Starting College my way. A story of fiction by Symphony Simms.

Starting College my way. Chapter 14.

Fox Hollow. Friday night September 13th

We got in the car and Mark began to drive us to the Fox Hollow Pub and Eatery. I sat in the back of Marks’ Jeep Grand Cherokee with Barbara. It wasn’t a new car but it was still nice.

I asked Barbara, “what do you think of me becoming a girl?”

“You know it is really strange Leslie but I feel like you have finally come home again. I missed my extra little sister and when you had to be a boy going to school and I was disappointed because part of me treated you as Fiona’s twin sister.”

“Me too,” I said. “There were times when I so much wanted to be Fiona’s twin sister that every time anyone would say make a wish, then to be Fiona’s twin sister is what I wished for. Fortunately Fiona would snuggle up to me so often that it made me feel better, but I was missing something for so long, I feel like I have it back now.”

“You know Barbara, Fiona told me that you used to sneak into my bed and cuddle me. I know that Fiona did it a lot, but she says that sometimes she would come to my bedroom and there would be no room for her because you were already in my bed with me.”

“Well we all like to sleep next to someone sometimes,” said Fiona. “Mom and Dad have each other but also Dad snores and Mom has restless legs. Dawn and I would often sleep in each other’s beds, but as she got older she kept inconsistent bedtimes. You and Fiona would sleep together like twins and when there was enough room I would like to join you both.”

“It was always wonderful to see you and Fiona asleep together because you both smile in your sleep like two little angels. Last winter when I had finished uni and Fiona had just started, I occasionally came into your room and slept beside you for a while, but I always left before you woke up and I don’t think you ever realized it.”

“I remember many times waking thinking that it feels like Fiona has been with me all night but she couldn’t have because she is in Philly at her Dorm.”

“That was probably me,” said Barbara.

“So next time stay in bed till I wake up!”

“OK,” she said.

We pulled into the parking lot of the Fox Hollow. The pub looked to be converted from a huge old house surrounded by big trees. The lights from the windows looked very warm and friendly but as we stepped out of the car I could feel a chill on my bare arms and legs. Perhaps I should have work tights?

Inside the pub was warm and friendly. The walls were white and there was lots of exposed oak framework giving the appearance of and old English house although I got the feeling that some of the rooms were new and only looked like they were old. There were red patterned carpets on the floor and all of the oak furniture was trimmed in tan leather.

We attracted lots of attention as we walked in. Dawn led the way of course and everyone likes to look at Dawn, even the women, but I think Barbara and I got some admiring long glances too.

We found a partially private alcove near the far end of the room. The seats were raised and we could see over the heads of most everyone in the room, and most everyone could look down the room and see us. Mark came down the room a few moments after we were seated and drew some admiring glances for himself. He is a very handsome man. Dawn has good taste.

As we sat down my phone rang. The picture of Eliot, one of my guitar playing buddies from high school was calling. I answered it.

“Hey Elliot.”

“Hey Leslie. I called your house and your Mom told me you were home this weekend. What are you doing?”

“I am out with my sisters. Where are you?”

“I am at Fox Hollow with my family having a meal. Do you want to do something tomorrow?”

I wave of panic swept across me as I found out that my friend Eliot was somewhere in the pub close to me, but then I realized that Eliot told me he had a gay cousin that he occasionally hung out with. I decided I should take the chance and start telling my friends.

I resumed talking to Eliot. “Are you homophobic?” I asked him.

Barbara’s and Dawn’s attention picked up what I was saying.

“No, not at all. You know my cousin is gay and we hang out. You have met him.”

“Good,” I said. “I am just checking. Listen to me Eliot!”

“What Leslie, I am listening to you.”

“I have something I need to show you. It’s a secret that not many people know but you are my friend so I want you to know OK?”

“OK Leslie I get it. What’s the problem?

“I am here at Fox Hollow. Will you meet me at the front door right now?”

“Right now?” he said, “OK,”, and I hung up.

“What’s happening,” said Dawn and Barbara together.

“I am just going to meet a friend from high school.”

“Dressed like that. You are crazy,” said Dawn.

“This should be fun,” I said.

I got up to go back to the front door. Dawn and Barbara got up and followed me but stayed back so they could see from a distance.

Elliot is a kind boy, a few months older than me. A little taller than me with long brown hair to his shoulders, he was looking quite handsome today wearing a white tee shirt under a jacket.

Eliot got to the doorway ahead of me and stood looking around. I stood in the entrance about six feet from him and looked at him. He ignored me and looked past me into the restaurant. Now that I was wearing heels I was about the same size as him. He gave me a couple of glances as he was looking around but obviously didn’t recognize me.

“Eliot,” I said and just looked at him.

“Hello,” he said looking at me with a kind of blank what’s going on look on his face.

“Eliot.” I said again. He looked directly at me, then it clicked. He got this funny twitch then bounced back against the wall.

“What the fuck!” he said looking into my eyes like I was the ghost of Christmas past.

“What do you think Eliot?” I asked.

“Fuck me Leslie what have you done?”

“That’s no way to treat a friend Eliot. You should say something nice to a girl.”

“But the last time I looked Leslie you were a boy.”

“Shhh, Eliot please don’t say that too loud. Please remember that it’s only a month ago you were the one who told me I looked like a girl.”

“But Jesus Leslie this is different. You are a girl now, but how can you be?”

“I was always a girl Eliot. I have just been pretending to be a boy, but it’s a long story and I can’t tell you now but I will tell you tomorrow if you want.”

I was still out on a limb here but I knew that Eliot was a good guy and I thought he might enjoy some fun.

“Hey Eliot,” I said. “Do you want to introduce me to your family? You could tell them I am your girlfriend.”

“They would never believe I have a girlfriend as pretty as you.”

“They will if I kiss you,” I said.

“Fuck Leslie. Now you want me to kiss you.”

“Just a little fun Eliot. You will totally shock you family and you never know you might enjoy it.

“You are not gay are you?” asked Eliot.

“Do I look like I’m gay,” I asked him.

“Whatever gay looks like you don’t look it,” said Eliot.

“Just believe you are kissing a pretty girl and we can talk about it tomorrow,” I said.

“But I would be kissing my buddy!” he said.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Well do you want to kiss me or not Eliot?”

“Er yeh I kindof do! But what would I call you?”

“Leslie sounds like a good name to me,” I said.

“OK Leslie,” he said.

“This feels fucking weird Leslie!”

“No it isn’t Eliot. You are just a boy who wants to kiss a pretty girl. I am pretty aren’t I”

“You are fucking gorgeous Leslie.”

“OK,” I said, “so lead me to your family.” I slipped my hand in his and he led me into the dining room. As we passed Dawn and Barbara their jaws dropped in surprise and I smiled and waved at them. They had no idea what was happening.

Eliot stopped by his family’s table and I didn’t recognize any of them.

“Hi Mom,” he said. “I didn’t know she was going to be here but I want to introduce you to my girlfriend Leslie.”

There were six people at the table and their jaws all dropped in unison. I did kind of a little curtsy, smiled and waved my fingers at everyone. The big guy nearest me stood up and offered his hand. He was about 6’-4” and 300 lbs with a light brown beard. I guess it was his Dad.

“Oh hi,” he said as I looked up to meet his gaze. “Nice to meet you Leslie.”

There was a woman at the other end of the table who I am guessing was Eliot’s Mother couldn’t move because the chairs were blocking her in. She spoke next. “We always assumed you were a boy Leslie. Eliot never actually said you were his girlfriend to us.”

“I usually dress more like a boy anyway. Mostly we are just friends but he wanted to tell you about me.”

The pretty girl about 12 next to her father asked. “Will you come and visit us Leslie?”

“I would like to but I am at university in New Jersey. I am only home for a quick visit with my parents. Maybe at Christmas or something.”

“Would you like to sit with us Leslie?” The bigger brother next to Eliot asked.

“I can’t sorry. I am here with my sisters.” I turned around towards the door and waved to Dawn and Barbara. They waved back.

“I have to go now,” said. “Come and visit me tomorrow Eliot.”

Then I quickly put my arms around his head hand kissed him slowly on the lips before he could change his mind. I felt his arms go around my waist and he opened his lips just a little so I slipped my tongue in and it touched his. I pulled back and we let go. He had this astonished look on his face that I actually found pleasing.

I looked at him smiling. “I have to go so I will see you tomorrow Eliot.” I said then I kissed him on the cheek, turned around and walked away towards a shocked looking Dawn and Barbara.

I walked back to a stunned Barbara and Dawn and we walked back to our seats in the bar.

“What on earth was that Leslie?” asked Barbara.

“Oh we were just having some fun with his family. They knew Eliot and I hung around together, but they just didn’t know I was a girl.”

“But Leslie you’re!” Barbara didn’t complete her sentence.

“We know what I am,” I said. “But they don’t. They will be very impressed that their son, brother whatever has such a pretty girlfriend.”

“You will totally mess him up. He will have a crush on you if he doesn’t have one already.”

“Look I know I won’t turn him to the dark side if he isn’t already that way inclined,” I said.

“You don’t know the power of a pretty face and you right now are as pretty as any woman in here. You may already have messed him up for life,” said Dawn.

“Dawn, Barbara and Fiona,” a deep voice right behind me interrupted us. “I can’t believe no one has brought you ladies drinks yet. I can guess what Dawn and Barbara want but Fiona you always seem to be trying something different.”

“Oh hey Ralph great to see you again,” said Barbara and Dawn.

I turned around to find this attractive heavy set man maybe 40ish with short blonde hair and a light beard standing next to me.

“Oh Hi Ralph,” I said and I opened up my arms to hug him and he bent down to kiss me on the cheek and I kissed his neck. He smelled like he had been working hard.

“A hug from Fiona!” he said. “I feel honored.”

“You deserve it Ralph,” I said.

“This is my husband Mark,” said Dawn. Mark held out his hand to Ralph and they shook.

“I think you have been here before Mark am I right?” asked Ralph.

“A few times,” said Mark, “but sometimes the sisters come here on their own and leave me to do the house work,” said Mark.

“Housework,” said Dawn, “just as if you would do any house work!”

“Red wine merlot or cab sav please Ralph,” I said.

“You said you didn’t like red wine last week Fiona!” said Ralph.

“That was last week,” I said.

“Don’t worry Fiona I will find you a good one. Are you ladies going to be singing tonight?” he asked the group of us.

I wanted to jump in and ask questions but I didn’t know what had been going on.

“We might be able to find a song to do. We can always persuade Fiona to sing and play at the drop of a hat,” said Dawn.

Ralph went off for the drinks so Dawn moved closer and started asking question.

“So when do you start getting so confident and outgoing Fiona,” she asked. I have never seen you like this before. The young person that I remember would stand in a corner, kick the carpet and say nothing.”

“I think it is the power of the dress,” I said. “I have never felt so alive so free and so unrestrained, and so attractive. When I was, you know before, I felt like nobody was interested. Maybe you three but none of your friends were interested. I hated being the odd person out. Also the age thing got in the way.”

“I had friends from school but many of them were nerds and we would play video games on line, maybe play some guitar and stuff. We had out mountain bikes too and we would bike all over the place. Eliot is one of those friends.”

Ralph came over with the drinks and we thanked him.

“Hey er, Fiona.” Mark asked. “I know what goes on in high school. I was a little puny when I was younger and got bullied, but I had my growth spurt early and became a bit of a jock. Did you ever get bullied because you were small and let’s face it a little feminine?”

“I had my own private bodyguard,” I told them. “When we lived in town before we moved out here we lived next door to Alan Buttonfield. We kind of grew up together and went to kindergarten, primary, middle school then high school together. We didn’t hang out a lot but every once in a while he would call me up and we would hang out.”

“He was always bigger, stronger and faster than me but he was still my friend. When the school bullies tried to pick on me he always stepped in. Nobody picks on him. He is on a football scholarship to Penn State.”

“So when did you last see Alan?” asked Dawn.

“About a month ago. We had a couple of beers down at Bullfrog Lake one hot night.”

“Just you and Alan Butterfield, down at Bullfrog Lake one night. Did you kiss him?”

“Let me get this straight.” I said. “Leslie the boy was never gay. He never thought about kissing boys until I put on a dress. Everything is different now of course.”

“But we know you have been wearing dresses for years. Did you never think about it then?” asked Barbara.

“I try not to get things too jumbled up in my mind. Back then when I was doing things on my own and nobody knew. It was like a fantasy that I never thought would come true. None of that was real, but this is real. This is me and I am a girl now and I am never going back again.”

Just someone called my name. “Hey Fiona!” I looked over and there was a tall blonde good looking guy walking towards me. “Hey Fiona,” he said. “You told me you weren’t coming home this weekend.” Then he put his arms right around my and gave me a massive hug and he kissed me on the neck right under my ear. I got shivers all over, but then I realized that Barbara was pulling him away from me and they disappeared out of the front door. The aroma of his beautiful cologne hung around me for a moment.

“What on earth was that?” I said.

“”That was Andy,” said Dawn. “One of Fiona’s boyfriends.”

“What do you mean one of her boyfriends?”

“She has a couple of guys she is seeing. Neither of them is serious right now and she doesn’t know which one to pick. Don’t worry the other one lives in Philly so he won’t be here tonight.”

“She never tells you about any of her boyfriends,” said Dawn. “It embarrasses her for some reason. It’s not just you, she won’t talk to dad about her boyfriend’s either. She is very shy about some things.”

“She has never ever mentioned to me that she has ever had a boyfriend,” I said.

“She has had plenty, believe me. There are a couple of her ex-boyfriends in this room.”

“You know,” I said. “I have a feeling tonight she was seeing that guy from my class who I kissed earlier in the week, Lawrence. Maybe she now has 3 boyfriends. We best not speak of it in front of Andy then.”

Barbara and Andy came back in the room. Both of them smiling. I could only guess what Barbara had said to him.

“Fiona,” he said, “I am really happy to see you. I do see now that you are wearing your hair shorter today and maybe your chin is a little more pointed, but you are just as pretty as you have always been, maybe even prettier. You remember that I usually take you home from here and I hope you will let me take you home again tonight.”

“Andy I got it covered tonight,” said Mark.

“It’s OK Mark.” I said. “I might let Andy take me home. We might find something interesting to talk about on the trip.”

“Fiona you are being a little wicked tonight,” said Dawn.

“It’s a short drive home,” I said. “We can’t get into too much trouble, unless we run out of gas or something.”

“But I have plenty of Gas Fiona,” said Andy.

“Then you will have to come with another excuse,” I said. Andy looked at me like the gears were turning in his head and he was planning something.

“Are you going to sing tonight Fiona like you usually do on Fridays?” he asked.

“Andy you do realize that I have never actually been here before. I don’t know what the set up is.”

“Well I was told by a close family member of yours that you sing a lot together at times,” said Andy.

Barbara explained. “Around about now Fiona, Roger Teller, an old friend of Mom and Dad’s plays the electric keyboards in the big room and can play almost anything you can name, provided it’s not too modern.”

“Last time we were here we said we would do ‘Shimmy like my sister Kate,” said Dawn.

“Your kidding,” I said. “I haven’t sung that since we were little girls.”

“Well we are doing it tonight,” she said. “We have been practicing the words and the dance. You could probably remember the steps if you tried.”

“Oh my goodness I probably can. I used to love doing that song.” I said.

It was right about then that we could hear the music start. The keyboard player was obviously good. Although he did start with some older music, but most everybody knew the song. He was playing ‘fly me to the moon’ without singing but he sounded like he had a double bass player with him. He must be playing one of those bass keyboards with his feet.

“I usually sing while playing a guitar,” I said.

“He always has one with him,” said Barbara. “He loves it when people get up and play with him, and remember he knows you Fiona.”

“I will think of something to play,” I said.

Ralph came over with another tray of drinks. “I have saved you guys a table off to the side of the stage in the big room,” he said. “You had better get over there because I don’t know how long I can hold it because the room is filling up.”

“We will head over soon,” said Dawn.

“We didn’t order more drinks Ralph,” said Barbara.

“These are from Ed Green at the bar,” Ralph said indicating towards the far end of the bar where there were a god of guys and one of the was waving at us while the rest looked on.”

“Oh Ed is a real nice guy,” said Barbara who was waving back at Ed.

“Have you gone out with him yet?” asked Mark.

“I had lunch with him the other day,” said Barbara.

“Oh now all the secrets come out. No one tells me anything! I feel left out.” I said.

“Well maybe we will start telling you thing now that you look a little different. We won’t leave you out any more,” said Dawn.

We finished our first drinks then picked up our second and headed around the bar towards the big room. On the way past Ed Green stopped us and Barbara put her arm around him, reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

“You girl’s getting ready to sing?” asked Ed and the guys with him supported him in his question.

“We have a couple of things lined up,” said Dawn. “Fiona is going to do something first.”

“First,” I said. “Who said I was going first?”

“You know the most stuff Fiona,” said Dawn. “You’re the real singer.”

“Shit!” I said. “I might need another glass of wine.”

“Fiona!” said Barbara. “I have never heard you swear before.”

“Oops sorry,” I said. “I must have been picking up bad habits from College.”

Dawn grabbed me by the arm and we left Barbara with Ed and went into the big room with Mark and Andy. As the current song ended we went to the table near the stage with the reserved sign on it. Dawn made signs to Ralph at the bar to confirm we had the right table. As we got to the table Roger on the keyboards started waving to me so I went up on stage and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“That was nice Fiona,” he said with a big smile on his face. “Can you sing one now before you get settled over there?”

“Sure I said. Favorite mistake OK?”

“You did that last week.”

“Yeh but can we do it this week too?”

“Sure,” I said. “B minor.”

“I know,” he said.

“Can I use your guitar?” I asked.

“You don’t need you guitar for this one.”

“I usually do it playing my own guitar.”

“But you didn’t use it last week. I haven’t set it up yet.”

“OK, OK, I’m ready.”

“Check the mic,” he said.

I tapped it and it wasn’t switched on so I switched it on.

“One two,” I said. Seemed to be working. “OK, Favorite Mistake by Sheryl Crow.”

He started into the intro and it sounded real cool. Almost like having a full band behind me.

It was really different standing up on the stage on my own, spotlighted and wearing a dress. Different because I was wearing a dress yes, but also because I always sing with sitting on a stool holding and playing a guitar. I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I held them down in front of me holding them against the top of my thighs. At least I knew when to start singing.

‘I woke up and called this morning’
‘The sound of your voice was a warning’
‘You don’t care for me anymore.’

During the first verse Barbara came in the room with Ed then she came over and stood by me. I was hoping she was going to sing harmony during the chorus and she did.

She stood silent during the second verse then joined in the second chorus, then I did the big bridge my own,

Nothin’ ever lasts forever,
Even when you live together,
I don’t need happy ever after,
It’s you laughter, won’t let me go so I’m holding on this way.

We finished singing ‘favorite mistake’ and Barbara did a nice job with the harmony.

Roger stopped me. “You sound different tonight Fiona, I don’t know what it is.

“I probably play it in a different key,” I said.

“No,” said Roger, “that isn’t it. You sang it in B minor last time.”

I hadn’t noticed but Ralph had come up and was standing next to me. I went to step off the stage and he stopped me.

“I thought we were going to do ‘Picture’,” he said. I gave him a blank look. I don’t remember it and it must be a ’Fiona’ song that I didn’t know.

“I have forgotten the words,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say.

“I have it on here,” said Roger and he started to thumb through stuff on his IPad.

“You know the song Fiona I know you do. We talked about it a couple of weeks ago,” said Ralph. “Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow.”

OK so now I remembered the song, at least I think I do anyway.

“Here it is!” said Roger handing me his IPad. “Remember you sing the second verse all on your own. What key do you want it in?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “What key do they do it in?”

“I will play it in G. Just follow Ralph if you get lost as he probably knows it better that you do by the sound of it.”

We started into the song and Ralph did a nice job on the first verse then I did the second verse then I have to admit that I go a little bit lost towards the middle but I thought it sounded OK. We got good applause. I gave Ralph a hug and a kiss on the cheek and he seemed to like that.

Roger stopped me again. “You did a good job but you didn’t know it did you. You said you knew it backwards the last time I spoke to you. If I didn’t know better I would say that you are not Fiona. You even look different.”

“OK so what if you are right and I am a little different today. Look can we talk later, because I have a story to tell you,” I said. He said he would see me on the break and I sat down next to Dawn and Barbara.

“What was the problem with Roger,” said Dawn.

“I think he knows I am not Fiona,” I said.

“That could be a tricky one,” she said. “How are you going to explain that away?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I guess I will tell him the truth during the break and ask him not to tell anyone.”

“This should be fun,” said Dawn.

Roger did a couple more songs and he took a break and came over to see me. I told him I couldn’t talk in here so we went out to the front door where it was quieter.

“OK what’s the story?” said Roger.

“Please don’t tell anyone about this, except maybe my Mom and Dad would be OK because they know.”

“Know what?” he said.

“You are a friend of the family. I don’t think you are going to cause me a problem.”

“I am not promising anything yet. Spit it out Fiona.”

“You see there is the problem. I am not Fiona, I am Leslie.”

“But Leslie is a boy, aren’t you. You certainly don’t look like a boy. Are you in drag?”

“This isn’t drag. I was a boy a long time ago and now I am transitioning.”

“But I saw you a month ago. You didn’t look like this then. You were dressed like a boy.”

“I was only dressed like a boy. I have been a girl inside since I can remember. I have been hiding it under boy’s clothes.”

“So why are you out here pretending to be Fiona?”

“Because I am still 19 for a few more weeks. I am not supposed to be in here at all.”

“So you put us through all this crap just so you could get a couple of drinks under age. That sounds irresponsible to me.”

I was trying to be as sweet and feminine as I could at the verge of flirting with him. If he had been younger I might have tried to kiss him, but I thought better of it.

“Look we are just young people out for some fun. We are not hurting anybody with this. You are the only one who noticed because you are a professional musician. Can’t you just let it go for now. It’s not like I am a bad person perverting the justice system or anything. It’s just a bit of fun and a couple of glasses of wine and I am not driving.”

“Well I am not happy about this but I am not going to tell anyone.”

“Would you have been happier if I had let you in on it sooner?”

“You are a cheeky little madam but you are very sweet. I bet you twist your dad around your finger.”

“All of the girl’s do. We love him dearly.”

“And you are a boy?”

“No!” I said. “I used to be a boy a long time ago but I am not a boy any more. I am a girl and don’t you dare believe otherwise.”

“OK I won’t say anything, but I might have to talk to your parents tomorrow.”

“I think tomorrow my parents may want to talk to you about it. But that’s for tomorrow.”

“Are you going to sing any other songs? I will be more prepared now that I know.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I think it best if I just stay sat down after that last song.”

“Look, I know you like to play guitar and sing. I will set up the guitar and you come up if you want to.”

“Thanks,” I said. Then I kissed him on the cheek and we went back to the big room arm in arm. He went up on the stage and I went back to my seat.

“You must have been persuasive,” said Dawn. “He actually has a smile on his face. What did you tell him?”

“Well it was mostly the truth,” I said. “With a little creative embellishment.”

“You mean you lied to him?”

“No,” I said. “I just made the truth a little more palatable. I actually think he likes me. He called me a cheeky madam.”

“Well you are!” said Barbara. “You are worse than Dawn.”

“Worse than me you think,” said Dawn. “You must be bad.”

“When are you going to do your little dance Dawn? You know they have been practicing this all week.” Mark said to me. “Are you going to join them? It will be really fun.”

Dawn went up to speak to Roger then came back. “We are on first,” she said. “He is just getting ready.”

“And now for a special treat,” announced Roger over the microphone, “we have the world famous Haigt sisters Dawn, Barbara and Fiona to do their special song ‘I wish I could shimmy like my sister Kate’,”

The three of us dashed up on the stage and Roger started playing the intro as Barbara and I stood off to each side of Dawn as she started to sing the intro.

I never get a chance at romance
The boys all wanna date my sister Kate
Katie never read a book and she never learned to cook
But she's always got a string o' fish upon her hook
When she's around the boys all pass me by
And then last night I learned the reason why

The Barbara and I join in singing harmony like the Beverly sisters and we all sang into the one microphone.

I went to a dance with my sister Kate
I'm tellin' you she was really great
I didn't have to wait all night
Till I began to see the light

Kate did a dance that was somethin' new
She shook her shoulders and then I knew
Why all the boys are going wild
Over sister Katie's style

Oh I wish I could I shimmy like my sister Kate
She shimmies like a jelly on a plate
My mammy wanted to know last night
Why all the boys treat sister Kate so right

Every boy that passes by our neighbourhood
Knows that she can shimmy and she's relly good
I may be late, but I'll be right up to date
When I can shimmy like my sister Kate
Uh-huh, shimmy like my sister Kate

Roger did an instrumental break and we stated dancing.’ First we were bumping our hips together in time to the music then we put our arms out wide and held onto each other and danced across the stage, then you won’t believe how Dawn got down in front of the stage with her arms out wide, leaning forward towards the audience.

She was waggling her shoulders and shimmying across the floor like Marilyn Monroe, only with bigger tits. They were bouncing and giggling all over the place. All the boys in the room were hootin’ , hollerin’ and whistlin’. Mark couldn’t look and had his face bury in his hands.

Dawn came back on the stage and we finished the song.

Oh I wish I could I shimmy like my sister Kate
She shimmies like a jelly on a plate
My mammy wanted to know last night
Why all the boys treat sister Kate so right
I may be late, but I'll be right up to date
When I can shimmy like my sister Kate
Ah shake it, shimmy like my sister Kate
Sweet Papa, shimmy like my sister Kate Ta Da daaaa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PjO2lYSKZk

The hootin’ , hollerin’ and whistlin’ together with applause carried on for at least a minute. We couldn’t stop laughing. We got down off the stage but Dawn couldn’t resist giving everyone another little shimmy on her way down the steps to be greeted by another big cheer.

We sat down in our chairs and Mark said, “I am not with you lot.”

Dawn said, “Oh you love it.” And promptly grabbed his head and pushed it nose first right into her cleavage. He was the most envied guy in the place at that moment.

Nothing could anywhere near match the ‘Sister Kate’ song for the rest of the evening but we had fun. We didn’t sing any more songs during the evening, but there were plenty of other people who got up and sang songs, including Ralph who go up on his own and sang a song that was done Kenny Chesney called ‘She's Got It All’. He was really good. I wondered who he was singing it for.

Barbara spoke to me between songs. “What’s all this kissing and hugging people. You must have kissed and hugged 5 different men tonight. You know that Fiona never hugs or kisses anyone when she is here. She is usually shy apart from when she sings.”

“I didn’t know that. We will have to tell her to adjust her attitude and start kissing more people, just to make sure people don’t notice the difference.”

“I think some people have already noticed the difference,” said Barbara. “I think people will want more of the new Fiona.”

“I wonder what would happen if we both come here together?”

“Oh that would be crazy, but you would have to stop drinking. You don’t have ID.”

“I could carry Fiona’s ID. We could just say we are Twins. Anyway I am sure she has more than one type of ID.”

“Right now that’s just hypothetical, but we will think about it for the next time you are home together,” Said Barbara.

“So what would you think if I let Andy take me home?”

“I don’t know if that is a good idea. Fiona may still want him. You wouldn’t do that to your own sister.”

“If he kisses me then he doesn’t deserve my sister. I would be sure to tell her. We could say it was a test. Testing his faithfulness.”

“Actually you know that I was going to let Ed take me home and Mark could take Dawn home without having to go to Mom’s house. It might actually work out better for everyone. We will just have to trust that you don’t kiss him or anything.”

“I can’t say I won’t kiss him, but before I kiss him I will tell him that I am going to tell Fiona everything that happens, and that I have no secrets from my sister.”

“So are you going tell him about your, you know.”

“I will tell him what I used to be and see where that leads to. I told you that I have promised to tell any person I kiss about my identity. I will not be deceitful. After I tell him he will be able to ask as many questions as he wants to make himself comfortable, or not as the case may be.”

“Isn’t that a risk? You will be in the car with a man you hardly know?”

“I will tell him to drive to me home before we talk about anything like that. He surely won’t do anything stupid outside my Mom and Dad’s house. I would feel safe there.”

I turned around and moved over to talk to Andy who had been talking to Mark for the last hour or so.

“Andy. Do you think you could drive me home like you offered?”

“That’s OK,” said Mark. “I said I would take you.”

“But Mark I know you would actually go the other direction if you were not talking me. I am sure that Andy would be happy to take me.”

“Sure er Fiona. We could get to know each other a little better. All I know about you is what your sister has told me. It would be a pleasure.”

“You look after my sister Andy!” Mark said. It was nice to hear him being protective towards me.

“I am a gentleman,” said Andy. “She will be taken good care of.”

So we said our goodbyes and there was a round of hugs and kisses before we made our way our way out to Andy’s car.

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CHECK OUT THE VIDEO

Betty Grable "Shimmy Like My Sister Kate"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PjO2lYSKZk