Any resemblance of characters or situations to actual people or events is purely coincidental. I would like to thank Janet Stickney for letting Jeff Grant make an appearance in the story. Thanks Janet!

 

First Place Bride                      By Lisa Elizabeth in conjunction with Donna Anne

 

This was it! I was the ‘big gun’ this year. I was going into third grade! Our schools are divided so that all kindergarten through third grade go to one school, then fourth through sixth another. Then Jr. high and high school. This was my year to be the big guy on campus! My name is Donald Allan Jones Jr. Everyone calls me Donnie. I hated being called ‘Jr.’, it reminded me of the guy on ‘Hee Haw’ that sold used cars. I prefer Donnie.

This was my last chance to win the school Halloween costume contest. We all started planning and talking about it on the first day of school. I took second place last year with this great costume of a ‘Star Wars’ Ewok. First place was given to Emily Christensen for her portrayal of Glenda the Good Witch. She even had her little brother and sister dress as munchkins! So much for last year, this year ‘I’ was going to win no matter what!

I spent the first two weeks of school trying to come up with something that would be so-o-o good that I couldn’t lose. We talked about ‘Star Wars’, ‘Thundercats’, G.I.Joe and Zombies. Nothing sounded good enough to me. I was sitting at the kitchen table with my friend, Jeff Grant, one day after school trying to come up with ideas for a costume. We had all kinds of ideas but couldn’t come up with a really good one. Jeff suggested I think of a really good ‘girl’ costume. I thought he was crazy! I’m a guy after all, I wouldn’t dress as a princess or something! He was sure that his ideas would place in the contest. Just before dinner he left for home sure that a ‘girl’ costume was right for him.

"Don’t rule out being a girl for Halloween, Donnie. I think I could make you a very pretty girl if I say so myself." Mom had been listening to Jeff and I talk at the table while she made dinner.

"I don’t think so mom. Maybe if I can’t think of anything else we’ll talk about it. Okay?" I thought that would be the end of the discussion.

"I’m just saying, if you don’t have a good idea I’d like to help." Mom was smiling as she said it. "Now go put your things away and help me set the table, dinner is almost ready and dad will be home soon."

The next two weeks went by and still no really great idea for a Halloween costume. I finally sat down at the kitchen table and called mom in to talk. "I give up mom, I have tried every idea I can think of and none of them are right. What idea did you have for me?"

"Hm-m-m. We could do ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ or ‘Cinderella’? Any ideas from you?"

"How about ‘Wonder Woman, or ‘The Bionic Woman’." At least they were action heroines.

Mom thought a minute and said, "I think something that covers more and we don’t really want you running around in the skimpy outfit of Wonder Woman in the rain. I have an idea, let me call your aunt Betty."

I had no idea what mom needed to talk to Aunt Betty about. But she was on the phone in two seconds.

"Hi Betty, this is Lois. . . Fine, fine.. tell you why I called. Remember last May when Joanne was that miniature bride for Ellen and Ken’s wedding. I know. . . she and Donnie were so cute as the miniature Bride and Groom. Do you still have the dress?. . . Oh great!. . . You have the whole outfit?. . . That’s super! Let me take some measurements and I’ll call you back. Bye."

"What was that all about mom?" I wasn’t sure, but I did have an idea of what she was thinking.

"Okay. You want my help, go to your room and strip to your underpants. I’ll get the tape measure and paper and pencil and we are going to measure you!" Mom was already gathering things so I went to my room and stripped down to just my under wear. Sometimes it’s better to go along with mom when she gets this way.

She took a lot of measurements and wrote them on the paper. Things like my waist and chest and arms I was used to. She also measured the distance from my waist to the floor and from my shoulders to my waist. "Why all the extra measuring, Mom?"

"A girl has to be concerned with where things are on her body. If your dress is too long you trip over it and if the skirt starts too high it doesn’t look right when you have it on. Since I think you’ll make a pretty girl for Halloween, we have to measure you like we would a girl." She stated, like I knew what she was talking about.

"Okay mom. Are you thinking of the dress Joanne wore?

"Yes. I think you would make a perfect bride! Since Joanne is about the same size as you I needed the measurements to see if the dress would fit. Now let’s go convert these to your ‘girl’ sizes and then we’ll call Aunt Betty and see what size the dress is." We went downstairs and mom got out the ‘Sears’ catalog and went to the little girls measurement page. She looked on all the charts and wrote some more numbers down on the paper. "Okay, let’s call Aunt Betty and see if the outfit will fit!"

Mom made the second call and talked with Aunt Betty for awhile. When she hung up she was all smiles. "I just knew this would work. You are the same size as Joanne so the whole outfit will work out just fine. We can pick up the clothes Sunday when we all meet at Grandma and Grandpa’s for dinner. I’ll have to buy a couple of things but this costume is going to be great, Donnie!" Mom was really excited about this, I was still not so sure.

I figured that was the end of things until Sunday. Of course, I was wrong! Mom told me that after dinner we were going shopping for some of the things we needed to complete the costume. Dad came home about then so we sat to have dinner and mom told dad about her idea for the Halloween costume.

"This sounds like you could take first place this year Donnie! I need some things from the mall so I’ll tag along with you two." Dad seemed to like the idea so I figured it might just work out okay.

"You don’t mind that I’m dressing as a girl?" I was asking for dad’s approval more than anything.

"Donnie, Halloween is supposed to be a fun time and costumes are a part of it. I even dressed as a girl a couple of times for Halloween. So to answer your question, no, I don’t have a problem with you dressing as a girl for Halloween." Dad smiled after he said this. "My mom told me I was ‘cute’ too!"

Great! It looked like I was going to be a bride for Halloween. Although, thinking about it, if I won the first place trophy, it would all be worth it! We all went out to the car and dad drove us to the mall. As we were going in mom told me I was going with her and that we would meet dad at the food court for ice cream in thirty minutes or so.

Our first stop was J. C. Penny’s. Mom walked us right into the girls underwear department! I think I was pretty much bright red when she pulled out the paper with the measurements and asked me what type of panty would go best with ‘Donna Anne’s’ dress.

"Um..well..I didn’t think.. I don’t know?". I sputtered like a motorboat.

"Let’s do it this way. We’ll get a package of white for test fitting, then I’ll bring Donna Anne in to chose the special panties for her ‘big day’". Mom handed me a package of white cotton panties and then led me over to something called a ‘camisole’. She looked at her paper and checked the sizes, then handed me three of them. One in white, one pink and one blue. We then went over to the tights. I’m not sure what she was thinking but she put three pairs of tights in my arms too! Two white and one black. I was going to ask if she thought we had enough yet when mom gasped and dragged me over to the ‘fancy’ area. She picked up a pair of white pantyhose, in little girl size, with a delicate flower pattern woven into the legs just above the ankle area according to the picture. "These will be perfect for that dress!" Mom was beaming like she had just won the lottery or something.

We finally went to the checkout counter and I placed everything on the counter and mom paid for it. I carried the bag for her and we went to find dad. We found him at the food court waiting for us. "Only 36 minutes! That’s the closest you’ve ever been to being on time dear! Maybe Donnie should go shopping with you more often." Dad was only teasing but mom put on a big pout anyway.

"Just for that YOU get to pay for the ice cream!" Mom was smiling when she told this to dad.

After the ice cream we went home and mom told me to take everything into the guest bedroom. This room also doubled as her sewing room. I set the packages on the bed and was just leaving when mom stopped me. "Let’s make sure this all fits. If it doesn’t I can return it tomorrow."

"Okay mom." What else could I say?

"I’ve left a pair of panties on the bed and a camisole and a pair of tights. I’ll step out so you can change into the panty and the camisole. They go on just like any other pants and shirt. Call me before you put on the tights. I’ll show you how to do it so you don’t ruin them." Mom walked out and closed the door behind her.

I looked at the items on the bed and thought ‘What am I getting into here?’ But after considering my options I knew I had to do this if I was going to win the contest! So I stripped off my clothes and slid the panties on. ‘Not bad! Kinda like my briefs only no fly!’ Then I looked at the camisole, it was silky feeling and different from the cotton panties. I slid it over my head like a T-shirt and it felt slick and cool as it covered my chest. ‘I kind of like this!’ I thought as I slid my hands over the silky fabric.

"Donnie! Are you decent yet?" Mom called. It shook me from admiring the fabric.

"Just finished mom, come on in."

"What took you so long.? It shouldn’t take that long to change." Mom looked at me and smiled.

"Nothin’, I just had to figure out the front and back. Mom? Are all girls’ clothes this soft?" I asked while rubbing my hands over the camisole. I stopped rubbing because mom was smiling at me and I felt embarrassed about how silky the top felt.

"Sit here on the bed and I’ll teach you how to put on the tights." Mom patted the bed next to her so I did. She picked up the tights and kinda’ scrunched them up so the leg part was all shrunk but about three or four inches of tight material stuck out from her fingers. "You put your toe in so that the seam lines up with your toes like this." She took off her shoe and showed me the toes of her stocking. " Now you try it!"

I did, and really had to pull my leg up so I could reach past my toes to do it.

"Great, now slide the material up your leg to above your knee... Good! Okay scrunch up the other leg and put it on... you’re doing very well for your first time!" Mom smiled lovingly at me.

I got both legs on and then mom said to stand up and work each leg up until I could pull the top around my waist. I finished that and smiled at mom. The tights felt wonderful when they were sliding up my legs. And the way they felt tight on my legs reminded me they were there all the time. I think I was starting to like the idea of dressing as a girl for Halloween!

"Donnie, please walk over to the closet and back so I can see that everything moves on you the right way." mom asked, so I walked across the room and back feeling the tights slide across each other with every step. It felt neat!

" This is great! Everything seems to fit just fine. Now you can change back into your own clothes and we’ll put these away for now." Mom got up and left the room so I could change.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement! I was having some strange feelings and just starting to like the idea of dressing as a girl when mom called a halt to the fun. I was pretty sad as I removed the clothes and placed them in the drawer with the other items we had bought.

That evening I thought a lot about the feel of the material as I watched TV. My dreams all night long were about the soft feeling of girl’s clothes and how the tights felt encasing my legs.

Life was pretty normal until Friday. "Donnie, I know you are going over to Jeff Grant’s after school. I want you home by seven. I picked up some things to help with your costume and I want to try them tonight. You also have an appointment tomorrow at my beauty salon. I told Janice about your costume and she wants to help so that you are perfect." Mom was talking quickly, which she only does when she gets excited.

"Okay mom. I think Jeff and I are going to practice some basketball and play video games, so I’ll be here at seven." Secretly I hoped she was going to dress me up again. I had thought about it a lot and decided I liked the feel of the clothes.

I walked into the house at five minutes to seven. It had been a tough one on one game. Jeff and I are about the same size but boy is he ever fast! I was glad when we stopped and had dinner! Mom told me that I was too dirty and smelly to try things on so I had to take a shower. The only shampoo and soap in there were the ones mom used. "Mom! Where’s my shampoo and soap?"

"Just use what’s there honey." Mom called back to me.

So I did and came out of the bathroom wrapped in my towel and headed for my room.

"Not your room young lady! Over here so we can see what you will look like as ‘Donna Anne’." I was a bit startled to hear mom use the name ‘Donna Anne’. Then I remembered that she used that name when we were at the mall.

"Why did you call me Donna Anne mom?" It was a question I had to ask.

"When I was pregnant with you we had picked out two names. Donald Allan for a boy and Donna Anne for a girl. We didn’t know which you would be until you were born. So since you are dressing as a girl it gives me a chance to have ‘Donna Anne’ for a little while." Mom was smiling about the name so I figured it would be okay to be Donna Anne for a little while.

Mom handed me a pair of the white panties and turned around while I pulled them on under the towel. "Okay mom you can turn back now." She turned to the dresser and took out the black pair of tights from the drawer. I put them on the way she had shown me. They felt so neat sliding up my legs! Then she handed me the pink camisole. I put it on and again I tingled as the fabric slid over my body.

Mom walked over to the closet and opened the door. I was shocked! There were five or six hangers in there with girls’ clothes on them! She took out a pink blouse and a charcoal gray jumper. "Let’s try these on you for size, Donna."

"Why? I thought I would only be wearing the dress for the contest?" I was scared and confused. I really thought the outfit was cute. I just didn’t know how mom would react if I jumped at the chance to dress all the way as ‘Donna Anne’.

"Well I thought that you could use a little practice as Donna Anne. You know how to be a boy, but you don’t know how to be a girl. A little practice will assure you of winning first place! Not only that but Janice needs you in something feminine tomorrow so she can get a feel for the right way to fix you up." Mom looked a little nervous and upset.

I said, "Okay mom, if you think it will be alright and I’ll win the contest I’ll do it." So on went the blouse. I had some trouble with the buttons since they were backwards from my shirts. Then mom helped me get the jumper on over my head and pulled down. She handed me something she called a half slip and said to just step into it and pull it up to my waist. I finished getting dressed and mom reached into the closet and pulled out a pair of black ‘Mary Jane’s’. I sat on the bed and put them on and buckled the buckles.

"Now Donna, sit on the stool and let’s do something with your hair." Mom picked up a brush and her curling iron and went to work. It took her a little while to decide how she was going to do things, then she started around the bottom of my hair and finished by curling my bangs under a little. "There! That looks pretty good. Now you can go look in the full length mirror in my room."

I got up and walked out of the room and into mom and dad’s room. Mom was behind me. When I looked in the mirror on the closet door I was surprised. I looked like the girls in my class! If Emily, Jane, Joan and Linda were here we would all look the same. "Mom. I look just like the other girls in my class!"

Mom had a big smile. "I knew you would look perfect Donna. Let’s go down stairs and show your father. Now take smaller steps and walk a little bit slower. After all you have on a skirt and don’t want it to flip up when you walk. Hold the railing when going up or down the stairs dear. You did that very well."

I was nervous about showing dad, but I figured I would have to appear as a girl eventually. I tried to remember everything mom had told me as I walked into the family room. "Hi daddy! What do you think of my new outfit?" I said it as sweetly as I could manage and twirled in front of my dad to show off my jumper and blouse for him. To say he was surprised would be an understatement! More like shock!

"Wha.. Who.. Oh.. Donnie?"

"No daddy, mommy says my name should be ‘Donna Anne’ when I’m dressed like this! So do you think I can win the Halloween contest? Do I make a convincing enough girl?" I asked as innocently as I could.

"You look very convincing sweetheart. Very convincing. Lois, what is going on?" Dad looked at mom. He was confused.

"I wanted to see just what I had to work with for turning Donnie into a bride named Donna. I really think this will work out fine, don’t you?" Mom asked. "We are going to the salon tomorrow morning so that Janice can help figure out what to do with hair and makeup. It will be a short visit but I thought if ‘Donna Anne’ went it would be easier to see how things will look."

I had a scared look on my face as I realized what mom had just said. "Mom, I-I-I’m going to go, go ,go out dressed like this?"

"Of course dear. As a matter of fact you will wear exactly what you have on now!" Mom had the biggest smile on I had ever seen.

"Are you sure? What if I’m recognized? What if everyone laughs at me? What if. . ."

"Slow down Donnie... er... I mean Donna." Dad was doing a good sputtering motorboat impression. "Lois are you sure no one will know? I understand his concerns."

"We just tell them it’s a dry run for Halloween! That’s not a lie. You just aren’t in the outfit that you will wear for Halloween." mom stated.

"Are you sure Mom?" I was about to cry, I was so scared. But I was excited too. A chance to go out as a girl! I was looking at the tops of my shoes when my dad put his arm around me and hugged me.

"You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to." Dad had his arm around my shoulders rubbing them gently.

"Dad, if it will help me to win the trophy this year I can do this. Okay mom let’s start learning how to be ‘Donna Anne’." I had settled down when I heard the concern in my fathers voice. It was then that I knew I could BE ‘Donna Anne’.

Since it was already eight thirty mom said it would be a short set of lessons and then to bed for my beauty sleep. We spent about an hour practicing walking, going up and down stairs, sitting properly and standing properly. I didn’t realize you had to be so careful in a dress. Otherwise everybody would be able to see my panties!

"Time for bed Donna. Lets go up and we’ll let you be Donna Anne until we get back tomorrow, Okay?"

"Okay mom. Goodnight daddy! Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite!" I gave my dad a hug around his neck and a kiss on the cheek. He looked surprised, I hadn’t kissed my father in two or three years. "Can’t a daughter kiss her daddy? I asked.

"Sure honey, I, I was just shocked, that’s all. Good night Donna Anne." Dad smiled as he said it.

I followed mom up the stairs and into the guest room. She reached into the dresser and took out a plain white night gown and a pair of white panties. "I’ll leave so you can change dear. Make sure you hang up your blouse and jumper and place your underthings on the vanity stool so you can dress in the morning. Call me when you’re ready so I can tuck you in."

"Okay mom." I started to change and stopped to look in the mirror of the vanity. I really liked the way I looked in these clothes. After admiring myself for a few minutes I hung up the outfit and laid the underwear on the vanity. When I picked up the nightie it felt soft and silky like the camisole. I noticed the panties were made of the same material. I put on the panties and they felt so good! Better than the cotton ones. Then I took the nightgown and slid it over my head and let it float down over my body. It too felt cool and light and silky. I was smiling when I called mom in to tuck me in. I just couldn’t seem to wipe that smile off my face. I looked up at mom and she was smiling too.

"Good night Donna Anne. We have a lot to do tomorrow so we will be up early. Sleep tight dear." Mom kissed my forehead and turned off the light. I laid there for awhile wondering if all the girls in my class felt this good when they went to bed.

I woke up to the alarm clock and found a ‘Raggedy Ann’ doll snuggled into bed with me. I know I didn’t go to sleep with it, but it was there this morning. I got up and placed the doll on the vanity, then went into the bathroom and took a shower, brushed my teeth and tried to brush my hair the way my mother had last night. I just couldn’t seem to get it right! I went back into the guest room and got dressed in the black tights, pink blouse and charcoal gray jumper outfit that I had worn last night. Then downstairs for breakfast.

Mom was just pouring herself a glass of juice as I walked into the kitchen. "Good morning Donna. Did you sleep well? Would you like some juice with breakfast?"

"Morning mom. I slept fine. Yes I’d like some juice please. I think I’ll just have a bowl of cereal. Oh! Mom? Could you help me fix my hair after we eat? I can’t seem to get it as nice as you did last night." I asked as sweetly as I could manage this early in the morning.

"Your hair looks fine dear. We’re just going to mess it up and do things to it at the salon. I’ll just slip in a headband and it will be fine for the trip to the salon." Mom was trying to be reassuring. "Now we have to hurry, so finish up and rinse your bowl."

I finished eating and soon we were on our way out the door. I had a death grip on my mother’s hand since this was my first time out of the house as Donna Anne. I hopped into the car and mom made me get back out and get back in like ‘a young lady should’. Second time I did it right so mom started the car and we were on our way. I was looking straight ahead and not looking around like I usually did. My hands were tightly clasped in my lap.

"Take a deep breath Donna. Blow it out slowly and tell me why you’re so scared." Mom was being very reassuring this morning.

"Well, mom, I’m afraid someone will see me and laugh at me as a ‘boy in a dress’! I don’t know if I could go to school Monday if that happened."

"I told them at the salon that you were dressing as a girl for Halloween and they suggested you come in as Donna Anne. There won’t be any laughing, just a couple of ladies trying to make you the most beautiful bride ever! Actually, I think you are really going to like all the pampering they are going to do!" Mom was almost giddy as she told me this.

Soon we arrived and mom parked the car. She reminded me how a young lady exits a car and after trying it three times she was satisfied and we went in for the appointment. I had been in here before, Janice always cuts my hair. So I was used to the sights and smells of the salon. They just seemed so much brighter and stronger today!

"Hi Lois! This must be Donna Anne! Hello dear." Janice had a big smile as she greeted us. "Let’s go back here and see what we can do for you." We followed her back to the wash sinks and she had me sit. "First we are going to wash and condition your hair so lean back and enjoy! Lois, I picked some styles from that hairdo book. See what you think and when I’m done we’ll get Donna’s opinion."

I leaned back and tried to relax. As soon as Janice started running the warm water through my hair I actually did relax. She used a fruit scented shampoo and massaged it into my scalp, I liked this, Janice had never washed my hair before. I think by the time she rinsed my hair after the second washing I was purring! She squeezed out the extra water and had me sit up as she wrapped a towel around my head. She told me it was to keep the water from dripping on my pretty blouse.

Mom and Janice had been talking about the styles in the book while I was lost in having my hair washed. Now Janice led me over to her chair and she and mom laid the book in my lap. So many styles! All of them were gorgeous! I didn’t think I could ever look that good. "How do I pick one?" I asked.

"Well I looked at the book and tried to pick styles that would go with the shape of your face. Since I know you and cut your hair anyway it was easier to narrow down the choices." Janice explained.

"But, all the ones you marked look like they have hair a lot longer than mine! There’s no way you could do some of these on me without a wig or something." I had been looking through the book and every style marked was in the ‘Long Hair’ section.

"Don’t worry Donna, after we decide on a style and color, Janice will work her magic and you’ll be beautiful! Now let’s try these three and see how you look!" Mom was excited and took charge like always.

"Let’s see... hm.m.m.. Okay, I’ll be right back!" Janice went into the back of the shop and came back carrying a box. When she opened it there was a pile of hair in it that looked like a mop head. Janice reached in and picked it up, she shook it out and then held it behind my head. "This is the right length. A little change in color and it’s perfect! Donna Anne, this is called a fall. What we will do is trim your hair a little, just to even it out, Then we’ll treat your hair so the color matches the hair piece. I think it will mostly just even out the color in your hair since a lot of your baby blonde has disappeared already. And since it’s for Halloween, coloring your hair will be okay, even for you."

"When Janice gets done with you it will be so perfect that you may not want to be your old self anymore." Mom was smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"Okay Janice, do whatever you think I need. I really want to win this contest. "I decided that I could put up with all this if it was for the contest. Not only that, I really liked the clothes and all the fussing over me!

I no sooner said that and Janice got busy. She checked my hair, then the picture and set to work trimming the ‘split ends’ off. After she was done, she put some stuff on my hair and told me I had to wait for the dye to work. She took me to another chair and had me sit very still while she marked my ears with a pencil. ‘CLICK!’ "Ow", ‘CLICK’ "Ow". I was facing the mirror and saw that she had just pierced BOTH of my ears! "Janice, why did you do that! How can I go to school like this? No other boy has pierced ears in my school!"

"Donna, you want to win, right? Well, brides have pierced ears. All you have to do is wear the tiny studs during the day and your hair will cover them. After the contest, just take them out and the holes will heal in about a month. For now you will have to turn them every day and have your mom help you clean them every night to prevent infection." Janet was very good at giving these instructions.

"O-okay, I guess. You’re sure they won’t show? You know Janice, they do look nice with my blouse and jumper." I was thinking how cute my ears were now that they had earrings in them.

A timer rang and Janice moved me over to a sink. She poured something on my hair and then rinsed it. After that we moved back to her work station and she started blow drying it. When she was happy with the way it looked she took the fall and reached in under some of my hair and attached it with a built in clip. Then she brushed it all out and turned me toward the mirror. "Viola! This is where we start from! You now have enough hair and in the right color to play with."

I looked in the mirror and was shocked! My hair was now a slightly darker color, actually it was just all one color, a sort of ‘sandy brown’ is what Janice called it. The length went down to the top of my jumper in the front and to between my shoulder blades in the back. It made me look like a totally different person! For the first time, I was Donna Anne Jones. I must have been staring at myself for a long time because Janice shook my shoulder gently and said, "Enough admiring, we have work to do! You can look in the mirror later."

Janice turned me back around and called my mother over to see what we could work with. "Oh my goodness! Donna Anne! You...you look...wonderful. The daughter we never had is sitting right here!" Mom was gushing and waving her arms all over the place.

"Now Lois, we have to get started or we’ll never get a style decided on. I have some veil tiaras in the back. We bought four or five so that we could set up hair for the style that each bride was using. Let me get them so that you can see which one closely resembles the one you’re using." Janice went to the back of the shop and returned with a box. Inside were a bunch plastic headbands, most were white, one gold and two were silver.

Mom took her wallet from her purse and removed a picture to show Janice. "This is the dress and veil that we’re using. Which one do you think will work? If you think a different veil will work better, I think we could buy a new one."

"Let’s see what hair style looks best first. That’s how I do it with my brides. We get the hair right and then pick the veil that works the best!" Janice stated this as if she already had the plan. Mom and I agreed, so she set to work to style my hair the first of three styles.

She swept all of it up on top of my head and arranged it so that most of the fall hung to the back. Then she took the longer hair and wrapped it in a vertical roll so it ran up and down the back of my head. Then she secured it with bobbie pins and turned me to face the mirror.

It looked sophisticated and it made me look older too. Janice turned me back around and held up a Polaroid camera. "We’ll take a picture or two and then do the next style, that way you can take the pictures home and decide which looks the best." She took three picture, one from the front, the side and the back. Then she put the camera down and took my hair down and started on the next style.

For this one, she combed my bangs back and pinned them down. Next she pulled the hair from the sides back and pinned it all in a bunch at the middle of the back of my head and used an elastic band to hold it in place. Janice took a large curling iron and started working on the back of my hair with it. It took her about 15 minutes to get the curls the way she wanted. This one looked like a cascade of curls down my back to the top of my shoulder blades. she finished this one off with the gold tiara to cover the pins holding my bangs. This time four pictures were taken, to get all the angles, in case we wanted to duplicate it. I liked this one better than the first one.

Janice brushed out the curls and removed the elastic band. She wet my hair to help straighten it and then combed my bangs down and curled them under. She took the hair on the sides of my head and pulled them back to just above my ears. Then she teased the top and down around the sides a little to give me some extra volume. Then the curling iron was used with a small rod to give multiple long ringlets hanging down all around the top, back and sides of my head. When she finished, she showed mom a veil that would go right at the back of my bangs and would pouf up over the back of my head. I looked in the mirror and liked this style too. I looked at mom and Janice and said. "This One looks really cute mom."

They took four pictures of this style without the veil and two with the veil in place. Sadly, Janice brushed out my hair, wet it yet again and blow dried it into something more like a girl my age would wear. "There you go Donna, you’re all set for the rest of the day. This evening, just have your mom take out the fall before bed and lay it out on your vanity so it will look nice in the morning. That way you can just clip it back in and brush it out!" Janice was all smiles and so was I when I got up to leave the salon.

I asked mom what time it was and she said "Eleven thirty. We were only there two and a half hours. Actually that’s quite short for all that Janice did! Let’s go get something to eat in the food court."

We were walking along talking about all the different things we had seen at the salon. Mom noted that tomorrow was Sunday and we would pick up the dress and everything else at grandma and grandpa’s. I was getting excited about this! It was really a lot of fun to get to do all these things. My next thought was ‘Why do only girls get to have this kind of fun?’. We got to the food area and I was so excited I could hardly eat. All I ate was a hot dog and a small drink. Usually I eat a double cheeseburger, fries and a bucket of soda, but for some reason I just wasn’t hungry.

On our way back to the car mom spotted a shoe store that had white high heels in the window. "We are going to need them for the costume anyway so let’s get a pair now. It will give you a chance to get used to them before the contest!" Mom grabbed my hand and we were in the store before I could protest.

A young man came up to us to see if he could help. "What can I do for you ladies today? He smiled.

"My daughter is going to be a miniature bride in a wedding. She needs a pair of white heels for her dress. One and a half inches if you have them. I think she’s a little young to go much higher." Mom was in her normal ‘take charge’ mode.

"I’m sure we will have what you need. Miss, if you will sit over here and remove your shoes, we’ll measure your foot so we get a proper fit. Is this your first pair of heels?" He asked.

I looked at mom and she just nodded her head like I was supposed to answer the man. "Yes it is."

"No need to be afraid, the current style is a small platform shoe with a wedge heel. I understand it’s much easier to walk in than the stiletto heels your mom learned in." He was trying to be reassuring but this was different than with Janice. He really thought I was a girl!

"Mom thought if we got them now I could learn to walk comfortably in them before I need them." I was trying to sound like I knew what I was doing, somehow I didn’t think it came out that way.

"Be right back!" The young man went to the back of the store. I saw his name tag as he got up. His name was James. I sat there nervously while James was in the back getting some shoes to try on. Soon he came back with four boxes. "I brought out three styles. I brought two different sizes in the sandal because we have found that sometimes a half size smaller is needed for it. Let’s try them on."

The first pair was similar to the shoes I had on. They had a closed rounded toe and a strap across the top of my foot. When I stood up I felt a lot taller! I went for the traditional walk around the store and James was right. They weren’t very hard to walk in once you figured out that you were taller. I also found that I had to take somewhat smaller steps.

"Those look a little high." mom was concerned about my feet I guess.

"They are a half inch platform with a one and one half inch heel in a style vary similar to the ‘Mary Jane’s’ your daughter wore in here." You could tell James went into ‘sales’ mode. "They are very popular for girls in the eight to eleven age group."

"Could I try on a pair of the sandals?" I thought it would help change the topic and get us out of the store sooner.

James helped me take off the shoes and then we tried the sandal style heels. The first pair was a little large, I felt like they would fall off my feet with every step I took. So we changed them for the smaller pair and they were much more comfortable to walk in. They had a small strap across the toes and a long pair of straps that came up and wrapped around my ankle. Once buckled I knew they wouldn’t fall off. They were very delicate and made my feet look dainty.

"Mom, I like these!" I think mom was happy with my choice.

"Do you really like them? They do look very nice on you. Do you want to try on the other pair?" Mom was actually asking my opinion on this. Normally she just would say, ‘okay we’ll take them’ but this was different.

The third pair was what mom called a ‘pump’. It was okay but I really liked the sandals the best.

Mothers must have ESP, because before I even finished my walk around the store she said, "We’ll take the sandals. They looked the best and will really show off the dress and accessories the best. Don’t you agree Donna Anne?"

"YES! I really liked them the best. Thank you mommy!" I couldn’t believe that I was so excited about buying a pair of high heeled shoes, but I was.

"Let’s go home. We have some things to do since it’s Saturday." Mom was smiling as she paid for the shoes and headed out the door. I turned around and waved bye to James as we left the store.

I was very happy and felt like I was walking with a bounce in my step all the way to the car. I even remembered to get in the car as a young lady should. Mom and I chatted about our day out as mother and daughter and I looked at all the pictures Janice took of the hair styles.

All too soon we were home. Dad was out raking leaves and waved as we pulled in the driveway. I waved and hopped out of the car and ran up to him with my shoes and the pictures. "Look what we did all day daddy! I really like the last hair style and then we had lunch and then we were walking out and mom found a shoe store and then this guy, James, measured my foot and I can actually walk in heels and we bought a pair of high heeled sandals and then we came home! Hi!" I said this all in one breath. I paused long enough to get a deep breath.

"Whoa. Slow down Donna, You told me an awful lot in a short time. Let’s go in the house. You can show me all the things you did while I get a drink." Dad was gently guiding me toward the front door while he talked. Mom was humming when we came into the kitchen. We sat at the table drinking ice tea and showed dad the pictures and my shoes. I even put the shoes on and showed him that I could walk in them without falling down.

"You did quite a bit today. Got your hair done different too I see"

"It’s a hairpiece dad, I just have to have mom unclip it and I go back to my regular hair! I think it’s neat. Anyway, mom said we had things to do today so I better change and take out the fall." I got up from the table to have mom take out the fall so I could change.

"Actually Donna, I was thinking that you would not change and help around the house. After all I didn’t get much done while we were out today." Mom was stating she wanted help from Donna Anne today.

"Is that okay with you dad?"

"Your mother’s right. She could use the help. I’m almost done with the leaves and then I’m going to winterize the mower. You could help your mother today, I guess." Dad was nodding his head yes while he talked. That was always a sign that he was agreeing with mom.

Well, to make a long boring story short, I helped mom clean, cook and do the laundry. By dinner time we all had clean clothes, clean house and the table set and ready. I helped mom with the dishes after dinner too.

The rest of the evening was more ‘Donna Anne’ lessons. How to sit. How to stand. How to rise properly. Mom even got out a book and had me walk up and down the hall with it on my head! She said this was to ‘improve’ the way I walked.

Later, dad said that was enough practice and to go take a shower and come watch a little TV before bed. Mom came with and I thought she was going to take out the fall so I could shower. When we got to the guest room she took out the night gown and panties and said to change and come to the bathroom, she would show me how to shower and not damage my hair. I put on the night gown and panties and went into the bathroom. Mom took some hair clips and swept my hair on top of my head. Then she took a shower cap and covered my hair. "There, now you won’t ruin your hair in the shower, Donna. We’ll take care of getting it ready for bed when you’re done in here. Just come downstairs and get me." Mom shut the door on her way out.

After my shower I redressed and hung up the shower cap. Then went down to find mom. She was watching TV with dad, so I gave dad a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you daddy for letting me practice being Donna Anne. You know how much this contest means to me."

"Well I don’t mind you doing this. I was surprised that you look so much like a girl though. Are you sure you’re going to be okay with this? You were out shopping as a girl and at the salon as a girl, Donnie I love you, but I worry about you." Dad was holding me in his lap and talking directly to me. He doesn’t get serious with me often, but this was one of those times.

"I don’t know why but after I got over being afraid of being laughed at it was a lot of fun! What other nine year old boy gets to do all these things? I know that this has made me think of girls and the things they do differently. Since I’m doing it to win a contest, I don’t think it’s going to change me very much." I tried to sound confident, after all I didn’t want dad to think I wanted to become a girl. Even though the thought had crossed my mind recently.

"Mom, you said you’d help me get my hair ready for bed."

"Right! Let’s go up and take out the fall so you can sleep comfortably tonight." Mom followed me up to ‘Donna Anne’s ‘room and reached under my hair to release the clip and lay the fall out on the dresser. My head felt a lot lighter after the fall was removed! I did notice that I missed feeling the hair move when I turned my head. I crawled into bed and kissed mom good night. She handed me Raggedy Ann and tucked her in next to me. "My little girl." Mom whispered softly as she left the bedroom and closed the door

I had the weirdest dream that night! I dreamed that at the salon Janice attached a hairpiece that was five feet long to my head. Then when they would wet my hair between styles it would change colors. I don’t know what it meant but it was sure weird.

Morning came and mom came in to wake me. "Donnie, we have to get dressed for church and going to Grandma and Grandpa’s for dinner. After you change, tuck the nightgown and panties under the pillow like you do in your room."

So I got up and dressed and combed my hair and brushed my teeth. Then I put Raggedy Ann on the dresser and tucked the nightgown under the pillow. Church was uneventful and when we got to Grandma and Grandpa’s we were the first ones to arrive.

After greeting everyone I helped set the table and then went to watch TV with dad and grandpa until everyone else arrived.

Uncle Bob, Aunt Betty and Joanne showed up at one for dinner. I took the garment bag from Aunt Betty and asked where to hang it. Grandma said to hang it in the bed room that I used when I stayed over. Joanne followed me to make sure I hung it up correctly.

"I don’t want you to ruin my dress! I want it for my wedding, so I can have a miniature bride like Ellen and Ken did." Joanne was making sure I knew she was not happy about me borrowing the dress.

"Joanne, I only intend on wearing it for the contest. I’m not going to play in the mud or anything. I’m sure I can take care of it for that amount of time." I really was trying to put her fears to rest. "Let’s go have dinner."

Dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s is always a large affair. Today was no exception. Everyone left the table full, some a little over full. Joanne and I helped to clean up after dinner, which we always did and then mom got this big silly grin on her face.

"I brought along some of the things we need for the costume. Let’s go up and see how it fits. That way we will know what has to be done to make it fit perfectly." Mom was so excited that I just couldn’t say no.

Mom and I went back to the bedroom and she reached into a small suitcase she had brought. She handed me a pair of white panties, a white camisole, a pair of white tights and a white full slip. "I’ll step out while you change. Call when you’re done and we’ll clip in the fall and try on the dress!" Mom was going out the door as she spoke.

I took off my clothes, hanging up my shirt and pants, and once naked put on the panties, scrunched up the tights and slid them up my legs, then slipped on the camisole and the slip. Every time I did this the cool silky feeling of the camisole and the slip thrilled me, along with the neat feeling of the tights, I thought I was in heaven. "Okay mom I’m dressed."

The room door opened and in walked Mom, Grandma, Aunt Betty and Joanne. "Well we have a lot of curious people today, so let’s get started and fix your hair, Donna Anne." Mom pointed to a chair by the dresser. So with six extra pairs of eyes on me I sat in the chair while mom fussed with my hair.

"I didn’t think he’d look so convincing! It’s like looking at Joanne." Grandma was shaking her head.

"I know! I couldn’t believe how realistic he looked either." Mom replied.

Are you almost done? I want to see how the dress fits." Aunt Betty was always the impatient one at family gatherings.

"Just a little more brushing. There all set for the dress." Mom finished my hair while I looked in the mirror. She was right, Donna Anne had returned!

Joanne went to the closet and took out the dress. She was extremely careful with it. I think she was emphasizing the care for my sake. After all she did tell me to be very careful with it.

The dress was beautiful! All white, no surprise, With rows of ruffles and lace. I’m not sure my description will do justice to this wonderful creation, but I will try.

The top of the dress was open necked with a modified v-neck front. The sleeves were like a short sleeve shirt in length with a scalloped lace at the end of each sleeve. It had a narrow bodice with what mom called a ‘drop waist’ style. From there the skirt billowed out and right below where your knees would be there were four lace ruffles. It even had a small train flowing out behind it of netting and lace. The front of the bodice had three embroideries that looked like buttons. The entire dress was made of satin with netting and lace as the accents. It also had a flesh colored piece sewn in around the neck opening and looked like it would come up to my neck like a T-shirt collar or something like that.

"Oh!..Oh..It’s..It’s Beautiful! Oh, Joanne I will take such good care of your dress. Let me try it on." I was so excited I was gushing.

"Okay Donna Anne, but calm down and we’ll finish up here. Now step into the dress carefully, that’s it, now the other leg. Good. Betty, The zipper only comes to the top of the dress. What about this top piece?" Mom was trying to figure something out behind me. Me? I was staring in the mirror, lost in how pretty I looked.

"Lois, there are three small hooks for the flesh colored panel. It hooks like a bra. That panel is great. It’s made from the same material ice skaters use to make it look like they have on a skimpy outfit. You just set it in place and do up the hooks. It lets the dress look right even though the girls aren’t developed yet." Aunt Betty had come over and done up the hooks to show mom how it worked.

"Mom used a foundation on my neck so that the top part wasn’t noticeable." Joanne added.

We looked in the bag and sure enough there was a bottle of liquid foundation, matching powder compact and the veil. The veil was simple. It had a band that came around the front of your head, of lace and then a small band that over top of your head that actually had the netting and lace attached to it. It did look exactly like the dress Ellen wore.

"Houston, we have a problem!" Mom was fussing over the front of the dress. "I see the darts, but there’s nothing to fill them in, so the top doesn’t sit right." Aunt Betty came over to see.

"Oh, that’s right! We had the same problem. We ended up going out and getting a training bra and a pair of foam ‘cheaters’."

"M-O-o-O-M! Don’t tell them that!!" Joanne was blushing fire engine red while whining.

"I don’t see why not! Donna Anne is going to need the same thing!" Aunt Betty just didn’t see what the problem could be or that Joanne was too embarrassed to let others know her secret.

"Well we can take care of that later. Otherwise the dress seems to fit perfectly. It’s a good thing they are so close in size. Donna, walk around a little so we can see how the dress flows." Mom had decided we could fix whatever problem there was, so I tried to walk. I seemed to keep stepping on the front of the dress with every step I took. "We forgot the shoes!" Mom reached into the case and brought out my new heeled sandals. She had me sit and slipped them on my feet. Being two inches taller helped a lot and I didn’t step on the dress anymore. I walked around the room as mom had taught me. I had to take shorter steps both because of the heels and the length of the dress. After all, I didn’t want to step on the dress.

"You look wonderful. The way you look, you should have been born a girl." Grandma was smiling as she said this.

"I have to admit, you look much better than I expected. Donna Anne, right?" Joanne was questioning the name mom had used.

"Mom said that would have been my name if I were born a girl. So she thought it would be an appropriate name for the contest." I made it seem like it was all mom’s idea.

"Let’s go show the men what our little bride looks like!" Mom grabbed my hand and led me out the door to the living room where Dad, Grandpa and Uncle Bob were talking about pro-wrestling. "Viola! The blushing bride! Miss Donna Anne Jones!" Mom made the introduction and used a hand flourish to point to me. That was my cue to enter the room. I made a slow circle around the middle of the room and then stood by Joanne and folded my hands in front of me like she had hers.

"If you don’t win the contest, those judges are blind! You make a perfect bride." Grandpa was smiling a big smile.

"I agree. You look a lot like Joanne. "Uncle Bob was surprised I guess.

"I too think you look like a bride." Dad always said the right things.

"Enough of the show. We need to go back upstairs and get Donna Anne changed. Don’t want to dirty the dress if we don’t have to." Mom was headed back to the bedroom. Once we were there mom looked at me and said, "Donna, I brought along another outfit for you as ‘Donna Anne’. I thought you might need something else for the costume and that we could go shopping. Now it’s your choice. We can go now or you can dress as ‘Donna Anne’ during the week. so we can go shopping."

What a decision to make! Do I stay as ‘Donna Anne’ now or do I become ‘Donna Anne’ later! I told mom that as long as I was mostly dressed we should do the shopping now. She went back to her case and pulled out a blue girls tee shirt with a ‘peter pan’ style collar and cap sleeves. Then went back to the bag and pulled out a short denim skirt with a short half slip.

"I’ll help you out of the dress and full slip. Then you can get dressed. I only brought your heels so you’ll have to wear them. It should be good practice for you though." Mom was chatting along while helping undo the clips and the zipper on the back of the dress. I stepped out of it carefully and while mom hung it up I took off the long full slip and hung it on a hanger. After helping get everything back into the clothing bag I slipped on the tee shirt. Mom said the skirt went on first and then the slip was slid on under it. What did I know? I was still pretty new at this ‘girl’ stuff. When that was done, mom showed me how to lift my skirt to make sure my tee shirt was tucked in all the way around. Then how to use the mirror to make sure my slip didn’t show. When we were all done mom pronounced me ready and out the door we went.

"Anyone want to go shopping with us?" Mom asked.

"I’ll go!" Joanne was up in a second. Grandma said she was tired and wanted to stay home. Aunt Betty decided to come with and ‘window shop’ a little.

Mom told dad we would be back in a little while. Dad handed mom the car keys and told her to be back soon. Then he saw me.

"Why is Donnie still dressed as ‘Donna Anne’?"

"She needs to try on some delicates and it will be a lot easier if she is dressed as a girl."

"Honey, are you sure about all this? I’m concerned about the permanent effects of dressing up and being out as a girl on Donnie." Dad was wrinkling his brow when he said this, so I knew he was serious. "I just don’t know how things will be after Halloween is all."

"It will be fine dad. Honest. Right now it’s a lot of fun and for a good reason. I’ll be fine after it’s all over. "I was trying my best to ease dad’s concerns. I knew deep inside though that Halloween would not be the last time I dressed as a girl.

"Let’s go girls!" Mom was ready to go. She handed me a small purse. The four of us ‘girls’ headed out the door. Joanne and I sat in back while mom and Aunt Betty chatted in the front seat.

"You’re doing all this just to win a contest?" Joanne asked.

"Yes! I only took second place last year and this is my last chance to win. I told mom I would do anything to win. I even had my ears pierced, see!" I moved my hair from over my ears to show Joanne the tiny gold studs.

"You sure are putting a lot of effort into this. What about after the contest? You seem to have some clothes that aren’t exactly for a boy! " Joanne was pointing at my outfit.

"I don’t know. (whispering) I think mom wants me to be her daughter sometimes. I don’t know what will happen after Halloween. Don’t tell anyone, okay?" I made Joanne ‘pinkie swear’ not to tell anyone.

We talked about Joanne’s costume for her school party. She was going as ‘Malibu Barbie’. She had a wig and all the clothes already at home. They had bought her a bra and stuffing so she could have the right shape for Barbie. We laughed a little at this and by then we were at a small strip mall.

Mom parked in front of a store called ‘Helen’s Intimates’. "Let’s go in and see what we can do to make the top of the dress fit better." Mom said as she was getting out of the car.

All four of us went into the store. We were greeted by a nice looking lady about mom’s age. "I’m Barbara, how may I help you today?"

"My daughter is to be a miniature bride in a wedding. The dress is beautiful but I’m afraid she hasn’t started to develop yet. The dress is designed for someone that has a little something up top. Can you help us?" Mom asked.

"(giggle) Of course I can. We get these requests on a regular basis. I understand completely. If you will follow me back here to a changing area. Which young lady is it?" Barbara queried.

"It’s Donna Anne, she is the one that needs the help." I think I blushed bright red.

"Don’t be embarrassed Donna, a lot of young girls need a little ‘help’ until they mature. Why don’t you step into the changing booth and take off your top. I’ll get something to measure you properly and then we’ll get you fitted for a bra and pads." Barbara was leading the way to the changing are as she talked.

A BRA! ! ! What was I getting into! I didn’t think that I would need one of those! I looked at mom but she just nodded her head like I was supposed to just follow along and do as Barbara asked. I was definitely nervous about this.

In the changing room I took off my top and waited for Barbara. About a minute later Barbara came in with a tape measure. "I need you to take off the camisole too. Don’t be embarrassed, I do this all the time." Barbara tried to be reassuring.

I slipped off the camisole and Barbara measured me. "Be right back!" She left and I stood there not knowing what to do now. Soon she came back carrying two boxes. "Let’s try this on first. This is your first bra isn’t it? It’s important that it fits comfortably. Not too tight, not too loose." She took this small bra out of a box and had me slip my arms through the straps. Then she hooked it together in the back and adjusted the straps that went over my shoulders. She opened the other box and took out two small foam pads. "These will give you an ‘A’ cup. I think that will be just right for your body size." She slipped the pads into the bra. "Put your top back on and we’ll go show your mother." With that comment she grabbed the two boxes and left.

I put my top back on and went out to show mom. Trying on pants and shirts and having to go show mom is one thing. Having to show your mom your first bra, well let’s just say it’s an experience that I never thought I would have.

"Oh my! It makes you look older, Donna. I think the size will be just right though for the dress." Mom was actually beaming as she talked.

"I think you’re right Lois, That’s an ‘A’ right? Good, I think that’s what the dress maker said would work for the dress." Aunt Betty was agreeing with mom. I guess that meant I got to wear a bra for Halloween.

"If you ladies like, she could wear it home. I have the boxes here. Donna, just go back and put on your camisole over the bra and then put your shirt back on." Barbara was telling me I could wear the bra home.

"Mom, I’m a little uncomfortable do I have to wear this home?" I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. The bra really wasn’t that uncomfortable, just different, having something sticking out of your chest.

"I think you look just fine Donna. Go put your camisole back on and leave the bra on, you’ll get used to it in no time." Mom’s tone told me not to argue, so I went back and put the camisole back on.

Mom was paying for the items as I came back out of the dressing room. She had a smile for me when I returned and we all headed out the door.

"Donna? Don’t worry, I went through this for the wedding, remember?" Joanne was trying to calm me down.

(whisper) "But you’re a girl!"

"You look enough like a girl to fool anyone I know!" Joanne stated. "I wouldn’t be surprised if you became my girl cousin instead of my boy cousin."

"Nah! I’ll always be Donnie." I tried to sound sure but in the back of my mind I was thinking she might be right!

We made it back to Grandma and Grandpa’s and went in. The only person to notice anything was grandma. "My, you look all grown up, Donna Anne."

"Thank you Grandma. It still feels strange but I’m getting used to it." I could feel the heat in my cheeks. I went into the bedroom with everyone and had to change clothes and try the wedding dress on again. This time everyone was happy with the way it fit. I guess I stuck out in all the right places now.

"Just change back into your top and skirt, Donna. It’s getting late and we need to be getting home." Mom said.

"Okay mom. I’ll be right down. Joanne, would you stay and help me put the dress back into the bag?" I asked.

"Sure!"

I took off the dress and slip and put my top, skirt and short slip back on. All this changing was making it kind of automatic to dress as a girl. So I was changed and ready to go in no time at all. Joanne and I came into the front room carrying the garment bag, the small suit case and my purse. I gave a hug and a kiss to everybody and waved good-bye as we drove off.

"You’re all set for the contest now, right?" Dad asked.

"I think so. Mom, are we?"

"I think you are. We have all the clothes now and your lessons have been going so well that no one thinks you are anything but a girl. I think just some practice walking as a bride and you’ll be ready!" Mom was smiling a lot at that last thought.

"Then, why are you still dressed as Donna Anne?" Dad asked.

"I really didn’t think about it dad. Mom said to change quickly, and these clothes were there, so I just put them back on and got ready to come home." I was actually surprised myself by my willingness to be Donna Anne. The rest of the trip was fairly quiet. I was doing a lot of thinking about being ‘Donna Anne’ and being ‘Donald Allan’. The more I thought about it the more confused I became.

We arrived home and I helped carry the bag and suitcase into the house and put everything away. Then for the rest of the evening I practiced the slow steady walk that mom said I would need for the contest. At bed time mom took my hair piece out and I changed into my nightgown and panties. I gave dad a kiss and mom went with me to tuck me in. This time I grabbed Raggedy Ann and brought her to bed with me. I really needed someone to listen to me and Raggedy Ann would do just fine for tonight. Mom smiled and gently tucked me in and kissed my forehead. Then she turned out the light and closed the door.

I spent the longest time just going over the events that led up to today. I asked Raggedy Ann a lot of questions, but she didn’t say a word. I finally decided one thing. Raggedy Ann was a very good listener!

"Wake up sleepy! It’s morning and time to get ready for school." Mom was smiling at me like she does every morning. "Don’t forget to dress as Donnie today. Okay?"

I looked down and realized I was still dressed as Donna Anne. I placed Raggedy Ann on the dresser and made the bed. Then went across the hall to ‘Donnie’s ‘ room and got my underwear and a robe. I did my teeth, shower and combed my hair. Then I remembered to put the panties and night gown in the hamper. Today mom did laundry so they would be clean for next weekend. Then on to my room to get dressed. I was surprised that I had trouble buttoning my shirt! Somehow all the buttons were backwards! Then I realized that they were correct for ‘boys’ clothes. I must have gotten used to buttoning Donna Anne’s clothes the past weekend.

The whole week just seemed to drag by. I think I really missed being ‘Donna Anne’. I hung out with Jeff a couple of nights. He tried several times to get me to tell him what my costume was. I wouldn’t tell him. He even offered to tell me what his was, but I said ‘no’ so we dropped the topic. I did play some basketball with him and we did pal around after school, you know, TV, Atari, that sort of thing.

Friday finally arrived. After dinner I looked at mom and dad and asked the question that scared me inside. "Mom, Dad, can I be Donna Anne tonight? With only one more week to the contest I thought I would like to practice some more?" I truly wondered what they would say.

"Wonderful! I was just going to suggest the same thing." Mom was smiling broadly. "Also you’ll have to dress as Donna in morning. We have to go back to the salon and pick out your makeup for the contest."

"Donnie, I don’t mind as long as you are just practicing. However, if you are dressed as a girl I’ll expect you to act like one" Dad said.

"Thanks! I’ll go change and call you mom so you can fix my hair."

I went up to ‘Donna’s’ room and opened the drawer to take out what I needed. I looked at the underwear and thought there was more there than last week. Oh well, probably just my imagination. I picked up my bra and the pads and placed them on the bed, then picked a pair of light blue panties. I thought about tights and decided I needed to pick out the outfit I wanted to wear tonight before I chose the tights.. When I looked in the closet, expecting to find the two outfits from last week, I was shocked! There were three more outfits hanging in there! One was a one piece outfit that looked like what the girls in my class wore to go roller-skating. There was a sailor style dress and a white blouse with a plaid skirt hanging next to it.

I looked at everything in there and decided that the sailor style dress would be my choice for tonight. I went back to the drawer and put on a pair of white tights and took out a full slip and laid it on the bed. I put on my bra and placed the foam pads into the cups. Then I put on the slip and let it glide over my body. this dressing as a girl could really feel nice sometimes. I finally took the dress off the hanger and put it on. I did up the buttons in the back and then called mom to help me attach the fall.

In less than five minute mom had my hair attached and I was Donna Anne again. I spent the evening walking, sitting, talking quietly and politely, even walking around the house in my heels with a book on my head again. At nine o’clock mom said it was bath and bed time. I went and hung up my clothes and placed the underthings on the chair by the closet for tomorrow. I took a shower and used mom’s soap and shampoo on my body and hair. When I was done I smelled nice . I put on my night gown and panties and kissed dad goodnight and mom tucked me and Raggedy Ann in for the night. I was beginning to like holding Raggedy Ann. Made me feel safe.

"Donna, wake up. We have to get dressed and get going." Mom was shaking my shoulder. " Wear the white blouse and plaid skirt today. The white will help us figure out your makeup better."

"Morning mom." That was the best I could do so early on a Saturday. I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and did my morning things, then back to get dressed. I put on the bra and pads, the blue panties and white tights, then the white blouse and plaid skirt. I looked in the dresser and found a short half slip to put under the skirt. I slipped on my high heels and grabbed the little purse mom had given me last weekend. I then went to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Hi dad. What are you going to do today?" I asked.

"Just ‘honey do ‘ things today. Mom made a list of things that need fixing. Probably take all day!" Dad smiled. "You look lovely today. Are you going out?"

"Yes, mom said we had an appointment to get my makeup done for the contest. Dad, every time I look in the closet there seems to be more girl’s clothes. Any idea why? I asked.

"Your mother is a very strong woman. She has always said that you should never start a project without jumping in with both feet. Once you told her what you wanted, she just took charge to make sure you come out perfect. Right now you are definitely Donna Anne, looking at you, there is no trace of Donald Allan. But that is how you win this contest. Be the character! Be Donna Anne! It’s an old actors trick. Once you have on the costume you become that character. Have a good time today and remember to be the character ‘Donna Anne’." Dad kissed me on the forehead and went out to start his projects.

Mom came into the kitchen and had a cup of coffee. "No time to eat we’re late. Meet me in the car." With that we were off to see Janice.

I always enjoy riding in the car and today was no exception. The fall colors were beautiful. After that short conversation with dad, I decided to try very hard to be the very best Donna Anne I could be! I had been watching the girls at school for ideas on how to act and now was my chance to use what I had observed.

"Mom, don’t you find all these trees beautiful? I mean all the colors look so much brighter today, don’t you think?" The world did seem brighter to me today.

"Fall is a lovely time of the year Donna Anne. I agree that you don’t get to see all these colors so often. As for the world seeming brighter, I think you must be in a very good mood today!"

"I am. I had a short talk with dad. He said that as an actor I should put myself totally into my character when dressed for the part. Since I am dressed as Donna Anne, I have decided to be Donna Anne. So today is a bright beautiful day being seen through the eyes of a nine year old girl. "I said quite satisfied with myself.

"Good for you. I was wondering when you would decide to fall into character completely. You did it so quickly last year. I think the change this year just took longer." Mom smiled.

We spent the rest of the trip looking at the fall colors and chatting about hair, veils and what to expect at my makeover.

When we arrived at the salon I went in and told the receptionist that Donna Anne Jones was there for her makeup consultation. She smiled, checked me off the list and asked me to take a seat. She said that Janice would be right out. While I waited I picked up a hair style book and started looking through it. I asked mom if she thought some of the shorter styles would work with my own hair. That way I wouldn’t need the fall every time I became Donna Anne.

"I take it you like being Donna Anne?" Mom asked. She always raises her eyebrow when she isn’t sure about something. "I hoped you would. I’ve gotten used to having a part time daughter and I was hoping I could keep you once in awhile after Halloween. I don’t think your father will understand. Right now he sees this as preparation for a part to play. I think that you see it as something more. Am I right?"

"Yes , I think so. I really enjoy the feel of the clothes. I also like that you can dress so differently every day. I like all the choices I have as Donna Anne. Like today for example, we are here to pick out makeup to go with my outfit. I think we have to do my hair in that up style first and then pick the makeup, right? I like Janice playing with my hair. This is the most fun I’ve ever had, mom. I’d like to do it some more after Halloween too!" I was excited by being able to be Donna Anne during the year.

At this time a girl I’d never seen before came into the salon with Jeff’s mom. She looked very pretty, long auburn hair that hung to the middle of her back. She had beautiful green eyes. She was wearing a white blouse with a Peter Pan collar and a Kelley Green jumper over it with white tights and black Mary Jane’s. I didn’t look too closely, since I would be going off with Janice any moment. I heard her say her name was Janet Lynn Grant and that she had an appointment with Janice for a makeup consultation. Mrs. Grant sat down next to my mom and Janet came over and sat by me. It made me a little nervous.

"Hi! My names Janet Lynn. What’s your name?" She spoke with an Irish accent. It sounded so nice coming from her.

"I’m Donna Anne. It’s a pleasure to meet you." I said and nodded my head.

"I’m here to work on makeup for my Halloween costume, how about you?" Janet asked.

"Really? So am I! We’re here to finalize my hair and makeup for my costume too! Kind of neat that we are both here for the same thing." I was truly surprised. It seemed like I had known Janet all my life. We talked easily about school and homework and getting ready for Halloween. She told me she had come to her cousin, Jeff’s, for the weekend so that no one would know about her costume. She said Jeff had gone to her house for the same thing.

Janice came over then and called me. "Nice to meet you Janet. Will you be at the Grant’s all weekend?"

"Only until Sunday night."

"Maybe I’ll see you this weekend. Bye." I left with Janice and told her which hair style we had decided on. She wet my hair to help straighten it and then combed my bangs down and curled them under. She took the hair on the sides of my head and pulled them back to just above my ears. Then she teased the top and down around the sides a little to give me some extra volume. Then the curling iron was used with a small rod to give multiple long ringlets hanging down all around the top, back and sides of my head. When she finished, I looked in the mirror and liked it just as much as the last time I was there.

"All right young lady, over to the cosmetician’s chair!" I eagerly got up and followed Janice to another station. The two chairs were facing each other. On the sides and behind the chair Janice sat in, were all kinds of bottles and pencils and things that I had no idea about. She started with a card with different shades of foundation on it. "This is to get the closest match to your own skin color." She picked up a bottle marked ‘Honey Beige’ and set it in front of me.

Mom came over and handed Janice a bottle. "This is the cover-up to help hide the edge of the flesh colored area on the dress. Will the foundation work with this?"

"Wow! Are we ever lucky! This is made by the same company as the foundation. That means that we can blend them together on her neck to change the shade from her face to the dress. It will be so gradual no one should notice." Janice was very pleased. "Okay, back to you Donna. What are your wedding colors?"

"Wedding colors? Mom?" I was really confused. Didn’t even know I had to have wedding colors. I thought it was just white!

"I thought about that. Dove gray and Burgundy look very good on her. What do you think, Janice?" Mom answer quickly. She must have thought about this for awhile.

"I think with Donna’s coloring it will be beautiful! Let’s try it." She motioned for another girl to come over. Janice introduced Karri, she was the best at makeup so Janice turned the application over to her. "I’ll check back, I have to start on Jef- er- Janet Lynn."

Karri studied my face for a few moments and then picked up the foundation and started applying it with a sponge. She explained everything she was doing as she went. Next she used a translucent powder to ‘set’ the foundation. She had me lean back in the chair and then she reclined the chair. "We need to clean up your eyebrows a little. Let me put this lotion on first. It softens and numbs the area a little." Karri used a q-tip to apply a cool liquid to my brows. After a couple of minutes she came over with a pair of tweezers. "I’m only going to clean them up. The shaggy ‘Brooke Shield’ look is in right now so we don’t have to make them thin."

Thin eyebrows! What about school? "Um, a, Karri? You’re not going to thin them are you?" I was worried about school.

"Just a few strays. No more than 20 hairs on each side. Afterwards they’ll grow back and you’ll look the same." Karri said matter-of-factly. She started pulling. It only took her a few minutes, but I think we talked too long, because it stung every time she pulled a hair. "There, much better!" She seemed pleased. She took a brown eyebrow pencil and colored what was left of my brows. Then on to my eyes. "This can be tricky, so try to lay as still as possible, okay?" Karri instructed.

"Okay."

I closed my eyes and felt her wipe something across my eyelid. Then the other. She repeated the process two more times until she was just below my eyebrows. She came back with her finger and it felt like she was rubbing between the three areas she had wiped. She told me she had blended the colors so they looked smooth.

"Lay as still as possible, please." I felt her steady her hand on my cheek and then a cool liquid was applied along the edge of my upper eyelids. "Okay open your eyes and look at me." Karri took an eye liner pencil and carefully used it along the edge of my lower eyelid. "Beautiful, would you like to see?"

Karri raised my chair back to an upright position and held up a mirror for me to look in. My eyes looked beautiful. They were burgundy on the eyelid and that gradually changed over to a Dove gray. Then to a Pearl White under my brow, it actually made me look much older than nine. "I like it. Mom, what do you think?"

"Very pretty dear. I knew that combination would look good on you." Mom was all smiles.

"Let’s get you finished, Donna. We have more to do." Karri went back to work. She took something called a ‘coral blusher’ and wiped it on my cheeks. She said she was ‘feathering’ the edges with her fingers. Then she took some black mascara and coated my eyelashes. Right after that she took a small brush and combed my lashes to separate them. Next Karri had me hold my lips apart as she used a lip liner to define and enhance the shape of my lips. Finally she used a brush to fill in my lips with lipstick. She had me blot the lipstick twice and pronounced me ready to get married! I looked in the mirror and was amazed at how I looked. I was beautiful!

Mom talked to Karri about nail polish to match the deep burgundy lipstick and then bought the, foundation, eyeshadow, blusher, lipstick and nail polish to be sure that we had the right colors for next week. She said that she had the other items and we could just use hers. I thanked Karri again for making me beautiful.

On the way out I saw Janice was still working on Janet Lynn’s hair. I waved good-bye and she waved back. Mom told me that since I was all made up and had my hair done we should pick up a new veil. "The one with the dress just won’t work for this hairstyle." She said.

We drove about two blocks and mom pulled up in front of a bridal shop. ‘Simply Beautiful’ was the name of the shop. The gowns in the window were beyond description. As we entered the shop a little chime rang telling everyone they had a customer. A young lady came up to us, Melissa was on her name tag. "Good morning ladies. How may I help you today?"

"My daughter, Donna Anne, is to be a miniature bride. We need a veil that will go with this hair style." Mom explained.

"Oh my, that’s simply beautiful on you. Step over here to our veil section, I’m sure we have just the one for you." Melissa led the way to the veil section.

After looking at what seemed like hundreds of veils, mom picked up a veil that looked very similar to the one Janice had used. It had a headband covered in white roses. The veil was very sheer and hung down to the bottom of my shoulder blades. The blusher portion was short, and when forward, hung to just below my chin. "Perfect!" It was the only word mom said.

I turned to look in the mirror. Mom was right, it was perfect.

Melissa carefully removed the veil and packed it in a large bag. Mom told me to lay it in the trunk so it wouldn’t get crushed. I have never been so careful with a piece of clothing. You would have thought I was carrying glass.

It was close to noon so mom suggested we stop for something to eat. I wanted tacos so mom pulled into a Taco Bell. As we went in I saw Janet Lynn and Mrs. Grant just sitting down to lunch.

"Hi Jessica. Would you and Janet like some company?" mom asked Mrs. Grant.

"Sure, if it’s alright with you Janet?"

"I don’t mind at all. It will give me a chance to talk to Donna Anne." Janet smiled. "Come sit with me Donna."

Janet and I took a table a couple away from Mrs. Grant. My mom went to get our order so I could visit with Janet. "Nice to see you again Mrs. Grant."

"So, Donna, What are you dressing as this hallowed of all eves?" Questioned Janet.

"I’m going as a bride. We finished my hair and makeup and just picked up the veil. I have the dress at home so I think we have everything we need. What are you going to your party as?" I asked.

"Ah yes. Being a wee bit Irish, I decided to go as an Irish Faerie Princess, from the stories in the book ‘Faerie Tales’. My aunt has helped with the costume and I too finished deciding on hair and makeup today. Looks like we are both as ready as we can be." Janet was truly excited about her costume.

Lunch had arrived and we continued to talk about different things. Topics went from hair and makeup for the parties to clothes and even basketball! It turned out that Janet liked the same teams I did. She was so easy to talk to, I was going to miss her when she went home. All too soon mom said it was time to go. We said our good-byes and headed out the door.

The rest of the day I stayed in character as Donna Anne. I helped mom in the house like last weekend and then took dad a snack and a drink for doing so many repairs around the house. Right before dinner I even helped dad clean up the mess he had made in the garage.

During the evening I made sure I was Donna Anne. Everything I did I tried to do as a girl would. I think it was paying off. Mom didn’t need to correct me any more and dad treated me as if I were a girl. He even held my chair at dinner! That night I slept with Raggedy Ann again. I told her all about my decision to be the best ‘Donna Anne’ I could be. She just smiled at me. Like I said before, she’s a good listener.

Sunday was more of being Donna Anne. I dressed in my pink blouse, charcoal gray jumper, black tights and black Mary Jane’s. I think this was becoming my favorite outfit. I tried putting my fall in myself and did a fairly good job. Mom checked me over and just rebrushed a part of it.

Mom decided that we should look over the costume to make sure we had everything. So we spent some time doing that. The only thing missing were earrings. Mom looked in her jewelry box and came up with a pair of dangly earrings that were gold with white stones. She didn’t remember where she got them but she had worn them for her wedding. "Something old as the saying goes." Mom smiled.

We went over the old saying and decided the following. ‘Something old’, the earrings. ‘Something new’, the veil. ‘Something borrowed’, the dress. ‘Something blue’, my panties. Then we laughed since no one would see the blue part.

"You’re going to make a beautiful bride, Donna." mom was almost crying. I could hear it in her voice.

"Mom, are you upset?"

"No, just a little sad that you aren’t really Donna Anne. It is so nice pretending though. I don’t know, I don’t know what I think right now." Mom wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"I love you mom. If this upsets you I could go to the party as something else." I didn’t like seeing my mother upset.

"No, no, we have this all set and you are going to win the contest. I’ll order your bridal bouquet tomorrow and on Friday you will be the prettiest bride there ever was!" Mom nodded her head for emphasis.

Mom helped me put everything away so we could grab it all Friday and take it to the salon for my final hair and makeup. She told me that we would start Thursday night with some preparatory work to make Friday go faster.

The rest of the day was just spent ‘being Donna Anne’. I mostly helped mom, but went to take dad cool drinks once in a while. Since dad was painting in the garage he wouldn’t let me help. He said that since I was dressed so nice I might ruin my clothes. That part of the weekend made me a little sad and mom noticed it right away.

"What’s wrong Donna? Why are you so quiet all of a sudden?" Mom asked.

"I usually help dad on the weekends. Last weekend we weren’t home. But today he’s doing things I normally help with and since I’m Donna Anne today, I can’t help.

Mom nodded her head and then said. "How about we do something together today? I think we can start and complete a sewing project this afternoon. But only if we work together."

"Sewing? Mom, I don’t know anything about sewing. Well, you did teach me to sew on my Cub Scout patches. Is it harder than that?" My curiosity was peaked.

"To tell the truth, last week I was thinking of expanding your wardrobe. I stopped at the fabric store and bought two ‘Simplicity’ patterns and some very pretty material. Come with me and I’ll show you." Mom led the way to the corner of the family room that is set up for her sewing.

"I found this pattern for a simple A-line skirt. And with it I this light weight blue denim. I don’t think it will take long to make. I even bought the zipper and button the pattern suggested." Mom seemed pleased. "Why don’t we try it?"

"Okay mom. I’m willing to learn and I am a girl for the rest of the day. At least dad can’t complain that I’ll be ruining my clothes." I figured this could be fun.

Mom got out her cutting board and laid the material on it. Then we opened the pattern. Mom looked over the measurements she had made on me and decided what size to cut the pattern. Then we started to lay out the pieces on the material. Mom was careful with where and how she placed the pattern on the fabric.

"Mom, why is there so much room between the pieces? We could use a lot less material if we rearranged the pieces."

"Donna, the material has a grain or pattern to it. Just think if it had stripes. You wouldn’t want each part of the skirt to have the stripes running different directions. Also, by following the ‘lay’ of the material the skirt will hang better." Mom was in ‘instructor’ mode.

We laid out the pattern so that everything would lay right. Mom showed me how to pin the pattern to the fabric. When we were done with that I got to cut out the pieces while mom set up her sewing machine. This being finished mom showed me how to pin the pieces together. Then we started sewing. Mom showed me how to use her sewing machine. I started on the longer straight seams, going slowly and removing the straight pins as I went. Mom said that was so I wouldn’t break a needle by accidentally hitting one of the pins. When I managed to sew the basic skirt together mom attached the waist band and made a button hole. She told me to attach the button by hand since I knew how to do that. Then I had to try it on so mom could set the hem. She spent a lot of time making sure it was even. Then back to the sewing machine! I got to sew the hem completely by myself! Mom finished it by putting in the zipper. I was so happy with the way it came out I slipped off my jumper and slipped on the skirt. I tucked in the pink blouse and went to show dad.

"So, what do you think?" After the comment I did a twirl.

"What? You look lovely." dad wasn’t sure what to say. I don’t think he noticed the new skirt.

"Mom and I made this skirt this afternoon! Do you like it?" He hadn’t even noticed my skirt!

"You did? It looks very nice. You did a very good job! But then you have a great teacher in your mother." Dad said.

"Thank you daddy!" I was happy that he liked my new skirt.

I went back and told mom I wanted to wear this skirt Friday to the salon for my final hair and makeup. She said it would be alright. I helped mom clean up from our project and put all of the sewing things away. When we were done it was time to make dinner. I helped in the kitchen again and dinner was ready in no time. I called dad while mom set things on the table. Dad came in and held mom’s chair and my chair to seat us. I could get used to being treated like that.

The rest of the evening was just checking over my homework for Monday and making sure I acted like Donna Anne in everything I did. When it was bed time I took a shower as Donna Anne again. I even used the shower cap correctly so my hair didn’t get wet. I kissed dad goodnight, grabbed Raggedy Ann and was tucked in by mom. It had been a wonderful day and I told Raggedy Ann all about it!

I woke early the next morning all excited. I got up and used the bathroom, then back to my bedroom. I clipped in the fall and combed my hair. Then I changed into clean panties and put on a pair of white tights. I slipped on my new denim skirt and a short slip. I put on my bra and placed the pads in place. Then I went to look in the closet for a blouse of some type. I found a nice white pullover top with ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ where the pocket would go on a button down shirt. After slipping it on and tucking it in the way mom had shown me I checked myself in the mirror and was happy with what I saw.

I was just finishing breakfast when Mom came in to start getting breakfast for Dad. "Good morning dear." She smiled.

"Morning mom. It’s a lovely day and I wanted to wear my new skirt today. What do you think?" I asked. I stood up and took my dishes to the sink. Then I did a slow twirl for mom to see.

"That looks very nice on you." Mom was smiling. Suddenly she thought for a minute and looked at the calendar. "Donna, there is a little problem here. Today is Monday. You have to go to school in about forty five minutes! I don’t think the school would understand if ‘Donna’ showed up instead of ‘Donnie’!"

"Oh my gosh! I forgot! I wanted to wear this skirt so bad. I-I’m sorry Mom, I’ll go change." I made a mad dash for my room.

I quickly hung up my skirt and top. Then I took off my underthings and put them away. I placed the tights and the panties in the hamper, grabbed my robe and went across the hall to ‘Donnie’s’ room. I finally got dressed in the right clothes for the day and went back to the kitchen to see mom.

"Honey, let’s take your hairpiece off for today, Okay?" Mom asked as she walked behind me to unclip the fall.

"I forgot, mom. I wear it all the time. It just feels right to have it clipped in my hair." I was embarrassed since I had forgotten to remove the fall when I changed.

"Let’s leave Donna alone until Thursday night, Okay Donnie?" Mom asked.

"Okay mom. I gotta go! Jeff will be here any second to go to school."

I grabbed my books and homework and headed out the door. Sure enough, there was Jeff coming down the street. He waved and I waited for him. We always walk to school together.

"Hi Donnie! How was your weekend? Are you ready for the contest? I’m all set. Got everything finished this weekend at my aunt’s house." Jeff was excited.

"We did too. It’s going to be great! Do you think one of us could beat Emily this year?" I asked.

"I don’t know if you can but I think I can!" Jeff stated.

"So what are you going as?" I asked.

"Not telling! What about you?"

"Not telling either."

"Okay, we agree not to tell anyone. That way it will be a surprise for everyone." Jeff said.

So we talked about other things. Football, Basketball, how much candy we would collect trick or treating on Saturday. All those things buddies talk about while walking to school.

Everyone at school was being quiet about their costumes too. Only the younger students couldn’t keep secrets from each other. All the kindergarteners and first graders knew what each other were wearing for the party Friday. Only second and third grade kept it secret.

I kept busy during the week with Jeff. We played basketball after school and he came over to play my Atari a couple of times. We never even talked about our costumes for the coming party. Finally it was Thursday. I told Jeff I couldn’t come over since mom wanted to start getting things ready for Friday. He understood. His mom had wanted to do the same thing.

"Hi mom. What do we have to do for tomorrow?" I asked.

"Just a lot of little things. They all take time so there won’t be enough time for them tomorrow." Mom stated.

I helped with dinner and we ate when dad got home. After dinner we all did the cleanup. Mom looked at me and told dad that we had things to do for tomorrow, so he was on his own for a while.

"First, you take a shower. Wash and condition your hair with the shampoo in the shower. Then we are going to get your fingernails ready for tomorrow." Mom just pointed, so off I went to follow her instructions. While I was in the shower I heard the door open and mom said, "I put clean clothes and a robe here for you. Just slip them on and come to Donna’s room."

I finished in the shower and dried off. There on the top of the toilet seat were my panties and nightie and robe. I guess I was to be Donna Anne for this! I was happy to get dressed. It seemed like such a long time since I had worn anything so soft and silky. It still sent a chill through my body when I put it on. I finished and only towel dried my hair. Then headed to ‘my’ bedroom!

Mom started with a nail file and clippers. She clipped my toe nails and filed the edges smooth. Then she filed my fingernails into a little more pointed shape like hers. Next she took this little bottle and wiped some ‘vitamin-e oil’ onto my cuticles. Mom said this softened them and allowed them to be pushed back easier. This was so I could have pretty polished nails for the contest tomorrow. Next she took my hair and clipped it back out of the way. Then she took this stuff called a ‘mask’ and smeared it all over my face. I looked in the mirror. This would be great stuff if I were dressing as a ghoul! It was kind of thick and lumpy and green! I made scary faces in the mirror, it was great! While the mask was drying mom started to blow dry my hair. I just leaned back and enjoyed it. I pretended it was Janice doing it at the salon. When my hair was dry, mom took some clips to hold my bangs out of the mask and we went to the bathroom to wash it off. My skin felt all tingly and tight when we got the mask washed off. I looked in the mirror and my face was pink. Mom handed me some moisturizer and said to rub it in all over my face. I did and the tingly feeling went away. We went back to Donna’s room and mom took an ‘orange’ stick and rubbed my finger and toe nails with it to push back the cuticles. I’m not sure why it’s called that, it’s not orange!

After all this Mom said I needed to get into character for tomorrow so I could sleep as Donna tonight. I was excited! I ran into the front room and jumped into daddy’s arms.

"Mommy says I get to be Donna Anne tonight! So I am in character for tomorrow!"

"That’s good honey. I know you will win the contest. Now sleep tight. It is past your bedtime." Dad gave me a kiss on the forehead.

I ran upstairs, grabbed Raggedy Ann and hopped into bed. "Good night mom and thank you for helping make Donna Anne real."

"Good night Donna Anne. It has been a pleasure. Now sleep, you need to be bright and cheery tomorrow." Mom closed the door on her way out.

I hugged Raggedy Ann and went to sleep. In the morning I remembered to dress as Donnie. What a relief that was! Well needless to say school went VERY slowly. We all had parties, I guess the teachers knew they couldn’t teach us much today. It also was an early dismissal day. At one thirty school was let out. This gave us enough time to get our costumes together and be back for the party and contest at six.

I ran home as fast as I could. Hopped in the shower and washed and conditioned my hair like mom had said and then went into Donna Anne’s room to dress.

Mom was there, holding a little bag. It was one of those fancy ones with handles and had tissue paper sticking out of it. "This is for you." she said handing me the bag.

I was surprised. I looked in the bag and there was a new pair of blue satin and lace panties! They were beautiful! They had a lace panel on the sides and lace around the waist and the leg openings. The label said ‘Victoria’s Secret’ on it. I remember it as a new shop at the mall across town. "They’re beautiful! Thank you mom!" I gave mom a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Donna, there’s one more thing in there that you will need for going to the salon." Mom said.

I looked in the bag and there was a pair of white nylon anklets with a lace top. "Those are to wear until we get you dressed after your hair and makeup. " Mom told me.

Mom left my room and I started to dress. First the new blue panties. They felt so wonderful as they slid into place around my waist. Then I put on the bra and inserted the breast forms. I went into the closet and put on my new skirt and the Winnie-the-Pooh shirt like I had on Monday morning. Then I sat down and pulled on the new anklets. I put on my white heeled sandals and then folded the lace top down on the anklets. Finally I slid on a half slip and made sure everything looked right in the mirror. Something was missing. Oh yes, my fall! I was so excited I almost forgot to clip in my hair piece! After clipping in the fall and brushing my hair I asked mom to help me get everything we needed into the car. We made three trips to the car. Then to be safe, we each went back through the bedroom, to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything.

The ride to the salon seemed to take forever. I was getting nervous about this. Eventually we arrived at the salon and mom grabbed the makeup and veil. "I’ll come back for the rest while you are getting the works!" Mom smiled.

We went into the salon and I told the receptionist that Miss Donna Anne Jones was there for her appointment. She checked me off the list and mom and I went to sit and wait for Janice to call me. While we were sitting there Jeff Grant walked in with his mom. Actually I thought it was Jeff, but on second look it was Janet Lynn. This was confirmed when she said that Janet Lynn Grant was there for her appointment. She came over to sit by me. "Hi Donna! Nice to see you here again. Ready for the contest tonight?" Now I was confused. This person looked like Janet but spoke to me in Jeff’s voice. What happened to the Irish accent?

"Um-m-m yes. I didn’t think I’d see you here again, Janet." I said carefully.

"Ah-h-h yes, you probably need the Irish accent eh, dahrlin’?" Janet said with her accent. She motioned me to lean closer so she could whisper. "Donnie, it’s me, Jeff. I recognized your mom the last time we were here. Since you didn’t know who I was, I said I was visiting my Aunt. I actually did go to my Aunt’s house to make my costume. I didn’t want anyone here to see it before today. By the way, you make a very convincing girl."

I was shocked! I mean, Jeff has been my best friend since before kindergarten! I just figured it was his cousin, Janet Lynn. "You look a lot like Jeff, but when you told me you were visiting your Aunt I thought you were your cousin! Wow, you look like a girl too!" I turned to mom who was talking to Jeff’s mom. "Mom, did you know that Janet Lynn is really Jeff?"

"Yes dear I know. Mrs. Grant and I have been talking about the costumes for a couple of weeks now. I think you and Jeff are going to be the ‘belles of the ball’ tonight!" Mom was smiling broadly.

Janice came over then and asked me to come with her. "Donna Anne, we are going all out today. I need you to go into the changing room and remove your shoes and anklets and your blouse. There is a dressing gown on the table. When you are ready come out and find me." She showed me to a little room with a couple of hangers and a small table with pink gowns on it. Mom followed me with the clothing bag. She took out the full slip and after I had removed my blouse she had me put on the slip. "It will be easier this way after your hair is done." She explained. I finished changing quickly and went to find Janice.

"Barbara is going to start you off, so sit here and I’ll tell her you are ready." I sat in a chair to wait. I noticed Jeff was gone from the waiting area, I waved to mom.

"Hi, I’m Barbara! Your Donna Anne right? A pleasure to meet you. We are starting by giving you a pedicure and a manicure. That way the polish will be completely dry by the time you get dressed. So lean back and enjoy this." Barbara took a small bowl and had me dip my fingers in and let them soak. Next she took a towel and laid it under my feet. She mixed something she called a ‘scrub’ with some water and proceeded to rub it all over my feet. When she was done she rinsed and dried my feet. Then she took an orange stick and repeated what mom had done by pushing the cuticles back. Finally she took some lotion and rubbed it onto my feet. If I weren’t so ticklish I think I might have enjoyed it more. "Now to your hands." Barbara said.

She took my hands out of the soak and used another orange stick to push the cuticles back. Next he used a file to touch up the shape of the nails on my hands and then my feet. When all this was done she used a small cotton ball to wipe off each nail with nail polish remover. "That makes sure your polish will stick properly. Now for the base coat." Barbara took some foam pieces and placed them between my toes. Then she took a bottle of a clear liquid and carefully painted my fingernails and toenails. She said this was a base coat. When she was done she asked what color I wanted them painted.

I said, "Mom and I were here last Saturday. We bought most of the things that Karri recommended. My mom is over there." I pointed to the waiting area.

Barbara went over and found mom. Mom reached into a small case she had packed and pulled out the bottle of Burgundy nail polish and gave it to Barbara. She came back and proceeded to put on two coats of polish on both my fingers and my toes. I had to keep both my feet and both my hands under this dryer to help dry the polish. Finally she put on a clear top coat that made my nails shine. I sat there looking at my toes and fingers, admiring them for looking so-o-o pretty. Mom was right, Burgundy is definitely my color!

When Barbara was happy with my nails she took the foam things out from between my toes and threw them away. She called Janice to let her know I was ready for the next step.

Janice motioned me to sit in her chair. She went to do something and I saw Jeff under the hair dryer. We waved to each other and smiled. Janice came back holding a Burgundy ribbon. It was the same color as my nail polish. "I am going to use this in your hair to help hide the bands and clips. When I get done you should be beautiful." She wet my hair and then combed my bangs down and curled them under. She took the hair on the sides of my head and pulled them back to just above my ears. She took the ribbon and tied it around the band that held my hair to hide it. Then she teased the top and down around the sides a little to give me some extra volume. Then the curling iron was used with a small rod to give multiple long ringlets hanging down all around the top, back and sides of my head. While she worked, she wove the ribbon around so that all the clips were covered when she was done. I looked in the mirror and liked it just as much as the last time I was there, maybe a little more, with the ribbon.

"All done here, let’s get you over to Karri!" Janet said.

I walked over to the cosmetician chair that I was in the last time. Karri was all smiles. "Hi Donna. Ready for your ‘big’ day? Let’s get started. Last time was a quick and easy makeover, today we do it all."

"Whatever you think best Karri." I told her. "Are you doing Janet Lynn’s makeup too?"

"Yes I am. Right after yours. So we have to get moving." Karri said as she started. "Your mom brought over the cosmetics we discussed last time so we are all set. Just lay back and relax, this will be fun!"

Karri started with the foundation from Joanne that came with the dress. She took a couple of drops and mixed them with some moisturizer. She said this was done with all the foundation to make it blend easier. I opened the top button of the dressing smock and she applied it to my upper chest. as she worked up my neck she would mix a drop of my face foundation in with the other. by the time she got to my chin she was using all the face foundation and none of the stuff to hide the top of the dress.

She applied the ‘honey beige’ to my face and even my ears! Then she took a white liquid and mixed a drop with a drop of foundation. She said this was a lightener to highlight my cheekbones and make them a little more prominent. She applied it along my cheekbone from the middle of my eye toward my ear, then used her fingers to blend it. Next she took a foundation one shade darker and mixed 1 drop with the ‘Honey beige’. She called this a shadow and used it under my cheekbones and on the bridge of my nose. She said this would give the illusion of high cheekbones and a tiny nose. She apologized and said I didn’t really have a big nose, just most girls think they do, so she does this all the time. She then took a translucent powder and brushed it on all over the foundation to ‘set’ it.

She took a brown eyebrow pencil and colored my brows. She had me close one eye and watch as she used a taupe pencil to color the crease in my eyelid. Then I closed the other eye so she could do it too. she used her finger to smudge the line. I closed my eyes as she applied the Burgundy, Dove Gray and Pearl White. She came back with her finger and it felt like she was rubbing between the three areas she had wiped. She told me she had blended the colors so they looked smooth.

"Lay as still as possible, please." I felt her steady her hand on my cheek and then a cool liquid was applied along the edge of my upper eyelids. "Okay open your eyes and look at me." Karri took an eye liner pencil and carefully used it along the edge of my lower eyelid. "Beautiful, would you like to see?"

Karri raised my chair back to an upright position and held up a mirror for me to look in. My eyes looked beautiful. They were Burgundy on the eyelid and that gradually changed over to a Dove Gray. Then to a Pearl White under my brow.,

"Let’s get you finished, Donna. We have more to do." Karri went back to work. She took something called a ‘coral blusher’ and wiped it on my cheeks. She said she was ‘feathering’ the edges with her fingers. She picked up this thing called an ‘eyelash curler’ and came toward my eyes with it. It felt funny and was a little scary but Karri said it would make my lashes prettier. Then she took some black mascara and coated my eyelashes. Right after that she took a small brush and combed my lashes to separate them. Next Karri had me hold my lips apart as she used a lip liner to define and enhance the shape of my lips. Finally she used a brush to fill in my lips with lipstick. She had me blot the lipstick twice and pronounced me ready. I looked in the mirror and was amazed at how I looked. I was beautiful!

Mom came over and looked at me. "Oh Donna , you are so beautiful! I brought the earrings over so Karri could help put them in without messing up your makeup."

"Glad to! Just sit still Donna. There, now the other one... All done!" Karri said as she handed my little gold studs to mom. I looked in the mirror again. The earrings were perfect for this hair and makeup. I liked the way the gold and white sparkled when I turned my head.

"Time to get you dressed. I picked up your bouquet while you were busy. All you need is to go get dressed. Karri, is there a larger room where I could help Donna Anne get ready?" Mom asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, we have a room just for brides, . I’ll get your things from the changing room and show you the room." Karri motioned us to follow her. She led us down the hall to a larger changing area. "This should work just fine. Make sure you stop back and show everyone before you leave."

Mom had handed me the dressing bag in the salon, so I hung it behind the door. She had the bag with the veil and the bouquet and the accessory case in her hands. Mom handed me the package of pantyhose that she had bought on our first shopping trip. That seemed like it was so long ago, actually it had only been two and a half weeks! I was very careful when unwrapping them. I was really careful putting them on. Mom said they could get a run in the nylon and be ruined if I wasn’t. They felt lighter than tights and the little flowers on the outside of the ankle looked really pretty.

I carefully took off the smock and removed my skirt and half slip and placed them on a table in the corner. It felt different with the pantyhose, the slip kind of tickled my legs when I walked. Mom looked back in the bag and found a long poufy half slip thing she called a petticoat. This she helped me slide up under the full slip and tied it around my waist. Now, every time I moved, layers of material swirled back and forth. This was really neat, I figured I could get used to being dressed like this on a regular basis.

"Almost done. Do you need to use the ‘ladies’ room? Once the dress is on you will need help." Mom mentioned.

I decided I better, since it did seem like it would take two or three people to help me get out of and back into this outfit! I finally figured out why it always took mom so long to go to the bathroom After a lot of lifting and pulling and sitting and some more pulling and smoothing I was ready for the dress! Mom held it out for me as I carefully stepped into it. Once we were sure my feet were not caught on anything mom had me slip my arms into the sleeves and she hooked and zipped the back. Then she lifted the flesh colored panel up and hooked it in the back. The dress was a perfect fit! I looked in the full length mirror and thought I looked better than Joanne did when she wore this dress.

"Donna Anne! Quit staring at yourself. We need to finish so you can get to the party!" Mom woke me from my stare.

She had me sweep the back of the dress to the side and to sit on the edge of a chair so I could put on my heeled sandals. Then a pair of white gloves with a lot of lace over the back of the hand and around the wrists. Mom then reached in the bag and gently took out the veil, she walked behind me and carefully placed it on my head. As a last thought she reached into her purse and took out her ‘Chanel’ cologne. A small spray to my neck and two squirts to my wrists was all she did. She handed me a bridal bouquet that was pretty. It had dark Burgundy roses with some greenery and ‘Babies Breath’ for little white accents all on a plastic handle so I could carry it easily. I could see in the mirror and to me, I looked like the perfect bride.

"Donna Anne? Look over here and smile big for me. (flash!). Just a few more to remember this day. (flash!). Now stand up in front of the chair. Good. (flash!). This went on until I could only see spots! Mom was using a lot of film on me. I posed a lot of different ways, finally, I think mom ran out of film.

Mom gathered everything up and put things in cases and carriers and in no time we were ready to leave. Mom went first and told me to come out when I was introduced. It seemed like a long time but then I heard Mom say. " Here is the beautiful blushing bride, Miss Donna Anne Jones!" That was my que. I walked out, with the slow practiced steps that mom had taught me to take over the last two weeks. When I entered the salon I heard comments like "Beautiful!", "Absolutely gorgeous!", "She really is blushing!", "Can’t lose!". And I was smiling the whole time. The one person was right too, I could feel the warmth in my cheeks, it wasn’t just the makeup. After telling Barbara, Karri and Janice thank you one more time, we left for the party.

I was so excited to actually be going to the contest! It just seemed to take forever to get to my school. When we arrived mom handed me a small white satin purse that looked like a sack miners would carry gold in. She said to wear it on my wrist so I could still hold the bouquet. It contained some tissues, some money for refreshments, my lipstick liner, lipstick and brushes so I could reapply it just before the judging.

"Mom, I don’t know how to apply lipstick! What am I going to do!" I was panicked.

"Don’t worry. One of the lady chaperones will help you. Just ask politely." Mom said.

That would work. I remember teachers helping do that last year for some of the kids. " Okay mom. See you at nine!" I carefully got out of the car and making sure I wasn’t caught on anything I shut the door and waved to mom. Then I turned and walked toward the school gym.

I walked up to the registration table and asked for a contest registration form. The parent behind the table looked me over and handed me the form. I sat down carefully at a table and started to fill it out.

"Hi Donna Anne! You look absolutely beautiful! You make a very pretty bride." Mrs. Grant was talking to me.

"Thank you very much. Is Je- er - Janet Lynn here?" I asked softly.

"She’s already inside playing games. Are you almost done?" She asked.

I handed her the form I had filled out. It said to give your character’s name, so I wrote ‘Donna Anne’ trying to imitate the fancy writing my mom used. Mrs. Grant looked it over, then gave me a number to attach to my bouquet handle. She said that way it wouldn’t ruin my dress. I thanked her and headed for the gym door.

I walked into the gym and felt as if every eye in the place turned to look at me. I know that wasn’t true but I felt it just the same. I wondered if this was the same feeling real brides got before they entered the church. I looked around and saw some people playing ‘Pin - The - Skull - on - the - Skeleton’, I went over to play since I figured it wouldn’t mess up my dress. I did okay, I was second closest for the 5 players that round and got a small skull keychain. I placed it in my purse and continued around the gym. I stopped by the refreshment table to buy a soda. While waiting in line I kept trying to identify who was what costume.

"Hi Donna Anne! You look lovely tonight. You make a pretty bride."

I turned to look and it was Janet Lynn. What a costume! She was dressed as a Faerie Queen. Let me describe it, but I know she was prettier than words could ever tell.

She had short auburn bangs and long hair that hung to below her shoulder blades. In her hair was a wreath of Baby’s Breath and clover. Simple green stone earrings hung from her ears. Her costume was a spring green dress with angel sleeves. The sleeves were long and at the wrist they tapered on the back of her hands to a small loop that fit over her middle finger. When she moved her arms it looked like fluttering wings. Over the dress was a shear gossamer covering that flowed as she walked. The hem was a handkerchief style that was above the knee in the front and below in the back. She had very delicate wings attached between her shoulders. Her makeup was very appropriate. I knew Karri had done it. Her skin was pale with just a slight green tone with rich burnt umber and warm brown for her eye shadow. She had a berry color for blusher and lips. The finishing touch were light green tights and light green ballet slippers. She was in a word .. Beautiful!

"Janet! You look wonderful! I didn’t know Faerie Queens were so pretty! " I truly meant that.

We each got drinks and sat and talked for a little bit. Then our principal, Mr. Johnson, announced that it would ten minutes until the costume judging. Jeff and I went to find his mom to help us make sure our makeup was perfect. She reapplied Jeff’s lipstick and then reapplied my lip liner and lipstick. We were both nervous, but too late now, it was time for the parade and judging. I asked Mrs. Grant if she could help me arrange my blusher so it hung in front the correct way. She was happy to help. Then I asked if there was a gentleman that could meet me by the judges table, to raise my blusher back behind me, like when a real bride enters a church. Mrs. Grant turned and talked to her husband. Mr. Grant was told who I was and after a surprised look on his face, said he would meet me there to ‘give me away’.

Mr. Johnson called for quiet. Then asked all contestants to go into the hall and line up by number. We all filed out and eventually, with a couple of chaperone’s help, got into the proper order. We knew when the parade of costumes started because they always played ‘Monster Mash’ over and over for the judging. It isn’t a bad song, but this year we would hear it a lot!

Each person got to enter alone, after going past the judges we line up on the sidelines of the basketball court. I was getting more nervous with each person entering the door. Finally it was my turn!

"Number 42, Miss Donna Anne!" The chaperone announced.

I took a deep breath and started into the gym. I walked with the slow, halting, practiced steps, that mom had worked so hard with me to get perfect. When I got near the judges table, Mr. Grant walked out to meet me and raise my blusher. After he raised it he leaned over and kissed my cheek! I think I turned fifty shades of red! I truly was a ‘blushing bride’! I finished my walk and went over to line up with the other contestants. I tried hard to stay in character the whole time, smiling brightly, and trying to look as sweet as possible. Finally the contestants were all in and lined up. There was a lot of papers being rustled and the gym was very quiet for so many people being there.

"I will announce the top three contestants." Mr. Johnson started. "All of you look wonderful and once again it has been a difficult decision for the judges. If you are called up I will give your costume name and your place. Then I will ask you to give your real name."

The gym was very quiet. Finally Mr. Johnson got up to the microphone. " Third place goes to ‘Cinderella ‘ and her coachman." Cinderella and her coachman made their way to the stage.

"I’m Emily Christensen and this is my brother Ben." She took her prize and moved to the back of the stage.

"Second place goes to Miss Janet Lynn Grant." Janet walked up on the stage fluttering her arms so she looked like she was flying.

"Thank you. My name is Jeff Grant." That brought a murmur from the crowd. Many were surprised that it was a boy in such a feminine costume. Jeff took his prize and moved back by Emily and her brother.

"And now for the winner of this years’ costume contest. The envelope please! .... A little trouble opening it. .. There.. The winner is ... Miss Donna Anne!"

I was surprised! My hand went and covered my mouth. There were applause from everyone! I regained my composure and started for the stage. There were cameras flashing all around me as I moved to the stage to collect my trophy. I had to be careful going up the steps but grabbed the front of my gown and lifted it so I could see the steps. Finally I made it to Mr. Johnson, still shaking and surprised. I had done it! I had won the contest.

Mr. Johnson handed me the trophy and asked me to tell my real name.

I took the microphone and said. "I’m really Donald Allan Jones!"

At this moment there was real shock and surprise on most of the peoples faces. I appeared to have convinced them that I was really a girl. What surprised me even more was when my mom and dad came on stage to stand with me. I was so happy I started to cry. Mom took a tissue and helped me keep my eyes dry so I wouldn’t ruin my makeup.

I hugged Janet Lynn, and even hugged Emily and her brother. It was so wonderful to be Donna Anne that I knew I wanted to do it again. Mom had brought along a change of clothes so we could put away the bridal gown for safety. I think mothers can read minds. She had brought a half slip, my Pink blouse and the Charcoal Gray jumper. Mom and I went into a classroom and she helped me change. After changing and helping carry everything to the car I went back in to play some more games until the party ended. Everyone asked why I was still dressed as a girl. I told them that I came to the party as Donna Anne and I would remain in character until I got home. I went home that night the happiest girl in the world!

After I undressed and used cold cream and moisturiser, I took down my hair and brushed it out. Then I went into the guest room and put on my night gown and panties. I went downstairs to kiss Dad and Mom good night. Then I went to ‘my’ bedroom and took Raggedy Ann to bed with me and relived the entire afternoon and evening. Raggedy Ann listened to everything from my waking up excited to the climax of the day of winning the trophy. She listened attentively and never tired of my stories. I finally turned out the light and snuggled up with her and went to sleep. Like I said before Raggedy Ann is a great listener.

 

 

copyright 6\2000 by Lisa Elizabeth and Donna Anne.

The above work is copyrighted material. Anyone wishing to copy, archive, or re-post this story must contact the author for permission.