The bus pulled away and Jake just had to cross the park now to his house. He tottered along in his pink high heels, clutching his petticoats against the wind and concerned that his bonnet, which was perfectly designed to catch every breath of wind, would blow off him.
As he turned a corner around a hedge he saw a gang of boys playing football. He tried to quicken his pace to get past them as quickly as possible but his heels on gravel did not facilitate that.
“Hello!” he heard from one of the boys and he cringed. He tried to ignore them and continue but three of them ran around in front of him and cut off his escape. He clutched his doll and bunny nervously and took a firmer grip on his pink heart-shaped handbag.
The boys looked him up and down while smirking. He assumed that they didn’t realise he was a boy or they would be doing more than smirking. “What’s your name?” one of them asked. Jake tried to think what name might they find acceptable. “Diane”, he squeaked.
The boy was puzzled. “Diane who? Where do you live?” Jake sighed. They weren’t to be put off easily. “Diane Granger” he responded, giving his sister’s name. The boy frowned. “You’re not Diane Granger. She’s in my sister’s class.” Jake sighed – just his luck.
He tried to walk past them but they blocked his way. There was no way he could get away from them in these heels and in his wind-resistant petticoats. “You’re not getting past until you tell us who you are – and it better be the truth this time!” The boy stepped forward and ran his hand along the hem of Jake’s petticoats threateningly.
Jake’s shoulders sagged. There was no way out of it. “Jake Granger”, he muttered. The boy’s jaws dropped. They stood back in surprise and looked again at Jake’s pink frilly dress, lacey bonnet with ringlets dangling at the edges, his petticoats with lacey bloomers peeking beneath, white tights, pink socks and high heeled sandals. Why would a boy want to dress like that! What a sissy with his doll, bunny and pink handbag!
Jake wanted to die. “My mother made me model these clothes because my sister broke her arm”, he explained. But it didn’t really account for why he was flouncing across a public park on his own wearing ultra-sissy clothes.
The ring-leader stepped closer to him. He reached for the ribbon tying Jake’s bonnet and pulled it loose. He grabbed the bonnet and threw it to another boy. He held it over a muddy puddle. “No please!” Jake begged. He knew the hours of work his mother had put into that bonnet, sewing the lace and flowers into the brim and how much money she needed to get for it. She would be furious. He realized how sissy he looked pleading for the naughty boys not to damage his pretty bonnet but he had no choice. He scampered over to the boy holding bonnet the but he just held it above Jake’s head. Jake had to let his doll and bunny go and try to reach the bonnet.
He had to jump and that only made his petticoats and layers of lace flutter and billow. The boy ran off with his bonnet and Jake minced after him pathetically. The boys roared laughing. Jake stopped and tried to push his petticoats down to hide the lace of his bloomers. Eventually the boys got bored teasing the sissy and gave him his bonnet back. “Go on sissy!” they sneered.
Jake had to replace his bonnet and tie it securely under his chin before he could retrieve his doll and bunny. This was not easy with his long nails and the boys just stood and laughed at his pathetic fumbling.
He was careful to bend his knees demurely while picking up his doll and bunny so as not to expose any more of his bloomers. He then flounced off trying to muster what little dignity he had left.
The one advantage of his bonnet was that he could hide his face when walking down his home street. He could see out of the corner of his bonnet a couple of people stop and look but they couldn’t have seen his face. He tried to scamper as quickly as he could in the tiny steps forced on his by his high heels. The people must, however, have seen the house he went into. He had to hope that they thought he was his sister. Even if they did, they had to know she would never wear untra-girly clothes like this.