(Short Story)Tuesday Tulip: Yellow Tulip

Tulip Fancy

Tulip looks great in yellow.......

   I knew it was a mistake mentioning to Kelly that I liked the colour yellow as now it had become the theme of my summer wardrobe. It was nice though to get out of my black and whites after work and into something a bit more colourful and my wife definitely approves and shows it in her affection towards me. 

   Sunday is normally a day of rest for us after a week of work and chores. Salon, Gym, sport and socialising on Saturday. We just sit around at home or go for a drive to a country pub for lunch. Today we stayed home and I was preparing a light lunch to eat in the garden. My wife said to make enough for three as Angela may drop in as Peter was in the hospital and Angela can't cook. 

   Angela came and I served them in the garden. She had come straight from the hospital. Peter was fine but was staying an extra night. They had gone private so they don't rush you out the door. They started talking business so I went in and ironed our blouses for the following week. 

  Later on, I was sitting at my vanity brushing my hair. And yes, in a yellow nightie and a sleeping corset. I was surprised how comfy the sleeping corsets were compared to my day ones. They were restricting without being too stiff. 

   I asked what was wrong with Peter. My wife said that Angela was helping him be the person she wanted him to be. Angela preferred Peter to dress and act as effeminately as possible but behind closed doors he has become very argumentative and defiant. He was finding the shame of being a pansy out in public hard to deal with. She was refusing to let him hide it saying Nancy boys secretly crave attention and being mocked was what a fairy like him should expect and except. It had come to a head when he was sent to the barbers for a trim and blow dry. There was a queue of men smoking. All listening to the races while replays of old boxing matches played on the silent tv screens. They were all waiting for their five-minute trims and Peter had to ask if it was possible to have a lilac tint put through his hair as well. Apparently, he looked quite ill when he came home without the lilac tint. My wife said that Angela had been quite firm in reminding him that there was nothing wrong with a pansy looking like a pansy in this day and age. She told him the next time they were in the supermarket he could pick up a home tint kit and do it himself at home. She was hoping he would have attracted the attention of a young swain by now. Been swept off his feet and experienced real passion. But with his growing reluctance she was having to use higher and higher levels of correction to get him to understand what she thought was his true nature. She was adornment that the only persons judgement he had to worry about was hers. Out of desperation and for his sake she consulted a specialist who advised the need for a small procedure to make it impossible for him to pretend to be manly and so take the pressure off him. I knew he always wore unusual clothes. Velvett suits, frilly shirts and neck scarves. I thought it was just his style. He rarely spoke and was not allowed to work outside the home except for two hours a week in a charity shop.

 I had been getting recipes from him for a while and hadn't realized he was unhappy. I would never dare to say it but wondered if perhaps Peter wasn't really a pansy.

  She laughingly told me that he was jealous of me as people either turned to admire me or not think anything odd about me. Whereas when they turned to look at him it was to point and laugh. I had moved into bed beside her by now and was snuggled in her arms. She said I had nothing to worry about as my delusions of manliness were gone forever. Replaced by a more appropriate feminine disposition. I was embarrassed to be reminded of how far I had come. I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or a statement of how much my life had changed since we met and what I had let happen to me. As if to prove her point she held my matching yellow hair ribbon as she pushed my head down under the covers and down her body....