RELUCTANT PRESS

shivers. It would have been easier to walk down Main Street naked, I thought.

"But Mom, think how that would affect me for the rest of my life. Any place I went people would be laughing at me and calling me a sissy."

I knew this was just a little exaggerated but I was trying to win an argument.

"I do have an idea that will help, I think," Mom countered, tentatively, and I got a strange feeling I was not going to like the "idea". "If you dressed as a girl, nobody would give it a second thought."

I was not sure what was worse appearing as a boy model at a hair styling show, or getting dressed up as a girl. I decided they were equally objectionable and it was time I put my foot down.

"No way Mom. Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea in the first place. Can't you just get someone else, someone that is a woman already?"

"I'm afraid it's too late to find anyone and to get to know their hair and to practice. I'm sorry, Danny, I really am. I guess if I had thought it through from the beginning I would have known it was too much to ask of you. It's just that we have become so close since your father died I see you as much as a friend as a son. I'll just forget about the contest and hope for the best for a job."

Whether she was deliberately putting me on a guilt trip or not, it worked. The disappointment on my mother's face was too much for me to take.

"Oh, all right. I'll do it!"

Mom hugged me for a long time and I felt good about my decision, for a short time anyway.

When we went upstairs to her bedroom and she began searching through her closet for the right clothes for me to wear, my fears returned. But I had agreed and I could not change my mind now. After all, just how bad could it be? There was no need for embarrassment as only my mother knew I was a boy wearing girl's clothes, and she was not going to tease me about it.

I saw Mom removing frilly under things from her lingerie drawer.

"Are those for me?" I asked.

RUFFLES & CURLES

By Kammi Morton

"Yes," Mom answered casually.

"Nobody will be able to see underneath my clothes so why can't I wear my own underwear?"

"Oh, you silly boy!" Mom laughed. "There are a lot of reasons. First of all, the clothes will not fit right unless you have the right things underneath. Secondly, suppose someone did see up your dress when you are bending over or sitting down, and realized that you were a boy or a girl that wore boy's underwear. Either way, it would seem very strange. Lastly, since you are playing the part of a girl, it's important that you feel like a girl, from the skin out."

With that speech over, Mom handed me a pair of panties and told me to go to the bathroom and put them on.

I took off my pajamas and, like I was about to swallow some distasteful medicine, quickly pulled up the panties. They were a pale blue nylon with a white lace border on the waist and at the leg openings. They fit quite snugly, but not uncomfortably. In fact, though I hated myself for thinking it, they felt almost nice. I know I was blushing when I walked back into Mom's bedroom.

"Very nice Danny. I figured you and I were probably the same size so that will make everything much easier. Let me help you with this."

"This" was a pink pantygirdle that Mom had me step into and pulled up over my bottom. Not only was this snug too, it was uncomfortable!

"Ah...I...ah, think that this is a little bit small, Mom. It's really tight."

"It's supposed to be tight, silly. If it was loose, there would be no point in wearing it. Just be glad you do not have to wear one for twelve hours a day, every day. OK, let's see what's next."

"Next" was what to me was the ultimate female garment a bra!

Mom had me hold my arms out while she slipped the straps up and went behind me to fasten the clasps. The bra matched the panties but the cups sagged. Mom quickly fixed that with a couple of sponge inserts.

"Just our little secret," she said and winked.

I was beginning to feel like a trussed pig being prepared for the sacrifice.

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