Whim Manor And the Boy Who Wasn't.

Manly Men Doing Manly Things

When I stepped out of the bathroom the next morning, Nora was trying on my black suit.

"I hope you don't mind if I borrow this," she said, examining herself in the mirror. "You were in the shower."

The knickerbockers were a bit short for her, falling just below her knees, but she made up the length by wearing a pair of opaque tights rather than socks. She had the sleeves of my white shirt rolled up to her elbows, with the vest sitting over top.

"It does look good on you," I replied.

"Thanks, I wanted to try it on ever since we found it at the shop. And honestly, I'm getting a little sick of dresses."

I panicked when I found my wardrobe bare of everything except girl's clothes, but my gray suit was laid out on my bed.

"I tried that one on too," she said, tucking her hair under her cap.

When we got to the main hall, Tilly looked us up and down. "You do know we're practicing grace and posture today?" "You might want to change into your heels," she said to Nora.

"Actually, we need to go shoe shopping." Nora pointed at our feet. I had on black sneakers, while she wore purple high-tops. "We'll make it up later."

"Did you clear this with Ms. Windsor?"

"Could you tell her for us? We're running late," Nora said, walking past.

Looking stunned, Tilly took off after Nora.

"Late for what?"

"Manly-man stuff," Nora called over her shoulder.

"You're going to get us in trouble," I said as I caught up to her.

"Then we'll take our punishment like men!"

Ms. Windsor caught us at the gate.

"Where are you two off to?!" She looked at us like we were crazy.

"Explain it to her?" Nora prompted.

"We're off to do manly-man stuff?" I said, apologetically.

"Manly men!" Nora announced.

"That and shoe shopping..." I added.

Ms. Windsor examined my feet. "Well, yes you do need to do that but—"

"I'll mansplain it to you later!" Nora boomed.

Ms. Windsor cracked a smile at that, convulsing in a half-laughing, half-choking fit. I could see her trying to say 'no', but eventually the giggles got the better of her, and she nodded. "Be home by four. You've just earned kitchen duty for the night."

"So worth it," I said to Nora, and she smiled back.

Our first stop was the used shoe store in the town square. We both stepped out wearing these fancy 'Balmoral boots with tweed uppers' as the salesman had called them, and stuffed our sneakers into a canvas rucksack.

"So, what's the first stop on our manly adventure?" she asked me.

"Well, they do have a bunch of carnival games over on the boardwalk."

"Manly games?" she asked in a gruff voice.

"Manly games!" I tried to match her tone.

Being a Monday, the carnival wasn't packed, but it was summer, so it wasn't –not– busy. There just weren't any lines.

We were passing a ball toss game when Nora stopped cold. "Harper, we need those!" She pointed to a collection of fake moustaches on the bottom shelf of a prize stand.