âShow and Tellâ
a new story by the author of
âMandyâs Little Playthingâ
and âLittle Miss Pink Bowsâ
(The following story was inspired by a drawing sent to me by one of my readers. I am in his debt for the idea of Howard, Mary Jane and the most unusual morning they spent together.)
SHOW AND TELL, PT. 1
âHoward, please come here! We have a visitor who wants a word with you.â
Mr. Loomis, Howardâs algebra teacher, stood at the front of the room, speaking to someone just outside the door. Howard, who sat in the very last row of desks, was startled to be summoned to the front. The timid boy would have to rise and walk to the door where he could be seen by 30 or so other members of the class. Worse, he would have to parade down a long aisle with six students on either side of him.
That action, which would seem easy enough to any other youth, was for Howard an unimaginable task. For unlike the rest of the class, he was not wearing the regulation school uniform of blue blazer, white shirt, burgundy tie and gray trousers (for boys) or gray skirt (for girls).
Howard was dressed in the shame clothing that his mother had made him wear both at home and at school for the past two years.
On his head was a pink baby bonnet with a wide, lacy brim. It was tied at the chin with an enormous pink satin bow. Howardâs body was barely covered by a short, pink and white print dress, fashioned with an extra large lace-edged collar, puffy short sleeves, and multiple rows of ruffles across the chest and at the hem. Peeking out from beneath the hem was a pair of matching panties, embellished with lacy leg openings and a pink bow on either side. More pink bows could be found on the toes of his black Mary Jane shoes and the lacy cuffs of his anklet socks. A pair of dainty white gloves completed the ludicrous picture.
Howard was dressed not like a three-year old girl but the way a three-year old girl might have been dressed in a long-ago age of folderol, frippery, frills, furbelows and foolishness.
âHoward, did you hear me? To the door now!â
It was bad enough to appear in front of any crowd of this size. (Howard was usually the last to leave and the first to arrive in a room so that he drew as small an audience as possible.) But now the feminized lad was going to have to traverse a gauntlet of malevolent classmates along the aisle. He would be the near-naked prey for their hateful words and molesting hands.
In particular, he dreaded passing Sabrina Duncan, the raven-haired beauty who had brought glory to the school as an Olympic-class fencer. Ever since Howard began wearing his little girlâs clothing to school, Sabrinaâs taste for abuse and persecution had been sharply aroused. She, above all others, loved to follow him down the halls, taunting, teasing and twitting him. It was the clever-cruel Sabrina who had invented such delicious quips as âDoes sissy need her panties changed?â âDoes sissy need her bottom spanked?â âDoes sissy have a date tonight with her boyfriend?â
Sometimes Sabrina would simply breathe, "Oooooooh! Aaaaaaaah! Oooooooh! Aaaaaaaah!" to the beat of Howardâs patent leather shoes clicking down the hall.
Her malice had been particularly painful to Howard because, prior to his forced-infantilism, he had been the most devoted of Sabrinaâs fans, appearing at all of her matches with posters reading âTouchĂ©, Sabrina!â Flowers, greeting cards, balloons and little teddy bears were frequently placed at the altar of Sabrinaâs locker by this ardent but foolish worshipper.
âHoward,â Mr. Loomis boomed. âDo I have to come get you?â The class tittered in amusement.
Howard stood and forced himself forward, one little pink-bow toe after the other. As he moved, he heard the all-too-familiar kissing sounds. Why they chose to mock him this way, Howard did not know. But wherever he walked at school, in the halls, in the lunchroom, in the library, he was trailed like a pestilence by those squeaky, cartoonish kissing effects.
He was now passing Sabrinaâs long, straight, dark-brown hair. Unlike the others with their leering faces, her back was turned to him. Was she ignoring Howard? He kept his pretty pink-bow toes moving.
Then it came. A sudden, brutally sharp pinch of tapered fingernails on the tender flesh of his upper thigh. A quick, precise thrust by an expert swordswoman. Poor Howard howled in pain â and the room roared with laughter.
Oh, how he hated crying in front of them, but, despite his best efforts, tears of pain and humiliation flooded his eyes.
He looked back over his frilly shoulder at his tormentor. Unlike the others, Sabrina was not laughing out loud. Her beautiful face was a study in cool, ironic amusement. Her wide eyes and slightly parted lips seemed to say, âIs this all it takes to wound you? Then you make easy sport, my pet!â
Howard rushed out of the room and into the relative safety of the corridor. He found himself in the company of Mr. Loomis, a woman, and a girl wearing the academyâs uniform but of middle school age.
âHoward,â said Mr. Loomis in his usual pompous, stagy voice, âI believe you know Miss Dean. She was your teacher two years ago.â
âY-yes,â said the miserable youth, trying to control his sobbing. âHello, Miss Dean.â
âGood morning, Howard,â said the beautiful woman with the helmet of platinum blond hair. âYou know, I thought you would have grown up somewhat over the years. But you look quite the same as you did in middle school â perhaps even more childish.â
Howard blushed at having these demeaning words said about him and at having to appear in his babyish clothes in front of this strange girl.
âSay, âthank you,â Howard,â blared Mr. Loomis.
âT-thanks, Miss Dean.â
The scornful blond exhaled and shook her head at this hopeless case of a boy. âHoward, this is my star student, Mary-Jane Linklater.â
âHello, Mary-Jane.â
The girl looked back at him in a way that disturbed poor Howard. Although younger and six inches shorter than the high school youth, Mary-Jane studied him as if he were a tiny bug in a display case. She was a petite thing with skinny legs and arms. Her long red hair was neatly combed and parted but seemed too voluminous for her rather small pale face. The black-rimmed glasses that sat on her short, freckled nose also seemed too big for her.
âHello, sissy,â she said with a sneer.
Howard blushed with anger and humiliation. But instead of correcting the girlâs manners, the two teachers exchanged a glance and chuckled.
Miss Dean explained, âHoward, Mary-Jane and I are here because this week our class is studying doctors and medical practices. This morning Mary-Jane is going to give a presentation and she needs a subject to practice on. It occurred to me that someone soft and submissive like you would be ideal.â
The girl looked up at her teacher and said, âYes, I think heâll do. I wouldnât want anyone much bigger.â
Mr. Loomis said, âHoward, Miss Dean called your mother earlier today and received her enthusiastic permission. The presentation should take only thirty minutes or so. Iâll hold your books for you until you get back.â
âThank you, Mr. Loomis,â said the lovely woman with a knowing smile. âWe wonât occupy any more of your valuable time. Mary-Jane, take Howie by the hand and lead the way across the school yard to our classroom.â
âOh, Miss Dean,â brayed Mr. Loomis. âI almost forgot.â The man darted into his classroom, and came back with an object in his hand.
âWhat is it?â
âYou may want this. If Howie ever gets surly or unruly, his mother gave me this to use on him. Take it with you and apply as often as needed."
With that, he handed the woman a very large wooden hairbrush.
(To be continued.)