so wearing this corset, all evening,’ she answered.

‘But it was worth it since you won the first prize,’ I said.

‘Yes, I suppose it was,’ she replied.

It was with a mixture of emotions that I caught my first sight of Josie last night after Jean had finished with her, and then later watched her go up to collect her prize. Part of me was very proud that she could look so beautiful, but I had to be careful not to make Jenny and the twins jealous. Another part of me was amazed that she could have changed so dramatically in the space of a week from an awkward and depressive young man into a very feminine young woman. There was little doubt in my mind that my son was transgendered, and this had been the root of his depression, but I was still unsure what, if anything, I should seek to do about it. I was also a little bit afraid for Joe’s future. All the same, I could see the sense in Jean’s suggestion of providing further opportunities for Joe to spend time as Josie, if he or she chose to accept them. At the same time I must not lose sight of my elder daughter who still has a bit of growing up to do. Most of the time she is mature enough, but there are times when Jenny can say upsetting things that she doesn’t really mean. That is why I don’t object to her friendship with the twins who are a fairly good influence on her (although Karen more so than Sue). I suspect that Jenny was nearly as shocked as I was by Josie’s appearance last night, and also perhaps realised that there might be more to this than her younger brother helping them out at the Convention.

We all had an early breakfast this morning. Jean had promised to help Josie with her hair again and so Josie came back to our bedroom afterwards. This seemed to be a good opportunityfor me to have a talk with her.

‘Josie, I get the impression that, in spite of your original concerns, and your nerves on Friday evening, you have enjoyed spending the last week as a young woman,’ I began.

‘Oh yes, Mum, it has been good fun learning how to be Josie. Jenny, the twins and Aunt Jean have all helped me,’ she replied with disarming honesty.

‘Jean and I have been noticing how much happier and more relaxed you have become over the last few days. I was wondering whether you might wish to spend a few more days as Josie next weekend?’ I asked.

Josie didn’t answer at first but I couldn’t help noticing that her eyes seemed to brighten involuntarily.

‘What do you have in mind Mum?’ she asked after a pause.

I explained about my forthcoming trip to Southport and why it would be more straightforward and a lot cheaper if I were to take four girls rather than three girls and a boy with me.

Jean, who was working on Josie’s hair, added that she would be happy for her daughters to go, if they wished to do so, but they had both thought that Josie must be the one to decide whether the plan went ahead or not before the others were told about it.

‘I’d be happy to go, but I think you’ll need to talk to the others as well to make sure they would also be alright with the idea. After all, I’ll need to borrow their clothes once again,’ she replied.

‘So you would be prepared to dress as a young woman again next weekend?’ I asked.

‘Yes, if the others are happy to have me with them once again, I would be prepared to do so,‘ she replied.

‘In that case I’ll go and talk to the other three now, and see what they think, about the idea,’ I said leaving her in Jean’s hands.

I found the other three girls in Jenny and Susan’s room. I carefully explained about the proposed trip to Southport, stressing the cost saving and convenience aspects of taking Josie along, rather than any wish to provide Joe with another opportunity of expressing his feminine self. Somewhat to my surprise, they all three accepted the plan without question.

‘Oh yes, that would be great, I’ve never been to Southport, and it will be nice to have Josie around again,’ said Karen.

‘That’ll be good fun, won’t it Jenny?’ said Sue.

Jenny hesitated, but then agreed

‘Would you all mind if Josie continued to borrow the clothes that she already has?’ I asked.

‘I suppose she can keep those items that I’ve loaned her as I have already outgrown most of them,’ said Jenny.

‘I don’t mind, but she might find that she’s a little bit limited in her wardrobe now that she is used to looking so good. But I suppose she would be able to buy herself some more clothes with that voucher that she won last night,’ added Sue.

Karen was likewise happy for her to keep the clothes. I therefore returned to convey the news to Josie and to Jean, that the following Saturday I would be taking the four of them to stay in Southport until the Tuesday night.

The last session of the convention went equally well, and included photographs of all those competitors who were still in their costumes. Once again Josie was the centre of attraction and seemed to enjoy the attention she received. However, at twelve o’clock it was time for us to think about leaving and so the girls went to change into clothes that were more suitable for travelling. Jean and I helped Josie to get changed, and took charge of packing her borrowed dresses.

‘I am so relieved to get out of that damned corset and wear something a little more comfortable,,’ said Josie as she put on a turquoise dress that she’d brought, ‘but now I’ll have to change the colour of my nail varnish.’

‘It is only for the journey home,’ I said. ‘It won’t matter.’

‘I can’t go out with pink nails and a turquoise dress.’

‘In that case you had better do them quickly yourself as we don’t have a lot of time.’

‘What do you want to do about your hair, Josie?’ asked Karen.

‘I think this style is a little over the top for the twenty-first century, would you mind helping me to take it down?’ she said.

‘Alright then, you do your nails and then I’ll sort out your hair whilst they are drying’ Karen answered.

Once the girls had all changed and carefully packed their costumes we checked out of our rooms and left the luggage in the lobby whilst we had some lunch before beginning the journey home.

‘All told, it has been a pretty successful weekend,’ commented Karen. ‘Thanks Aunt Carol for taking us, and Mum for all your help. And thanks again, Josie, for filling in at the last minute and making our weekend possible, even if you did end up winning the competition.’

Josie smiled.

‘Thank you all for asking me, I’ve enjoyed myself over the last week, and I’m also looking forward to next weekend, as well,’ she answered.

‘Mum, if we’re going to be away again next weekend then I’ll need to spend the next few days at home,’ said Jenny. ‘There are quite a few things that I need to do and some people I want to see before going away again. Would it be possible for Karen and Sue to come and stay at our house for the next few days?’

‘As far as I’m concerned it would be alright, if Jean is agreeable. I’ll be based in the office all week and so will be home each evening.’

‘Will that be alright with you then Mum?’ Sue asked Jean, enthusiastically.

‘Hold on a minute,’ said Karen, ‘I’ve already promised to spend a couple of days with Denise before she disappears for the rest of the summer, it will be much easier for me to do so from my home, and so I’d prefer to return with you, Mum.’

‘In that case Sue can stay with Jenny and Karen can come back with me,’ said Jean. ‘But what are your plans for the week, Josie?’

‘Well I can’t very well go home dressed like this,’ she answered, ‘it would be all round the village in no time. I’d better change back into Joe until next weekend’.

I hadn’t really thought about what Joe/Josie might do over the next few days until we went away again, but Josie did have a point that it would be difficult for her to return home dressed as she was unless, she were willing to stay inside the house all week.

‘I’m afraid you might have a slight logistical problem on that front,’ said Jenny smiling. ‘If you remember, Mum took Joe’s clothes home with her last weekend.’

‘Oh yes, but perhaps I could borrow a pair of jeans and a sweater for the journey home. I should be alright once these hair extensions and false boobs are taken off,’ she said.

‘Remember there are your false nails and those eyelashes to consider as well,’ added Sue.

Jean changed the subject.

‘Josie, do you remember that we were talking about the state of my business records last week, and you said that you might be able to offer me some advice about automating them?’ she asked.

‘Yes’

‘I was wondering, if I brought my records home sometime, would you be interested in going through them with me and advise me what I’ll need to do?

‘I’m sure that I could advise and perhaps even set something up, if you wanted,’ she answered.

’If you wanted to do so, and it was alright with your mother, you would be welcome to stay with Karen and me for a few more days next week.’

Jean looked across at me as she said it, and I nodded my assent.

‘Would that mean that I could remain as Josie if I stayed at your house during the week?’

Once again Jean glanced in my direction and I surreptitiously nodded. I was seated slightly behind the line of sight of the others and so nobody else was in a position to see our exchange of glances.

‘Would you like to remain as Josie next week?’ she asked.

‘I just thought it might be easier for everyone if I’m going away as Josie again next weekend’, she answered, colouring a little.

‘As far as I’m concerned you would be welcome to stay with me either as Josie or else as Joseph, as long as your mother is agreeable. But I do agree that it would be easier for me if you were to stay just as you are until next weekend,’ said Jean

Josie turned towards me.

‘Mum, would you mind if I stayed at Aunt Jean’s for another week and helped with her book-keeping system?’

‘No I wouldn’t mind, if you wish to do so, but are you sure you want to stay as a girl for another week?’

Josie thought for a moment before answering.

‘As long as you nobody minds, and the others are willing to continue to loan me their clothes, I will stay as Josie. It will save the bother of my having to change back now and again next weekend.’

‘In that case I don’t mind either,’ I replied.

I noticed Sue and Jenny exchanging glances with one another but they said nothing.

‘Alright,’ said Jean, ‘Jenny and Sue will stay with Carol, and Josie and Karen with me’.

‘That’s good, now I’ll have someone to talk to after Denise has left,’ said Karen.

‘Josie, what are you going to spend your prize voucher on?’ asked Jenny.

‘I ought to give it to Denise as a consolation prize since it was her costume that caused me to win,’ she answered.

‘But Denise’s parents are rich, she has masses of clothes,’ commented Sue.

‘I know, but I still think that we ought to offer her the prize.’

Josie is turning into a sweet young lady and I think that her looks would be the envy of many genetic girls of her own age. It is almost as if there was a seed waiting to germinate inside a hard casing. Once the shell had been cracked, the seed began to spring into life. Over the last couple of days during the convention I’ve become more and more convinced that the plan that Carol and I had cooked up for her was the right thing to do. It would at least buy her a little more time to discover how she wants to live her life. It would also give Carol the opportunity of researching the matter more thoroughly and perhaps getting some professional advice. In the meanwhile, Josie may even be able to come up with some ideas to help with my record keeping problems which seem to get worse every month. These were some of the thoughts that were beginning to form in my head as we drove home, with the four girls chatting together happily in the back seats of the car as if there was nothing out of the ordinary in their situation.

We arrived at Crawley just before 9.00pm last night, where a certain amount of unpacking and repacking of suitcases took place, together with the collection of clean clothes and depositing of soiled ones in the laundry basket. Half an hour later Carol set off for her own home together with Jenny and Sue. However, before leaving, she decided that she and I should have a quick cautionary word with her younger daughter without the others present.

‘First of all, are you quite sure that you want to remain as Josie for the whole of next week?’ she began.

Josie blushed a little and hesitated before answering, but then appeared to make up her mind.

‘Yes Mum, I’ve had a great time over the last weekend, and this way I’ll be able to get some more practice in before next weekend. Also, I’ll have something useful to do here in Crawley; Jenny and Sue will want to meet up with some lads and won't want me tagging along. I would only be bored staying at home in Rusper on my own.’

‘Alright then, if that’s what you want to do, but promise me that you will be careful. I know that you did really well in the competition yesterday, and nobody doubted your gender over the weekend, but don’t get too confident and give yourself away. Remember also that teenage girls have to be more careful about what they say and do than boys of the same age.’

‘Don’t worry Mum, I promise to be careful and not to talk to any strange men. In fact, I doubt if I’ll be going out anywhere this week,’ she replied sighing.

‘I’m not expecting you to spend the whole week helping me,’ I said. ‘If you want to go in to town or go to see Denise with Karen, that’ll be fine by me, as long as you’re careful what you say and do.’

‘Yes, I know, Aunt Jean. I promise to take care; after all, I don’t want anyone else from school to know what I’ve been doing.’

‘Good, but also please keep in touch with me by phone and I’ll see you on Saturday morning.’

‘Yes of course, and thanks for everything this weekend, Mum.’

‘Good luck my dear,’ said Carol, kissing her on the cheek, before she left together with Sue and Jenny. I turned to the two who’d been left behind.

‘OK young ladies, it has been a busy weekend, so I think it is probably time we unpacked our cases, had a shower and then went to bed.’

This morning Josie dressed herself in a pair of tightly fitting ski pants and a simple pink knitted top, both of which had been loaned to her by Sue. She’d also put on a pair of pop socks, with a pair of medium heels. She also appeared to have put on some makeup, as well as the pair of earrings that she’d been borrowing from Karen. She didn't look as glamorous as she'd done over the weekend, but was quite presentable, all the same.

‘Good morning Josie, you look nice, that’s the first time I’ve seen you wear trousers,’ I commented.

‘I’m afraid it is all I have left to wear after our weekend away. I tried to wear them one day last week, but the others said that they showed a slight bulge between my legs, and in any event they were then encouraging me to wear a dress or a skirt whenever possible to get used to the feeling.’

‘So what has happened to the bulge?’

‘It is safely tucked out of the way and is no longer a problem,’ she replied without showing any trace of embarrassment.

‘I hope you’re not doing yourself any harm?’ I asked a little bit anxious.

‘I don’t think so, but I’m going to take off the sticking plaster and also my breast forms this evening, just to make sure that everything is alright. I would have done so this morning, but I didn’t want to run any risk of being mistaken for a boy in these trousers.’

‘I don’t think there’s much danger of that, with the way you look now,' I thought to myself.

'I would offer to loan you one of my skirts to wear until you’ve had a chance to do some laundry, but I suspect they'll be too big for you.’

‘That’s alright, Aunt Jean, this jumper will successfully disguise any bulge until I have a chance to put on a skirt again.

Karen emerged from her shower and joined us at the breakfast table.

‘So what are you two planning to do today?’ I asked.

‘I’ll be happy to have a look at your business records today Aunt Jean, if you want,’ answered Josie.

‘Thank you dear, I will bring them home at lunchtime, if you like. Is there anything you would like to do in the meanwhile?’

‘Would you mind if I did some of my laundry this morning? I could also do some for you and Karen if you like’

‘That would be very helpful.’

‘If you will do the washing today, Josie, I’ll do some ironing tomorrow,’ said Karen, ‘but I’ve promised to go and see Denise this morning, to tell her what happened at the convention and show her all the pictures that I took.'

Then, turning to me she said: M'um please may I borrow your camera to show her the video of our performance?’

‘Alright, as long as you take good care of it.’

‘Aunt Jean, what should I do about washing the dress and the underwear that I borrowed from Denise?’ asked Josie.

‘I suggest you hand wash them very carefully in warm water, and gently squeeze the water out rather than trying to spin them dry. If Karen goes to see her friend today then she can iron them for you tomorrow’.

‘In that case Karen, please would you thank Denise once again for me for the loan of her clothes and tell her that I’ll arrange to return them to her as soon as they are washed and ironed,’ said Josie.

When I got into work, I arranged to take a couple of hours off during the afternoon so that I could sit down with Josie and go through our various ledgers. By the time I returned at lunchtime she had completed several loads of laundry, including washing the clothes she had borrowed from Denise, all of which were hanging out to dry.

‘I wasn’t expecting you to do all our washing, Josie,’ I said.

‘That’s alright: it was just as easy to do it for everybody at the same time as it would have been just for my own stuff. I’ve also taken off my breast forms and the sticking plaster down below, and everything seems to be fine so I may ask Karen to help me put them back this evening.’

‘I suggest that you should leave them off for at least twenty-four hours.’

‘Alright, I’ll see if Karen will help me tomorrow morning then.’

Why is it that other people’s teenagers always appear to be so much more polite and co-operative than your own?

After lunch Josie and I spent an hour or so going through the shop ledgers. I also showed her the financial records prepared by my accountant, and had also brought home the manual for the software package that I’d bought for the shop but hadn’t got round to using.

‘What do you think?’ I asked.

‘I think I can probably help. Leave them with me and I’ll draw up a list of everything that would be required to automate your business.’

I wasn’t entirely convinced that a fifteen year old would be able to solve my bookkeeping problems, but I doubted if she would do any harm. What is more it would be something to keep her occupied and largely out of the public gaze for the next few days until they all went away for the weekend.

‘Alright Josie, if you are sure you don’t mind. I have to get back to the shop now, but when Karen gets back from Ifield, please would you ask her to organize some dinner for us all.

My friend Karen came over this morning, as promised, and we spent an hour or so looking at the photographs that she and the others had taken during the convention, and she also played the video footage of the Angelica performance and the 1890s fashion show, taken by her mother.

‘The ‘Wannabe’ routine was really good; your sister and Jenny sang well. I only wish I could have taken part, even if it was as a fifth member.’

‘I don’t think your doctors or your mother would have been too pleased to hear that you’d been dancing, when you have only just had some stitches removed,’ said Karen.

‘I suppose not, but it would've been nice to have gone along as a spectator, Jenny’s brother looks unbelievable in my dress. I would've loved to have seen it.

‘Well, if you had been there, ‘Josie’ (as we now call her) wouldn’t have been wearing your dress. In fact she would have been a he sitting at home playing with his computer’

‘Yes, I know, but you have to admit that he or she did look pretty good in the performance on Friday and then looked absolutely stunning wearing my dress on Saturday night. That hairstyle from your Mum really made all the difference.’

‘Yes, I know; it was quite sickening to think that we dressed up a lad as a girl, and then she ended up as the belle of the ball, putting the rest of us to shame. In fact she even looked pretty good wearing a pair of my sister’s ski pants and a sweater this morning,’ commented Karen.

‘Why do you still say she? Hasn’t Josie changed back in to Joe yet?’ I asked in some surprise.

‘No, she's retained her boobs and hair extensions and is staying at our house for the rest of this week. She’s going to do some computer work for my Mum.’

‘But that doesn’t explain why she hasn’t changed back into Joe?’

‘Aunt Carol is planning to take the four of us on a trip to Southport in Merseyside for a few days next weekend. As we’ll be sharing hotel rooms again Joe has agreed to spend the time as Josie once again. She thought it would be too much trouble to change back into a boy just for a few days, and her mother has agreed to let her remain as a girl’.

‘Wow! Jenny’s brother certainly likes to keep in touch with his feminine side. What do you think about that?’ I asked.

‘I think that he's rather enjoying being a she, but it doesn’t bother me. In fact we shared a hotel room at the convention, and got on fine together,’ said Karen. ‘Josie's much better company than Joe ever was.’

‘In that case why didn’t you bring her with you this morning?’

‘She had to do some laundry as she’s running short of girly clothes to wear.’

As she was speaking, Karen received a call on her mobile phone which turned out to be from her sister. She spoke for a little while and then turned to me.

‘Denise, would it be alright if Jenny and my sister cycled over here this afternoon, they think that the four of us should have a meeting to discuss Josie, without her being present?’

‘Yes of course, tell them to come straight after lunch.’

Mum decided to use the opportunity afforded by my having some friends round to go out for a couple of hours this afternoon. As soon as Jenny and Sue arrived at about 2.30 pm she left us, which was quite helpful of her as it enabled us to have a private discussion without fear of interruption.

‘Alright Jenny, you wanted us to have this meeting, perhaps you’ll tell us all what’s on your mind,’ said Sue.

‘I know that we started all this business with my brother, and I’ve encouraged him to dress and act like a girly girl over the last week, along with everyone else, but don’t you think it is a bit weird the way things have turned out?’

‘It's certainly unusual, but Josie seems so much more comfortable and at ease in herself than your brother used to be,’ replied Karen.

‘That’s exactly my point. What was ‘Josie’ wearing this morning when you left?’

‘Actually she was wearing Sue’s ski pants as everything else that we’d loaned her was in the wash. Mum offered her one of her skirts to wear, but it was a bit too big for her.’

‘Was she wearing any makeup?’ asked Jenny.

‘Yes, a little lipstick, eye shadow and mascara, but quite nicely applied, and if I remember correctly, Jenny, it was you who tricked her into buying them in the first place,’ replied Karen.

Jenny blushed.

‘Yes I know, but it is very strange behaviour for a lad, and now ‘she’s’ intending to stay as Josie for a second weekend.’

‘You didn’t say anything, when your mother suggested the trip to Southport next weekend,’ said Sue to Jenny.

Jenny sighed.

‘I know, it was because Mum was saying that we could all go, whereas if he went as Joe the trip would only have been for me and him, and so would have been a real drag. Also, I hadn’t then realised that he would be continuing to dress as Josie in the meanwhile.’

‘So it would appear that the alternatives for Southport were that you would go together with your brother and both have a miserable time, or else we all went with ‘Josie’ and had a good time together,’ suggested Karen.

‘I suppose if you put it like that …,’ said Jenny but she never completed her sentence as another thought came into her head.

‘… and what about after next weekend?’

Karen shrugged her shoulders.

I’d been listening to their conversation and decided to make a contribution.

‘It sounds as if your brother is transgendered; I have a cousin who decided five years ago that he should have been born a woman, and has been living as one ever since.’

‘Would that worry you, if it were true?’ Karen asked Jenny.

‘I’ll say so, it would get very embarrassing next year at school, if he started turning up in a skirt.’

‘But isn’t it more important that Joe or Josie is happy?’ asked Sue.

Jenny shrugged.

‘I suppose it's up to Joe or Josie what he or she does with his or her life, but that wouldn’t make it any less embarrassing for me.’

‘What does your mother think about it Jenny?’ I asked.

‘I’m not sure, I haven’t had any chance to talk to her about it. It's almost as if she is encouraging Josie.’

‘I wondered the same with my mother as well,’ added Sue. ‘That whole business with her shop accounts seemed almost as if it was designed to let Josie continue living as a girl.’

‘Jenny, why don’t you try and speak to your Mum about it tonight, and I’ll try and find out what my Mum thinks as well, so we all know where we’re coming from and how they think we should deal with Josie over the coming weekend,’ suggested Karen.

‘Alright then.’

‘I’ll make myself scarce for an hour or so this evening, to give you the opportunity of having a private word with your Mum,’ said Sue to Jenny.

Jenny and Sue stayed for another hour before they left and we again went through the pictures and looked at the video recording. They also gave me their account of the events of the weekend, including the four lads that they had met. We ended up agreeing that Josie had looked great and probably deserved to win the prize on Saturday evening, but that the rest of the group had also done very well on Friday.

Karen stayed for a while after the others had left as my Mum had promised to give her a lift home as soon as she returned. I therefore used the opportunity for a little more discussion with her.

‘How do you find Josie?’ I asked.

‘Actually, she’s quite good fun to be with and chat to, and I’ve enjoyed teaching her how to act more like a girl. I’d be happy for her to remain as Josie for another weekend if that's what she wants, although life could get complicated if we were to meet up with some lads when we go to Southport.’

‘I wish I could meet her once more and make up my own mind, but unfortunately, we'll all be leaving for Wales on Thursday, and I have a hospital appointment tomorrow. It looks as if I’m going to miss what is likely to prove to be an interesting time for you all.’

Then, as an afterthought, I added: ‘I don’t suppose that it would be possible for you to bring her round sometime on Wednesday so that I can meet her again before we leave?’

‘I could ask her if she would be willing to come over with me during the afternoon, if you like? She did say that she wants to return the clothes she borrowed from you sometime. I’ll explain that this would be her only opportunity to thank you in person, and that she really ought to do so.’

‘Wednesday afternoon would be ideal for me,’ I replied. ‘Mum and Dad were planning to be out for the afternoon and evening but are anxious about leaving me on my own. They would both be pleased to know if I have two friends coming over. We’ll also have the house to ourselves for most of the time and I’m sure that Dad will be happy to give you both a lift home once he gets back from his meeting.’

‘Alright, I’ll see if I can persuade her to come’.

‘You can also tell her that she may keep the ‘Angelica’ baby doll dress as she has bought some underclothes to go with it, but I would like my Edwardian dress and the accessories back to wear myself some time.’

‘Alright, the outfit will be washed and ironed by then.’

‘In fact, I might be able to offer her some of my clothes to wear, now that I know that we are both the same size and that she likes wearing girls’ clothes,’ I continued. ‘Mum is always nagging me to give some of my clothes away to make some space in my wardrobe. In fact she has embargoed all future clothes shopping until I do so.’

Karen rang me shortly after she’d returned to confirm that she and Josie would definitely be coming over on Wednesday afternoon. I therefore decided to go through my wardrobe to see if there was anything that I no longer needed to wear which I might offer to Josie. After an hour or so I was surprised at just how much room I was able to create. Maybe I can talk Mum into taking me shopping in Chester again during our holiday.

The others didn’t seem to be as concerned about ’Joe or Josie’s’ recent behaviour as I was. I suppose they’re not as closely involved. He has always been a little bit of an embarrassment to have around, but that would be nothing compared to the shame that would be heaped upon our family name if his present antics ever became common knowledge at school, and of course I would be guilty by association. I decided that the time had come to discuss my concerns with Mum.

On the way home from Denise’s house I arranged with Sue that she would take a bath followed by a self-grooming session after dinner to give me the opportunity to have a private word with Mum. We’d prepared a salad before we went over to see Denise, and finished making the meal as soon as we got home so that it was ready by the time Mum arrived from work. Mum inevitably wanted to know what we’d been doing during the day and we explained that we’d cycled over to say goodbye to Denise before she went away on holiday and that Karen was also there.

‘How about Josie?’ asked Mum.

‘No, she was at Aunt Jean’s house going through her business records,’ I replied, not quite sure whether I should be referring to my brother or sister as a ‘he’ or ‘she’.

As soon as we’d finished eating Sue excused herself to go upstairs and Mum started to clear the table.

‘Mum, would you like a hand with the washing up?’ I asked.

‘You don’t have to, Jenny, after all you prepared the meal.’

‘It’s all right; in fact I wanted the opportunity to have a quiet word with you about Joe.’

‘Alright then, what’s on your mind?’

‘I’m just getting a bit worried about the way he seems to have changed over the last week.’

‘But I thought that was what you wanted?’ she replied.

‘I wanted him to help us to enter the talent competition, not to turn into a full-time girly girl.’

‘Wasn’t that was one of the requirements of his entering the competition.’

‘Yes, maybe it was, but the convention finished on Sunday. It’s now Monday evening and apparently he’s still wearing a dress and pretending to be a girl.’

‘Do the twins feel the same way as you do?’

I sighed.

‘Not really, Karen actually seems to prefer having Josie around, and Sue just shrugs her shoulders and accepts things as they are, but he’s supposed to be my brother, not my sister. He may be a nerd and a miseryguts for most of the time but at least people never laughed at him for being a sissy.’

‘Has anyone been laughing at him over the last week?’

‘Not that I’m aware of, but they will do so once the news gets out at school.’

‘You said that he was a ‘miseryguts’. Did you find that to be the case last week?’ asked Mum.

‘No; and that’s another thing, it was as if the ‘happy fairy’ had sprinkled her fairy dust over him in his sleep. Apart from that little hissy fit last Friday evening, I’ve never seen Joe so happy as when he was pretending to be Josie.’

‘Me neither,’ answered Mum. ‘That’s why Jean and I arranged to let him spend a little more time as Josie, if that was what ‘she’ wanted.’

‘But, Mum, where will it all end?’

‘I really don’t know, dear, but I was worried about Joe’s depression long before anyone had even thought about Josie. In some respects it has been a relief for me to see my child so happy, even if it does mean that there might be problems for her in the future.’

‘You keep saying her,’ I said with a note of exasperation.

‘We can’t forever keep saying ’him or her’, or ’he or she’ all the time. In future I’m going to refer to him if he is dressed as Joe and her, if she is dressed as Josie, and, as far as I know, it is the latter case this week. I’d prefer if you did the same.’

I didn’t know what to say in response to that so I changed the subject.

‘Denise suspects that she may be transgendered, whatever that is!’

‘I will give you something to read on the subject, which I found to be clear and easy to understand. Denise may well be right, but I don’t want to put any labels on my child, or put any ideas into her head. Jean and I arranged this week and the coming weekend away to provide her with the opportunity of exploring and perhaps coming to terms with her feelings about herself. It will also give me the chance to take advice on what we should do.’

‘So are you happy about what is happening?’

‘I wouldn’t say I was happy, but at the same time I don’t want Joe to feel as unhappy as he appears to have been.’

I sighed.

‘I don’t want her to be unhappy either but at the same time I’d rather she wasn’t a constant source of embarrassment to me.’

‘That may not be possible, dear. I may have to come to terms with having a second daughter, and you a sister, named Josie.’

’That’s all I need! Life is difficult enough as it is without my so-called little sister destroying the last vestiges of my street credibility!’ I thought, but of course didn’t say so.

‘What do you think I should do?’ I asked, instead.

‘Firstly, I should like you to read this document,’ she said, handing me five or six closely printed pages which she had downloaded from some website. ‘I’m also hoping that you and the twins will continue to accept Josie as ‘one of the girls’ and not leave her feeling isolated when we go to Southport at the weekend.’

’I suppose it is a couple of hundred miles away from Crawley, and so at least we won’t be meeting anyone that we know,’ I thought.

‘Alright I’ll do my best for the coming weekend, and I’m sure the twins will do so as well. But I don’t promise anything after we get back.’

Once Sue emerged from her bath, I spent the remainder of the evening in her room, going through Mum’s document with her, whilst Mum continued her own researches on the Internet. Sue and I also had a MSN chat session with Karen in her bedroom, having first checked that Josie was well out of earshot. I related my conversation with Mum and that she hoped we would accept Josie as one of us, over the next few days,

‘My Mum said much the same when I spoke to her; she thinks we should all encourage Josie,’ said Karen.

‘Encourage her in what?’ asked Sue.

‘To continue to learn how to act like a girl, if that’s what she wants, and provide with the opportunity to decide for herself how she wants to live her life,’ said Karen

‘So what are we going to do with her in Southport next weekend?’ I asked.

‘Josie appears to react well to a challenge, so why don’t we set her another goal that she has to achieve over the coming weekend?’ said Sue.

‘I suppose she’s going to need to buy herself a few more clothes,’ said Karen.

‘No she’s already done that for us,’ I said.

‘Alright, we’ll have to think of something else for her. What about sending her out on a date with a lad for the evening to see how she gets on?’ suggested Sue, only half seriously.

‘Josie may look a year or two older than Joe but she’s still under age,’ said Karen. ‘I don’t think our mothers would be very keen to see her going out on a date.’

‘She wouldn’t need actually to go out with anyone, merely prove to us that she has been asked out,’ I suggested.

‘Where are we going to get a young lad to co-operate in Southport?’

‘There’s bound to be some hanging around, there always are,’ I replied.

I don’t think any of us took the suggestion particularly seriously.

‘What are you planning to do over the next few days, Sis?’ Sue asked Karen.

‘I promised Mum to do some ironing tomorrow and then on Wednesday Josie and I are going to see Denise again before she leaves for her holiday in Wales. How about you?’

‘Jenny and I have plenty to do and some people to see, including a couple of lads from the village that we’ve both had our eyes on. However, we’re planning to get the bus in to town on Friday afternoon if you want to meet up.’

‘Alright, it will be a good opportunity for us to discuss what we’re going to do over the weekend,’ she replied.

‘Are you going to bring Josie with you?’

‘Is that ok with you Jenny?’ Karen asked.

‘I guess so, as Mum says that we ought to treat her just like one of the girls for this week,’ I replied.

‘Does that even include discussing our period cramps with her?’ asked Sue, laughing.

‘Well if she wants to be treated like a girl, then nothing should be off-limits.’

Over the last couple of days I have done nothing special, just the sorts of things that everyone has to do, but it is surprising how much more satisfying it has been to do them as Josie, than it would have been as Joe. Once I’d sorted the laundry and put the first load on to wash, yesterday morning, I decided to have a bath myself as I wanted to remove the sticking plaster from between my legs. Afterwards I carefully peeled off my breast forms. No harm had been done to me: the skin just looked a little pale. However, it felt odd to be flat chested once again, especially as I retained my hair and nail extensions and the long eyelashes. I therefore filled the cups of the last clean bra that I had available, with some socks; just to give myself some semblance of a pair of boobs underneath Sue’s jumper. I also carefully tucked my unloved penis out of the way. Finally I renewed my makeup as best as I could, not because I intended to go out anywhere, but because I enjoyed doing it and it seemed to give me more self-confidence. I’d finished two full loads of washing and a third was in progress by the time Aunt Jean returned at lunchtime with her ledgers.

After she left me to go back to work I spent a couple of hours going through the ledgers by myself and then looking at the software that she had bought. At first sight, the task of installing the system didn’t seem to be particularly complicated, although there would be a certain amount of tidying up and regularising of the existing data to do beforehand, and then perhaps a little support needed to train the users and deal with any teething problems afterwards. There was really nothing that I couldn’t do.

Karen had still not returned by five o’clock so I began to prepare our evening meal, and was just putting it in the oven when I noticed Denise’s mother’s car pull up outside and Karen got out.

‘Hi Josie, how has your day been?’ asked Karen as she came in.

‘Fine thanks, how is Denise?’

‘She’s looking much better than last week, but is sorry to have missed the convention.’

‘Yes, that is understandable, but at least it gave me the chance to go in her place and so I can't be too unhappy,’ I admitted.

Karen smiled.

‘I’m glad that you went, Josie, but am also sorry that my friend had to miss it, in the process.’

‘Of course.’

‘By the way, Denise says that you are welcome to keep the blue dress as you’ve bought yourself some underwear to with it, but she would like the pink one back.’

‘That is kind of her,’ I replied.

I couldn’t think when I might next have need of a 1990s baby-doll style dress, but I suppose it would be a reminder of an enjoyable weekend.

‘She’s also invited you to come over to her house with me on Wednesday afternoon and stay until the evening,’ she announced.

‘I don’t think I will be able to go; after all I did promise to help your mother with her book keeping this week.’

‘I’m sure Mum will be able to spare you for one afternoon and evening. It will be your only opportunity to return Denise’s dress and to thank her before she goes away on holiday,’ she answered.

‘Yes I suppose so.’

‘Look, I’ll finish making the dinner and serve up so you can press on with what you are doing. Also you can have the whole of tomorrow free, whilst I do the ironing and any other jobs, if you wish.’

‘Alright then, and I’ll see what your mother says about tomorrow.’

I explained to Aunt Jean what I’d discovered over dinner.

‘If you want me to go ahead I could probably install the software and import your existing records into a working customer database on your home computer over the next few days. Then, if it works alright, we could transfer it over to your business.'

'The only snag is that Denise has invited Josie and me to her house on Wednesday afternoon,’ added Karen.

‘Look Josie, I’ll be pleased with whatever you can do for me, but I’m not expecting you to stay tied to the computer all of this week. I think you ought to go to see Denise and return the clothes you borrowed. You will then be able to thank her properly,’ said Jean.

‘I’d like to see her before she goes, if possible, but I’ll try and get your job finished as well’.

After dinner I returned to the computer whilst Karen and her mum washed up together. I’ve no doubt that I featured in their conversation, but that didn’t worry me. At least Karen and her mother treat me as if I were a normal person and not some kind of oddity! As I passed Karen’s bedroom on my way to bed last night, I could hear her talking to someone on her computer. I’m sure I heard my name featured in the conversation, but I was unable to hear what was being said.

I stuck with the ski pants and pink jumper once again this morning, as I was going to be working on the computer all day, and I wasn’t sure what clothes I would need to take with me for the weekend. I did allow myself the luxury of putting on some of my makeup once again, and find that I am becoming quite proficient. It is nice to catch sight of myself in the mirror from time to time, just to check that my makeup and hair still look alright. The longer finger nails were a little bit fiddly when using the computer keyboard at first, but I soon got used to them. They are another reminder of Josie and do make my hands look nice. Once I got started I found that I was able to reformat the data from the word processing files and then import it without too much difficulty, thereby saving me a lot of time in re-keying the information. Karen kept her promise and did all the family ironing, including my own, which took her the greater part of the morning. She even brought me some sandwiches at lunchtime and insisted that I stopped for a chat. Afterward she went out to do some shopping for Jean and herself. As a result I was able to get a lot done.

Aunt Jean seemed both delighted and impressed by my demonstration when she came home and confirmed that I was producing what she’d had in mind. However when she discovered that I’d been working on the computer more or less continuously for nearly ten hours, she insisted that I should stop and do something else. I therefore asked whether she would mind helping me stick on the breast forms once again. She had just finished doing so, when Karen came into the bedroom.

‘Mum, would you show me what you did to Josie’s hair on Saturday evening?’ she asked. ‘It looked so nice that I wondered whether I could do something similar for her when we go out for tea tomorrow’.

‘There will be no point in doing an exact copy as she won’t be wearing the same dress, but I'm sure I could show you how to do an attractive French twist, as long as Josie doesn’t mind acting as a model.’

‘No I don’t mind, in fact it will be nice to have a fancy hairstyle again to show off to Denise.’

Aunt Jean dampened my hair and I sat quietly in the chair whilst Jean explained to Karen how she’d piled it up into an elaborate style.

‘What colour dress are you planning to wear tomorrow Josie?’ asked Aunt Jean.

‘I don’t know; I haven’t really given it any thought’.

‘Why not wear that dark red dress that your sister gave to you? You already have a lipstick to match and you can borrow Karen’s earrings and pendant again. There are also some tiny rose buds in the same colour in the garden, and tomorrow Karen can add a couple to your hair.’

‘Alright, if you think it will look alright on me,’ I said.

‘It will look more than alright, it will look fabulous,’ said Karen, ‘but you’ll also have to change the colour of your nail varnish to match.’

‘That’ll be the fifth time I’ll have changed the colour of my nails in the last six days,’ I commented.

‘Alright Karen, I will do her nails whilst you take her hair down again and put in rollers for the night,’ said Jean.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation of having both my hair and finger nails subjected to beauty treatment simultaneously.

‘I really could get used to this,’ I thought to myself.

I get the impression that Josie has felt quite comfortable and un-self-conscious in her new identity over the last few days. She has spent a fair amount of time working on Mum’s computer database but in all other respects she has been looking and acting just like any teenage girl. In fact she seems to enjoy having long hair and wearing both makeup, and jewellery. She’s been relatively restrained regarding her clothes since we got back from the convention, but I suppose this is because she has not had much choice about what to wear until her laundry was ready. I also get the impression that she was really quite pleased when I insisted that she came with me to Denise’s house on Wednesday afternoon as it will give her a chance to get dressed up once again.

Once Denise knew for certain that Josie would be coming over, she made me promise to make sure that we both arrived looking our best. I think she has a plan to get Josie to try on some of her clothes during the course of the afternoon. That’s why I asked Mum to show me how to fix Josie’s hair last night.

‘Remember that we are going to need some time to fix your hair and makeup, Josie,’ I said mid-way through this morning.

‘Yes, I know, but I just need a few more minutes as I’ve almost finished and want to leave something for your mother to look at this afternoon,’ she replied.

‘Alright, I’ll give you ten more minutes only, whilst I dry my own hair but then you really must stop as I’ll have do your hair and makeup for you.’

‘I should be able to fix my own makeup, if you’ll just help me with my hair.’

She kept to her word, and we adjourned to my bedroom where we helped one another with our hair. She seems to enjoy having her hair done and asked me to explain what I was doing, After a while, though, our conversation dried up and she became thoughtful. Eventually though came out with what she had on on her mind.

‘Tell me honestly Karen, what do you think about my having decided to spend this week as Josie as well as last weekend?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know really; I suppose I’ve had a mixture of different thoughts, about it,’ I replied trying to be as noncommittal as possible.

‘What sort of different thoughts?’

‘Well, after you’d won the competition so decisively I wasn’t totally surprised that you wanted to get some more experience living as a girl this week, especially as you are also going to Southport as Josie as well.’

‘But what did you think about it?’

‘Looking at it from your point of view, I was glad that you were doing something that you clearly wanted to do. From my own point of view I was quite pleased that I’d be able chat and get to know my new girlfriend better. To be honest I was also a little bit relieved that I wouldn’t have to try and make small talk with Jenny’s introverted little brother, Joseph.’

Josie blushed and smiled at the same time.

‘But don’t you think it odd that a boy should choose to dress as a girl?’ she asked.

‘Yes, I suppose it is a little unusual, although one often hears stories in the newspapers, To be honest, most of the time I forget that you were once a boy, and I tend to think of you as one of my girl friends’.

She went quiet for a little while.

‘I suppose I should feel flattered that you think of me as a girlfriend,’ said Josie thoughtfully.

‘Yes of course you should. It means that you’ve been accepted on to a higher level of humanity,’ I said, laughing.

She didn’t respond, but I don’t think she was unhappy with what I’d said.

‘Come on young lady, we can’t spend the morning daydreaming, we have to get ourselves ready to go out.’

Once I’d finished fixing her hair, I added a couple of rosebuds from the garden. It looked really nice. She then brushed mine for me and helped me to put it into a French twist, with a tortoiseshell slide to hold it place. In the end both of our hairstyles looked pretty good.

‘We’d better get our skates on, Mum will be home for lunch in half an hour and we have to get changed and put on some makeup,’ I said.

‘I should be able to manage my own makeup, thanks, if you’ll just check it over for me afterwards,’ she announced.

‘Alright, if you’re sure, I’ll get on with mine.

Josie returned in half an hour having done an excellent job on her eyes, her lips and her complexion.

‘You really are getting quite proficient at using makeup.’

Josie smiled.

‘Thank you. It still takes a bit of time but I feel more confident if I am wearing makeup and have a nice hair style when I go out. Is it the same for you?’ she asked.

‘Yes, of course. My goodness, Josie, not only do you look and sound just like a girl, but you are beginning to think like one as well’.

She smiled, but once again became a little pensive.

Mum came home at 1.00pm and we had some lunch together during which Josie handed over the work that she had done so far for her to have a look at.

‘I must say you both look very smart this afternoon,’ said Mum. ‘I don’t think I could have done a better job myself.’

Josie looked completely happy. She really has been enjoying herself this week.

We had to leave our house at 1.45 to get the bus to Ifield, and arrived at Denise’s house just over half an hour later. There was no sign of either of her parent’s car in the drive way. Denise answered the door to us and I noted that she too had dressed up for the afternoon.

‘My goodness, Josie has done her hair again,’ said Denise in mock astonishment, as she opened the door to us. ‘How on earth do you get it to look so nice?’

‘It is nothing to do with me, it was Karen who put it up for me this morning,’ she said, smiling at the compliment.

‘But you look lovely and so like a real girl. Your colour scheme even co-ordinates,’ said Denise.

‘Karen and her mother have been trying to dress me up like a Barbie doll,’ said Josie laughing.

‘Maybe so, but I must say she has been a most willing model,’ I commented.

Turning to Josie, I said, ‘Remember that it was you who wanted to stay as Josie this week.’

Then to Denise I added, ‘She was even prepared to sleep in rollers again last night so that she could look nice today.’

Josie coloured a little.

‘Well, as Sue keeps saying we women have to suffer a little discomfort for the sake of our looks’ said Josie blushing a little.

‘Talking of beauty, congratulations on winning the competition; you looked absolutely fabulous wearing my dress last weekend,’ said Denise.

Josie looked self-conscious, but also quite pleased.

‘It was mainly due to the help from Karen’s Mum, and of course your beautiful dress. I have brought your dress back together with the other things that I borrowed.’

She handed over the two carrier bags of clothes that she’d been carrying.

‘Thanks for the return of my clothes; I’m glad you looked so good wearing them and hope that I’ll have the opportunity of doing so.. Please put them on the hall table for now,’ said Denise.

‘I would also like you to have the shopping voucher that I won,’ added Josie, retrieving it from her handbag and offering it to her.

‘That is a kind thought, but I‘m not going to accept the voucher. It was you who won the prize, I just loaned you a dress to wear,’ said Denise. ‘You should use the voucher to buy yourself something special when you go shopping in Southport next weekend’.

‘Who said we were planning to go shopping?’ said Josie.

‘You still have something to learn about being a girl if you think you’ll be able to spend four days in Southport with my sister and I, without our looking around the local clothes shops,’ I said laughing.

‘Alright, if you are sure, Denise.’

Then she added as an afterthought.

‘But you will both remember your promise and be careful not to give away my secret,’ said Josie.

‘Yes of course we will,’ I said.

‘Don’t worry Josie! I have a cousin who is transgendered and it doesn’t worry me at all, although I must say that she is nowhere near as convincing as a girl as you are,’ added Denise.

Josie looked as if she had never heard the word ‘transgendered’ before but didn’t say anything. I made a mental note to show her what some of the documents from the Internet on the subject when we got home.

After we’d been there for a few minutes and admired one another’s outfits, Denise suggested that we should adjourn to her bedroom.

‘I’ve a few things to show you, Josie.’

‘What sort of things?’

‘You’ll have to come up and see.’

I spent several hours last night and this morning going through my wardrobe and deciding which of my clothes I wanted to keep and which ones I could happily do without, just to keep Mum satisfied. By the end I had quite a pile of clothes laid out on my bed. Some were so old fashioned that nobody would be seen dead wearing them. Others were utterly hideous and I can’t think what can have possessed Mum to have bought them for me in the first place. (In one or two cases I don’t know what I could have been thinking about when I chose them for myself.) Once these really embarrassing clothes were bundled up in black plastic bags ready for Dad to take to the charity shop, there were still quite a number of dresses, skirts, blouses, tops, a coat and a couple of pairs of shoes, which I thought might be alright for Josie to wear, if she were interested. They are all of good quality and several of them have hardly been worn. Therefore, soon after Josie and Karen arrived, and I’d offered my congratulations on Josie’s success at the convention, I invited them up to my bedroom to have a look through the pile.

‘Mum is refusing to let me do any shopping for new clothes this holiday unless I first make some space in my wardrobe. Would you like to see if you could use any of these before I offer them to the charity shop, Josie?’

‘What about Karen?’ she asked.

‘If only I were a size or two smaller I’d be happy to have them,’ she responded. ‘But we do know that anything which fits Denise ought to fit you alright Josie.’

‘I’m only offering you the girly clothes, as I get the impression that you enjoy wearing feminine things,’ I said to Josie, pulling her leg just a little.

She blushed, but didn’t dispute the point.

‘Why not try some of them on so we can tell you whether or not they suit you, but you’ll have to be careful not to spoil your posh hair do,’ I said.

Over the next hour and a half Karen and I had Josie try on all my unwanted outfits and parade in front of us whilst we passed comment. Everything she put on seemed to fit her and most of them suited her as well. She has one of those faces that look good in a lot of styles and colour schemes. By tea time there were four large carrier bags full of clothes ready for her to take home.

‘Look I can’t accept all of these from you, Denise, whatever will your mother say?’ she said.

‘Believe me, when she gets home later this afternoon, Mum will be really pleased to find that I’ve followed her instructions at last. Dad will also be happy that he doesn’t have even more bags to deliver to the Oxfam shop.’

‘With these clothes and your shopping voucher you should have enough clothes to be able to spend the whole summer as Josie if you wish,’ Karen observed.

Josie began to look alarmed.

‘Hang on a minute, Karen, I’ve only agreed to stay as a girl for this week, that’s all,’ she replied.

‘Oh yes, I’d forgotten’ she replied innocently, but it was obvious from her face that she had other thoughts on the matter.

The remainder of their visit was spent happily by the three of us chatting together and looking at Karen and Josie’s photos taken the previous weekend. We also had a look at the convention website and found photos with all four of the gang at different times, I’m just sorry that I had to miss it as a result of that stupid operation. I’m also sad that I’m going away for such a long time, as it looks as if I’m going to miss some of the fun.

Mum returned soon afterwards and offered to prepare us all some tea. As predicted, she was pleased that I’d made some space in my wardrobe. She was also very happy for me to be passing some of them on to Josie, whom she still thinks is Jenny’s female cousin.

‘Are you sure it is ok, Mrs Crawford? I feel quite guilty taking all these nice clothes,’ said Josie.

‘You’ll be doing both Denise and myself a good turn, I have been nagging her for weeks to make some more room in her wardrobe.’

‘Alright then, but may I at least offer to help you get the tea as a way of saying thank you,’ replied Little Miss Goody Two Shoes.

‘Thank you Josie, since you have offered, and Denise is still supposed to take things easily, you can help me.’

They disappeared in to the kitchen together whilst Karen stayed to chat to me.

‘So what do you think of Jenny’s younger sister then?’ she asked.

‘Apart from being a little bit of a creep to my mother, I think she is cute and seems just like a real girl,’ I replied. ‘What do you think about her?’

‘As I said, she’s quite fun to be with and chat to, but life could get quite complicated, especially if we were to meet up with some lads when we go to Southport?’ said Karen.

‘You will only be there for a few days, so it would probably be alright as long as they don’t find out about ‘Joe’. What is more to the point is what will happen after you all get home?’

‘That’ll be up to Josie and her mother to decide, but those clothes you have given will at least make it possible for her to continue as a girl, if she wishes.’

‘That was one of the reasons why I sorted them out,’ I replied.

After tea Josie offered to clear up and load the dishwasher and Karen felt obliged to join her. Mum was quite pleased as she still had plenty of packing to do for our holiday. Later the three of us watched a girly video together and painted one another’s toe nails, whilst we waited for Dad to get back from his work. As we were about to leave, Karen was talking to my mother, so I went over to Josie and gave her a hug.

‘Thanks for letting me have the clothes Denise; I hope you have a good holiday.’

I quickly checked that both my parents were out of earshot.

‘Thanks, and I must say that you seem to be enjoying yourself so far this holiday, so I hope you’re able spend as much time as Josie, as you wish, over the next week or so,’ I said.

‘I’ll stay as Josie until next weekend, and then I’ll have to make up my mind what to do.’

‘There are four and a half more weeks of the holiday still to go, and now you have plenty of nice clothes to wear.’

‘Yes, but it rather depends upon how the others and my Mum feel about it.’

‘Remember that it’s your life; it is for you to decide how to live it. Just talk to them all about how you feel, especially your mother. You may well find people are far more sympathetic than you think.’

‘Thanks Denise, have a good holiday.’

‘I will and I hope to see Josie again after I get back.’

She didn’t reply, but I get the impression that she wasn’t repelled by the idea.

After my friends had left in Dad’s car, Mum turned towards me.

‘I quite like those two girls; they seem more sensible and polite than your other friends.’

‘Jenny and Sue, are alright but Karen is my real friend, although I must say that I’m getting to like Jenny’s cousin as well.’

‘Your Dad will have to drive back to Crawley for meetings whilst we’re away, and I’m sure that he wouldn’t mind giving them a lift. Would you like me to contact their mothers as see whether they could come up to stay in Wales for a week?’

‘It would be nice for them to come but I’m not sure whether Karen’s mother would let her go without Sue. Also I don’t know how Josie’s mother would feel about her daughter staying with someone she doesn’t know.’

‘So what should I do?’

‘Leave it with me, Mum; I’ll talk to Karen in the morning to see what she thinks.’

Karen and Josie arrived back from their visit last night laden with several carrier bags containing some expensive looking clothes. I was about to ask them for an explanation, when Karen volunteered that that they’d all been given by Denise to Josie. I think Carol may have a point in her belief that Denise and her mother have more money than sense when it comes to buying clothes, but at least it solves the problem of what Josie can wear over the next few days.

The weather was really fine this morning and Josie came down wearing one of Denise’s summer dresses with bare legs and open toed sandals; clearly chosen in order to show off some newly painted toenails. I must say she looked really pretty and appeared to be aware of the fact. She’d already put on some makeup but checked on herself in the hall mirror and quickly touched up her lipstick as if she had been doing so for years. I exchanged glances with Karen, who just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. I do wonder where it all may be leading, but on the other hand, I must say that Josie has turned into a helpful and attractive young lady.

Karen received a phone call from her friend as I was getting ready to go to work. I was just on the point of leaving the house when she came off the phone and said to me.

‘Mum I’ll be going over to Ifield this morning to see Denise off. If you like, I’ll walk in to town with you.’

‘Alright, as long as you are ready soon,’ I said. ‘What about you Josie?’

‘I’ve already said goodbye last night, and would prefer to stay home and continue working on the database,’ she replied

This also suited me.

‘I have some business to do at lunchtime and so I suggest that everyone should make their own arrangements for lunch. There is plenty of food in the refrigerator Josie.’

‘If you like I’ll see to dinner once I get back this afternoon,’ said Karen.

I can always tell when one or other of my daughters wants something from me — they volunteer to do jobs rather than waiting to be asked,’ I thought, as I thanked her.

I was right. Karen and I had barely left the house when she turned to me.

‘Mum, how would you feel if Josie and I were to be invited to spend a few days at Denise’s parents’ cottage in North Wales next week?’

‘When, and for how long?’

‘Her father will be coming back to Crawley for a meeting tomorrow week and would be able take us there following day. Then he would be returning on the Monday 20th, ten days later.’

‘So it is more than ‘a few days’.’

‘I guess so, but that way we wouldn’t be faced with the expense of travelling by train.’

‘Do Denise’s mother and father know about Josie’s true identity?’

‘No, and Denise thinks it would be best that they do not do so. Josie and I would have to share a bedroom and her parents might be unhappy if they thought that Josie was really a boy.’

‘How does Josie feel about it?’

‘She doesn’t know that we’ve been invited yet as I thought it best to speak with you first. I get the impression that she likes Denise and would be happy to go.’

‘What about Sue, and Jenny?’

‘They haven’t been invited as there’s no way that the family could accommodate all four of us. Denise is my friend and the other two are always happy to spend time together. Also I get the impression that they have been having a good time seeing some lads from school over the last couple of days and so they would probably be quite content to go stick around in Crawley.’

‘Hmm, well don’t say anything to Josie or the others until I’ve had a chance to discuss it with Josie’s mother and also to speak to Denise’s mother. It also sounds as if I‘ll also need ring your sister later this morning to find out what she’s been up to,’ I said.

‘Well please be careful what you say to Denise’s Mum and don’t say that I’ve said anything about what Sue and Jenny have been doing.’

I called Carol during the course of the morning to see if she was aware what our two daughters had been getting up to.

‘I don’t think you need to worry, Jean, it seems like an innocent enough friendship and the two lads concerned are quite well behaved.’

I then told her about Denise’s invitation to Karen and Josie.

‘Josie doesn’t know of the invitation yet, but Karen thinks that she would be happy to go. Of course it would mean her living as a girl for another two weeks, but at least she now has plenty of clothes to wear. What do you think?’

‘I don’t know what to say. How have you found her over the last few days?’ asked Carol.

‘What can I say? She acts like a polite, helpful and cheerful young lady. I’ve had a look at what she is proposing for my business, and at first sight it looks wonderful. In fact she is an ideal house guest.’

‘Would she able to cope living as a girl for another fortnight without us around to keep an eye on things?’ asked Carol.

‘I get the impression that it would be one of the main attractions of the invitation,’ I replied.

‘I can see the advantages of her being away in Wales for a while, I could also offer to take Jenny and Sue with me to stay in London for a few days. But would we be taking a risk by not telling Denise’s parents who she really is?’

‘Yes we would, but apparently Denise would rather that her parents were not told.’

‘I’ll have to think about it,’ said Carol. ‘I’ll see how she gets on with the others during this trip to Southport before deciding. Why don’t you call Alice to discuss the possibility of Karen going, but say that you will have also to speak to Josie’s Mum and so you won’t be able to give her a final decision for a few days.’

‘That’s a good idea.’

In the meanwhile I rang Karen to tell her what Carol had just suggested and that we couldn’t give them an answer one way or the other at present.

‘You can tell Denise that Josie’s mother hasn’t turned down the idea, but will need a little time to think about the implications.’

‘Alright Mum,’ she replied sounding a little deflated.

‘In the meanwhile, it might be better if, for the time being, you didn’t mention the invitation to Josie or to the others. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t go and stay with Denise on your own if you want.’

‘Alright Mum, but I’d prefer to have Josie’s company on the journey to and from Wales if I can.’

‘We’ll have to wait and see. Where are you now?’

‘I’m on the bus going home. Denise’s and her family were just packing the car ready to leave for their holiday.’

‘In that case I’d better ring off as I want a quick word with Denise’s mother before they go.’

I called Alice to confirm the details of her invitation and caught her before they’d begun their journey.

‘I’d have no problem with Karen coming to stay, but I can’t speak for Josie’s mother so cannot give you a definite decision.’

‘I hope Josie will be able to come, she seems a sweet well-behaved girl.’

I wonder what you would think if you knew the whole story? I thought.

‘As long as you can let me know before next Thursday,’ continued Alice.

‘That shouldn’t be a problem. Josie’s mother will be returning from Southport on Wednesday, so I will speak to her then and phone you during the course of the evening. In the meanwhile, I hope you all have a good holiday.’

‘Thanks.’

---

 
I was quite pleased to be left alone in the house yesterday morning as it gave me an opportunity to do some more work on Aunt Jean’s database. It wasn’t a particularly ambitious project. I’d installed the software and got it running on Tuesday and had successfully converted her records and imported them by the time we left for Denise’s house yesterday, but I’d since thought of one or two other things to do to improve it. I was therefore able to put in another three hours of work by 11.30am, when I stopped for a coffee. I then remembered that Denise had used the word ‘transgendered,’ as if it might somehow relate to me. I typed the word into an Internet search engine, and began to follow the links. Somewhat to my surprise there were dozens, then hundreds of sites dealing with people who were unsure whether they wanted to be men or women. Some of these were almost pornographic, and I found them embarrassing. Yet many others contained information aimed at people just like me and their parents. This came as both a surprise and re-assurance as I’d rather assumed that I was the only person in the world who felt the way I did.

By the end of the morning I’d downloaded and printed off a number of articles to read in private. I’d just put them in my room to read later, and was about to make myself a sandwich to eat when Karen returned home.

‘Hi Josie, how have you been getting on this morning?’

‘Fine thanks. I assume that Denise has now left for Wales.’

‘Yes, they would have left about an hour ago. I won’t see her again now until September,’ replied Karen in a slightly subdued voice.

I wanted to say that I’d be her friend for the summer, but of course that would mean my having to remain as Josie, because I knew that Joe would have been a source of embarrassment to her. It was a nice thought, but I also realised that I could never live at home as Josie. I therefore sought to change the subject.

‘I was just getting myself a sandwich for lunch, would you like me to do one for you as well,’ I asked.

‘Alright then,’ she replied seeming to liven up. ‘By the way, Josie, I should have mentioned to you this morning how nice you looked in that dress.’

‘Thank you,’ I replied, blushing a little, not used to receiving compliments about my appearance, but pleased that she’d noticed. ‘Now that I have some more clothes to choose from, I’ll need to learn what looks good together.’

‘Have you finished your work for Mum yet?’

‘I’ve done as much as I can for the time being. I’ll need to demonstrate it to her this evening and she may ask for some modification, but it seems to me to be able do most of what it is supposed to.’

‘In that case why don’t we have a look through your wardrobe together to see if there’s anything that you are still going to need for our trip to Southport?’ suggested Karen.

‘Alright then, as soon as we have finished lunch.’

As a result of the clothes that Denise had given to me, I now possess a fair range of female clothing suitable for all situations, from the everyday casual to the more formal. I also have a reasonable range of cosmetics with those that had been given to me and those that I’d already purchased. I was now in a position to return several of the items that I’d been borrowing from Karen and Sue. Jenny had already told me that she no longer wanted those that she’d given me.

‘Don’t worry about giving me back my clothes; like your sister, I’ve grown out of many of them so you may as well keep them,’ said Karen as she was inspecting my wardrobe. ‘I’d imagine that Sue will probably say the same to you as well, but you’d better offer to return them.’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘That is a fairly comprehensive wardrobe you have there, young lady, but maybe you could do with a few more sets of undies and some tights. I’m going to be meeting up with your sister and Sue in Crawley tomorrow morning, why don’t you come too and see if we can find some,’ said Karen.

‘Alright then, if you mother doesn’t mind,’ I said.

Aunt Jean was delighted with the new record keeping system when she came home last night, and could think of no amendments at that stage. I pointed out a few possible enhancements that might be made at a later date, if necessary, but suggested that she should start off fairly simply and introduce other enhancements once she was sure that everything was working ok. She promised to consider them.

‘Come upstairs and have a look at the super clothes that Denise has given to Josie, Mum,’ suggested Karen.

Aunt Jean agreed and we returned to the spare room, where my latest acquisitions were on display.

‘My goodness, that girl’s parents must be well off if they can afford to have her giving away clothes like these. Some of them look as if they’ve never been worn,’ she commented.

‘At least it means that Josie now has plenty to choose from,’ added Karen.

‘More than I can possibly wear over the next five days,’ I said.

‘Josie still won’t have enough clean underclothes for a four day trip to Southport this weekend, so if it is alright with you Mum, we will go shopping for a few items for her tomorrow morning,’ said Karen.

‘That’s a good idea. Here is forty pounds to buy yourself some more underclothes, Josie. It is to thank you for all the work you have done for me this week’ said Jean.

‘I wasn’t expecting any payment, Aunt Jean, after all you have been keeping me for the last two weeks and you’ve spent a lot of your time making me look nice,’ I said.

‘I know,’ said Jean, ‘but please accept the money, and get yourself something special. I won’t then feel bad about asking for your help when we start to use the new system,’ she said.

Soon after ten o’clock this morning Karen and I left home for the shopping centre in Crawley. It was only a ten minute walk from Jean’s house in Three Bridges. I was beginning to feel far more confident about being in town dressed as Josie, and we passed several people from my school without my once being concerned that anyone was going to recognise me. We even ran into Karen’s friend Sarah who proceeded to ask how we’d done in the competition of the previous weekend. This time I felt far more relaxed in her company

‘You should take a look at the convention website, Josie looked really stunning last Saturday night and came away with the prize for the best costume’ said Karen.

‘Only because I was wearing Denise’s dress,’ I added trying to sound self-effacing whilst actually feeling quite pleased with myself.

‘What was the prize that you won?’ asked Sarah.

‘A two hundred pound gift voucher from Debenhams. I offered to give it to Denise, but she wouldn't accept it and so I expect I will split the money with the other three.’

‘You could have offered it to me, I wouldn’t have refused,’ said Sarah smiling, as she left us.

Believe it or not, I’d rather forgotten about the voucher in all the excitement up to that point. It was still sitting in my bag.

Sue and Jenny were due to arrive on the 11 o’clock bus so Karen and I had time for a brief look around ‘New Look’ in the Queensway, whilst we were waiting. There were plenty of everyday bras and matching pairs of knickers in pink, white or black, but then I spied a matching lingerie set in dark blue including a chemise.

‘What do you think of those Karen?’ I asked, pointing to them.

‘You really go for the sexy underclothes don’t you?’ she answered laughing.

‘I'll need some nice underwear to go with Denise's dresses, and your mother did say that I could buy myself something special,’ I replied, blushing.

‘Alright then, go ahead and buy them. I’m sure you will look great in them, but that will take most of the money that Mum gave to you.’

By the time we had made the purchase it was almost eleven, and so we had to make our way to the bus station, where Sue and Karen had just arrived from Rusper.’

I suspect that Jenny has been in two minds about the recent behaviour of her new ‘sister’. One minute she has been trying to learn more about the term ‘transgenderism’ and wondering how we might help her come to terms with her situation. The next moment she’s having second thoughts and telling me that perhaps we ought not to encourage her, and how embarrassing it would be for the whole family if the story became widely known among her friends and neighbours. I think these mixed feelings have been one of the reasons why we haven’t been in to Crawley this week and she hasn’t been in contact with her sister since last Sunday (although our meeting with those two lads from the village may also have been a contributory factor). I told her not to worry, for the time being at least. Last weekend Josie made a pretty good job of playing the part of a girl, and caused us no particular embarrassment, just mild irritation when she walked off with the first prize. So why shouldn’t that also be the case this coming weekend? As far as I’m concerned; if that’s how Josie wishes to spend her time, then good luck to her. Why should it bother me?

We caught sight of Karen and Josie walking towards the bus station soon after we got off our bus. They both looked quite smart. Josie was wearing a pink summer dress that I hadn’t seen before; presumably it was one of those given her by Denise. She looked quite comfortable wearing a pair of strappy sling back sandals, with medium heels and which showed off her painted toenails. Nobody who didn’t already know would have suspected that this rather poised and confident young lady had been a rather awkward and dejected ‘he’ just over two weeks ago.

‘Hi, you two, what have you been buying this morning?’ I asked pointing to a ‘New Look’ bag that Josie was holding

‘Just a bra and some knickers’ she replied dismissively.

‘There’s a bit more than ‘just a bra and some knickers,’ have a look at these,’ said Karen delving into the carrier bag and holding up a dark blue camisole set for us to see.

‘Oh my!’ I said in an exaggerated girly voice. ‘They are sexy looking. Is there a special occasion when you are intend to wear them?’

‘No, not really. I just liked the colour,’ answered Josie, with a mixture of embarrassment and determination not to be embarrassed.

Jen looked as if she was in a mild state of shock. I could see that she didn’t really approve of Karen and I encouraging Josie in this way, but why shouldn’t she have some fun like the rest of us?

‘There are some lovely nightdresses with a matching negligee in Debenhams in that colour; they are really good value, if you need one,’ I said, knowing that she had slept in an old t-shirt the previous weekend.

Jenny looked daggers at me.

‘I think Josie is now spent up,’ commented Karen.

‘I do still have the Debenhams shopping voucher that I won. As Denise refuses to accept it, I think the fairest thing would be for me to split it between the four of us,’ she said.

I looked at the other two. Jenny was clearly unsure how to react.

‘That is very generous of you Josie,’ said Karen, ‘but you had to go through the most discomfort and put in the most effort, so I think you should have the benefit’.

Both Jenny and I looked daggers at her.

‘No. You three designed the song and dance routine and encouraged me so you also deserve a share in the prize money. There is no way that I would be able to spend the whole  £200, especially with that money your mother gave to me. If we divide it four ways then I’ll still be able to get everything I need for the next five days..’

‘Are you sure there’s nothing that you’d like to get for Joe?’ asked Jenny.

I could see she was torn between accepting and refusing the offer from her ‘sister’.

‘Joe just hoards his cash — he can sort himself out when the time comes,’ Josie replied dismissively.

Karen looked at me and then at Jenny, as if she were trying to work out what we were thinking. I did my best to convey to her that we should ‘take the money,’ although without saying as much.

In the end Karen shrugged her shoulders.

‘Alright then, thank you very much.’

Jenny and I added our thanks.

‘In that case, shall we make our way to Debenhams?’ asked Josie.

With four teenage girls, one  £200 Debenhams shopping voucher doesn’t last for very long. By the end of the morning we’d all bought ourselves something nice to take to Southport. I pointed out the nightdress and negligee set that I’d mentioned to Josie which came with a pair of matching slippers.

‘They are nice and very reasonably priced, and I’ll need some night wear,’ she said.

‘You could buy yourself some pyjamas for a quarter of the price,’ commented Jenny.

‘I know, but I have to spend the money on something,’ she countered with a trace of petulance.

’She really is turning into a girl,’ I thought to myself.

Jenny didn’t respond.

Whilst Josie was busy looking at the negligee, Karen had a quiet word with both Jenny and myself.

‘I think we ought to get Josie something to acknowledge everything that she has done for the three us over the last two weeks and the fact that she has shared her prize with us.’

‘What do you have in mind?’ I asked.

‘We persuaded her to have her ears pierced but she doesn’t have much jewellery of her own. She has just given us fifty pounds each. I think we could each afford to contribute ten pounds of that and get her something nice for when we go away.’

‘I suppose so, as long as I get to borrow them when she turns back into a boy,’ commented Jenny.

‘Alright Karen, if you hand over your ten pounds, Jenny and I can choose something for her after you have both left us,’ I suggested.

Later, whilst we were waiting for Jenny to try on one of her chosen purchases I had a word with Josie.

‘You really do prefer living as a girl than a boy, don’t you?’

‘I suppose that must be pretty obvious by now,’ she answered.

‘We began to suspect as much ever since that time you went with Sarah to buy your own eye shadow last week,’ said Karen joining in the conversation.

‘I am happier living as Josie at the moment because I can get away with it whilst I’m staying in Crawley, but I can’t go home dressed like this, somebody would be bound to notice and put two and two together. Also I’m not sure that I could bear to go to school as Josie, with everybody laughing at me behind my back’.

‘I don’t think that everyone would laugh at you, but you won’t be able to prevent them from gossiping,’ I said.

‘Yes I know, and I would hate that.’

‘So what are you going to do about it?’ Karen asked.

‘I’ve absolutely no idea. I’ve been having such a great time over the last two weeks but am also feeling confused about who I am and what I want to be.’

I don’t think either of us doubted what she said for one minute. Jenny re-emerged from the changing rooms, wearing a new top that she had chosen, and we confirmed that it looked fine, so she went back to take it off so that we could buy it.

‘Does your mother know your feelings, Josie?’ Karen asked, returning to the previous subject.

‘I’m sure she’s guessed as much by now, particularly when I so readily agreed to stay as Josie at your house this week.’

‘Maybe she has, but I think you should try and explain to her properly how you are feeling, all the same, rather than just leave her guessing’ said Karen in her ‘Miss Kind and Considerate’ voice.

‘I will try and find the opportunity to talk to her over the coming weekend.’

Jenny re-emerged from the changing cubicle and so our conversation ended soon afterwards. Everybody had by this time made their selections and so we took our purchases to one of the tills where Josie exchanged her voucher. In then end she had bought herself the sleepwear, another bra and pant set and a couple of pairs of tights and so had to supplement her share with some of her own money.

I needed to return home to sort out some clothes and pack a case ready for our trip to Southport the following day. Fortunately there would only be five of us in the car this time and everything that Aunt Carol needed for her work was being sent up by a courier service so she was happy for us each to pack one medium sized suitcase. Having done so, I was happy to return to Rusper for the evening as Jenny and I were planning to meet up with the two lads, as we wouldn’t be seeing them again for several days. It therefore made sense for me to stay the night with Jenny once again. Aunt Carol could bring us back in the morning to collect Josie and Karen and our luggage before we left for Southport.

‘Is there anything that you will want me to bring from home tomorrow?’ Jenny asked Josie before she left..

‘No thanks, that all belongs to Joe, I have everything that I need for the weekend.’

I could see that Jenny wasn’t happy with this reply, but she didn’t say anything.

I was a little sorry that Sue decided to stay at Rusper again last night as I hadn’t seen her all week, and I was going to be at work when they called in to collect Karen and Josie this morning, and would then disappear for another four days. That’s teenagers for you, I suppose! However, I have spoken to her on the phone and I’ve had Karen and Josie for company this last week. In fact the house will seem quite empty once they leave.

‘Girls, would you like me to fix your hair for you both?’ I asked last night.

This usually went down well with my two, and so I assumed that it would also do so with Josie.

‘Yes please Mum, I need to wash my hair,’ said Karen. ‘I’ll have a shower and shampoo now, and then Josie can go in whilst you are rolling up my hair.’

‘By the way Josie, are those breast forms of yours still quite comfortable?’ I asked.

‘I think they are alright; the surrounding skin shows no sign of soreness or discolouration and they’re both still securely attached despite my having taken several showers and a bath this week. In fact they feel quite comfortable now that I’m getting used to the feel of them,’ she answered.

‘In that case I suggest you leave them in place until you’re back from your trip to the seaside.’

‘That’s a relief, I wasn’t really looking forward to taking them off.’

Karen left us to have her shower, but Josie seemed to want to have a talk with me.

‘Aunt Jean, do you think that I am transgendered?’ she asked.

The question was hardly an earth-shattering surprise given the fact that Josie had recent taken to wearing dresses and lipstick like a duck takes to water, but I suppressed any temptation to respond with the question ‘is the Pope a Catholic?’

‘Well Josie, as I understand it, that the term covers a number of different conditions, some of which definitely do not apply to you. However, the fact that you seem to be so happy and comfortable when you are dressed as a girl compared to how shy and serious you were when dressed as Joe makes me suspect that you may be experiencing some, shall we say ‘uncertainty’ over your gender identity. I am no expert in the matter and it may just be a phase you are going through.’

‘I’d never thought about dressing as a girl before the week before the convention, but as soon as I did so it felt so right for me. I’m not now looking forward to changing back again next week,’ she admitted.

‘Do you feel that you would like to change your sex, and become a girl full-time then?’

‘I just don’t know, I feel totally confused about who I am and how I feel,’ she answered and a tear began to roll down her cheek.

I felt really sorry for her and wondered how I would react if she were my child.

‘The important thing is that you should choose what to do with your life, and not worry too much about what other people may think. However, you must also realise that you could face bullying, hostility and even perhaps violence from ignorant people if you remain openly living as a girl. I would encourage you to discuss your feelings with your mother next week.’

‘Do you think she knows?’

I smiled.

‘She certainly knows that something unusual is happening to you. But you do not need to face it alone. You have a mother, and sister, and friends. The main thing is talk to them and don’t try and keep your feelings to yourself.’

‘Yes, I suppose so.’

‘Promise me that you’ll talk about the way you feel with your mother this weekend,’ I said.

Josie agreed to do so and dried her eyes, and soon afterwards heard that the shower was free.

Whilst Josie was taking her shower I spoke with Karen as I was putting her hair in rollers.

‘What do you think about Josie?’ I asked.

‘I get on very well with her,’ said Karen.

‘But is it a good idea for Joe to spend so much time living as Josie?’

‘I guess that is up to Joe or Josie to decide; certainly she seems to like doing girly things and looking feminine.’

‘But what do you feel about it?’ I asked my daughter.

She shrugged her shoulders.

‘I quite like Josie’s company as a girlfriend, but I am not sure how I will feel about Joe when I next meet him.’

‘What do the others think?’

‘Sue isn’t really bothered. Jenny is a little anxious about where it all might end, and how it might affect her reputation at school. We all agreed that we were happy to have Josie with us as a friend during the next few days, but we would like to know how long it is to be for so we can make some plans.

Josie didn’t need to wash her hair, and once she emerged from the shower she was wearing her new nightdress, negligee and slippers. She did look nice.

‘That shade of blue suits you,’ I said.

We chatted for a while whilst I brushed her hair and put in some rollers.

‘If you don’t mind Aunt Jean I should like to go to bed early as I have to pack my case for tomorrow, and there are a number of articles about transgenderism that I’ve downloaded from the Internet and have not yet had a chance to read.’

‘Alright then, goodnight Josie.’

‘Goodnight, Josie.’

‘I may not have much time to talk with you in the morning so I hope you enjoy your trip to Southport and be sure to have that talk with your Mum,’ I said.

‘I will,’ she answered, ‘and thank you for everything you’ve done for me recently.’

‘It has been my pleasure,’ I replied, and kissed her on the forehead.

Karen also needed to pack her case and paint her nails, so I used the opportunity after they’d both gone upstairs to telephone Carol. I told her about my discussion with Josie and suggested that she should find some time to have a long talk with her son/daughter over the next few days.

‘I’m going to need to get some professional advice, it sounds as if she’ll want to remain as Josie once we get back from Southport,’ said Carol.

‘I think that may be so, but how will she cope when everyone knows her identity?’

‘I’ve no idea.’

‘She would be welcome to continue staying here for a little while, but it is only a matter of time before somebody else starts to wonder what has happened to Joe and who is this new girl,’ I replied.

‘The invitation to go and stay with Denise and her family would give us all a little breathing space, whilst we decided what to do. It would take her away from the possibility of discovery, but it would be irresponsible not to tell Denise’s parents who Josie really was. How do you think they would react, and can we trust them to keep it a secret?’

‘I only know Alice,’ I replied. ‘She’s rich, and perhaps a little spoiled, but fundamentally a decent sort. I suspect that she would be alright. It is a pity that you couldn’t have had a face to face meeting before she left for North Wales, so you could make up your own mind.’

‘I suppose I could ring her as Josie’s mother; that would be quite natural, and then I could see what I think’ said Carol.

As I’d anticipated, I barely had time to talk to the girls this morning before I left for work. I just checked that they were both up and had finished their packing. Karen looked very smart and well-organised, as I knew she would. Josie looked a little apprehensive but also quite lovely. She seemed to look good in whatever she chose to wear and appeared to have a natural ability to use cosmetics to good effect which the best looking girls will sometimes lack. It was difficult for me to picture that just over two weeks ago she was an awkward teenage boy.

‘Well good luck and I hope all goes well for the five of you over the next few days,’ I said.

‘Thanks Mum, and I hope you enjoy the peace and quiet without us,’ said Karen.

I made sure that Jenny and Sue were home early last night and had packed their cases before they went to bed. Thus we were able to have some breakfast and make a reasonably early start. Jean had also promised me last night ensure that the other two would be ready to leave when we arrived at her house at about 9.30 am. We found them both ready and waiting for us. Karen was dressed fairly casually in a halter top and jeans along with the rest of us, but Josie was wearing a rather nice fawn coloured summer dress with pink flowers.

‘Wow! You look smart again this morning Josie, who did your hair and makeup for you?’ asked Sue when we arrived.

‘Your Mum helped me to put my hair in rollers last night, but otherwise it’s all my own work! I’m beginning to get the hang of doing it for myself,’ she answered proudly.

‘So I see, I didn’t realise we were expected to dress up for the car journey,’ I said, smiling.

‘I just wanted to show you one of my new dresses.’

‘Is that one of the ones that Denise gave to you?’ I asked.

‘Yes, I’ve acquired quite a number of her clothes over the last week,’ answered Josie.

‘And she has also bought herself some more fancy lingerie out of her own money,’ added Karen.

‘So I’ve been hearing. I think it was good of you to share your prize with the others.’

Sue now joined the conversation.

‘So did we, in fact Jenny, Karen and I have bought you a pair of earrings and a locket. It is nothing very much but just to say ‘thank you’ for helping us last weekend and agreeing to remain as a girl for the next few days so that we can all go on holiday together. Also for sharing your prize money with us,’ said Sue, handing over a small package in gift wrapping with a ribbon bow and a label.

Josie read the card and un-wrapped the package, thanking them all as she did so. She looked genuinely pleased as she removed her existing earrings which had been borrowed from Karen, replacing them with the new ones, and also put the chain round her neck. I remained a silent observer throughout the exchange, noting that Josie now seemed just as manually dextrous as the others when putting on jewellery, in spite of her long finger nails.

During the car journey to Southport the girls compared notes about what they had done during their previous week and planned what they were going to do over the next few days. I silently listened to their conversation as I drove the car, noting that Josie seemed to be effortlessly behaving as if she were a girl, and the others seemed perfectly happy to accept her as such, at least for the time being.

We checked in to a medium sized hotel midway between the Promenade and Lord Street in Southport and found ourselves occupying two adjoining rooms. The first of which contained two double beds, the second contained two singles. The twins volunteered to share a double bed; Josie and Jenny looked at one another, wondering what to say. However, this seemed to be a good opportunity for me to have a private chat with her.

‘I would like you to share a room with me Josie?’ I said. ‘I haven’t seen very much of you over the last fortnight and I’d welcome the opportunity of having a chat with you’

Josie silently acquiesced and carried her case into my room.

‘Why don’t we all unpack and then perhaps take a rest or a shower?’ I said to the others. I suggest that we should all meet again in the foyer in two hours’ time and then we can go out together and find ourselves some dinner.’

Once Josie and I were alone in the bedroom I was not sure how to broach the topic that was on both of our minds.

‘You seem to have acquired some very nice clothes from Karen’s friend,’ I commented as Josie began to unpack.

‘Yes, her mother insisted that she should give away some of them to make some room in her wardrobe, before she could buy any more. Denise knew that she and I were the same size and so offered them to me,’ she answered.

‘You also appear to have enjoyed yourself living as Josie again over the last week,’ I continued.

‘Yes I suppose I have,’ she answered, blushing a little. ‘Ever since I won the competition last weekend I have felt a lot more confident that I won’t be discovered if I go out. Over the last few days I have been over to see Denise and also out shopping in Crawley.’

‘I am pleased, to know that you have been having a good time, as long as you take care, ‘I answered.

‘I am also now quite competent about getting myself ready each morning and now that I have a range of different clothes available, I have been getting the hang of choosing what to wear,’ added Josie.

‘So I see! I also understand from Jean that you have been helpful to her business. In fact she is very pleased that you decided to stay for another few days as Josie.’

‘Yes, I suppose so, but how do you feel about me staying as Josie, Mum?’

‘I must admit that recent events have taken me by surprise but I want you to be happy, and I don’t think you were particularly happy as Joe.’

Josie thought for a while, but then began to cry.

‘Mum, I don’t know what I am going to do,’ she said with tears beginning to flow down her cheeks.

‘What do you mean my love?’

‘I don’t know what it all means. I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy as I have been during the last fortnight. I’m not looking forward to going back to being a boy, but I know I cannot stay as Josie,’ she explained.

‘I’m not sure what to say’ I answered.

‘Denise mentioned to me that she has a cousin who is ‘transgendered,’ so I looked up the word on the Internet. I think that I may be ‘transgendered’ as well because I feel so good about myself when I am being Josie, compared with Joe. I feel as if this is who I really am.’

‘But you have only been dressing as Josie for the last two weeks; surely it hasn’t all happened in that short period of time?’

‘It had previously gone through my mind that I might have been happier if I had been born a girl, but I’d never let myself think about it before. Then, when the others all wanted me to dress up as a girl for the first time, it all felt so right. Everything they did to me to make me look or act more convincingly just tended to reinforce those good feelings. When I won that competition last week, it felt as if I were fulfilling my destiny,’ she answered.

By now her tears were flowing freely.

‘Are you saying that you want to stay living as Josie?’

‘I don’t want to go back to being a boy.’

‘Do you want to have an operation to change your sex and spend your whole life living as a girl and then a woman, rather than as a man?’ I asked, feeling slightly alarmed by the idea.

‘I don’t know. I feel so confused about myself. All I can say is that I have been really happy as Josie and seem to get on well with Jenny and her friends. Yet I wouldn’t want to go back to our home dressed as a girl in case somebody recognised me. I am dreading the prospect of having to go back to being Joe next week’.

I put my arm around my sobbing child and attempted to offer her some comfort.

‘It has been a shock for me to discover that you are so much happier living as a girl than as a boy,’ I said, ‘but I promise that I will love you just as much either way’.

‘Thank you, but Mum, but what am I going to do?’

‘We do not have a problem for the next four days, as everyone here is expecting you to stay as Josie, but we will have to sort out what to do with you for the remaining four weeks of the summer holiday, and indeed after that. I suggest you should leave your problem with me for the time being, and in the meanwhile you should try to enjoy yourself as a girl for the next few days.’

‘Thanks Mum,’ said Josie, wiping her eyes.

‘But you must now allow me to use my judgement about discussing your situation with other adults, although I promise to do my best to make sure that your identity remains a secret, at least for the time being.’

‘Alright, then you may go ahead, if necessary,’ she replied.

‘I’ve been trying to find out some more about transgenderism, and have downloaded these from the Web. You might like to have a look at some of them,’ she said giving me a large envelope containing the information she’d printed out.

‘Jenny and I have been doing the same thing. I think we all need to do as much as we can to understand how you are feeling,’ I said. ‘However, in the meanwhile I suggest that you shouldn’t say anything to the others about the future unless they specifically ask you. Go and wash your face and repair your makeup before we go and get some food.’

Josie agreed and soon recovered her composure. She decided to change her dress and put on some more makeup.

I kept a close eye on the way my younger daughter behaved and interacted with the others, both during the dinner and afterwards as we all went out for an evening walk along the promenade, and on to the pier. For most of the time she seemed to be no different from the others, and the four girls chatted happily to one another. Occasionally there was a trace of awkwardness in her demeanour although she was clearly doing her best to fit in and the others appeared happy to help her learn how to do so.

‘I wonder if it could work.’ I thought to myself, ‘and whether Joseph would indeed be happier living as Josie. She certainly seems to be learning fast, but it would be such an enormous step to take for her to live full-time as a young woman.’

When we returned to the hotel, the others were planning to watch a film together in their room and invited Josie to join for a while. I agreed as I wanted to read several of the documents printed for me by my daughter.

Both Josie and Aunt Carol seemed a little bit subdued last night when we met up again for dinner, and I had the impression that Josie had been crying, although I didn’t think that they’d had a row. Jenny also had the same feeling as I did but we didn’t feel it was our place to enquire into what had gone on between them. Instead we did our best to cheer up Josie during an evening walk along the Promenade, and afterwards invited her to come to our room to watch ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, on television with us. The film had just been released to be shown on tv and none of us had seen it before. So by the time she went to bed she was her normal cheerful self.

Inevitably, as soon as Josie left us there was some further discussion among the three of us as to what we made of our new girlfriend/sister.

‘We really did open Pandora's box when we asked her to stand in for Denise,’ said Sue. ‘I don’t see her ever wanting to go back to her old life now.’

‘Me neither,’ I agreed. ‘I know she seemed a little bit quiet over dinner tonight, but she cheered up later. In fact, she just seems to have slotted in to her new identity with ease.’

‘But how is she going to get on at home and at school?’ asked Jenny.

‘I would imagine it would be with some difficulty on her part,’ I suggested. ‘I can’t see the lads in her village, or the others in her class accepting the change without comment and no doubt some embarrassment all round.’

‘Yes, and that won’t be confined to her school year and will no doubt include me as well,’ said Jenny.

‘But you wouldn’t want your sister to be unhappy,’ said Sue.

‘I don’t know what I want at the moment and whether I have a brother or a sister.’

Josie and Aunt Carol joined us at breakfast at 8.30am this morning. As we were coming to expect, Josie looked very pretty indeed, wearing yet another of Denise’s summer dresses and putting the rest of us to shame in our jeans and tops.

‘You really are getting quite proficient with your hair and makeup,’ I thought to myself as I sat looking at my new friend. ‘It seems to have come quite naturally in your case.’

‘Do you girls have any plans for today, or indeed for tomorrow when I’ll be involved with a trade exhibition for most of the day?’ asked Aunt Carol.

Nobody had any particular ideas as to what to do.

‘Why don’t you go out and explore the seafront and the Marine Lake this morning?’ she suggested. ‘I have a few things to do in my room and some phone calls to make, but I’ll meet you at the entrance to the Pier at 1.00pm and then we can all have lunch together in town and then perhaps we can go have a look around Lord Street together this afternoon’.

‘Alright Mum,’ said Jenny.

‘Well then ladies, does anyone need to fix their hair or makeup before we go?’ she said with a significant look at her sister.

‘I’m good, thanks,’ Josie replied.

We all spent some of our money on the 2p slot machines on the pier arcade but were unable either to walk or take the tramway to the end of the pier because Josie’s heels would have fallen through the wooden slats. Instead we took a walk over to the ‘New Pleasureland,’ and had a look at the "Zyklon Loop" rollercoaster. It looked pretty scary but we decided it was perhaps a little bit expensive.

‘Why don’t we hire one of the giant swan pedalo boats on the Marine Lake instead?’ Sue suggested.

‘That’s a good idea,’ replied Jenny.

‘I’m not really suitably dressed for boating,’ said Josie.

Jenny sighed audibly.

‘Josie, if you want to be treated like a girl, you should start dressing and acting like a real one and not some ‘Princess Barbie.’’

’You can always tell when Jenny’s period is due,’ I thought to myself.

Poor Josie went bright red and didn’t answer. Her lip trembled as if she might start crying, but she managed to stop herself and the others didn’t notice.

‘Come on, Josie, I’m sure that the guy hiring the boat will give you a hand to get in and out and we can sit in the back seats and leave the pedalling to the other two,’ I suggested.

Whilst Jenny and Sue were noisily engaged in propelling our craft across the lake, Josie murmured to me: ‘I’m only wearing the clothes given to me by Denise; she didn’t give me any trousers or flat heels.’

‘I know, and you look very nice in them, but you will find there are times when dresses and skirts are not very practical. It’s a question of knowing what’s most appropriate to wear, but you’ll soon get the hang of it when you’ve had a little more experience.’

‘I’ve only got two or three more days as Josie, worst luck.’

I felt really sorry for her and would have liked to have mentioned the invitation for us to stay with Denise, but I’d promised my Mum not to do so. Of course Denise had asked me on the phone what was happening regarding the invitation and all I could do was put her off until Josie’s mother had decided. I was getting to like Josie, and wasn’t sure what I’d do if I were allowed to go to stay with Denise on my own whilst she was left at home. On the other hand, though, I’d far rather spend ten days of my holiday in Wales with Denise than in Crawley with Joe as he used to be.

We met Aunt Carol at the agreed time and made our way to Weatherspoon’s on Lord Street for some lunch.

‘I’m afraid there will be a small change of plan this afternoon, girls. I have to meet someone in Chester at 5.00pm and so you’ll need to amuse yourselves again. It‘s about an hour’s drive from here so I’ll have to leave you at 3.30pm, but I should be back in time for dinner at 7.30pm.’

‘Don’t worry, Mum, there’s a branch of ‘BHS’ and a ‘Primark’ in Chapel Street, both of which will be open this afternoon,’ said Jenny.

‘There was also a rather good shoe shop on Lord Street that I’d like to visit as well,’ added Sue.

Aunt Carol sighed.

‘You have a Primark, a BHS, and several large shoe shops in Crawley.’

‘I know Mum but it will be somewhere for us to go whilst you are away,’ said Jenny.

‘Alright and have a look out for somewhere suitable and not too expensive for us to have dinner tonight.’

As soon as Aunt Carol left, Josie went to a cash dispenser and withdrew a hundred pounds from Joe’s account.

‘Alright you three, you are now going to show me exactly what I need to buy so that I don’t end up looking like some ‘Princess Barbie’ again tomorrow.’

‘But I thought you were supposed to saving up for a new computer,’ said Jenny, now feeling a little guilty about her earlier observation.

‘That was Joe; I won’t be needing a new computer anymore,’ said Josie, defiantly.

I’m not sure about the etiquette when one half of a split personality starts spending the money saved by the other half, but the deed was done and the money was now in Josie’s hands, so over the next couple of hours we fixed up with a nice pair of black trousers and a dark red top, both from Primark together with a pair of brown leather wedge heels from the shoe shop. We all agreed on wedges rather than flats, since we felt that she could probably benefit from the extra height to make her look a little older. By the time we’d finished our shopping, Josie would be able to melt into any crowd of sixteen year old schoolgirls without attracting attention. Whilst we were out shopping we also found a reasonable looking Chinese restaurant in London Street, for our dinner.

By 6.30 we’d taken our purchases back to the hotel, all had a shower and were waiting for Aunt Carol to return from her meeting. She did so just before seven, looking quite pleased with herself.

‘So what have you all been doing this afternoon?’ she asked.

‘We’ve been shopping and bought me to a pair of trousers and a top,’ replied Josie, clearly a little hesitant about her mother’s reaction.’

‘That’s nice, you’ll have to show me them later. Now let’s all go and get some dinner, and then there are some things that I need to talk to you all about.’

I’d been expecting to receive a phone call from Josie’s mother ever since I spoke to Jean last Thursday. After all, I would never let Denise go to stay with another family unless I’d first discussed the arrangements at some length with the adults concerned. So it was no surprise when a woman rang this morning and introduced herself as Carol Sharp, Josie’s mother. She sounded a little anxious about how her daughter would get on, if she were to come to stay.

‘May I call you Carol?’ I asked.

‘Yes of course, please do.’

‘Good, and please call me Alice. Well, Carol, we have plenty of room to put up two girls so as long as you don’t mind her sharing a room with Karen, she should be fine.’

‘I know but …,’

She hesitated for a moment so I continued with my sales pitch.

‘Travel to and from Crawley won’t be a problem, as my husband will be driving up next Friday, and returning ten days later. Our holiday home is just outside of Llangollen, which is lovely at this time of the year. It is a quiet and peaceful part of the country and there are lots of places to visit nearby.’

I heard her sigh.

‘Alice, I would like Josie to get away from Crawley for a little while, but there is a complication, and one that I don’t feel I can easily discuss it with you over the phone. I happen to be staying in Southport at the moment, which is only about seventy miles from you. Would there be any chance that I could drive over and have a confidential chat with you this afternoon, before I make my decision?’

‘I suppose so,’ I replied, a little surprised by the need for such elaborate preparation. ‘Denise and her father are visiting my mother-in-law today, and I’d intended to take the bus and train to Chester this afternoon. Could we meet up there, as that would save twenty miles from your journey?’

‘That would suit me fine, thank you. Would five o’clock be alright?’

‘Yes, that will give me the opportunity of doing some shopping first. Do you know the ‘Mad Hatters Tea Room’ in Bridge Street Row?’

’No, but I’m sure I’ll be able to find it. I’ll see you there at five.’

Carol proved to be a fairly smart, business-like sort of woman, who was sitting at a table reading some printed papers as I arrived five minutes late and laden with my shopping bags. She looked up and smiled.

‘Alice?’

‘Yes, hi Carol, I’m sorry I’m a little late.’

‘No problem. I’ve ordered a pot of tea. Would that be ok for you as well?’

We spent a couple of minutes on the usual social chit chat whilst the tea arrived and was poured, I then looked at her expectantly and smiled.

‘Alice, I need to tell you some information that is important to the welfare of my child. Can I rely on your discretion, irrespective of what we both may decide to do this afternoon?’

‘I would hope so.’

‘You see Josie isn’t exactly my daughter,’ she said, struggling for the right way to put it.

‘Oh! I thought you said that you were her mother?’

‘I am the mother, but Josie isn’t my daughter … Joe is, or at least was, my son.’

‘Oh!’ I re-iterated, not knowing what else to say.

My older sister’s younger son had announced that he wanted to transition and live as a woman about five years ago when he was eighteen, but despite more than three years on hormones and a couple of operations my niece still showed slight traces of her original gender. It was certainly not the same situation as the young girl with a sweet smile who’d borrowed Denise’s dress and then offered to help me get the tea ready last week.

‘Josie seems to have been undergoing a major identity crisis over the last couple of weeks and says that she wants to continue living as a girl. It all started when Denise had to drop out of that competition and then his sister and the twins persuaded him to fill in for her.’

‘His sister?’

‘Yes, perhaps I should have explained, I am Jenny’s mother, Joe’s her brother.’

‘Did Denise know about this scheme to substitute Joe in her place?’

‘I believe so.’

‘Oh! So it is also partly her fault, as well?’

‘No, I didn’t mean to imply that. In any event the question of ‘fault’ doesn’t really come into it. This is the way things have turned out.’

‘But she was also expecting to pass Josie off as a girl when she came to stay.’

‘Josie doesn’t know anything about your invitation, as yet. I think it was a scheme cooked up between Karen and Denise.’

‘No actually it was my suggestion, as Josie struck me as being a well-behaved and sensible sort of girl who gets on well with Denise, and would be a good influence,’ I replied. ‘I’d absolutely no idea that there was anything unusual about her.’

‘I suppose Karen and Denise assumed that since Josie had done so well at the convention she’d be able to keep up with the pretence, but there was no way that I would allow the visit to take place without your knowing.’

‘I shall be having a few words with my daughter later on.’

‘I hope you won’t be too hard on her. I think they were only trying to help Josie.’

‘I suppose so, but what are you intending to do?’ I asked.

‘I’m not sure what to do. I need some time to take advice on the best way forward, but if my former son is determined to live as a girl, I’d rather she did so away from Crawley, at least for the time being. Your invitation would be something of a godsend, if it were still open, but I can hardly expect you to agree to her staying now that you know the whole story.’

There was a trace of anxiety beginning to show in her voice.

‘Does Jean know the full story?’

‘Yes, she does. Having Josie substitute for Denise was the only way we could think of to enable Jenny and the twins to continue with their competition entry. We’d no idea that there might be longer term consequences for Josie.’

‘Would Jean be happy about her daughter and Josie sharing a bedroom?’

‘Oh yes. They shared a hotel room at the convention.’

I thought about the implications for a moment before answering.

‘In that case, Carol, I don’t see that so much has changed since I first invited her. So long as your child is willing to remain as Josie for the duration of her visit, I don’t see why she shouldn’t come and stay.’

‘Really! That would be a great help to me if she could.’

‘I’m glad you have told me the whole story, but I’m not sure what to say to Denise’s father as it might worry him. I think we may have to keep this information on a ‘need to know’ basis, don’t you?’

She smiled at me.

‘I would prefer that as few people knew the details as possible, but I will leave it for you to decide.’

‘So Karen and Josie will come back with my husband next Friday after his meeting.’

‘Yes. Both girls are with me at present. They will be travelling back with me on Tuesday, so it will just be a question of keeping Josie out of the public eye for a few days.

‘Will you be travelling anywhere near Llangollen on Tuesday?’ I asked

‘We could make a detour.’

‘In that case you would be welcome to drop them off on Tuesday. That way they would have almost a full fortnight in Wales.’

‘I’ll need to talk to the girls tonight and see what they think, and also talk to Jean. Maybe I could phone you tomorrow morning?’

‘Alright then.’

‘Alice, I’m really grateful for your help.’

‘Think nothing of it, I’ll be happy to have your daughter stay.’

‘I should warn you that she’ll probably be wearing some of Denise’s dresses,’ said Carol smiling. ‘She’s turned into quite a little girly-girl but I’ll leave her some money to get herself some new clothes.’

‘I was glad to see that some of Denise’s dresses have found a good home, and I’m sure the other two will enjoy helping her to choose some more things to wear.’

We finished our tea and Carol returned to her car. I made my way to the railway station with my shopping, but decided to take a taxi home from Ruabon station rather than take the bus as it would give me more opportunity to think about what I’d just heard. I shall certainly be having a quiet word with Denise when she gets back tonight, but I’m also quite looking forward to the prospect of having the two teenagers stay, as well.

Josie was a bit of a pain on Sunday morning, dressed in her smart girly clothes which tended to show the rest of us up whilst also preventing us from going on to the pier. Maybe I was a little hard on her by calling her ‘Princess Barbie,’ after all she is new to all of this and doesn’t have a lot of choice about what to wear. For that reason I was happy to go shopping yesterday afternoon to help her to find something a little more practical to wear for today. At least Josie is willing to spend a little of her own money on clothes, which would have been quite out of character for Joe.

As soon as Mum got back from her meeting last night we were sent to our respective hotel rooms to change into something less casual, as she was intending to take us all out to a restaurant. (Presumably she was able to charge some of it towards her business expenses.) As usual, Sue and I took a little longer to get ready than the Karen, so when we eventually came down we found Mum, Josie and Karen in the hotel lobby already in earnest conversation with one another.

‘Josie and Karen have been invited to stay with Denise’s parents for a fortnight,’ announced Mum. ‘We shall be dropping them off at Llangollen on our way home on Tuesday. Unfortunately they only have room for two girls to stay, but Jean and I will find a way of making it up to the other two of you.’

‘That’s alright; I’m not sure that I’d want to spend a a whole fortnight in Wales with Denise and her mother. Also I’ve plenty to do at home,’ said Sue, clearly thinking of those two guys from our village.

I felt pretty much the same myself. At least I wouldn’t now have to look after Joe if Mum had to stay away overnight, and there would now be no danger that anyone in the village would find out about Josie for the next fortnight. On the other hand though, I didn’t want to make things too easy for Mum or my sister. I wanted it to look as if I was being magnanimous.

‘I see,’ I said flatly, with a tone of studied disappointment. ‘Maybe you could take Sue and I out somewhere for a treat instead, Mum.’

‘I’ve already discussed some ideas with your mother, Sue. She would be quite happy to have Jenny stay during the week and I have promised to have you both at weekends, and maybe we can go somewhere nice.’

‘That would suit me,’ said Sue.

‘Me too,’ said Karen. ‘The only trouble is that all the clothes that I brought with me to Southport will have been worn by Tuesday.’

‘In that case I suggest that you and Josie should do some laundry straight after dinner tonight, so that everything can be washed and ironed by Tuesday morning. If there is anything else that you are going to need from your home, tell Sue where to find it as Denise’s father will be driving from Crawley to Llangollen on Friday and I’m sure he’d be happy to bring another suitcase with him.’

‘I might need a few more clothes as well,’ said Josie.

Mum sighed, but I knew that she was making much better money now compared to before her promotion.

‘I know, and I’ll give both you and Jenny fifty pounds each to get yourself something when you next go shopping.’

‘Maybe there are some advantages to having a transgendered sister who needs to be kept out of the public eye,’ I thought to myself.

‘I’ve also got my birthday coming up in a fortnight; can I also get myself something as a present from you?’ asked Josie.

Mum sighed.

‘If you are sure that’s what you want for your birthday.’

The five of us went out for our meal, but didn’t stay too long as Josie and Karen had to prepare for Tuesday. In fact Sue and I also managed to wring one other small advantage out of our having been left out of Denise’s invitation, by suggesting that they might also do our laundry whilst they were doing their own. Somewhat to my surprise they both agreed without any argument. Mum was more concerned with getting herself ready for her work presentation the following day, which was the reason why we’d come to Southport in the first place. Sue and I therefore went out on the prowl, talent-spotting, for an hour or so. We even made it to the end of the pier where we hung out for a while with some local lads, but otherwise it was an uneventful evening.

This morning Karen and I were the last down to breakfast, to find that Mum had already left for her work, and that Sue and Josie were chatting to two guys in the lobby. The taller of the pair, who was talking to Sue was really quite something. The other one, who appeared to be his younger brother seemed a little shy, but was quite presentable, all the same. They were just leaving as we arrived.

‘See you this afternoon then girls,’ the taller one said.

‘Yeah, sure,’ said Sue smiling.

Josie didn’t say anything and looked a little embarrassed.

‘Josie and I have just been invited out to the New Pleasureland, this afternoon,’ said Sue smugly. ‘It’s the last day in Southport for those two brothers and so they’ve asked us to join them.’

‘How come Josie gets all the invitations?’ I said feeling a little bit aggrieved.

‘Maybe if you hadn’t spent so long in the shower this morning and held me up in the process?’ suggested Karen.

‘I had to deal with my period,’ I replied.

(It’s strange but I would never have dreamed of mentioning my period if Joe had been there, but it wasn’t an issue with Josie present.)

‘Don’t blame me, I never said a word to encourage them,’ said Josie.

‘I know, but the older one wouldn’t have asked me, if you hadn’t also been there to keep his brother company,’ said Sue.

I could see that Josie was feeling a little guilty about this second invitation in two days, although I realised it wasn’t her fault.

‘Maybe I could pay for you and Karen to go on one of the rides, this afternoon,’ she offered.

‘Alright, and I’ll go halves with you,’ added Sue.

‘The lads are bound to take them on at least two rides, so why don’t we chip in for a ride each as well?’ Karen asked me.

‘At least I’ll be able to keep an eye of my sister, and make sure he doesn’t try to put his hand up her dress.’

‘I won’t be wearing a dress,’ said Josie, slightly horrified by the prospect.

‘Oh yes you will, and so will I. The ‘Barbie Princess’ look is what we should be aiming for if we are being taken to a funfair. That way they’ll feel obliged to help us on and off the rides.’

Sue and I indulged in a little gentle teasing of my younger sister during the course of the morning, as we sorted out our laundry.

‘Be careful what you hold on to when they take us on to the ‘Wild Mouse, Josie, you may give him the wrong idea,’ said Sue.

‘We’re all leaving Southport tomorrow, so he’ll hardly be expecting to go to bed with you, but you should be prepared for some heavy petting on the ghost train, all the same,’ I added.

‘There isn’t a ghost train,’ said Josie, blushing.

Eventually Karen told us to lay off the teasing, and leave her alone.

In the event, the two lads didn’t mind us all going round the fun fair as a group of six, although there was an unspoken understanding that Karen and I would share a ride together and pay our own fares, leaving the guys to pay for our respective sisters. Josie’s escort, Richard, was just as shy as she was; there was a little innocent snuggling or else holding on to one another during the most exciting rides, but nothing more. Sue, who was far more experienced in dealing with boys probably had the more fun with Douglas, the elder brother, but even she didn’t let things go too far as both groups would be going their separate ways in the morning.

Mum was going to be involved with her work until nearly 8.00pm and we’d arranged to have dinner ourselves, and so joined the lads to go to a Pizza Hut, although on this occasion everyone paid for themselves. I must say though, Josie dealt with the slightly awkward parting quite well. She smiled sweetly and thanked Richard for his company, and for taking her on some rides. When it looked as if he was unlikely to respond, she kissed him chastely on the cheek. The poor guy went bright red, but didn’t look as if he was unhappy.

‘My goodness, if some of Joe’s school fellows ever learned what went on in Southport, he would never be able to show his face within fifty miles of his home,’ I said to the others after Josie left us that night.

‘Joe? Who’s Joe?’ asked Karen.

I smiled.

‘Alright, I’m pleased that my sister Josie seems to be enjoying herself so much this summer, but I am worried about her future.’

‘From what I’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, I should think she’ll be alright,’ added Sue.

We had all packed our cases and eaten breakfast by 10.00am this morning and were about to begin the process of loading Aunt Carol’s car, whilst she was checking out of the hotel. Josie had been the last to get ready on this occasion, having spent more time than the rest of us on her hair and makeup. Even now she was still trying to fix her hair.

‘Come on missy you don’t need to take all day making yourself look beautiful, after all you are only going to be sitting in the car for the next couple hours,’ complained Jenny, but smiling as she did so as she was usually the one to keep us waiting

‘I know, but we’ll be having lunch at Llangollen and I want to look my best when we meet Denise’s mother again. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen her since she has known who I am and I’ll feel less nervous if I look nice,’ answered Josie.

‘My sister is turning in to a real girly girl!’ commented Jenny to me in mock disgust.

‘I think you should take that as a compliment, Josie,’ I said. ‘Jenny is only jealous because we were invited out yesterday.’

‘Remember, you two, nor to mention those two lads in front of my Mum,’ said Jenny. ‘I’m not sure how she would react to knowing that Josie had already been out on a date.’

‘It wasn’t ’a date’,’ said Josie, blushing once again.

‘Well he did put his arm round you and you kissed him,’ I said.

Karen returned to the previous topic of conversation, wishing to spare Josie’s blushes.

‘I don’t think you need to worry too much Josie,’ she said. ‘I spoke to Denise this morning and her mother now seems to be reasonably happy about your situation. However, we’ll all have to be a little cautious about what we say over lunch as her dad probably won’t have any idea about your identity.’

‘I just want to enjoy myself as Josie and forget that Joe ever existed.’

‘Maybe you can do that for the next two weeks, but we’ll have to see what happens after that,’ added Aunt Carol, who had re-joined us at that point.

During the course of our car journey through the through various small towns on the West Lancashire coast, Jenny and I were busy discussing our plans for the next few days.

‘So it’s agreed then, we’ll stay in Crawley for a few days with my Mum, and then Aunt Carol has offered to take us to visit London next weekend,’ I said by way of summing up.

Mum turned on the car radio and to our surprise we heard news reports about the rioting that had been taking place in some areas of London, and also copycat riots in other towns. That sort of thing didn’t usually happen in the UK.

‘I hope there isn’t going to be any trouble in the centre of Liverpool, as we have to drive through the docks to get to the Mersey Tunnels,’ commented Aunt Carol. ‘It also sounds as if we may have to postpone our trip to London until things settle down.’

‘The trouble seems only to have been in some poorer neighbourhoods in London. Not the West End,’ said Jenny.

‘We’ll have to see what the situation is later in the week.’

We passed through Crosby and into Bootle and then the Liverpool docks. There was no sign of any rioting but the area around the docks did look rather run down.

‘I’m glad I don’t live here,’ said Jenny, as we passed a row of boarded-up shops and turned towards the entrance to the Wallasey Tunnel under the River Mersey.

‘Me too,’ I replied thinking that we were all quite fortunate to live in the South East where there was a degree of prosperity and full-employment.

We all went quiet for a while as the car passed through the tunnel, but once we’d emerged and paid the toll we joined a motorway down the Wirral peninsular towards North Wales and the area once again appeared to be more prosperous. It was now Josie and Karen’s turn to begin to discuss their plans for the next two weeks.

‘So what is there for us to do in Llangollen?’ asked Josie.

Karen took out her iPhone and began to read.
‘The local website says that the small town is very picturesque and gets plenty of tourists. We have missed the International Music Eisteddfod held in July but they often have exhibitions at a showground nearby.’
I looked across at Jenny and rolled my eyes.
‘There’s also a preserved steam railway in the town and a museum devoted to two aristocratic Irish lesbians who ran away from home in the eighteenth century and lived together in a civil union for nearly fifty years.’

‘Wow! That sounds really entertaining,’ I said. ‘You’re making Jenny and I jealous that we weren’t invited to stay.’

Jenny sniggered, but Karen ignored us and continued reading from her phone.

‘There are also lots of places to visit nearby including the ‘Horseshoe Falls’, ‘Horseshoe Pass’ or you can take a canal barge trip over the famous Pontcysyllte aqueduct, built by Thomas Telford. Alternatively, visitor can climb up to Dinas Bran, the remains of an eighth century Welsh castle.’

‘What about shops?’ I asked.

Karen stopped reading.

‘Denise says that the nearest town of any size is Wrexham, but that is a bit of a dump, but it is fairly easy to get from Llangollen to Chester, which she says is an interesting place to visit and is also good for shopping.’

On balance, I was quite relieved not to have been invited to go and stay and would far rather remain in Crawley with Jenny and our friends, and also have a trip to London (riots permitting). On the other hand Josie seemed to be quite excited by the prospect of a visit, although I guess she mainly wants to get away from Crawley for a while.

We made good time once we were through the Mersey Tunnel and shortly after midday we were pulling in to the drive of Denise’s parents’, so-called ‘summer cottage,’ which turned out to be quite a respectable looking detached house. No doubt it could have housed a half dozen or so of the locals, if they’d only been able to afford the rent. Instead it stood empty for much of the year apart from the occasional weekend and holiday visits. No wonder that the natives sometime resented rich townies from South East England coming in and buying up the available property.

Denise was waiting for us as we pulled up, looking as if she’d been bored and was very pleased to see us. She invited the four of us up to the spare room, whilst Aunt Carol remained downstairs to have a word with her mother. There was inevitably a certain amount of excited chatter as Josie and Karen inspected their new sleeping quarters and each chose a bed.

‘How’s the operation, Denise?’ I asked.

‘I feel fine and I’m pleased to say the scar is beginning to fade. So what have you all been doing since I left Crawley?’ Denise wanted to know.

‘Nothing much out of the ordinary, apart from a few days in Southport. My sister has been out on her first date, but don’t mention it to my Mum,’ said Jenny.

‘It was not a date,’ reiterated Josie. ‘I was just keeping some guy company so that his brother would have a chance to make out with Sue.’

‘You’ll have to tell me all about it later,’ said Denise.

‘What did your Mum say when she found out about Josie?’ asked Karen.

‘Not too much. She was a little put out that we’d fooled her and said that I should have explained the situation as soon as she first suggested that the two of you should come and stay, but I think she has now forgiven us and is looking forward to having you stay.’

‘What about your Dad?’ asked Josie.

‘Dad wasn’t particularly sympathetic when my cousin began to transition, so Mum and I think that it is probably best that we don’t tell him about Josie. There must be no reference to Joe when we are in the house, but I don’t think you will need to worry too much. He’s not exactly observant at the best of times, and spends a fair amount of time playing golf or working in his study whilst he’s here.’

‘As far as I’m concerned, I am happy to stick with Josie for the duration of my visit,’ she answered.

Nobody responded but the original four of us shared significant glances and wondered what we’d all set in motion back in July.

We were called down for a buffet lunch on their lawn, and Denise’s father also put in a brief appearance. Fortunately the lunchtime discussion was mainly concerned with the rioting, the decline of modern civilisation, and how young people today don’t know how well off they are or how hard their parents had it. I kept a surreptitious watch on the way that both her parents reacted to Josie, but neither of them appeared to treat her any differently from the rest of us. Eventually, Jenny, Aunt Carol and I had to leave to continue our journey back to Crawley.

‘I hope you two have a good time but be sure to behave yourself, and take care, especially you Josie,’ said Aunt Carol as we were about to leave.

‘We will, and thanks for everything, to all three of you,’ she replied

‘How do you think she’ll get on over the next fortnight?’ I asked Aunt Carol as we pulled away.

‘I hope she’ll be alright, she behaves like a sensible girl; it is the longer term that I am more worried about.

On the way home I pretended to go to sleep as we drove down the Motorway. After a while, Jenny spoke to her mother.

‘Mum, what is going to happen about Josie when she gets back home?’

‘I really don’t know dear. I’m going to try and make an appointment to see a specialist as soon as possible to seek advice.’

‘But what will happen when it is time to go back to school? She can’t keep staying at other people’s houses forever.’

‘I wish I knew, dear.’

We eventually made it back to Crawley at about 8.30pm having stopped for some dinner en route. It was just as well that Karen and Josie had done our laundry for us as Jenny and I were able to unload our suitcases and have an early night.

Things have been pretty dull here since we arrived last week, we don’t see a lot of Dad, and Mum is worried all the time that I might damage myself if I do anything remotely energetic. But I now feel much recovered from the operation, and the small scar is beginning to heal. I’ve been missing my friends, and wished that Karen, at least could come to stay. From what I hear the three of them have been having an interesting time teaching young Josie how to be a lady and I would have liked the opportunity to contribute to the project.

Last Sunday, Dad and I drove over to see his mother in Shrewsbury. To be honest, I would rather have gone shopping with Mum in Chester, but I guess I’m bound to make the effort as we are in the area, and she always gives me a twenty pound note as we are leaving. When we got back to Llangollen, Mum asked to have a word with me in my bedroom. Dad used this as an excuse to retreat into his study to catch up with his emails.

‘Denise, I’ve been talking to the mother of Josie (or should I say Joe) and Jennifer. I think you had better tell me the whole story and also how you came to be involved.’

’Oh dear, bang goes the prospect of me having any friends to stay,’ I thought.

‘The plan to substitute Josie in my place was nothing to do with me, as I was in hospital at the time. However, it clearly worked well since Josie won first prize in the competition.’

‘But you never told me when you asked me to loan your dress.’

‘I know but at that stage they were still not sure whether the plan would go ahead or not.’

You must have known when they came to our house after you’d had your operation.’

‘I know, but I thought it was a one-off and so didn’t bother mentioning it to you. It was only afterwards, when she came to visit a second time and I saw how much she was enjoying herself that I really became involved. I wanted to help her come to terms with her transgenderism before she starts puberty.’

‘What other people decide to do with their lives is not your business.’

‘But I didn’t want her to leave it too late before making a decision about her future. You know how difficult it has been for Helen, and how much she now wishes that she had started her transition earlier.’

(Helen was my cousin, formerly named Richard.) Mum didn’t respond to that point as she knew that I was probably right. Instead or pursuing that avenue I attempted to change the focus of our conversation.

‘It was you who suggested that she should come and stay.’

‘But you didn’t tell me that ‘she’ was really a ‘he’. Surely you didn’t think you would be able to pass Josie off as a girl for ten days staying here without us suspecting something.’

‘Well neither you nor Dad appeared to have noticed anything unusual about her last week, and you even had her helping you in the kitchen for half an hour.’

Mum had to admit that I had a point there, but I didn’t want to rub it in whilst there was still a chance that she might come round.

‘Sorry Mum, but I was only trying to help her.’

‘I met Josie’s mother in Chester this afternoon, and she feels that Josie might be better away from Crawley for a while. I probably should have cancelled the invitation, but I didn’t and it now looks as if Josie and Karen will be coming to stay for a fortnight. They’ll be arriving on Tuesday.’

‘Really! That’s brilliant news, Mum,’ I said, scarcely able to believe what I was hearing.’

‘But you must promise me to be careful, and it doesn’t mean that you can start running around until you are fully fit once again.’

‘Yes, of course, Mum. I promise to take things easily’

‘I won’t be saying anything about Josie to your father as he has enough to worry about as it is, so you’d all three better watch what you say and do when he’s around.’

‘Yes, of course,’ I answered gravely.

‘Maybe you could also loan her a few more things of yours to wear as well whilst she’s here.’

‘Does that mean we can also go shopping in Chester?’

‘Maybe we can go, in a few days’ time, as long as your dad is free to take us there and collect us afterwards.’

No sooner had she left than I was on the phone to Karen who confirmed the arrangements and that they would be arriving for lunch in two days’ time.

It was quite exciting to see my friends again this morning, even if only two of them were going to stay. As soon as they’d arrived I invited the girls up to my bedroom where they were able to bring me up to date with everything that had gone on over the last week. Josie, in particular, seems to be looking better and gaining in confidence every time I see her. I understand that she has even been out on a foursome with Sue and a couple of guys they met at Southport. After half an hour we were called down to lunch where everyone had to be a little more careful with what they said. Dad did at least make the effort to talk to Karen and Josie, and they responded quite well.

The other three left us after lunch to continue their journey south, but before doing so Josie’s mum had a final word with Karen and Josie. As soon as we’d waved them goodbye, Mum asked the visitors and I to come upstairs to help sort out the spare room, but it also appeared that she wanted to have a few words with us without Dad being present.

‘OK girls, you are very welcome, and I hope you will have a good time in Llangollen, but remember that I am responsible for your welfare and so I’m relying on you all to behave sensibly,’ said Mum to the newcomers.

Karen and Josie both murmured their agreement.

‘And that goes for you as well, Denise,’ she added as an afterthought as she’d noticed me rolling my eyes in the background, as she spoke.

‘As for you, young lady,’ she said, addressing Josie, ‘I understand from your mother that you wish to be treated as a girl for the duration of your stay here.’

‘Yes please, Mrs Crawford,’ she replied, blushing a little.

‘Very well, that is alright by me, but I don’t intend to mention your situation to Denise’s father. From your looks and behaviour, I don’t think there should be much danger of your being found out so long as you are all sensible. However, you should realise that it would put me in a difficult position if you were to change your mind.’

‘Don’t worry, Mrs Crawford, I have no intention of changing my mind whilst I’m here. In any event none of the clothes that I have brought with me would be suitable for a boy to wear,’ said Josie.

‘Good, in that case it can be our little secret between the four of us.’

Once we had sorted out the sleeping arrangements I took Karen and Josie for a look around the sights of Llangollen, which occupied us for all of three quarters of an hour. Eventually we stood on the bridge between the two sides of the town looking at the rapids, and also a steam train that was about to leave the station.

‘So what do you think of the place?’ I asked.

‘It is a nice looking town,’ said Karen. ‘What is the local talent like?’

‘I’m afraid there isn’t much, but we get a fair number of visitors this time of the year, and there is a Youth Hostel a couple of miles up the road, so the place is not without its masculine attractions.’

‘I don’t think that your Mum would be happy if we started hanging out with boys,’ said Josie.

‘Mum doesn’t have to know everything, even in a small town like this,’ I said.

On balance, I felt it was probably a good idea for Karen and Josie to stay with Denise’s parents in Llangollen, rather than come back to Crawley, at least for the time being. Karen also professed herself to be happy with the arrangement. I just hope the girls behave sensibly when they’re away and that Josie doesn’t get over-confident with her new identity and start taking risks. I was also relieved to learn that Alice now knows about Josie’s situation as it means that there need be no awkwardness on my part if we should speak on the phone.

Carol returned with her daughter Jenny and my daughter Sue last night. There was some debate between the two girls as to where they wished to stay over the next few days since my home in Three Bridges was most convenient for getting in to town and meeting most of their girlfriends, but Carol’s house at Rusper was more convenient for seeing the two lads that they’d recently become friendly with. In the end they decided to stay with me last night but to make their way over to Rusper this afternoon as they planned to meet up with the two lads. I suspect they will be dividing their time between both houses over the next fortnight.

‘How did things go?’ I asked Carol once the girls had both disappeared upstairs.’

‘Jean, I need to have a long talk to someone. I don’t suppose you would like to come to dinner at my place tomorrow night?’

‘I would be happy to, but there aren’t too many buses from Rusper at night .’

‘Don’t worry about that, it seems that I will need to give the girls a lift back as well. If you were able to come over after your salon closes, we could have a couple of hours to ourselves for me to tell you what happened.'

As arranged, I took the bus over to her place after work today.

‘It looks as if we are all partly to blame for encouraging Joe to fill in for Denise,’ I said after Carol related her conversation with her younger daughter.

‘I don’t think it is a question of blame. Whatever was there in his character was merely lying dormant and would have emerged sometime. In any event, from what I have seen and heard recently, I’m sure that she is far happier as Josie than he ever was as Joe. I’m sure that this isn’t just a passing phase.’

‘So Josie has admitted to you that she wants to live as a girl,

‘Yes, she also says she wants to begin taking female hormones.’

‘That sounds a bit drastic for someone of her age.’

‘Apparently ‘her age’ is the ideal time to begin the transition; before puberty sets in with a vengeance and makes the whole process that much more difficult.’

‘But what if she should change her mind?’

‘I get the impression that she is quite serious about it. She seems to have done a lot of background research on the subject over the last few weeks and has even sent off for a book designed for the parents of transgendered teenagers.’

‘So what are you going to do about it?’ I asked.

‘Everything I’ve read says that it is pointless, and indeed counter-productive to try and stand in the way once someone has made up their mind. So whilst I was in Southport I made an appointment with our local GP and have been to see her this afternoon. I explained the situation and she wants to see Josie as soon as she gets back from Llangollen. I also told her that Josie is frightened to come home to Rusper in her new identity and that we are all worried about what to do once the schools open again in September. My GP has referred me to a child psychologist in London to see if we can have an appointment before Josie is due to go back to school. The only problem is what is going to happen to her when she gets back from Llangollen the week after next,’ she answered.

‘As I have said before, Josie and Jenny would be welcome to stay with me and my girls for the last two weeks of the summer holidays. Josie, in particular, has been so helpful to me and could continue to be so. Of course that doesn’t solve your long term problem, but it would at least give you a little more breathing space, to sort out a more permanent solution,’ said Jean.

‘The girls do seem to get on well together and enjoy one another’s company and don’t appear to find her presence an embarrassment?’ continued Carol.

’Why should they?’ I asked.

‘I was a little anxious at first that she might attract any unwanted attention by her looks or her behaviour, but from what I’ve seen she looks and acts just like any other girl,’ said Carol.

‘I agree. So why not let them both stay with me for a while?’

‘I wish I could repay you, Jean, by having the twins stay with me for part of that time but Josie is currently frightened of coming home dressed as a girl. However, if you are really willing for them to stay with you during the week, I would try and find ways of taking all four of them away on trips each weekend, just to give you a break from having four teenage girls around the house.’

‘That sounds an acceptable deal to me,’ I said. ‘I've been pretty busy in the salon recently and so I was wondering how I would get the time to give my girls a holiday this year.’

‘It will also give me a little time to talk with that child psychologist and make plans for the future,’ said Carol.

Sue and Jenny came in at that point having been out together. Jenny didn’t look at all happy.

‘I suppose you have both been discussing my sister again,’ she said sourly, when she saw us.

‘We’ll need to get something sorted out soon, for Josie’s sake,’ said her mother.

‘Josie’s the only person that anyone is concerned about in this house. Nobody worries about how I might feel; about how embarrassing it will be for me if my former brother starts going to school in a dress.’

‘We must all stick together as a family. Surely you wouldn’t like to see your brother as unhappy as he used to be?’ said Carol.

‘All I want is to come from a normal family, with a normal brother, not some circus freak.’

‘Don’t you dare speak about Josie in that way. I’ll want a word with you later young lady. Now go to your room,’ said Carol growing red in the face.

However, before her mother had even finished talking Jenny had stomped off upstairs and slammed her bedroom door. Carol looked surprised, embarrassed and deeply upset by her elder daughter’s reaction.

‘Where did that come from?’ she asked.

‘I think it may be Jenny’s new boyfriend talking. He’s very good looking, but in other respects a bit of a Neanderthal. I know that she was planning to raise the issue of transgender with him tonight, just to see how he reacted. I suspect that he told her how much he hates ‘freaks and queers,’ said Sue.

‘Some boyfriend!’ I said. ‘What is it that gets into some young men that makes them so intolerant of anything which might question their masculinity? What are they so afraid of?’

Sue shrugged her shoulders: ‘I guess this means that Jenny won’t be coming to stay at our place tonight.’

‘No, I’m afraid not. She’s grounded until I can put her straight about some things, but I’ll give you and your mother a lift home.’

‘That all I needed,’ said Carol, turning to me. 'Just when I start to try and sort out one problem, up comes another. Whoever would be a mother?’

‘You must expect some trauma, Carol, it will be quite an adjustment for them both to make, quite apart from facing the ignorance and intolerance of others,’ I said.

‘I’m sure that Jenny will be alright again in the morning, once she’s had a chance to think about what she’s just said,’ continued Sue.

‘I sincerely hope so, otherwise we are all in for some stormy weather in the weeks to come,’ replied Carol.

‘How would you and Karen feel if Josie decided that she no longer wants to be a boy and stayed at your house for a couple of weeks?’ I asked.

Sue shrugged her shoulders as if was no big deal.

‘Karen seems to get on really well with Josie. As far as I’m concerned, if Josie wants to be treated as a girl, then that’s alright by me, so long as it is understood that there are no topics which are off limits. If we want to compare notes on boyfriends, she will have to be prepared to join in,’ she said.

‘I think she realises that, she just wants to be treated as one of the gang,’ said Carol.

Sue thought for a moment.

‘Aunt Carol, did we cause this all to happen, by inviting Joe to join in our competition entry?’

‘No, I don’t think so,’ said Carol ‘You just provided an opportunity which enabled Joe to discover something that was lying dormant in his character. I believe he always was unsure about his gender and sexuality but was never willing to admit it to himself. What do you think Jean?’

‘From what I’ve seen over the last few weeks, I’m sure that you are right,’ I replied.

The three days since I arrived in Llangollen have been good fun and I’ve felt that I could at last relax and be the person that I was always meant to be, without having to worry that I might bump into somebody from my former life who would immediately recognise me and want to pour scorn upon me. Denise and Karen have both been great to me, and treated me as they would any other of their friends, without reference to my past gender. This is exactly what I wanted from them. We are constantly in an out of one another’s bedrooms borrowing jewellery or cosmetics or else helping one another with our hair, and I’ve learned a lot. Neither of them appear to give a second thought to getting changed in front of me and expect me to do the same with them.

Denise’s mother was a little wary of me at first, but once I started to offer to help her with the preparation of meals, or else clearing up after them, she seemed to relax. They have a cleaner at their house in Ifield, but I get the impression that she doesn’t get a lot of help from either her husband or her daughter when they are away on holiday. Both Karen and I are used to having to help around the house as we come from single parent households. So Mrs Crawford is quite happy to have the two of us setting a good example to her daughter. I think Denise’s father was a little bit overawed by the idea of having to share a house with four females and so he tends to go out to play golf with his friends or else stay in his study doing work. Then of course he disappeared for his big meeting in Crawley early yesterday morning, and won’t be back until late tonight. As a result I have not felt in any danger of being unmasked or treated with disrespect.

Denise seems to have decided to act as my official wardrobe advisor and is constantly making helpful suggestions as to what I should wear and what makeup and accessories I need to go with them. As a result I’ve compiled a sizable shopping list of things that I am going to need.

‘You still have a lot to learn, Josie, if you are going to make the best of yourself, before you get too old for it to make a difference,’ she said.

‘Jenny accused me of dressing like a ‘Princess Barbie,’ all the time,’ I admitted.

‘She’s only jealous because you won that competition, but maybe I did go over the top by giving you only girly girl clothes,’ said Denise, ‘I’m sure there are some others of mine I can let you have.’

‘Denise, I can’t keep borrowing your clothes all the time, I need to get some for myself. I do have some money saved.’

‘Don’t worry, Mum has promised to take us all in to Chester on Saturday and so we will be able to help you to do some shopping then, if you like, but in the meanwhile you are going to need some more trousers for everyday wear around the town. You will do me a favour by taking them off my hands.’

‘Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind.’

Denise’s mother vetoed our undertaking any of the more energetic local pursuits, such as climbing up to ruins of Castell Dinas Bran or walking the Horseshoe Pass, for the time being until her daughter was a little more recovered from the operation. Instead she offered to pay for the three of us either to take a boat trip over the Pontcysyllte aqueduct or else to take a trip on the steam railway towards Corwen.

‘I can’t say that steam engines are exactly my cup of tea — they seem dirty and noisy compared to the trains of today,’ said Karen.

‘I suppose they do give you an idea of what life was like to live in olden times,’ I suggested.

‘They do have the advantage of attracting younger guys though, and usually provide a good opportunity for some local talent spotting. It tends to be the crusties who go on the far more quiet and gentle boat trip over the aqueduct,’ said Denise.

Karen and I accepted that Denise would probably know best on the subject of talent spotting and we therefore made our way to the station. It wasn’t too long before we were chatting to three German guys of our age who were on a cycling holiday with their parents and were staying in the local Youth Hostel. By the end of the trip we’d even arranged to meet up with them after lunch, to have a look around the town together. They were good fun to be with but unfortunately their family was scheduled to move on the following day and had booked their accommodation so it was never going to be anything more than one of those passing acquaintanceships.

‘Mum, would it be alright if we skipped dinner tonight and had a pizza out instead?’ asked Denise on the phone. ‘We have met up with three lads, but they have to leave for Lake Bala in the morning.’

‘How old are these lads?’ I heard her mother ask.

‘Fifteen to eighteen, but don’t worry, we’ll all be home by 10.30.’

‘Make sure you are, and be careful for Josie’s sake.’

Thus having secured permission from our respective parents or guardians, the six of us went to order a pizza and sat round a large table. As we were sitting down I heard a bleep notifying me that a text message had been received. I quickly noted that it was from Jenny and was quite relieved since I’d previously had the impression that I might have upset her without realising it. (I’d tried to ring her a couple of times during the course of the day but on each occasion my call went straight to voice mail, so I’d sent her a couple of jokey text messages, asking her how things were going.) It would appear rude to be reading text messages in front of our new friends, so I decided to take a trip to the Ladies. Denise decided that she needed to go as well.

Once I was in the cubicle I opened the message from my sister: it made me feel cold inside.

‘Leave me alone — you freak!’

I realised that my becoming Josie would inevitably give rise to some abuse and hostility towards me particularly once I’d returned from holiday — but I’d no idea that it would start so quickly or that it would begin with my own sister!

‘Is everything ok Josie?’ asked Denise as I was washing my hands.

‘Fine thanks,’ I replied feeling so upset that I couldn’t bring myself to show the message to either of my friends.

’I don’t care what she thinks about me, I am what I am, and I’m going to do what is right for me,’ I thought.

Denise and I returned to our seats.

‘Is all good with you, Josie?’ asked Hans, the youngest of the three lads, who seemed to have taken an interest in me, ‘You seem to have gone a little pale.’

‘I’m alright thanks - just girls’ stuff,’ I said, accidentally touching his leg with my own as I sat down next to him.

For a second he moved his leg away but then it slowly returned to its original position. I moved my foot so that it touched his.

‘I’ll show her who’s a freak.’ I thought to myself.

****

‘You seemed to be getting on well with Hans, when we went for that walk by the river,’ said Karen as we were getting ready for bed that night. ‘At one point I thought you were in danger of swallowing one another’s tongues.’

‘Hans was probably the right name for him: ‘wandering hands’!’ I chuckled. ‘I’m glad that I was wearing a pair of Denise’s jeans rather than a short skirt.'

‘Hmm,’ said Karen in a tone that implied mild disapproval.

‘Denise and Karl were getting quite passionate as well,’ I replied, now feeling a little embarrassed by my actions. ‘They were a randy bunch, but a good laugh, all the same.’

Karen took both my hands, and I knew that she was going to tell me off, albeit in a gentle way.

‘I suppose so, but please be careful another time though. Remember that you’re still under age, even if you do look older since you’ve begun dressing as a girl.’

‘I'll be fifteen in just over a week’s time.’

‘Maybe but that is still under the age of consent and you could get both to yourself and any young man into trouble. Going out with boys can be good fun, but we girls, have to be able to stay in control of any situation.’

‘I know, Karen,’ I replied now realising that in my annoyance with Jenny, I’d allowed things to go a bit too far. ‘Please don’t mention this evening to your sister, I should hate it to get back to Jenny or to Mum.’

‘Don’t worry, Josie, your dirty little secret will be safe with me, but please take care another time.’

Yesterday was a little bit of an anti-climax after the excitement and upsets of Wednesday. During the afternoon we went to visit Plas Newydd, a museum created in the home of the ‘Ladies of Llangollen’. These were two aristocratic women from Ireland who scandalized their families and local society by refusing the marriages that had been arranged for them, falling in love with one another and eloping together in 1778. After several adventures they settled in this largish house in Llangollen and lived together for more than fifty years.

‘Apparently they became something of an aristocratic tourist attraction; rich and famous people would travel miles just to come and meet them,’ said Denise as we were examining a portrait of them, identically dressed in a mixture of male and female clothing, both wearing top hats. ‘Society at the time was fascinated by the idea that two women might want to live together in a form of civil marriage.’

‘What did the locals think?’ asked Karen.

‘I suppose they just shrugged their shoulders and let them get on with it,’ replied Denise.

‘At least they were able to live their lives as they wanted to do, and didn’t feel pressurized into fitting in to a mould that was against their nature,’ I said.

‘I think they had to sacrifice a life of wealth and luxury and all further contact with their families, in order to do so,’ said Denise.

‘They must have felt that the sacrifice was worth it,’ said Karen.

I also spoke to Mum on the phone, but I didn’t say anything about Jenny’s text message to me or our going out with the German lads. She also seemed a little cagey with me, but wanted to know what we’d been doing. Apparently, she has made an appointment for the two of us to see someone to discuss my future (in quotation marks), as soon as I get back from Wales. In some respects this is exactly what I want, as I am quite sure that there can be no going back now. Nevertheless the prospect is quite frightening.

Jenny’s outburst gave me plenty of food for thought as I drove back to Rusper on Wednesday night, after having taken Jean and her daughter home. My initial reaction was to have a row with her, there and then. What she had said was nasty and unacceptable. I’d always suspected that she always was more concerned about her and the twins taking part in that Convention than the welfare of her younger brother. If the whole thing had now developed in a way that was not to her liking, she must accept a share of the responsibility. Jenny can be quite outspoken at times, but I knew it was not ‘her time of the month’ on this occasion and so she wouldn’t be able to get away with using that as an excuse.

At the same time I could see that there would be difficulties to be encountered and adjustments to be made by Jenny if her brother decided that he wished to take permanent steps to become a young woman, as increasingly now seemed to be likely. After my recent researches among papers written by psychologists, endocrinologists, and gender theorists, I had stumbled upon a transgendered fiction site and had read some of the stories for a bit of light relief. Some of the stories that I read portrayed bullying at school and elsewhere in the community, but also families (especially mothers and sisters) who welcomed and embraced the idea of a son or brother transitioning. I realised that some of this was wishful thinking by the authors concerned and that real life would not be as straightforward. Life would not be easy for either of Josie or Jenny. They would need one another’s friendship and support, both now and also in later life. For that reason, if nothing else, I would not be able to let Jenny’s words and opinions go unchallenged.

There was no light on in Jenny’s bedroom when I got home and so I presumed that she must have gone straight to bed. I decided to do the same, and speak to her after we’d both had an opportunity to cool off. However, it was some time before I was able to get any sleep because of worrying about my two children and their future. Similarly, there was no sign of any movement from Jenny’s bedroom the following morning when I got up to go to work. I looked in to her room but she was still sleeping, and I guessed that, like me, she may have laid awake for much of the night. I didn’t then have time for a row with my daughter and so left a note for her on the kitchen table saying that I needed to have a talk with her when I got back from work, and that she was not (underlined) to make any arrangements to go out or to have any friends round during the course of the day. I’m sure that Susan would understand my reasons for imposing these sanctions.

During the course of the day I made an appointment for Josie and I to go to London to see the Psychologist recommended by my doctor, as soon as possible after she got back from Llangollen. The plan was to ascertain whether or not Josie was an appropriate client to attend a gender identity clinic in London. My GP had also discussed with me the possibility of prescribing her some puberty blocking drugs to delay the onset of any physical changes brought about by the testosterone in her body, pending any longer term decision. But she preferred to leave this decision to the specialist/.

Once I’d made the appointment I spoke on the phone to Alice to check how things were going at Llangollen.

‘Everything is fine, your daughter and Karen are a pleasure to have as house guests and have been keeping their room tidy and helping me around the house.’

‘That’s good to hear, and has there been any danger of her being identified?’ I asked.

‘Not as far as I’m aware, they were out for much of the day yesterday, but came back at the agreed time,’

‘What about your husband?’

‘I don’t think that George has noticed anything unusual about Josie or he would have mentioned it to me. In fact I keep forgetting about her origins and treat her as I would any other teenage girl.’

‘Thank you Alice, I am sure that that is exactly what she wants.’

I also tried to call Josie during the afternoon, but she said that they were just going round a museum and so couldn’t speak to me just then. I called again just before I left work and told her about our appointment. I asked what she’d been doing over the last couple of days. She seemed a little cagey with me, but assured me that all was well. I didn’t say anything about Jenny, and Josie never asked.

'We’ve been having a good time and will be going shopping in Chester on Saturday,’ she announced.

‘Enjoy yourself then, and don’t spend all of your money.’

‘But Mum, there is so much that I’m going to need as Josie whereas Joe will no longer need the computer upgrade that he’d been saving for.’

She sounded so confident and determined as she spoke that I didn’t feel able to contradict her.

‘Well it is your money, as long as you don’t expect me to bail you out afterwards.’

I arrived home last night to find a meal on the table and a somewhat chastened elder daughter awaiting my arrival. But I wasn’t going to let her off the hook quite so easily.

‘Well, Jennifer, what have you got to say for yourself?’ I asked.

She looked down at the floor.

‘I’m sorry for calling Josie a freak.’

‘So you should be; that was a horrible thing to say.’

‘I know. I shouldn’t have done so. I’ve already been told off by both of the twins.’

‘I’m glad to hear it. Does Josie know what you said about her?’

‘I guess so — she kept sending me text messages so I told her to leave me alone.’

‘I trust you didn’t use the same language to her.’

Jenny looked really ashamed and didn’t respond.

‘How did Josie react to your message.’

‘I don’t know. I have sent her another text message apologising and have tried to ring her but she now ignores my calls.’

‘I’m not surprised.’

‘I’ve had a real earful from Karen who told me that I was a selfish bitch and didn’t deserve to have a sister like Josie.’

‘How did she get to know about it?’

‘Sue told her. Sue also said that I was wrong to say what I did although she put it in more measured terms.’

‘Well at least you have some sensible friends.’

‘You’re going to have to find a way to make things up with your sister by the time she gets back.’

Jenny looked genuinely ashamed of herself.

‘I know.’

‘But what about this new boyfriend who says that he hates all freaks and queers? I don’t like the idea of you being friends with someone who is so bigoted and narrow minded.’

She sighed.

‘Mum, it isn’t just him, it’s what all the boys will say, and quite a few of the girls as well. It is what most of her classmates will say to Josie if she ever turned up at school dressed as a girl.’

‘But surely your school will have a policy for dealing with such situations.’

‘They have a policy that everyone should do their homework every night, but that doesn’t mean that everybody does it.’

‘Have there ever been any transgendered students at your school?’

‘Not as far as I know; or at least none that were obviously so, but there are plenty of stories in the press and on television so I know how people would react. I also know how they treat anyone who is even suspected of being gay.‘

‘Would Josie be subject to any physical harm?’ I asked.

‘Probably not; the teachers are on the lookout for physical bullying these days - at least on school premises, but people can be pretty vicious with their comments all the same. She would also have to be careful about going out on her own.’

‘But surely if you, the twins and Denise all supported her.’

‘Mum, we are in a different year from Josie, we take different classes. There would be nothing that any of us could do to stop it. Josie would be on her own. She must know that.’

‘So what do you think we should do?’

‘I think the only realistic answer would be for us to move to the other side of town where she could start in a new school where nobody knew her, and just hope that she would not be recognised.’

‘How would you react if we did that?’ I asked.

‘I already have a four mile journey into school; it wouldn’t make that much difference to me if it was up to four miles in the opposite direction.’

In some respects my talk depressed me regarding Josie’s prospects next September, but also gave me some food for thought.

Josie and I have been having a good time staying with Denise and her parents. We don’t see much of her Dad, but her mother is always very friendly. She is for ever offering me items of clothing that she no longer wears (as we are the same size). Some of them are really nice but I feel a little awkward in accepting them, although Josie seems quite happy to accept similar hand-me-downs from Denise. In fact Josie appears to have slotted so naturally into ‘girl mode’ that it is now difficult for me to think of her in any other way. The more time I spend with her, the more convinced I am that she is going to be very unhappy if and when she has to go back to being Joe once again. I tried to put myself in her position and wondered how I would feel if I’d been forced to live as a boy even though I knew in my heart that I was a girl. Yet at the same time I do wonder whether she has really thought through the implications of living as a girl full-time. Returning to her home as Josie would inevitably be surrounded with difficulties both for her and her family.

Denise agrees with me, as she confirmed yesterday morning whilst we were waiting for our young friend to emerge from the shower, where she was busy washing her hair.

‘You’re right to be concerned about Josie’s future, but for the time being there’s no reason why she shouldn’t continue to enjoy herself with us. As far as I’m aware there has been no occasion when anyone has been suspicious about her,’ she said.

‘What about your dad?’

‘Least of all Dad! The poor guy! I get the impression that he’s in awe of having three teenage girls around the place,’ she replied, chuckling.

‘You treat Josie like a life-sized doll by dressing her up and offering her encouragement and compliments about her appearance,’ I commented, half in jest.

‘I would remind you, Karen, that I wasn’t the one who asked her to model a dress for me in the first place, and then insisted that she took on the female role for a full week before entering the competition,’ she replied by way of justification. ‘I’ve now heard the full story of how she came to be Josie from her lips.’

‘I suppose you’re right, and I do feel a little bit responsible but at the time she didn’t need much persuasion,’ I replied. ‘Also I’d no idea then that once she became Josie, she wouldn’t want to go back to being Joe again.

‘Yes, she does rather ‘lap up’ any opportunities we provide to enhance her ‘girlyness’, but why not? Why shouldn’t she spend her time as a girl and enjoy the things that the rest of us take for granted without any need to worry about being recognised.’

‘As long as she doesn’t get too carried away with her new identity,’ I replied, ‘I was getting a little anxious with those German lads last night.’

‘Come on Karen, we were only having a little fun, and the guys have now left town. We’ll probably never see them again.’

I was about to respond but at that point as the subject of our discussion appeared in the bedroom dressed in her negligee and with her hair wrapped in a towel.

‘How long will these hair extensions last, Karen?’ she asked.

‘Mum said that they should be good for at least six weeks, which will last you until the end of August if you want to hang on to them.’

I don’t think any of us had really thought too carefully about what was going to happen to Josie by the time those hair extensions needed to be taken out or replaced.

I’d been the first to get up and have a shower and so was the only one of the three of us who was then dressed and ready to go out. I therefore left my two friends in their respective bedrooms and went downstairs to make a phone call to my sister as she’d sent me a text message last night asking me to ring her when I was on my own and had a chance to do so. She proceeded to give me an account of the previous evening and Jenny’s comment about her younger sister.

‘So Jenny referred to Josie ‘a freak’, that’s a bit rich given that she was just as keen as the rest of us for her to go in for that competition.’

‘I think that Jenny is finding the whole idea of having a new ‘sister’ a bit of an embarrassment especially so once Andy, finds out.’

‘Who’s Andy?’

‘Her new boyfriend, he’s six foot one and fluent in ‘Neanderthal’. But, I wonder whether there might be a small element of jealousy involved as well.’

‘Why would Jenny be jealous of Josie?’ I asked ‘No matter how successfully she makes the transition, she will always have to face a degree of embarrassment and hostility in her life.’

‘I doubt whether Jenny is looking that far ahead,’ replied Sue. ‘Josie has been receiving a lot of attention from us all recently, and she did look so lovely when she won the competition a fortnight ago. Then of course she and I got invited out in Southport and the two of you were invited to stay at Llangollen. Perhaps Jenny feels that she is being pushed out of the limelight by her younger sister?’

‘Maybe, but that’s not an excuse for her being such a bitch towards her. Josie will find life difficult enough without her own sister turning on her. I’m going to have a few words with her and tell her what I think of her.’

‘I’ll do the same. Perhaps if we both express our disapproval to her she may change her mind.’

There was still no sign of either Denise or Josie emerging from their bedrooms and Denise’s mother had gone out so I took the opportunity of ringing the elder Miss Stevenson to tell her what I thought about her and her bitchy comments.

‘You were way out of order, Jenny. You had no reason to be so unkind, particularly as your sister has never done you any harm, and shared her prize money with us all.’

‘She may not have done me any harm as yet, but she will be a huge source of embarrassment once she does return home.’

‘That’s all you’re concerned about, how will her behaviour impact on you, and your social life. You’re not concerned about she might be feeling.’

‘For heaven’s sake, Karen, she’s not a she, she’s a ‘he’, and she’s not my sister but my brother,’ Jenny replied sulkily.

’From what I’ve seen over the last three weeks, I don’t think that you’ll be able to sustain that position, no matter how much you want to bury your head in the sand. Either you accept Josie as a sister or else you may find yourself losing both her and also a number of your other friends as well.’

‘That will happen whatever I do. Once you return to Sussex, Joe or Josie will be the laughing stock of the school and the object of every bully and pervert around. It won’t be much fun for anyone who has anything to do with ‘him, her or it.’

’I think you’d better start showing your sister a little more respect. Like the rest of us, you were partly responsible for Josie’s present situation. You were happy enough for her to play at being a girl when it suited you,’ I said.

‘I know, but I never realised that he wouldn’t want to go back to being a boy afterwards.'

‘I don’t think any of us did, but she was our protégé and as such we are all responsible for ensuring that she comes to no harm.’

Jenny sighed.

‘Of course I don’t want her to come to any harm, and if she wants to live as a girl I suppose it is up to her, but I just wish that she didn’t involve me.’

‘You can’t help that. She is your sister, after all.’

I know that I was wrong, but I was in a bad mood due to something that Andy said. He made some joke about ‘freaks’ and then I suddenly realised that he was talking about people like my brother or my sister or whatever.’

‘Andy may be fun to go out with for a week or two, but you’ll have your sister for the rest of your life.’

‘I know, and I feel ashamed of myself now. I’ve tried to ring Josie to apologise but she now blocks my calls.’

‘So Josie knows what you’ve called her?’

‘Yes, I sent her a text message last night,’ she replied guiltily. ‘But I sent her another message later on to say that I was sorry, although it wouldn’t surprise me if she now deletes my messages without reading them.’

‘In that case you had better find a way to make things up to her,’ I said.

‘Yes, I know.’

So Josie knew what her sister had called her. Maybe that explains why she let herself get a bit carried away with the German lad on Wednesday night?

I suppose that one of the compensations of having a sixteen year old daughter is that we get to go out shopping together from time to time. Also I am able to keep up with styles that I could no longer get away with wearing myself, and visit dress shops aimed at the younger woman. In an ideal world, I should have liked to have had two daughters and also perhaps later on a son, as well, but these things cannot always be planned and soon after Denise was born I discovered that there were going to be no more children. This is perhaps the main reason why I have tended to spoil her a little and find it difficult to deny her anything she asks for. I’ve therefore enjoyed having her two young friends to stay this week. In spite of my initial slight trepidations when I found out about Josie, I have found both of our visitors to be helpful, well-behaved and generally a good influence on my daughter. I was therefore quite looking forward to taking the three of them for a shopping trip to Chester this morning.

George (my husband) was pretty tired when he arrived back from his meeting in Crawley last night, having driven more than two hundred miles, so we decided that I would take the girls into Chester in the car and that he could take things easily and play some golf with his friends. He also announced that he had to be away again next weekend, but promised to be back in time to take the girls back to Crawley on Monday as we’d promised. He brought back a bag with some more of Karen’s clothes, which was just as well as neither of them had brought many clothes with them due to the last-minute change in plan. He also brought a greeting card addressed to Josie, apparently from her sister.

‘What’s the celebration, Josie?’ I asked as I handed it over to her last night. ‘Is it your birthday?’

She took a quick look at the handwriting on the envelope but didn’t attempt to open it.

‘My birthday is on the 20th August, the Saturday before we go back to Crawley,’ she replied.

‘That’s good news, perhaps we could organise a birthday cake for you before you leave.’

‘Thank you very much,’ she replied, but at the same time there seemed to be an element of sadness as she looked towards the future.

‘Girls, I’d like us to make an early start tomorrow. Parking in Chester can be a problem on Saturday mornings, and if we are not careful we’ll end up parking a long way from the shops.’

I needn’t have worried as all three were up, breakfasted and ready for our ‘girls day out,’ soon after 8.00am and so were able to park in the Garden Lane long stay car park by 9.00 am, just as the shops were beginning to open. This was the most convenient place for shoppers as it was near enough to the shops to enable us to return to the car to lock our purchases in the boot from time to time.

‘So what do we all need to buy, girls?’ I asked as we made our way to the shops.

‘Mum has given me some money to get myself a new dress for my birthday,’ announced Josie, without a moment’s hesitation. ‘I also have some money to get myself some shoes to go with it, as well.’

‘And I’m going to need to replace some of the clothes that I gave away,’ said Denise.

‘Just because there is a little space in your wardrobe now, doesn’t mean that it has to be filled,’ I replied.

‘Nature abhors a vacuum. I’m sure they told us that in physics.’

I felt a little sorry for Karen, who appeared to have limited funds compared to the others, but even she expressed the wish to get herself a new top

‘So where do we start?’ I asked.

‘Miss Selfridge in Northgate Street’ replied Denise.

By lunch time each of the girls had managed to choose something for themselves. I was pleased to see that Denise did not go headlong after choosing more clothes for herself, as I’d half expected, but was happy to help her friends find something suitable for themselves as well. Josie needed most advice as she’d had so much less experience in shopping for clothes than the others. After trying on half a dozen dresses, she was undecided between a sleeveless peach chiffon maxi dress with a shimmering foil top and drop back, which Denise was encouraging her to try on, or a more practical dark red Devoree ‘skater-style’ dress which she’d chosen for herself. Both of them suited her very well, but were for different kinds of occasion.

‘You look really stunning in that peach dress, Josie,’ said Karen as we looked at her in the long mirror outside the changing rooms.

Josie looked pleased, and her cheeks coloured a little.

‘Thanks, it is nice but I’m not sure when I would get an opportunity to wear it. It isn’t exactly the sort of thing that I could wear on the streets of Llangollen. I think I’d better go for the dark red.’

‘You should get whatever you feel most comfortable with,’ I said.

She left us to go back to the changing room. As she did so Denise turned to me.

‘Mum, Josie looked so nice in that peach dress, I don’t suppose we could get it for her as a surprise birthday present for next Saturday?’

‘I would have no objections but when is she going to wear it?’

‘Dad is now going to be away next Saturday, perhaps we could arrange a surprise birthday dinner party for her.’

‘I was intending to buy her a birthday cake, but what do you have in mind?’

‘Maybe we could all dress up in our posh frocks, and have a nice meal together. It would give Josie a chance to show off her birthday present, and would also be a farewell celebration for when Karen and Josie have to go back to Crawley.’

‘If we did do so you two would have to be willing to help me with all the preparations.’

‘I am sure we could do so, couldn’t we Karen?’

‘It’s a great idea but I haven’t brought anything formal to wear,’ said Karen, a little sadly.

‘You and I are about the same size, Karen, I’m sure I could loan you something of mine to wear if you have no objections.’

‘Alright then.’

‘So how will we be able to keep the purchase a secret from Josie?’ asked Denise, keeping an eye out for her return..

‘If you like, I’ll find an excuse to leave you for half an hour this afternoon. I can then pop back here to buy the dress then go and hide it under the back seat of the car before joining you again,’ I said.

‘We’ll then have to work out how we can prepare for the party next Saturday without her finding out,’ said Denise.

Josie returned and went ahead and took the dark red dress to the cash desk.

‘Strictly speaking it’s going to be for my birthday, but I’m sure that Mum won’t mind if I wear it tomorrow. I can email her a photograph of me wearing it,’ she said.

‘We’ll have to find you some shoes to go with it, as well,’ said Denise.

‘Let’s all have some lunch first, and then I’ll probably leave you to find Josie’s shoes yourselves as I have a few things to buy in the hardware shop which won’t interest you.’ I said.

By the time we got back to Llangollen that evening everyone had bought everything that they had wanted, and we were all feeling pretty tired.

‘Girls, I don’t feel like cooking this evening. Would you mind going to the Indian Takeaway in Holyhead Road, to get something for us all?’ I said. ‘In the meanwhile I’ll unload the car and sort out all the parcels.’

That’s so typical of my life. It is my so-called brother that has been acting ‘weird’ but it is me that gets branded as the family pariah. As a result, there has been no further talk from Mum about her taking Sue and me away somewhere this weekend and I dared not raise the topic. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the ‘f word’ when referring to him, (or her? or it?) but I was only trying to bring home to everyone that there would be consequences if they all continue to encourage Joe to pretend to be Josie: consequences for Joe/Josie, for our family, and, most importantly, for me and my street credibility. I tried to explain this to Mum during our talk on Thursday night, and I think she took in some of what I was saying, although she still hasn’t forgiven me for my outburst. I know she is worried about Joe or Josie’s future, and has been both surfing the internet and making long telephone calls to various specialists and also Aunt Jean. However, she was equally worried about Joe before any of this started, so she can’t exactly blame me and the twins.

However, I do now regret sending Josie that text message. It was a mean thing to do, although I was feeling particularly sore at the time. I’d just got back from seeing Andy, and had thought that I might just ‘test the water’ with him to see how he reacted to the idea of transgendered people. It turned out to be ten times worse than I’d imagined. He came out with both a diatribe and also a lot of stupid jokes about ‘freaks and queers’ which really brought it home to me what the others at school would think and say about Joe if he or she were to turn up dressed as Josie. I was angry with myself and felt that I should have stood up for my sibling but couldn’t very well do so without giving his secret away. It was in that context that I sent the offending text message. I have sent her a couple of texts since, apologising, but she hasn’t responded and she didn’t answer on the one occasion when I tried calling. I suppose that a text message is somewhat more permanent than cross words; it sits there and festers, and can be read over and over again. I got a real earful from Karen, over the phone on Friday morning, and even Sue was a little off with me when I spoke to her about it all afterwards.

By Friday Mum had lifted the sanctions on my daytime movements as she needed me to do some shopping for essentials in Crawley and had had no time to do so herself. I used the opportunity to buy a girly ‘I’m sorry’ card for Josie, as I still hadn’t heard from her and on sober reflection realised that I’d been in the wrong. Sue met me in town and promised to give the card to Denise’s father when he called to collect some more clothes for Karen before returning to Llangollen later that afternoon. I was therefore half hoping that I might hear from Josie once she’d received the card, but Sue later told me that Karen had been in touch with her and that they’d all been in Chester for the day with Denise and her mother.

I continued to play the dutiful daughter throughout Saturday and by lunch time Mum had forgiven my sins and things had calmed down at home and so I suggested to Sue that she might like to come over on the bus this morning and we could go out together to see if the lads were around.

We eventually found them in the park and soon paired up so that I got to talk to Andy alone. He is not exactly ‘Mr New Man,’ in fact he’s quite the opposite but he is by far the best looking guy that I’ve ever been out with. (The only trouble is that he also seems to know it.)

‘Hi Babes,’ he said bending down to kiss me on the cheek. ‘I’ve not seen you around for the last day or two.’

I know,’ I sighed. ‘I’ve had a few problems at home.’

‘Is it that nerdy little brother of yours?’

‘No, he’s away in Wales for a fortnight. I had a row with Mum.’

‘I do that with my mum all the time. I don’t know what gets in to her, sometimes,’ he responded.

We continued to walk, and he put his arm around me. It was a nice feeling, and I wished some of my classmates could see me.

‘Well here’s something to cheer you up. You know what we were talking about the other day?’

‘Go on,’ I replied suspiciously.

‘Well I heard a good joke the other day. How does the transvestite like to spend his Christmas?’

‘Can we talk about something else, Andy?’

‘Eat, drink and be Mary!’ he continued, ignoring my request.

‘Oh yes, very funny,’ I said in a flat voice which sought to convey exactly the opposite of what I’d just said.

‘Oh, didn’t you like that one? How about this one then? ‘How many perverts does it take to put in a light bulb?’

‘Andy, please ….’

But he wasn’t listening

‘Only one, but it takes the whole team of the emergency room to extract it safely afterwards.’

With that he creased up with laughter. I was now really annoyed with just about everybody: with my weird family, my friends who have turned against me, with Andy and his crassness, but, above all, with myself.

‘Andy that first joke wasn’t funny, and the second one was simply gross and unpleasant.’

He seemed to be surprised by my reaction.

‘What’s got in to you today Jen? You were laughing at my jokes on Wednesday night.

I sighed. He was right, and now I felt ashamed of having done so.

‘I know, Andy, but we are talking about real people with real feelings, not objects to be insulted and laughed at,’ I replied, by way of conciliation.

He looked at me as if I were mad.

‘No we’re not, we’re talking about queers and freaks — they aren’t real people like you and me.’

‘Andy, there are times when you’re a complete idiot,’ I said, with some feeling.

He clearly didn’t get it.

‘I don’t know what’s up with you today Jen. Is it your time of the month?’

What made it all so much worse was that he seemed genuinely surprised by my reaction.

‘Just get lost,’ I said, extricating myself from under his arm and hardly believing what I was saying or doing.

‘You’re not turning into a dyke are you?’ he said derisively as I went to leave.

‘No I’m not, but clearly you are turning into a total jerk.’

Once again he looked both surprised and hurt by the vehemence of my reaction.

‘No, I take that back. You’ve always been a jerk and by the looks of things you always will be one.’

With that I stomped off, leaving Sue to deal with two very puzzled looking young men.

‘Women!’ I heard Andy say in an exasperated voice as I was leaving.

‘So now everybody hates me,’ I thought to myself as I returned home, with tears in my eyes.

However, Sue returned after about an hour, and once I’d told her the whole story she agreed that Andy had been a jerk and that I was probably better off without him.

The main difficulty encountered when two sets of friends pair off with one another is: what happens when one of the couples breaks up? Do you side with your girlfriend, whom you’ve known for years, or with your new boyfriend and his friend? Perhaps you might try to negotiate between the warring couple to see if there is a way to bring them together once again? However, in this instance, I didn’t feel particularly inclined to arbitrate between Jenny and Andy, and told her that she was probably better off without him. I had been a little envious at first when he took a shine to her rather than me, as he was better looking than his friend Frank. However, it didn’t take too long to discover that Andy is a conceited idiot, whereas Frank is both considerate and also quite good fun to go out with. I was saying as much to my sister as we discussed the row between them on the phone last night.

‘Why is it that so many good looking boys tend to become conceited idiots, and so many nice guys have jerks for their friends?’ I asked.

‘Don’t ask me! The workings of the male brain are way beyond my comprehension,’ Karen replied.

‘When Jenny told me what had been said between them both last Wednesday and also this afternoon, I realised there could be no going back for her; at least not if she wanted to remain on speaking terms with the rest of her friends and family,’ I continued.

‘I’m glad! He wasn’t a good influence on her and I wouldn’t have forgiven her if she were to upset Josie again.’

‘Has Josie said anything more to you about last Wednesday or that text message that Sue sent her?’

‘No. She hasn’t said a word about it to either of us. It’s as if she no longer has a sister.’

‘Calling her a freak will be as nothing compared to some of the jibes and insults she’ll doubtless receive in the future.’

‘I know, but it must be that much worse when it comes from your own sister.’

I sighed, feeling a little bit sorry for both of them.

’Whatever did we start when we persuaded Josie to join our little singing and dancing group?’ I thought to myself, feeling a little guilty, but didn’t spell it out.

‘So what else has been happening at Llangollen?’ I asked in order to change the subject.

‘Nothing much. We’ve been out a few times and we all went shopping in Chester yesterday. By the way, Denise and her mother have secretly bought Josie a long dress as a birthday present. You mustn’t say anything about it though as we’re planning to organise a surprise dinner party for her next Saturday evening.’

‘How are you going to keep it as a surprise for Josie?’

Karen chuckled.

‘It has all been carefully planned. First of all Denise’s mother announced that she will be entertaining some family friends in Llangollen for a dinner party this coming Saturday and that we were invited to come. Denise then protested loudly that her mother’s friends were really boring and it wouldn’t be fair to inflict their company on Josie on her birthday. She asked if the three of us could go out to have a pizza instead. Denise’s mother then said that we could only go out if we were willing to help her with the preparations for her meal before we left. Josie, in her innocence then piped up and said that of course she would be happy to help, and so I agreed to do so as well.’

‘So the three of you will be helping to get things ready, but Josie won’t realise that the arrangements are really for her benefit,’ I said.

‘Or that she will have a lovely new frock to change into for the evening.’

‘So what are you going to wear, Karen?’

‘Denise’s mother has offered to loan me one of her long dresses for the evening. She has some lovely clothes.’

‘I would love to see Josie’s face when she finds out,’ I said.

‘I know, but please be careful not to give the game away if you should talk to her.’

‘Don’t worry. Josie and I exchange text messages from time to time but we don’t really talk on the phone too much as it is quite expensive.’

‘OK but don’t say anything about in a text message.’

‘I promise not to mention it. By the way, will it be alright if I tell Jenny about your plans? I think that she is genuinely sorry for what she said to Josie.’

‘So she should be,’ was Karen’s decisive reply, but after moment she relented.

‘Alright you can tell her, if you like, but also warn her that we’ll never talk to her again if she tells Josie.’

‘That’s not very likely, at the moment since they’re not even speaking to one another.’

I called in to have lunch with Jenny before I was due to meet up with Frank later this afternoon. She’d been busy doing the housework, still trying to redeem herself in her mother’s eyes.

‘So how were things between you and your Mum over the weekend?’ I asked.

‘I think they’re gradually getting a little better. She was pleased to hear that I’d broken up with Andy. If things continue to thaw at the present rate she may even offer to take us both away for the coming weekend, if you are still interested, and not planning on doing anything with Frank.’

‘We’re not yet at the stage of living in one anothers’ pockets. Where do you have in mind to go?’

Jenny shrugged.

‘I don’t know really — we could go to London, or do you have any suggestions?’

‘I don’t suppose you mother would be willing to drive us to Llangollen for the weekend?’

‘But that is two hundred miles away! It would take at least four hours to get there.’

I explained to Jenny about the plans to hold a surprise birthday party for Josie.

‘It would be even more of a surprise for her if we turned up as well,’ I suggested. ‘We would have to find somewhere to stay on the Saturday night, but the whole trip would probably work out no more expensive than staying in a London hotel.’

Jenny thought for a while and didn’t seem to be against the idea.

‘You never know, but we might even be able to persuade my mum to come along as well,’ I added.

‘Of course we’d need to clear it with Denise and her mother first, we can’t just invite ourselves to their dinner party,’ said Jenny.

‘I’ll talk to Karen and see what she thinks. She seems to get on quite well with Denise’s mother. The main thing is to keep it a secret from Josie.’

I made the call and Karen promised to discuss our suggestion with Denise and her mother. She rang me on the landline just before I went to bed this evening.

‘Sorry that it has taken me some time to come back to you Sue, but this is the first opportunity I’ve had, without there being a danger that Josie might overhear.’

‘Where is she now?’

‘Don’t worry she’s upstairs taking her shower.’

‘So what is the verdict?’ I asked.

‘Denise and her mother said they would love you all to come. There will be plenty of room for you at the dinner party and they know a nearby bed and breakfast which has vacancies for next Saturday night if Aunt Carol is willing to drive all that way. In fact both of Denise’s parents would be more than delighted as her Dad had to change his plans and is going to be away in the North on business. He was intending to drive all the way back to Llangollen and then on to Crawley, so he could keep his promise to take us home on Monday. However, if Jenny and Josie’s Mum came in the six-seater we could all go home together on Sunday night and save him that extra journey.

‘Alright, I’ll now call Jenny so that she can talk to her mother. If Aunt Carol is agreeable I’ll also ask Mum if she would like to come as well, and then let you know what is happening tomorrow evening.’

Perhaps Josie and I did get a little bit carried away with snogging those German lads last week, but it was only a bit of fun; they were leaving town in the morning and there was no harm done. Karen did eventually have a word with me when Josie was out of earshot and suggested that we ought to take more care of her next time and be a little more sensible where boys were concerned. After all, she is younger than she looks as a girl and would also be in a difficult and slightly precarious situation if someone were to discover her identity and make a fuss. The last thing we want to do is to create a scandal whilst she’s staying with us. Karen also told me what Jennifer had said about her, both in front of her mother and Sue, and also in a text message sent to Josie herself.

‘The poor kid. It must have been very upsetting to have her own sister turn on her like that,’ I said.

‘As we both know, Jen can be rather outspoken at times. She sometimes opens her mouth before she engages her brain. She probably didn’t mean to be quite so hurtful, but that’s not an excuse,’ said Karen.

‘All Josie wants is to be treated as a girl, and she certainly looks and acts like one these days. Why can’t people just accept her for what she is?’

Karen shrugged her shoulders.

‘I don’t know, she’s not doing any harm to any one.’

Josie joined us soon afterwards and so we had to move on to other topics of conversation. However, I continued to feel sorry for our young friend and that was the main reason why I persuaded Mum to organise a special celebration for her birthday next weekend. There would be at least one more occasion when she can be treated as a ‘special girl,’ without any danger of being criticised or insulted, before she returns to Crawley. She will then have to face the real world again, either as a very unhappy young man, or else as an openly transgendered girl, and all the difficulties that will entail. I knew that Mum would be happy to go along with my plan, as long as we promised to help her with the preparations — she likes any excuse to dress up and Dad doesn’t take her out as much these days and in any event would be away next weekend. The main difficulty would be in concocting a scheme where we all could help Mum, but Josie wouldn’t realise what it was for.

On the Sunday following our shopping trip, Josie wore her new dark red dress together with the sandals that we’d chosen for her in Chester. and we put a photograph up on her new Facebook page. She sent a link to her mother and to Sue.

‘Aren’t you going to send a link to your sister as well?’ I asked.

‘No, she told me that I was to leave her alone,’ she replied in a matter of fact way.

‘I’m sure that she didn’t really mean it,’ I said.

But by this time Josie had logged off and didn’t seem to be inclined to change her mind.

By Monday of this week, Mum had at last accepted that I was well enough to be able to undertake a country walk, as long as it was not too strenuous. Dad gave the three of us a lift as far as the golf club and then we walked on the old tow path the two miles or so to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which has quite stunning views and is a World Heritage site. We stopped for a cup of coffee at the Pontcysyllte Basin where we got talking to two lads who were on holiday with their parents who were waiting their turn to take their hired barge over the aqueduct. The family offered us a lift on their barge over, which is really the only way to see it properly, as there are absolutely no railings on the canal side. Once we reached the far side we thanked them then walked back over the footpath side, and afterwards the four miles back in to town. The weather was fine and we all had a good laugh together.

‘See Josie, being a girl isn’t just about wearing dresses and makeup all the time; you can also have fun wearing trousers,’ said Karen.

‘Yes I know, girls get the best of both worlds. There is no way that the family would have offered us a lift on their barge if we’d been three boys. So that’s why I am so keen to remain a girl, if I can.’

I looked across at Karen, and she returned my glance. Neither of us was quite sure what to say in response. The safest thing seemed to be to change the subject.

‘If it is fine tomorrow we can get a bus out to Berwyn on the other side of town and then climb up to the Horseshoe Falls, which is really a weir serving the Llangollen Canal. It will be a little bit more strenuous than today, but it is well worth the trouble. The views are wonderful and there is somewhere called the Velvet Hill up there, which is aptly-named,’ I said.

‘That sounds fine, as long as you can manage the climb,’ said Karen.

During the course of our afternoon walk, Josie’s phone rang. She took one look at the caller display, frowned, and then pressed the busy signal. I suspected the call may have been from her sister and that she still didn’t feel inclined to talk to her. Thus it was a little bit awkward when Karen approached me last night with Sue’s suggestion that they should all come up for Josie’s party.

‘I’m sure that my Mum would be happy about it — as far as she is concerned, ‘the more the merrier’. Also I’m sure that Josie would welcome the presence of her mother and Sue at the dinner party, but how is she going to feel about Jenny being there as well?’ I asked.

‘I’m not sure, we can’t very well ask her what she thinks about it. But she’s not the type to create a ‘scene’ in front of everyone,’ said Karen.

‘Maybe, but Jennifer might?’ I said.

‘I don’t think so. According to Sue, Jenny is now somewhat chastened by recent events, and the two of them are going to have to make up at some point.’

‘Alright, in that case let’s put the idea to Mum, and see what she thinks,’ I said.

As expected, Mum turned out to be really enthusiastic about the idea and it was she who pointed out the other advantage of them all coming: that it would save my Dad an extra journey. So Karen agreed to get in touch with her sister, Then, this morning, we heard that Sue and Karen’s mother would be coming with them as well. So what was originally intended as a fairly intimate dinner for four ladies had grown to become one twice that size.

‘Girls, it looks as if my dinner party is now going to be for eight people, and Denise’s father won’t be around to help me, so I am definitely going to need your help on Saturday,’ announced Mum this evening over dinner

‘Mrs Crawford, I should like to suggest that if you decide on the menu and get the shopping, we three could take responsibility for preparing the meal and doing cooking for your guests and leave you to serve them when they arrive?’ suggested Josie.

‘Really? Would that include Denise as well?’ said Mum, clearly surprised by the offer as she knew that I’d never cooked so much as a boiled egg before.’

Mum looked at me, and I nodded.

‘Karen and I can both cook, and we can show Denise what to do,’ Josie continued enthusiastically.

‘In that case, thank you very much, girls. George and I will be going to the supermarket in Wrexham on Friday morning, before he leaves for the North. If I can leave the food preparation to you three on Saturday, I will have plenty of time for everything else that I need to do.’

It has been a busy summer in the salon so far and I’ve hardly had any time away apart from that one weekend in July for the girls’ convention. Thus, when Sue mentioned to me the plan to travel up to Llangollen for the weekend to give Josie a surprise birthday party, I made an effort to ensure that I would have enough staff available to cover for me. After all, it is nearly a fortnight since I’ve seen Karen, although of course we do keep in regular touch by phone. (I must admit that I was also quite looking forwards to seeing the next episode in the emerging soap opera involving Carol and her two children as well.) From the photographs put up on Facebook by both Karen and Josie, the girls appear to have been having a good time in North Wales and the local scenery does seem quite spectacular.

Carol and Jenny collected Sue and myself at 8.30 this morning and we were soon travelling on the M23 motorway heading for the London Orbital motorway, and then towards Birmingham and the north-west. Jenny and Sue were in the seats behind Carol and myself holding a desultory conversation, but Jenny appeared to be a lot more subdued than usual. I’d also noticed that she and Sue had not been spending as much time together as usual over the last week; no doubt due to Sue having a new boyfriend. I was therefore quite pleased that the pair of them would be spending the weekend away with one another.

Throughout the journey Sue was in regular contact with her sister via text messaging with each one was providing the other with a running commentary as to progress and what was happening.

‘Denise’s mother suggests that we should contact her as soon as we’ve arrive at the B&B. She will then come round and explain to us the arrangements for this evening. Apparently we’ll be staying round the corner from their holiday home.’

We had one stop for a toilet break and a cup of coffee at the Corley service area and arrived at our destination just before one o’clock — thanks largely to the help of the built-in SatNav in Carol’s new car. As soon as we had unloaded our cases and checked in to our bedrooms we contacted Alice, who joined us a few minutes afterwards. Then we all went out for a light lunch at a nearby café.

‘Karen, Denise and Josie will be busy doing the cooking for our meal tonight, although of course Josie still has no idea that she will also be eating it, or that you will be coming,’ she announced. ‘It will therefore be quite safe for you to have a look around town this afternoon, if you like. However, you will need to all be changed and ready by six thirty tonight if our plan is going to work without a hitch.’

‘What about a birthday cake for Josie?’ asked Carol.

‘I’ve already organised one with her name from the Cottage Bakery in Castle Street. It will be ready for collection any time this afternoon. Perhaps you could collect it for me and bring it with you when you come tonight.’

‘So what exactly are the arrangements for tonight?’ I asked

‘As soon as the girls have left the house to go for their pizza, I will contact you to come round to the house straight away. Once you have arrived, I will call Denise and point out that she has forgotten to take her purse with her to pay for the meal and suggest that they should come back to the house collect it. That’s when you can surprise Josie.’

All went to plan during the afternoon. We looked around the town and collected the cake, as requested. At four thirty we returned to our rooms to have a shower and get ourselves ready for the party. Jenny and Sue were sharing one twin room, and Carol and I another. The girls helped one another to get ready and they can both look lovely when they make the effort, as they did on this occasion. Thus, by the appointed time we were all four wearing our best dresses, and waiting for Alice’s phone call. It came five minutes later announcing that the coast was clear and that we should make our way to the house. Fortunately it was only a hundred yards or so away, just around the corner, as otherwise it would have been difficult to walk in our long dresses and high heels. Alice, dressed in her own finery, showed us in to the dining room and made the call to Denise. Ten minutes later we that we heard the front door open and the three girls return to the house. We’d each found a suitable hiding place: mine was just behind the dining room door, which had been left half open.

‘Denise, your purse is in the dining room on the sideboard,’ I heard Alice, say. ‘But please be quick before my guests arrive.’

‘Josie would you mind going in and collecting it for me, I just need to go for a pee,’ said Denise.

As soon as Josie entered the room, followed by Karen, Alice and then Denise herself we emerged from our respective hiding places, behind the door, the curtains and the sofa.

‘Surprise! Happy Birthday Josie!’

Josie looked both shocked but also very happy, having been completely taken in by our ruse. After various hugs and kisses and expressions of surprise and good wishes all round, Alice spoke to the assembled group.

‘Ladies, the meal should be ready to serve in just over half an hour from now so you three had better hurry up and get changed into something a little more formal,’ she said, addressing the new arrivals. ‘Josie, you will find that long dress that you liked is now hanging in your bedroom. Karen, I have laid out something nice for you to wear on my bed, and you are welcome to use my dressing table as well. Denise, you already know what you are going to wear tonight.’

‘I’ll help you to get ready if you like, Karen,’ said Sue.

‘Alright, thanks, sis.’

Jenny, who I noticed had been very much on the periphery during all the greetings and congratulations, now turned to her sister.

‘Would you like me to help you to get ready, Josie?’ she asked, tentatively.

Josie hesitated before answering.

‘Please!’ added Jenny in a quiet voice.

‘Alright then! I’ll show you where to go,’ she replied.

With that all of the girls disappeared upstairs to the various bedrooms and so that the three adults were able to enjoy a glass of sherry and have a chat together whilst we waited for them to get ready.

Forty minutes later, five very glamorous looking young ladies wearing long dresses joined the rest of us, and everyone helped to serve up and clear away the meal — everyone apart from the guest of honour — the birthday girl. At our insistence she sat at the head of the table and looked quite stunning in her new dress. Then, at the end of the meal, Alice brought in the birthday cake together with fifteen candles. It was one of those where the icing incorporated a photograph of her, which had been taken when she won the first prize at the costume convention, together with the words ‘Happy Birthday Josie’. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look quite so happy as she did at that moment.

I was a little disappointed early yesterday morning that Mum didn’t ring me to wish me a happy birthday, but I supposed that I’d already had my present from her, and no doubt there would be a card in the post. Denise and Karen had both bought me a nice card and some skin care products, but Mrs Crawford seemed to have forgotten all about her offer to get me a birthday cake probably with all the commotion of organising her dinner party. Then, when the post did eventually arrive mid-morning, I was again disappointed to find that the only birthday card from Crawley was one from my sister. I was still pretty sore with Jenny, but she did seem to be making an effort to make amends. Normally she would have gone out of her way to find me a rude card, but this one was quite the opposite, and the wording (which she’d underlined) said that she was proud to have me as her sister, which I suppose was quite nice (if she really meant it). Perhaps it is now time for us to make up? Jenny’s card also contained a ‘Boots Gift Voucher’ so I would be able to buy myself some more cosmetics once I got back to Crawley (she wasn’t to know that there was no branch of the chemists in Llangollen.) Yet there was still no word from Mum. I even tried ringing her at home but got no answer, and she never answers her mobile phone when she’s driving. I therefore assumed that she’d been called away somewhere in connection with her work.

Consequently, l threw myself into the preparations for Mrs Crawford’s dinner party in order to overcome the slight sense of anti-climax that I felt. This turned out to be a lot of fun. Denise had never so much as peeled a potato before and so needed quite a lot of guidance from both Karen and myself, but she was willing to learn, and we had a lot of laughs together in the kitchen. The only thing that slightly irritated me was that Karen would keep stopping whatever she was doing to send and receive text messages from her sister. (My sister and I are currently incommunicado apart from the birthday card that is.)

By about six o’clock everything was prepared and either quietly cooking in the oven or else sitting in the refrigerator covered in cling film, waiting to be served to the guests when they arrived. The table was laid and so I suggested to the others that perhaps we three might get changed so that I could put on my new dress when we went out for our pizza meal, but for once they seemed determined that we should go as we were. Thus, about six thirty, we made our way in to town, only to be recalled a ten minutes later by Mrs Crawford since Denise had forgotten to take her purse. It was then that I discovered that I’d been the victim of an elaborate scheme involving everyone who knew me as Josie.

As soon as the welcomes were over, and I’d gotten over my surprise at seeing everyone once again, Mrs Crawford sent us away to get changed. Fortunately I’d washed my hair, de-fuzzed my arms and legs, checked that my boobs were still on securely and fixed my nails the night before, so I only needed to put on a new pair of tights and Jenny helped me to put on my new dress. I then sat at the dressing table where I began to put on some makeup whilst she brushed my hair and started pinning it up into a style. At first we didn’t say much to one another, but then I decided that it was probably up to me to break the awkward silence between us.

‘Thank you for the birthday card and the voucher,’ I said.

‘You’re welcome,’ she replied, then after a few seconds she added, ‘I like your dress, it suits you.’

‘Thank you, Denise and her mother got it for me.’

A few more seconds of silence ensued before Jenny let out a sigh.

‘I’m sorry, Josie. It was a horrible thing for me to say. I’ve felt guilty about it ever since. I would have told you before now, but you’ve been refusing to answer my calls.’

‘So now you don’t mind having a ‘freak’ for a brother?’ I said in a sarcastic voice.

‘Please don’t use that word — only fools use that word — and I admit that I have been a fool. Of course things are going to be difficult, for us both, once you get back to Crawley, especially so for you. However, I’m sure we can face it together. I would far rather have you as my sister than lose your friendship altogether.’

I turned to look her in the eyes. They seemed to be sincere.

‘Thank you,’ I said, touching her hand.

‘So am I forgiven?’

‘I guess so.’

She leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek; the first time I remember her doing that in years.

‘But that doesn’t mean to say that I’m not going to criticise your dress sense,’ she added. ‘That lipstick you are putting on doesn’t look right with the colour of your dress. Here, try this one,’ she said handing me one from out of her handbag.

She was right. I still had a lot to learn about being a girl.

We had a wonderful meal. The food was good (I should know I helped to cook it); the company was good, and I felt good about myself, dressed as I was among so many elegant ladies. Then, to cap it all, at the end of the meal, Denise’s mother appeared with my birthday cake and fifteen candles, and everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday.’ I was so happy that I started to cry.

‘Whatever is the matter, Josie?’ asked Mum.

‘You’ve all been so kind to me, and I feel so happy, but I cannot go back to being Joe, now. I can’t go back to being a boy again, and having to pretend that I’m something I’m not. I know things will be difficult when I get home and that people will laugh at me and abuse me in the village and at school, but I cannot go back to being Joe, not even for a day.’

Mum, who was sitting next to me, took my hand.

‘I know, dear. I’ve made an appointment for us to see a psychologist and specialist in gender issues. I’m also going to put our house on the market and we’ll be moving to the other side of town where nobody knows us. I’ve been to talk to the headmistress of the local secondary school there and she would be willing to admit you as a girl whilst you are undergoing your transition, so no-one else needs to know.’

‘But what about Jenny?’ I asked.

‘Jenny will continue at her present school, with her friends. It will mean a longer journey into school each day for her, but she’s willing to do so for your sake. I’m not saying that it is going to be easy for you, but at least you will be able to start afresh both at home and at school. I’m afraid that you won’t have any friends in your new school, to begin with, but you won’t have to deal with the harassment either.’

‘You will have some girlfriends outside of school though,’ said Karen. ‘Since we talked you into becoming Josie in the first place, the least we can do is to help you through your transition.’

‘In fact you’re welcome to stay with me and the twins for the remainder of the Summer holidays whilst your mother begins the necessary arrangements,’ said Jean.

‘Thank you everybody, you have all been very kind,’ I said.

‘Kindness doesn’t come into it, I’m hoping that you will be able to continue helping me with my automation,’ replied Jean.

Mrs Crawford had been whispering to Denise as this conversation was going on. She now began to speak.

‘Josie, I’ve been talking to your mother, and perhaps you could come and stay with us for a while once we get back to Crawley, until she is able to sell your existing house and buy another. That way you would never need to go back to your former home. I have to drive Denise in to her school each day, and it would be no great problem for me to take you on to yours afterwards. I would have to tell the full story to my husband, but between us, Denise and I should be able to talk him round, and we’ll have two weeks for him to get used to the idea before we see you again. In fact, he commented to me only yesterday that we had two very nice and sensible young ladies staying and what a good example they both were to Denise.’

Denise stuck her tongue out at me when she heard this, but I could see that she wasn’t unhappy with the idea.

‘What do you think, Mum?’ I asked.

‘Well it would certainly simplify matters all round if you didn’t have to come back to Rusper dressed as Josie.’

‘We would still be able to see you every weekend until we move house,’ added Jenny.

‘In that case, thank you very much for the offer, Mrs Crawford and also for this lovely dress.

‘You can stop calling me Mrs Crawford, Alice will do fine.’

‘There are a few more things that I’m going to need for Josie’s wardrobe, but I do still have some savings left.’

‘In that case we’ll all take you shopping for them as soon as we get back to Crawley, won’t we girls,’ said Sue, looking at Karen and Jenny, who both nodded.

‘Don’t spend it all as I’ll also want to take you shopping as well, when I get home,’ said Denise.

Our appointment was at 11.00am this morning. We arrived about ten minutes early and were shown into a waiting room. Jenny had helped her sister to achieve a more demure, younger look, wearing the pink skirt and white top that she’d bought when they went shopping with the twins in Crawley yesterday.

‘Are you feeling alright Josie?’ I asked.

‘I’m a little nervous and I’ll be relieved when it is all over, but I’m glad we’re here.’

‘Me too’ I said and squeezed her hand.

A nurse came out of the consulting room

‘Mr McLeod will see you now.’

We went in and were both invited to take a seat.

‘Ah yes, Mrs Stevenson you asked for an appointment concerning your .. er… son’.

There was just the slightest hesitation as the doctor turned to look at Josie, but then he smiled and turned to me once again.

‘So what can I do for you?’

‘This is my son Joseph, but as you can see she has expressed a wish to live and be treated as a girl.’

The doctor turned towards Josie.

‘How would you like me to address you?’

‘I would prefer to be known as Josephine or Josie please,’ she replied.

‘I presume that is fine with you, Mrs Stevenson.’

I nodded.

‘In that case I’ll refer to you as Josephine during our discussions, although I’ll have to note your original name and birth gender in my records.’

Josie nodded.

‘So, Josephine, how long have you felt this wish to live as a young woman?’ he asked.

‘I’ve been feeling unhappy and depressed for many months but it’s only about five weeks ago that I started to live as Josie. That seems to have lifted a black cloud from over me,’ she answered.

‘You are fifteen, what are your plans for the future?’ he asked.

‘I have no job ambitions, but the prospect of having to live as a boy really makes me feel ill. I want to stay as Josie if I can and live as a girl’.

‘Why don’t you like being a boy?’ he asked.

‘I don’t fit in with other boys at school and I’m not interested in the things that they are. On the other hand, I’ve had a wonderful time as Josie over the last five weeks.’

‘What sorts of things have you been doing as Josephine that you couldn’t do as Joseph?’

‘I entered a costume convention and won the first prize. I’ve also been learning all about clothes, hair styles and makeup, and meeting lots of my sister’s friends’.

‘So do you not like the company of boys?’ he asked.

‘I don’t mind them as individuals and it can be quite fun chatting to them, as long as they think I’m a girl, but I’ve never really got on well with groups of lads. Most of the time I prefer to be in the company of girls.’

‘Have you ever kissed a boy or touched one in an intimate way?’

Josie’s cheeks coloured and she looked at the floor.

‘I did once, but on reflection I realise it was wrong of me to let him do so. I only did it because I was annoyed with my sister.’

Mr McLeod wrote something down on a pad before continuing.

‘Five weeks living as a girl isn’t a very long time to make a decision that will probably affect the rest of your life, what if you were to change your mind once the novelty has worn off?’ he asked.

Josie looked a little disheartened.

‘I don’t think it will wear off, I’ve never felt so secure or content as I do now,’ she answered.

‘What does your father think about your living as Josie?’

‘He doesn’t know. He left home before I was born and I’ve never met him.’

‘Do you have any brothers or sisters?’

‘I have an older sister.’

‘How does she feel about Josephine?’

‘At first it was a little awkward for her but she has come to terms with it and now I think she prefers having me as Josie rather than Joe.’

I nodded by way of confirmation.

‘How will your friends react to your being a girl?’

‘Joe never really had many friends of his own, and it is only since I’ve been Josie that I have started to make some girl friends’.

‘What do they think?’

‘Everyone seems to accept me as a girl and I’ve received many offers to help me with my grooming.’

‘Well you certainly look the part,’ commented Dr McLeod. ‘I don’t think anyone meeting you for the first time would doubt that you were a genetic girl.’

‘Thank you; that’s what I’ve found so far.’

‘What about your schooling, would you be able to face going back to your school dressed as a girl?’

‘I’ve arranged that Josie will start a new school in September,’ I said.

‘I see,’ he replied, and made more notes.

‘I will now need to examine Josephine physically,’ he said to me, and turning to Josie: ‘Please would you follow the nurse next door and get undressed for me. I will be through to see you in a minute, and in the meanwhile there are a number of questions which I should like to ask your mother’.

Half an hour later both the interview and the physical examination were over and the doctor called us both back into his consulting room.

‘Mrs Stevenson, your child appears to be a healthy male adolescent. As a boy, his stature is a little on the small side for his age, and he is also late in starting puberty compared with most others,’ he commented, ‘but I can find no obvious physical abnormalities. We will do some blood tests, just to check. The nurse has already taken some samples.’

‘But Josie says that she cannot continue to live as a boy,’ I said.

‘Yes, I note her determination to remain living as a young woman, which appears to be deep-rooted, but I’m also a little anxious that we only have five weeks of evidence of that determination and there may be a danger of a change of mind. In all other respects she strikes me as being both intelligent and well-balanced.’

Then turning to Josie, he said: ‘I understand from your mother that you have been getting on well at school.’

‘Yes’, she said.

‘I’m most impressed with the way you present yourself as a young woman and I don’t think there is a lot of danger of your attracting unwelcome attention in everyday life, particularly once you have gained a little more experience of living in the female role’.

‘Thank you,’ she replied.

‘The most pressing problem we have is that soon you will begin your puberty when your body will start undergoing a number of irreversible physical changes as you grow into a man rather than a boy. The shape of your body will change and you will probably grow taller. Your voice will become deeper and it will be necessary for you to begin shaving. In other words if we do nothing now it will soon become much more difficult for you to pass as a young woman’.

‘I know,’ replied Josie.

‘We were hoping you would be able to delay those changes in some way,’ I said.

‘You have brought Josephine to see me at the ideal time from a physical point of view, but I’m still very concerned about the comparatively short time that she has expressed this wish,’ he said.

Then turning to Josephine he said: ‘The best I can do for you at this stage is to prescribe you some anti-androgen pills that will postpone the onset of your puberty. You can start taking them straight away. They are quite safe and do not have adverse side effects. They will block the effects of the male testosterone hormone on your body. If you stop taking them then your normal puberty will begin soon afterwards. They will delay any permanent body changes and so buy us some time whilst we decide what to do.’

‘What other courses of action would there be for us to consider later on?’ I asked.

‘If you are both still happy with the situation, and I’m convinced that Josephine is determined to live as a woman, and could do so successfully, then I will consider prescribing a course of female hormones once she is sixteen. The effects of these would gradually give her a female body shape and skin texture and stimulate the growth of breasts. However these changes would be fairly permanent and there would be other side effects. The continued use of the drug would impair Josephine’s ability to have sexual relations as a man and would make her sterile. These would not be an issue if she decided to remain living as a woman permanently, but do need to be considered. If the hormones were effective and she was still progressing well in the female role, then it would be possible to consider referring her for sex re-assignment surgery once she was eighteen, but not before,’ he replied.

‘Does that mean that I can continue living as Josephine?’

‘Yes,’ replied Dr McLeod. ‘I’ve spoken to your mother and we both agree that there would be no point in taking these drugs if you did not do so. You will have to work out how you are going to effect the change in your everyday life, and how you are going to continue with your education. I should like to see you every three months in the meanwhile to find out how you are getting on’.

‘Alright then,’ I said.

Dr McLeod handed me a prescription and asked us to make a follow-up appointment with his receptionist. We thanked him and left. He smiled at Josie and wished her good luck in her new life. The nurse showed us out, and waited briefly whilst I arranged for our next appointment.

‘Josie, I think you will turn into a lovely young woman, I hope all goes well for you over the next few months and I look forward to seeing how you get on,’ said the nurse as we left.

We left the clinic and walked to a nearby café where we ordered some lunch and began to discuss the implications of what we’d just heard.

‘So where do we go from here, Josie?’ I asked.

‘Mum I so want to live as a girl full-time and can’t to go back to being a boy again.’

‘I’ve known that for some time, but it is still something of a shock to think that I will no longer have a son,’ I replied.

‘I know, but you will have a second daughter instead, and in due course I hope you’ll come to be proud of her.’

‘I’m already very proud of you and pleased that you now feel so much happier than before. However, the problem is how we are going to manage your transition in a way that causes the least problems for yourself and Jenny’.

We spent the remainder of our lunch compiling a list of details that would need to be taken care of if Josie was going to remain as a young woman.

‘Did you find out whether I can open a bank account in my new name?’ she asked.

‘I think it should be possible to open an ordinary children’s current account as long as I countersign the application. This would give you a cash card, but we may find it a little more complicated once you are sixteen’.

‘By then I hope to be on a course of female hormones and so that should convince everybody that I’m serious about changing my sex,’ she said.

‘So that is your ultimate goal?’ I asked.

‘Yes, I suppose so.’

I took a deep breath.

‘Alright then, let us go and find a pharmacy to collect the tablets on this prescription, and then maybe we can buy something nice for you and Jenny to celebrate.’

Half an hour later Josie took the first of the little white pills that would in future prevent her from ever turning into a young man.

‘I don’t think they’ll make you feel much different. They are just intended to keep things as they are.’

‘No Mum, you are wrong’, answered Josephine smiling, ‘I now feel quite different. I feel that I’ve passed the first milepost on what may be quite a long journey.’

I squeezed my younger daughter’s hand.

‘Josie, I’ll always be proud of you whatever should happen.’

‘Thanks Mum,’ she said giving me a hug.

That’s it I’m afraid! Many thanks to Bronwen for her help with editing, to Sephrena for fixing my posting errors and many comments, to SamanthaK for posting several chapters for me whilst I was away, and to everyone who has either commented publicly or else contacted me privately regarding the story.

Louise