On Saturday morning Freddy’s mother entered his bedroom. “And your job for today will be …. at the Maid Café!” She held up his black maid’s dress which had thick lace trimming on the hem and puffed sleeves as well as a wide lace collar. Still under the witches’ spell, he had no choice but to allow his mother dress him in it. She tied his full white frilly apron in a big bow at the back and pulled the straps over his shoulders and diagonally across his back.
She made him wear white tights over which he pulled up black bloomers with lace trim and frills across his bottom. He was relieved to see in the mirror that his dress was just long enough to keep his bloomers out of view.
That was until his mother produced the three-layered organza petticoat. Once that was tied around his waist it made his dress stand out more and the frills on his bloomers could now be seen peeking. He also had to wear black knee-high socks which had thick lace trim around the top. He stepped into black platform high heels. She tied up some of his ringlets in a pretty lace headband leaving others dangling at the side.
He was much more heavily made up than before – thick foundation, drawn on eye-brows and eye-liner, pink eye-shadow, blush and long false eye-lashes making him flutter his eye-lids even more than usual. She painted his nails scarlet.
He was driven in to the café early for his training – it didn’t open until lunchtime. His deportment lessons earlier in the week came in handy as he was already accomplished at curtseying – though the lady who ran the café still made him practice it repeatedly. The worse thing was having to smile convincingly while he was flouncing around in his maid’s petticoated uniform, frilly apron, lace-trimmed bloomers, white tights, black socks and high-heeled platforms.
Inevitably Maggie appeared in the afternoon. He nearly died when he saw that she was accompanied by three friends from school. He was, of course, assigned to serve their table.
Maggie said nothing at first, just smiled a little at him. Freddy realised that she was waiting to see if her friends noticed. They looked Freddy up and down as he curtsied and giggled at his sissy uniform and ringlets but there was no sign that they realised who he was – or that he was a boy.
He reckoned he had better be convincing so that he wouldn’t be recognised. In a squeaky voice he outlined the menu options. Maggie had to hide behind her menu as her brother in the sissy dress and petticoats served them.
It seemed to take for ever for them to decide their order while he cringed in his white tights and high heels clutching his order pad. He was relieved to be able to curtsey and get away from them.
As he brought things to their table he tried to walk as smoothly as he could so his petticoats wouldn’t swish about too much and reveal more of his bloomers – possibly even the frills on his bottom.
He felt that he had got away with it. Maggie signalled for him to approach the table. “Could we have vinegar please?” He curtsied and nodded but when he turned around he saw that the row of vinegar dispensers was on the top shelf. He realised immediately what she was up to but he had no choice.
He would like to have held his petticoats down at the back while he reached up but he was holding a tray of empty glasses and couldn’t do that. So he just had to swallow hard and reach up. When he turned to deliver the vinegar the girls all had their hands up to their faces trying not to laugh too hard. Freddy curtsied and left as quickly as he could.
When he brought the bill his sister said to the others “we should give Freddy a good tip” and then she put her hand to her mouth theatrically and said “oops!” “What?!” Her friends all looked at him again. He smoothed his apron and petticoats down as much as he could. “Freddy!” “Oh my god!” “Those frilly bloomers!” “He’s wearing tights!” Freddy could only stand there and cringe.
When his shift was coming to an end he was ordered to wipe down the two window tables before he finished. He cleared away the dirty dishes and reached right over to the far side of the table where there was some spillage. He heard laughter outside. He turned around and saw six boys looking in the window still pointing at his rear end and sniggering.
He looked at the next table. He was going to have to reach right over it too. He took his time clearing the plates hoping that the boys would go away but they were going nowhere. Freddy braced himself and reached in to another explosion of laughter behind. He scampered away as quickly as he could in his high heels.
His mother collected him afterwards and she brought him to the witches’ house. “Well I hope you’ve learned your lesson young man!” Freddy nodded, thoroughly ashamed that he had thought girls stupid.
“Perhaps our little maid could do some cleaning for you before she finishes”, his mother teased. “What a good idea!” She had brought a feather duster specially. Freddy sighed but took the feather duster. “You could start on those cobwebs in the top corner”, his mother suggested. Freddy stomped over grumpily knowing what would happen when he reached up to the corner. “Wait!” the taller witch cried. “Leave them alone! They are not doing any harm.” Freddy was relieved not to have to clean the cobwebs which actually covered much of the room. His mother shrugged.
The witch waved a finger at Freddy and hey presto! He was back in a shirt and trousers and flat shoes! He gave a heavy sigh of relief. His mother sighed with some disappointment. “Oh well, it couldn’t last forever. Let’s go.”
Freddy walked to the door, more than a little surprised. “But this is a Dara Janey story!” he thought. “How come I’m getting back to being a boy?!” He thanked his lucky stars.
[The end]
Topic: Halloween Revenge (Read 25485 times)
