Three Dresses for Charlie

Down a Girl

"I can cook, can I help?" Charlie asked.

"Ms. Hughes told us to keep you away from Ma'dam Bowman. She's gonna come back in the kitchen, I'm sure. She's also probably gonna wander around the house and go through our stuff if I know her."

"Crap." Charlie's eyes popped wide.

"Yeah, crap is right. Look, if you don't want to be completely useless, run down to the movie theater, and see if you can find Lilly or Kate."

"Won't they be inside, past the ticket line?" he asked.

"So... buy a ticket. There's only four screens... look for them." Georgia grabbed her purse off the counter and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. "Here, I'll pay. Just go get me some help."

Charlie was still trying to take it all in.

"Please... Then just stay at the theater and watch a movie, on me, alright?"

Charlie grabbed Ms. Hughes's bicycle off the back porch and peddled madly into town. He was at the theater in five minutes. The movies had all already started, so there wasn't a line. He bought a ticket for the latest Disney film, and wandered up and down the rows looking for the girls. When he didn't find them, he repeated the process with the other three movies showing there, but again, came up empty.

Hopefully, their movie had finished and they went back to the house. Charlie peddled back furiously. He could see several fancy cars out front, and when he ran by the back to go up the side entrance, he looked in the window and saw Georgia in the kitchen still trying to get everything together. He stopped for a moment and could see that her arms were trembling, her eyes were red and watery, but she was still managing to load pans into the oven.

He took the stairs up, without going into the kitchen, and knocked at Lilly's door. There was no answer. Then he knocked at Kate's door. No answer there either. He cracked open Lilly's door, on the odd chance that she was listening to music, or sleeping, or that there was some clue to where they had gone. When he did, he noticed her kitchen uniform was laid out on her bed.

It was a simple yellow dress, sort of halfway between a maid's and waitress's uniform. Of course, he thought about the fact that everyone said he looked like a girl in the apron. It wouldn't really be any different then what he'd been doing anyway, except he'd be doing it without pants. Still, he didn't know if it'd work.

He stopped deliberating, stripped off his clothes, and stepped into the dress. It was a lot easier then he thought it would be. It buttoned up the front, and really wasn't much different from wearing a long shirt. His boy's underwear was covered up, and he wasn't shaving his face yet so it looked alright, except he did have some hair on his legs. He rushed over to the bathroom he shared with Georgia, borrowed one of her razors, and took a two minute stab at shaving them. It was messy and he knicked himself twice, but it was serviceable.

He didn't have any shoes, and when he tried on some of the girl's shoes, he found they were too small, so he ran barefoot over to Ms. Hughes office and tried a pair of hers. They were still too small, but just barely, and Charlie managed to squeeze his feet into a pair of Mary Janes.

He ran back to the kitchen, prepared for Georgia to laugh her head off. But she wasn't there. He could hear her through the door out taking the Bowman's orders.

A burnt smell came from the stove. He went over, moved the pot to a different burner, and spun back around just in time to see Georgia enter the kitchen.

Her face went through several expressions: When she pushed her way through the door, she was wearing the fake smile she'd been maintaining for the guests. As soon as the door closed, her face fell into the shocked forlornness of knowing she was utterly screwed. When she saw another girl in the kitchen, she sighed in relief. And when she saw it was Charlie, her cheeks turned bright red.

"I couldn't find them. This was the best I could do. Do you think it'll work?" Charlie asked in a cautious whisper. "Otherwise, I can run off and hide."

Georgia composed herself and whispered back, "No that'll do fine. I think Ms. Hughes was right when she said you look like your mom."

"Are my legs okay? I never shaved them before."

Georgia nodded silently, "They look good." She blinked her eyes, shook her head, and snapped out of it. "Okay, this can work. Just stay in the kitchen and cook. I'll do the table service. But they'll probably come back at some point, so just be polite."

"Should I try to talk like a girl?"

She gave him a funny look. "Your voice is okay. I wouldn't worry about it. Just don't talk like a boy. Also, if she asks, say your name is... Charlotte. Okay?"

"Okay." Charlie made a saluting motion with his left hand.

"No, no. Curtsy, like this." Georgia, held the sides of her dress and bowed forward.

Charlie mimicked her. "Okay?"

"It'll do." Georgia put her fake smile on and stepped back into the dining room with a basket of bread.

The dinner went well, and whenever Georgia came back into the kitchen, she seemed more and more relaxed, until the fake smile stopped being fake at all, and she was beaming whenever Charlie pushed a load of plates into her arms.

About an hour into it, Ms. Hughes got back from Whitebell. She made her way in from the garage to the back of the house and crept in quietly.

When she saw Charlie, she shrugged her shoulders and chuckled to herself. "Hey Charlie, well then I guess you have it covered."

"I'm wearing your shoes."

"Thanks. Does Ma'dam Bowman know you're back here?"

"I haven't seen her yet. Georgia told her I was 'Charlotte.' Do I look okay?" He stood up straight and presented himself.

"Twirl around once." Ms. Hughes made a circular motion with her finger.

When Charlie spun around, the sides of his dress flared out and lifted up. "How's that?"

"Wow. Thanks for switching teams for the night. You look just like your mom. You could use a petticoat, but you look quite... right."

Ms. Hughes went out to the dining room and did her job of entertaining Ma'dam Bowman. Just before dessert, she called Charles, as Charlotte, into the main room, and introduced 'her' to the Bowmans. They were polite and Ma'dam Bowman complimented Charlotte on the meal, but she didn't really want to talk. After the dinner, the Ma'dam made a tour of the house with the girls, and again Charlotte followed along though 'she' didn't say much.

As the Bowman's were pulling away, Georgia walked up and kissed Charlie on the cheek. "I just wanted to say thank you. You really came through for me."

Lilly, and Kate came in the back door. They'd gone out for icecream after the movie, and had forgotten to turn their cell phones back on. Ms. Hughes scolded them, though gently, and then let it drop. Lilly made everyone herbal tea, and they sat around and chatted. Kate poked fun at Charlotte for pretending to be a boy this whole time.

The girls went upstairs to bed, and Charlie returned Lilly's dress.