When late spring came children at the school started playing tennis and cricket in the brighter weather. Frank had always liked playing tennis and watched the boys and girls running around the courts in their white shirts and shorts.
When he mentioned his interest in tennis to his mother, his aunt disappeared into the attic. She came down holding an old tennis dress with a pleated skirt. Frank winced. All of the girls heâd seen at school wore shorts for games. Inevitably his aunt held a pair of old fashioned frilly tennis knickers in her other hand.
So Frank walked out on court tugging the hem of his tennis dress, nervously eyeing the boys who were hanging around at the end of the court. For the warm up, he ran around very carefully, trying to avoid his pleated skirt flipping up and revealing his frills. When he had to pick a ball up, he was very careful to bend both knees and avoid bending over.
The coach came over. âNow letâs practice serving.â Frank cringed. His back was to the boys. He delivered an underarm serve. âNo, no!â the coach intervened. âCanât you do a proper overarm serve?â
Frank braced himself. He threw the ball up and swung the racket. He knew his dress had to ride up and his pleated skirt would swirl revealing the frills on his knickers. The boysâ chatter behind stopped. The ball went into the net.
He could hear the snickering behind as the boys waited for his second serve. Frank winced but there was nothing for it. So he had to play properly and run around the court trying not to think of the boys oogling his frilly knickers. When he finally got to walk off court his face must have been burning red as he walked past the sniggering boys.
Later in Spring Frank was coming home when a gang of girls passed behind him as he headed for his front door. They were giggling. Frank was almost used to this now. He knew he looked ridiculously big to be wearing the pink gingham junior school uniform with white tights and his pigtails tied up with ribbons.
âYou know that Cindy could nearly be a boy!â one of the girls commented. The other girls giggled. Frank was distraught. It was his worst nightmare that someone would figure out that he was a boy. Everyone would remember his pink tutu and pink tights, his sausage curls tied up in bows, his pink party dress, going to church at Christmas in his sissy Christmas dress clutching a big doll. He felt sick.
He went in the door, closed it behind him and leaned back against the door in relief. Then he realised that he had also relieved himself. Pee soaked through his panties and tights. His aunt appeared and saw immediately.
He was quickly whisked off to the bathroom and his wet clothes were peeled off. His mother arrived home and pushed him into the shower. When he dried himself off his aunt had reappeared.
âMy brother had a similar problem at that age so we have theseâ, she said flapping out a white cotton nappy. âNo please!â Frank begged. But his aunt was having none of it. Heâd peed all over her hall floor. Frank was pushed onto the bathroom floor towel and his aunt pinned him into the thick nappy. His mother flapped out the plastic pants and pulled them over his feet and up over his nappy.
Frank protested and went to pull the plastic pants down. His aunt slapped his hands away. âWe had the same problem with my brotherâ, she said as she handed something to Frankâs mother. Both women pulled padded fingerless mittens over Frankâs hands and buckled them at the wrist. He pawed at the nappy but couldnât do anything to shift it.
So Frank spent the rest of the day in the nappy. When he told them he needed to pee they took it off him and let him use the toilet. He had to wear the nappy overnight but his mother took it off him in the morning and let him do his usual morning bathroom routine.
Frank was dreading school in case that girl had found anyone to believe her theory that Cindy was actually a boy. When he emerged from the bathroom his mother went to put the nappy on him again. âNo! Iâve got to go to school.â âYes and it was those schoolgirls who caused you to wet yourself yesterday. Do you want to pee in your panties and tights in front of the whole school?â
Frank was speechless. Of course he didnât. But he didnât want to go to school in a nappy either. His mother and aunt took advantage of his indecision and pinned him into a nappy again. Then they pulled his plastic pants on. His mother held his pink gingham uniform and his aunt held up his white tights. âPlease no!â he begged but he was soon dressed in his uniform and tights tugging his hem down as ever.
The dress only barely covered the bulge of his nappy. If he raised his arms even a tiny bit everyone would see that he was wearing a nappy. âIâm not going to school like thisâ, he insisted. A row ensued but there was no budging him.
âRight well the only children who donât go to school are babiesâ, his aunt told him, strapping the mittens on his hands again. âYou can stay at home but Iâm getting the old play pen down and you can sit in it all day like a proper baby.â Frank was speechless again. He looked to his mother for help but she seemed to agree.
His aunt fetched the wooden playpen and set it up. She pushed Frank into it and closed the side bars. Just as he was thinking that he could easily get out of the pen, his mother tied a dressing gown belt around his ankle and to the side bars of the pen. âThere, that will keep you in there!â With his hands in mittens Frank knew that he wouldnât be able to untie it and he was confined to the pen.
Then his aunt pushed a soother into his mouth. He spat it out. It had a ribbon attached and she pinned it to his dress so it dangled embarrassingly in front. His mother placed rattles and play blocks in the pen. âI guess these are the only toys Baby can play withâ, she observed looking at his mittens. His mother went off to work leaving Frank sulking in the play pen.