In Her Father's Footsteps: Chapter 1
It was something that had been brewing in thirteen year old Brandon Wolcott's body for years. He had never felt quite like a very masculine boy; never played sports, wasn't really attracted to the vast majority of girls at the middle school that he attended. Growing up in the small community of Waterford, Ohio had sent him to a school that was largely populated with students that grew up on farms... The FFA was popular in the school, and the boys were all buff and bigger than Brandon; the girls almost always opting for jeans and button down plaid shirts in lieu of dresses; something about mucking out horse stalls. He heard the front door open.
“Brandon,” He heard his dad’s voice float up to his room. “I’m home, and your mother and sister should be home soon as well. They were about twenty minutes away when I talked to them.” Brandon’s dad had picked up a shift at work with the village police department to help cover for a fellow officer that had some stuff to attend to with his own family. Brandon cringed at the use of his male name. The feelings of having something not matching between his brain and physical gender was really starting to wear him down. He stood, stretched and went down stairs. His dad stood there, hanging his coat up.
“How’s Wallick’s mom doing?” Brandon asked, genuinely concerned about the answer.
“She’s critical but stable,” Eric Wolcott replied. “She had least three strokes.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It’s not looking good for her.” Brandon frowned. He knew that his friend Wyatt would take the death of his grandmother hard if she passed. “I’ll keep you updated.” He unzipped his uniform shirt, revealing his bulletproof vest. He never went on duty without it, even if he was working the Detective Bureau. You just never knew what was going to happen.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Brandon asked, opening a cupboard and pulling out a glass to get some water.
“The doctors are doing all they can,” Eric said, giving the young man’s shoulder a squeeze. “I’m going to go change and you should get ready to go as well. We’re leaving as soon as your mom and Tia get here.” Brandon’s mom and older sister had been out doing some shopping for a baby shower of a family friend.
“Ok,” Brandon said, taking a gulp of the cup of water. It was gone in seconds. He turned and went up stairs. At the top of the stairs, he went to his room, pausing to glance into his sisters room with the sun shining in, illuminating the room in a bright pink glow. The room was neat and orderly, Tia’s makeup neatly laid out on the vanity, her desk organized. Even the closet, which stood open, was organized. Brandon could see some of her dresses, and he wished that he could put one on for their trip out to dinner that evening. They were celebrating Eric getting promoted to Lieutenant over the Patrol Bureau. He was going to be moving from heading the Detectives to leading the street units. Brandon shook his head and went into his room and pulled off the shirt he had on, replacing it with a dress shirt. He was going to have to come out, and soon, him not saying anything was beginning to cause him serious mental anguish.
## Chapter 2 ##
As the family of four walked into the restaurant, Brandon watched as the baby pink dress covered in a small flower print swayed as Tia walked in front of him and his dad. Brandon recognized the dress as being what was called a skater dress, presumably because it resembled the dresses that were worn by figure skaters. Brandon was becoming jealous of his slightly older sister and was really feeling the need to come out and say something. He had worn some of her clothes before, usually it was stuff that she had discarded in the dirty laundry hamper in the bathrooms that they shared. Other than him being a little taller than her, they were pretty close in size. What it meant in reality was that the dress that she wore now, which hit just above the knees on her, would hit mid thigh on him. ‘I wish I could walk around dressed as Cassie.’ He thought to him self. Cassandra Elizabeth was the name that he had given the girl that was inside of him. He had always pictured himself as a girl in the mirror, Cassie’s gray eyes sparkling in a way that Brandon’s didn't; his hair was shoulder length, and there were several girls at school that were jealous of his nice thick strawberry blond locks.
“Good evening, Sir,” the hostess said, a smile on her face. Her name tag read “Erin” She was petite, crossing a fraction of an inch over five foot two inches tall; three of those inches coming from the heels that she wore. “Four of you this evening?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Eric replied, smiling at the hostess, who blushed. Brandon presumed that it was because she wasn't used to having someone call her ‘Ma’am’.
“If the four of you would follow me this way,” Erin said, after grabbing four menus. She led the four of them to a table in the corner of the dining room. Eric let his wife, Rachel slide in and sat in the corner and Eric sat next to her and Tia sat across from her mother and Brandon sat across from his father. “You guys enjoy your meal, and Elise will be with you shortly.”
“Thank you,” Eric, said, opening his menu and looking, even though he knew exactly what he wanted. Brandon looked at the menu and finally decided to order steak. He had never had bad steak from here before just like Tia and Rhonda had never received a bad chicken Cesar salad, which they were presumably going to order tonight. A brown haired, green eyed girl walked up to the table.
"Good evening," she started, "I'm Abigail, and I'll be your server this evening. What can I get you guys to drink?"
"Water," Eric said, glancing up at the girl and smiling.
"Sweet tea," Rhonda said, also looking up at the girl and smiling.
"Water," Tia said, not glancing up.
"Sweet tea," Brandon replied, glancing at the server and smiling. He finally got a good look at her. She was petite, standing maybe five foot one, tiny waist, and brilliant green eyes. The white dress shirt she wore was fitted to her small frame. Any tighter and Brandon would have guessed that she had out grown the shirt while she was at work.
"Alrighty," Abigail said, a smile on her face. "I'll be back with your drinks momentarily." Brandon watched her go, noting that even her pants were tight. He got lost in watching her rear end bounce as she walked.
"Brandon..." Tia said, before giving him a smack on the back of the head. "You like the way her butt looks?" He couldn't be truthful at the moment, but he really wanted to be her.