Connie and Arthur
Connie
My name is Connie, which is short for Consuelo Sulllivan. I
know, you don't have to tell me that Consuelo Sullivan is a
pretty weird name, but I can't help it that my mother's
best friend for about a million years was a woman named
Consuelo Dias or that my mother (whose name was Mary
Dunleavy) was much more argumentative than my father,
Mickey Sullivan. So 27 years ago, it became Consuelo Mary
Sullivan.
My mother died when I was about 6 and I remember her, but
not very well. My father was a nice enough guy, but he
didn't understand his daughters all that well and his
response to not understanding them was to ignore them as
much as possible. So I grew up with a father I saw once in
a while, his mother, his three sisters, my mother's mother,
my two sisters and Consuelo Dias. Mostly though, I grew up
on my own.
When it was time to go to college, I wanted to go as far
away as I could and to go to a big city and I wound up in
Boston. I got an apartment with about a half-dozen
roommates and it wasn't long before I was Ms. Punkette. I
got grades that were just about as good as I had to. When I
was notified that I was going to graduate, I cleaned up my
act for a couple of weeks, bought a dress and invited my
father to my graduation ceremony. To my absolute amazement,
he accepted. He came, we went out to dinner afterwards and
when he got into a cab to go back to the airport, that was
the last I ever saw of any member of my family.
For the next six years, I didn't do much of anything
worthwhile. I did some publicity for some rock bands (sang
with a couple), worked in a pet store, was a bike
messenger, a tour guide, a waitress in a diner, a waitress
in a clam shack and a security guard. I must have passed
out about 12 million flyers on street corners. The longest
I ever held a single job was 7 months as a shipper/receiver
in a bookstore. I never missed a rent payment, but I missed
a lot of meals (I made up for it though, with lots and lots
of Big Macs and Doritos).
So there I was, sitting by myself on Christmas Eve,
watching TV and having my Christmas dinner of instant soup,
BBQ Fritos and Bud Lite when I felt my life change. Of
course the show I was watching was 'It's a Wonderful Life',
which I always thought was hokey as hell but watching 'It's
a Wonderful Life' on Christmas Eve was as much a Christmas
tradition as anything else I had. I was near the end of the
show when all of Jimmy Stewart's friends show up with money
to help him out and the happy ending just oozes all over
the screen and all of a sudden I felt absolutely, totally,
miserable. I knew right then and there that this would
never happen to me. I would always be sitting in my
apartment (never a house, that would be impossible),
sipping on instant soup watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' by
myself every Christmas Eve from now on. I didn't cry (I
never cry) but I went to bed (alone of course) and when I
got up the next morning I got dressed, took the subway
downtown and spent the entire day just walking around the
city thinking about how miserable I was.
By the time I got on the subway to get back home, I had
decided that this had all got to go. I didn't know what I
was going to do, but it was going to be something
different. And the first thing I had to do was to find a
job that paid more than I was making now, which was $6 an
hour for 20 hours a week. On the way to my apartment, I
stopped in at an ATM and checked my balance - $461.37. God,
I was pathetic.
Arthur
When I was 6 years old, my best friends were my next door
neighbor, Lisa and another girl, Betty, who lived around
the corner. We went to school together, played together all
the time and just generally hung out together. We'd been
friends since before we started going to school and it just
seemed natural that we'd spend time together. One day while
we were on the swings at the playground, I pushed Lisa
higher and higher and then started saying something that
I'd heard some of the other boys saying:
"I see England, I see France...
I see a little girl's underpants."
I giggled, but Lisa, after braking to a stop, asked my what
was so funny about a little girl's underpants. All I knew
was that is was supposed to be funny, so I kept giggling
but Lisa didn't seem to think it was all that funny.
"So let me see your underpants," she said.
Well, okay, I said to myself. So I unzipped my pants and
pulled them down.
"I don't see anything funny about your underpants," she
said, and started swinging again, but this time not so
high.
When we got home, Lisa told Betty about the song I sang and
how she saw my underpants and didn't think they were very
funny at all. Betty suggested that maybe it was just that
it was girl's underpants that were funny, so she went in
the house and brought out a pair of hers that had little
pictures of Disney's Beauty and the Beast all over them.
She handed them to me.
"What am I supposed to do with these?" I asked her.
"Put them on," Betty said. "Then we'll see what's so funny
about a little girl's underpants."
Betty and Lisa were both giggling pretty hard by now. So I
went behind the bushes beside the garage and took off my
pants and my underpants and put on Betty's underpants and
then pulled my pants back on and went back to the girls.
"So let's see 'em," Lisa said.
So I pulled down my pants just enough to show them and the
girls both started laughing really hard. I didn't know what
was so funny, though, because I thought they felt really
nice. Then Lisa said that it wasn't fair that I was wearing
pants because they couldn't see my underpants when we were
on the swings or were playing around. Then Betty in the
house and got a dress for me to put on.
I went behind the bushes again and put it on and then came
back out and we played together for another hour or so
before Betty's mom called her in for supper. She looked at
me funny when I knocked at the door a couple of minutes
later to give Betty back her dress. I didn't give her back
the underpants because I couldn't find mine and because I
kind of liked them.
My mother didn't say anything when I got undressed for bed
that night and was wearing girl's underpants. And I didn't
think anything about it when she started signing me up for
after school activities. Soon I was playing soccer on
Mondays and Wednesdays, piano on Thursdays and was in a
book club that met every Tuesday at the library. That year
I saw less and less of Lisa and Betty and I started making
friends with some of the boys at school, I never met
friends I liked as much as Lisa and Betty. And I never
forgot that afternoon I wore Betty's underpants and dress.
I don't know whether I was genetically predisposed to be a
crossdresser or that afternoon with Betty and Lisa set me
off, but I can't remember a time when I wasn't fascinated
by girl's clothes. When I was 8, I was in a Christmas
pageant as an elf and our teacher decided that we all had
to wear red tights. Most of the boys were embarrassed and I
pretended to be but I loved it.
I can remember spending hours with the Sears catalog, not
looking for toys but gazing at the underwear ads. When I
was 11 I began raiding the dirty clothes hamper to try on
my mother's panties and it wasn't long before I was trying
on pantyhose, girdles, bras and eventually skirts and
dresses. At that time my mom's stuff was a little big but
by the time I was 14 it was fitting pretty well and when I
was 16 it was getting a little small.
The thing was, I just couldn't get up enough courage to go
into a store and buy something. Once or twice I steeled
myself and marched right into a department store but I
could not bring myself to actually tell a salesperson what
I was doing. There was even one time when I grabbed a
couple of pairs of panties and a nightgown in a discount
department store (no salespeople to ask embarrassing
questions!). When I approached the cash register and saw
the teenage girls ringing and the customers waiting in line
I panicked and dumped my stuff in a candy display and
walked out of there as fast as I could.
I went away to a large state college in the middle of
nowhere and tried as hard as I could to put this out of my
mind. One night, long after most people had gone to bed, I
was doing my laundry and I noticed that one of the dryers
still had clothes in it. I peeked and it was a girl's load!
I made sure that nobody was looking, reached in, grabbed a
pair of panties and stuffed them in my pocket. Eventually,
I buried them with my own things and one day when I was in
the dorm room by myself, tried them on. They were only a
little too small but I felt like I was walking on air while
wearing them. I stole a few more pair over the next few
weeks and wore them as much as I could but a very close
call one afternoon put an end to that real quick.
I graduated from college, moved to Boston, got a nice job
playing with computers for a law firm and found my own
apartment in a nice area. I told one girlfriend about my
"interest" and she let me try on a couple of her things
while we were making love but she was so much smaller than
I was that it didn't work and I looked and felt ridiculous.
Another time I told a different girlfriend and almost
immediately the frost machine kicked in and it became
obvious that this was our last date.
After I'd been working with this company for a couple of
years, I worked out a way for them to integrate this
research database they'd been using with their own local
network. This allowed the attorneys who were computer
literate to save a tremendous amount of time on their
research while allowing them to lay off a couple of
clerical workers. I felt bad for the girls who were let go,
but I got a $5,000 bonus, a raise and a new title out of
it, so I didn't feel bad for long.
The first thing I decided to do with my money was to pay
off my credit card. The second thing was to buy a dress.
And everything that went with it.
Connie
The first thing I had to do was get some clothes to do
interviews. I didn't own a single dress. I owned exactly
one skirt and it was a shapeless India print that I wore on
very hot days with a tank top. Everything else was jeans
and sweats and T's, with some leather and stud club wear. I
washed the teal color out of my hair, removed the studs
from my nose, looked for my neatest pair of jeans and my
cleanest sweatshirt and headed off to the mall (gag!) to
buy some clothes for interviews, whatever that meant.
It was like landing on a foreign planet.
I was in sort of a daze. I just wandered around for about a
half-hour and then went into one of the department stores.
I poked around the racks, wondering what people wore to job
interviews. I saw some racks of middle-aged looking clothes
and was pawing through them ($89.99 for a skirt!) when a
saleswoman sidled up to me. "Can I help you find anything?"
she asked?
I blushed, and then blurted out that I was looking for an
outfit or two I could wear on a job interview. She smirked
just a bit, and said, "You might have more luck in the
women's department on the third floor. We only go up to
size 12 here."
I could have died. Not only was I badly dressed, now I was
officially fat. I slunk out of there as inconspicuously as
my grossly overweight and badly dressed body would let me
and while I thought about going upstairs, I also thought
that any store that was charging $89 for on skirt wasn't
the kind of store that wanted me as a customer. So I
circled around the mall a couple of times and then went to
the Burger King in the food court. Ordered a large
chocolate milkshake and a large fries (it was too early for
lunch, so I skipped the Whopper) and sat down to think. If
I started with the $461.37 that I owned and then deducted
the amount I would owe for rent in two weeks and added the
amount I would earn at the convenience store where I worked
nights, I figured that I could afford about $60 on an
outfit if I limited myself to one meal a day.
So the department store wasn't going to be where I started.
The sale rack at the fat lady shop (it was named Laura
Brown's Shop for Women) was where I started. I noticed that
on the window it said "sizes 14 and up" and remembering
what the bitch at the department store said, I figured this
is where I belonged. This black woman with tits that went
out to here and a butt that went out equally far in the
other direction smiled at me and asked, "Can I help you
find something?"
Man, this is what I was dreading. How can you not know the
answer to this question? But I didn't, so I swallowed hard
and told her that I needed something to wear on a job
interview but didn't have a whole lot to spend.
"I know what that's like, honey," she said. "Follow me,"
and she waddled to the back of the store where the
clearance items were kept. "We have a couple of things back
here that could do you proud!" She riffled through the
skirts on a these big circular racks and her hands landed
on a bunch of khaki skirts that didn't look too bad and
then she asked me what size I was.
"Ummm, I'm not sure," I mumbled, trying to be as nonchalant
as possible.
With that, she scooped up an armful (well, four) and said,
"Why don't you try them on and see which one fits best."
So I did and that's how I found out I was a 16. As I was in
the dressing room, trying to remember how to zip something
that zipped on the side, my own personal salesperson was
busy getting me a pale blue shirt and a skinny belt to give
to me when I finally figured out which skirt I was going to
buy. I accepted her stuff without a second thought (not
that I even possessed a first thought at this point) and
headed toward the register to pay for everything.
"Hold on a second, honey," she said as she touched my
elbow. "If you gon' be wearing a skirt, you gon' be needing
something for your legs. You can't wear socks with a skirt.
You have something at home?" When it was obvious to her
that I didn't own a single pair of pantyhose, she reached
for a package. When she saw my face begin to gag, she
reached for a pair of knee-highs. "You can get away with
these," she said. "Don't forget to shave, though," and then
she allowed me to go to the register.
The whole thing came to $64.96 and as I paid for
everything, I figured that my shake and fries would have to
be today's dinner. As everything was being rung up, I saw a
pad of job applications on the counter, so I filled it out
and left it behind, paid for my interview uniform and
headed home.
On the way out the door, my shopping bag caught on a
security device attached to a velvet dress. As I swung my
arm forward, the bag pulled the tag with it, until the rack
was just about to topple over on to my back. As I turned
around to see what was happening, the bag twisted the rack
in the other direction and I kind of twisted with it to
grab it and right it before it fell over. Except I slipped
and fell flat on my butt, underneath the rack of velvet
dresses that fell on top of my. When I tried to get up, I
pushed the rack to the side and it caught the underside of
a table full of sweaters, which when tipped all fell to the
floor. I finally got up and began to try straightening
everything up before anyone noticed, but my own personal
salesperson and another woman in her 30s had reached the
front of the store by that time. With their biggest,
widest, most sincerest smiles, they told me not to worry
and that everything was alright.
I hadn't been that embarrassed since I wet my panties in
the second grade. I went straight home with every intention
of going to bed. It was 11:20 am.
Arthur
Okay, I had decided to buy some clothes. So I jumped in my
car drove to the mall, parked, took the elevator up the
level where the stores began, stepped out of the elevator
and froze. Solid. Like a statue.
What the hell and I doing, I asked myself. I was standing
in a shopping mall with a flush credit card burning a hole
in my pocket and visions that ranged from Madonna to Buffy
the Vampire Slayer dancing in my head (my face on all of
them of course) but no idea what to do next.
I suppose the thing to do was just to plunge ahead. So I
did. I was closest to Macy's, so I marched right in and
there was the Intimate Apparel department staring me right
in the face. What did I do? I charged right in!
And found myself in a veritable sea of panties. Row upon
row of chrome stands with hundreds of panties hanging from
them. White panties, black panties, leopard print panties,
floral panties. Skimpy, lacy panties, big balloony panties.
Nylon panties, cotton panties, silk panties, Lycra panties.
Sheer panties and opaque panties. Panties that cost 4/$10
and panties that cost $22.99. I was overwhelmed, so I did
the logical thing. I froze solid again.
Until I heard some ask "Can I help you with something?" A
girl who couldn't have been a day over 17 was smiling at
me. I must have blushed as red as the panties one rack
over, two racks back, second tier on the left.
"Uhh, no. No thanks." I spun around to leave and as I left
I caught my sleeve on a rack of Wonderbras that I pulled
crashing to the floor, right on a main aisle. I started to
right it and a dozen or so slid off their perches and
scattered to the floor. I didn't know whether to bolt or
cry, but that lovely young 17 year old came to my rescue.
"I'll take care of these sir. Don't worry about it."
I mumbled a thank you and slunk out. I began to think this
wasn't going to work.
Certain that everyone in the mall had seen me and was
whispering that I was the man in the panty section who
tried to steal a rack of bras, I went as inconspicuously as
possible to the food court where I ordered a Coke and fries
at Burger King and sat down at the most remote table I
could find. I had to think about this.
The only thing was, no thoughts would come. Part of me knew
that this was a thing that I had to do and the other part
of was shouting that this was stupid and wrong and I didn't
know what I was doing. It was sort of a psychological
pinball. In a little while, though, staring at the almost
empty Coke and the congealed fries got to be a little old,
so I got up, walked around the mall a couple more times
trying to figure out what to do and then gave up and headed
to my car.
I'd deal with this later.
Connie
Like I said earlier, I got home a little after 11. I got
out of those clothes and sat on the edge of my bed in my
underwear. I knew that I had to get dressed, get out and
start looking for work but it just seemed so hard.
A little after noon (I knew it was after noon because Leeza
was over and there wasn't anything else on until 1) the
phone rang.
"Hello, this is Angela Hartford from Laura Brown's. Can I
speak to Consuelo please?"
Oh...my...God. I must have broken something when I tipped
over the rack. Or they think I stole something. I'm going
to die.
"That's me," I said in my smallest, most demure voice. It
must have sounded like Minnie Mouse, or at least I hoped it
did.
"Hi Connie. I'm the manager and I received your
application. I'd like to set up a time for an interview."
There was a long pause as I totally reoriented my brain.
After squeaking out an "Okay," Ms. Hartford asked me if
tomorrow morning at 10 would be too soon. I said that would
be fine and we thanked each other and hung up. I wanted to
have something to celebrate my first interview, but that
would have involved leaving my apartment to buy something
and that would have involved going to an ATM and getting
some cash, which at this time of the month I didn't dare
do. So I satisfied myself by punching the air with my fist,
dancing around the bed and waiting for Ricki Lake to come
on.
Turns out the interview wasn't much of anything, which
means they must have been so desperate for help they would
have hired a chimpanzee if it could fill out an
application. Ms. Hartford and I chatted for about a half-
hour and the only question that sounded like it was
important was "Can you work weekends?" When I told her I
could, I almost saw her putting my name on the schedule.
At the end of the half-hour, she asked, "When could you
start?"
"Right now, if you want," I answered.
"I don't see any problem there," and with that, she gave me
a bunch of forms to fill out and I joined the ranks of the
employed.
Arthur
When I got back home I sat in my car in my driveway for a
long time but I didn't find any answers there either. I
fired up my computer and started surfing, looking to see if
I could find a size chart or something. I went to LL
Bean's, Land's End, JC Penny's and about a half-dozen
others, found what I was looking for on some of them and
printed them out. Compared them all and found that I was a
14,16 or 20, depending on whether I was measuring my chest,
waist or hips. The best I could do with a bra was a 40A and
I couldn't find a 40A in anyone's on-line catalog. As for
panties or pantyhose, forget it. I couldn't make heads or
tails out of anything.
Well, that weekend I went out shopping again, this time to
a different mall, one with stores a little further down on
the price scale. Well, it didn't make any difference. As
soon as I entered the women's department, I shrunk up
inside and was convinced that everyone's eyes were on the
freak in the dress department. The first store I went in
was a discount department store and there were just too
many people around and I quickly walked out.
The second store was an off-price store and it was a little
crowded, too, but this time I figured it was time to, um,
do it or get off the pot, so to speak. So I wandered around
the store a while, picked up a pair of men's jeans so I'd
have something to drape over my arm and sort of sidled into
the women's section. I kept my eyes constantly looking
around from side to side to see if anyone was going to
freak out over me and at the same time tried to keep my
head down so nobody would see me. I finally found the
women's size dresses (that was confusing as hell - aren't
all of these things for women? Why did they call the big
and tall section the women's section? And what in the world
are missy sizes?) and then found the size 20s. I figured
that I'd rather have something a little big than a little
small.
I quickly flipped through the dresses and thought to myself
that is was no wonder that these dresses were in a bargain
store. There were a couple, though, that didn't look too
horrible and I grabbed one and headed to the register. Paid
for it without the sky falling in and without being struck
by lightning. I was almost home free. Just had shoes,
stockings and underwear to go. Oh my God, I thought, I am
going to die before this day was through.
Connie
The first few days I worked I spent most of my time
unpacking boxes, putting clothes on racks and getting them
ready for sale. It seemed like there was always something
to open, unpack, hang up or pick up. I couldn't believe how
tired I was at the end of the day, but then again, I hadn't
really worked steady for a long time. I'm not sure I liked
being a member of the working class.
On Saturday, I was going to spend my first day on the sales
floor, so Friday afternoon Bettye (that's how she spelled
it - don't ask me), the black girl with the big butt who
helped me pick out my first skirt earlier in the week
showed me how to run the register and helped me around the
floor. It was so complicated. Codes for this and codes for
that it seemed like I spent about 15 minutes on every sale
just trying to figure out how to ring up everything up and
what was on sale and what wasn't and so on. What a pain in
the butt!
Anyway, about half an hour before I was supposed to go
home, this guy comes to my register and he's got about a
dozen pairs of panties in his hands and he sort of dumps
them on the counter and looks down at his shoes. And I got
to tell you, the guy's sweating like a pig. I mumble a
sort-of half-assed hello and begin to ring them up. Now a
couple of customers ago, there was this woman who bought a
bunch of panties and while ringing up the sale Bettye
showed me that the cotton ones were on sale, buy two get
two free. The nylon ones were 4 for $25 and the fancy nylon
ones were free when you bought a matching bra or 3 for $25.
Bettye and I were able to sell this woman a bra and two
extra pair of cotton panties because of the different sales
and she got a good deal. After all, she walked away with
more underwear than I had back at my apartment.
But with this guy, it was like he grabbed the first two
handfuls he touched. He had 6 pairs of cotton panties
(which meant he was entitled to two more free), 3 pairs of
nylon (which meant he had to pay the full price of $9 each)
and one fancy pair but without the bra. I probably should
have told him about all the specials, but he made me feel
weird so I just rang up him to get him out of there. Gave
me the willies.
After he left the store, Bettye looked at me. "What is your
problem girl?"
"That was a guy," I said.
"And so what?" she replied. "There are lots of guys who
shop here."
My jaw must have dropped because I knew my mouth was open
but I knew that nothing was coming out.
"Well, I don't know about lots of guys, but there are
definitely some. Some of them are obviously pervs. They
head straight to the underwear and run their hands all over
stuff and you can almost hear them panting."
I must have made a face because Bettye snorted back a
laugh.
"Don't laugh. Most of the guys who shop here are pretty
cool. They know what they like and they don't bother
anyone. If some guy wants to wear panties instead of jockey
shorts, who am I to say anything. I'll just ring 'em up and
maybe suggest a bra to go with." Bettye smiled and I smiled
back but I still thought it was a little weird.
No, it wasn't a little weird. It was a lot weird. I mean, I
am a girl and have been one for 27 years and in all that
time I never once gave any thought to my underwear other
than knowing I supposed to wear clean ones in case I was in
an accident. Not only that, I never once ever thought about
wearing boy's underwear. I mean, just how strange is that?
I know there are guys who do this - I remember seeing the
news one day when Dennis Rodman was on in a wedding dress
and there's RuPaul and I've seen some of these
transvestites (I guess that's what you call 'em) on Jerry
Springer but you don't think of people like that just
walking around, y'know? It gave me the shakes.
Arthur
I don't know how I did it, but I got through the rest of
the day I picked up a pair of high heels at a discount shoe
store, the biggest pair of pantyhose I could find at the
drugstore and a three pack of cotton panties at the
supermarket. The bra was the hardest part. I couldn't
figure out for the life of me how I was going to buy a bra.
I just knew in the bottom of my heart that as soon as I
gave a bra to a cashier to ring up, those bells would start
clanging and a huge neon sign would drop from the ceiling
that said, "PERVERT."
I decided that I could probably get away with it at Wal-
Mart if I was smart. I hate Wal-Mart. I hate being in Wal-
Mart, I hate Wal-Mart's merchandise, I hate what Wal-Mart
has done to the American economy. I just hate Wal-Mart, but
I figured that if there were any place in the world that I
could be guaranteed to be faceless it would be Wal-Mart. So
I drove over to the nearest Wal-Mart I knew about (I was
spending a lot of time driving around). This time I
couldn't pick up any clothes to disguise my true purpose (I
wouldn't be caught dead in Wal-Mart's clothes, but I
grabbed a ream of computer paper, a big bag of Doritos, and
some trash bags before heading over the ladies clothing
department.
What I wanted to get was one of those bras in a box,
because I knew that I couldn't bear fingering the ones on a
hanger looking for my size or walking through the store
with a bra hanging from my hand. So I sort of circled
around the intimates department, waiting for the customers
to thin out, then headed right to the bra rack. I was
looking for a 40A but didn't see one right away. I probably
could have found a 40B if I was willing to spend some time
pawing through the rack but my heart was beating louder
than the cannons in the 1812 Overture and I had to get out
of there, so I grabbed the first 40 I found (it was a D)
and headed towards the register.
This was going to be the hard part - getting through the
register. My hands were sweating so much I thought I'd soak
through the computer paper but eventually I made it to the
front of the line where this cute 18ish girl was ringing up
sales. It was now or never. I clumsily dumped everything on
the counter and the bra skidded off the trash bag box and
slid off on her side. She picked it up, scanned it and
stuck it in a bag and that was that.
And I was still alive.
After I got home I couldn't wait to put everything on. I
ripped apart bags, tore size tickets off, cut off tags and
generally made a mess of my apartment. When I got dressed
and looked in the mirror, I probably should have been
disappointed.
The panties were a little small. Okay, they were a lot
small. The waistband wouldn't pull up past my butt and they
felt as if they were just about to fall off. They couldn't
fall off, though, because the leg openings were so tight
that circulation to my thighs probably had stopped. The bra
was okay around the chest but it looked stupid with all
that unfilled material in the cup. So I filled it with
socks, but do you have any idea how lumpy a D-cup filled
with rolled up socks looks? The pantyhose were okay, except
that I caught my toenail when putting them on and that
started a run that went nearly the entire length of the
hose.
All that was okay, though, because you couldn't see any of
it. The dress I bought was so huge, that I could have fit a
friend or two in it without too many hassles. The shoes, on
the other hand, were not only as undersized as the panties,
they were really cheap (and I split the seam on the heel
trying to put them on) and way too dressy for this dress.
And not of it mattered a bit, because I felt pretty. As far
as I was concerned, the person staring back at me from the
mirror was stunningly beautiful and I was high as a kite.
Eventually, I came down from my high and when I did I began
to recognize some of the, shall we say, flaws in my
appearance. I also recognized that I really liked myself
this way.
Where could I go from here?
Connie
Over the next few weeks, I got pretty good at my job. I
learned everything about the registers, stocking clothes,
keeping the place clean and organized. I even did a little
selling on the floor, although I didn't think I knew enough
about the merchandise to actually help a customer. For
crying out loud, I didn't know enough to dress myself all
that well. Bettye was a big help to me and most of the
other girls in the shop helped me out from time to time but
it didn't take long before I started getting tired of
having to ask somebody else if I looked okay.
It was one thing when I dressed deliberately ugly, but
after spending a couple of weeks as a responsible adult,
that just didn't seem to cut it much for me anymore. It was
something else altogether when I looked ugly by mistake.
After this one particular day when Angela suggested that I
stay in the backroom working stock I decided I couldn't let
this go any further.
I started coming in early and staying late after punching
out to try on outfits, check sizes and see what worked and
what didn't. Some of the other girls thought I was crazy -
after eight hours working in the store, they just wanted to
get home. I didn't have all that much waiting at home, and
being embarrassed by wearing stupid clothes was something I
just couldn't handle again.
I never used to think that clothes meant a thing, but there
was this one time when I saw myself in a dressing room
mirror in an outfit from the store and I said to myself
"Wow." I looked damn good and I felt even better.
The first time I helped a customer put together an outfit
that looked just right I felt almost as good. That was a
lot better than schlepping boxes around or ringing
registers. The harder and longer I worked, the better I got
at it. It turns out that in the long run, the kinds of
customers I was best with were women a little older than me
who wanted to add just a little bit of spice to a classic
look. I had trouble with younger customers because I wasn't
always real good at figuring out where the dividing line
between sexy and trashy was. I also thought customers just
looking for "good value" or older customers who always
bought the same thing were kinda boring. I looked for
ladies with some room on their credit cards and a taste for
looking good.
Men still made me uncomfortable. Every once in a while we'd
get some guy in the store but I'd try to find some work to
do somewhere else. Some of the other girls would tease me
about it, but I could put up with that. I mean, there were
some guys who were buying gifts and they were fun to help.
They seemed so cute and seemed so helpless and more often
than not they didn't care what things cost so I could sell
them anything in the store. But guys who were there for
themselves - they gave the creeps.
Now one Saturday, I spent about 45 minutes helping this guy
buy a sweater that must have been for his wife or
girlfriend or something and finally sold him a really
pretty, soft gray fuzzy cowl-neck sweater that sold for
$115. After I rang up the sale and the guy left the store,
I bragged about it a little with Bettye. She just smiled at
me.
"I thought you didn't like selling to guys," she said.
"This guy was cool. He was buying a present for his wife."
"You think so, huh?" Bettye sort of chuckled. "A couple of
weeks ago he bought more than $200 for himself - tried the
stuff on an everything. He tell you this was for someone
else?"
"Ummm, no." I was getting a little red.
"Well then honey, you just had your first CD!"
"CD?" I asked.
"Crossdresser. That guy is going to look great in that
sweater, but you probably should have tried to sell him
those new black skirts we got in last Thursday, too. Would
have gone great with it"
"Oh stop it."
"Seriously. And I tell you what, honey," Bettye wagged her
finger in my face. "You better lose this hang-up you have.
We'll sell whatever we have to whoever wants it and we
don't want to get in any trouble from anybody 'cause
someone got a thing about men."
I sputtered a little, but Bettye spoke up again. "I'll tell
you what. The next guy who comes in the store, you help
him. And I'll be watching you girl - you better help him
the way he should be helped."
I made a little noise, but I knew that I'd have to get over
this hump, too.
And right then, this guy walked up behind us and cleared
his throat.
Arthur
I never wanted to take off that dress, but eventually I did
and as I put everything away I started to think how nice it
would be to get some things that fit the way they should.
Right now, the only thing I had that was the right size was
the pantyhose and I'd ruined those. So I started to think
about how to go about this. I couldn't just walk up to a
clerk in a store and say, "Excuse me, can you help my find
a dress? I don't know what size I wear."
Or could I?
Here's a brainstorm - I could come up with a cover story.
So I thought for a bit about what kind of story I could
tell and came up with this. I lost a bet and the penalty
was to spend the day in drag. That could happen. Who could
I lose the bet to? A buddy? No, I don't think that would
work. My girlfriend! Then I could get the lingerie, too. I
lost a bet to my girlfriend.
What kind of a bet? That would be a little harder, but I
decided to make it on a sports event. A football game. No,
she beat me at tennis. That's much better. That would do
it.
As soon as the plan came together in my head, I just had to
figure out where and when and I just couldn't wait. I
decided to go to the mall and just walk around until I got
the courage to walk into a store. I felt like the Little
Engine That Could. Can I do this?
"I know I can I know I can I know I can."
I'm going to do this.
Late Saturday afternoon, close to dinnertime, I drove to
the mall psyching myself up all the way. I parked the car,
took the escalator up to the main floor and it deposited me
in front of Macy's. I took a deep breath and decided this
wasn't the place. The first store clockwise was a greeting
card shop and then I saw Laura Brown's.
Instinctively, I knew it was now or never. I inhaled deeply
and then walked slowly not stopping until I almost bumped
into two salesgirls who were talking to each other near the
cash register.
Connie
The guy who cleared his throat also almost bumped into us.
He looked really nervous, but nice. He was about my height
(I'm 5'8") and like me, a little on the chunky side without
being fat (really - I'm not fat, it's just that sometimes
my thighs and boobs make me look that way).
Bettye grinned at me. "I'm going on break. See you in a
bit." And with that, I had my first guy customer.
"Hi. Can I help you with something?" I asked as brightly as
I could.
He cleared his throat again. "Yes, I guess so. Promise you
won't laugh?"
I nodded.
"Okay." He took a deep breath. "I lost a bet with my
girlfriend and I have to spend all day tomorrow in drag.
And I really hope that you won't think I'm weird and can
help me out." He exhaled and looked at me.
Now I'm not the world's most perceptive person, but I know
bullshit when I hear it and there wasn't the slightest hint
of truth in what he just said. But I did remember what
Bettye said to me so if this guy wanted to get some stuff
that was his business and it was my business to help him.
"So here goes," I said to myself. To him, I said, "I won't
laugh. Actually, I think it's kinda cute."
I could swear he blushed a little.
"So what are you looking for?" I asked.
A brief moment of panic zipped across his face. "Actually,
I don't think I really thought about it. It was just hard
enough coming in here. I don't know what I want. Whatever
you suggest will be fine, I guess."
"Well, okay. We'll see about that. My name is Connie.
What's yours?"
"Arthur." I was pretty sure that was his real name, too,
because he answered too quickly to have thought about
giving me a fake name and nobody would willingly pick a
name like Arthur.
"Alright then Arthur, let's get started. You said you're
doing this for a bet, right?"
He nodded.
"So do you want to play this for laughs or do you want to
do it straight?"
Arthur looked a little confused, so I had to clarify things
for him.
"Do you want to camp it up and get something really sexy or
maybe something real conservative that will embarrass you
as little as possible like maybe a tailored pants suit or
do you want to get something that looks nice and stylish or
something frilly or what? I'm trying to figure out which
direction to go here."
He thought for a second or two and then blurted "No pants."
Then after another second or two, "My girlfriend wouldn't
like that. I guess I just want something nice that won't
make me look too silly."
"Is that how your girlfriend wants you to play it?" My
throat caught a little on the word "girlfriend."
"I guess so."
"Okay. Next question. Do you want underwear too?"
He must have blushed about 12 shades of red as he stared
down to the floor and nodded. This was getting to be fun. I
pretended not to be able to figure out his response.
"I'm sorry, Arthur, was that a yes or a no?"
"Yes"
"Good. What kind?"
He looked at me utterly confused. "What kind?" Actually,
the look he gave me really did look confused - he wasn't
hiding something, he really didn't know what I was asking.
"Well, I mean a couple of things. Are you looking for a
camisole and half-slip, a full slip, bra, girdle..." I let
my voice trail off.
"I guess a bra and..." Now it was his turn to trail off,
but I wasn't going to let him off the hook, so I just
smiled and waited. Finally, he almost whispered "panties."
Then he paused a bit and looked away and added "and a slip
or half-slip if what you pick out for me needs it." Which
told me that he had done some studying on the subject, even
if he was working real hard to pretend he hadn't.
"That's no problem, we'll take care of it." Now for the
zinger. "Now, once you tell me your sizes, we'll be able to
get right to work."
"My sizes? I don't know my sizes, I've never bought women's
clothes before."
I noticed that he didn't say he hadn't worn women's
clothes, just that he hadn't bought them. Cute. I was about
to start having some fun with him again, but there was
something in his face that stopped me. This guy wasn't at
all like the sleazy pervert I thought a guy who wore
women's clothes would be. He actually seemed embarrassed to
be here, but almost as embarrassed that he didn't know his
size as he was over being here in the first place. I mean,
he really seemed like Joe Average, except that I'd never
had to figure out what size skirt Joe Average wore before.
My disdain was turning (a little) to pity.
"Don't worry, I can take care of it." I said. "Why don't
you follow me to a dressing room." I noticed a flash of
terror passing over his face. "Relax, Arthur, everything's
going to be fine. I'll get you all dolled up and won't
charge you an arm and a leg, either." With that, I led him
down to the dressing room that would be the most private
and left to find my tape measure.
Arthur
Immediately after blurting out my story I knew it sounded
as phony as a three dollar bill and part of my brain was
urging my feet to run out of there as fast as they could
go. The other part of my brain was telling me that if I'd
already made this much of a jackass out of myself, how much
worse could it be? In the end, I couldn't refute that kind
of logic, so I didn't run away.
I don't know what I expected. Maybe I was thinking that
once I whipped out my trusty (HA!) cover story that I'd
waltz out of the store looking like, I don't know, Jennifer
Aniston? (Although Jennifer Love Hewitt is more my color
and type). What I didn't expect was to receive the third
degree from a saleswoman but once I spent two seconds
thinking about it I knew I she was just doing her job.
The "she" in question was the salesgirl who was wearing one
of those carved plastic name badges that said "Connie." She
was almost as tall as me (but I'm not all that tall, to
tell you the truth) but a little on the chunky side. Not
fat, but her hips and thighs were plenty rounded and she
was pretty generously endowed up top, if you know what I
mean.
The thing I noticed most about Connie, though, was her
face. She had a wild head of untamed reddish-brown hair
that framed face and it was a big, warm, friendly face. Big
red lips (and I don't think she was wearing lipstick,
prominent, fleshy cheeks and bright blue eyes and a smile
that just couldn't quit. Every once in a while I got the
feeling that she wanted to let loose with a huge guffaw but
was working too hard at keeping herself reined in.
So she's asking me all these questions and I'm trying like
hell not to let on how turned on I am or how embarrassed I
am. And then she tells me to hit the dressing room and I
almost freaked! It never occurred to me that I'd have to
try anything on. I thought they'd just know what size I'd
wear. There is no way in a million years that I'd be able
to actually put something on in a store. In a goddamn
public store! What if someone saw me? Connie's going to
know that I'm actually wearing this stuff! What if someone
freaked because they saw a man in the dressing room? This
was going way too far but Connie didn't seem to be fazed as
she led me to the back of the store, opened the door and
indicated that I go inside.
Instant paranoiac meltdown. If I could have pulled the
floor over my head and disappeared, I would have. I must
have been sitting in gallons of sweat and my hands were
shaking, but when Connie came back with a tape measure, she
didn't seem to notice. She asked me to raise my arms and
she wrapped the tape measure around my chest, then dropped
it an inch or two and did it again. Then she measured my
waist and then wrapped the tape measure around my butt.
"A perfect 42-38-40," she giggled. "I'll be right back.
Don't go anywhere." And she went off towards the front of
the store.
I knew the outfit I wanted and I prayed that she'd bring it
back to my dressing room. They had it displayed on a
mannequin just inside the window. It was a two piece dress
in a rich, dark, red with black, abstract floral pattern
constructed out of thin, delicate lines. It has elbow
length sleeves, a V-neck that didn't plunge too deeply and
a notched collar but it was the gorgeous color and the way
the full, calf-length, bias cut skirt draped across the
mannequin's legs that set my heart to quivering.
It wasn't what she came back with.
"I thought you might like something like this. It's a skirt
set, but it's not real frilly and it'll be easy to wear."
Connie gave me the skirt and top. "Try these on and let me
know."
It was a navy blue knit two piece dress with three-quarter
sleeves and a scoop neck. The skirt was probably supposed
to be a couple of inches below the knee and all in all, it
was pretty boring. Now I'm saying that it's boring. At the
time, I was tingling with excitement.
So I closed the door to the dressing room, took off my
pants and shirt and put on the skirt and top. Wasn't all
that hard at all. Right.
I avoided looking in the mirror until I was dressed because
I wanted my first glimpse to be, I don't know, ceremonial.
Everything felt like it more or less fit, so I slowly
turned around to face the mirror.
I don't know what I expected. Well, yes I do. I expected to
be dazzled by a radiant feminine beauty staring back at me.
That, or for the sky to open up and a bolt of lightning to
strike me dead for wearing a dress in a public (well, sort
of public) place. I didn't expect to see me, wearing a
dress that looked lumpy.
Lumpy was exactly the right word for it. It was a clingy
sort of knit, and since I didn't have anything upstairs to
push things out a bit, the top hugged every curve and line
I had, including a little run around my less than A-cup,
the beginnings of what would become a pot belly if I wasn't
careful and love handles that I didn't remember having. All
that was pretty bad, but it wasn't as bad as the bulge
between my legs or the fact that the skirt showed every
line of my bunched up boxers. The hairy legs covered by
white athletic socks sticking out from the skirt didn't
help either.
Connie knocked once, saying "Knock knock."
I gave her an absent-minded "Yes," as I continued to pick
out flaws in my appearance.
She interpreted that "yes" as permission to enter and
opened the door. I panicked, but there wasn't much I could
do besides stand as rigid as a rock and blush. She grasped
my shoulder and turned me around to face her. "Well," she
murmured, almost to herself, "I think we have the size
right but this won't work at all." She raised her voice a
little and looked me in the face. "What do you think?"
"It's okay." I lied.
"We can do better than this, though. Seriously."
"Whatever you say." I tried to grin but it must have looked
as weird as the rest of me. "You're the expert." That got a
bit of a giggle out of her.
"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to try something else.
Y'know what else?" She paused thoughtfully. "I think we
probably ought to get the underwear done first. It's hard
to get a good fit with what you have on now." Her giggle
got a little louder.
My blush got a little deeper. I managed to eke out an
"Okay."
"Alright, let me see what I can do. Do you have any
preferences?" She was loving this, I could tell.
"Uh, no. Just a bra and, uh, uh, underwear."
"No problem. Just wait here. Oh, by the way, you're an 16,
same as me," and with that she headed off towards the
lingerie section. I, in the meantime, shut the door as
quickly as I could and huddled in the corner, waiting for
her to come back.
Connie
This was turning out to be as much fun as I'd had in a
long, long time. This guy Arthur was a nice enough guy, I
guess, but it was so easy to push his buttons.
When I went to get a dress for him, I was trying to think
of something as embarrassing as possible, something really
femmy or maybe a tight miniskirt, but I didn't want him to
think I was playing him. Then I thought I could have some
fun if I got him something boring and really ugly, so I got
the two piece navy knit - something some big mama might
think would make her look sharp. The thing was, when I put
it on him, he looked so disappointed it (almost) broke my
little heart. He looked really sad and I felt like I was
being cruel and I didn't like that feeling one bit. I mean,
when you think about it, what was he doing that was all
that wrong?
So anyway, I'd have to put a little more thought into this.
Or maybe less thought. Maybe I should just pretend he's
like an everyday customer and not a guy. Yeah, like that's
going to happen, I thought. Then this other voice came
right back and said why the hell not? These conversations
with myself were getting a little weird.
By this time, I'd made it to the lingerie department and
had to decide to do something. He did look to be about the
same size as me, which meant he probably was going to wear
a size 8 panty or maybe even a 7, because while his waist
was about my size, his butt sure wasn't. I'd measured his
chest earlier and knew he'd wear a 40 bra (and at that, one
of those little voices in my head giggled that they don't
wear 40 AA's). I hadn't asked him if he was going to stuff
his bra and I couldn't really think of a diplomatic way to
ask.
I also hadn't asked him how much he had to spend. I didn't
know whether he wanted something really nice or just
something cheap.
After seeing the look on his face when he tried on that
ugly dress, I decided to go with nice. I also heard
something in the back of my mind that said I needed to make
it up to him for picking that dress.
There was this one matching set that was really, really
pretty. I mean, it was so nice even I'd thought about
getting some for myself. I hadn't, because (a) they were
way too expensive for my bank account, even with my
employee discount, (b) all my life I'd only thought about
underwear in functional terms and the idea of pretty
underwear seemed a bit strange to me and (c) who was going
to see them - it wasn't as if I had a hot social life.
The bra had stretch straps with some understated scalloped
edging on the sides and back. The top half of the cups were
translucent with a tulip pattern embroidered in lace. There
was a tiny tulip in the middle where the two underwires
met. The panties had the same tulip-embroidery on
translucent material rising in a V from the crotch along
the leg with the tulip motif continued in a tone-on-tone
pattern all over. A little tulip at the center on the
waistband added just the right accent. The bra was $26.95,
the panties $15, buy two get one free and we had them in
white, black, red, burgundy and purple. I picked the white
for him as a symbol of his (probable) virginity (that voice
giggled again) and brought them over to his dressing room.
I guess I wondered what he had been doing all this time.
Arthur
After the salesgirl left I didn't have a clue what I
supposed to do next. Was I supposed to get back into my
clothes, say in this dress, take the dress off and stay in
my underwear or what? What had I gotten myself into? I
decided to do nothing.
"Knock knock," I heard her say and I opened the door. I
could swear she smiled for just a second when she saw I was
still in the knit dress.
"Why don't you put these on? You could try the panties on
over your boxers, but I don't think that would work very
well, but I'm pretty sure these will be okay. Do you need
some help with the bra?"
I blushed very deeply and shook my head violently to
indicate no.
"Alright, then. After you put these on, you could try this
dress again and see if it makes any difference having the
right underclothes." She started to walk away. "Oh, by the
way, I didn't know what you wanted to do about the cup on
the bra. I got a C cup for you, because if you plan on
stuffing it a C cup would look about right on someone your
size. If you didn't want to stuff, I could go look for a
smaller cup."
"No, this will be fine," and I took the bra and panties
from her. We stood in awkward silence for a moment, then
she started to pull the door shut.
"Okay, then. Holler if you need anything and I'll go look
for a different outfit."
Right. Like I was going to holler for anything. I peeled
off the dress and then slipped off my boxers and I can't
tell you how strange I felt being naked in a women's
dressing room in a store in a mall. Connie was right, the
panties did fit just right. A little snug around the legs,
but they hugged my ass just right and I just loved the way
I looked in them. They were so pretty.
I put the bra on backwards, hooked it up, slid it around
the right way and then slipped my arms through. It fit
right, too, except for the cups. I could probably stick a
pair of socks or two in them when I got home, but I wasn't
really thinking of that right now. Right now, I was staring
in the mirror at this guy who was wearing the absolute
prettiest matched panty/bra set I'd ever seen and that guy
was me! Damn! This is fun!
I pulled the knit dress back on and it did look better
without my wrinkled boxers underneath it and with a little
forward motion up top, but it still wasn't the image I had
in my head. Just the same, though, I could get used to
this. I was beginning to convince myself that this is what
I wanted.
Then Connie did her "Knock knock" thing again.
Connie
So what could I pull together for this guy (and why did I
care so much, all of a sudden)? I mean, I could probably
wrap him up with what he had now, make my commission and
never see him again and everything would be cool but that
just didn't seem right. I actually wanted to get the right
thing for Arthur and I couldn't quite figure out what that
was.
Pants were out of the question, as were mini-skirts,
shorts, dressy dresses, career separates and a good deal of
our basics. I was having a hard time coming up with
something and then my eyes landed on our window. There, I
saw the perfect outfit for him. It was a dark red two piece
dress that would have come almost to my ankles, with a very
pretty, very subtle black floral pattern. It was soft and
feminine without being frilly and I remember that even I
took a second look at it when Lisanne, our receiver,
unpacked it. I even remember thinking that with Arthur's
finely chiseled features and dark coloring that it would
look good on him, although I can't for the life of me
imagine that a dress would ever look good on a man.
I almost ran over to the rack and checked for sizes - 14,
18, 24, 26 - no 16. For a second I thought about showing
Arthur a 14 and an 18 and seeing which worked best, but
then I had a hunch and checked the mannequin in the window.
BINGO! A 16! So I stripped the mannequin as quickly as I
could (stabbing myself with hidden pins a couple of times
in the process), shook the dust off the dress, regained my
breath and brought the dress over to Artie (I'm sorry - I
just can't call someone Arthur without thinking of an
aardvark).
"Knock, knock," I said and opened the door to give him the
dress. The expression on his face was totally priceless.
Arthur
She brought me THE DRESS. This was the dress I saw in the
window that I almost drooled over. Of all the things in
that entire store that I wanted to wear, she brought me
exactly the right thing. I almost fainted. I did, I really
almost fainted.
Then I remembered that I wasn't supposed to like this and
this was all for a lost bet and as fast as I could I tried
to get hold of myself. I have no idea how well I did at it
and I have no idea what Connie must have thought about my
reaction to the dress. I felt like I was drenched in sweat
and my heart was hammering but I mustered up every bit of
nonchalantless (I know there's no such word but I it's the
only way I can describe it) and took the dress from her.
"Okay," I said. "I'll try this one too." I tried to heave a
tired sigh, but it probably sounded more like hyperactive
panting. The expression on Connie's face as she closed the
door was pretty bizarre. I couldn't tell if she was amused,
amazed, shocked or even a little scared. To tell you the
truth, though, I didn't care a bit. I just wanted to see
how I looked in that dress.
As soon as the door closed, I almost ripped that navy
monstrosity off me, flinging it in the corner. I lifted the
top over my head and allowed it to float over my body and
without even glancing in the mirror (I didn't want to spoil
my first look) I pulled the skirt up around my waist,
adjusting it just so. Then I turned around and faced the
mirror.
And I loved what I saw.
Whoever made that dress, made it for me. It draped over my
body in the most languorous, sensual way possible. The
deep, dark red color was perfect for me and the subtle
black decorative lines mirrored the subtle, dark lines of
my eyes, brows and lips. I was transfixed and the longer I
looked at that mirror, the better I liked it.
Forget no makeup. Forget short hair. Forget the athletic
socks. This person in the mirror just looked so right. When
I slipped off my socks, I almost swooned as it made what
was already perfect better. For the first time in my life,
I didn't feel like a freak. I felt like this is the way I
should look.
Connie
I didn't know what was taking so long inside the dressing
room. After clearing my throat a couple of times, I thought
I ought to do or say something, so I asked "Everything
alright in there?"
He didn't respond for a beat or two, then squeaked out an
"Uhh, yes. Everything's fine."
"How does it fit?"
I heard him clear his throat. "Fine."
"Does it look okay?"
A little more throat clearing, then a low, soft, "Yes."
"Can I see?"
Another pause. "Do you have to?" he asked.
That was a good question. He was the customer. If he's
satisfied, why should I care? I did care, though. There was
something about him that piqued my curiosity and I also
wanted to know if my take on the dress was right. "No, you
don't have to, but I'd like to see how you look anyway."
Another pause that stretched into a few seconds and then he
slowly opened the door.
I gotta tell you, I was amazed. Shocked almost. As the door
was opening, I was steeling myself to keep from giggling,
but when I finally saw Arthur in that red dress giggling
was the furthest thing from my mind. He looked good. He
really and truly looked good in that dress.
Now I know he would have looked better if the bit of leg
that peeked from under the hem was shaved and a different
hair style would have improved things, too, but even with
all of that he looked good. The color was right, the fabric
was right, it hung on him right and it fit just right.
Most of all, though, it was the expression in his face that
got me. He knew how good he looked in that dress and it was
like a revelation to him. He was positively radiant.
I have never, ever seen a customer react that way to
anything I selected. To tell you the truth, I was as
confused at that moment as much as I'd ever been. I thought
I would have been a little, I don't know, either irritated
or smug at having just helped a pervert but his reaction to
the dress took the winds right out of that sail. I should
have been pleased that I helped a customer find what she
(she? he?) wanted, but that wasn't quite what I was feeling
either.
I was jealous.
I was jealous of him. Not once in my life had I ever felt
really good because I looked good and here was a guy (a
fucking GUY!) standing in front of me in a dress I sort of
liked but couldn't afford who looked a hell of a lot better
than I did and knew it. I was jealous and as soon as I
recognized the fact that I was jealous I nearly freaked but
then brought myself under control real fast before I let
things get out of control. This was something I'd have to
deal with later. Much later, I hoped.
"Not too bad, is it? What do you think?"
After all that, all I could manage was something stupid
like that, but what was I supposed to say - "That dress is
you!" Ugh!
He smiled to himself for just a moment. "I think it'll be
okay. I can go with this."
"You sure?" I asked. "I can show you some more," and I
laughed, as if letting him in on a joke.
"No, this is okay."
"Alright." I didn't know where to go with this. "Why don't
you get dressed and I'll ring you up. You can leave the
other outfit there, I'll take care of it." I paused for a
moment. "You don't really need a slip with that, but what
about pantyhose?"
"Pantyhose? I guess so."
"What shade?"
"I don't have any idea." He was almost whispering by now.
"Whatever you think is best."
"Alright, I can take care of it. I'll meet you at the
register."
On the way back to the register, I picked up a pair of
suntan, nude toe pantyhose in a size I thought would fit. I
remembered that they were on sale, 3/$15 and on a hunch I
added two more, one in nude and one in coffee. Riding that
same hunch, I added a couple of pairs of panties, one in
red, one in black. They were buy two get one free. I wanted
to see what would happen.
Arthur
I did not want to take that dress off, but I knew I'd have
to. Off it came, carefully and lovingly and gently placed
back on the hangers. I slipped off the panties, unhooked
the bra and put my "real" clothes back on. What a comedown,
but I knew I'd done the right thing. I couldn't wait to get
home.
As I came out of the dressing room, a mother and daughter
were browsing the clearance rack nearby and gave the man
with the dress, bra and panties draped over his arm a
strange look, but I hardly noticed. I headed to the
checkout, where Connie was fussing with something beside
the register.
"All set, I guess," as I laid my things on the counter. "I
have to thank you for this. You were really helpful and I
really appreciate that you didn't get all weird or
anything."
I thought I saw her smile to herself. "No problem at all.
That's what we're here for." She straightened out my
purchases and then added a couple of things on top.
"The panties are on sale, buy two get one free. That's a
really good deal, so I picked out another couple pairs for
you. And these pantyhose are on sale, so I got three pairs
for you. You don't need to buy them all, but it's such a
good deal I thought you might want some extras."
Another moment of truth. This was supposed to be the losing
payoff in a bet, so why would I need more than one of
anything? On the other hand, it was a good deal and why
shouldn't I have a couple extra panties? On the other hand,
if I bought them, it would