The Secret Gift
By Teek © 2021 Chapter 01 |
It was quite a Christmas. I got a football, a new bike, some books, a Lego dump truck, walkie-talkies, a robot, and a nerf gun. Between putting in pieces of the jigsaw puzzle the family was working on, I looked at my pile of gifts. I didn’t like any of them. I smiled and thanked the appropriate person for each gift, but the joy wasn’t there. I remember being little and being so excited at every Christmas gift, whether I liked it or not. Just the fact that I got a gift was fun. I always hoped the next one would be the perfect gift. You know, the one I had asked Santa for but knew I would never get. At twelve, I didn’t believe in Christmas magic anymore. Year after year, I never got what I asked Santa for. Year after year, a small piece of me died away.
When the puzzle was done and the last of the pie was eaten, all the guests started to leave. I gave my hugs and said my goodbyes. Grandma and Grandpa Morris were the last ones.
Grandma came up to me for a hug, “I see you got a lot of great gifts for a twelve-year-old boy.”
“Yeah, Grandma, any twelve-year-old boy would be thrilled with what I got this Christmas.”
Grandma leaned in and quietly said just to me, “Then why are you not happy?”
“I am Grandma. I am.”
Still hugging tight, “You may be able to fool your parents and cousins, but I know you. You are not happy, and I’m sorry. Don’t say anything, but I got you one more Christmas gift. It is on your bed. I think you will like this one.”
Then Grandma stopped hugging me and said goodbye to everyone as she walked out the door to her car. Grandpa was right behind her. My little sister and I stood with Mom and Dad on the porch as they drove off.
“Okay, you two,” Mom said once they were out of sight. “Time to get ready for bed. You can play with your toys for a little bit once you are in your PJs and teeth are brushed.”
I followed Jilly into the house and down the hall to our rooms. I smiled at her pigtails bouncing as she pranced down the hall. Her hair ties had little bells on them, so she jingled as she moved. She had on this red velvet dress with white fur at the end of the sleeves and bottom of the dress. Her white tights went down to the pink unicorn slippers that she got for Christmas. She turned into her room and shut the door. I went down to the next door and turned into my room.
After shutting the door, I put my back on it and stared at the gift on my bed. It was wrapped in red paper with a gold ribbon and bow. An extra present was strange, but it didn’t matter. I never got anything I wanted for Christmas. This gift will be no different. So, why do I want to open it? Why am I afraid to open it? Grandma said I would like this one.
I approached the gift. Slowly unwrapping it, I found a flat, white, rectangular box. Opening the box, I just looked at the contents. This can’t be right. Did Grandma put Jill’s gift on my bed? I took the dress out of the box and held it up to me. Not a dress for Jilly. It would be way too big for her.
Grandma got me a dress?
I dropped the dress back in the box and backed away from the bed. I looked around the room and then back at the box.
A Dress?
A smile spread across my face as I turned and locked the door.
It didn’t take long to get the dress on. Looking at the box, I discovered it held more than the dress. There were some black Mary Jane shoes, a package with three panties, a package of girl no-show socks, and a pair of white tights. Choosing the tights instead of socks, I changed the rest of my outfit. It all fit. I walked over to my closet door and opened it. Looking in the mirror on the back of the door, I couldn’t stop smiling. I turned side to side. Spinning in a circle, I watched the dress flair out as I spun.
Okay, Grandma was right. This is a Christmas gift I like, but how did she know?
I twirled around, dancing and prancing around my room. I had my very own dress!
“Come on Lewis,” Jill screamed down the hall. “I am going to cream you on Polly Pop Race.”
I sat down on my bed, looking at the outfit I had on, and then up at my bedroom door. Jill, Mom, and Dad were on the other side of that door. I couldn’t go out there. Could I? No. Since I was a little kid, Mom had made it very clear that I was a boy and boys do not wear girl clothes, do not pretend to be girls, and are not girls. There is no way I could go outside that door in these clothes.
I got undressed and put on my dinosaur pajamas. I put the dress and other girl clothing carefully back into the box. Where can I hide it? Under the bed? No, Mom looks under there occasionally. I looked in the closet, but there was no good spot there. Where could I hide my dress? I sat down on my window seat and looked around the room. There was no place in the room that Mom doesn’t get into occasionally. I looked out the window and thought of locations outside the room, but I still couldn’t figure out a place to hide my dress. I was sunk. I finally got a Christmas present I love, but Mom will take it away forever if I can’t hide it.
“Lewis,” Jill screamed.
“I’m coming,” I hollered back.
For tonight, under the bed should do. Tomorrow, I will have to figure out a better spot. Getting up off the window seat, I put the box under the bed. Looking around to make sure everything was out of sight, I left to play with Jill.
“What took you, slowpoke,” Jill asked? “I already played one race. I’m playing Polly. Here, you pick your character. There are a few boy characters for you to pick from.”
Handing me a controller, Jilly smiled at me. Taking it, I started looking through the character choices in the game. I wanted to pick the Sally character, a girl with pigtails wearing a pink and purple outfit. Like a good proper boy, I chose a boy character named Joey. I raced Jill for about an hour before Mom sent us off to bed.
I was sitting in bed reading one of my new books when Dad came in, “So Lewis, you got some pretty good Christmas gifts this year. Santa even got you a 10-speed bike.”
“Dad,” I rolled my eyes. “You got me the bike. There is no Santa Clause.”
Dad held his finger up to his lips, “Shhhhhhhhh, Jilly still believes, and we are not going to take away her Christmas magic.”
“Sure, Dad,” I smiled. “She will not hear it from me.”
“As long as it doesn’t snow tomorrow, want to go try out that new football of yours at the park?”
No, I really did not want to. Anything other than that. Football was so barbaric. Boys tackling boys just over a silly ball. “Sure, Dad. We can go throw the ball around.”
Dad ruffled my hair, “It will be fun, you’ll see. That was nice of you to play Polly Pop Race with your little sister instead of playing with your toys. You are such a nice big brother.
“Thanks, Dad,” I said as I wondered about the term ‘big brother.’
“You can read until 9 o’clock and then lights out.”
“Okay, Dad,” I smiled.
Once Dad left, I looked up and quietly voiced, “Please, oh please, let it snow.”
Picking up the book I was reading, I looked at it, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. There was a picture of a weird submarine and a giant squid. My Aunt and Uncle gave it to me for Christmas. Uncle Mike said it was his favorite when he was my age, and he felt every boy should read it. I had already finished the first chapter, and I had no interest in reading the rest.
The books that Jilly got for Christmas looked way more interesting. One good thing about her finally being in Third Grade is that she got some chapter books. I’ll have to wait until she reads them first, though, before I can sneak them into my room to read. Unless . . . sometimes, Jilly still lets me read her a bedtime story. Maybe I could convince her to let me do that with her new books. I’ll have to try that tomorrow night. Jilly got the American Girl Molly book, A Winning Spirit. I have always wanted to read the American Girl books.
When I woke up in the morning, I wondered if the dress was real or just a dream. With hesitation, I peeked under the bed. The box was there, calling me. I wanted to open it and get dressed. I could just walk to the kitchen for breakfast like any other morning. I looked out the window, and there was no snow. That meant football in the park. Would Dad still force me to play if I wore my new dress?
I didn’t want to get dressed in boy clothes when I had a dress to wear, so I left my room still in my pajamas. I went into the living room and sat down on the couch. Jill was playing with some My Little Ponies she got for Christmas. I wanted to get down on the floor and play with her, but I’m a boy. I’m not supposed to do stuff like that.
“Oh good, Lewis, you’re up. Breakfast is ready,” Mom said, coming into the room.
“Pancakes?” Jill asked.
“Just like you asked for my little princess.”
“Come on, Lewis,” Jill said, jumping up. “It’s pancakes.”
As I got up, I wondered if Mom would call me her little princess if I wore my dress, or would I be a freak? I followed Jill and Mom into the kitchen.
Halfway through my second pancake, Dad sat down to eat, “Lewis, there’s no snow yet, so let’s go toss the football around after breakfast.”
“Sure, Dad,” I briefly smiled at him before staring at my plate. “Sounds like fun.”
I would prefer cleaning the toilets over playing football, but maybe if I went and did it today, Dad would stop bugging me to play with him.
After breakfast, I looked around the living room at Jill’s gifts. I turned to Jill with a smile, “Do you want to play your new Sorry game?”
“Will you, Lewis?” Jill came up and hugged me. “Daddy and Uncle Mike wouldn’t play it with me yesterday. When they turned me down, I figured Cousin Mary would play with me, but she was too busy with her Christmas presents to play.”
“It’s a fun game, Jill. Go get it, and we can play it on the coffee table.”
We had only gotten a little into the game when Dad came into the living room, “Lewis, go get changed so we can play some football.”
“But Dad, I’m playing Sorry with Jill. It’s one of her Christmas presents, and she’s never played it before.”
“Lewis,” Dad started but stopped after looking at Jill’s angelic smiling face. “Okay, but once the game is over, get dressed, and we will go out and throw that new football around.”
“Okay, Dad.”
Jill looked at me once Dad left the room, “You don’t want to play football, do you?”
“Not in a million years. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just play Sorry.”
Jill won the first game, and we immediately started a second. Halfway through the second game, Dad came in voicing surprise over the fact that we were still playing. He thought we were still on our first game and complained about how long it takes to play a game of Sorry. He left us alone to finish the game. Unfortunately, when Jill won the second time, she shouted with glee that she had won again. Mom was immediately in the room telling the two of us to get dressed for the day.
“Sorry, Lewis,” Jill said as we walked down the hall to our rooms.
“It’s okay, Jilly. You were just excited. I couldn’t postpone this forever. I guess I’m off to play some football.”
“Maybe it will be fun, like kickball during Gym Class at school.”
“Maybe, but I would rather be having a tea party with you and your new princess dolls.”
“Ohhhhhh, Tea Party! Good idea Lewis. Thanks,” Jill pranced off into her room with a new vigor.
I slowly entered my room and closed the door. I took a deep breath as I looked at my bed and considered the box under it. There was only one sure way to avoid a trip to the park. All I would have to do is put on that dress and walk out of this room. I locked the door and got out the box. Looking at the contents, I almost did it. Instead, I put the box back under my bed and got on some jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt.
“About time,” Dad said as I walked back into the living room. “Grab that new football of yours, and let’s go.”
We spent two hours at the park. I hated every minute of it. Dad was shocked I didn’t know how to throw a football and even more appalled that I couldn’t get it to go where he wanted me to throw it. After two hours, he gave up trying. He thought I was trying hard to get it right, and the negative attitude I had was because the ball wouldn’t go in the right direction. I never corrected his misconceptions. He promised to practice with me again before Christmas break was over.
When we walked into the house, Dad examined the set-up in the living room, “Well, well, well. Jill would have forced you to be part of the tea party if we had stayed here. Aren’t we lucky that we missed it?”
“Yeah, Dad,” I said, looking at the princess, dollies, and stuffed animals with cups next to them all over the living room. The little plastic tea set she got as a preschooler was sitting on the coffee table with her favorite dolly. “You saved me from what would have been a miserable morning. Thanks.”
I got my coat off and went back to my bedroom. I sat down in my window seat and stared blankly out the window. I may be too old for tea parties, but it would have been a lot more fun than throwing a football around with Dad. Doing anything with Jill would have been more fun. I wish I had the guts to tell Mom and Dad that. I picked up my stuffed teddy bear and hugged her. I have had her since I was a baby. Dad keeps trying to convince me that I am too old for the bear and she should go in the donation bin. Thankfully, Mom doesn’t think I am too old for a stuffed animal. I do worry, however, that she will change her mind when I turn thirteen in just over six months.
Jill and I spent the afternoon exploring everything we got for Christmas. My walkie-talkies were kind of fun. Jill and I could talk to each other no matter where we were in the house. I even found a good use for that crummy football. It made a great back to help Jill’s new doll sit up. Jill put together her Lego Friends model while I assembled the Lego dump truck. I had no interest in the nerf gun, but Jill came up with a good use for it. She jokingly suggested that she could use it to shoot all the yucky toys for boys in the house. It seemed like a great idea, so that is what the two of us did. We went around the house, shooting all the yucky boy toys.
It still hadn’t started snowing, so I got out on my bike. I just wish it had been pink or purple. Jill came out with me and played on her new Princess Scooter. Jill stayed in the driveway, and I went up and down the street a few times. It was strange to have a bike with gears. Dad said the gears would make going up hills easier, but we didn’t have any hills around the house for me to try them on.
We didn’t just play with my toys. We also played with Jill’s new toys. Together we played with her dolls, unicorns, ponies, and princesses. We played her two video games Polly Pop Race and Unicorn Surprise. We played another game of Sorry and this other board game she got called The Happy Little Unicorn Game. She likes anything with unicorns and was excited to have a unicorn board game and a unicorn video game.
Jill put on a fashion show of the clothes she got. She had several dresses, some leggings with unicorns, and her unicorn slippers. I wanted to do the same with my new dress, but instead just watched Jilly in her new outfits. She was so excited and happy to point out all the unique features of her outfits that made them extra special. This only made me want to get my dress even more. My emotions were all over the place. I loved Jill’s outfits, but I was upset that I couldn’t wear my new outfit.
After the fashion show, we had dinner, and then Jill and I played with my new robot. You could program it to go about the room, so we used it to transport a princess doll. It worked great, as long as the robot didn’t bump into anything. If it did, the princess would fall off.
At bedtime, I talked Jill into letting me read to her. I got through the first two chapters of an American Girl Molly book, A Winning Spirit, before Jill’s eyes fluttered. That meant storytime was over. I wanted to take the book to my room and finish the story, but I didn’t. It is more fun to discover the story at the same time as Jill. I was stuck going to my room and reading more of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
I couldn’t focus on the book. Eventually, I just put it down. Laying there in bed, I couldn’t get my mind off the fact that I had a dress, but I couldn’t wear it. If I put it on, I would have to take it off in minutes or be discovered. I couldn’t even figure out where to hide it. I wanted to get out of bed and put the dress on, but I couldn’t. Mom or Dad would be in soon to say goodnight.
The only chance I could figure out for wearing the dress was during the two hours after school before Mom got home from work. I might be able to wear it then, but Jill would find out. I have to babysit Jill during that time, and she always wants me to play with her. Could I let Jill find out? Would she understand?
I woke up the next day to a layer of snow on the ground. Sitting on my window seat, I couldn’t get my mind off the dress. One truth was very prominent in my thoughts, ‘I can’t keep it if I don’t find a place to hide it.’ What am I going to do? Grandma got it for me. She wouldn’t want Mom and Dad to take it away. What can I do?
“Dad,” I hollered out, getting up from the window seat. “Can I call Grandma? I want to thank her for the gift she got me.”
Dad was impressed that I would want to thank her for the book she got me for Christmas. He called me very mature for thinking of that. He dialed the number and handed the phone to me.
“Hi Grandpa, it’s Lewis. Can I talk to Grandma, please?”
“Why didn’t you just thank Grandpa,” Dad questioned? “The book was from both of them.”
“Grandma, oh, I wanted to thank you for your gift. I love it,” I looked over at Dad standing next to me. “Can I come over to your house one day this break? I’m not doing anything, and I would love to spend time with my favorite Grandma.”
“Smooth, Lewis, very smooth,” Dad said, raising his eyebrows.
“I gather by what you’re not saying,” Grandma commented. “That you haven’t told your parents about the extra gift.”
“They won’t approve,” I responded while looking at Dad.
“I don’t have a problem with you going to Grandma and Grandpa’s for a day,” Dad added after hearing only my side of the conversation.
“So, you want to come over here so you can wear the dress? You know you will have to tell them eventually. You can do it with me there, but at some point, you are going to have to tell them.”
“Please, Grandma, can I come to visit you tomorrow?”
“Okay, honey,” Grandma replied. “Put Mom or Dad on the phone.”
“Here’s Dad,” I handed the phone over.
“Hi, Mom,” Dad said. “Lewis asked to call you so he could thank you for his Christmas gift. I’m sorry, I didn’t know he would ask for a visit.”
I stared at Dad as he talked with Grandma.
When he got off the phone, he looked down at me, “Okay, Lewis, Grandma agreed to come over tomorrow and pick you and Jill up for a day at their house. They will be here at 9 am. Next time you want to go visit them, just ask.”
“Sorry, Dad.”
Dad ruffled my hair, “Mom and I are not that mean. We would have let you go visit Grandma if you wanted to.”
I smiled at Dad and headed down the hall. Instead of passing Jill’s room, I turned into it, shutting the door behind me.
“Jilly,” I interrupted her, coloring. “I just got off the phone with Grandma Morris. We are going over there tomorrow.”
“Really,” Jill said, looking up from her spot on the floor. “Maybe we can make Christmas cookies. Think Grandma will make Christmas cookies with us?”
“If you ask her nicely, I am sure she would be happy to make cookies with us.”
Jill went back to her coloring.
“Jilly,” I hesitantly added.
“Yeah,” Jill said without looking up.
“Grandma got me an extra gift that wasn’t under the tree. I opened it after they left.”
“Was it anything good?”
“It was . . . It was a dress.”
Jill looked up, “Grandma gave you a dress to give me?”
“No, Jilly, she gave me a dress for me.”
“Now you’re just being silly, Lewis. Boys don’t wear dresses. That would be super, duper, silly.”
“What if I am not really a boy?”
“Of course you’re a boy Lewis. You’re my brother, and brothers are boys.”
“Maybe on the inside, I am a girl and only a boy on the outside.”
Jill looked up at Lewis and thought for a bit, “That makes sense. You do like playing with my toys just as much as I do, and you don’t seem to like your boy toys.”
I laughed. One of the things I really liked about Jill was that she had such a simple way of looking at things.
“Is it a pretty dress?”
I smiled and nodded my head.
“You should wear it tomorrow when we go to Grandma’s house.”
“Mom and Dad don’t know about the dress. So . . .”
“I’ll tell them,” Jill got up off the floor.
“No, Jilly. We need to keep it a secret.”
“Why?”
“Mommy and Daddy always complain when I spend too much time playing with your toys or when I play dress-up with you. When you were little, I used to dress up in your princess dress-up clothes with you, but Dad stopped that. He said boys don’t wear dresses or princess clothes. He would not approve of me wearing a dress.”
I sat down on Jill’s bed.
“Mommy always says I look like a princess when wearing a pretty dress. She will say the same thing to you. You’ll see.”
Oh, how I wished that would be true, “Tomorrow at Grandma’s, I will be wearing my new dress. Are you okay with that?”
“Sure, I’ve always wanted a sister. Now I get one. What do I call you, though? I can’t call you Lewis. What were Mommy and Daddy going to call you if you were born a girl?”
“Jill.”
“What?”
“No, Jill. That is what they were going to call me. My boy name was Lewis, and my girl name was Jill.”
“Oh, I can’t call you Jill. That’s my name. That wasn’t very nice of them to recycle the name, Jill. Oh well, we need a girl name for you.”
“Yeah, I guess we do.”
“I know. I know. I know,” Jill said, bouncing up and down. “Suzy.”
“Susan. Hmm. Yeah, that would do.”
“No, not Susan. I said, Suzy.”
I chuckled, “Suzy is short for another name, just like Jilly is short for Jillian.”
“Oh! Okay. Susan Morris, my big sis. Cool.”
I smiled, “Okay, Jilly, Suzy it is. We will be Jilly and Suzy, sisters, forever.”
Jill gave me a big hug.
“Jilly. Lewis. Time for lunch,” Mom called out.
“Come on, Suzy,” Jill said, heading for the door.
“Jilly,” I quickly replied. “You can’t call me that unless I am dressed up as a girl. No one can ever hear you call me Suzy, especially Mom and Dad.”
“Okay, but if you are a girl on the inside, I don’t see why I can’t call you that all the time.”
“Just don’t. Please, Jilly, don’t. Pinky swear Jilly, please.”
“Sure,” Jill said, coming back to her bed and putting her pinky around my pinky. “I pinky swear never to call you Suzy unless you are wearing girl clothes.”
“Thanks, Jilly,” I said, giving her a big hug as a tear came down my face.
“Lunch,” Jilly exclaimed as she headed for the door to her bedroom.
After lunch, I helped Jill with her bracelet-making kit. By the time we were done, she had one saying Jilly, and I had one saying, Suzy. When Dad asked who the second bracelet was for, I told him it was for a girl named Suzy that Jilly really liked. I sort of told Dad the truth.
As soon as Dad left the room, Jill looked right at me, “You should have told him.”
“I . . . I can’t. He will not understand.”
“Daddy is really nice. He loves having a little girl,” Jill smiled at her happy memories with Dad. “He will love having two girls.”
I knew Jill was wrong, but there was no way I would convince her of that. Dad wants a boy he can do boy things with; Football, Baseball, Boy Scouts, and working on Dad’s car. I hated every one of them. He was always trying to get me to do something boyish with him. The older I got, the more he disliked me playing with Jill’s girl toys. Mom would tell Dad I was just being a good big brother, but Dad always made it clear that boys weren’t supposed to do those things. Dad was always gentle and nice to Jill but rough and abrupt with me. Little eight-year-old Jilly didn’t see it. Living in her carefree world would be nice, though.
Mom passed by Jill’s room and told the two of us to go play outside in the snow. As we got our snow gear on, I kept looking at Jilly’s snow gear. Mine was black and blue, very dull. Jill had a bright pink coat with fluffy stuff around the hood. Her snow pants were a pretty shade of bright purple, and her red snow boots had sparkles on them. Even her mittens were more exciting than my plain blue ones. Hers were red with a big white snowflake sewn into each one.
“Come on, slowpoke,” Jill complained when she was ready to go outside, but I wasn’t.
I closed my eyes and shook my head to clear my thoughts. Then I got to work on getting ready to go outside. Jill and I made a snowman, had a small snowball fight, and made snow angels. Dad was shoveling the walkway and driveway. He called us both goofballs as we lay on the ground giggling after making the snow angels. We got to stay out a little bit longer after Dad finished his work but then were called inside to warm up. Mom had some hot apple cider waiting for us.
Jilly and I played in the house for the rest of the afternoon. Mom and Dad would peek their heads into whatever room we were in and check on us. Occasionally, one of them would praise us for getting along so well. We were on our third run of Polly Pop Race when Mom stopped in the living room and sat down on the couch. She just sat and watched us race each other.
After the race, Mom got up and headed for the kitchen. Stopping in the doorway, “I just love it when the two of you get along so well. Thank You. Especially you, Lewis, I know how hard it must be doing all these girl things with your little sister. You’re such a good big brother.”
“She sure is,” Jill said before pressing the controller to start another race.
I instantly looked at Jill and then at Mom. She caught that too. Oh, no! Maybe it was a bad idea to tell little Jilly. I said nothing as I looked at Mom. Looking at me strangely, she said nothing before shaking her head and leaving the room.
“Jilly!” I whispered. “You can’t do that.”
“Do what?” She asked as she raced her car down the track.
“You called me she. Mom heard that.”
Jilly paused the game and looked right at me, “Sorry, but I have been playing with Suzy all afternoon, not some yucky boy.”
I looked at her cute smile and pigtails. I gave her a big hug and kiss, “Thanks, sis, but you really do need to be more careful.”
Jill won the next few races. My mind was starting to realize that I wouldn’t be able to hide this for long. I am not sure I wanted to either. Grandma had expected me to tell Mom and Dad about the dress. Could I do that? Tomorrow I could wear the dress at Grandma’s house, but . . . would I be able to take it off to go home? If Mom and Dad kicked me out, maybe I could go live with Grandma and Grandpa? Looking over at Jilly, I didn’t like the idea of living in a different house from her. Maybe I just need to give Grandma back the dress and never talk about it again. For Jilly, I could do that. I think.
Comments
A sweet sister
Deserves a sweet sister, Jilly will have one soon!
Glenda Ericsson
Little Girls
Jilly is one of those cute, innocent, little girls who can give you a look and immediately melt your heart. Thankfully, most little girls like that don't fully understand the power they have. She has figured out that she has a sister, has had a sister, and will have one in the future. The only question is, what will it take for everyone else to come to the same conclusion.
Thanks for reading, and extra thanks for commenting.
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
Aww
I'm hoping this comes out well for her, but I have a feeling dad will take a while to come around here. Great start, looking forward to the rest!
Parent Love
Standing up to a parent to tell them that you are something different from what they expect and want, is extremely hard. I know at 12 I couldn't do it. Lewis is worried and afraid to tell his parents. Suzy has gotten to wear a dress once for a few minutes. She wants to do it again for a longer time period.
Kids worry all the time, can it really be as bad as predicted?
**My muse has told me I need to keep my mouth shut, so I will say no more. I expect to have the next chapter out on Friday.**
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
I am really intrigued
with where this is going! The hiding is essential until Suzy can determine what her father will do or where he stands (really). It does keep me on the edge of my seat half expecting the father to go livid with hearing about that. I know most fathers mostly want to see a son when they have one and believe that they will become a man and carry on the family lineage. To hear their son may be TG and actually want to lop off poor willy... that's like their child is dead to them. Having him come around and seeing the soul he helped bring into the world was unexpectedly different from what he wanted, but still it's their child all the same - is going to be the clincher. I really want to enjoy this as long as possible :)
Fathers
Parents have certain expectations when they have a child. Dreams and expectations are put upon that child and efforts are made to mold the child into those future expectations. When the child breaks those dreams and expectations, to become who they really are, that is when a parent is tested, and you find out if they are a parent or just a DNA donor.
Suzy's Mom and Dad are going to find out who they are. Suzy has one advantage over many kids, she already knows that she has the support of at least one of her grandparents.
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
Sweet beginning, glad it will continue.
I wish my mother had only forbade me to dress as a girl again instead of nearly killing me - but it certainly made me aware that I couldn't ever do it again in her house, to such an extent that I blocked the memories for about 10 years. Very much looking forward to the next chapter.
Mother
It was my mother that I feared the most in my childhood home. She worked very hard to keep me away from girls and girl things. It took me years to realize that there was an asserted effort by my mother and aunt to keep me away from girl things. Which means, they knew from a young age that I wasn't a boy on the inside. I usually write the mom as the parent struggling the most with the transition, but to be honest, it is easier to write the Dad as the bad guy in male to female transitions. Everyone expects the Dad to have trouble, so there is less you have to explain.
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
except.
except the grandmother and the sister they will throw all stones in the way they can do. As they forbid it once before too.
The type of presents and try to force "him" use them proofs it.
I am getting a very distinct
I am getting a very distinct feeling that this is going to royally blow up. Here's to hoping that Lewis ends up being alright - hopefully Grandma can help with the inevitable fallout to come.
Grandma
Grandma is definitely going to have a strong hand in what happens next.
Keep Smiling, Keep Writing
Teek
Better late than never
I've been so busy over the last several months that, other than posting up chapters I'd already written, I've had no time to write my current in-progress story, Silver Lining, let alone read anyone else's stories. I completely missed the Christmas contest. :^/
This morning I find myself unable to sleep, craving a good story... and here I find it! (it was a safe bet, being one of yours!)
Like you, it was my mother who stood in the way of me being a little sister to my big sister. She kept catching me in my sister's old outfits, would punish me and my sister for "making me dress like a girl", but we kept trying anyway. We have a good relationship now, but it took a lot of pain to get there. Dad never punished me, he just kept insisting someone "made" me like this. (Someone did... He just knew better!)
Anyway, I love the story and can't wait to see where it goes! (and maybe someday soon I might get time to resume my own writing... maybe... if there aren't any more family tragedies to deal with :,^/ )
Hugs,
Roberta