The Adventures of Sammy Watkins

[Sissy Little Girl]

Sandra B, this is getting good.  Sammy is in a mess.  He WILL be at the pageant, he just doesn't know it yet.  Keep up the good work.

[babycakes]

Sammy's planning on going to the pageant after all to support Oscar, which Kayley doesn't know. Sammy's exhibiting a strong character, much more mature than Kayley's.  Denise is not so naive to believe Kayley so it will be interesting to see how she proceeds.  Here's hoping Sammy prevails, supports his friend Oscar and rules the day. Also, it's much more than a prank when pulled very publicly by an 18 year old on a 12 year old. Kayley may get reactions and experience consequences she doesn't expect.

[Sandra B]

11.
On Friday morning, Denise texted Kayley “Posters ready – I’m in all day”.  Kayley texted back, “Great!  Be over this pm. Stay over with me & come to the pageant?”  Denise was tempted.  It was an experience so far out of her province that she felt inquisitive.  Moreover something told her the boys might need some moral support, and she didn’t trust Kayley to deliver it.  So she texted back, “Thanks.  Maybe I will.”
Good, thought Kayley.  The more the merrier.  I can’t wait to see her face when she sees them in the flesh!  Then she texted Cecily.  “Hi.  On my way back.  May arrive after Sammy in bed.  Tell him I’ll wake him in the morning.”  This was a coded message intended to suggest she’d get him up in time to leave for Michael’s.  Now all the groundwork was done.

Sammy was relieved to hear Kayley was on her way.  He was resigned to the whole idea of the pageant now, and determined to carry it off as well as he could.  His aunt told him that Oscar’s mum would be going separately.  She had hired a minibus to take all the girls.  Patricia would be going with her.  Sammy received this news with mixed feelings, but on the whole felt it was positive.  He knew the girls would provide a supportive enclave amongst the audience.   Aunt Cecily would drive the boys, and Sammy’s mother was coming over in the morning to join them.  Sammy wondered what she would think of their costumes.  “It’ll be such a surprise for her!” said his aunt.  No kidding, thought Sammy.

But there was one thing worrying him.  Well, more than one thing.  In fact, every part of the second and third costumes.  He cursed himself for an idiot.  How can I have been so stupid?  I was so sure I wouldn’t be going.  But now I’m committed.  I have to live with it.  But the one thing he was thinking about at that moment was the sash.  The sash, with its crass, tasteless inscription.  The pageant clothes were neatly packed into two plastic boxes, just outside the lounge door.  The sash was lying on top of his box.  He couldn’t just remove it - his aunt would notice.  But just before bedtime he had an idea.  What if he could replace it with the Charlotte sash?  That wasn’t half so bad.  In fact, it would be quite appropriate, and even a bit cheeky.  Okay, it was a different colour.  But maybe she’d have so much on her mind, it wouldn’t register.  So before bed, he sneaked into the studio, closing the door quietly behind him.  There, propped against the wall, was his doll box, and inside he could see his leotard and his sash.  Carefully he began to unlatch the lid.  He had just undone the last latch, and was reaching in to retrieve the sash, when he heard the door being opened.
“What are you doing, Sammy?”
It was Oscar, but his entrance gave Sammy such a fright, he jumped, knocking over the box, which fell with thump onto the floor.  He froze, hoping his aunt hadn’t heard.  But then he heard her footsteps on the stairs, and he knew he was cooked.  She appeared at the door, and looked at him questioningly.
“What’s going on here?”
“Aunt…n-nothing…I was just…”
“Well?” 
“It was just that…why can’t I take this sash, instead of that pink one?  It’s too…silly.”
“Well you chose it!  You were very specific about the wording.”
“But that was when I thought…”  He was about to say, “I wouldn’t be going”, but he quickly substituted “it was a funny joke.  Now I think it’s rubbish.”
Cecily smiled.  Frankly, she would have been happy to get rid of that embarrassing thing herself  – even more embarrassing to her than to her nephew.  But at the same moment another thought occurred to her, something else that could moderate the impact of his appearance.
“All right, Sammy.  I’ll do you a deal.  Take the yellow sash.”
“Thanks, auntie,” he gasped in relief.
“But…we’ll take the box too.”
“The box?”
“Yes.  We’ll put you in the box, like before.  In fact, it can be part of your costume.  You can appear as a doll in a box.  You won’t need to come out, and they can judge you on the whole thing.”
“Is that allowed?”
“Absolutely.  In the open class you can appear as anything you want.  You can be ‘the new doll’.”
“That’s clever!” said Oscar.
“It’s brilliant, actually, aunt.  It’ll sort of explain my costume.  And I won’t feel so exposed.  You know, I don’t feel frightened any more.  I’m sort of looking forward to it now.  But only cos me and Oscar will be doing it together.”
“Then it’s a deal?”
“Deal, aunt!”  He slapped her hand.
“Good.  That’s settled.  Before I go to bed, I’ll respray the wording.  What should I put?  Let me think.  Maybe ‘Punkie Doll’.  Something like that.”
It was hard to say who was the more relieved, Sammy or his aunt.
“Okay.  Now off to bed, both of you.  It’s an early start tomorrow.  You need to be up by seven-thirty.”

[Sandra B]

12.
In the meantime, Kayley had called at Denise’s to collect the posters.  She had printed six.  She held one up for Kayley to see.
“Fantastic!  Just what I wanted!”
“But what do you want them for?”
“Okay, Den, let me explain.  Oscar’s committed to the pageant.  He really loves dressing up as a girl.  But Sammy?  No.  Cecily called me in to help persuade him.  I didn’t succeed.  He’s planning to leave the house early tomorrow morning and hide out at his friend’s.  He devised these outrageous costumes just to annoy his aunt, thinking he’d never have to wear them anyway.  She is annoyed, too.  She believes he’s serious, which means she’s going to have to take responsibility – and take the blame -  when he appears on stage.”
“So neither of them want him to go!  I don’t understand.  Then why is he supposed to be going in the first place?”
“Oh, it’s Cecily’s idea – Cecily’s and his mum’s, I think.  They wanted to tame him.  He’s been a bit too wild in the past.”
“He didn’t seem wild to me.  He seemed a really nice kid.  What’s wrong with these people?”
“Well, never mind that, Den.  The point is, I’m going to prank them both, Sammy and his aunt.  I’m going to make sure he does go!”
“Really.  And how are you planning to do that?”
“That’s where you come in.”
“Me?”
“Yes.  When Sammy wakes up tomorrow, he going to find a new poster – this poster – on the wall.  And I’m going to tell him, that if he doesn’t go to the pageant, you are going to post the other five all round Cranfield School!”
Denise stared at her in disbelief.
“What?  Why would I do that?  That would be f***ing cruel!  He’d never live it down.”
“You won’t really need to do it, of course.  It’s just a way of persuading him where his best interests lie.”
“It’s blackmail, Kay!  I want no part of it.  How could you think up such a thing?”
“Oh, come on, Den.  It’s just a bit of fun.”
“It’s horrible.  Poor Sammy.”
“Well I’ll do it by myself, then, if you haven’t got the stomach for it,” she said, icily.  “So you’re not coming then?”  She picked up the tube full of posters, slid the odd one in with the others, and made as if to leave.
Denise , frowning, hesitated.
“Wait a minute.  I’ll come with you.  Let me get my coat.”   Denise knew she had to go, if only to protect Sammy, though at that moment, she didn’t know quite how she was going to do that.

On the drive to Cecily’s house, they hardly exchanged a word.  Kayley introduced Denise and Cecily to each other.  Denise was already prejudiced against her, and her  demeanour did nothing to mitigate her view.  Vivien arrived soon after, and Denise had the chance to size her up as well.  She appeared an over-anxious and distracted character.  Not the sort of person able to deal easily with minor problems or irritations.  Denise decided to sound them out.
“So why is Sammy being entered for this pageant?  Does he want to do it?”
“I don’t know,” said Vivien.  “Cecily thinks it’ll be good for him.”
“But what do you think?  You’re his mother, after all.”
“I don’t know.  I’ve never been able to understand why he’s so badly behaved.”
But I do, thought Denise.  With a mother like you, he never had a chance.
“It was intended as a gentle reprimand,” explained Cecily.  “That’s all.”
“For what?”
“You want the whole story?  First of all, he smeared paint over little Daphne’s party dress.  So we – that Patricia, Daphne’s mum, and me – we sent him to Amelia’s costume party as a pageant princess.  It didn’t seem a harsh punishment.  And he was pretty cool with it.  So cool, in fact, that he started boasting to all the little girls how he was entering for a real pageant, and they could all come and see him!  Then one of the mothers got involved, and the next thing, he couldn’t get out of it.  He made a new friend there, too.  Oscar.  Oscar really wants to be in a pageant, dressed as a girl.  He’s really into it.  So we thought it would be nice if they went together.  However, when it came to the costumes, he insisted on choosing his own.  Have you seen what he came up with?”
“I have.  The pink dress was lovely.”
“I agree.  But the others?  Whatever was he thinking about?  Now I feel ashamed to take him.  I’m doing what I can to moderate the effect.  But what the organisers are going to think – quite apart from the other mothers – I don’t know.”
She looked desperate.  Now Denise had heard the whole story she began to understand.  Vivien was out of it.  Cecily wasn’t a bad person, but perhaps she had allowed her sense of fun a little too much leeway.  Not that the costume which had started it all was an inappropriate punishment, given the offence.  The situation wasn’t without its funny side.  If Sammy did go to the pageant, Cecily would learn a lesson.  But she wasn’t about to let him be bullied into it.  And she wasn’t going to humiliate him at school, either.
So when Kayley pulled her aside, and asked her whether she was in or out, Denise pretended to be in.
“Well I see now how it is, Kay.  Sammy was a very bad boy.  He deserves his punishment.  Okay, I’m in.  Let’s get that poster put up, shall we?”
“Great, Den.  You get it at last.  Let’s do it!”
“Why don’t you let me do it?  It may look odd if we both disappear up there together.  Keep the ladies talking, and I’ll put it up.”
Kayley looked at her suspiciously.
“You can check on your way to bed.  I’ll fix it where he can’t miss it.  Got some bluetack?”
“Okay.  Go.  Up the stairs, and second door on the right.  Don’t wake them up, will you?”
“I’ll be very quiet, don’t worry.”

Denise crept upstairs with the rolled poster under her arm.  Silently she opened the bedroom door and crept in.  A nightlight faintly illuminated the room.  The boys were fast asleep.  She stuck the poster up as she had promised, right over the desk.  Then she knelt by Sammy’s bed and gently stroked his face
“Wake up, Sammy,” she whispered.  “Sammy.  Wake up.  It’s Denise.”
His eyes opened slowly.  Her face was close to his in the dim light.  He blinked, emerging from some dream, and lay there trying to reconcile it with reality.
“Denise?  Why are you here?” he said slowly, his head still resting on the pillow.
“Listen carefully.  I know you’re going to sneak off to your friend’s house in the morning.  But Kayley wants to force you to go to the pageant instead.  I’m here to tell you, you don’t have to go.  You don’t have to go.  Do you understand?”
“But…but I...I am going…”
“No, you don’t have to.  I’ll take care of everything.”
He raised himself on one elbow.
“No.  You don’t understand.  I want to go.  I’ve promised Oscar I’m going.  I don’t mind.  I’m not afraid.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m quite sure, Denise.  Thank you for asking me, though.  Is Kayley here?”
“Yes.  We’ll see you in the morning.  You know I’m your friend, don’t you?  Trust me.  No-one else.”
“I know you are.  No-one?  What about Kayley?”
“Sometimes Kayley has her own agenda, that’s all.  You’ll understand eventually.  Now go back to sleep.  I’ll see you in the morning.”
Denise settled him down, and crept out onto the landing, where she indulged in a silent high five with the wall.  Then she descended to join the others.

[Sandra B]

13.
Kayley and Denise slept in a bedroom right next to the front door.  The window looked out on the front lawn.  Kayley set her alarm for six, expecting Sammy to be exiting the house soon after.  But in any case she expected him to be knocking at their door asking about the poster before he even thought of leaving.
She forced herself to get up as soon as her alarm went off.  Denise just turned over and carried on sleeping.  Sleep, then, I don’t need you just yet, she thought.  She went and made herself a coffee, and sat in the kitchen waiting for Sammy to appear.  She expected him at any minute.  But the minutes passed, and soon it was six-thirty, and the rest of the household would soon be waking up.  Clearly he had overslept.  She had to rouse him, or her plan would founder.  She slipped upstairs and opened the bedroom door.  The poster was up, but the boys were still asleep.  She shook Sammy’s shoulder.  “Wake up,” she whispered.  “It’s six-thirty!”
“What?  What is it?” he asked, sleepily, not opening his eyes.
“It’s six-thirty.  You need to get up.”
“Auntie said seven-thirty would be early enough.”
“Sammy.  You’re going to Michael’s.  Remember?”
“No.  No, I’m not.”
“What do you mean, you’re not?”
“I’m going to the pageant.  I told Denise…  I couldn’t get in touch with you.  Didn’t you know?”
He sat up.  Kayley was speechless.
“Oh.  That poster.  Did you make it?”
“Denise made it.”
“Oscar’s going to like it.  We look kind of stupid, don’t we?”
“So you’re going?”
“Yes.  Oscar, you awake?  Look at this poster Denise made for us.”
“W-what?  It’s great!  Let’s get up and check our costumes, Sammy.”
“Okay!  I need some breakfast first, though.”
They jumped out of bed and headed downstairs, still in their pyjamas.  Kayley was left standing in the bedroom wondering what had just happened.  Sure, Sammy was going, just as she had intended.  But her scheming had come to nothing.  The prank was a non-prank.  The fun part was supposed to be blackmailing Sammy into doing something incredibly embarrassing, and watching him squirm on stage.  Suddenly he appeared to think the whole thing was one big laugh.
“What the f***!  This is pointless.  Do I really want to watch a bunch of stupid little kids showing off in their crappy costumes?”
She stomped downstairs, and started collecting up her belongings from the front bedroom, stuffing them into her bag.
“What are you doing?” asked Denise, sleepily.
“I’m going.  What does it look like?  You knew he was going to the pageant, didn’t you?  Well, you can watch all those stupid kids by yourself if you like them so much.  I’ve got better things to do.”
She flounced out.
“I’m off home, Cecily.  I’ve got stuff to do.  See you around.”
“Kayley?” began Sammy, looking distraught.
“Have fun, kids.  Nice knowing you.  Bye.”
And she stalked out.  They heard her car pull out of the driveway.  Sammy looked at his aunt, seeking for an explanation.
“Why has she gone?  I wanted her to come to the pageant!  She’s, like, my best friend.  After Oscar, I mean.”
Denise had emerged from bed, and appeared in the doorway.
“She has lots of things to do, Sammy.  She’s a very busy lady.  Will I do as a substitute?  If I can squeeze into the car with you two, that is.”
“Yeah…course.  If you want.”  He looked thoughtful.  “Why did she leave like that?  We had such nice times…  I’m going to miss her…”  He looked as if he was about to cry.
Denise came and knelt by his chair and put her arms around him.
“Never mind.  You did have good times.  But she had to leave in the end.  I’m still here, for what it’s worth.  If I can be your friend, Sammy, I promise I’ll be here for you as long as you want.”
“Will you?  Do you want to come to the pageant?”
“Very much.  I’ll be your best supporter.  Maybe I’ll wear my cheerleader outfit.”
“Really?” said Oscar, wide-eyed.
“Just joking.  But I will cheer for you.”
“Oscar,” said Sammy, with a grin, “you really believed her, didn’t you?”
And they both dissolved in giggles.

[Sandra B]

14.
Cecily spent half an hour attending to the boys’ hair.  Oscar’s she styled and lacquered, Sammy’s she curled until it was a mass of little golden ringlets.  By a quarter to nine they were on their way.  Cecily took the estate.  She and Vivien in the front, Denise, sandwiched between the boys, in the back, and the clothes and doll box in the boot.  Simultaneously Patricia and Ashley were setting out in the minibus, with Daphne, Paige, Amelia and her mother, Morag, Grace, Eleanor, Megan, Courtney, Evie, Scarlett and her mother, Teri, Abbey, Leah and her mother, Sandra, and Hannah and Harry.  The roads were not yet that busy, and they arrived in Westford just before eleven.  Sammy had been quiet on the journey, and Denise guessed he was pining for Kayley, so she did her best to engage him in conversation, and make him smile.  However, he seemed to recover once they neared the venue, which on this occasion was the assembly hall of a local primary school.  There were already a dozen cars in the car park, and a scattering of little girls with large mothers – at least, so it seemed.  Cecily called Patricia, and as they were only a few minutes behind, they sat in the car to wait for them.  As the minibus, crammed with Daphne’s friends, pulled in, the boys realised they would probably have more supporters than most of the other entrants put together.
They were welcomed at the door by a tall, worried looking lady with stiff dyed grey hair.
“Good morning.  I’m Lesley Hyde, the organiser.  These are the boys?  Hello, boys.  I understand from your aunt this is your first time.  Don’t be nervous.  We’re a very small and friendly branch.  We try to run our shows as informally as possible.”  She paused.  “Goodness!  Are all these other girls…  They’re with you?  What a pity some of them couldn’t have entered too.”
Teri came forward.
“My daughter’s done a few pageants, but not here.  Don’t worry, I’m sure after today at least some of them will want to enter in the future.”
A chorus of “yess”.
“Well, they’d be very welcome.  We’re quiet at the moment. It’s not the best time of year, the second half of the summer term.  There’s too many other things going on.”
“Perhaps that’s a good thing, so far as the boys are concerned.  It’ll be a bit less nerve-racking.”
“Of course.  But boys, a word of advice.  Just relax, let the judges – and the audience, of course – have a nice clear view, and then join the others.  It’s a very simple process.  Oh, and smile!  Show them how happy you are to be competing.”
It proved a small affair indeed.  Once they were inside the hall they scrutinised the lists of participants.  A mere couple of dozen in the girls’ section, aside from the boys, and half that number in the boys’ section.  The boys section was first, at twelve-fifteen, and the girls after lunch, at two-thirty.  The girls section was divided into ‘Little Miss Westford’ and ‘Junior Miss Westford’, and were due to be held in that order.  Sammy and Oscar, being pre-teen, were in the first category, along with nine girls.  The boys looked nervously at each other.  Oscar no longer appeared so enthusiastic.  Sammy began sussing out the competition.  Some were quite pretty, most fairly ordinary looking.  He was trying to work out which girls were in which section, but it wasn’t always obvious.  Anyway, he thought, with a sudden access of panic, it’s all down to the costumes, isn’t it?

Refreshments were provided, and then the audience took their seats for the boys’ section.  The chairs were arranged in two blocks, with an aisle down the middle.  The boys were dismayed to see a lady setting up a video camera on a tripod at the front of the aisle.  “That’s all I need!” remarked Sammy.  Despite Teri’s and Ashley’s attempts at control, the herd of Sammy and Oscar supporters made a rush for the front rows, to the evident annoyance of the regulars.  Denise, Sammy and Oscar were content to sit at the back.  There was a low stage, with some sort of rustic back curtain showing green fields and distant mountains, and a microphone on a stand to the right.  “Where are the cows?” whispered Oscar.  “I want cows!”  “And llamas,” replied Sammy, eccentrically.  On the far left was a long table with three chairs and pens and pads.  After a few minutes, three people walked across the stage chatting – two women and one man.  They took their seats at the table.  “Are they the judges?  Looks like a murder trial,” whispered Sammy.  Then Lesley Hyde appeared on stage, and took the microphone.
“Welcome everyone!  Welcome to the fifth spring Westford pageant.  As you know, this event is restricted to boys and girls between the ages of ten and fifteen.  As we have a small entry for the boys’ section, all ages will compete together.  In the girls’ section, we have eleven entries for the title Little Miss Westford, and twelve for Junior Miss Westford.  I am pleased and excited to tell you that today, for the first time, we have two boys competing in the first of those categories, in line with our agreed diversity policy, which was ratified last year.  We wish them well.  May I introduce your judges – many of you will know them already – Barbara, Tony and Cynthia.”  Nods and smiles from the judges.  “And I wish all of the entrants the best of luck!”  She paused.  “I’ll now hand over to Catherine to begin proceedings.”
Catherine appeared on stage.  Vivacious, probably no more than a year or two older than Denise, bouffant blonde hair and an impressive set of teeth.  She began to introduce the boys.  One by one they filed onto the stage, the younger ones looking variously lost or terrified.  They wore miniature adult clothes, smart trousers and waistcoats.  Sammy looked at Oscar.  Oscar looked at Sammy, and indicated by sign language that he was about to vomit.  Sammy touched Denise’s arm. 
“We’re gonna go outside for a bit,” he whispered.  And they crept out of the back door.
“Phew,” said Sammy, “imagine being in a boy pageant!  It’s horrific!”
“I was scared,” said Oscar.
Sammy looked at his watch.  “What time’s lunch?” he asked.

Lunch seemed to be ages.  But when it arrived, Sammy didn’t allow his nervousness to affect his appetite.  He liked to remember a remark his grandfather had made shortly before he died.  His grandfather, whom he’d scarcely got to know, used to be in the navy.
“If you’re about to embark on a rough voyage,” he had said, “make sure to lay in plenty of ballast.”
Good advice, and Sammy had followed it religiously ever since.  But now the voyage was about to begin.  Cecily gathered up the boys, and Lesley Hyde showed them to the changing rooms.  Denise tagged along, much to their relief.  It was time.

[babycakes]

Sandra B, you never cease to amaze, delight and surprise your readers with your excellent prose.  Sammy demonstrates his strong character (so unusual in this genre), Kayley retreats with her tail between her legs (getting what she deserves), Cecily gets to understand her nephew has his strengths and is not so easily manipulated and Denise shows who is the mature adult in the room.  Don't know how you find the time to deliver this kind of quality work but thank you!