Be careful what you wish for.......

Gary watched with disdain as his little twin sisters pranced and danced before the small audience, whose members were delighted by the loveliness of the little ballerinas and the skill of their performance. They clapped politely.

Gary reluctantly joined in. He forced himself to fix his mouth into a smile, but he was thinking Girls! How I hate them, the happy, simpering little dolls!

The two girls clad in pink, sparkly ballerina outfits, curtsied their thanks. And earned another ripple of applause from their audience.

Girls! Gary thought malevolently. All they have to do is skip and dance and smile and dress up in pretty clothes and the world loves them! A boy like me has no chance to get any attention with them around!

Gary was twelve. On the cusp of manhood. He was five years older than his twin sisters, Melissa and Melanie. "The Two Mels", as they liked to be known. He had thought that as the only boy, he would be the focus of attention and, until his sisters had been born, that had been true.

But as soon as the two Mels were born, Gary gradually found himself being pushed into the background. The two girls seemed to effortlessly win everyone over by their charm, grace and wit and everyone was all over them, giving them attention and affection.

It didn't help that, as well as being pretty and sweet, the two Mels were talented dancers and were also little stars in the classroom. By comparison, Gary's academic ability was average at best. He was good at sports, but did not shine. He had no trophies to show off, to allow his family to take pride in him for a change.

Then, a year ago, Gary's parents had split up. Gary's father was resentful of his wife's success and superior earning power. His ego could not handle not being the provider. Gary remembered his father's suppressed fury - and impotence - the endless rows between his parents, and, finally, his father packing his bags and leaving the family home.

Gary saw his father once every eight weeks. The meetings were strained. Father and son had no idea what to say to each other beyond each asking how the other was doing. His father knew that he had put himself and his pride before his family, but was still too proud to admit that he was wrong. And he knew that his son knew it too. Embarressing silences filled much of the time.

At their last meeting, Dad had driven him out to a ice skating rink. Once they had had their fill of skating, Dad bought each of them a coke and took Gary aside for "a man to man chat". Dad explained that he had found someone else. A pretty young bar maid he had met whilst he and his mates had frequented a pub near the building site where they worked for a liquid lunch every day. He knew that she was the woman for him, so he was filing for divorce.

Gary had to fight back tears. "Don't worry son" said Dad "Once the divorce is finalised, and I marry my new girl, I'll have a chat with your Mum. Persuade her to let you come and live with me. A son should be with his father. Learn how to be a man!" He slapped Gary manfully on the back.

"You do want to come and live with your Dad, don't you?"

Gary nodded miserably.

Another clap on the back followed that almost knocked out Gary out of his seat. "Good! You don't want to end up in a house filled with, and run by, women! God forbid!"

You didn't mind it. Until Mum started earning more than you! Gary thought acidly.

Dad drove him home, enthusing about the new, bright life that lay ahead for both of them. Once they got shot of the pesky womanfolk. Erin, his new girlfriend, wanted only to please him. She would be the perfect little housewife that Gary's mother had used to be. Until she got foolish notions in her head about having a career. A woman's true career, Gary's father told him, was caring for her man and her children. She should desire nothing more.

Gary held his tongue. He resented his sisters for their success and popularity, but he did not share his father's low opinion of womankind. He went to school with girls, after all, most of whom were cleverer and more talented than him. He couldn't imagine them as being content to have their horizons limited to being homemakers.

That last meeting had been nine weeks ago. Dad had cried off the scheduled meeting, saying he had too much on. Something about finding a nest for himself and his new woman. Mum had been enraged. When her anger had subsided, she had surprised Gary by taking him into her arms and comforting him. Gary had submitted to this for a minute, before breaking loose. He was not a small child to be comforted!

In the privacy of his room, however, he found that he had quite enjoyed the experience. He wondered if there was something wrong with him to have such feelings.

In the here and now, the two Mels departed to change for dinner. Mum herded them off to their bedroom. Gary stared after them wistfully. He wasn't keen on girls, but he was fascinated by their clothes. All those fine, shiny, sparkly, colourful materials. He constantly found himself wondering what to must be like to wear them. Maybe if he wore them, people might like him as well as his sisters.

He went upstairs to his own bedroom and lay on his bed. His mind was filled with the images of girls in pretty dresses, shoes, tights and underwear, prancing and preening about as if they ruled the world.

Which, in a sense, they did. For the rest of the world fell over themselves to fawn over the pretty creatures in their fine clothes.

Gary wished at that moment that he had something feminine in his room. Even a small piece of tulle or lace to hold. But there was nothing. A football, a chessboard, some tin soldiers that belonged not only to Gary, but his father and grandfather before him.

Except. The ring.

Gary reached into the drawer of his bedside table and pulled out a silver ring with a bright blue sapphire stone set in it. Gary had found it a few weeks ago when a penny had rolled into the large hole in one of his floorboards. He had stuck his hand inside expecting to find a small round shape and had been surprised to pull out the ring.

It had been covered in dust and grime. It must have been there for a long time. Gary managed to clean it up one afternoon whilst his mum had run his sisters to cheerleading practice.

It was old and had clearly once belonged to a lady, but Gary had decided to keep it and to keep it a secret from his mother and sisters. He had not yet tried it on.

Tentatively, he slipped the ring onto the index finger of his left hand. He instinctively knew on which finger the ring should be worn. To his delight it fit perfectly. As if it had been made just for him.

Gary blushed. What a silly notion! This ring had been crafted for a real lady, not a boy with foolish fancies in his head.

He lay on the bed again and briefly sank into a drowsy sleep. He dreamt of girls parading about in their frilly frocks, winning the world over with smiles where men had to win it by war or great accomplishment. Ah, to wear such gorgeous fabrics and flounces and fripperies! I wish I could be allowed to wear such wonderful creations!

Gary's blissful sleep was interupted by the sound of his mother's voice, bidding him to come and have his dinner.

Gary leapt off his bed and made for the door. Then remembered he was still wearing the ring! He hurriedly slid it off his finger and put into the drawer. As he closed the drawer, he could have sworn that the sapphire was glowing slightly. He dismissed the thought. That was quite impossible. It was a simple ring. A beautiful one, to be sure, but just a ring.

Gary awoke the following morning to the sight of his mother's smiling face. He was astonished, for it was 9:08 on a Thursday morning. His mother, a notorious workaholic, was usually bundling herself and her children out of the house and into the car for the school run by 7:30 at the latest amidst a maelstrom of barely organised chaos.

"Mum? Shouldn't you be at work? And shouldn't I be at school?" He leapt out of bed, searching for his school clothes.

Mum shrugged "I took the day off. Actually, I've taken the next two weeks off!".

Gary gaped at her. Since Mum had been promoted to Area Manager, three years ago, she had had no more than the odd day off here and there. When, during one of their most bitter rows, Dad had said Mum never wanted to go on holiday anymore, like in the good old days, Mum had retorted that for her, work was like being on holiday.

Gary had believed that. So his mother's announcement was truly astonishing.

"And I've told the school you and the girls are being taken out of school for those two weeks too. We're going to have some fun as a family for a change!"

Again, Gary was amazed. For years, Mum had drilled into all their heads that being at school and doing well at school was the most important thing in their lives. Mum had even hired tutors during the summer for additional tuition. Now she was suddenly pulling them from school?

Gary thought. Two weeks holiday from school wasn't so bad. Maybe Mum would take them on a proper holiday to somewhere exotic and exciting.

"Are we going on holiday, Mum?" he asked her.

"No, we're staying right here".

Gary was puzzled "You mean we're just going to hang around here? And do what?"

"Ah! That's for me to know and you to find out, sweetie! I've run a bath for you. Hurry up and get into it!"

Gary obeyed. The bath was warm and refreshing. There was a strange fragrance emanating from the bath, but it was not unpleasant. Mum had left one of her own towelling robes for Gary to wear. It was pink, with a white daisy pattern all over it. Gary felt a little embarressed to be wearing it, but it felt good.

Gary fleetingly wondered what was like to wear some of his mother's other clothes. She mostly wore trousers these days, but still had some frocks in her wardrobe for formal occasions.

Mum had cooked breakfast. Gary sheepishly sidled into the room in his feminine robe, but instead of the expected titters and derision from his sisters, he received compliments.

"You look lovely in that robe, Gary" said Melanie, with a simple sincerity.

"It has lovely patterns!" commented Melissa "You should wear it more often!"

"Yes" said Mum "The girls are right. As always. I'll tell you what, Gary, you can keep the robe. It's yours!"

The girls clapped their hands in glee.

Gary's cheeks reddened slightly. If his mates saw him wearing this....but he said "Thanks".

Once everyone had finished eating, and Mum had loaded up the dishwasher, Mum took Gary by the hand and gently led him to the living room and sat him down on a sofa. Mum sat beside him and out her arm around him.

"The girls and I have put our heads together Gary. We're aware you been left out. It's all been about the girls, with their ballet, and their cheerleading and just being the lovely creatures they are. It isn't fair, I know, so we've decided to include you. We're going to make you into a girl too!"

Gary looked at her earnest face. She meant every word of what she had just said.

"And not just a girl" piped up Melanie "But a little girl. Just like me and Mel!"

"Yep, that's right" said Mum with enthusiasm "We're going to become a family of girls. Once big girl. That's me. And three sweet little girls!"

This was getting a little scary for Gary. Not just the prospect of becoming a little girl of all things. But the sudden, weird enthusiasm of his mother and sisters for it to happen. They had never before asked him to be included in anything even vaguely feminine.

But he was also excited at the idea. This was what he had secretly wanted, after all, to experience wearing what the girls did.

Mum patted his hand "And all you have to do, sweetie, is let go, let it all happen and enjoy yourself".

Gary suddenly had no intention of doing any such thing. He was thoroughly shaken. "What has gotten into you? All of you?" he shouted "I'm a twelve year old boy, for pete's sake! Not a girl, and certainly not a little girl!"

The girls burst into tears. Gary was shocked at their genuine distress. They each clung to one of his legs and begged him to be their pretty sister. Gary didn't know what to do.

Mum hugged him as well. Gary felt smothered by his female relatives.

Mum released him and said "Just try it. For a day. For us. And if you decide that you don't like it, you can be a boy again".

Gary thought about it. One day doing what he had secretly dreamed of would be bearable. And it would please his Mum and sisters.

"OK. Just for one day though!"

Mum smiled sweetly and the girls cheered and clapped and smothered him with kisses.

Three hours later, Gary stood in his mother's bedroom, staring in disbelief at his own reflection in the wardrobe mirror.

He wore a bright yellow satin frock, with a wide sash ending in a large bow at the small of his back. His little skirt ended at the top of his thighs. He wore layers of white silken petticoats underneath his skirt. His arms were mostly bare, except for the puffy sleeves of the dress, edged with white lace. The dress included a frilled collar. Underneath the dress, Gary wore a white vest edged in lace and a pair of satin white knickers that had layer upon layer of frills on the panels. Gary wore a pair of white lacy ankle socks and a pair of shiny black mary jane shoes.

A little light make up had been applied to Gary's face but the effect was startling. With a few light brushes of cosmetics, Gary's features were softened and feminised. He looked just like a girl. As his hair was too short, he wore a blonde wig of ringlets into which yellow bows had been tied.

Gary felt humiliated to be dressed in such a way. His legs were bare and hairless (his bath, Mum had told him, had contained a strong depilatory. He would not be growing any more hair for some weeks) and he was conscious always of the swaying of his skirts and petticoats and that his frilled underwear was often peeping out.

He was a twelve year old boy, but he looked just like one of his sisters!

Mum had gone shopping to the town's most expensive department store and she had bought him the outfit he now wore. He had had no idea that there were little girls around as tall as him but his Mum had said that the store's girlswear section had dresses and underwear in men's sizes.

"Doesn't he look adorable?" said Melanie, in rapt awe

"Doesn't SHE look adorable?" her mother corrected her "This is your sister, after all. She's to be as much a girl as the rest of us!"

"But only for a day!" Gary was quick to remind her.

Mum smiled, but said nothing.

"You look very pretty....sister!" said Melissa.

"We can't be going around referring to her as 'sister'. She needs a proper name! What do you think, girls?"

"I like Maisie! Maisie is a good name!" exclaimed Melissa.

"No!" Melanie objected "That's a rubbish name! Sophie is a much better name".

"No, it isn't!"

"Is, too!"

"Isn't!"

"Girls, girls, stop! If you can't agree on your new sister's name, I will choose one!" Mum thought for a moment "I know. Grace. That's the perfect name!"

The two Mels thought so too "Mum, you are so clever!" they chorused.

"Hang on" said Gary " Don't I get any say in this?"

"No!" came a chorus of female voices.

The two Mels each took one of their new sister's hand "Come along, Gracie, and play with us!"

Gary spent the next two hours feeding his sisters' baby doll with a bottle, feeling highly embarressed. His sisters assumed the role as his supervisors, teaching him the finer points of feeding "baby", changing her nappy, dressing her and cuddling her.

Gary was enjoying the sensations of his new clothes. The feel of satins and silks on his body and most especially his underwear, the feel of a skirt swaying against his legs and the sight of lace and frills every time he chanced to look at himself. The wearing of such clothes was a delight!

But having a girl's name, being referred to by feminine pronouns and doing girlish things? It was too much! A day would be the most that he could endure of this!

In the afternoon, Gary donned an apron and helped his sisters bake cookies. He found it a strange experience. All this domesticity, typical of a girlish upbringing. They had a competition to see how could bake the best cookies. Mum judged the final produce and proclaimed Grace was the winner. The girls kissed and congratulated him.

In the evening, all of the little girls sat together on the sofa, dressed in pink satin PJ's and watched "Dancing Princess". This was a movie for girls of the two Mels' age, but Grace was trapped between his sisters' warm bodies and had to endure it.

"Time for bed, girls!" Mum suddenly announced. Grace looked at the clock "But...it's only seven o'clock!"

"Yep. Good spot, Gracie. And that's the time when all little girls like you should be tucked up in bed".

Grace was about to retort that he was no little girl. But he remembered his promise. He consoled himself that he could put off his girl things tomorrow with a clear conscience and become Gary again.

Gary woke the next morning to find Mum sitting on his bed, beaming at him.

Gary decided to come straight to the point "Mum. I don't want to be a girl. I want my normal clothes back"

He had expected disappointment. Even rage. Instead, Mum laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"You, you silly goose! You won't find any boys' clothes in this house! I've locked them away!"

"What!!! But you said....."

"I know what I said. But what I intended. All along. Was that you would become my little girl! Get used to your frocks and frillies, because that's what you'll be wearing from now on!"

"Mum, please! I'm a twelve year old boy! I can't go around in a frock and frilly knicker things!"

"No, you just need to adjust your perception of yourself. You are a seven year old girl now! And you will love wearing pretty clothes and underwear and playing with dolls and just being a girl!"

Grace was aghast. He begged and pleaded pathetically with his mother to change her mind, but without access to his male clothes, she had the power.

Mum took Grace on a shopping trip to the department store and Grace was made to carry her dolly. Grace refused to leave the car. She was to ashamed to be seen in public dressed as she was. Mum firmly dragged her out and forced her to expose herself to the public as an oversized little girl.

Grace went beet red and tried to pull her dress down to hide her knickers.

Grace cried and threw a tantrum and refused to budge. Mum was furious.

"You naughty little girl! You're behaving like a big baby! I know, If you continue to act like a baby, I'll buy you a nappy, and a pink romper suit and treat you like one. You'll be spoon fed and will have to poop in your nappy! How do you like the idea of that?"

Grace became silent, got to her feet and took her mother's hand.

"That's a good girl!"

At the department store, Mum bought up the girlswears' department's most exquisite creations. Grace looked forlornly at the boyswear section.

A sullen Grace returned home and watched as her new dresses and underwear were unloaded and installed in her sisters' wardrobe. She cried as she contemplated having to wear her new clothes.

Mum announced that her daughters would henceforth sleep together in the room used by the two Mels up to that point. Grace found herself in a perfumed, silken, ultra feminine bedroom, living as a girl, amongst girls.

The three "girls" did everything together. Ballet, cheerleading, baton twirling, playing house, with make up. Grace made a very sweet ballerina and found that she was quite good at dancing. The three elegant ballerinas danced together for their mother's pleasure.

Inevitably, Grace not only became used to her new clothes and her new existence, she became as feminine and girlish as her sisters. In some ways, much to their amusement, more so. Grace was hopelessly addicted to feminine frills and fripperies and loved the feel of rich materials against her body.

Grace especially liked her ring, which she had recovered from its hiding place and wore openly. It glowed faintly. In an earlier existence, Gary had dismissed this as a fantasy, but the little girl Grace recognised the ring as a source of power.

Gary had made a wish that he should be allowed to wear girls' clothing whilst wearing the ring and it had happened the very next day. Grace could have easily wished to undo her earlier wish and return to boyhood. But, by now, she had become as much a girl as her sisters and they totally accepted her as a beloved sister. She could never give that up.

But her sisters were growing up and wising up. They were cleverer and more accomplished than Grace. They quickly put off their petticoats and frillies, which Grace was anxious to cling on to, and adopted more masculine attire. The once ultra feminine girls had become more masculine than the sister who had once been their brother and who was now the most feminine of the three sisters.

Their mother was amused to see Melissa and Melanie dressed in jeans and shirts, working on fixing a motorbike, whilst her once son remained in frocks, at her embroidery.

Mum had Grace's ring in her pocket. Grace so trusted her now that she had asked her to look after it for her. She knew its power. It granted wishes. She sensed that the original owner had made a wish many years ago, but had lost the ring. Grace had been granted her wish. She sensed that there was one wish left. Best to make a big one, best not to waste it....Mum took a deep breath and made her wish.........

Grace was watching TV, whilst painting her nails. She now kept house for her sisters, who both had high-flying careers. It worked well for them and Grace was happy. Grace was a good homemaker. Remember that cookie contest she had beaten her sisters at all those years ago?

Grace was watching a daytime TV show entitled "What has happened to our boys??????"

The presenter, Kayleigh McKeith, delivered her introduction "Boys. Once the future of masculinity. Interested only in chasing girls, football and other rugged manly pursuits. But suddenly, ten years ago, the testosterene just seemed to drain out of our boys! They became positively addicted to all things feminine! Boys who were once jocks and nerds traded their trousers in for frocks and mary janes! Their sisters were more than pleased to hand over their clothes and the traditions bound up in thousands of years of femininity to their brothers and assume the more masculine role. Traditional gender roles and dress were completely switched in less than a single generation. Scientists remain baffled by this sudden and inexplicable development".

"I'd like to introduce you to Kylie (who used to be called Kyle!) who originally wanted to become a professional wrestler but who now openly wears dresses and make up and wants to become a beautician....."

From the shadows, Mum smiled and patted the ring in her pocket.