Chapter 3

When I awoke in the morning, I lay on my bed for several minutes thinking about the day ahead. Although yesterday had been the 4^th of July, today was a legal holiday in observance of the 4^th. I didn’t know if Mom had planned any activities, but I knew that there were lots of parties and barbecues going on. I guess that I would find out what she had planned for the day, during breakfast. I got out of bed, went into the bathroom, splashed some cool water on my face, and patted it dry. Then I brushed my hair and put it into a ponytail as I had seen Carol do so often. Back in my bedroom, I put on a robe, and after examining myself in the mirror, went downstairs.

I was the first one down as usual, so I got the bacon and eggs from the fridge and started to cook enough bacon for the four of us. I had put an apron on to help protect me from the splatters of the frying bacon, and while the bacon was cooking, I made a pot of tea and set the table. Then I returned to remove the bacon from the pan and lay it out on a paper towel that would soak up the excess grease. Just as I finished with the bacon, Aunt Jessica came in so I asked what her preference was, and started to cook the eggs. I turned the eggs over easy for several seconds before dishing them up and retrieving the toast from the four-piece toaster. Putting several pieces of bacon on each dish, I carried them to the table and sat down to eat with Aunt Jessica.

As we ate, Aunt Jessica said to me, "Crystal, this is very good. How long have you been cooking?"

"For a couple of years. Mom taught me how to cook bacon and eggs, and a few other things. I’m usually the first one down, so I make the bacon rather than waiting for Mom to come down. I make my own eggs if she hasn’t come down by the time that the bacon is cooked."

"That’s wonderful. It’s important that every young girl know how to cook so that they can be self-sufficient. What else do you cook?"

"Just basic things. Pasta… chicken… steak… rice… potatoes… and salad. Nothing fancy."

"Once you know the basics, you can expand on them easily. It sounds like you would have no trouble cooking a complete meal. That’s a big step ahead of many girls your age."

Just then, Mom came into the kitchen. "Morning, Jess. Morning, Crystal."

I said, "Good morning, Mom."

Aunt Jessica said, "Good morning, Susan. Didn’t you sleep well?"

"Well enough, I just can’t seem to wake up."

"Well, have a seat. Crystal will make your breakfast, won’t you dear."

"Sure, Aunt Jess." I got up and went to the stove. While I was cooking, Carol came in, so I made her breakfast also. As I dished the eggs up, the toaster popped up its four slices. I delivered the eggs, bacon and toast to the table and sat down.

Mom said, "Thank you, dear."

Carol said, "Thanks, sis."

"You’re both welcome."

Aunt Jessica said, "Do you have any plans for today, Susan?"

"I thought that we might go to one of the barbecues that some of the churches and social organizations are hosting around the city."

"That sounds like a fine idea. What do you kids think?’

Carol said, "Sounds like a plan to me."

I said, "Okay with me too."

Mom said, "I like your hair like that, Crystal. It will probably be a lot cooler than wearing it down. Did you intend to wear it like that to the barbecue?"

"I don’t know. I didn’t really give it much thought. I guess that it depends on what I wear. I guess that it would be cooler though."

Carol said, "I have the perfect dress. It’s a floral print that will look great on you."

After she and Carol had finished eating, Mom said, "I’ll clean up. Why don’t you girls take your baths? Jess, you can use my bathroom first, then I’ll go after you."

Carol and I went upstairs to my bedroom. She helped me to remove the corset while my bath ran. It felt so wonderful to once again have the restrictive garment off of my body. I scratched and rubbed the poor wrinkled flesh on my torso. I examined my breasts to see if the glue had started to let go but I could find no gaps. I sat down in the warm water when the tub was filled. I relaxed and let the warmth seep into my body. Then I used Carol’s razor to clear my body of any hair that I could find. With that done I washed, and then relaxed until the water started to cool.

I stepped out of the tub and patted myself dry. Then I used Carol’s powder before knocking on her door to tell her that the bathroom was free. I walked back into my bedroom and closed the door so that Carol would have privacy. I put on my panties while tucking myself back, and then put on the panty-girdle that gave me so much of my female shape. I got out one of the new bras that Mom had bought me and felt the relief when the weight of my breasts was shifted to my shoulders. I sat on the bed and rolled my nylons up my legs. After putting on a short chemise, I wrapped the corset around me and fastened the two front pieces. I adjusted the placement of the corset on my body, then tugged on the laces to close it as much as I could. When I couldn’t close it any more, I wrapped the laces around my body and tied them in a bow. I affixed my nylons to the hanging garter tabs and then sat down at my former desk, and now makeup table, to put on my makeup. I was about halfway through when I heard Carol getting out of the tub and draining the water. I was almost finished with my face when she opened the bathroom door and came into my room. She was wearing a full-length bath towel wrapped around her.

She said, "I came in to see if you needed any help before I went to get dressed."

"I could use some help with my corset. I can’t get it tight enough by myself."

"Okay, stand up and I’ll tighten it for you."

I arose from the chair and placed myself in front of her. I undid the laces from where I had tied them and she took them in her hands. She started pulling and tugging until I could barely breathe. As she pulled, her bath towel slipped off and she just kicked it out of the way. When she couldn’t make any more progress with the laces, she wrapped them around my waist and then tied them off behind me.

"There", she said, "that should be enough for now. Let me know if you want me to adjust it again before you finish getting dressed, Crys." She looked at me and said, "Your mascara is a little uneven. Let me fix it for you." She walked naked to my makeup table and got the bottle, then returned and worked on my eyes for a couple of minutes.

This was the first time that I had seen my sister totally naked since we had been very small children, and Mom had bathed us together in the tub. She had a very well proportioned body, although her breasts were smaller than mine were. Her skin was flawless and very smooth. I envied her natural curves because she didn’t have to wear a heavily padded panty-girdle to have feminine hips, nor a corset to reduce her waist size. She could just wear her regular clothes and look beautiful.

When she was satisfied with my mascara, she left to get dressed, telling me that she would return with the dress that she was lending me, and we could work on our hair and nails together. I walked around the room trying to get used to the corset’s tightness. After about five minutes, I sat down at my makeup table and looked at myself in the mirror. Not too bad, I thought. I wasn’t the makeup artist that Marge was, but I was getting better and had done a good job. With a few more days practice, I would be pretty good, not to mention pretty. Carol had been right when she had told Mom and Aunt Jessica that I had been the hit of the party last night. The boys had practically tripped over their tongues when they looked at me. Any 15-year-old girl would love to look like I did.

Carol came in carrying my dress. She told me to stand up again so that she could take in the slack from the corset now that I had been wearing it for awhile. I had just gotten used to it as it was, but I stood so that she could untie the laces. She pulled and tugged with all of her strength, finally putting her knee into my back for the final pull. Then she wrapped the long laces around my body twice and tied them off behind me. I could barely breathe, but knew that I would get used to it shortly, and that the laces would stretch a little as the day went on. Carol helped me to put on a full slip, and then the dress. She put the single strap heels on my feet because I could not bend over at all. When I stood up, I felt myself become 4 inches taller once again. After having worn Carol’s shoes all day yesterday, the thin heels gave me no trouble at all today.

Carol said that we would be more comfortable doing our nails in her room so I followed her there. We sat down at her makeup table and she did mine first, painting them with a lovely light burgundy color. After they had dried, I did hers with a ‘dusty rose’ shade that she liked. When we were done, it was still early, so we gave each other a pedicure as well. This was my first, and it hurt as she pushed the skin back on the cuticle line. She then put each of her feet into my lap, one at a time, so that I could do hers. I worked over a towel so as not to damage her dress. She squirmed, as I had, when I worked on her cuticles. When the nails were prepared, I applied two coats of the ‘dusty rose’ color. We sat and talked as we waited for the polish to dry. She wanted to know what I had thought about the boys that I had danced with last night. I told her which ones I had enjoyed dancing with and which ones were not very good. To my surprise, she agreed with all of my opinions about the different boys. We began talking about other boys at school and I was again surprised at how similar our opinions were. Perhaps my sister and I were not as different as I had always thought.

After the polish had dried thoroughly, Carol rolled my nylons back up my legs and attached them to the garters. Then she put the shoes on my feet again. After she had finished dressing herself, we did our hair. She combed and brushed mine, and then showed me the finer points of making a ponytail. I combed and brushed hers and tried what she had shown me but my efforts were not as successful. She had watched me in the mirror and explained what I had done wrong. My second attempt turned out much better but she wasn’t satisfied so she had me try again. She judged my third attempt to be perfect.

Finally, she selected some earrings and bracelets that she said would look fantastic with the dress that I was wearing, and I put them on. The earrings had large gold dangling pieces that tugged at my earlobes. After she had selected and put on her own, we went downstairs. Aunt Jessica and Mom weren’t down yet so we sat in the living room and glanced through some teen magazines. We talked about the clothes, jewelry, and hairdos in the magazines. We were so engrossed in our discussions that we didn’t even realize that Mom and Aunt Jessica had come down until Mom said, "Ready, girls?"

We both got up and hurried to get our purses and check our appearances in the mirror before hurrying out to the car. Mom drove us across the city to a small fair that was being hosted by a volunteer fire department just outside the city limits. As we rode, I noticed that many of the stores were open for business, especially the larger ones. Since yesterday had been the actual holiday, everybody was not observing today’s pseudo holiday status. I wondered if the manufacturer who had made my breasts was open. But then reflecting upon it, I realized that probably all of the regular businesses were closed. It was only the retailer’s who didn’t get the day off. It was like that on most holidays these days. The stores, especially the malls, were always open.

Arriving at the fairgrounds, Mom followed the directions of the parking attendants as they guided cars into the parking lot. When we exited the car, I did a quick count of the rows and approximate position of our parked car. At the gate, we paid the admission price, which gave us access to the fair and a ticket to the meal that would be served in the main tent from noon until 2 PM. We walked around the fair, stopping at many of the booths. At noon, we went to the main tent and enjoyed the meal that had been cooked by the fire company volunteers. It was very good, and seemed professionally organized. I knew that this fire company did this every year so I guess that the people in charge had had lots of practice.

After lunch, Mom and Aunt Jessica played numbers at some of the booths that had a large spinning wheel. It was kind of like roulette. You put a quarter down on the number of your choice and the wheel was spun. If your number came up, you were paid four for one, and there were only ten different numbers on the board. While Mom and Aunt Jessica satiated their gambling fever, Carol and I left to wander around.

As luck would have it, Carol met a boy that she knew. He and his friend were at a booth, throwing baseballs at those solid steel milk bottles that require an act of God to be knocked over. They would hit the bottles, but only make them wobble a little. We watched for several minutes until they gave up. When they were done, they turned their full attention to us. Pete introduced his friend Sean, and Carol introduced me as her sister Crystal. Both boys were just short of 6 feet tall. I estimated their ages to be 17 or 18. They invited us to accompany them around the fair and Carol accepted for us. She paired up with Pete, and Sean took up position at my side. We talked as we walked around and stopped at various booths to play the game offered there. At a dart throwing game Sean won a little stuffed puppy dog. He said that he would like me to have it. I accepted it and thanked him. I smiled and told him how adorable that I thought it was. My copying of Carol, Mom, and Aunt Jessica was beginning to show, I thought. Carol smiled at me.

When we got to the end of the fairway that contained the games, we arrived at the ‘rides’ area. Pete and Sean invited us to go on the rides with them and we agreed. First up was the ‘Merry Mixer’, an innocuous looking ride that whipped you about as it spun. Sean took the outside seat so that I would not be crushed by his weight as the ride spun the car that we were in. He put his arm around me as soon as the ride started to move, and for the next several minutes, we were spun around at an increasingly faster rate until the ride ended. When the ride was over, I noticed that Sean and Pete had now both progressed to resting their arms on Carol’s and my shoulders. No doubt a result of allowing it on the ride. Next up was the ‘Bullet’. It is a fully enclosed cage that spins around on a long, vertical arm, and turns you completely upside down as the cage revolves. After that was a ride that spins so fast that your body is pressed against the outside wall. Then the whole ride raises up to an angle that would cause you to fall out if the centrifugal force were not holding you in place. Lastly was the Ferris Wheel. My favorite ride has always been the roller coaster. But because this was a transportable fair, there was none here. By now, Sean’s arm had become a permanent fixture on my shoulders. As we sat in the Ferris Wheel gondola, while other gondolas were loaded, Sean tried to get a little friendlier. I did my best to keep him talking and managed to avoid any closer contact. Once the ride started, he stopped his advances as we revolved around the huge wheel. Because we had been the first gondola loaded, we were the first unloaded as well.

The rides had been a lot of fun, and I had enjoyed Sean’s company, but I was uncomfortable with his arm on my shoulders. Unfortunately I didn’t know how to ask him to remove it without angering him. I had been emulating Carol’s actions, and responses, as well as I could. When she had squealed on the rides, so had I. Since Carol seemed fine with Pete’s arm on her, I endured Sean’s. We spent the entire afternoon with Pete and Sean. Overall we had a good time. At suppertime we were standing near a ring toss game when Mom and Aunt Jessica found us. Carol introduced them to Pete and Sean. Both boys immediately dropped their arms from our shoulders.

Mom said, "Time to go home, girls. Say goodbye to your friends. We’ll be waiting at the exit." She and Aunt Jessica walked away.

Carol turned to say goodbye to Pete. He immediately bent and kissed her on the lips as she started to speak. Taking his cue from Pete, Sean did the same to me. I was startled, but I recovered quickly. The boys said that they had had a good time and asked if we could get together again. I quickly spoke up and said that I expected to be going home to Dayton tomorrow or Wednesday. Carol wrote down our home phone number and said that she would like to see Pete again. She said that they should call and find out if Crystal had been able to stay longer before ruling her out, since Aunt Jessica’s plans were not firm. They said that they would, and we left to hurry to catch up with Mom and Aunt Jessica. When we entered the parking area, they turned to the left instead of to the right where we had parked.

I said, "Mom, we parked on the other side of the lot."

"Your aunt and I ran a little errand while you were with your friends. You all looked like you were having such a good time that we didn’t want to disturb you. When we got back we had to park in a different spot."

As we got into the car, Mom looked at me and said, "Crystal, fix your lipstick. You must have smeared it when you kissed your boyfriend goodbye."

Without thinking I quickly said, "Mom, he’s not my boyfriend."

"But you did kiss him goodbye?"

"No. Yes. I mean No. I didn’t kiss him goodbye. He kissed me."

"Well, then fix your lipstick. He smeared it when you kissed."

I took out my compact and a tissue. I cleaned up the smeared lipstick and then applied a fresh coat.

Mom said, "That looks better dear. I don’t want my daughters looking

disheveled. You must always check your makeup after you been kissing your boyfriend. Carol you should fix yours also. It’s not as bad as your sister’s, but it could be neater."

Carol said, "Okay, Mom." She opened her purse and took out her compact, lipstick and a tissue. After removing the smear, she applied new lipstick, and then put her things back into her purse.

With that done, Mom finally started the car and drove us home. When we arrived, we put our purses away and went to the kitchen to start dinner. Mom had told us in the car what she wanted us to do, so Carol and I started preparing the meal. While she made the salad, I cut up a chicken and laid the washed pieces into an oven pan. I put a dollop of margarine on each piece and placed the pan into the pre-heated 350-degree oven. I set the timer for 45 minutes and then started working on preparing the frozen packages of Cut Green Beans and Nibblet Corn. Carol had finished the salad, and was washing some potatoes prior to nuking them in the microwave oven. We would have to wait for half an hour before cooking the frozen vegetables and nuking the potatoes so we sat down at the kitchen table to talk.

Carol said, "What did you think of Sean? He seemed like a nice guy."

"He’s nice. He tried to get fresh in the Ferris Wheel gondola car though."

"He did? What happened?"

"Nothing much. I held him off. He had his arm around my shoulders and he tried to pull me in close so that he could kiss me."

"Is that all?"

"Isn’t that enough? I had only met him two hours earlier. What kind of a girl did he think that I am?"

Carol said, "Loosen up, sis. He was only looking for a kiss."

"Did you kiss Pete?"

"No. I kept him talking and didn’t give him a chance to get amorous."

"Is that the secret?"

"One of them. Keep them busy, or off balance, and they’ll be good."

We talked until it was time to continue the meal preparation, and then continued to talk as we cooked. I don’t think that I had spent this much time talking to my sister, in all of our conversations over the past several years, combined. As we formed new bonds, I felt like I had found something that I had lost a long time ago.

When the food was almost ready, I went upstairs to inform Mom and Aunt Jessica. They were sitting in Mom’s bedroom discussing financial matters. They stopped talking as I knocked on the open door and told them that dinner was almost ready. They both stood up and walked towards me where I stood at the open door. Mom put her arm around me and kissed my forehead.

She said, "Thank you, darling. I haven’t told you how pretty I thought that you looked today. It’s been wonderful having a second daughter for the past few days. I’ll be sorry to see Crystal leave. Have you been very unhappy, sweetheart?"

"No, Mom, not unhappy. It’s just been different. I’ve finally gotten used to the high heels and dresses. I’m still not used to the corset though. It’s so restrictive. I can’t bend nor do a lot of things for myself. If it wasn’t for Carol, I couldn’t even get dressed in the morning."

"You didn’t mention your breasts. Have you gotten used to them?"

"Yes. They seem like a part of me, which they are until we get the solvent to remove them. But I don’t think about them anymore. They’re just there, like my long fingernails."

The three of us walked down to the kitchen to have dinner. Carol had set the table while I had gone upstairs. I took the chicken from the oven and put it onto a serving dish, which I carried to the table. Carol retrieved the potatoes from the microwave as I poured the beans and the corn into serving bowls. With all of the food on the table, we sat down to enjoy our meal. Mom and Aunt Jessica complimented Carol and myself on the cooking of the food. After dinner, Mom made a pot of tea as Carol and I cleared the table and did the dishes. Later, we all sat and talked as we drank the chamomile tea. It tasted a little bitter tonight. It was the first time that I had had it when wearing lipstick, I wondered if that was responsible for the slightly different taste. Before we realized it, it was bedtime. Carol and I walked upstairs as Mom and Aunt Jessica stayed behind to have some more tea.

With Carol’s help, I undressed and she loosened the corset about an inch. Just that small amount made a world of difference. After I unzipped her dress, we hugged and she went to her bedroom while I continued undressing. Once I had changed into my sleepwear, I removed my makeup, washed my under-things, and went to bed. I was getting used to the soft feel of the clothes and sleepwear that I had been wearing. It occurred to me that I would miss them when I switched back to my old identity. I re-lived the day’s events in my dreams that night.

 

(continued in Chapter 4)

 

 

 

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