20 -ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID

"Mother," he cried, "How could you?"

His mother made an announcement about Baily helping her fit clothes most every night and how he might have caught on if she changed the routine.

Since most of the parents of the kids there also survived on the wedding trade, this explanation was accepted. After all, we all knew he wore girl's clothes...we'd just never seen him in a dress before. After the shock wore off, the girls came over and checked out his dress.

The boys gave me a funny look like I knew all about this.

"I'll go change," he said but his mother said he looked fine. Seeing how badly Baily felt getting caught in a dress, I put my arm around his shoulder and started singing Happy Birthday again. The others joined in.

We had brought him some small presents. When he sat to open them, I noticed just how he sat; knees together and shoulders back.

Opening the presents diverted Baily's attention from his near breakdown. I gave him some baseball cards which he barely glanced then put aside. The other gifts from the guys were equally unimpressive to Baily.

His Mother gave him a gold name bracelet. It looked nice but was very dainty and delicate. She put it on him herself and he seemed to really like it. Abruptly, he looked at her and said, "They spelled my name wrong! It says BAILEY?”

"Oh my, 'his mother moaned. "I guess they took the girl's spelling. Wear it tonight and we'll send it back tomorrow and get it right."

To me and the other guys, it might as well have said, "SISSY!”

He certainly didn't look like a guy. . .he looked just like a girl. In fact, he was better looking then most of the girls there. If anyone just walked in, they would assume he was a girl even though he

SANDY THOMAS PUBLICATIONS 21

Baily jumped about a foot into the air, spilling a drink he was holding. His face became a fiery red and he looked like he was going to cry.