A Brief History of Tina

I padded back upstairs and sat to re-do my makeup - I looked AWFUL. Whatever must Uncle Jack have thought of me? My mascara was smeared and without the wig I simply just looked like a man dressed rather stupidly. Which was not the impression I wanted to give. I took my time, removing and re-doing makeup took longer than I thought. I'd never had to do that before.

Finally I was ready. I stood and slid on the red wig, it really was a much better quality than I was used to, and slid my feet into the shoes.

"Timothy, are you OK? Ready?" I heard Uncle call from the foot of the stairs.

"Coming Uncle" I replied, my ears jarring a little at the un-feminine tone as I shouted. I must try, I thought, to keep my voice gentle, I imagined I could imitate a more feminine tone.

I headed down the stairs and into the lounge where my Uncle, sat with his newspaper, looked up. And, I was absolutely DELIGHTED to see, raised his eyebrows and grinned as he saw me, fully dressed, really for the first time.

"Well, Timothy. I am amazed. No, really, amazed. I only got a glimpse before but you really have done an exceptionally good job. If I didn't know the truth I think I really would take you for a woman. Please, just walk around a little, let me see."

And I did just that, strolled round and posed just like I had done before, but this time for an audience.

"OK, young lady, I promise you, you really do look the part. I'm glad you did this, Timothy, it does at least show me you are in some way serious about this, that means I have to be serious about it too."

We sat together and talked about the whole thing for several minutes more, the Uncle Jack rose and held his hand out towards me. I took it, and gave him a little squeeze.

"Uncle, thank you. Thank you so much for being so supportive, so understanding. You don't know what this means to me."

"Timothy. Just one thing. Please. That wig, you will realise, it is - or rather was - Jean's. She got it when she became ill. Well, you look very much like her when you are wearing it. There is another wig upstairs somewhere, I think I might prefer it if you tried that one. You do have in some way the 'Wilson' face, you have the look of Jean, your cousin Emma does too. When I saw you, just for a split second ' - I thought - "