Dumb Bet

Frank (Frances) is a thirteen-year-old boy who's begun to notice girls. Particularly Susie, the tomboy who lives next door. Susie is his sister's best friend. All Frank really wants is to see Susie, and maybe his sister, dress like he thinks girls should dress. You know dresses or skirts with a nice blouse that makes them feminine.

Our hero gets sucked in while harassing them about note being girlie. Susie and his sister Karen conspire to put him in his place.

Susie said. “Let’s have a contest. I’ll bet that I can do everything you do and that you can’t do everything I can do. If you win, I’ll wear whatever you say for a whole week and fix my hair all girlie. I’ll even let you go first.”

:It is the perfect length. A full and complete conclusion that is not over-concluded or full of ten minutes of walking around pointlessly. I found this story to be cute and loving and I have gained experience points in Adogable!"

"This was a wonderful, sweet, heartwarming story. 'Only a fool bets on a sure thing.' -- Robert Heinlein."

“What if I lose?” Frank wanted to know.

“Well then,” she grinned, “you’ll have to wear whatever I say all week.”

Frank seeks a caveat; it has to be something they actually do, not the dumb old "girls can have babies" or anything like that.

Frank's mother intervenes and limits them to ten tries each and sets herself up as judge as to whether the second person has met the challenge. It was a sure thing. What with boys being stronger, braver and smarter than girls it would be easy to come up with something Susie can't do with ten tries.

It was a dumb bet as Frank's father pointed out after the fact when he said, "Let this be a lesson to you. Never take a bet on someone else’s game. They probably know something you don’t, which means they’ll win hands down.”

"As I am setting out in the world, my Daddy says to me "One of these days in your travels, you will meet a guy who shows you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken. Then this guy offers to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you do, you will wind up with cider in you ear." Paraphrase of Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls.

Frank finds out just how dumb the bet when Susie wins and she and Karen gleefully turn the tables on him to show him why they don't like to wear dresses.

What others are saying:

"What a sweet story, with an exceptional ending as both the boy and girl got their wish, even though it was not exactly as it was planned to be.
Fran/Frank discovered her/his self, and Karen and Susie discovered something about them selves as well. All while Christie got a new babysitter and Fran(k)'s mom and dad got a new daughter. Very, very cool indeed."

"An Excellent Story! I loved the way Fran's mother realized what was happening right away and gave Fran a chance to show the girls that being girlie/feminine doesn't have to be to an extreme (or being boyish/masculine for that matter). And Fran's acceptance of his feminine side was great. I hope we see more of them."

"A long term classic people will come back to. This was well written and had a reasonable pace. Credible and believable. Well done."

"This was a GREAT story he tried & failed at first but in the end he got his sister & her friend to dress more girly every once & a while."

"Very, very well done. I was prepared for the old, tried and true trope about a boy getting used to girl's clothes and makeup, getting a boyfriend and living the rest of his life as a her. I'm very pleased with the way you went with it and I applaud you for not the taking the road so well traveled, but striking out on the not-so-well trodden path and writing a lovely and touching story."