"I ate at Prunella's," replied Dwayne with a carefree smile. "Her mom made meat loaf. It was great."
"We had Beef Wellington," said Muffy haughtily. "You missed out."
She followed Dwayne into his bedroom, where the boy leaned over and started to unlace his shoes. "What did you do at Prunella's?" she inquired. "I mean, besides eating meat loaf."
"She showed me how to read tarot cards," answered Dwayne as he pulled off his left shoe. "Then we looked at a doll catalog together."
"A doll catalog?" Muffy repeated in astonishment.
"Yeah, I know," said Dwayne bitterly. "Girl stuff."
Muffy threw up her hands in resignation. "You're hopeless, Dwayne."
"I can't help it," said the monkey boy, inserting his feet into a pair of sandals. "I have your personality. Prunella respects that."
Rolling her eyes, Muffy started toward the doorway. When she reached it, she turned and gazed hopefully at Dwayne. "Arthur asked me to pass on a message to you," she informed him. "The boys are having a sleepover at his place on Friday, and you're invited."
Dwayne dropped his rear end onto the edge of the bed and sighed. "Oh, that would be rich. Sharing the deepest, darkest secrets of my heart with the boys. I'll bet they have a secret initiation rite that involves eating live insects."
"I'll tell him you'll be there," said Muffy. Her skirt swung about as she skipped away from the bedroom, whistling happily.
"Tell him whatever you like," grumbled Dwayne, but no one was listening.
----
"More chamomile tea?" asked Prunella.
Dwayne gratefully held out his cup, and the rat girl tipped over the steaming teapot to fill it. Between the two kids sat a small table, around which several dolls were seated on miniature chairs. It was Friday afternoon.
"My mom won't let me drink black tea," Prunella explained as she rested the teapot on an oven cloth. "She doesn't drink it herself. She says it's too yin."
The smooth-tasting tea warmed Dwayne's heart as he sipped it. "The boys are having a sleepover tonight," he told Prunella, "but I'm not going."
"Why not?" asked his friend.
"Well, you know," said Dwayne evasively.
"I'm not saying you should go," Prunella excused herself. "I'm just curious. If you're still uncomfortable about hanging out with the boys, then I understand."
"You're right," said Dwayne, taking another sip. "I don't feel like I belong with the boys. Or with the girls, either. Except for you and Muffy, the girls all see me as a potential boyfriend."
Prunella grinned warmly.
"Muffy's technically my sister," Dwayne went on. "She knows we can't have that kind of relationship. Not that I'd want it with her."
"I can't begin to imagine how lonely you must be," said Prunella, pouring herself another cupful of herbal tea. "Fern, and Sue Ellen, and Francine used to be your best friends, but now they're jealous because they think you and I are an item. I keep telling them that's not true, but they say if it isn't, then it's my duty as a friend to line them up with you."
Dwayne gazed into Prunella's bright eyes, knowing he had found a harbor of sympathy in the midst of the turmoil he was passing through. As Muffy, he had always considered the rat girl to be a bit eccentric, but all he could see now was a heart of gold and a shoulder that would always be there to cry on.
Oh, Prunella, he thought joyfully. If only I could find the words...
The words? For what?
He slowly lowered his teacup onto the saucer on the doll table. What he felt wasn't right at all. It wasn't friendship. It wasn't sisterhood. It was something only a boy would feel...
"Dwayne?" Prunella's voice became filled with concern at the sight of the boy's consternation. "Is something wrong?"
He hated the feeling. He had to get rid of it, but the only way was to leave, and quickly.
"I, uh, changed my mind," said Dwayne anxiously. "I...I've decided to go to the sleepover at Arthur's after all."
The corners of Prunella's mouth drooped.
"I'm sorry," said Dwayne contritely. "I'd love to stay here, but I think I should at least try to fit in with the boys."
"I understand," said Prunella with a hint of disappointment. "I'll get your clothes."
As the rat girl stepped out of the bedroom, Dwayne stood up and brushed the skirt he was wearing to straighten it. He couldn't change out of Prunella's year-old dress fast enough.
----
"Truth or dare, Dwayne," Arthur repeated impatiently. The other boys in the circle--Buster, Binky, Brain, and George--all stared at the monkey boy, waiting for him to make a decision.
"If I choose truth, they'll ask me if I'm a clone of Muffy," Dwayne worried silently. "But if I choose dare, they'll make me do something utterly humiliating, like take off my pants, or kiss a girl."
If the question was too embarrassing, he could always lie, he thought.
"Truth."
Arthur didn't miss a beat. "Are you in love with Prunella?"
Dwayne's heart nearly leaped out of his throat.
"Uh...er..." he sputtered.
"Well?" Arthur demanded.
He knew the right answer, but he feared to reveal it. Yet the other boys had probably guessed from his pallid, shocked expression that he was, indeed, infatuated with Prunella.
He had to answer the question. Everyone was waiting.
He opened his mouth to speak...
...and then he woke up.
He couldn't figure out how he had been transported from Arthur's living room to a water bed in a darkened place. He was mostly covered in a blanket, his head resting against a down pillow. He remembered going to sleep, waking up as a boy, attending the sleepover, and now this...
In his confusion, he was able to determine one thing--he was in Muffy's room. Yawning, stretching, and groaning, he noticed that his voice had risen slightly in pitch. Excited at what this might imply, he shoved the blanket away, leaped from the bed, switched on the light, and stepped in front of the full-length mirror.
The ecstatic Muffy Crosswire smiled back at him. "I'm me again," she enthused. "It was all a dream."
The wish she had wished so fondly throughout her nightmare had come true--she was not a boy, but a girl. Relief washed through her heart.
Thrilled to be alive, she bathed quickly and changed into her dress. She virtually floated to the dining room, where Claude the manservant had set out three bowls of piping hot oatmeal--one for her, one for her mother, and one for the glum-looking red-haired boy sitting at the other end of the table.
Muffy made a habit of hating oatmeal, but on this occasion she was grateful to be pumping food into a little girl stomach. The boy across from her took small bites and chewed slowly, as if he was scheduled for execution at the end of the meal.
Then the full meaning of the dream dawned upon Muffy, and empathy for the hapless Dwayne filled her heart. She laid her spoon upon the table, staining the varnished surface with oatmeal.
"I'm so sorry," she said quietly.
Dwayne's eyes widened, as if he had never heard those three words from Muffy.
"I've been so insensitive," the girl went on. "I didn't understand how hard it was for you, being a girl stuck as a boy. But I just had a dream that made it clear to me."
Dwayne's lips started to curve upward.
"From now on, I won't make any demands of you," said Muffy. "If you want to be girlish, that's fine with me. If you want to go to Prunella's and wear her old dresses, I'll look the other way."
"Uh, thanks," said Dwayne, unsure what to make of the girl's change in attitude.
"If there's anything I can do to make your life as a boy easier," Muffy offered, "just ask."
Dwayne smiled with elation, yet the back of his mind was concerned about something.
How had Muffy known about the dresses?
----
THE END