RELUCTANT PRESS

girl. "Shelley, please spread your napkin on your lap." "Take smaller bites, Darling." "Chew each bite at least twenty times." "Don't wash your food down." "Don't wipe your mouth, dear, girls daintily dab their lips with the corner of their napkin." Etc., Etc.

With each correction his anger flared, but was quickly squelched. In his heart as well as his mind, he now fully understood that his family was going to judge him based on his efforts to be the angelic girl he appeared. The fact that his father had asked God to do the same cemented his understanding and meek acceptance. It was one thing to push the limits with your family, but to do so with God was blasphemy!

After the meal, Shelley cleared the table and began to wash the dishes. As he stood forlornly by the sink, lost in the despair of learning to be a girl and to appear publicly as the epitome of girlishness in his step-brother's wedding, Helen joined him.

"Would you like some help, Shelley," she asked the startled youth.

"Sure...," he exclaimed, then blushed deeply at the boyish response. Shaking the water from his wet hands, he stepped back from the sink and dropped into a sweet curtsy.

"Forgive me for being rude, Mother," he said in a soft, girlish voice. "There's just so much that's different about being a girl. I can't help but react like a boy when I'm surprised. I would greatly appreciate help."

"Your apology is accepted, darling," Helen replied as she leaned over and gave the blushing child a quick kiss on the cheek. As she began to dry the dishes, she continued to speak. "You're doing very well in being a proper girl... when you think about it. We're all pleased with your effort in trying to do such a good job. We also understand it isn't easy for you.

"However, you must learn to react like a girl even when surprised. Here at home, we can overlook brief errors like you just made, but at the wedding and reception, you'll be

TWO LITTLE GIRLS

By JENNIFER SUE

out in the public, exposed to dozens of people in a close environment.

"Sheldon's absence coupled with Cindy's injuries will make any boyish reactions Shelley might have very noticeable. It won't take much for suspicious people to figure out that Shelley is really Sheldon! None of us want that to happen! You simply must become so girlish that you'll react like a girl even when surprised!

"We were discussing your efforts and this problem just before I joined you, and we have a few suggestions that might help.

"The thing you've got to do is to stop thinking of yourself as a boy," Helen continued as they worked. "You can't keep thinking of yourself as SHELDON, or with masculine pronouns such as HE, HIS, or HIM. You must at all times think of yourself as a girl! You must think of yourself as Shelley, or with feminine pronouns such as SHE, HERS, or HER. Until you do this, you run the risk of being surprised and reacting like a boy. Only when you can do this will you be able to react like a girl at all times. Do you understand?

As he worked, Sheldon listened carefully to all that his step-mother said. Based on his brief experience as a girl and the few days until the wedding, it seemed quite obvious that she was correct. There was no way he wanted to be discovered masquerading as a girl. Yet as long as he thought of himself as a male, he'd run the risk of making an error and exposing himself. The only answer was to totally immerse himself... or more correctly HERSELF... in being Shelley. With a sigh of capitulation, Sheldon knew he had no choice but to live, eat, and think exclusively as a girl between now and the wedding.

"You're right, Mother," Shelley whispered softly as she drained the water from the sink. "I'll do my best to think of myself as a girl."

"Excellent," Helen said as she embraced the shivering faux-girl. "We need to make a few more changes to help. First, I'm not your step-mother, I'm your Aunt Helen. You're the daughter of my first husband's brother. Since no one

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