He had given up all hope of wearing a pair of trousers and just concentrated on trying to be a convincing girl which would at least minimise his humiliation. Having to play netball in a short games skirt was the worst part for him. He was constantly afraid to jump, in case his skirt would fly up and reveal a give-away bulge in his panties. So he was easily the worst at the game and was taunted by the real girls.
As the winter approached his short skirt and knee socks did not afford much insulation. He found himself envying girls who wore nice thick green tights. Eventually he was forced to ask his Granny if he could get his own green tights. She made him buy them himself and he had to shop around to find which brand of tights would be the most comfortable, most durable and best value.
He found himself having conversations with girls in his class about the best tights to buy. “The cheaper tights just don’t last”, he heard a girl say and found himself nodding wisely in agreement.
At Christmas his mother and sister took advantage of the situation to buy him cute clothes that he would be obliged to wear since they were bought for him as presents. On Boxing Day they all went for a walk.
Gabriel wore a red knitted hat with three white bobbins dangling from the top. He had a white woollen scarf, a red jacket lined with fluffy white fur, a red tartan pleated mini skirt over white knitted tights. On his feet he wore red high-heeled boots with matching white fur trim.
Into the new year the school’s head mistress was constantly complaining to his Granny about his lack of appliance. In classes he often found himself staring dreamily at the boy’s trousers, trying to recall what it was like to wear them.
At the end of the year the head mistress called his Granny in again. “If she doesn’t improve drastically she will end up in some menial job like a maid.” His Granny agreed and looked at him crossly. “In fact, I would suggest”, the head mistress continued, “that it would be a good lesson for her to spend the summer working as a maid in my house just to let her know what it would be like.” Gabriel was startled by this. His Granny agreed to the proposal immediately.
The first day of the summer holidays she brought him to the head mistress’ house. They were shown to a drab attic room that would be his for the summer. His maid’s uniform was hanging on the door. He looked at it gloomily – black satin with thick lace trimmings around the collar, sleeves and hem. He was beginning to hate summer holidays. They always seemed to herald a deterioration of his situation.
But when he tried to put the uniform on, it wouldn’t fit. Gabriel was quite pleased about this. His Granny excused herself for a moment. She returned with a corset. He winced at the realisation that he was not going to be spared the uniform. But not as much as he winced as his Granny tugged at the corset strings.
It was not until the third attempt that she finally squeezed the dress down over his body. As he stood slightly dazed by his inability to breath freely, his Granny fetched two black stockings. He was held in so tightly that he couldn’t bend over to put the stockings on his feet. His Granny started rolling the first up his leg, telling him that in future he would have to do this himself before tightening his corset.
The stockings were seamed and she took a great deal of trouble making sure they were straight before she let him attach them to the straps on his corset. She tied a white lace-trimmed apron around his waist which had been made to appear higher by the corset.
She found white petticoats in the wardrobe which she made him step into. She pulled them up under his dress. They made his dress much shorter and on examining himself in the mirror he saw that if he stooped slightly, the tops of his stockings would be visible.
Then there were the shoes. They must have been 4-inch heels. His high-heeled school shoes had prepared him somewhat but these were a good deal higher and he tottered forwards at first.
Finally his Granny handed him a pair of white gloves and a white frilly head-band. He still tottered around on the heels and asked her if she would take them off him for a minute. “Don’t be silly. You just need to get used to them”, she insisted. There was no way he could bend over to take them off himself so he was stuck with them.
He went very carefully, but still painfully, down the stairs to be inspected by the head mistress. She examined him in great detail and only seemed to be adequately satisfied at his appearance. She told him to turn around. Without any warning she pulled up his petticoats and dress and adjusted a stocking by no more than a couple of millimetres. “You will need to have your seams dead straight at all times”, she told him.
Gabriel looked helplessly at his Granny as she left him in the command of the head mistress, squeezed into a tight corset, unsteady high-heels strapped on his feet and wearing a dress that barely covered his modesty.
He soon learned that he could never really please the head mistress. He could do nothing to her satisfaction.
His first week wearing the four-inch heels from dawn to dusk were agony. Then one day the heel broke on the left shoe and he was allowed to wear a pair of court shoes for the rest of a blissful day.
But the next morning she presented him with a pair of five-inch heels. These were complete agony. It was like being forced to walk around on tippy toes all day.
The head mistress had three sons between seventeen and twenty two. They ogled Gabriel worryingly, taking in his long black-stockinged legs and thin corseted waist which was greatly emphasised by the contrast of the voluminous petticoats. He felt very vulnerable when they were about, wearing such a short dress. He was acutely aware that his high heels would make any quick escape impossible.