Where did I go wrong?

Printer-friendly version

My husband and I are blessed with five children evenly spaced out with two years in between them. They really are good kids but sometimes I wish that the two oldest girls would have a bit less of drama in their relationships. Well, the oldest one, 19, left for college a few weeks ago and I was spending a “girls’ Friday night” with Cheryl, my 17 year old daughter since my husband was away on business as usual. The other kids were in their rooms, I thought. Cheryl and I had been watching romantic comedies and chatting until well past midnight when I heard a car drive away which was strange since our neighborhood is very calm at night. Soon afterwards the front door was slowly and carefully opened and Mike, 15, tiptoed in. Well, in those shoes that really was the only angle his feet could be in. In the few seconds before he noticed us I could see from his satisfied face that he had had a very good evening. The smeared lipstick on his otherwise immaculately made up face confirmed this. I had not had the least suspicion of his leanings! Where did I go wrong?

The stunned and slightly disgusted faced of Cheryl only served to reinforce my feeling.

I had to admit that he was very cute. He was wearing a blouse and four-inch heels that I recognized as Cheryl’s. He was much more adept in walking in those shoes than Cheryl! The skirt he must have got himself since I didn’t remember seeing that before. A very nice and expensive looking skirt except there was a big pink stain on it. He really must learn to take care of his clothes better!

As soon as Mike saw us he was thunderstruck. Well, so was Cheryl.

Not wanting to start off in a confrontational way I asked him:

“Did you have a nice date?”

Embarrassed but happy he answered:

“Yes Mum. It was lovely. First we went and saw a play and then we had a delicious dinner. Then we danced and danced. Roland is a great romantic!”

“Did he give you a kiss before leaving?”

No need for an answer there. That kiss must have been something! Maybe I should let my husband talk with Roland?

“You know that I don’t allow you kids to date until you are sixteen without my consent and I assume that you asked your sister’s permission before borrowing her clothes.”

His face that had been slightly pink before took on a deeper shade. He averted his eyes. First to Cheryl but seeing how furious she was he started looking at his feet … and very pretty feet they were too. The thin pantyhose didn’t hide the fact that his toes were painted in the same becoming red nuance as his nails and lips.

Our voices had woken up my two youngest children and they came downstairs to see what was happening. Their disapproving faces only bore home how I had failed in raising my children.

How could I have raised such prejudiced children? Why did Mike feel he had to hide the fact that he was transgendered or at least somewhere in the LGBTQ spectrum? Where did I go wrong?

I could see tears forming in the eyes of Pete, my thirteen year old son, and he spoke in a pained voice:

“Hey! That’s my favorite skirt you are wearing! And you’ve ruined it!

Right. That did it! I realized that I had been too negligent a parent.

I needed to get tougher. Not only had Mike sneaked out on a date without my approval and borrowed his sister’s clothes without her consent. He had also taken his (her?) little brother’s FAVORITE skirt without leave and RUINED it! That kid was sooo grounded!

up
283 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos

Comments

Short, sweet

And so funny.
All they need now was for the husband to... you know what.
Delightful
Samantha

Trial period?

The narrator may make a mistake if she sends her husband to Roland to get some tips about kissing. That is really something that is best shown/experienced. And with Roland such a good kisser ....

Oh NO! Another cliffhanger.

Oh NO! Another cliffhanger.

This reader in particular wants to know:
Can mom get the stain out?
Is the youngest in on this as well?
Will Mike be coaching Cheryll on how to walk in heels in the morning?
Will mom look things over at home to try and determine if hubby is part of this?

Heck, this should have ended after mom made some decisions and sent her brood to bed.

Just for you jkoc: The sequel, the day after

I was close to tears. No matter how I tried I couldn't get the stain out of Pete's favorite skirt. I hoped it was still possible to buy a new skirt just like it. Mike would take Pete to the shop and buy it for him. If not; well Mike just would have to learn how to sew and make Pete a new one. No matter what, Pete would be recompensated.

Right now Pete seemed happy enough. He and my youngest kept giggling as they practised with Mike's make-up. Mike had spent the morning giving them lessons and they had such fun trying out different looks. So what if they used all of Mike's make-up. My oldest daughter graciously had given him permission to move her vanity into his room.

I could hear Mike's exasperated voice from the basement.

"Your hips! You must use your hips more! Just because you look like a plank you don't have to move like one!"

Not very nice to say that to Cheryl but I couldn't help but agree. And he had spent the last three hours trying get Cheryl to walk at least decently (or rather indecently) in those four inch heels. Not an easy task.

My husband had laughed when I told him about yesterday. Also, I had firmly vetoed his suggestion that he'd get some fancy lingerie for himselft to spice up our evenings. Six girls in the family is enough! On the other hand a shotgun may come in handy.

YES!!

Yes!! Good the whole family knows. Now, splice it in to the main story for a wonderful result.

So, school has started. Halloween is around the corner their chosen costumes should be fun. I can't wait for their next adventure.

Thank you Bru.

I think I'll let this family sort things out in peace now

And now for something completely different. If I get around to it the next adventure (though not with this family) will be a romantic tale set in a pseudo-sixteenth century. A longer story with actual action and no twist (well, maybe a little one. It looks at me with such pleading eyes I just may include it). This assumes I have the time. As opposed to my usual stuff this may take some time to write.

Bru:

Haylee V's picture

How about a sequel to a sequel?

"Henry James! I absolutely, positively REFUSE to let you have nicer lingerie than I do, you cheapskate!" I half-kidded. "Besides, you KNOW I've always been the one to wear the pants in THIS family."

"Yes, dear," he said rather meekly, blushing all the while. "You know how much I love you, Caitlin. Or is it Bruce tonight?"

That had been our private little secret every since her big to do on the Kardashians. I had taken the liberty to wear my flannel shirt and the fake beard to bed. Hank liked the whiskers on his (or should I say her?) smooth, freshly made up face.

Just then, I heard a horrible crash, followed by a very pained scream coming from the basement.

"Dammit! That fucking hurts! I think I might have broken it, Mike. I hate wearing fucking heels. That's why they were in the back of my closet. How am I going to explain this to the doctor? I mean, a cut-off t, taped chest, faded jeans, and heels?"

"I told you you should change out of your Charles persona before we practiced, Cheryl. You know how taping your chest throws off your balance."

Knowing that time was of the essence, and that I'd have to rush Chas to the ER to be looked after, I groaned. There was no time to change, so we all: me en homme, Hank en femme, Chas (Cheryl), Michelle (Mike), Meg (For some reason, not yet experimenting in the whole trans thing. Could she really be my child?), and the youngest, Petra (Pete) piled into the SUV.

Whatever happened to my nice, safe, sensible world?

*Kisses Always*
Haylee V

Suprised

Not the ending I expected, kudos on a good short story

Cute!

A family that plays in skirts has to have panties too! I love your add on comment. Seems dad has a sense of humor.

Lovely story,

Santacruzman

Cute

That is so very cute a story. Short but very nicely done.

cute

This is such a cute story. Short but nicely done

2+4 ?

BarbieLee's picture

Bru, I had to go back and count when your story ended with "six girls in the family are enough". It was an interesting take on your usual style. Or maybe not. It seems you manage a "straight story" every now and then. Provided anyone with a normal mind could call this kind of fable straight while saying it with a straight face.

We were out last week in the gyrocopters. If either of us had a two place I'd seriously send you an invite. Alas, both machines are single place and watching someone else fly is about as interesting as watching grass grow or paint dry.

Life is meant to be lived, not worn until it's worn out
hugs kid
Barb

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

I'm upset. Aren't all my stories straight?

I ask with a straight flush face.

Well, looks like we have split the elements pretty well. You take the air and I'll take the water. Just got back from an evening swim in the city center. As to earth and fire we could play poker about those. Only thing is that you'd probably win.

Re: the elements

Daphne Xu's picture

How about the helium? And the uranium, neptunium, and plutonium?

BTW, are they going to rename plutonium, now that Pluto's no longer a "planet"?

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

You are way too modern

I have a purely Platonic relationship with the elements, not a Plutonic.

What's in a name? Bumping Pluto the planet down a bit shouldn't be a problem. E.g. there was no Poland when Polonium was discovered and named.

Yeah, but...

Daphne Xu's picture

Uranium, Neptunium, and Plutonium were named after the planets. (It's immediately obvious, once one sees the names in order on the periodic table.) Now that Pluto's not a planet, do they still want to keep plutonium? Perhaps they should name it Saturnium instead. Or shift all three elements down by one: uranium, neptunium, and plutonium now become saturnium, uranium, and neptunium, respectively.

We can imagine all the pandemonium that would create.

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

A Rebellious Instinct

Daphne Xu's picture

I have to admit that I have a rebellious instinct for things such as prohibition against dating without permission. As for the others... well, if he hadn't ruined his little brother's favorite skirt, I would have had more sympathy for him. True, it's not very good to borrow things without permission. ON the other hand, girls borrow each others' clothes right and left. Or So I Heard.

The eldest daughter at 19: did she take a year off before going to college? Or was she returning for her sophomore (or junior) year?

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

We don't know the month the

We don't know the month the story takes place in so it's entirely possible the birthday is early in the semester thus 19 just after the start of college.

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

As a compulsive contrarian I understand you

Regarding the age thing: Sorry I can't tell you. The operation is still classified.
A piece of advice though: Don't ever trifle with oldest daugher's feelings. Not healthy.

So...

Daphne Xu's picture

Are you going to write something about the older daughter and her feelings. Something must have happened at some point.

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

No fair!

You are not supposed to challenge when I use the time honoured dodge of refering to "classifed" or "ongoing investigation". :)

Hmm...

Daphne Xu's picture

This is getting interesting. I didn't know there was something to challenge. Just wondering what kind of story lurked behind the warning against hurting her. But now that you tell me...

So is a story coming out soon? :-)

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

No story lurking

I confess, I used to "classfied" comment because I really didn't have an answer.
Otherwise the "classified" and "ongoing investigation" excuse is something people in authority are quite happy to use.
I have used "classfied" (actually justified) once in immigration when the official was getting extremely inquisitive. His expression was quite funny to see.

Aww...

Daphne Xu's picture

... too bad.

I would feel quite reticent about using "classified" and other red-flag labels. Hmm... That just gave me an idea for a story, another potential novel. Or I might use it in one of the stories I've already begun.

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

I really hope...

Daphne Xu's picture

... that I wrote down that idea. Because I don't have the faintest recollection of that idea.

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

COOL!

I absolutely did NOT see that ending coming! But must agree, mom needs to put her foot down and keep the kids in line.

Sometimes this story comes up "blank"; the story text isn't there. Does that happen to anyone else? JN

It's hard to find the right balance

as both the mother and Cheryl has found out.

As for the blank issue. This is happening not only to this story but to other stories as well. ´Try again and if it doesn't work you have to wait a little before making another try. The story you want to read is there.

What a cute story

Jamie Lee's picture

Thought for sure Mike was going to be old and gray before he was let out of the house, coming in after midnight and dating without permission.

Imagine the surprise when Michelle had been the one on a date. And an ever bigger surprise when 13 year old Pete became upset because Mike had taken Pete's favorite skirt.

And mom decided it was time to be a better parent because of Mike borrowing clothes without gaining permission.

A really cute story with a cute twist of an ending.

Others have feelings too.

Didn't totally recall.

Daphne Xu's picture

I didn't totally recall the ending, but of course it stands to reason. It goes without saying that I don't remember my earlier comment(s). I have no problem with sneaking out on a date when one is viewed as too young.

Borrowing clothes is another thing. Presumably, the oldest sisters routinely borrowed each other's clothes, but it's different when one is an unknown or closet sister. I really hope that Pete's favorite skirt can be recovered. Maybe the stain can be converted to a decoration.

Apropos of nothing, I wouldn't be surprised if Pete were as tall as or taller than Mike. Also, I hope that forgiveness occurs and they can all nice girls' nights together.

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

Going the Distance

Daphne Xu's picture

Reading the other comments, I see that I went from damaged borrowed clothes all the way to Pluto, a gargantuan distance. (On the other hand...)

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.