Rainy days have a way of breaking up the routine at my grandmother's house on the river.

Jack and I were never much help around the house. It was usually a day we'd spend video gaming.

Things are a bit different when you're paired with Meg.

We still did our barre and stretching. We tried not "to knock anything over" when we were doing kicks Meg called grande battments.

We knew we were in for some work when we saw Grandma carrying brooms upstairs to the attic. She then proceeded to carry feather dusters, rags, furniture polish, mop and a bucket up.

Meg and I got the message.

"This attic hasn't been cleaned in ages," Grandma said. "It hasn't been organized in ages."

"So we're going to be cleaning it?" I asked.

"And organizing it?" Meg asked.

"I want to decide what to throw away," Grandma said. "I want to decide what to keep. And I want to decide what I might want to sell at the next church rummage sale."

I have to hand it to Grandma, she had a system. There were areas in the attic designated for clothes, furniture, books, heirlooms and just plain junk.

We were to clean as we went. I found myself knocking down cobwebs with a broom. Dusting off books and heirlooms. My eyes were watering and I was sneezing every five minutes because of the dust.

"I think we're making good progress," Grandma said. "You two are the best helpers I've ever had."

"Why thank you!" Meg said, curtseying with her broom.

She was amazing. She could make house cleaning clothes look good. She wore a t-shirt, an old pair of jeans and a "do rag" on top of her head.

I found a bandana and asked her if she could make me a "do rag" like hers.

"Why sure, monsieur," she said.

"Why Collin, don't you look cute," Grandma said.

We also had a little fun during our time in the attic. It was a trip down memory lane for Grandma.

"Oh my gosh, look at these," Meg said when she pulled out a pair of old, faded blue jeans with holes in the knee and a peace sign on the back pocket.

"I haven't seen those in a while," Grandma said. "I didn't realize I still had them."

Come to find out, she wore them during her flower child days in the Sixities.

"I wore those when you're grandfather and I were at Woodstock.

"You were at Woodstock? No way!" Meg said.

Grandma pulled out a photo album and handed me some photos.

"What are they of?" Meg asked.

"Oh, they're Grandma and Grandpa...at Woodstock!" I said.

We laughed at the photos. The grandpa we remembered was bald. The one in the photos had hair down to his waist. He also wore a head band.

And Grandma? She had flowers in her hair. And they both wore so many beads.

"You were one groovy chick, Grandma!" Meg said.

"But where were our moms when you were at Woodstock?" I asked.

"They stayed with your great-grandparents," Grandma said. "They were none too thrilled their daughter's and son-in-law's hippy ways!"

"Sort of like you are when Meg wear's a bikini that you think is too small?" I asked.

"Or when Collin wear's a tankini?" Meg asked laughingly.

"Nice to know my grandchildren have inherited my sense of humor," Grandma said.

Pretty soon the attic was beginning to take shape. We were almost done when Meg made an amazing discovery.

"Grandma, what are these?" Meg said pulling out two dresses with a lot of tassles on them. There were also a couple of head pieces and feather things that went with them.

"Flapper dresses!" Grandma said. "Oh, my! I'm so glad I kept those."

"Flapper dresses?" I asked.

"Roaring Twenties dresses," Grandma said.

She walked over to a drawer and pulled out a pair of necklaces.

"These go with the dresses," Grandma said.

"There is a story behind this I'm sure," Meg said.

She was right.

Grandma pulled out photos of our mothers wearing the same dresses. She told us we favored our mothers.

"Your mothers wore them as part of a routine they did at their dance recital when they were about your ages," Grandma said. "I had to teach them the Charleston."

"The Charleston?" I asked.

"It's a dance, isn't it?" Meg asked.

"Yes it is," Grandma replied. "I learned it from my grandmother. I taught it to your moms jazz class."

"That would be cool," Meg said. "You need to teach us sometime."

"If my body could still do it," Grandma said.

*****

I knew Meg had something up her sleeve the rest of the time we cleaned the attic. We finished just before lunchtime.

It didn't even look like the same place.

"Can we be excused?" Meg asked after we finished our sandwiches.

"Sure, you two have earned a break," she said.

I followed Meg back up to the attic, where she picked up the dresses, head pieces, feathers and necklaces.

"What are we doing with these?" I asked.

"Shhhhh!" Meg said. "You'll see. I want this to be a big surprise for Grandma."

We took them downstairs and went into Meg's room. She shut the door.

She pulled up two chairs to her dresser, pulled our her makeup kit.

"Umm, what are you doing?" I asked as she told me to hold still so she could put makeup on me.

"We're going to see if Grandma will teach us the Charleston," Meg said. "That is if you want to. I mean, know one will know except us."

I nodded my head yes.

"It will be fun," I said, but I didn't want to let on that I was really going to enjoy it.

She finished putting on her own makeup and did our nails.

"Now let's put the dresses on and see how we look," Meg said.

It was frightening to see myself in the mirror. I looked, well...really like a girl.

"Oh, you'd really make some of my friends pretty jealous with how beautiful you are," Meg said as she put on my head piece.

We didn't wear any shoes. Meg said she didn't think there were any heels either of our size in the attic.

"And I don't really have enough time to teach you how to walk in heels," she said.

She had a good point.

We walked into the living room where Grandma was watching one of her shows.

"Look at you two!" Grandma chuckled.

"Don't we look glamorous?" Meg asked.

"You sure do!" she said. "And Collin, I must say, you look really pretty!"

"Grandma, we want you to teach us the Charleston," Meg said. "That is if you feel up to it."

"Oh I feel up to it," she said as she got up from her recliner.

Meg actually found the tune on the online. And Grandma taught us to be Flapper girls.

"My little Collin, I believe you'd make a good dancer like Meg," Grandma said. "I think you both inherited your mothers' dancing ability."

*****

"Oh there you are!" Meg said when she found me in the old tin shed in the back yard. She pulled out her flash light so she could see inside.

"Grandma and I were wondering where you were," she said. "You hardly said a word at dinner."

I told Meg the shed was my "thinking place."

It was true. I had been coming to the shed when I got mad at Jack, or just felt like being alone.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked as she took a seat beside me.

"I don't think I should tell you," I said. "You'll think I'm a freak."

"No I won't," she said. "Try me."

"Yeah, you will," I said. "Because I think I'm a freak."

How could I explain to her how I was feeling? I mean, I was still wearing makeup after we took off the dresses. My nails were still painted.

"Please tell me what's going on," she said. "You can tell me anything. And I promise I won't tell anybody."

I paused.

"I thought it was fun wearing your tankini yesterday," I said.

"And?" Meg asked.

"I thought it was fun wearing the flapper girls dresses," I said.

"What's wrong with that?" Meg said. "We were just dressing up."

"It's not just that," I told her.

"Well what is it?" Meg said.

"I liked pretending to be a flapper girl," I said. "I like doing girls' things. Sometimes, I think I want to be a girl."

I started crying. Meg gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry I came up with the idea with the dresses, I didn't know you were thinking about those things," Meg said.

"That's Ok," I said. "It really was fun. I just hope I didn't make it look like I enjoyed it too much."

"I couldn't really tell," Meg said.

Meg then paused.

"So you think you might be transgendered?" Meg said.

"What?" I asked.

"I saw something on Tyra once about children who were transgendered," Meg said. "They had a boy who wanted to be a girl on the show. And a girl who wanted to be a boy. Is it kind of like that?"

"I don't know," I said.

I told her I was still trying to sort things out.

I liked boys' things, too.

"I like to do boys' things, too, sometimes," Meg said. "And sometimes there are things people think are just boys and girls things, and they really aren't."

She explained to me that ballet wasn't a girls' thing. And she though it was Ok for a boy to like wearing dresses.

"And boy or girl, I like you the way you are," Meg said. "I want you to know I'm always going to be on your side."