The Last Time He Wore A Dress

"Billy, will you play with me?" Angie asked, batting her big blue eyes.

"What do you want to play?" he said, sitting on the foot of her bed.

"Princesses."

Billy looked at his little sister. She smiled, and stuck out her bottom lip, clutching her hands in front of her.

"Fairy princesses?" he asked.

Angie shook her head. "MAGIC princesses."

Billy smiled. "Okay, magic princesses sounds like fun."

Two years ago, he never would have said yes. Not in a million years.

"But," said Billy, "you have to pick out my dress." He scooped her up in his arms, and rolled her oxygen tank in front of them, all the way to their parents bedroom.

Mom stood in the door way with her arms crossed. "What are you trouble makers up to?" she asked.

"We're playing princesses," said Billy.

"And, I gotta pick his dress!" Angie shouted. She always wanted Billy to wear a dress when they played. Every now and then, he would let her pick his dress out. Just because it made her smile.

Mom looked at Billy. She tried to smile as a tear ran down her cheek.

'Now that you are the oldest William,' his Dad had told him four years ago. 'You have to take care of your sister. It's your job to protect her. Make her smile. Always. Never make her cry.' Those words ran around his head today, as they did each time Angie asked him to play.

Angie picked out a blue shiny dress for Billy, and a bright yellow one for her. Mom helped them put on their lipstick. Angies favorite part is when you blot your lips on kleenex after you put it on. They take turns holding kleenex infront of each other. Angie giggles as Billy tries to eat his.

"Do I look pretty?" she asks. "Like a Princess?"

"You are always pretty," he says. "But, you can't be a princess."

Angie frowns.

"Not yet anyways," he said, scooping her up again and rolling them into the kitchen. He opened a drawer, pulled out the roll of aluminum foil, and tore off two long sheets. "You can't be a real princess," he said, "unless you have a crown."

He wrapped the first sheet of foil around her head, careful not to kink the oxygen tubes, but covering up where her hair would be. Then, adding the second sheet, he started twisting and squishing it. He made it into a big heart. Mom used to yell at him for wasting foil making them like that. But, the more Angie's hair fell out, the more Mom realized why he did it.

He made one for him that had horns on it like a deer, and Mom gave them pencils to use as wands. They spent the rest of the day eating cookies (princesses can eat whatever they wish), and using their wands to turn Angie's stuffed animals into "ferocious wild beasts".

Mom didn't even mind them eating cookies while wearing her dresses. 'Clothes aren't meant to last forever' she would say. Angie always wanted to wear her dresses. Lately, she was insistant thay Billy wear them too. Like a good big brother, he would ablidge, just to see her smile. That day, however, was the last time he wore a dress.