This one celebrates the Pride Month & my Birthday Month!
He was not a boy, no…. He was definitely not a boy. He never felt like one. He didn't like the plain clothes, he didn't like that he couldn't play with his mother's things. He definitely didn't like the violent and rough games boys played. He did like girls, he liked the pretty things they had, all sparkly and beautifully with curly patterns; But, the boys would make fun of him if he played with girls, so that was that. Sitting alone in the porch, Lil' Dave Lee Curl would often watch the pretty ladies go by in their flowy skirts and fancy shoes and that would make him smile.
A scrawny boy with blonde hair, he was a pretty and delicate thing. His mother Mei Lee was the town's seamstress and he would often be seen at her little store in the garage helping her pick out the embellishments for the dresses she made. As he got older, he would help her out at the store with darning and other small things. The ladies of the town who came to the store often teased him, they said
"Lil' Dave is to pretty to be a boy Mei… you should make him a dress and put him in a pageant…"
Some were kinder and said
"He'll be a real heartbreaker when he grows up"
His mother would smile and let the commentary pass. His father Mr. Adam Curl was the town butcher with dreams of expanding his business. He hated having his son becoming a sissy and blamed his mother for making him weak and spineless. The first time he'd ever taken his son to the shop, he'd thrown up within minutes. The couple would often have fights about it. They would scream and shout and break things. He would hide in his room reading embroidery magazines, memorising the patterns to him clam down.
Things got worse as he got older. His father insisted he join some sort of sports club and become a man. He joined the soccer team to please his father's British origins but Mr. Curl was far from impressed with his only son being a reserve. Often he'd skip soccer practice and go watch sewing classes sitting on a tree, hiding between the leaves as the old lady taught young girls about cuts and fabrics. He'd come home and try to identify them from the leftover scraps. Sometimes he'd even practice on leftover fabric hiding in his closet with a torch at night lest his father find him, but one day he did. That day his father beat him within in an inch of his life. He took all of Dave's 'girly' things and burned them in the backyard as his son pleaded and cried. His mother tried to save him but she got beaten too. Dave tried to help his mother but he barely crawled up to her and fainted.
It was a small town, his father had friends and one of them was a cop. The cop's family had a pig farm. That's where they disposed his mother's body. The cop took Dave to the hospital, he told the doctor there had been an accident. Dave was in the hospital for what seemed like a lifetime. He had several broken bones but it was his sprit that was truly shattered. His father was too busy and never came to visit him. Some of his mother's customers would come with soup from home. However, his cold unfeeling eyes and silence drove them away too. The doctor in charge was the only one who got Dave to eat and sometimes even look at him as he spoke. Dave would watch the doctor treat all his patients gently and with love. The doctor even asked him repeatedly who had hurt him because he refused to believe that it was an accident. Dave knew better now. He knew his mother had not left them and run off. He knew that if the doctor helped him, that he would be in danger. The doctor was the only man who'd ever touched him with the same gentle care he got from his mother. Dave was too young to understand what he was going through but he'd slowly began to fall in love with doctor. That was as much doomed from the start as his love for sewing.
After getting discharged Dave would often find or feign reasons to come visit the good doctor. It was not long before they began to meet outside the hospital, sometimes for a coffee or to have breakfast before Dave headed off to school. They would speak of everything from life to philosophy, politics and even universities that Dave should apply to. It was still a small town, he was still just a boy. He was terrified that if he let his feelings get the best of him that his father would make his only friend in the world vanish. So he said nothing. School came to an end and it was time to apply to University. Lying about a sports scholarship, Dave finally got out of the horrible town. For that time he was truly free. London was amazing. His father's business had prospered and he was happy enough to be rid of his son's gloomy presence in the house to send him a fair amount of money each month.
It was the late 1980's and subtle shift in the attitude towards Trans people in England had begun. For the first time, Dave knew what he was. He had thought for the longest time that he was, for lack of a more polite word a 'Faggot' but no, he was not a 'Gay' man he was a 'Trans' Woman. He would never forget the day he wore a dress for the first time. When he had finally looked at himself, he cried. He was beautiful! For the first time, he felt like he looked on the outside, the way he felt on the inside. He stood there mesmerised by his reflection, disbelieving of the present but hopeful of a better future.
He looked so good as a girl, his friends would often call him fem fatale. He took on the name 'Lee Culry' for his feminine avatar and would often spend entire weekends in dresses. These life changing revelations, being surrounded by people who were open about their gender and fought for it, being in a university where only his skills in fashion mattered; It was a heady cocktail for any 18 year old to get lost in. He laughed and danced and dressed up every weekend. He excelled in his classes and took a lover. In his happiness, he almost forgot his roots, his little provincial town, everything that had hurt him. It was truly the most glorious six months of his life, and then… then came Christmas and it was time to go home.
He was no longer the same scared, confused boy who had left. His first stop was the hospital where he met his old friend but he was not there. Hoping to catch him later, he headed home where his father first unceremoniously admonished him for his excessively effervescent clothing and then informed him to be present at a formal dinner that was being hosted at Christmas Eve. As he turned to leave, his father said something that made his blood run cold. With an extreme air of nonchalance, his father barely looked up from his paperwork and said "… and Dave, I don't want Lee Curly showing her face in this house, or outside of it ever again…" . Fear gripped his very fragile soul as his father continued "… also, fashion is an interesting choice for your first year, but I expect once you're done fooling around, you'll change your department to business…. After all someone has to manage this cold meat empire after I'm gone… Oh and the good doctor who fixed you… He left town… The same way your mother did… That's all… you may leave…"
He all but ran up to his room, his palms and forehead slick with cold sweat, his heart was beating furiously in his chest. He barely left his room for the next couple of days only coming out during meal times. He was panicking he told himself, there was nothing his father could do to him once he left. Even as he thought it, Dave didn't truly believe that. That man had murdered his own wife in cold blood and then gutted the pigs that ate her. He could do anything he wanted to him. His father's subtle hints of violent consequences of foolish choices only fuelled his fears. As he sat curled up on the floor of his room, he finally realised. The only way he would truly be free of his father was if his father was no more. The more he thought about it the more courage he found. A boy who had never hurt a fly, was contemplating murder.
With a strong resolve and a plan of action in mind, he finally walked into his father's study late evening. Without looking up from his papers, his father said "What?". He was still a little terrified as he mumbled "Could I come to the factory with you tomorrow?". His father stopped scribbling and looked up. "Finally, you've come to your senses… Good… I have some work tomorrow but the car will take you to the factory… Skinner will show you around." Dave nodded his thanks and was leaving when his father said "Take a barf bag if the smell still bothers you…" Dave might have slammed the door of the study harder than intended but his fear had finally turned to rage, and all of it was directed at the one man who'd backed him into a corner. Over the course of his vacation, he studied the business of his father, the ins and outs of the product and the money. He also learnt how to slaughter different animals from Mr. Skinner. The first time skinner had let him work on a dead animal, he'd done a fine job but thrown up later. He soon graduated from dead to live animals and before he knew it, in his rage he would relish the blood and the gore of it all. Finally the night before new years eve, he creeped into the bedroom and slit his father's throat as he lay sleeping. So clean and precise was the cut was that in the whole town beloved that Skinner could be the only man who could have done it. After his father Dave went to Skinner's house and cut out his tongue. He promised him that he'd take care of him once he got out of prison. After setting the company's affairs in order, Lil' Dave Lee Curl returned to the London fashion circuit but this time he'd changed his name to Cruella De Ville. She would go on to become one of the most iconic names in fashion with a new found passion in furs.