So here I am standing in the centre of town making myself look a complete fool! It all started when I got fed up and sprayed the town red. It took quite a few cans. I did the local sheriff’s car, the courthouse, the shopping mall. You name it, I sprayed it red. I was fed up. What is there to do in this hick town for a 19 year old boy?
Well of course I got caught. I just wasn’t ready for the judge’s decision. I was sentenced to community service. Okay, so this would be a little grass cutting and helping old people. It was not going to be that bad. That is what I thought until the sentence was passed!
I was sentenced to help the local repertory company do their summer show. They were doing a stage version of “Gone with the Wind!” I was okay with that, I can help with the props! But the judge told me I had to follow every order they gave me or he would jail me.
The first day I arrived at the theatre. I asked around and eventually the theatre manager showed himself. He took me to the production manager of the play. All the cast was there! “Your new assistant!” the theatre manager told everybody!
“Take your clothes off!” “What, I said, take your clothes off, are you that stupid boy!” I stripped to my boxers! “Not o high and mighty now are we!” I let my head fall. “What do we do with him?” “He can sell tickets and help during the interval. Until the run starts, he can stand in the town telling everyone about our production!” Everyone agreed this was a good idea. I went to put my clothes back on. “Oh no you don’t we will give you some clothes. Take those off!” said the leading lady pointing at my boxers. I refused and the cast seized me and yanked them straight off!
I was handed a pair of long legged bloomers. These had lace all around the hem of the legs. Lots of lace to be exact, it flared out touching the other leg.
I had lots of petticoats pulled over my head. They were quite heavy once the cast had finished with them. Now they got one of those old fashioned whalebone corsets and wrapped it around me. The leading lady pulled the laces tight. I thought I was going to suffocate! “Not like that, let me do it! Honey!” It was the coloured woman who was playing the maid! She was built like a battleship! She took the laces and I swore blind that was my ribs that cracked!
Soon they had me standing in the dress that I was to wear for some time to come! I was made up, had some shoes put on my feet and given a shawl! “Out you go, stand at the corner and tell everyone of our new play, and don’t forget to curtsy when anyone remarks anything to you. We will be watching. I was given a small purse that had a long strap that went over my shoulder. This was full of cards to hand out. The cast dragged me down to the corner of the street and I started my sales pitch.
Everyone laughed at me as they saw me! The day really dragged by. But I did notice that a lot of the girls from school, who did not want to know me, were now taking interest in me!
By the end of the day I had handed out 250 cards in all! This went on for a week and then the production started. I had to stand outside the theatre selling programs, still in my outfit! During the interval, I had to go round with the drinks and sweets!
I didn’t mind the women looking what I was wearing underneath, but the men were more attentive!
The corset and petticoats were very hot to wear and I was glad to have to stand outside everyday. But because of the length of the skirt there was no cooling breeze around my legs. Even though the petticoats did make the dress stand way out!
By the end of the 3rd week, everyone in town was used to seeing me dressed like this. But what was to come was unexpected!
Some students from another town 12 miles away came to visit the town. They pulled up in their van and asked me where the local sheriff’s office was I went to answer and was bundled into the back of the van! They quickly bound and gagged me and drove as fast as they could out of town. The drove to an old wooden shack off of the beaten trail and let me out of the back.
I was pushed into the shack and was released. I was getting hotter that ever. They sat me on a chair, tied my hands behind my back and put a better gag in my mouth. Ropes were pulled tight around my waist and the chair, fastening me to it. They lifted my dress and tied my feet together. Then they were tied to the leg of the chair. I was stuck. My dress was pulled down again! “We are just off to drop the ransom note into the theatre! I like your pants!” The group laughed and left me there thinking if the theatres do not pay up, what then! I meant nothing to them
No matter how hard I struggled, I could not get free. But the door burst open. There was a grizzly old timer standing there looking at me! He said nothing! He untied my ropes holding me to the chair and threw me over his shoulder. He carried me as if were not there.
He took me into his shack and bolted the door. I had visions of the film “Deliverance”. I struggled but this corset confined me as much as anything. The old timer just laughed. It was dark before he took me out of the shack “This is it! I thought. But he put me in his truck and drove me to the theatre.
In the corner of the entrance was a glass box. He opened it up and stood me inside. Then he shut the door, locked it and removed the key. Now as people filed out at the end of the performance I had to stand there looking like an exhibit!
Once the last person had gone, the leading lady came and released me. The grizzly old timer took off his beard. He was another actor. “I am also a tutor at those kids school. I wanted to teach you and them a lesson. Can you imagine what their faces will look like when they get back to that shack and see you gone! I recognised the van! Wait until I get them back at school!”
I have applied for a part in the next production later in the year! They are doing “Little Women!” But for the rest of this run, here I am standing in the centre of the town making myself look a complete fool. But I have had several requests for a date from some of the girls. One or two wanted me to wear this dress to go out in! But I told them that idea was “Gone with the Wind!”
11.08.06
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