‘No, I’m not going, no way!’ I was fuming. Not going where? To a party with my little sister Emily, that’s what. Emily was ten years old and I was twelve, and the prospect of going to a party attended exclusively by little girls was more than I could bear the thought of. Unfortunately, Mum was not one to be disobeyed, and I knew from experience that I was going to lose the argument before I’d even started. Sure enough, she produced one of her many trump cards.

 ‘Now listen young man’ she said, ‘I am not going to have Emily come home from the party on her own, so you’re going to look after her as a responsible big brother should. I’ll tell you what, do this for me and I’ll see about that day trip across to France you’ve been pestering me about. Refuse, and you can forget about the summer scout camp on the Isle of Man. Well David?’ After a moment’s pause I shrugged my shoulders in resignation and said ‘Oh all right, if I have to. What time do we have to go?’

 ‘That’s better’ said Mum, while Emily broke into a smile, ‘Saturday morning I’ll drive you both over to Tanya’s house at ten o’ clock, since it’s an all day affair. I won’t be able to pick you up again though, I’ll be at that seminar, so you can leave at five o’clock and catch the bus home. You should be back by six.’ The matter settled, there was no more to be said, and Emily and I settled down to watch TV.

 Saturday morning dawned, and I thought what a waste of a day it was going to be when Mum insisted that I must be dressed properly for the occasion in my nearly best jacket and tie, with a pair of slacks and shiny polished shoes. What hurt even more was that I knew that all my mates would be going to the woods for the day, and I so wished I could be with them. I was hating it already.

 I sat down to breakfast as Emily came into the room, and groaned inwardly when I saw her. Was I going to have to walk through the streets with her dressed like that? Emily obviously loved her femininity. She was wearing a pale pink party frock with a pattern of small rosebuds. The dress had a peter pan collar and short puffed sleeves. It was buttoned up the back, and the sash belt was tied in a neat bow at the back of her waist. On her feet were a pair of white cotton ankle socks and a pair of white open toed sandals. Her long hair hung down her back, and was tied back with a large bow of white hair ribbon arranged so that two long tails hung down her hair. She looked the very essence of a sweet little girl.

 ‘Well’ she said proudly, ‘How do I look?’ I had to admit that she did look lovely, so I begrudgingly said ‘Pretty good Em, you’ll be the best looker there.’ Accepting that as a rare compliment from her brother, Emily sat down to breakfast, eating somewhat more daintily than usual. It seemed that her mode of dress was affecting her behaviour.

 Breakfast over, we helped with the washing up, and it was soon time to be off. We went to the front door, and it being such a beautiful warm day, decided that coats or jackets would be unnecessary. Mum led the way out to the car, and we were soon on our way to Tanya Richardson’s party. It took about twenty minutes to drive there, and I couldn’t help but smile as Emily kept fidgeting and adjusting her dress. At last we arrived in front of a large country house and parked on the broad driveway. We got out of the car, and Emily insisted on Mum making some final adjustments to her hair. That done, she eagerly led the way up the driveway to the front door and rang the bell. Mrs. Richardson opened the door and smiled. ‘Hello Mary’ said Mum. ‘Oh hello Jean’ she replied, ‘Do come in. Go straight through to the garden.’ We all walked through the dining room and out through some French windows onto a patio on which some garden seats and furniture had been arranged.

 I looked at the scene and groaned. It was just as I’d expected. In front of me on the lawn were about a dozen girls of Emily’s age, all dressed in their best party frocks, and the very picture of what I’d been dreading. From time to time they would dart about with shrill squeals, while some of the younger ones were discussing the finer points of the dolls they were holding. The mothers stood around, chatting and beaming at the little girls at play, and I gulped at this prospective six hours of tiresome, girlish silliness. Oh well, there was nothing I could do about it, so I’d just have to grin and bear it. Suddenly, Mum said that she had to go, so after saying goodbye to Emily and I she went back into the house to leave. I turned and looked at the little girls with a certain amount of detached contempt, and for a moment thought philosophically how glad I was to be a boy.

 My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Mrs. Richardson said ‘Well don’t you look smart David, very nice, and as for you Emily, you look like a princess. Now why don’t you go and join the others?’ Emily immediately ran over to Tanya and her friends, but I preferred to remain aloof with the adults for the moment. At least the food was close by, and I soon had a cake in one hand and a can of drink in the other. I sat down on a seat by myself, and surveyed the scene, deep in my own thoughts.

 After a while, I began to notice that Emily and her friends kept stealing glances at me, giggling, and then resuming some secret conversation. Gradually I realised that I had to be the subject of discussion. Eventually, Emily and Tanya came over to me, and my sister said ‘Come on David, come and join us. I want you to meet my friends.’ Bored with simply sitting there, I shrugged my shoulders and said nonchalantly ‘All right, why not?’ I put down my half finished can, and allowed the two girls to take me by the hands and lead me over to their group of friends. ‘Here we are everyone’ said Emily, ‘This is my brother David.'

'David’ she continued, indicating each girl in turn, ‘This is Fiona, Angela, Jennifer, Gillian, Susan, and this is Diana.’ Knowing that I would never remember so many names in one go, I just nodded awkwardly and said hello.

 After a moment’s silence, Emily broke the ice and said ‘I know - let’s show David the lake!’

 ‘D’you have a lake here?’ I said, my curiosity suddenly aroused. This might be a bit more interesting.

‘Yeah, sure’ said Tanya, ‘Would you like to see it?’ Tanya was tall for her age, and a bit more self-assured than the others.

 ‘Where is it?’

 ‘Down there, just past the bottom of the garden. Come on, we’ll show you. Just a minute though, I’ll just let Mum know where we’re going.’ Tanya ran across to her mother, and came back a moment later. ‘That’s OK then’ she said, ‘Let’s go.’ She led the way as we set off across the lawn to a small gate in the fence. We went through the gate, and there in front of us was a large pond. It was about a hundred yards wide, surrounded by reeds and shallows, and a small boat was moored to the bank close by. The water’s edge was a few yards out from the bank, and a wide strip of mud lay a couple of feet immediately below it. I must say I was a bit disappointed, as I’d expected something a little more impressive, especially as I would have liked to go out in the boat. But I was soon to realise that the girls had something else in mind. We stood in a row looking at the pond for a while, and I idly picked up a couple of stones and threw them down onto the mud flat where they landed with a satisfying plop.

 I didn’t notice Tanya and Emily gradually moving close together behind me as I crouched down to pick up another stone. With one foot on the edge of the bank, I leaned down to just under the ledge to retrieve a particularly large, tempting looking missile. With my balance in such a delicate state, I glanced round behind me just in time to see the two girls look at each other, nod in unison, and with a nudge of her knee, Emily sent me over the edge of the bank and headlong into the black, muddy expanse.

A shriek of laughter went up as I flailed around in the mud trying to stand up, which only resulted in me becoming rapidly covered in sticky mud and pondweed. The mud was fairly shallow, and after getting my breath back, I quickly scrambled up the bank. ‘Oh David I’m so sorry’ said Emily with mock concern, ‘I lost my balance and leaned on you. Just look at you, what’s Mum going to say?’ What Mum was going to say was the last thing on my mind as I looked down at the black sticky mess covering me. I glared impotently at my sister looking at me in wide-eyed innocence, and realised that with so many witnesses to back her up, I would have to accept it as an accident, even though I knew better.

Tanya now intervened and took charge. ‘Well David’ she said, ‘We’d better get you back to the house and cleaned up, hadn’t we? Come on, you’ll be all right after a hot bath. I’ve fallen in more than once, so it’s not that bad. Mind you, I was only wearing my bathers at the time.’

 We set off back up to the house, and there was a momentary stunned silence from the group of mothers as the girls hurried me up to Tanya’s mother. ‘Oh no!’ she said, ‘I knew I shouldn’t have let you near that pond. David, what on earth am I going to tell your mother?’

 ‘It wasn’t his fault’ said Emily, ‘I lost my balance and he was, well, sort of in the way.’

 ‘Well never mind how it happened’ said Mary. She looked at me and gave a wry smile. ‘All right David, let’s go and get you cleaned up. Come on upstairs and have a shower, and then we’ll find you something to wear.’ She took me by the hand and took me inside and up to the bathroom.

 Up in the bathroom, she helped me out of my filthy clothes and I stepped into the shower. As the water started to run she said, ‘All right, I’ll go and find you some clothes. Have a thorough shower, and wash your hair. Give me a call when you’ve dried off.’ I luxuriated under the stream of hot water, and soaped myself down, including my hair. The soap stung my eyes a bit, but soon I was as clean as a new pin. I stepped out of the shower, dried myself down with a large bath towel, and called out ‘OK Mrs. Richardson, I’m ready.’

 A moment later she came into the bathroom. ‘Feel better?’ she said, and could see that I was none the worse for wear. She put her hand on my head and said ‘I think I’d better dry your hair. Stand over here.’ Taking a hair dryer out of the bathroom cabinet, she began to brush and dry my long hair. But because she was so used to drying Tanya’s hair, I suddenly realised that she’d styled it with a centre parting, wings at the side coming round under my chin, and a fringe at the front. Perfect for a little girl, but for a boy?

 My hair dry, I now expected to get dressed. Mary looked at me, smiled gently and said ‘Come along then, you can get dressed in Tanya’s room.’ With the bath towel wrapped around my waist, I followed her down the passage and into Tanya’s bedroom. There was no doubt about the sex of its owner. The décor was in pale pink, with a delicate floral wall paper and white bedroom furniture. It had a dresser, a wardrobe, and several soft toys and dolls sat at the top of the bed.

I looked around the room for a moment before Mary said, ‘Now then David, there’s a small problem with what you’re going to wear. You see…’ she paused, ‘We just don’t have any boy’s clothes in the house. I’m afraid it will have to be something of Tanya’s.’ A cold chill went through me as I began to realise which way the conversation was heading, and I didn’t like it one bit.

 ‘So’ continued Mary more briskly, ‘Let’s get you dressed.’ For the first time, I suddenly noticed that some clothes had already been laid out on the bed. I  stared in dismay as I saw some of Tanya’s underclothes, and even more ominously, I noticed a frilly dress hanging on the wardrobe door. Surely it couldn’t be for me? With a small wail of protest I said ‘A dress? You want me to wear a dress? Oh please, haven’t you got anything else? I don’t want to be dressed as a girl.’

 Taking command more confidently, Mary said ‘David, I’ve just told you, we don’t have any boy’s clothes, so you don’t have any choice. Now stop being so silly, it’s only for a short while.’

 I could see that I really didn’t have a choice, and glumly shrugged my shoulders in resignation. Glad that she had won the battle, Mary picked up a pair of  yellow silk knickers decorated with small bows of yellow ribbon from the bed and held them out for me to step into. With a grimace of distaste I put my legs into them, and she pulled the knickers up. They were elasticated at the waist and legs, and gripped me firmly. I shivered - they didn't feel like boys' underpants at all.

Next came a white cotton vest, which she tucked into my knickers at the waist. ‘Now’ she smiled, ‘I’ll bet you haven’t worn one of these before.’ I groaned audibly as she picked up a white taffeta  petticoat, and I obediently stepped into it. Pulling it up, she tightened a tape threaded around the waist to stop it coming down, and tied it in a bow behind me. I took a sidelong glance at myself in the full length mirror and thought how much like a ballerina I was beginning to look. I felt a crawling feeling like ants running in waves through my whole being; unfamiliar waves of softness and sissiness. It is a hard feeling to describe...

 But now came something much worse. I stared at Mary as she removed the party frock which had been hanging on the wardrobe door from its hanger. I looked at it in instinctive horror at the prospect of having to wear it. It was a little girl’s party frock all right. Very much in the same style as my sister Emily’s, but in a delicate primrose yellow colour.

 It seemed that a couple of years before, Tanya also had the same size feet as I now had . Mary slid a pair of white ankle socks on and turned the tops down neatly. Then she picked up a white T bar sandal, and slipped it onto my right foot. She pulled the strap through the buckle at the side, and fastened it securely. Then she followed suit with the other foot. ‘Good’ she said, they seem to fit you quite well. Now stand up and let’s have a look at you.’ I stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. I could hardly believe what I was seeing as a little girl in a pretty little party frock looked back at me. ‘Oh, yuck!’ I said with feeling.

‘Not bad eh?’ said Mary, with a teasing smile on her face. ‘Honestly though David, you really do look just fine. I’ll tell you what though’ she added, running a brush through my long hair, ‘Before we go downstairs, why don’t I complete the picture with a couple of hair ribbons?’

‘Hair ribbons!’ I exclaimed, ‘In my hair? Oh no, please!’

‘Oh come on David’ coaxed Mary, ‘Just to please me. You’ve gone this far now, so you might as well look the part completely.’ I thought for a moment. Well what did I have to lose? I felt so ridiculous by now that I was beyond caring. ‘Oh all right’ I said with a sigh, ‘If you want to.’

‘Good boy’ she smiled. ‘Now come and sit down over here at the dressing table.’ I sat down at the dresser, and watched with a grimace of distaste as Mary took a roll of white silk hair ribbon and carefully cut off two lengths. Then she took a couple of elastic bands and two yellow plastic hair slides out of a small box and set them down in front of me. ‘Now’ she said thoughtfully, ‘I think a pair of bunches would look rather sweet, wouldn’t you?’ An icy stare told her what I thought of that suggestion, but she was going to do it anyway.

Carefully brushing my hair into two bunches, she took one of them, and began to wind an elastic band around it several times. Then she pushed it down to the base of the bunch so that it was close to my head. Then she followed suit with the other one. She picked up one of the lengths of hair ribbon and wound it tightly round the base of one of the bunches before tying it in a neat, non slip bow. The other one was next, and soon I was looking in the mirror at a very convincing little girl. Despite my instinctive boyish resistance at being dressed as a girl, I had to admit that I did look the part. I almost gave a half smile of satisfaction at the illusion. After all, some of the first year boys at school had to play the girl’s parts, and nobody teased them. Oh well, I might as well humour her now.

Mary smiled at my reaction. ‘All right then’ she said, ‘I’ll just put in your hair slides and then we can go downstairs.’ She picked up one of the hair slides, slid it into position next to one of the bunches, and with a slight click, closed it. Then she fitted the other one into position and checked that my bunches, bows and hair slides were even. They were perfect.

 ‘There we are’ she said, putting her hands on my shoulders and smiling at me in the mirror, ‘One little girl, newly minted. Now stand up and let’s have a look at you.’ I got up from the dresser, and walked across to the mirror. To complete the illusion, Mary showed me how to stand demurely with my feet together and with my hands either at my side, or clasped gently together in front of me.

She was obviously pleased with my appearance, and then said ‘You know, dressed like that, we can’t really call you David. You need a girl’s name, don’t you?’ I didn’t have a clue of course, but Mary soon smiled and said ‘I know, how about Lucy? It’s such a pretty, little girl sort of name.’ It certainly went well with my appearance, but I said ‘Oh please, do I have to? I mean, look at me!’ I held out the skirt of the dress appealingly. ‘Exactly’ smiled Mary, ‘Look at you, the perfect little girl. I think Lucy’s a lovely name. Oh come on David’ she laughed, ‘Don’t be so miserable. Have a good laugh at yourself for once.’ Not wishing to be thought a killjoy, I gave a twisted half grin.

‘Well that’s settled then’ smiled Mary. ‘Now come along downstairs. I can’t wait to see what the girls think.’

'No,' I cried, pulling her back, 'Please don't let the girls see me!'

'What? Surely you're not afraid of a group of little girls, are you?'

She took the new Lucy’s hand and led me gently downstairs and out into the garden. As soon as the girls saw me, they burst into an uncontrollable fit of the giggles. Even the mothers couldn’t help smiling at my appearance. ‘Well David,’ chuckled one, ‘That’ll teach you not to get dirty, won’t it?’

Emily and Tanya walked forward with wide grins and inspected me. ‘Well my goodness me’ said Emily, ‘What a cute little sister I have, and such a pretty party frock. You look delightful.’

‘And I just love those cute little bunches’ giggled Tanya, ‘With those bows in your hair you look about eight years old!’

‘Now, now girls,’ intervened Mary, ‘That’s enough, don’t tease him too much, it’s cruel. However, just for this afternoon, David has very sportingly agreed to be Lucy. She’s one of you, and I want you to treat her as such. Otherwise, Emily, I might just have to enquire further as to exactly how David fell in the mud. Do I make myself clear?’ Emily’s worried expression told her that she had made herself clear.

Emily took my hand in hers and giggled. ‘Well’ she said, ‘Looks like I’ve got a sister for the rest of the day, doesn’t it? Now what was your name? Oh yes, Lucy. How sweet. Well come along Lucy, come and join in the fun.’ And 'Lucy' did, although the girls took every opportunity to tease me as much as they were allowed to. Mind you, by now I was feeling so humiliated that I simply didn’t care any more.

The hours passed in a series of games and fun, and eventually, I became so absorbed that I almost began to enjoy myself. But my brief moment of pleasure was interrupted when the girls took me aside and we sat down on the grass. Emily looked at me, grinned, and said, ‘David?’

 ‘Mmm?’

 ‘Do you know why you finished up being dressed as a pretty little girl?’

 ‘Of course I do. I fell in the mud and got dirty, had to clean up, and there was nothing else for me to wear but this stupid party dress.’

 ‘Ah’ she said, as all the girls began to giggle, ‘It wasn’t quite like that,’ she said slyly.

 ‘What do you mean?’ I said, my curiosity aroused.

 ‘Well, Tanya and I decided the other day that it would be really funny if we could find some way of making you wear a pretty little party dress, just like the rest of us. There was no way of persuading you of course, so we planned that little accident. We knew that you’d have to go and have a shower, and while Mrs. Richardson was looking for something for you to wear, we suggested you should wear this old dress of Tanya’s. It was the most babyish one we could find,' she continued with a cheeky grin. 'We knew that there were no boy’s clothes in the house, so we had no trouble on persuading her. Neat. Eh?’

 I glared at her venomously. ‘You so and so!’ I growled, ‘You rotten so and so. Gee, you must be loving every minute of this!’

 ‘Oh we are, we are. And just to make it even funnier, it was Tanya who suggested to her mum that you should have your hair in bunches with pretty ribbons. You look very sweet actually.’

 My humiliation was complete, but somehow, dressed as a dainty little girl I found that fighting back was impossible. ‘And don’t try telling my Mum’ chuckled Tanya, ‘She won’t believe you now, will she?’ She was of course right, and a small tear of humiliation ran down my cheek. Noticing it, Emily gave an expression of mock concern, and said ‘Oh dear, our little girly is cwying! Poor cry baby!’

Taking out her handkerchief from under the leg of her panties, she dabbed my cheek. I suddenly stood up, and the girls did likewise, keeping me closely surrounded.

 We went over to the refreshments table, and began to tuck into the goodies. For a while, the eating tended to put a stop to their teasing comments, but all good things come to an end. It began to cloud over, and a cold wind began to spring up. The adults started to move the tables of party food indoors, and a few minutes later we ran inside for cover as a heavy rainstorm began.

 The games continued for a while indoors, but as five o’clock approached it was time for us to be going. Mary looked around and said to Emily ‘Is your mother coming to pick you up?’

 ‘Oh no’ said Emily casually, ‘We’re going home on the bus.’ Mary immediately pointed at me, grinned and said ‘Like that? I don’t think that’s quite what we anticipated.’ I hopefully suggested that we phone Mum to ask her to pick us up, but Emily grinned as she reminded me that she would still be out. ‘No dear sister’ she chuckled, ‘You can just go home as you are, can’t you?’

 ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to David’ said Mary. ‘The car’s out of action, and there’s nobody else going your way.’ The prospect of having to walk through the streets and go home on the bus dressed in a little girl’s party frock, with ankle socks and white T bar sandals on my feet and with ribbons in my hair was alarming me more and more, and it must have shown in my expression. Looking at my crestfallen face for a moment, Mary looked out of the window at the pouring rain and smiled. ‘Cheer up Lucy’ she said, ‘I’ve got an idea. Come on out into the hall. You didn’t bring any raincoats with you did you?’

 ‘No’ said Emily as we followed her out into the hallway, ‘It was nice and sunny when we left home.’

 ‘That’s what I thought ‘ said Mary, ‘Well don’t worry, I’m sure we can find something to keep you dry. Now let’s see, what have we got for Lucy?’ She looked at the coat stand for a moment before her face brightened. ‘Ah yes’ she said, lifting up an overcoat and taking another coat underneath off its hook, ‘I’ve got the very thing. Here we are.’ She held it up for me to look at, and I almost gasped with dismay. Emily and Tanya took one look at it, burst out laughing and Emily said ‘Oh yes, that’s perfect for her.’ I could understand why the two girls were laughing, and it seemed that the day’s teasing wasn’t over yet.

 It was a typical 1950’s style little girl’s mackintosh, made of red rubberised cotton with a satinette finish. It had buttons down the front, a buckle belt, and an attached hood with a square cut across the top at the back. Oh no I thought, she’s not going to put me in that is she? She was. ‘Come along Lucy’ smiled Mary, holding it out for me to put on, ‘Arms in.’

Unable to come up with a reason to refuse, I slid my arms into the smooth sleeves and she pulled the mackintosh up over my shoulders. Turning me around to face her, Mary fastened the buttons up to my neck. Then she threaded the belt through its plastic buckle and tightened the belt around my waist. There was a button fastening at the end of the belt which she fastened at the back of my waist to ensure that it didn’t come loose. ‘There’ she said, as Emily giggled with delight, ‘That’ll keep you lovely and dry. Tanya used to wear it, and it’s a good fit on you too.’ Good fit? It was a size too big for me, and the sleeves and hem hung well down over me. I suddenly felt small. Tanya grinned and said ‘Now you know how I used to feel wearing it. I’ve outgrown it by now, so you can keep it if you like.’ I glared at her as she burst into a giggle.

But now it was my turn to have some fun. Turning to my sister, Mary said ‘Now let’s see, what have we got for you Emily?’ She thought for a moment, and then turned to Tanya and said ‘I know. Tanya, have you still got your pink Barbie raincoat?’

 ‘Barbie raincoat!’ exploded Emily, ‘Barbie raincoat? You’re joking, they’re for toddlers and little girls!’

 ‘Now don’t be silly’ said Mary, ‘Tanya, go and get it will you?’ Tanya’s face burst into a wide grin, and she eagerly scampered upstairs to her room. She was soon back holding the raincoat over her arm, and carrying a pair of pink wellington boots. She held them up and said ‘I think that if she’s going to wear the mac she should wear the rain boots to go with them, just like I used to.’ Emily looked at her crossly with a girlish pout, while Tanya grinned back. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one that was going to be teased.

 Unaffected by this emotional cross fire, Mary took the raincoat and held it up for Emily to put on. ‘Here we are Emily’ she said ‘Let’s see if this will fit you.’ Emily grimaced as she realised that she wasn’t the only one who was going to hate having to walk through the streets wearing a little girl mac. I giggled as I saw how babyish the raincoat was. It was made of bright pink PVC with Barbie motifs, had a long zip fastener down the front, and had an attached pointed pixie hood with tie tapes. Emily reluctantly slid her arms into the sleeves, and just as she had with me, Mary stood in front of her and closed the long zip fastener all the way up the front to her neck.

The mac was a generous fit, and Emily grimaced as she realised how ridiculous she looked. I smiled with glee. This was revenge indeed. But Tanya hadn’t finished yet. ‘Now for your lovely pink wellies,’ she said with a grin. Mary sat Emily down at the bottom of the stairs and removed her shoes. ‘We can’t have you walking home in the rain in those sandals’ she said firmly, ‘You’ll ruin them.’ Picking up one of the Barbie boots, she started pushing it over Emily’s foot and up her leg. Finally, Emily stood up, and as she put her weight on her foot it slid into the boot. The other foot was next, and soon my sister was standing there, blushing deeply as she looked like a little girl of six. Tanya and I giggled at her with amusement, and even Mary smiled at the expression on her face.

 ‘There’ she said, ‘Two little girls ready for the rain. Those macs will certainly keep you dry. Now David, your clothes are in the wash at the moment, so Tanya can give them to Emily at school on Monday. And Emily, she’ll give you your sandals at the same time. So’ she said ‘Time to be off you two.’ She opened the door, and we could see that it was pouring with rain. ‘My goodness it is coming down isn’t it?’ said Mary ‘Well never mind, those macs will keep you lovely and dry.’ She looked at me for a moment, and said ‘But I think we’d better put up those hoods, hadn’t we?’ She leaned over me and pulled up my mackintosh hood. Then she fastened the button flap under my chin and gave my hood a final tug well forward. ‘There we are’ she smiled, ‘That’ll keep those pretty ribbons dry, won’t it?’ I blushed with humiliation.

 In the meantime, Emily had put up the hood of her Barbie raincoat and tied the tie tapes in a bow under her chin. I must admit she did look sweet, and Tanya teasingly said ‘Oh doesn’t Emily look cute!’ Emily glared back at her but said nothing.

 It was time to go, so saying goodbye to Tanya and her mother, Emily and I set off down the street in the pouring rain looking for all the while like two little girls rather than brother and sister. I looked at the humiliated Emily, and couldn’t help but laugh at her face, scarlet with embarrassment. ‘Come along little toddler’ I giggled, my own appearance as a mackintosh-clad little girl forgotten for a moment. We reached the bus stop, and after standing for about ten minutes with the rain pouring down onto our hoods and macs, the bus arrived. By now, Emily told me with a grimace that much of the rain had drained off the hem of  her  mac and into her boots, making her feet soaking wet.

 We got on the bus, paid our fares, and sat down. Emily unfastened her hood and lowered it, and looking at me, noticed that I was reluctant to do the same. My mackintosh hood was doing too good a job of concealing my face and I preferred it that way. She looked in at my face peeping out demurely from my hood and grinned as she said ‘What’s the matter Lucy? Here, let me take your hood off.’ We struggled for a moment, but she was too quick for me. In an instant she had unbuttoned my hood and pulled it back off my head. ‘That’s better’ she giggled, holding tightly onto my hands and holding them down. In the end I gave up.

 As it turned out, nobody else on the bus seemed to notice the fact that I was actually a boy. I suppose that with my long hair in bunches tied up with hair ribbons it was hardly surprising, and especially considering the fact that I was also wearing a little girl’s mackintosh, white ankle socks and T bar sandals. I began to relax.

 We eventually reached our bus stop, and got off. The rain was still teeming down, so we both put up our hoods. As we walked homewards, Emily looked at me, grinned and said ‘What a day. I haven’t had so much fun in ages. And I’ll tell you what dear brother, you really do make a very sweet little girl, especially with that mac on and the hood up. Honestly, if I didn’t know you and I saw you in the street I wouldn’t even look at you twice.’ I almost smiled as we walked up to our front door and let ourselves in.

 We took off our wet macs, and Emily insisted that I remain dressed as a girl until Mum got home. I didn’t really mind by now, so you can imagine Mum’s surprise when she got home about an hour later. She came into the lounge, and when she saw two little girls standing there, she stopped dead, stared at us both for a moment, and then a broad smile spread across her face before she burst out laughing. ‘What on earth?’ she chuckled, ‘And who’s this little girl? What happened?’

 We all sat down on the sofa and explained what had happened, without mentioning that Emily had pushed me into the mud deliberately. Now that it was all over, I didn't feel so bad, it had been quite an adventure, and I felt no enmity towards my sister.

‘Well David, all I can say is’ chuckled my mother, ‘Don’t get caught without your boy’s clothes again. Otherwise we’ll have to find one of Emily’s dresses for you, won’t we? I must say you do look sweet though, so you can stay like that for the rest of the evening until bedtime. Now whose for dinner my two little girls?’ We jumped up and went with Mum into the kitchen to help with the evening meal. After dinner, Mum insisted on taking some photos of me ‘Just for the record’, and from then on Mum and Emily found the threat of showing them to my friends very useful in persuading me to behave!

I am sure that my male readers will agree that it is nice to see one of the girls tasting some 'petticoat punishment' for a change, in this case because Mrs Richardson obviously knew who had caused all the problems in the first place!