Copyright 1999, 2002 by Wanda Cunningham. Lainie, Vickie, Rebel, Bashful, and everyone else thanks for the encouragement. There is no actual sex or transformation in this chapter, but I guess it should be rated R for context. So, nobody under 18 should read this, or whatever is the appropriate age in their community. This story deals with transgenderism in children and may be uncomfortable for some readers.

 

Kelly Girl

by Wanda Cunningham

Chapter 10

"Pretty Dolly"

  

Pete grinned at Kelly, not that Kelly could really tell without his glasses, but he could hear it in Pete's voice. "You look about seven in that outfit, Skipper."

Kelly, dressed in all the little girl finery Andie could find in the super-feminine bedroom, squirmed carefully. Andie had perched him atop one of the tall stools in the TV room and Kelly feared falling off.

Richard slugged his brother in the upper arm.

"Hey!" Pete protested, "What'd I do?"

"You are just such an ass," said Richard.

"Watch your language," warned Pete, taking a swipe at Richard's head.

Suddenly the two Mann brothers turned into a heap of flying elbows, knees and fists. The sounds of violence alarmed Kelly at first and then terrified him when one of the boys kicked the base of the stool.

Kelly grabbed for the counter to keep from falling but missed and a second blow overturned the stool. Kelly went flying, pink lacy dress, red hair ribbons, charm bracelet and all, pantied bottom over beribboned hair, right into the midst of the melee. Kelly screamed just before his head collided with something hard.

Andie dashed down the hall from her bedroom in the adult wing of house. "What the hell'sh going on?" she demanded.

Kelly lay in Richard's lap crying and rubbing his temple, while Pete hovered above him and both brothers babbled reassurances and apologies. "Sorry, sorry, oh, Kelly, it's okay, I'd didn't mean to, we were just playing, are you okay, oh, God, Andie is going to kill us."

Andie stepped in and lifted Kelly up quickly, "You okay, sugar?"

Kelly nodded, still sniffling, and trying to pull down his dress to cover—things. "I'm scared, not hurt," he told Andie.

"Morons!" Andie fussed with Kelly's clothes and hair for a moment and then agreed, "Yeah, you're okay?" She found the bump on the side of Kelly's head and examined it. "That hurt?"

"A little."

Andie glared at the boys who cowered away from their aunt as if they were still pre-teens and she their teenage babysitter which had been the situation only a few years ago. "What the SHTORK! were you two doing, using her as a football?"

"Stork?" said Richard.

"We were, um, wrestling and um, kicked her chair?" explained Pete, sheepishly.

Kelly giggled, Pete sounded funny, as if he were really afraid of his aunt. At 5'10" Andie towered over Kelly, but Pete stood five inches taller and probably half again the mass and three times the muscle.

Andie snorted, "I oughtta ground both of you troglodytes," but she looked at the overturned stool and realized that she had some fault for perching a half-blind Kelly on such a precarious spot. That only made her more angry. To cover, she examined Kelly again.

Kelly wondered why she had called the boys "Chocolate ice" or "chocolate guys" or whatever it was she had said. Realizing that the Manns might be in big trouble, Kelly tried to make excuses for them. "They were just playing, Andie? I'm okay."

Andie made a noise. "Well, you two don't deserve to have a little sister like Kelly, if you're going to mistreat her."

"Sister?" said Richard.

Kelly squirmed. "You want down, shugar?" asked Andie.

"Um? Where's my—purse?" he peered around, embarrassed to have to ask for such an object but he wanted his glasses back.

Richard passed up the little girl's pocketbook and Andie placed it on the counter, "It's safe, you can fix your makeup later, honey." She joggled Kelly in her arms to cover for the boy's flinch at the suggestion.

"We are sorry," said Pete, "I won't let it happen again."

"Absolutely NO roughhouse around the baby sister!" pronounced Andie. "You got that?" Kelly hid his face in Andie's shoulder having no other shield for his embarrassment. Kelly wondered vaguely why Andie did not feel as soft and yielding in the middle as his mom had when he had been small enough for her to pick him up.

"Yes'm," said Pete, and Richard added, "Yes, Andie, I'm sorry, too. I wouldn't want Kelly to get hurt."

Oh ho, thought Andie, seeing Richard's expression and recognizing it. So that's it. She grinned and hugged Kelly a little closer. "Well, if Barbie marries Harold, Kelly is going to be your little sister..."

Richard interrupted, "I thought Barbie and Kelly were sisters?"

"Doesn't matter," said Andie. "Harold will adopt our little blonde doll here." She joggled the blushing Kelly again. "He wants a daughter to spoil and Kelly is sort of elected instant princess."

The boys nodded, realizing that yes, their Dad had spent thousands on the contents of the little girl's room for Darla, the daughter who never arrived. With a real little girl in the house, he'd definitely want to make her a member of the family.

Kelly made a noise. "Okay, sweetie," said Andie, "we'll make a stop to see if you need anything and then we'll go to the eyeball doctor."

Richard watched them disappear into Kelly's room feeling a bit disappointed. He did not want Kelly to be his sister because he really thought he had fallen in love with the little blonde pixie.

"Doofus," said Pete, and whacked him in the back of the head.

* * * * *

Andie carried Kelly back to his room and sat him on the bed. Kelly made faces while she examined the side of his head again. "You're going to have a goose-egg, those idiots," Andie complained. "Let me get some ice," and she went back out to the kitchenette in the TV room.

Left alone for the moment, Kelly pulled his glasses out of the white pocketbook and discovered that the lenses had been broken. "F-f-f-Fratz!" The glasses had cost too much on his and Barbie's budget, he felt almost sick looking at the damage. Besides, with 20/200 vision in his better eye, he really needed the glasses; anything much more than four or five feet away blurred out to just patches of color. Don't cry, he told himself, please don't cry.

"What, honey?" Andie asked, coming back in with a dishtowel wrapped around some ice cubes from the dispenser in the door of the refrigerator. "Those idiots are wrestling again," meaning the Mann brothers.

"My glasses got broken." Kelly's lip began to tremble and his eyes burned a little. "Andie!" The hot tears came and Kelly gulped, he hated for his things to get broken. "Those stupid boys!" he complained.

Andie put the icepack against the knot on Kelly's head, "Hold this, let me see." She took the pocketbook and looked inside. "Oh! What a mess! It's a good thing you didn't cut yourself, the glasses and the mirror in your compact and the little bottle of cologne, all broken!"

She carried the pocketbook to a trashcan and dumped it. "It's lucky we're going straight to the optometrisht, huh?" She looked in the bag and decided there were still too many tiny shards of glass and tossed it into the trash also. Kelly didn't see that, it would have appalled his thrifty soul to see her toss away something that could be salvaged.

"Uh huh," he said morosely.

"Are you crying?"

"Uh huh," said Kelly and the tears really began. "Andie, I was so scared! And they broke my glasses, and—and," he rubbed at his eyes and tried to control his crying.

Andie held him for a bit while he cried out his fear, "It's okay, sweetie, it's just stuff and you're not really hurt, punkin." When he'd stopped crying she kept holding him for a bit longer. "If those idiots start fighting again when you're in the room, I want you to yell for me or your Dad or Concha to get them to stop, okay?"

"M-m-my Dad?" Kelly had never known a father, Barbie had never told anyone who had gotten her pregnant thirteen years ago. Andie had really baffled him for a moment.

"Buzzy." She explained, trying again. "I mean, Harry. He's going to marry your mom and that will make him your dad, right?"

Kelly shook his head. "I don't think they're gonna get married, not for real." Acquiring a father had always been a distant and unattainable goal for Kelly.

"Well, that's the plan at the moment," said Andie. "Now, do we need to change your clothes? Did you get dirty?" She checked him out and found a scuff mark from a sneaker on the lace of one sleeve. "Damn. Okay, out of the dress, shugar."

Kelly allowed himself to be undressed and sat limply while Andie picked out something else to wear. Her exclaimed, "Oh, this is cute," when she found something she liked made him wince only slightly. He didn't bother to look around, still thinking about whether getting a father was worth seeing his mom get married to... well, to anyone.

"Look at this, Kelly Girl," said Andie, holding up a white little girl dress covered in tiny red hearts. "Isn't it adorable?"

"I don't know," said Kelly glumly, "I can't see a damn thing without my glasses."

"Darn thing," said Andie, gently reminding him. "Little girls don't cuss." She began dressing Kelly again, pulling the dress over his head and lifting him easily to adjust the not quite knee length skirt. "Look, the little buttons are shaped like hearts, too."

"Great," said Kelly with barely discernible sarcasm. This whole charade got weirder and weirder. Should I remind her I'm not really a My Size Barbie Doll, he wondered.

Very soon, after more hair brushing and another light application of little girl makeup, Andie announced that they were ready to go. Kelly, stood and readjusted his skirt after sliding off the bed. "Do I need another purse?" he asked though he couldn't have said why the thought had occurred to him.

"Um," said Andie, a little bemused also that Kelly thought of needing a purse. "Yeah, I guess so? Oh! Here, this little red one is heart-shaped, just like the buttons on your dress."

Kelly closed his eyes and shook his head very slightly. Andie handed him the little purse, or rather, put it into his hand and then scooped him up again. "Let's go, baby."

"I'm not a baby!" protested Kelly.

Andie laughed, "Yes, you are, you're Aunt Andie's pouty little baby girl," and she joggled him and tickled his tummy.

"Andie!" Kelly wondered briefly if he could grab one of the metal adornments that pierced Andie's hide in profusion and yank on it hard enough to pull it out. But he didn't do that, partly for fear that Andie would drop him, or worse, turn him over her knee and paddle him like his grandmother Amanda used to do. Getting paddled while wearing girl's panties seemed a very embarrassing thing to contemplate. Also, for all of being genuinely upset with Andie over her teasing, Kelly simply did not have the will to cause anyone pain.

Besides, he kind of liked getting tickled. He tried tickling back, but Andie seemed to be armored under her lacy blouse.

"Oh!" said Andie when she had produced a good crop of giggles, "I almosht forgot!" She set him down and snagged an object from the top of one of the dressers. "I went down to my room to get this for you!"

Kelly squinted. "What is it?"

Andie put it into his hand, "It's a dolly, my old dolly." She grinned.

"A doll?" Kelly examined the toy with his hands and held it close to his face. "Is it a boy doll?"

"Uh huh," said Andie. "His name is 'Robin' after Chrishtopher Robin, I wanted to call him Chrish but Buzzy talked me out of that."

Kelly grinned, he knew Andie couldn't hear her own lisp most of the time. The doll had a stuffed cloth body and a plastic head with molded blond hair. About ten inches tall, wearing blue shorts, yellow tee and white sneakers, the doll actually looked a bit like Kelly usually looked. "What do you mean, you got it for me?" he asked.

"A gift, I want you to have it. I had it all cleaned up and new clothes put on and new plastic paint for the hair and eyes. It looks brand new, though it's over twenty years old. I bet I carried old Robin here to the moon and back, we were always together."

Kelly peered at Andie. There had been a catch in her voice. "It's a nice doll, Andie, but um, I'm kinda old for dolls and um, besides?" He didn't want to announce his true sex again with the Mann brothers just outside the door.

Andie grinned, "Oh, you're never too old for dolls, shugar. But Robin is a special doll, for me, and I'd like you to have him. For your own, if you want but at least as a loan while you're here being our little Kelly Girl?" She reached out a finger and 'smoothed' the yellow painted hair of the boy doll.

"You'd give me your favorite dolly from when you were a little girl?" Kelly asked wonderingly. "To keep?"

"Um," Andie hesitated. "Yeah. Yeah, I want you to have him." She put her hand behind her back.

Kelly didn't quite understand, but the gift seemed to have acquired new significance. Andie had been Barbie's friend and Kelly's honorary aunt ever since they had moved to Newport Beach. If they had let her, Kelly knew that Andie would have bailed them out of money problems any number of times. But they never asked, saving that sort of favor for some unforseeable extremity; and Andie had respected them enough to never insist they take her money though she used birthdays and Christmas to supply sometimes extravagant gifts.

"We're both crying," Kelly observed.

Andie nodded. "Yeah, well. Look, carry him like this, under your arm next to your body. Yeah," she adjusted the position of the doll in Kelly's grasp. "That's good, he likes to be able to see where he's going."

Kelly giggled. "I feel incredibly silly. I am twelve you know." Of course, he thought, I am dressed as a little girl, the doll probably just adds to all of it. That thought made him blush hotly.

Andie laughed. "Oh, damn. Well, I carried Robin, in my backpack, till I got out of cosmetology school and he's been sitting on the dresser in my old room here since then." She surveyed the effect she had achieved. "You are just so cute, you're going to break Buzzy's heart."

Alarmed, Kelly made a few random movements, "I don't want him mad at me!"

"No, no. He's going to love it." Oh yeah, thought Andie, when he sees these pictures he's going to flip. Kelly, without his glasses, hadn't even noticed Andie taking snapshots with the tiny digital camera.

 

The Mann boys were back in their rooms getting ready to go over to the high school for Pete's pre-semester football practice. Andie and Kelly headed down the hall to the adult wing of the mansion without having to say goodbyes. Fine with me, thought Kelly, those guys are kind of scary.

Down the staircase at that end to the larger of the two garages they went. The dress felt a little drafty on the stairs and Kelly self-conciously tugged at the skirt. "Think someone can see your panties?" teased Andie.

"Yeah," Kelly sighed. "But there's no one down there. Well, I don't think there is, is there?" Trying to peer downward, he swayed slightly and caught at the banister. "I'm dizzy," he said. "These stairs seem steeper without my glasses." He closed one eye but it didn't seem to help.

"You're *ditzy*, just like your mom, get used to it," Andie laughed, but she caught his wrist and held it the rest of the way down the stairs. "Don't squint, dear, it causes crow's feet."

They went into the garage on the opposite side from the one where the boys had parked the big Mercedes. This one held another Mercedes, a sports car, plus a Jaguar sedan and Andie's car. The big door opened onto the street as Andie opened the door of her little hot pink Miata convertible for Kelly. "Fanny, foot, foot," she said.

"What?" he asked, certain he had heard that wrong.

"Fanny, foot, foot," she repeated. "It's how you get into a car. You'll see guys get in, foot, fanny, foot. They step into the car. But a girl always gets in fanny, foot, foot. Unless of course, you're getting into the back seat of a two-door car, which you should never try to do wearing a skirt, especially a tight one." Andie smiled.

Kelly considered the instruction, it did make sense. It would keep anyone from seeing up your skirt unless you were very careless. Moving carefully he tried to follow Andie's directions but discovered that he wasn't quite tall enough to put his butt on the seat with his feet still outside the car.

Andie lifted him and put him on the seat. "Alley oopshie, Kelly Doll." He automatically smoothed the skirt behind him as he adjusted his position in the little car and lifted his feet inside. "Very good," said Andie. "And you get out, the reverse; foot, foot, fanny."

He giggled, "I don't think that will work for me either, even in this little of a car."

Andie laughed and beeped him on the nose. "Well, remember it for later, when you get tall enough for your boyfriends to take you out on dates.

"Ack!" He shook his head, "Andie, I'm not gonna have boyfriends! I'm—" he stopped and peered around to make sure no one else could hear.

"Shh, I know," she said, "Remember, we're pretending for this weekend and I'm making you do all thish so I get to pretend you're going to have lots of boys chasing you, too." She laughed.

He giggled in spite of himself, Andie's efforts to make things pleasant, humorous, even silly, did ease his anxieties a little. His predicament wasn't really her fault but he veered away from deciding who was at fault for it. He adjusted his grip on his purse and the little blond boy doll. "I've got too much to carry," he said.

Andie leaned in and began belting him in. "Well, you didn't want me to carry you," she reminded him.

"Hey! I can do my own belt," he protested.

"Shure," she agreed. "But this needs adjusting 'cause you're so small." She grinned, "You pout cute."

"I am not pouting," he said perfectly aware that, yes, he probably did have that expression.

Andie laughed, closed his door and went around the car to get in on her side. The big garage door had fully opened and the glorious blue of an Orange County summer sky invited them to come outside and enjoy the reason so many people wanted to live in Newport Beach. Andie wheeled the little car out onto the circular driveway and drove like her last name was Mann.

He still felt a bit ridiculous dressed as a girl, but not wearing his glasses kept him from noticing the looks he and Andie attracted in the little pink car as they turned onto PCH toward the Fashion Island Mall.

As they turned into the big parking lot, Kelly felt a laugh well up inside him. With one knuckle between his teeth, he tried to control the incipient giggle. "What...what am I laughing about?" he asked.

"I don't know," said Andie innocently. "Something about which came first, the foot or the fanny, maybe?" She grinned at him as the giggle burst out again.

"I'm hysterical," he said. "Or something."

"You're not that funny," said Andie with another smile, putting the car into line for valet parking. Kelly had been to this mall many times before but everything seemed new somehow.

Two valets opened the doors for them and the one on his side, a teenage boy in a blue blazer, winked at him causing Kelly to burst into giggles again. Andie came around the car quickly and lifted him out and sat him on the pavement. "Say hi to the nice boy," she told him.

The teenager waggled his eyebrows and Kelly lost it again, finally grabbing Andie's hand and tugging her away from the valet stand to escape the older boys' mugging. It didn't even occur to him to be worried about the boy guessing that he, too, was a boy. He just wanted to get away before he giggled so much he got sick.

Kelly managed to ask Andie, "Why-why am I laughing so much? I think I'm going crazy. It wasn't that funny. He was just being silly."

"Boys love to act silly for pretty girls," observed Andie. "You've always been a giggler, how do I know what makes you giggle? I guess you're just a ditz like your mother." She smiled to show she was teasing.

"Fanny, foot, foot. Foot, foot, fanny," said Kelly, which cracked up Andie this time. Kelly giggled till it hurt and stoped only with a lot of effort. He wanted to wipe his eyes but he knew he would just smear the makeup.

Andie sighed when they had things under control. She took a fond look at her little charge and said. "We're going to have to get you some indelible makeup, your mascara is running." Before Kelly could really think about where she was leading him, they had gone into the Ladies' Room behind the little food court. "You need to go, hon?" she asked.

Kelly shook his head, looking around curiously, not that he could see much without his glasses. He'd been into women's restrooms with his mother until he had started school, but he'd never been into this one. A middle-aged lady leaned over and smiled at him and wiggled her fingers. "Aren't you just a little doll!" she cooed.

He blinked, then wiggled his fingers back. She thinks I'm a little kid, he said to himself, then had to stifle more nervous giggles.

"She's being shy," said Andie. "Shay hello to the lady, Kelly."

"Hello, ma'am," said Kelly obediently.

"Oh, so polite," said the lady. "How old are you, honey?"

"She's seven," said Andie causing Kelly to look up at her in astonishment. "Sheven and a half," amended Andie, grinning down at him.

The older woman nodded, "Oh, at that age, those half years, are important. Aren't they, sugar?" she finished to Kelly.

"I guess," said Kelly, completely at a loss now.

"I've got a little granddaughter just about your age, honey," said the woman. "She's eight and I think a bit taller than you." Kelly's mouth dropped open at that information.

Andie flipped open her purse and took out some tissues with makeup remover already in them. "Let me wipe your eyes, hon, you look like Tammy Fae."

That set Kelly off again with another round of giggles but he stood still while Andie carefully removed the ruined eye makeup using the tissues.

"The raccoon look is not in this year, huh?" observed the middle-aged lady.

Andie laughed, "No, no, but to see some of the Goth types that come into my shop, you'd think it was. We were playing with makeup earlier and little giggle box here made her mascara run."

The woman laughed. "She's so darling in that little dress. And the heart-shaped purse, oh, and a little dolly. What's her name?"

Kelly peered up at the lady, "The doll? *His* name is Robin."

"It's a boy doll?"

"Uh-huh," said Kelly and held the doll out so the lady could see. What am I doing, he wondered, I do sound like a little kid.

"Oh? Are you sure it's a boy doll? Robin could be a girl's name, too?"

Kelly shook his head and decided to see what would happen if he told the truth. "No, he's a boy, just like me."

The woman laughed so hard she had to wipe her eyes. Andie laughed, too. And Kelly finally giggled a bit, exasperated but not surprised that the woman thought he had been joking.

Andie took out combs and brushes to work on their hair a bit. "She loves to play that she's a boy," she told the laughing woman who could only nod in understanding, still chortling. "Sometimes it's a struggle to get her looking nice," Andie said, sort of telling the truth.

"Well, you certainly look nice this morning, honey," said the woman after catching her breath. "So, you're a little tomboy?"

Kelly shrugged and bit his lip, what the heck could he say to a question like that? Andie grinned at him and winked as she brushed his hair. He tried poking Andie in the side with a stiff forefinger while she worked, but again she didn't seem to notice. What the heck has she got on under her clothes, he wondered.

The woman spoke to Andie, "Well, you should keep her cleaned up and looking nice more often, she's so darling in that outfit."

Good grief, thought Kelly, and closed his eyes for a moment.

The woman went to the door to leave the restroom, "Bye-bye, Pretty Kelly Dolly." She's probably waving at me, thought Kelly so he waved in that general direction, deliberately doing a little kid wave, just opening and closing his hand. "You be good for mommy. So cute!" said the lady and disappeared.

"Oh, my," laughed Andie. "That wash rich!"

"I'm glad you thought it was funny," said Kelly, a little annoyed. "Why did you tell her I was seven?"

"To see if she'd believe it," said Andie. "But she shwallowed it whole and never batted an eye."

"Yeah, well, you're so tall, you make me look even shorter," said Kelly, but he couldn't keep from grinning a little. If you didn't get all freaked out by it, it had been kind of funny.

Andie stood and worked with her own hair a moment, "This is fun, huh?"

"Sort of," admitted Kelly. "Kinda like Halloween."

"Wanna bet on whether I can convince the eye doctor that you're only five?" asked Andie.

"No way!" Kelly protested, "I *know* I'm too tall for that!"

"Bet?" challenged Andie.

"Huh? Bet what?"

"Well, not money, but shome sort of forfeit? Um," said Andie. "If I win, you have to pretend to be five for the rest of the day? While we're out, anyway," she amended.

"Huh, no," said Kelly.

"Aw, c'mon, think up a forfeit for me, if you win."

Kelly frowned. "What kind of forfeit? No, I don't think so."

"Go on, you can think of shomething; and if I'm willing to do it if I lose, we'll have a bet."

Kelly thought about asking for an end to the charade as Andie's forfeit but decided she probably wouldn't agree to that. "Take me to Vegas to see, Mom?" he suggested.

Andie sucked on her lip a moment then nodded, "Okay, but you have to co-operate with the gag and not walk in there talking about Dostoyevsky or Pythogarash or something."

Kelly laughed. "Okay, I'll pretend to be little to see if you can make him believe it, but I won't tell him I'm five, for gosh sakes."

"Deal," said Andie, grinning triumphantly. "Here, give me your purse."

"Huh?" said Kelly but he handed over the little heart-shaped bag.

Andie stuffed it into her voluminous handbag and rummaged around for something else. Still grinning, she pulled out a cherry-flavored lollipop and unwrapped it.

"Uh oh," said Kelly.

"Here, keep this in your mouth and don't say a word," Andie handed him the confection. "Shweet!"

  

  

  

*********************************************
© 2003 by Wanda Cunningham. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without the express written consent of StorySite and the copyright holder.