The next morning I came downstairs to find Julian wearing the dark blue shirt-dress that I’d given to him, together with tights and the high-heels that he already possessed. He appeared also to be wearing the bra that I'd brought which had been filled to create the outline of two smallish boobs. He’d tried to comb his hair so that it looked like a girl’s style. All in all, he didn’t look too bad dressed as a girl, although perhaps just a little bit old fashioned.

‘I think that colour suits you, er … Julian,’ I said, doing my best to keep my resolution to be nice to him, at least for another day.

He coloured a little, but then thanked me for the compliment.

‘So you’d like to be a girl today?’ I asked.

‘Ideally I should like to be a girl every day from now onwards.’

‘I can’t promise you that, but maybe we can make a start in helping you with your transition.’

‘Yes please.’

‘However, there are a number of things that we need to agree first, since none of this was in the original job description that you gave to me,’ I said.

‘I could pay you some more if you want.’

‘I don’t want any more of your money, but I’ll expect you to take my advice and not take any risks with getting found out. I don’t want you to go out in public until I’m satisfied that you’ll not give yourself away or cause me any embarrassment.’

‘Alright,’ he replied.

‘Also I’m finding it quite hard work being ‘Miss Goody Two-Shoes’, all the time. If you want my help you must be prepared to accept my sarcasm as well. If you look like a tramp or a slut, or act in a mannish or an exaggeratedly camp way I’ll point it out to you in my inimitable derisive manner.’

‘Good.’ he said. ‘I’ll need to know what other people are thinking about the way I look and act if I’m going to pass successfully.’

‘So what am I going to call you when you’re dressed as a girl?’

‘Mum used to call me Julie, when I wore her clothes,’ he said. ‘That was the name she and Dad would have chosen for me if I’d turned out to be a girl.’

‘Julie it is then, and from now onwards I’m going to think of you and refer to you as ‘she’ rather than ‘he’ if you are dressed as a girl.’

‘In that case I’d better begin to do that in my narrative as well.

‘Thank you, I should prefer that,’ she answered.

‘OK Julie let us get ourselves some breakfast and decide what we have to do with the rest of the day.’

Over breakfast we agreed some ground rules, about what we would do and say if there should be an unexpected visitor to the house who was looking for Julian. Julie would hop into the master bedroom if she were upstairs or else into an empty garage. I’d then answer the door and say that Julian was out. If it was an official visitor I’d give them his mobile number so that they could make an appointment to see him. Fortunately the house had quite a noisy iron gate which would give us a few seconds extra warning of anyone approaching the front door. I then began to propose a strategy.

‘OK, so you look pretty good wearing a dress, but most girls of your age only wear dresses for a small part of the time. You’ll need to practice wearing different kinds of clothes and learn what style and colour combinations suit you best.’

‘Alright,’ she nodded.

‘I suggest we buy you some teenage girlie magazines, not so much for their intellectual content, but to give you an idea of what your contemporaries are interested in. There are several other things that we need to do to enable you to pass as a girl in public without giving rise to any suspicions.

‘What sort of things?’

‘You’ll need a few basic lessons in using makeup for a start. I’m no expert but you did rather go over the top when I burst in on you last week. You’ll also need some practice in walking, sitting and gesturing with your hands like a girl. The pitch of your voice sounds ok but you’ll have to listen carefully and take note of what girls say and how they react to one another. Then we’ll have to decide what to do about your hair, both in the short term and the longer term and also maybe your finger nails. However, I suggest we begin by sorting out your wardrobe to see what you have and what you’ll need to buy. Once I’m reasonably happy that you won’t give us away, we can go out shopping together.’

‘I should really like that Jenny,’ she answered.

‘In the meanwhile, how would you feel about trying on some of your mother’s clothes?’ I asked.

‘I don’t mind, I’ve worn some of them before and there are others I’ve always wanted to try,’ she replied.

‘Are you expecting anyone to call here today?’

‘Not as far as I know, I suspect that now the funeral is over the number of callers will decline quite rapidly’ she replied.

‘Good, in that case, why don’t we go up to the master bedroom and see what there is that is suitable for you to wear?’ I suggested.

I must say that my newly acquired sister has quite an attractive smile when she’s happy.

Before looking through her mother’s wardrobe, I provided Julie her first lesson how to put on some mascara and lipstick, using her mother’s ample supply of cosmetics and toiletries. I’m hardly an expert in such matters but I was better than nothing. I watched whilst Julie tried to do so herself and couldn’t help laughing at her first efforts but after a few of attempts she began to get the hang of it. She was a fast and willing learner.

‘Perhaps once you’ve a little more experience with basic makeup, I could enlist the help of my friend Susie, as she’s training to be a beauty consultant and would be able to advise you on your makeup, hair and nails much better than I ever could; as long as you don’t mind her knowing about you,’ I said.

‘Will it be safe to involve her in my secret?’ she asked.

‘I should think so. She doesn’t know anyone living in this area, and in any event I know a number of embarrassing secrets about her past which should guarantee her discretion.’

‘Alright then, you may go ahead and ask her.’

Julie’s natural hair was a mid brown and it was getting towards the length where it might just pass as girl’s, but we found a blonde wig in one of the cupboards which I helped her to put on securely and brush into some sort of style.

‘I must say you look better with longer hair, and quite foxy as a blonde,’ I said laughing.

‘Do you think so?’ she asked blushing, but also pleased with my observation. ‘How long will it take to grow my own hair to this length?’

'At least a year, I'm afraid, maybe longer' I replied.

'Oh well, I suppose it will be alright by the time I have my operation.'

It is some years now since I last played ‘dress-up’, and I’d forgotten that it could be fun. Julie and I spent an enjoyable day together exploring her late mother’s wardrobe and in the meanwhile getting to know one another a lot better. I joined in, partly by way of encouragement, and to help my sister overcome her diffidence. I even tried on clothes that I would never have dreamed of wearing in public, and would’ve been embarrassed to be seen wearing by my friends. We worked our way through the wardrobe trying on the different outfits and sharing our opinions as to how they looked, and making rude comments about one another. Julie seemed to grow in confidence and forget for a while the trauma she’d recently experienced. Her mother had clearly spent a lot on clothes and had built up an extensive collection occupying a large built-in wardrobe.

After a while Julie went to the study and returned with a sophisticated electronic camera and tripod, which belonged to our late father. He had taught Julian how to use the equipment, one of the few things they had done together. Julie now proceeded to show me and we took lots of pictures of one another in different outfits.

We eventually made three piles of clothes. Some of them were hopelessly unsuitable for teenage girls, and these were put in a bag to take to a charity shop, along with her father’s clothes. A few were a little too large for Julie to wear, although they fitted me ok. These she suggested that I take to my bedroom. I explained that I didn’t wear dresses and skirts except for special occasions, but she was insistent that I should take some of them in return for the clothes that I’d given her earlier in the week. A surprisingly large number of items were both usable and also looked good on my new sister. These were returned to her mother’s wardrobe, where they were combined with those that I’d given her the previous day. There were also a couple of long evening dresses in the wardrobe, which Julie was anxious to try on, but I suggested that it might be better to save them until such time as she was a little more experienced with her hair and makeup.

Julie’s late mother had likewise an extensive collection of nice lingerie, which would now provide her daughter with everything she might need for the foreseeable future. She even possessed two basques, complete with suspenders, and several pairs of stockings to go with them, which Julie had never seen before.

‘Shall we try one on each?’ she asked.

‘You go ahead but I’ll pass. I’ll help you to put it on if you like, but stockings and suspenders are not really my style’, I said.

‘Oh please Jenny, it’ll be good fun if we do it together,’ she said in a beseeching voice, that reminded me that I’d promised myself to be nice to her.

‘Alright,’ I said grudgingly, ‘but you must be the one to wear the lace-up basque.’

‘I was hoping you’d say that.’

Julie took off her dress and slip. I noticed that she must have de-fuzzed her legs and armpits — or perhaps the hair had never grown there as a result of the tablets she’d been prescribed. In any event, she looked quite embarrassed to be standing in front of me wearing only a bra and a pair of knickers. Then she removed her bra; inside them was a pair of silicone breast enhancers.

‘Where did you get those from?’ I asked.

‘Mummy bought them for me last year,’ she replied, ‘but they’re not really large enough on their own.’

‘I’ve an idea,’ I said.

I took an old pair of nylon knee-highs from out of the drawer and went down to the kitchen where I poured some rice into each one then tied it off.

‘These should be about the right size and weight for you, and as long as they are hidden from view they should be ok,’ I said returning to the bedroom.

She took them from me and inserted them into the cups, giving her a much more pronounced female form.

‘This time next year I hope to have the beginnings of my own breasts, but in the meanwhile I could order a pair of silicone breast forms by mail order, there are several sites on the Internet that sell them.’

‘I thought you weren’t able to use your mother’s bank account any more.’

‘We haven’t yet cancelled her credit card. Mummy had a direct debit with the bank to automatically pay off the balance and so they’ll never know.’

‘I’m not sure that it would be legal but I suppose it’s up to you to decide,’ I replied.

I made my sister pay for wanting me to try on a basque by ensuring that I’d laced her up tightly, to produce quite a feminine looking waist to match her impressive new bust line. Julie didn’t object, and even seemed quite pleased with her new figure.

‘Come on Jenny, it’s your turn now,’ she said, pointing to the other basque — a garment I’ve never worn in my life.

I undressed as far as my panties, and didn’t feel at all uncomfortable standing in front of my sister, whereas the previous day I might well have felt a little awkward doing the same thing in front of my brother. She helped me to put on the other basque, and do up the fastenings. We then sat on the bed and each put on a pair of stockings, attaching them to the suspenders — another garment I’d never worn before. Somewhat to my surprise the basque and stockings were not uncomfortable to wear, but I wouldn’t want go to the trouble of wearing them every day. I went to retrieve my high heels from my room, and Julie found a pair of her mother’s to put on, it was fortunate that she took the same shoe size as her mother did. We must have looked like a couple of whores standing in front of the mirror in our sexy underwear and high heels, but it was good fun nevertheless. At Julie’s insistence, I also put on one of her mother’s dresses, and Julie put on the shirt dress I’d given her.

‘If you’re intending to stay as Julie for a while, why don’t you move into this bedroom, leaving Julian’s room for his clothes and other possessions?’ I suggested. ‘Ther’s everything here a girl might need for her dressing table, including a large box full of jewellery and trinkets.

‘I suppose it would be more convenient for me,’ she replied.

‘And more private as well, nobody outside the house can see into this room,’ I replied.

‘Alright I’ll do so, but there’s one other thing that I’d like to ask of you Jenny. Mummy had agreed that I could have my ears pierced once school was finished this year. She’d bought me some plain gold studs to wear the day before the crash.’

It was odd that when she was wearing a dress my sister started to referring to her as ‘Mummy’. Julie and Julian seem to be two different people.

‘Alright, I’ll pierce your ears and insert the studs, if you wish, but it’ll be at your own risk.’

‘Yes please, I’ll go and get them.

I sterilised a needle in a cup of boiling water and then obtained two ice cubes from the freezer. I froze each ear lobe in turn then quickly inserted each stud. She flinched for a second, and again when I wiped away the blood with a cotton bud soaked in antiseptic. However she soon recovered and was admiring the studs in the mirror.

‘Once the holes have healed I can start wearing proper earrings.’

‘Alright, but don’t be in too much of a rush to do so. I think we have made quite a lot of progress today as it is,’ I said as I stood next to her looking at her reflexion in her wardrobe mirror.

We were both of us wearing dresses, makeup and high heels.

‘Thank you, Jenny’

‘For the first time you actually look like a fifteen year old and even perhaps a little older. In fact you look like quite a ‘babe’ and I don’t think there are any more clothes that you’ll need to go out and buy,’ I said.

She was blushing deeply but I could see she was happy, so I took a photograph of her using my mobile phone.

Suddenly I noticed her eyes had filled with tears.

‘My goodness now what have I done?’

‘Whatever is the matter?’ I asked.

‘I do so like being Julie, but do you think it’s right for me to wear Mummy’s clothes in this way and move into her bedroom?’ she asked.

‘You said goodbye to her yesterday. I’m sure she would be very happy to think that you were making use of her wardrobe,’ I said by way of re-assurance.

More tears came flooding out, so I put my arms around her.

‘Oh Jenny, thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me. The last three weeks have been so difficult for me, but today I’ve had such a wonderful time, and for the first time in years I really feel good about myself.’

I hugged her again.

‘All this hugging is getting ridiculous.’

‘Come on young lady! Let us get changed and go downstairs to prepare our evening meal.’

She agreed and began to wipe her eyes.

‘If I volunteer to cook the meal, can we get changed after dinner?’

I sighed.

‘You really are a girly-girl,’ I said.

She smiled shyly, and appeared quite pleased by my comment, which I’d have regarded as disparaging, if anyone had said it about me.

‘Alright, but you’d better change into another dress whilst you are cooking, and also put on an apron, or else you’ll spoil your nice clothes.’

After dinner we extricated one another from our basques, and both changed into a simple top and slacks. I showed my sister how to remove her makeup and to use a moisturiser on her skin. We also checked the studs and wiped some more antiseptic on to her ear lobes.

We spent the evening together setting up a new Facebook Page for Julie and mounting several of the pictures that we had taken during the afternoon. She seemed to enjoy creating a new feminine persona for her self and completing the profile as a girl.

‘I’m also planning to start publishing a blog, I’ll call it ‘The Diary of a Girly-Girl’,’ she said smiling.

‘If you do so, be careful not to say anything which might identify you. Remember you’re still only fifteen and there are a lot of very strange people out there’.

Now I’m sounding like my mother.

‘Don’t worry, I promise to be careful.’

(Next time - We recruit the help of my friend Susie.)