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Billy and the Swapped Baggage – Short Story.

 

“This is going to be my worst holiday ever!” Billy thought

Billy followed his mother angrily. He tilted his head down and let his medium-length hair hang in front of his eyes. He wanted his hair to be longer, but his mother wouldn't let him. Boys' hair isn't that long, she used to say before they went to the hairdresser.
Billy dragged his luggage through the departure hall of the airport. Going on a trip was nice, but the way it had to happen was not.
Billy knew he had a nocturnal problem and there was nothing he could do about it, and that the pee would come at night in his sleep when it came.
But now it was before dinner! Why did he have to wear all that stupid Drynite already from home when it was nowhere near bedtime?
His mother had argued that once they arrived at the airport, they would have to go through check-in, then security, then wait at the gate to get to the plane, and there was little chance of changing underwear. But still?

Having to walk into that stupid Drynite. That alone made it his worst holiday so far.
At home, Billy had spent a long time looking at himself in the mirror. First he had quickly put on the Drynite - he didn't like to see himself naked - and then he had looked at himself with all his clothes on. Not quite the clothes he'd like to wear, not quite the style he'd like to wear, but at least they covered the Drynite well.
His sister Mila, twelve years old and three years older than him, walked along in a happy mood. She was especially excited: it was the first time the family was travelling by plane, and she was amazed. She didn't care about the little thundercloud that came along at the back of the queue.

Billy's mum tried to cheer him up. "You were so good in the school play at the end of the year, playing the title role. It looked really brilliant. And that was when it was the first time that you had ever acted in a play."

Billy was silent; it didn't help. He'd been acting all his life, so he'd had plenty of practice, but she wouldn't understand.
Dad was checking the tickets and nervously scanning the area for the right desk.

"David!" he suddenly heard someone shout and everyone looked around for the source of the sound.

"Hey, hello Dirk, I didn't know you were going on holiday too?"

David and Dirk, two of each other's colleagues, introduced their families. The family stood together in a small group and Billy faced a girl of about the same age who smiled kindly at him.

"Hello," she said shyly to Billy.

Billy still felt furious inside, but of course it had nothing to do with the girl. He did his best to return the smile and quietly said "hello" in return.

"Look, we have the same suitcase," the girl said, pointing to her own luggage.
Billy took a good look. He put his suitcase next to it for easy comparison. It did look exactly the same, he couldn't detect any difference between them.
Suddenly there was a horn and a car with a bunch of trolleys in the back drove towards them. Everyone quickly gathered their luggage and took a few steps to the side.
The two fathers said goodbye and agreed to have dinner together after they had passed through check-in and security.

With a sigh, Billy placed his tray on their table in the restaurant and sat down in his chair. He immediately felt the bulge under his bottom from the Drynite, and if he had a real cloud over his head, there would have been thunder and lightning all over it now. Billy had already noticed several toilets here and it seemed there would have been more than enough time to change.

"Sorry, Billy," said Els, his mother. It's my first time on a plane too. "I didn't know there would be so much time here."

In silence, Billy started to finish his plate. His mum had better understand that he was in a bad mood.
Billy knew that there were underpants in his rucksack. His mum was terrified of luggage getting lost and everyone, including herself, had to carry clean underpants, a toothbrush and toothpaste in their hand luggage. He was eager to go to the toilet and switch his underwear until they had to board the plane. But he didn't want to argue with his mum, so he put the idea out of his mind.

"Here we are!" David waved to Dirk, who also came up. The girl came and sat down next to Billy with her food and they soon got to talking. They had some interests in common, such as theatre, drawing, crafts and reading. As Billy's stomach filled and he chatted, his mood lifted a little.

The other family left. Their flight had left fifteen minutes earlier. They were going to Turkey, while Billy was going to Portugal with his parents.
The flight itself was disappointing for Billy. The take-off was exciting, but the time afterwards was like being on a big bus. It was dark and cloudy and there was not much to see out of the window. Billy kept himself entertained with a book for the first half hour of the flight, but then his mum made him put it aside to go to sleep. Billy didn't feel tired and there was a lot of light and noise, making it difficult to sleep. With the monotonous hum of the engines and the lights turning off, Billy finally managed to fall asleep.
Still half asleep, Billy missed much of the landing, check-out and taxi ride to the hotel. In the hotel room, his parents didn't bother to change his clothes, they just took off his shoes, jumper, stockings and trousers. They saw that his Drynite was still dry, so it didn't need to be changed. The luggage was put aside in a corner and soon the hotel room was quiet and dark as everyone went to sleep.

 

The next morning, Billy woke up to his father muttering on the phone. While he was on the phone, he walked around and fiddled with Billy's luggage.
Els and Mila were also woken by the noise.

David came back to Els and they whispered for a while. "Billy's suitcase has been swapped with my colleague's daughter."

Els sighed at the news.

"They must have switched it by mistake before checking in. Dirk has already made enquiries at the hotel, and the cost of sending the luggage back is not for the company: after all, they have not made any mistake. And then there is the fact that it can easily take six days for everything to arrive".

"It's almost not worth it." Els thought.

"That's why he suggests that we just take the luggage home ourselves and exchange it later. Then nothing can happen to it."

"Tell him that's fine. We'll go shopping for Billy here."

David called back to Dirk to make further arrangements.
Billy suddenly felt icy cold. There was a pack of Drynites in his suitcase! The other girl would find out he was wearing them! What would she think of him! Billy was now even more certain that this was going to be his worst holiday ever.

"My Drynites," he whispered to himself.

Mila heard what was going on and knew what Billy was thinking. "Don't worry about it. You will probably never see her again and who knows, maybe she has the same problem as you? Then she certainly won't say anything about it!"

"No, that is not possible. I'm the only one!" shot Billy.

"No, you're not the only one. I also met two boys, only a year younger than you, who also wear nappies to sleep. It was at Heleen's birthday party. I saw the nappies over there in the bathroom. I think those boys were called Dries and Jasper."

Billy had a look of disbelief on his face. "That can't be," he said.

"Anyway," she said. "They used the same excuse like yourself. That they were for a little nephew who comes to visit once in a while," she said with a smile.

"Well, we can take whatever we want out of the suitcase and use it for Billy." David said, ending the call with Dirk.

"That's nice, then we can get Billy into a pair of fresh clothes."

 

Els picked up the suitcase, put it on a table and opened it. "Let's see what we can find."
Els looked around and found a pair of red shorts and a yellow t-shirt. The T-shirt showed that it was actually a girl's model, but that was not very noticeable. She fished his underpants out of Billy's carry-on and sent Billy to the bathroom to wash up.
After David, Els and Mila had also freshened up, the family set off together to find the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
After breakfast, David, Els and Mila wanted to explore the hotel and the surrounding area. Billy preferred to play on his games console in his room.
David saw that his son needed some peace of mind and allowed it. They agreed that Billy would stay in the room until they came to fetch him for lunch, or to call on his mobile phone if he wanted to arrange something else.

Billy settled down on the terrace of the hotel room and enjoyed a few games on his game console. But after an hour, the batteries were dead. Billy put his console aside to recharge and looked around to see what else he could do.
He was drawn to the suitcase that was still open. He walked over and spread the clothes out on the bed one by one so he could have a good look. He was taken aback when he lifted a nightgown out of the case. There was a pack of Drynites too! Not the one he had; there was a girl on the wrapper instead of a boy, but otherwise it was the same.
He wondered if his sister was telepathic. She correctly predicted that the girl had the same problem as he did. Billy was relieved to have an ally, someone he knew he could trust not to tell his secret.
He took a Drynite out of the box and put it underneath his pillow ready for the coming night. This one had a different design than he was used to, but he didn't mind. This one looked pretty nice to him.
Under the pack of Drynites was another pink onesie with Disney princesses on it, which Billy also prepared for the next night.

 

Happy now, he went through the rest of the clothes. He liked to lay everything out, make combinations and try to imagine how it would look on him.
When he saw a particularly beautiful dress with glitter, he couldn't hold back any longer. He took off his clothes, put on the dress and stood in front of the mirror to look at himself.
Billy looked at himself and felt himself getting all warm. This looked like it should. With tears of happiness, he turned in a circle in front of the mirror and lifted up the bottom of the dress.
After a moment of admiration, Billy looked back into the suitcase and saw something else he wanted to try on. He took a nice skirt and top and went back to the mirror. He admired himself one last time and then took the dress off.
The underpants with the bulge in the front sticking out under the dress made him shudder. He quickly turned away from the mirror to avoid seeing that image again.
He looked through the clothes in the suitcase and saw a pack of knickers. He took off his own boy's underpants and put on the girl's. Standing in front of the mirror again, he felt a little better.
He quickly tucked his boy parts back between his legs, squeezed his legs together and stood up nicely. Now there was no sign of any bulge near his crotch. This was the way it was supposed to be. He was so jealous of all the girls who were born the way he was meant to be.
Billy put on the top and skirt and rummaged through the luggage. After all, he had heard that he could use anything he wanted?
He saw some hairpins in the toilet bag. He sat down on a chair in front of the mirror and fiddled with the pins in his hair. It wasn't easy!
Billy only paid attention to the suitcase and the mirror. He shut everything else out of his world for the moment.
While he was busy with the pins, he suddenly heard the lock click and the door open. David, Els and Mila stood there looking at him in bewilderment.

"Billy, what are you wearing now?" exclaimed Els. "Take that off, it's not for you!"

Billy's eyes filled with tears. He had felt so happy for the last hour, and the disgust he now felt for his mother was emotionally damaging and heartbreaking.

"But Mum!" cried Billy. "Why do you always make me pretend to be somebody I'm not? Why did you make me a boy, why don't you love me?"

 

Els had expected a lot, but certainly not that answer.
David pushed everyone into the room and closed the door behind him.
Els sat down and took Billy on her lap to comfort her. "I love you," she sobbed back.
As tears streamed down Billy's cheeks, David and Els remained silent for a moment. With Billy's last statement, some pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. The reason why he had always looked so depressed. Mila's Barbies that had disappeared and been found in Billy's room, the glittering shoes that Billy always looked at in the shoe shop before going to the boys' section. His aversion to football and rough play. That Billy usually came home with girlfriends and rarely with boyfriends. That he wanted a doll for his birthday...
The longer they sat, the more things came up.

"Billy," David asked. "Do you really want to be like a girl?"

"No, Daddy, I don't want to be like a girl. I am a girl already. I just don't have the right kind of body."

Els made a quick switch in the back of her mind.

"Billy, no problem. Keep the skirt and top on. Come and eat with us later that way. And if you want to try the other dresses, skirts, jumpsuits and everything else for the rest of the week, go ahead. We think it would be good."

Billy looked up at his mum. "So you do love me..." he said with a big smile.

Mila, meanwhile, had rummaged through her own luggage and came in carrying a small make-up kit.

"Come on, my little sister. We need to do something about your eyes."

Mila took her time with the eye shadow and then continued with the nail polish, lipstick and make-up.
With a smile that David, Els and Mila had never seen before, Billy looked at himself in the mirror.

"This is going to be my best holiday ever!" Billy said

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