Rascal's First Halloween
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman

-3-
Rascal's Reflection

I thought mom was just joking when she said she'll allow me to dye my hair blue to match my cosplay. But on this lazy Thursday afternoon. I found myself sitting in a vinyl salon chair, with a heavy, salon cape draped over my shoulders and tied firmly at the back. This was my first time visiting a salon and I found the lingering chemical smell a bit weird. It was also very noisy.

But my mind was not on the noise or the harsh smell of chemicals that seemed to linger in the air, or the chatter of little old ladies getting their hair permed. Heck, I was not even bothered by the side-eye look some of those little old ladies were giving me. No, my mind was on something else.

I'd recently discovered a new mentor, her name was Aylesea Malcolm and I found her writing style enduring. I mean she wrote about places I knew, and in her stories she mentioned cities I'd been to too. I felt a certain kinship with her, as I did with most writers who wrote about the south. Also I adored the way she titled her stories. I mean, be honest with me, you know you're going to read a story called. Pillow Fighting with Kin Jong Un.

And while I was still working my way through her collection, two stories really stood out to me. A Change Will Do You Good. Was the first one that came to mind. It was kind of a tragic love story with a transgender element. I'm not ashamed to say that I found myself reading that over and over again. Though rereading made me want to drive up to Memphis and find the girl. To know beg for writing lessons. 

I'm going to come out and say it, it was among my top one hundred free stories that the site hosted. The second one that really stood out to me was A Cracker Barrel Christmas. This one was my list of things to read. That aside.. one story I'd read had made me question myself.

Like I said before, I considered Emma Anna Tate the beating heart of the community, and I was slowly building myself up to read her Aria series. It was a massive four volume collection. The sheer length of it made me shake in my boots.

But returning to the matter at hand, I had recently read a story by her that haunted me. It was beautifully written, and poignant and I do not use that word lightly. It twisted my heart and made me sit down in front of my bedroom mirror and really take a deep, hard, long look at my life. The story I'm talking about was For Us, the Living.

For me the story echoed some of the sentiments that the broader transgender community would feel toward somebody like me. I was still questing myself. But this would be my second time appearing in public in crossplay. I guess I should define what crossplay is. Heck just let me copy and paste it for you.

According to Urban Dictionary, crossplay is a form of cosplay where a person dresses up as a character
of the opposite sex. It is a portmanteau of “cross-dressing” and “cosplay” commonly seen at anime conventions, pop culture events, or in online media.

Now returning to Emma Anna Tate's wonderful, For Us, the Living. After I read that, I had to wonder if I was doing the right thing. It was hard to put into words. But I felt that I was doing the  main character an injustice. I did not consider myself transgender though I admit of late I'd been wondering what it would have felt like to be born a daughter of Eve instead of a son of Adam. To be chased by boys instead of chasing girls. To be courted instead of the one doing the courting. Though I would often joke that Hell would freeze over before I ever found myself with a girlfriend.

I just found myself pondering how often I could face the “Dragon” before the “Dragon” overcame me.

“Okay hon.” The woman said, taking a deep breath. “We're finished. I gotta say, I've done a lot of coloring jobs since coming here. But never have I dyed somebody's hair blue before. But I think it turned out pretty good.”

I blinked and found myself being spun toward three mirrors. I blinked as I looked at my own reflection. The reflection in the glass was not of a Hot Topic regret, nor was it the reflection of the basement dweller who spent most of his time eating Hot Pockets, Pizza Hut Pizza, Taco Bell, drinking gallons of Mountain Dew. Which I was not, but often people thought casual video games were just that. People who lived in their mothers basement and lived off of nothing but Hot Pockets, Pizza Hut Pizza, and carry out from Taco Bell or McDonald's and drinking nothing but gallons of luke-warm Mountain Dew.

No, instead the reflection I saw took my breath away, the stylist had transformed the head of shaggy hair into the classic Shojo Schoolgirl bob. And she had done an excellent job with the dye job. A few skips of the heart later I noticed how the bob seemed to bring out the warmth in my eyes and seemed to really frame my oval face. While I still looked androgynous, I could see that I had titled a good four degrees toward the feminine side. The Sailor Moon shirt and jeans really helped.

“Thank you!” I said blushing as I admired myself in the mirror.

“No problem, you look cute, plus, you're a teenager, gotta go wild and experiment right?” The stylist said smiling as she stepped back to admire her work. She then quickly added. “So, your mom told me you're doing this for cosplay right?”

I guess at this point the stylist was trying to make some small talk.

I nodded my head, and then before I could stop myself I found these worlds came tumbling out of my mouth.

“I'm going as one of the Sailor Scouts.” I paused. “I'm going to be Sailor Mercury for Halloween!” I said proudly.”

And that is how I took another small step.

End Chapter Three