Just Clothes                   by: Diane

 

Jesse’s last summer before entering the first grade was spent at his grandparents’ home out in the country. Only he had no one to play with, since the only other children within hollering distance were his two cousins that lived with his aunt some two miles away. To some boys that might seem to be a blessing, for many almost six boys seem to dislike girls. But his cousins were unlike any girls he knew, for they both loved to play baseball.

On days when a nearby hometown team of a major league team’s farm system played there, his grandfather would go to the games. On the way, he would pick up the two girls and the four of them went to the games. Jesse was amazed at the cousins’ knowledge of the game of which he knew little. Since he had no father with an interest in baseball, Jesse knew few facts about baseball, since someone must know the basic rules to explain them. At the farm, his grand father was always too busy plowing and doing other things to have time to explain. His two cousins declared that he must be a little girl that only played with dolls since he didn’t know about baseball. Their constant ribbing caused him to ask if he could stay home while his grand father took his cousins to more games.

So instead of going to the games, he and his grand mother went fishing in a stocked pond on the farm. Now this was something that he could handle, as they were able to catch many small pan fish the two cleaned and took back to the house for the evening meal. After he cleaned up to remove the worm stuff and the mud from himself, his grand mother and he started frying the fish. To keep the coating for the fish off of his clothes, his grand mother wrapped one of her aprons around him and tied the strings in front, with the neck strap shortened with a bow so the bib portion covered the front of his clean clothes. Innocent enough except that when his grand father showed up with his aunt and her daughters with him, the girls spotted the frilly apron which completely hid his shorts. "Look at the little girl in the lacey apron. It looks just like a girl’s dress."

He untied the apron and ran to his room, convinced that his cousins didn’t like him. Seeing his response to their teasing his grand mother and his aunt quickly informed the girls that their teasing was unwarranted, since the boy had caught most of the fish after baiting his own hooks. And his grand mother pointed out that the two of them couldn’t bait hooks because they thought it was "icky" and was something only a man or a boy would do.

His grand father also got into the reprimand, telling the girls that if they continued their incessant teasing of the younger boy about being girlish, he would quit taking them to the games. In a short while, Jesse heard a knock at his bedroom door. The girls had come to apologize, and then asked him if he wanted to go swimming with them the next day.

When he had accepted their apology, he agreed to go swimming. They told him his aunt would pick him up and bring him to their home. Then the three returned to eat their meal with the grownups. Afterwards, the three of them helped clear the table and his cousins left with their mother.

Right after breakfast the next morning, Jesse rushed back to his room and put his swimsuit on, tightening the drawstring to keep it up in place. He was climbing a tree in the front yard while waiting on his aunt to come and saw her car pull into the drive. As he climbed down his suit caught on a limb and tore. He wanted to wear some shorts instead of the torn suit, but his aunt said everything looked fine, plus she could repair the tear when they got to her home.

True to her word, she sewed the torn portion as soon as they arrived at the house where his cousins were waiting. Then the tree children waited until his aunt put on her swimsuit, and then the four went to the pool. At first Jesse just stayed in the shallow water, but after seeing his cousins dive into the pool several times, he decided it was time for him to try. Wouldn’t you know it, the drawstring around his waist was still loose and his swim trucks slid off as he dove in, floating up to the surface behind him in the bubbles that rose to the surface.

Embarrassed by his being naked in the pool, he only raised his head above the water and looked for his trunks. After he found them and slipped them back on, he got out of the pool and went to where his aunt sat watching. "The string is broken and they won’t stay up, guess I’ll have to quit," he said to her. Her laughter took him by surprise, and she explained he could borrow an outgrown suit from one of his two cousins. "Oh, no! They’d really tease me about being a girl," he declared. So his aunt asked the two girls if they would loan him one of their old suits so they could continue swimming, otherwise the girls would have to stop as well, since Jesse would be leaving and they couldn’t swim if their mother or father wasn’t there to watch.

The girls agreed to provide a suit and that there would be no teasing. The possibility that their swim time would be cut was sufficient motivation to prevent that from happening. Possibly getting grounding was also in their minds, knowing their mother’s probable response. So soon Jesse was diving in with his cousins dressed in a girl’s swimsuit. By noon the children were hungry and tired from swimming and diving, so the girls’ mother told them to change out of the suits into dry clothes. Jesse realized that he hadn’t brought anything to change into and told them that. "Shoot, I’ll loan you some of my old stuff. Not a problem," said his younger cousin Jill.

Thinking that the clothing would be shorts and a tee shirt, Jesse agreed to wear something of hers. As it turned out, all of their shorts were being laundered so Jesse was left with either wearing a skirt and blouse, or a sundress similar to what the girls put on. Jill ran to her closet and picked out a sundress that would fit. "Here, better slip these on first," Jill told him as she took a pair of panties from her dresser. Sliding the panties on, Jesse felt the smoothness of the nylon panties Jill had handed him. Then he dropped the towel wrapped around him and Jill helped him put on the sundress.

The dress covered the panties, hiding the bump that Jesse had on his front. Jill remarked that he looked good in the sundress, but she needed to brush his damp hair so it would dry out and look decent. His hair had been growing longer since his last hair cut in late spring. So when Jill parted in the middle instead of to one side and brushed the front into long bangs, his hair really looked like a young girl’s hair. But he was hungry and didn’t say anything about her restyle.

Jill handed him some sandals to match the dress and the two went to the kitchen where sandwiches and lemonade was ready. His aunt sat them at the table to eat; noticing Jill had brushed his hair in a way that really did make him look like a girl. But she didn’t say a word about that, not even a whisper. After their lunch, the three children played until it was time for their evening meal then watched a video until it was time for bed. His aunt asked Jesse if he wanted to stay there that night. Since he was totally tired from the day’s activities, Jesse agreed to sleep there. Jill said he could sleep with her. "But what are you going to wear to bed, want to borrow something of mine?" she asked. "Sure, why not, " Jesse answered.

His aunt knew Jill’s choice was likely to be short pajamas or a baby doll set, since she always requested her mother buy her such things for summer nights. But again she said nothing. Sure enough, when she checked on the two in Jill’s room, Jesse was wearing light blue baby doll pajamas. "At least he is wearing blue ones," she thought.

She called his grand mother and explained that Jesse was staying there that night and that everything was going okay. "No more teasing him about being a little girl I hope," said his grand mother. His aunt explained what had happened, even describing Jesse’s current attire. "And he is positively cute. He really looks cuter than Jill. I swear, she’d be playing dolls with him, using him as a large size Barbie, if she had half the chance."

The next morning, she woke the three of them. When she called them to breakfast, she was careful to call their names rather than use her normal ‘come to breakfast, girls.’ When the three came to the table, they were again wearing clean sundresses instead of having donned shorts and tee shirts. Jennifer whispered in her mother’s ear, "We decided that we’d be real nice and make Jesse comfortable by wearing dresses." Just before noon, his aunt called the grand mother and told her that her daughters were playing ‘dress up’ and had included Jesse in their games of pretend. And Jesse was laughing right along with them. His grand mother told her daughter that the children’s grand father wanted to take the three to a game that evening and would pick them up. Then she asked if he should bring some of Jesse’s clothes so he could change and go with them as a boy. His aunt suggested he bring the clothes without making a point of it, and then the children could decide. She had heard her girls explaining what a steal was to him, and the attitude that came across was that he might want to go to the game wearing clothing like theirs. That way the girls would continue to treat him in a nice manner, as if they were explaining the game to him as if he were a girl.

When she told the children that their grand father was coming to take them to a game, they hurried to their rooms and changed into three almost identical outfits. She looked at their clothing, white blouses and skirts worn over camisoles and panties, with ankle socks and tennis shoes. Jill and Jennifer had even put burettes in Jesse’s hair with pretty butterflies on them. As the aunt looked at the nephew, she was amazed how calm he was to be dressed like a younger sister. Particularly considering they were going to a game.

Calling him to one side, she quietly asked him if he wanted to change into some of his clothes to go to the game. He looked up at her and said, "No way. If they treat me nice when I’m dressed like this, I want to wear these clothes." She gave him a hug and the three girls went to the front porch just as their grand father drove up. The aunt explained quickly to her father that his grand son was ready to go to the game, dressed as he was because he found that the girls didn’t tease him when he was dressed as they were. Smiling, the children’s grand father announced, "Okay, girls, let’s go to the game. Last one in the car has to peel the peanuts for me."

As Jesse’s grand father drove toward the playing field, he thought to himself, "Isn’t it funny? My two grand daughters treat my grand son like a pariah when he’s dressed as himself because they see him as an ineffective boy. But put him in panties and a dress, and he’s acceptable since he becomes another girl in their eyes. The total difference is JUST CLOTHES! Go figure…."

(to be continued)

 

 

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