Samantha and Emily cut through the backyard, chatting with each other as their topics drifted from the moron leader of the squad, Denise, to who was cute on the football team, then to which movie of two showing down at the local theatre would be the best to see, and back to verbally abusing Denise, who both could see was nothing but a dumb blonde and neither could figure out why Denise had been made squad leader.
"I mean," Sam said, "It's not like she knows what she is doing. Please, it's not that hard and I have seen her grades. She should be able to figure out what she is supposed to be doing. If this doesn't change soon, I am just going to quit."
Emily, nodding in agreement, was also thinking of quitting to as squad just wasn't what it used to be anymore and about to comment, she stopped when she looked up at the house her friend lived in and halting in mid-step, she instead asked, "Did you leave a light on in your room?" knowing that Samantha hardly ever left lights on and considered wasting electricity a big thing.
Stopping, Sam looked up at her room and for a couple seconds could not figure out why there was a light on in her room. Figuring out that it was her closet light, she decided that it was her mother. And then dismissed the notion, her mother had told them all this morning that she would be working late with Mr Donner at the Law Firm tonight.
"I could have left it on this morning," she explained in a voice that did not quite carry the fact that she truly believed this and adding, "I mean. I was in a hurry and all," as she started walking toward the house.
Next to her, Emily heard the fear in her friends voice and asking, "Could there be anybody else at home," as they approached the back door, she thought about what they were supposed to do if there was an intruder in the house, one of those things being not to go into the house and remain outside as the called the local law enforcement agency.
"Tad is supposed to be home by now," Samantha explained. "He said that he was going shopping for his Hallowe'en costume after school."
Thinking for a moment as Sam opened the back door, Emily hissed out, "He or any of his friends are one those types of weirdoes that get off on dressing in girl's clothes?" and the started to silently giggle at the image of six foot two tad with his stocky frame, stuffed into a pair of Samantha's hip-hugger jeans and one of her short-sleeve shirts.
As she closed the door, Samantha gave her friend a withering look, which Emily could not see in the darkened back hall. Kicking off her shoes and dropping her bag, Sam commented, "So far as I know Tad does not have any friends. And he never once showed any inkling to wanting to dress in my clothes. Or even in the clothes of the girl he had been dating about a year ago," as she hung up her coat and opened the door separating the kitchen from the back hall.
"Ugh," Emily replied. "I remember seeing her a couple times. Mandy Jenkins. She went from school slut to town whore in the space of one grade. No wonder you brother broke it off."
Above, they could hear somebody moving across Samantha's room in quite a bit of a hurry and whispering, "Come on," Sam starts across the kitchen and up the stairs, reaching the top just as Tad disappeared back into his room.
Heading for her room, Samantha clicked on the overhead light and began to take in her bedroom, noting that some of the stuff she left on the floor had been moved, "Probably by somebody falling over the stuff," she thought, and going toward her closet, she pulled on the cord inside, bathing the small walk-in space with enough light to allow Samantha to see that nothing in the closet had been disturbed.
"What the hell was he doing in here?" Emily asked, to which Sam replied, "If, he really was in here," and falling back into their usual form of banter, the two began to speculate on why Tad might have been in Sam's room and after a bit, their conversation shifted and eventually drifted back to Denise.
----
Three hours later Sam's dad came home with Ted, who he had picked up from practice on the way home from work. Asking if she could go over to Emily's place had resulted in a row and in the end the only way that it could be settled was an agreement that Emily could stay for dinner and then the two could, "Go off and do whatever it is that you do to pass your time," as Samantha's dad had put it as he shucked off the overalls he wore to the garage he owned.
When dinner was finally ready about an hour and a half later, Sam and Ted's dad told one of them to go up and get Tad for dinner and looking eager to do this, Ted volunteered to do so. Moments later, Ted was back downstairs and saying, "The worm claims he is not feeling well," to which their dad did not say anything and after a minute or two, they all could hear the sound of Tad moving about upstairs.
Glancing at his oldest son, their dad said, "You go up there and tell him that if he is well enough to get out of bed, then you are well enough to come down for dinner," as he shifted the knife and spoon around next to his plate, stood and headed towards the kitchen.
Ted disappeared upstairs and after a couple more minutes, they could hear him stomping back down the upstairs hallway and then down the stairs. As Ted appeared in the doorway, and their father came back from the kitchen opening a soda, Ted commented, "He says that if he hurls it is my fault," to which their father did not respond and instead began to pour the soda into the glass next to his plate.
Moments later, Tad came down, hugging himself and as Ted began to give him flack, Samantha thought it odd the way Tad's shirt stuck out. Something that wasn't helped when Emily started to giggle and whisper in Sam's ear, "Oh my god. Your brother has breasts."
"How," Sam whispered back. "He did not take any of my bras and from the way it looks to me, he clearly isn't wearing a bra," as she noted that not only the way he held himself, but his posture and the way he walked was also feminine. And then, as Tad sat down, Sam also noticed that there was also something off about his height. Something that made him appear shorter.
As Ted and their dad sat down, Emily whispered, "Maybe he bought himself a bra," and then lapsed into more silent giggles as Samantha surreptitiously studied her brother from across the table, thinking that there was something else that was off.
Between her own glances and the conversation with Emily, it took her all of dinner to figure out that the other thing that was off was that Tad appeared to have white fur encircling his neck and wondering why Ted or their dad did not notice, she figured that it was something they simply did not pay attention to and that it would be something a girl would notice because most girls were in tune to the sort of stuff that involved the body. Especially if since their own bodies insisted on changing and betraying them from puberty on.
"Oh my god," Emily whispered as Tad, who had just asked to be excused, was walking past them. "Will you take a look at his butt."
Not really wanting to check out her brother, Samantha glanced in her brother's direction and then did a double take when she saw what appeared to be a rather noticeable lump right were his tail bone was. As Emily lapsed into more silent giggles, she whispered, "What the hell. It looks like he has a tail," to which her friend commented, "I know?"
"A tail? Breasts? Walking and holding himself like a girl? What is going on here?" Samantha queried as Tad disappeared upstairs and looking at her father, she asked, "May we be excused?"
An "I don't care," greeted her and picking up her plate, Sam hurried to the kitchen with Emily.
Once they had taken care of their dishes, Samantha told her friend, "I am going to find out what is going on here," and heading upstairs, she marched down the hall toward Tad's room, considered either banging on the door or barging in, both options she really did not like, and instead began to silently twist the door knob.
When she found it to be locked, she hissed out to Emily, "It's locked. Any ideas?"
Pushing Sam aside, Emily removed a hair pin from her hair and squinting, the only light coming from the crack under the door, she began to pick the simple lock, having done so any number of times to get into her own room whenever she had locked herself out.
A soft "Click" announced the lock giving way and turning the door knob, Emily peered in through the crack and nearly started to giggle out loud.
Instead she pulled back and closing the door, she commented, "Oh my god. He's masturbating."
"So what," Samantha shot back. "That isn't something new. I've known that he does that for several years now. Have known ever since I saw him carrying those girly magazines to his..."
"No, "Emily hissed out, cutting Sam off. "I mean that he is masturbating like a girl. He is lying on his bed, wearing some sort of body suit that has lumps made to look like breasts and the genitals between the legs, much like an actual girl's vulva."
Pushing her friend aside, Samantha whispered, "Let me see," but before she could open the door a crack, the light inside Tad's room clicked off.
As she opened the door a crack, Emily asked, "Does your brother suddenly get off on wearing strange, furry body suits and masturbating like a girl?” to which Samantha had no answer and instead swore and pushing open the door, she headed across the room and peered out the bedroom window.
When Emily finally joined her, Sam simply commented, "What the hell. He just jumped out the window," and looking down, she searched for her brother, but found that she could not locate him.
Next to her, Emily was feeling puzzled about this and spying the bag from the costume shop, she asked, "What's this?" as she peeked into the bag and then took out from within the mask and paw-like hands and feet to Tad's costume.