22-MY SON, THE BRIDESMAID

sort of medieval torture device from her drawer and brought it up to his eyes, he panicked.

"Hey, what are you doing? What is that?"

"This?" his mother looked surprised. In her enthusiasm she forgot that maybe the boy didn't know all the 'tricks of the trade'. "This is an eyelash curler, silly. It makes long lashes like yours just beautiful." With this, she quietly explained how it works, and gently helped Robin apply the curler to his own lashes.

The smile on the boy's lips, which spontaneously appeared when he saw the results, made them both laugh. They were actually having fun, but this kind of fun is one that is normally shared by a mother and daughter, not mother and son.

Further instructions on cosmetic application were now provided by the encouraged mother to her increasingly apprehensive son-"daughter". This was more than he bargained for. When his face was finished, they both sat back and stared in pleased astonishment.

"I don't look too bad, do I? I hope Trish doesn't tell anyone about this," he managed to whisper.

"You look gorgeous!" his ecstatic mother replied. "Want to sit here and watch me do my makeup. I'll go through the step-by-step procedure again so that you can learn."

It didn't occur to Robin that he shouldn't be so happily agreeing to 'learn' how to put on makeup, but the pretty, feminine face he saw when he looked in the mirror was now in control.

After watching with interest, and asking many questions, Robin felt reasonably sure that he could give it a try on his own the next time he had to makeup his face. When would that be?? Mrs. Wilkes said that they would leave his hair up until after he had the dress on. It was dry already, but she wanted to do his comb-out at the last possible minute, so that his hairdo would look its best.

Mother and "daughter" spent the next hour doing final tidying up around the house as well as getting some snacks ready. Finally, Robin's mother suggested that he get the slacks and sweater and meet her in her room where she would finish his hair.

TV FICTION CLASSICS -23

He did as she directed, returning to his mother's bedroom just as she was struggling to zip up the back of her own dress.

"Robin, could you help me please?" she asked as she turned her back towards him. Robin carefully pulled the long zipper up and fastened the catch.

"Ok, now step into your slacks, carefully," she instructed. The boy did as he was instructed, feeling the nylon hose sliding against the inside of each pant leg. They were very tight. Next, his mother helped him lower the scoop neck sweater over his curler-covered head and adjusted it over his camisole and bra. Robin noticed that a good inch of the black lace bodice of the camisole peaked out from the low scoop of the sweater front.

Sitting him down again at the vanity, his mother began to remove the rollers from his hair. Starting at the nape of the neck, each roller was slipped out leaving a bouncing, shiny curl. When all the rollers were out, he stared at the mass of ringlets covering his head.

Boy, talk about a change from the 'bowl' cuts of his past 18 years! Taking a brush, Mrs. Wilkes gently brushed through the curls. Then with a fine toothed comb, she began to backcomb, or tease, his hair. Robin couldn't understand how this was going to lead to any desirable style. It just seemed to make his hair stand out away from his scalp in a kind of Phyllis Diller look. But then he watched as his mother began to finish the style with another comb, brush and hairpick. Now the teasing became a foundation for the mass of curls which appeared where his mother wanted them to. His hair was swept up over the top of his head ending in a mass of curls on one side.

As promised, his mother took a pretty tortoise-shell comb and caught the curls on one side back and up over his ear. He was speechless! He was beautiful... not just a boy playing dress up with his sister. He looked every bit a pretty young woman. Robin could see tears of joy welling in his mother's eyes. Maybe he should have thought about the significance of that, maybe it would have forewarned him of his fate. Who was playing into who's hands?

Robin's heart was pounding. He could hear every beat inside his ears. Why?? Hadn't Trish dressed him up