Copyright 1999, 2002 by Wanda Cunningham. Lainie, Vickie, Rebel and Bashful, thanks for the encouragement. There is no actual sex or transformation in this chapter, but I guess it should be rated R for context. So, nobody under 18 should read this or whatever is the appropriate age in their community. This story deals with transgenderism in children and may be uncomfortable for some readers.

  

Kelly Girl

by Wanda Cunningham

  

Chapter 8 - "Pygmalion Promises"

  

Down the hall from the Mann boys TV room, along the right side, a sort of mezzanine or wide balcony furnished with chairs, couches and bookcases opened up above the ground floor. Across the mezzanine more bedrooms lay on either side of another short hall, two doors on the sides and double doors at the end. In the middle of the balcony, a circular stairway led to the ground floor, an entry hall cum living room filled with sofas, dark oak chairs and more bookcases and enough planters to bring the feel of the outside in. Two-story-high windows held a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean beyond the edge of the lawn which sloped slightly to an abrupt drop-off. A gate in the back fence probably led to stairs down the cliffside to the Corona del Mar public beach. Similar arrangements behind other houses could be seen where the bluff curved.

Opening off the big living room with doors out to the garden-like backyard, a light and airy breakfast nook held wickerwork furniture where Andie Mann sat sipping coffee and nibbling on a cinnamon roll. She looked up when she heard Kelly coming down the stairs. Look at her, she said to herself. Or him, no, not him. Kelly looks every inch a pretty little girl this morning.

But, is she happy about it? wondered Andie. She looks happy, smiling and almost bouncing down the stairs. Andie waved and called out, "Kelly, over here!"

Turning right from the stairs led Kelly into the breakfast nook. Flowers in a tiny backyard garden filled the large windows. A round wicker table occupied the center of the nook with five similar chairs around it. In the middle of the table, flowers from the garden echoed the outside colors. A carafe on a tray probably held coffee.

Andie sat at the table drinking from a cup that said "Don't talk to me until I've had my coffee." Two pill bottles sat near her elbow, a large bottle containing big purple pills, and a small bottle held white pills. She smiled at Kelly as he sat across from her, "You look nice, but you should accesshorize."

"You mean I don't have enough tattoos," Kelly expanded with a grin.

They giggled together. "Well, we'll get around to that shoon enough. Want some coffee?"

"Ew!" Kelly made a face but ignored the comment about tattoos.

"That's right, Barbie doesn't drink coffee either. Well, Concha has made some excellent cinnamon rolls, and they'll go well with milk. too. Concha." she called.

An Hispanic-looking woman who seemed to be in her thirties emerged from the kitchen. Shoulder length dark hair framed a merry face above an hour-glass figure. Not very tall, perhaps five-three, Concha wore a simple black dress with a white collar and cuffs, plus hose and chunky medium-heel shoes. A heavy black chain with a cross fell on her ample bosom and bracelets dangled from both wrists. Kelly halfway expected a thick Spanish accent, common enough locally, but Concha spoke in a Mid-Western twang that echoed more of Kansas City or Omaha than of Cuernavaca or Mexico City. "So this is the little girl who's going to be living with us? Kelly isn't it, dear?"

"Uh-huh, I mean, yes, ma'am," said Kelly. Andie noted that Kelly had not flinched when referred to as a little girl.

"Oh, so polite! Well, I'm Constance Navarrez, you must call me Concha. I've got cinnamon rolls and fresh milk, fresh-squeezed orange juice, tea? I could make you some sausage and eggs. Hector made the sausage himself, it's very good." Concha pronounced the "H" in Hector, unlike locals, both Anglo and Hispanic, who would likely pronounce it "Ector."

"Milk and a roll would be fine," Kelly chose from the verbal menu Probably just out of politeness to the nice lady, thought Andie since Kelly had told her earlier that she had already eaten breakfast.

"Kelly doesn't eat much meat or much fried food either, or much at all for that matter," Andie commented aloud.

"Okay," said Concha, smiling, "There isn't a lot of her to feed is there? I'll remember that. Do you like roast chicken?"

"Yes, ma'am. But Barbie and I seldom eat meat, and even chicken only about twice a week."

"Tsk." Concha looked disappointed. "Well, I'll get your cinnamon roll and milk, dear."

"She's nice," Kelly said to Andie who merely nodded and smiled, watching. Kelly frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Andie put a finger to her lips and shook her head, making little tingling noises with her jewelry.

Concha came back immediately with two hot cinnamon rolls on plates, a pitcher of milk and one of orange juice, glasses, forks, a butter dish and knife, all on a large tray.

"Now you eat and enjoy, I'll clean up the mess, honey, it's what I do around here." She smiled, "You're so pretty, you ought to be on television, Kelly."

Kelly blushed. "Thank you, Concha."

The maid laughed and hurried back to the kitchen.

The kid really is gorgeous, thought Andie. Probably too shy for camera work, though. Too bad, looking so young and with a head on her shoulders, she would be a dynamite child model.

Kelly looked the cinnamon roll over carefully, he'd never seen one so big. Ten inches around and five inches high and it smelled wonderful.

"Concha's been working for my brother for eleven years," Andie told Kelly. "Harry hired her after his first wife left and just before I came to live with him. She married Hector a few years ago to keep him from being deported, he's a Salvadoran. Her maiden name was Fiorio and we used to call her Connie."

"Oh, she's Italian," said Kelly, looking up. He carried a forkful of the pastry to his mouth and made an "mmm" noise.

"Well, her grandparents were. She was born and grew up in Independence, Missouri. Her Dad was a banker but she was a wild child, she says. Ran away from home when she was sixteen, came to California in the hippie days, had some intereshting adventures. You should talk to her." Andie looked at the second plate. "Concha thinks everybody is too shkinny, she's brought a roll for me but I already had one. I couldn't hold another, do you want it?"

Kelly shook his head, emphatically, "I won't be able to finish this one. Too big, too rich, too sweet," he whispered, not wishing to offend Concha if she were listening.

"Well, I'll nibble on this one, so she knows I tried." Andie picked up her fork just as the phone on the small wicker sidetable finally rang.

Kelly snatched it up before Andie could move. "Hello," he said. "Mann residence, this is Kelly."

"Well," said Harold's voice approvingly. "Aren't you a proper little receptionist? Put your Aunt Andie on, would you, honey?"

"Yes, sir." Andie took the phone when Kelly held it out saying, "It's your brother, for you." Kelly felt disappointed that it had not been Barbie.

"Hello, Harry," Andie said jovially. "What posseshed you to go to Vegas in Augusht? Hot enough for you?" Dr. Mann evidently returned her jest in a similar spirit because Andie giggled, then laughed out loud. She continued talking with her brother with giggles interspersed liberally. Andie seemed not so tough, but younger and more girlish, as the talk went on. "Harry, Buzzy," said Andie, fondly, ruefully, "I find that I miss living in your house."

Fidgeting, Kelly lost track of the one-sided conversation, worrying over the reasons Barbie might not be able to come to the phone. What was going on three hundred miles away? Obviously Barbie and Harold had slept together but was she all right, had he mistreated her? Why had she accepted a marriage proposal? Or had she?

He kicked his legs under the table, he would have had to point his toes to reach the floor, all the furniture here seemed just a bit oversized, like the Manns themselves. The movement attracted his attention to the fact that he was wearing a girl's clothes and that everyone here seemed to accept him in that role.

How did he get in this mess and what was going to happen next he wondered.

His reverie was interrupted when Andie abruptly handed him the phone. "Here, Buzzy wants to talk to you," she said. "I mean, Dr. Harold Mann, your future shtep-dad."

"Buzzy?" he asked, into the phone, confused.

Harold laughed, "Oh, are you going to call me that, too? Andie gave me that nickname when she was little and she couldn't say 'Buddy.' Nowadays, she only calls me that when she wants something or is feeling guilty or homesick or something."

"No, sir," Kelly said. "I didn't mean...."

"Kelly, it's all right, *call* me Buzzy. I know you probably won't think of me as your father, at first, but I'd like to be your friend." Kelly had no idea how to respond to that offer, it just confused him more. "Barbie's told me that she's really your mom, not your sister, and I told her I would like to have a little girl just like you. Well," he went on, while Kelly tried to absorb the idea that Barbie hadn't told him the whole truth. "Well, I know you're not really a little girl."

Kelly felt relieved, or crushed, or frightened or something for a moment, but Dr. Mann kept talking, "You're actually twelve but you know what I mean."

That only increased the confusion, had she told him or hadn't she? Did Dr Mann know Kelly's true sex or not? He felt paralyzed with emotional whiplash. "Well, here's your mom." Harold seemed a little emotional, too.

"Baby?" Kelly's heart leaped to hear his mother's voice. He smiled in spite of his confusion and fright and he listened intently not wanting to miss anything Barbie said. "Kelly, hon, I know you've been worried, I know my baby worries. But I'm all right, everything is all right, in fact, things are fantastic! How you doing, honey?" Barbie seemed breathless, excited but happy.

Kelly felt better, just hearing her voice. "Hi, Barbie, I'm all right, too. But..." he faltered, unsure of how to ask "Are... are you really going to marry him?" he finally asked. That first of all of all the questions he wanted to ask, that seemed most urgent.

"I think so. It's going to be good for all of us and maybe you'll have a little brother... or a little sister... in about... a year..." she trailed off. "You're upset about this, aren't you?"

"Uh, huh," he nodded, too, knowing she couldn't see him but just from reflex. There was no point telling her he wasn't upset either, she knew. She had to know, just from the situation, let alone the bond of love and empathy they shared.

"The marriage?" she clarified.

"Yes," he agreed. He didn't feel that he could ask her why she hadn't told Dr. Mann that she had a son, not a daughter, with the man right there listening. She must have had a reason. He hoped her reason made sense later but he wanted to trust his mother.

"What do you want me to say?" Barbie asked.

"I don't know." He wanted her to say something that would make it all right, but he had no idea what that might be. He bit his lip, trying not to let his voice sound whiny or sniveling.

"Do you want to know if I love him? Not like I love you, baby," Barbie sniffled a bit, too. "He's a very nice man, he treats me...terrific."

"Does he love you?" Kelly asked.

"I...don't know. How could he, he's only known me a few days," she ran down again, momentarily. "We're not getting married tomorrow, you know, Harry says we should live together for awhile. Maybe we will begin to love each other but marriage isn't always about love, baby, like in the movies. Sometimes, it's about...need. Harold says he needs me, and we need him. You and I. We weren't making it, kid."

"Yes, yes, we were," Kelly objected. He wiped at his face with his free hand and Andie handed him one of the linen napkins from the table.

"No, kid, I was turning into something.... Well, Harold, proposing saved me, saved us both. 'Cause I was worried about my baby. Worried about your problems at school, or Amanda taking you away from me and making you hate me and... even hate yourself.... You're... special, honey. To me, you're very special." He could hear the tears in her eyes through the quaver in her telephone voice.

"It's not, it's not necessary," said Kelly, a little desperately. "I was happy. We were happy." His nose had begun to run also and he hesitated to use the fine cloth napkin for such a purpose.

"We were," Barbie agreed, "We were happy, honey, I think the two of us could be happy lost in a snowstorm if we had each other. But honey, we weren't *safe*. We weren't safe from what the world could do to us. Harold can give us that. Look, he's already going to make it possible for me to get more dancing, so if things don't work out between us, I won't have to wait tables so much. Or...whatever."

"Boobies...." Kelly said.

"For heaven's shake," said Andie. "Wipe your nose, Concha will wash things."

Kelly shook his head, ignoring Andie and straining to hear his mother.

She continued, "Yes, dear, boobies." She giggled. "I'm going in to his clinic here in Vegas right after this phone call. He's going to do a tunnel lap-o-ra-scopic breast augmentation through my navel, it doesn't leave a scar!" Barbie's voice grew more animated, though Kelly could tell she was reading part of what she said.

"Right away?" said Kelly, appalled.

"Uh huh." Barbie had never finished high school and she had trouble with unfamiliar big words. "We met some of the showgirls he worked on here last night. They look terrific, he uses a semi-car-di-oid breast form and fills it with e-mul-sified vegetable oils in saline solution. It's so natural looking! Then he does a little liposuction around the waist and thighs and injects the fat into their fannies, these women are built like, like Barbie Dolls." She giggled. "They call him Dr. Pygmalion!"

Now Kelly thought he had an idea what this was about. Barbie had no real motive to marry Dr. Mann but if a promise to marry *Dr. Pygmalion* got her a free surgical makeover.... Kelly felt a little ashamed for his mother but he knew she really was doing all this just for the two of them. The shame had a tinge of incipient panic, too. Would he even recognize his mom after all of that?

Another twinge of nearly unreasonable fear, would she recognize him?

"So," Barbie went on, with a little less animation, "do you feel a little better, ...honey?" She seemed to be timidly sneaking up on a conversational land mine.

"Uh, huh." Kelly believed he knew what she meant but couldn't find the way to say that she wanted him to continue to pretend to be a girl and so act as the carrot in Dr. Mann's fantasy of having a daughter. Barbie probably already regretted telling Harold that Kelly was twelve. "Will-will it hurt?"

"Not much, baby. He's just going to do the breast implant today, they don't even put you completely under, just some Valium and a local. I won't stay in the hospital even overnight and Harry says I'll feel just fine in a few hours. So...so when we get back on Monday, he'll do the liposuction in Newport. After that, he says I'll feel a little bruised for a week or so." Barbie sighed. "Harry says we can stay at his place while I get better.

Here? Where everyone thinks I'm a girl? Kelly swallowed another lump of fright.

"Then, sometime, if we both still want to, we'll get married," she finished.

They were silent for a moment. Barbie really wanted this, and Kelly wanted to make it possible for her. She wouldn't be asking if she didn't think it was important. "I can do it, Barbie," he volunteered.

"Good." said Barbie, relief evident in her voice. "Good...girl."

Kelly blinked several times. This was going to be strange, but he thought he had understood his mother, this was just for maybe a week or two at most, just while she got what she wanted out of Dr. Mann. If she had nice boobies and could get better dancing jobs, they could move somewhere else, maybe San Diego if they needed to get away from any unpleasantness.

Barbie went on. "Aunt Andie is there to help you so you do what she tells you, honey, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," for Barbie, Kelly would have tried to walk on water. Pretending to be a girl for another week or two shouldn't be that hard. And Barbie would have the body she wanted for dancing, she wouldn't marry Dr. Mann and they could go back to their old life.

"Love you, baby," Barbie choked. "You...you be a good girl for Aunt Andie and I'll see you Monday. You'll know me 'cause I'll be the short girl with the big tits." She giggled, suddenly, explosively.

"I love you, Mom," said Kelly.

"Okay, baby, now let me talk to Andie," Barbie asked.

Andie had been listening to Kelly's end of the conversation and guessing about the other end. She marveled a bit that even upset and crying, Kelly acted more like a girl than a boy. Or maybe because of the emotional distress.

She took the phone when Kelly held it out and talked to Barbie then to Harry again, but Kelly didn't really listen. The conversations were short and punctuated with Andie's giggles while Kelly thought about what Barbie had said.

How deep was he supposed to carry this impersonation? What if Dr. Mann wanted to hold him on his lap like Richard had done? Kelly squeezed his eyes tightly shut against the prospect of what looked to be a very embarrassing coming week.

"Harry says that he wants to get Barbie a new pair of glasses, something sexier than those wire rims," Andie had hung up and was talking to him, Kelly realized.

Kelly shook his head, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Who's Barbie's optometrisht? Yours, too, we'll order you a set also. Here take these," she handed Kelly the glasses he had taken off while wiping his eyes.

"Sears in Westminster is where we got our last pairs." Forty dollars each, it had been a real strain, they couldn't have afforded it without a coupon in the newspaper for a free eye examination. Would that sort of minor financial crisis be a thing of the past now? What would it be like to never worry about money again?

No, no, he reminded himself, this was only going to be temporary, he wasn't going to be a permanent member of the wealthy Mann family.

Andie prattled on, "Let me call our optometrist and have them get the preshcription from Sears, then we'll go order some glasses for you here in Corona. Then we'll go by my shop and your apartment and then, go get the glasses. Okay? Now go upshtairs and I'll join you in a moment to pick out some accesshories for you. You'll need a purse, you ought to have socks, some jewelry, maybe some scent. Shcoot." Andie smiled benevolently, it was going to be fun doing a makeover on Kelly. She beamed at him and waved him to his feet.

Kelly stood. And leaving the too rich, too sweet, too big cinnamon roll almost untouched on the table, he walked to the circular stairway and started up the stairs.

It's going to be so much fun having a niece, thought Andie, waving to Kelly who had paused on the stairs to look back. She really is pretty and she's going to be even prettier when I get done with her, Andie promised herself.

=================================

Copyright 1999, 2002 by Wanda Cunningham

  

  

  

*********************************************
© 2003 by Wanda Cunningham. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without the express written consent of StorySite and the copyright holder.