The Legend of Bastien - Chapter 3 – Dry Goods

 

The Legend of Bastien

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 3 – Dry Goods

 

The dry goods store was one of the largest buildings in the community.  The lights were on and the door was unlocked when Chris and his mother got there.  Tess very much wished the place was closed.  She wished none of this was happening at all, but unbelievably, it was.  Taped to the outside of the door was another copy of the judge’s decree.  She wanted to rip it down and tear it up, but she knew it would do no good at all.  She opened the door and pushed Chris in ahead of her.  She didn’t bother trying to tell him to be brave, she didn’t bother trying to tell him to stifle his tears, she had tears in her own eyes as well.

Just before leaving their house, she had sent him into the bathroom to use it…possibly for the last time.  Did Chris realize that yet?  She didn’t want to bring that up with him.  They got only a few feet inside the door when she saw Betty Tucker heading quickly for them.  Betty held out her arms and enveloped Tess in an affectionate hug.

“I’m so sorry,” Betty whispered.

The two women let go of each other and Betty looked at Chris.  “I’m sorry, Chris,” she said softly.  “The sheriff and one of his deputies are still here.  Billy and Miranda are here too.  I just wanted to warn you.”

Chris said nothing.  He couldn’t say anything.  Betty led them toward the back where her husband was keeping the others company.

“Finally!” Billy said impatiently.  “Took you long enough to get here.”

Trying to keep things as congenial as possible, Betty asked, “Now where should we start?”

“Get his damn clothes off!” Billy said.  “He shouldn’t have even worn them from his house.”

“Billy!” Miranda said quickly.  “It’s only ten degrees outside!”

“Tough!  He could have worn his mother’s stuff.”

“Maybe he’s got a point,” Betty said quickly.  “From what that decree said, I guess we better try and find something to diaper him with first.  I already pulled a couple of packages of the largest size toddler diapers we have.  If they won’t fit him, I have no idea what we’ll use until we can get something bigger.”

“Chris!” the sheriff spoke sternly.  “You heard them.  Strip!”

Chris looked pleadingly to his mother.  She had tears in her eyes still and a long red mark on the side of her throat from where the sheriff’s knife had cut her, but after a moment, she nodded at him.  “Better do it,” she told him.  “We’ve got no choice.”

Slowly, Chris started removing his clothes while Betty opened the package of toddler disposable diapers.

“I’d suggest we go with cloth diapers,” Betty said, “but if we do that, then we’ve got the problem of no plastic pants to put over them.  It will do no good at all.”

“Thanks,” Tess managed to reply, but her reply came out more like a whisper.  She watched as her son slowly shed all his clothes.  As he did, the deputy grabbed everything he had been wearing.  Finally, he was stark naked.

“Tess,” Betty said to get her attention, then handed her one of the toddler diapers.

Tess took the diaper and unfolded it.  It was a little bigger than most diapers that babies wore, but would it work for her son?  “Lay down honey,” she told Chris.  “On the floor.”

Not taking his eyes off the diaper his mother was holding, Chris laid flat on the cold tile floor.  Tess knelt down over him with the diaper, then looked up at Betty.  “Got any baby powder?”

“Oh!  Good idea!” Betty exclaimed.  She ran off quickly to find some.  Two minutes later, she opened the new container and handed it to Tess.  Tess sprinkled Chris liberally with the powder and rubbed some under his bottom too.  “Lift up honey,” she told Chris.

Chris took a deep breath, then lifted his backside to let his mother put the diaper up under him.  With his neck craned up so he could see, he watched as she brought it up between his legs.  She had to pull hard on it a few ways, but she managed to get it stretched just far enough for the tapes to fasten around his hips.

Tess shook her head.  “I’m not sure how well that’s going to work.  If he moves the wrong way, the tapes will probably rip off.”

“Duct tape!” Fred Tucker suggested.

Tess looked up at him, then nodded.  Fred left them and went further into the store.  It was a few minutes before he came back.  He ripped off a length of grey duct tape and handed it to Tess.  She put it over one side of Chris’s diaper, fastening it securely.  Fred handed her another strip and she used that to secure the other side.  She pulled on the waist, testing it.  “I guess that will hold,” she told him.  They’re too small, but with the tape, he can probably get by.”

“Come see me in the morning,” Betty said.  “We’ll order whatever you need.”

“You can stand up now Chris,” Tess told her son.

Chris was already running his hand over the tightly stretched baby diaper.  He simply didn’t know what to think about it.  He didn’t know what to think about any of it.

“Tess!” the sheriff said to get her attention.  “We’ll be going into your house now to grab anything we think Chris here doesn’t need anymore.  It will all be distributed to anyone in town we feel can use it.  Your job now is to get Chris here dressed so he can go to school tomorrow meeting the letter of the law.”

Tess could only nod.

As soon as the sheriff and deputy were gone, Billy said, “That law says short skirts!”

“God you’re a moron,” Miranda muttered.

“We’ll do the best we can Billy,” Betty told him, “but it’s winter.”

Miranda picked up a bag she had brought with her.  “Here,” she said as she opened the bag.  “I brought this for the cause,” she said as she pulled a short red skirt from the bag.  “I got it last summer hoping for a chance to wear it and never did.  It should be perfect for…the sissy there.”

Chris inwardly winced at the term.  Miranda threw the skirt at him, and he looked it over.  There was no zipper or anything on it.  It had an elastic waist.  As he turned the thing around, he couldn’t tell the front from the back.  Figuring it didn’t matter, he put his legs through the top and pulled it up onto his waist.

Tess went over to him and turned it partially around.  “There,” she told him.  “It was crooked.”

Chris looked down.  A skirt!  A short red skirt.  As far as he could see, it covered his diaper, but not by much.  He realized something.  “This is going to be cold to wear outside.”

“We’ll find you a warm top,” his mother replied.  “Some sweaters too.”

“He’s going to need a bra first,” Miranda told them.

“A bra?” Tess said.  “But…”

“It said he has to dress like a girl.  Besides, how will anything look right on him without one.”

“She’s right,” Betty agreed.  “Come along Chris,” Betty said as she headed toward the women’s section of the store.  “Let’s get you a bra.”

Fifteen minutes later, Chris was standing in the women’s section with a bra fastened around his chest and tissues stuffed into it to fill it out.  Betty had said something about ordering breast forms tomorrow.  At least over the bra he was now wearing a sweater, and it seemed to be nice and warm.  Soft too.  But his legs were still bare and freezing…not to mention his feet.

“High heels next!” Billy ordered.  “Like they wear in those TV shows.”

Miranda shook her head.  Her brother really was an idiot.  “Billy, you do know it’s winter, don’t you?  There’s a foot of snow outside.  And besides that, not only does nobody in Bastien wear high heels, I’m pretty sure the store doesn’t even carry them.  We’ve got nothing but dirt outside.  No sidewalks or paved streets.  It’s all mud!”

“I don’t care,” Billy replied.  “That’s his problem.  I want him to be an object lesson.”

“He’ll certainly be that!” Miranda replied disgustedly.

To Chris’s relief, the store didn’t have any women’s heels.  But they did find him a pair of women’s flats and also a pair of women’s boots that were lined in fur.  Since they were warm, he left the boots on.  They came up to just below his knees.  He was very happy about that, but it still left the rest of his legs freezing cold.  His mother, Betty, Miranda, and of course Billy, all kept talking about ordering things tomorrow.  If he could help it, he didn’t want to be anywhere around for that.

“What’s next?” Betty asked.

“Makeup!” Billy said.  “And lots of lipstick.”

“Maybe we better do his hair first,” Miranda suggested.

Billy looked at her angrily.  “You’ve always got an answer for everything,” he told her.

“Billy, you can’t do the makeup right without having a hairstyle to go with it.”  It was all bullshit, but she was betting that Billy didn’t have a clue about that.  She was right.

“I believe the decree stated that he had to wear his hair with bangs across the front,” Betty said.

She led them all to another part of the store.  From one of the shelves, she pulled a bottle of styling gel.  She handed it to Tess who poured it onto Chris’s hair.  Betty handed Tess a comb and Tess combed the gel thorough Chris’s hair.  Finally, she combed the front part down all across Chris’s forehead.  Betty handed her a pair of scissors and she carefully cut Chris’s bangs just above his eyebrows.  With Billy laughing in delight, she continued to work on Chris’s hair, parting it down the center and combing the rest down to the sides where it just covered his ears. 

“Better than I thought,” Miranda approved.  “Right now, with that gel in his hair, it makes it look longer.”

“Now the lipstick?” Billy asked.

“No idiot!” Miranda told him.  “Eye makeup.”

They sat Chris down in a chair while Tess, Miranda, and Betty all collaborated over his eyes, with Tess doing the actual work.  It was way too much eye makeup, especially for a farming community, but Tess realized that the Bastiens wanted it to be that way.

Once Chris’s eyes were a popping sight that couldn’t be missed, Miranda handed Tess three tubes of bright sparkly pink lipstick.  “He’s going to need a lot of it,” Miranda told her.  And I found some nail polish that matches it.  I suggest you do his nails before he goes to school tomorrow.”

“Yeah!” Billy agreed excitedly, not able to take his eyes off of Chris now that the dramatic eye makeup was on him.  “And I want his nails to be long like the girls on TV.”

“Billy!” Miranda said angrily.  “It takes time to grow nails like that.”

“How about that stuff they say they put on them to make them longer.”

Betty shook her head.  “I’m sorry, we don’t carry any of that.  Nobody’s ever asked for it.”

“If you want his nails long like that,” Miranda said, “then the only way is to wait for them to grow.”

Billy was perturbed about that, but he turned to Chris.  Hear that flake?  Grow your nails long and pretty.  And keep them painted!  Your feet too.”

“Let’s get him a coat now,” Betty suggested to get the focus away from Billy.  “I think what we’ve done tonight will have to do for now.  Tomorrow we can take more time with it and order whatever we need.”

Fifteen minutes later, Chris walked out the door into the freezing cold winter air of Bastien, Wisconsin.  He was wearing a bra, a sweater, a short red skirt, nice fur lined boots, a diaper, and a women’s warm coat.  In his hands he was carrying not only some of the packages, but a purse to hold things in as well.  His hair had been cut with bangs across the front and was parted down the middle.  His lips were coated heavily with sparkly bright pink lipstick, and he had so much eye makeup on that he could literally feel it.  It all felt horribly strange to him.  He felt like a fool.  He had no doubt he looked like one.  The question was, how was he going to get through tomorrow…and the next day…and the next?

They went into their tiny pale-yellow house.  The fire had almost gone out in the stove.  Chris hurried to put more wood into it to warm things up.  Tess started looking around the house.  The sheriff had obviously been there.  Her room appeared to be mostly untouched.  The clothes hamper had been gone through as had the small washer and dryer.  It was Chris’s room though that looked the worst.  She noticed the boy’s comforter she kept on his bed was gone.  His closet was completely empty.  The drawers in his dresser were empty as well.  Then she noticed other things missing.  All his boy’s toys and things were gone.  There was nothing at all left in the house to even suggest a boy had been living there.  As far as she could see, the sheriff was taking things a little too far.  The entire situation was being taken too far.

She turned and found Chis standing behind her, looking into his room.  She turned him around and pushed him back toward the living room.  “Come on honey.  Maybe you should sleep in the living room tonight.”

“No,” Chris said as he turned and went back into his room.  He looked around.  Everything was gone.  All his clothes, all his belongings.  Gone!  There was no comforter on his bed, but he laid down on it, still in his new winter coat.  “What am I going to do, Mom?” he said.

She sat on the bed next to him.  “I don’t know,” she replied.  “I really don’t know.  But Chris, the only thing I do know, is that as bad as all this is, please…please, please, please…know that I can’t lose you like your father.  Chris, I hate this almost as much as you, but please, for my sake, let’s find a way to get through this.”

“What else can I do?”

She shook her head.  “Nothing.  Nothing at all that I can see.  Judge Bastien even went and made it a town law.  That alone is…absurd.  But the Bastiens have us all under their thumb.  Like it or not, we dance to their tune.  Whatever they say, goes.  And right now Chris, I’m afraid all their attention is on you.”

“How do we get it off me?”

“I don’t know.  I have no idea.  And I’m afraid, looking like you do, and with the horrible things they’re requiring you to do, you may be the biggest sensation this town has ever seen.”

“Thanks,” Chris replied.  “Now I feel even sicker.”

Tess tried to smile.  “Come on,” she said.  “I’ll fix you a cup of hot chocolate.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Come!” she ordered.  “You’ll drink some, like it or not.”

Not wanting to, Chris got up from the bed.  In the living room, Tess took his new coat from him.  She looked her son over.  He looked strange.  If he were a girl, he wouldn’t look so bad, but he wasn’t a girl.  And the way he looked wasn’t even close to the worst of his punishment.  She made them both a cup of hot chocolate, knowing that it was Chris’s favorite drink.  But while he was drinking it, she took the time to put the nail polish on his toes.  When she was finished there, she put two coats on his fingernails.  “Very pretty,” she said to him, trying to be nice about it.

Chris said nothing about it.  As his wet nails were drying, he simply stared at them.

When his nails were finally dry, Tess cleaned all the makeup off his face, including his lipstick.  She had to use some of the makeup removing wipes Betty had suggested they buy.  She now could see why.  Her son was going to need them.  Betty had promised to order more tomorrow since she only had one package of them in the store.

She gave him a pair of her flannel pajamas to wear and put her own comforter on the bed for him.  She tucked him into his bed and sat on the side of it.  She took a deep breath, then said, “Chris, if you’re wet tomorrow morning, don’t be ashamed.  You’re going to have to use those diapers sometime.  You and I both know it’s going to happen…a lot!  I could let you try using the bathroom now, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to start getting used to using those diapers.  And like it or not, the sooner, the better.”

Chris said nothing.

She kissed his forehead.  “Goodnight.”  With one last lingering look at him, she left him and went to her own bedroom.  She tried to sleep, but between crying and trying to figure out how to help her son, sleep didn’t come easy.

What she didn’t know then was that sleep would never come easy for her again…no matter how tired she was.

 

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Alicia sat with her daughter at the kitchen table.  Tom and Billy were in the living room watching TV.  “You seem to be more interested in this thing of Billy’s than I thought you would be,” Alicia said.

“I am,” Miranda agreed.  “Right now, I could kill Chris Moore!”

“Why didn’t you just suggest that when you were all discussing it earlier, instead of coming up with everything you did?  And don’t think I didn’t notice that much of that stuff came from you, not Billy.”

“Mom…you know why.”

“No.  Why?”

“Because as soon as I get married, I won’t be a Bastien anymore.  I won’t be the town’s little princess.  I’ll be a nobody.  Nothing.  My only chance to have half what I have now is to marry someone important, and Chris was the smartest kid in the school.  The whole school.  And we’re both only freshmen.”

“I get your point,” Alicia replied.  “So you liked Chris?”

“More than most.  But now…I could just kill him!”

“Dear, you and I both know that like it or not, Chris is as good as dead right now.”

“Yeah.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t get back at him for doing something so stupid.”

“So you liked him.”

“What if I did?  Besides, as far as I could see he was my best bet for a future.”

“If he was that smart, then he probably was.  But not anymore.”

“No.  And because of it, I could just kill him!  And the worst part is, that everything he said about Billy was true.”

“Miranda!  How dare you say that!”

“Come on Mom, you know as well as me that Billy is an idiot.  He hasn’t passed a single course since the eighth grade.  At least!  He’s the school bully and that’s it.”

“Your brother gets straight A’s on every report card we get.

“Mooom…  You know as well as I that it’s only because he’s a Bastien.  Trust me, Billy does nothing in school except show off and cause trouble.  He even pushes the teachers around.  Everyone’s afraid of him.”

Alicia looked at her daughter, knowing she was right.  “That may very well be, but it still doesn’t excuse Chris Moore for doing what he did.  Billy can be the bigshot in the school because everyone knows who he is.  They should be afraid of him.  We want them to be afraid of him and show him that respect.  That’s part of what makes it so much worse for what Chris Moore did.  Everyone else knows to show Billy that respect, but Chris didn’t have the common sense to keep his mouth shut and show Billy that respect like he should have.  And if he didn’t know it now, how much worse might Chris be in the future?  No.  He had to be punished!”

“I know,” Miranda said disappointedly.  “And because of it, I could just kill him!”