Rosemarie                 by: Rachel Ann Cooper         © 1998

 

My name is Rose Marie Sesto, at least it is now. I was a student at Carnegie Mellon University and had attended a frat party with my buddies. I pledged them when I was a freshman but I lived off campus with my parents. I had a good part time job and good grades and things were looking pretty rosy for a minuscule Italian kid. Then one of the guys from the house said that they were looking for a hostess for their next shindig. None of the attending girls nibbled at the bait. We would have to find another way.

One of my brothers who lived at the house was an amateur magician and hypnotist. He was pretty good, to. He managed to fool us all the time. We’d never seen him hypnotize anyone though and at the board meeting, someone challenged him to do it. He looked around the room, keeping in the back of his mind, I found out later, that they were looking for a hostess. There I was, the slightest, shortest guy in the room and he zoomed right in on me. In retrospect, I really don’t know if my stature had anything to do with this.

"Hey, Rodney, how about volunteering. I promise it won’t hurt a bit." I didn’t want to seem like a wuss, so I said, "sure, go for it. I don’t believe you can do it anyway." About 10 minutes later I was saying, "see, I knew you couldn’t do it." "Well, it was worth a shot," he said. I thought I heard a snigger. Maybe not. The meeting adjourned without a solution to the problem. The dance was three weeks away. They had time.

The following week, I got a phone call. The voice said, "is this Rodney Sesto?" I said, "yes, it is." "Beetlejuce." The next thing I remember, I was in Walmart and it was about 11 o’clock at night. The place was all but deserted. What the hell was I doing at Walmart? I checked my wallet and found five twenty dollar bills I apparently had hidden for a rainy day.

The next thing I knew I was in the hosiery department picking out a pair of thigh high hose which I went up and paid for. I headed straight for the men’s room and put them on. Then I went back into the store with a cart, into the ladies shoes, picked out a pair of black high heeled pumps, tried them on, satisfied that they fit, I put them in the basket. I’d never seen a girls fashion shoe with a four inch heels from Walmart before.

Then in quick succession, the rest of a complete ensemble followed; shoulder bag, padded bra, panties, slip, skirt, blouse, earrings. Then off to the cosmetics department where I got foundation, eye makeup, nail polish and remover, blush, curlers, hair spray and lipstick. I knew instinctively I couldn’t go into the try on rooms but knew that I didn’t need to. I took my purchases to the one of the two cashiers working and she rang me up and giving me a most peculiar stare. It took four of my 20s but I didn’t care. I took these things home, put them away and went to bed.

I woke up the next morning and didn’t remember a thing about it and went off to class. I saw Mark, the guy that tried to hypnotize me over at the house. He said, "hi. Beetlejuce." I remembered that we had a short general conversation. I didn’t have to work that night so I started to study. The clock said seven. I got out my cosmetics and began practicing. When I was fairly satisfied, I put on my entire outfit and practiced in my new almost 4" heels and didn’t take them off until 11, when I went to bed. During that time, I became acquainted managing my heels and sitting like a proper lady. I again put everything away, cleaned off my makeup and went to bed.

The next morning I again remembered nothing of the episode. This continued for the balance of the week, every time I sat down to study at home, I would get out my things, curl my hair, put on my makeup, becoming quite proficient at it including the wearing of feminine clothing and everything else, while I studied. Mom came up to see if I wanted anything to drink. She knew how hard I had been studying and she found me as described, hair combed out into a pageboy with bangs, dressed to the nines with complete makeup.

I saw the expression on her face and couldn’t understand it. "What, she said, are you doing in that get up?" Apparently, Mark had taken care of this situation. I said, "Oh, it’s nothing Mom, I’m just practicing for a party at the frat house next Saturday." "Oh, she said. Alright honey, do you want anything from the kitchen?" I was a little thirsty after all and accepted her kind offer and she brought me a soda. She looked me over again and said, "you know Rod, you make a rather cute girl." "Thanks Mom. I’m trying to make it look authentic." She went back downstairs.

It was then that I realized that I had told the truth. I had been chosen to be the hostess for the dance and was practicing being a girl. Neat, I thought. Ought to be fun. Funny, but I don’t remember that part of the meeting. Now allowed to be fully aware, I came home early the next day as I only had morning classes and changed. I had occasion to leave my room to go to the bathroom and kitchen and didn’t give it a second thought, spending the entire afternoon as Rose since Mom had seen me and knew why I was doing it, or so we thought. That was my name for the party. I was Rose Marie. Mom, bless her, just acted like everything was normal and her son wore dresses and high heels all the time and so what!

"Mom, I asked, would I fool you if you didn’t know me?" "Oh, yes honey, I think you are going to fool them all. You are very convincing as a girl. You’ve gotten better. You move nicely now and your mannerisms are very girlish. This isn’t a trend is it?" "I don’t know Mom, maybe." I went upstairs to get changed for work. On the way home from work, I again stopped into Walmart and picked up the cutest nightie, robe and slippers and wore the nightie to bed, waking up the next morning in perfect comfort with myself. I changed, took my lipstick off and went to breakfast and left for school. My classes ended at two on Friday and I again came home and ‘practiced’ while I studied until time for supper and work.

Again I came home by way of Walmart. It had been payday and I realized I had my hose on and went back into shoes and picked out a cute pair of red flats and then a waist cincher in lingerie. I paid and went home, putting the cincher in the drawer where I kept my nightie and the new shoes in my closet. Didn’t I just go beyond the needs for the party, I asked myself?" "Myself said, "yes, but you like being Rose Marie," that little voice said.

Well, I got ready for bed and went to the bath in my gown and slippers. Mom was coming upstairs as I was going down the hall. "Oh, then it IS a trend after all, she said and went to bed. OK, whatever." "Goodnight Mom."

By this time you are wondering, where’s Dad? He passed away last year from coronary heart disease. It was just Mom and me. I had early on arranged for Saturday to be an absolutely free day. After breakfast, I got myself fixed up as Rose Marie and went off to the flea market, where I had my ears pierced and studded. There was a nail booth there and on an impulse, I sat down and had a lovely set of artificial nails put on and lacquered, not TOO long. I could still type. That set me back another $20 but the results were worth it. I went to Walmart again and found a nice half sleeve knit dress on sale and just HAD to have it. Then I went home, put on my cincher and tried on my new dress. Well, it was smashing, better than the skirt and blouse and it showed off my figure better, so I left it on. Mom seemed a little uneasy.

She finally said, "honey, who is this person I’m living with all of a sudden?" "Oh, my name is Rose Marie for the party Mom." "Well, then that’s what I’ll call you Rose until or IF I see my Rodney back." I wondered why she had said it that way. She went back to her knitting.

We had supper and then I went over to the house about seven. Mark opened the door and said, "Rosie, you look wonderful and you smell good too. Come in. We were just talking about how we wanted you to greet and escort people next week. So I went into the board room and a round of applause went up. "Honey, you are a fox. I’m glad we chose you for this assignment" remarked out President.

How are things going at home?" "Well, Mom was a little upset at first, but she is calling me Rose now and I’ve expanded my wardrobe a little for some reason. I found the most delicious dress the other day." Why was I telling this to a bunch of guys? This was girl talk.

"Alright Rosie, have a seat and we’ll go over this for you." Do you understand what you are to do? Yes. And if someone asks to dance with you?" "I’ll dance with him of course." "Wonderful." I think this concludes this meeting lady and gentlemen.

The next morning, I realized everything I had done and was not upset. I had new earrings and my hands never looked lovelier. I put on my slippers, threw on my nylon robe and went down for a bowl of cereal. Mom was in the kitchen.

"Good morning Rose. I see you are still with us." "Uh, yes, Mom, I guess I am. I don’t know how to get these nails off anyway." "Are you going to find yourself a new job dear? That party isn’t ‘till next week is it?" "I don’t know, I said, suddenly realizing that I had almost two weeks to go and had spent $20 on my nails and had my ears pierced." "It might be a good idea, huh?" "Well, if you are going to remain like that for any length of time, I’d say so. You have a scholarship, but you need spending money. And what are you going to do about who attends classes?" "They are all in big lecture halls Mom. Everyone is practically anonymous. I can even take a test and sign his name." "You mean Rodney’s name." "Right." "Well, alright dear. You just keep practicing. Your father’s insurance has left us rather well off, and our investments are doing well, but I still want you to find another job." "Ok Mom, I’ll start looking."

Meantime, how was I going to face the guys at the frat house like this? Funny, Mark had greeted me as Rosie. I thought I dreamed that name up and they were all very cordial to me. I wonder if they would mind me coming over like this? Well, I don’t really need to. We don’t have another board meeting until Friday. I’ll go then.

All of a sudden, I was Rosie ALL the time ‘practicing’ for the party. But then, in the Sunday paper, a couple of stores had unbelievable sales on shoes and dresses. I asked Mom if she would let me use her charge card until I was re-employed. She was agreeable to that and I went right out and got myself two more pretty dresses and another skirt, a couple bouses and, of course, several pairs of darling shoes to go with them. I came home and gave her the card back and thanked her taking my loot upstairs to unpack. By this time, I had the makeup and hair down rather well. Mom said, "would you like to model anything for me honey?" "I’d love to Mom, be right down. So I slipped into my new blue wool dress and matching heels and went down to show her. "Oh honey, that looks beautiful on you. You seem to have an eye for color." "Thanks Mom." I went back to my room and got into something a little more comfortable, as they say. Six days to the party.

Well, Rosie got up and went to school every day and, aside from Rodney’s frat brothers, who always said hello, nobody had a clue. I guess I was going to make it as a hostess with none the wiser. This was going to be fun. But why did I continue to buy girl’s clothes? And why was my mother so accepting of this peculiar behavior? Well, I’ll make a note to ask her after the party.

And then it was Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then Friday, the next board meeting, and I arrived at 7 as usual. This time it was Hal who answered the door and he was just as cordial as Mark had been last week and very complimentary. I had decided to try out the blue wool and pumps on them. Again as I entered the board room, there were cheerful, welcoming faces but no applause this time. We transacted the business and adjourned. We all sat around the rec room for a little while before I realized I was the only girl there and got a little uncomfortable, excusing myself. I was really looking forward to this dance though.

I arrived a little early and put on an apron and helped bring out the food. Then it was time for me to attend to my duties as hostess. So, in the early part of the evening, I spent most of my time at the door, greeting people and taking coats and showing people around, making them comfortable, as any good hostess would do. About nine thirty, just about anyone who was going to come was there and Bob, the President, told me to take a break and then come back and enjoy myself. I thanked him and did just that, having a seat with the guests and got myself a soda. I realized I didn’t have a drivers license yet in Rosie’s name. It would be bad enough just to get stopped.

I got pinched a couple of times and later that night had a few dances with a real hunk who paid to get in to the dance. It was over at 11, having lasted three hours. My feet were a little tired but otherwise, I felt great. I got in my car and drove home. I’m glad I have an automatic shift. I can’t imagine shifting in heels. It was about midnight when I got home. Mom was asleep. I creamed off my makeup, rolled my hair and got into my gown and went to bed.

"Did you have a nice time last night, dear?" "Oh, yes, Mom. I danced with this really handsome fellow from the University of Pittsburgh several times. He wanted my phone number." "Did you give it to him dear?" "No mom. I’m not gay. Well, I don’t think I’m gay. He was cute though.

On Monday I saw Mark at the coffee shop and asked him if we could talk. I was, of course, still Rose Marie and frankly, boys and girls, loving every minute of it and not knowing why. I hadn’t even considered dressing as Rodney. I just had to talk to Mark. We found an empty classroom and I asked him, "Mark, how did I get in this fix and why don’t I want to get out of it? Did you have something to do with this? Was I really hypnotized and didn’t know it?"

"One at a time, please, Rosie, he replied. First of all, the reason you were, or rather Rodney, was picked, was that the brothers had noticed certain character traits in him right from the start not to mention his stature, but we wanted his high scholastic achievements in the house, so we ignored them.

And yes, you really were hypnotized but we didn’t want to make you do anything against your will, so I asked you one simple question: what has been your fondest wish, your secret unfulfilled hope and dream? Your answer was a little surprising but we sympathized. You told us that you had always wished you had been born a girl and that if you could, you would live out the rest of your life as a woman. I then asked you if you really wanted to be a woman forever and you emphatically said yes. So without further ado, we elected you our hostess and I gave you suggestions that would help you attain your dream. I hope you are not angry with us Rose."

"Oh, my heavens, I said as my perfectly manicured hand went up to my mouth in astonishment. So THAT is why I just keep wanting more clothes and girl stuff and feel so comfortable with all of this." "I am sure, Rose, that with your father’s estate, you can afford to realize your dream and we, your brothers, will always remember your service to the frat house. However, I guess you understand that we cannot by national charter, have a girl as a member. I have talked with the girls over at Tri Delta and they have agreed to extend you an offer of membership in their sorority, if that is acceptable to you." "Oh, yes. Absolutely."

"Do you have any idea why my Mom is so accepting of me this way?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. When we realized your plight, we invited your Mom over here for a chat. We laid it all out for her. She knows your fondest desires and wants you to be happy, as do we. You can now be quite openly female with her. She understands that she will shortly have a real daughter. You are coming up on your senior year and we have also talked to the Registrar, advising him of your situation. He has agreed to change the records and if you begin at once, your required year of living as a woman will have been completed and you can graduate as Rose Marie." It was then that I lost it and began to cry uncontrollable tears of joy. Bob offered me his hankie and put his strong arm around me. After drying my eyes, I thanked him profusely and kissed him and he didn’t move away. He was, after all, kissing a girl.

I found another job part-time in my field, electrical engineering. I think they may hire me full time when I get my degree. We get along very well and they like my work. Mom has been a real gem. And the girls at Tri Delt have been wonderful to me. I’ve been in intensive hormone therapy now for nine months and Mom has agreed to pay for my operation. It just doesn’t get any better than this, unless you factor in John Harmon, a fellow at work whom I’ve been dating. Yes, he knows and tells me he has never met a more natural woman than I. Isn’t that sweet? And who knows where THAT may lead?

The end..

 

© 1997-2000 No work herein described may be reproduced or distributed in print or electronic media without the author's express consent.  Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, to actual names that may exist or to circumstances which may have occurred or to other stories in this genre is purely coincidental.

At the request of the author, this story is presented in a 12 point, Times New Roman font.