My Summer with Meg: Age of Discovery, Chapter 6

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I saw the package laying on my bed.

"Go ahead and open it," Meg said.

It was a journal. The first page contained a note:
 
 
"Collin, I hope you won't be offended, but you've been like a little sister to me. I want you to write down your thoughts on the journey you're on, and share them with me while I'm at The Rock School.

Love Meg."
 
 
"I'm not offended," I whispered as we embraced, both of us in tears.

I slipped the journal into my suitcase. We were both packed. Our mothers were coming in a couple of hours. It was the changing of the guard. We were leaving. Jack and Maya were staying.

"Let's go see Lindsey and Mauve," Meg said. "They're probably waiting on us."

"Don't you two look like twins," our grandmother said as we came through the den.

Meg found two of grandma's hippie vests and found matching shirts and beads. She made two cutoff blue jean shorts and put peace signs on the pockets.

"Thanks, grandma, I consider it a complement," Meg said.

"And Collin, I swear you look a lot like a girl with that ponytail and those earrings," grandma said.

"Oh come on grandma," Meg said. "Boys wear ponytails and earrings."

"Yeah, you're a little old fashion," I chimed in.

We went to the mall the day before. We settled for matching earrings. They were light blue stars.

"Gender neutral, but pretty," Meg said.

We grabbed our bikes one final time from the shed. Maya's pink bike had grown on me. It really didn't matter to me if the tires on my "boys" bike ever got fixed. We raced down the gravel driveway and down the road. Lindsey and Mauve were riding down the road in the opposite direction.

"Race you guys to the dock" Lindsey shouted.

We parked our bikes next to the dock and walked out over the river. We talked about our races. Meg's skinny dipping incident. And Mauve and me in matching tankinis.

"Next year, we're wearing matching bikinis," Mauve said with a laugh.

"Yeah," I said with a laugh, not knowing if she was being serious or not. Deep down, I guess, maybe I was hoping she was.

The four of us exchanged gifts. Meg and I picked out lockets for Lindsey and Mauve at the mall during our shopping excursion. Meg and Lindsey gave us friendship bracelets.

"Thank you, mi amiga," Mauve said.

"Thank you, girlfriend," I said as we embraced.

"You're a pretty good girlfriend for a boy," Mauve whispered.

"You're so sweet, mi amiga," I whispered back.

"We'll see each other over Thanksgiving and Christmas break, I'm sure," Meg reassured Lindsey.

Just then we saw our aunt's van drive down the road. Our mothers were already waiting.

"Oh boy, we get to spend two weeks with dorkapotamus," Mauve said about Maya.

"Mauve, that's not nice," Lindsey said. "You're talking about their cousin."

"That's okay," Meg said. "She is sort of a dork."

"Yeah, and she can't hear us," I said.

"I'm sure you'll have a good time with her though," Meg said.

"Yeah, and maybe Jack, too," I said.

"Yeah, right, like that's going to happen," Mauve said. "Yeah, I'm sure he's going to ditch the boys for us."

Did I mention I loved Mauve's sarcasm?

#####

Meg and came down our grandmother's steps a final time, our arms loaded with luggage.

"Are you sure you're my little boy?" mom said, grabbing my cheeks. "What's with the ponytail and the earrings?"

"I knew it, Meg did turn you until a girl," Jack said.

"Oh come on," I said defiantly. "Boys wear ponytails and earrings."

"He's just being stylish," Meg said.

"Well, look at you," my aunt said to Meg. "Matching ponytails, earrings and hippie clothes. You guys really did have a good time together, didn't you?"

Meg and I laughed.

"We're going to have a lot more fun during our two weeks next year," Meg said.

"Wait a second!" our cousin Maya chimed in. "It's bad enough I'm going to be stuck with Jack this summer, but next summer, too?"

"Yes," our grandmother said. "They've already requested it. And I got so much work out of them, I promised they could be here for the same weeks next year."

"Well, it's time we get loaded up," my mother said.

"Okay mom, just a sec," I said, giving Meg a final hug.

"You take care little sis," Meg whispered. "We'll chat every night while I'm at The Rock."

"Okay, big sis," I whispered. "You'll do well up there I know."

#####

"We're all dressed, come on in," a voice said after I knocked on the girls dressing room.

"Madame Kathryn said you guys need to hurry, the second act is about to start," I said to Meg as she finished putting on her makeup.

"We're almost done!" Meg said. "Oh my God Collin, you look so cute!"

I modeled my silk coat that came down almost to my knees, and my white tights.

"And you did your makeup all by yourself," she asked, noticing my base, red lips, red cheeks and eye liner.

I shook my head yes.

"You look beautiful," I said to Meg, who was all decked out in her pink dress and pink tight tights, along with her makeup.

Stage makeup, that's what we're wearing before anybody gets any wrong ideas.

Did I mention that I talked mom into letting me take ballet at the same school as Meg? We're in the middle of our first performance of the seven shows we're doing over the next four days.

I'm in the Chinese Tea Dance. Meg's in Waltz of the Flowers.

It's part of our big Nutcracker Adventure.

But I'll save that for another story.

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Comments

...And I want to read that story! Please!

This has been an excellent story, very sweet, and I definitely want to read more! Please please please!?

Wren

I agree

I want to read about Collin? more and more.
Robin

The gift of a journal...

Andrea Lena's picture

...is such a sweet but relevant gift; she'll be experiencing all sorts of things that will be missed in conversations and the like. And maybe even what dreams may come as well. Very sweet addition. Thank you. (I love Tchaikovsky, by the way)


Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Love Tchaikovsky, too

Especially since I've danced in two ballets that feature his music, the Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet!

A Real Pleasure

Thanks for finishing the story. It was a real pleasure to read.

Discovery Is Not Just for Janegirls Any More!

While most readers at BCTS likely would identify with Collin, for some strange reason I was considering Meg's role in this charming tale.

Meg, too, was discovering new things about boys & girls & especially about boys as girls. This is best summarized by the note she inscribed for Collin's journal:

    "Collin, I hope that you won't be offended, but you've been like a little sister to me. I want you to write down your thoughts on the journey you're on and share them with me while I'm at The Rock School. Love Meg."

Meg is herself fascinated that Collin is keen to explore girlhood. And she is surprised, I think, to find that she is so charmed by his wanting to be like a girl. This is very empowering to Meg. (You remember that old adage that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"?) Indeed, Collin's need to explore his anima has created a strong bond between Meg & him through which they empower each other. Meg needs to be a part of Collin's journey into girlhood. She recognizes him as her "little sister" although she's uncertain whether he sees himself that way. But he assures her that he's not offended. Moreover, as they embrace we see that if he doesn't already think of himself as her sister, he hopes to.

So then, why do some girls freak out at the very thought of a boy dressing up like one of them, while other girls take him by the hand & show him how to look prettier wearing the dress?

The Rev. Anam Chara+

Anam Chara

The story has ended, but the adventure has just begun

Patricia Marie Allen's picture

While the story, "My Summer With Meg," has ended, Colin's adventure has just begun. His family and friends all have reactions to his decision to take ballet and he has feelings to deal with as well as adventures across the gender line.

Perhaps your muse will give something more to say about the further adventures of Collin and Meg.

I hope so. This was a well told story with just the right amount unsaid, left to our own imagination. Yes indeed, I've been where Collin is but without the mentor Meg provides... I'm jealous.

Hugs
Patricia
([email protected])
http://members.tripod.com/~Patricia_Marie/index.html

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper ubi femininus sub ubi

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt

Journal or Diary

RAMI

I guess it was safer for Meg to have given Collin a Journal rather then a Pink Diary, with a lock and flowers. I wonder if he will keep his entries secret so that he can include his girlish desires.

I wonder how bad the teasing from Jack has become.

Rami

RAMI

Meg and Collin have forged a

sweet friendship that will be fun to see develop as they grow up.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Collin and Meg are such good

Collin and Meg are such good cousins and confidants, I do hope they will have a lot of continuing adventures together beyond this sweet story and "Our Nutcracker Adventure". It would be fun to see them both grow in age and beauty (Collin/Colleen), Megan, Mauve and Lindsey as they have all become BFFs. Janice Lynn

Another feel-good story

This is another one of your stories (along with "Emerging from the Cocoon" that I read over and over again, especially when I'm feeling low. The way Meg loves and supports her cousin is so precious and, at least based on what I've seen of life, unfortunately rather rare. I read it when I need hope.