Tabitha's Ballet Wish

This story is inspired by the Ballerina Dad captions. Enjoy

Tabitha's Ballet Wish

“AAAAAAAHHH” Aaron screeches in pure terror, looking at himself in the mirror.

His daughter Tabitha and his wife Samantha look at each other with concern and then together they run to Aaron who’s in Samantha’s bedroom.

“Dad?” Tabitha squeaks, busting into her bedroom with speed, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m a…..G-G-G-G-G-GIRL,” Aaron howls, staring at himself in pure disbelief.

Both Samantha and Tabitha look on in shock. Aaron is no longer Samantha’s husband or Tabitha’s dad, he’s metamorphosed into a four-foot-tall blonde girl with blue-eyed who looked about ten years old. He or rather she is wearing pink ballet shoes, white tights, a pink leotard, a pink tutu, and a little crystal tiara. A far cry from the jeans and shirt he was wearing moments ago.

Tabitha, who’s dressed almost identically to Aaron, recovers the quickest, “You said you’d come to practice with me! And now you can. We’ve got matching outfits—so cute!”

“I said I’d come,” Aaron replies, freaking out as he turns to face his daughter, “But as your dad, not like t-this!”

“Oh. Sorry,” Tabitha replies, bowing her head like she’s in trouble. Rubbing the back of her leg with the top of her slipper-clad foot, a cute little habit of hers, she asks, “Can you still come?”

“Can I come?” Aaron exclaims, “I’m so short. Look at what I’m wearing. I look like your younger sister. I-I…”

Finding her courage, Tabitha interrupts him and claps with excitement. “I think you look so super cute!”

Annoyed that he got cut off, Aaron has to look slightly up at his daughter, who’s now taller. Mutter to himself, he huffs under his breath. “I can’t be seen like this.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Tabitha smiles, drawing her mother’s attention back to her. “I made Daddy my little sister too,” confesses Tabitha, more than a little proud of herself.

Unable to look away from his adorable little face, Aaron continues to ramble. “I look so stupid and girly,” he complains, throwing a mini tantrum.

“ ‘Stupid!’” Tabitha explodes, allowing her pent-up frustrations out for the first time. “Well,” she shouts loud enough for Aaron to stop and look directly at her. “You won’t change back until after practice, so you’re going to have to come!”

Aaron looks at his daughter’s anger in stunned silence. Always the peacemaker of the family, Samantha gets down on one knee so that she was on the same level as Tabitha. “What do you mean? Did you turn Daddy into your little sister on purpose?”

“Well, it wasn’t entirely me,” Tabitha replies, wiping a single tear from one eye, “Auntie Clara helped.”

“Aunt Clara,” Aaron erupts, pulling at his frilly skirt in irritation. “I should’ve known that magic-wielding family of yours had something to do with this.”

“Oh, Aaron, please calm down,” Samantha says, looking over her shoulder to the little girl that used to be her husband. “Why do you humans always assume witches are at fault?”

The room falls silent. Samantha takes a calming breath to clear her head and then points out. “Besides, Aunt Clara hasn’t been here in months.”

Samantha then smiles and calmly turns back to her daughter, “What do you mean Auntie Clara helped, sweetie?”

“She gave me a wishing candle for my birthday,” Tabitha answers.

“What’s a wishing candle?” Aaron asks, having to look around his wife at his daughter.

“It’s just like the candles mortals put on their birthday cake,” Samantha quickly explain. “But with this one when you blow it out you really get a wish.”

And you’ve saved your candle all this time?” Samantha questions, softly running a finger through her daughter's hair.”

“Yep,” Tabitha grins, looking very proud of herself. “Auntie Clara said I should save it and use it for something I really wanted. And I really wanted Daddy to come to ballet practice. He never comes. He always says he’s too busy.”

Both look at Aaron. “What? I AM busy,” Aaron defends himself, throwing up both hands. “Someone has to keep a roof over our heads and food on our table.”

“OK sweetie,” Samantha says, turning back to her daughter with a stern expression. “I need you to think really hard. What were the exact words you spoke when you made the wish?”

Tabitha thinks for a moment, then smirks. “I said ‘I wish daddy would come to my ballet lesson and dance with me from start to finish.’” Tabitha then smiles. “I also wished for a little sister too! I guess they both came true!”

“Wait, you want a little sister?” Samantha asks, looking more than worried by the pressure. Shaking it off, she smiles at her husband in his cute little outfit “Still, Aaron, isn’t it sweet that your daughter wants to spend more time with you?”

“Precious,” Aaron responds with a deadpan expression.

Samantha stands and turns to Aaron, “Well, I think it’s pretty obvious what WE have to do…”

“Ban your family from this house, forever,” Aaron responds sarcastically, not entirely joking.

“No,” Samantha gives him a chastising glare, “You’re just going to have to come to Tabitha’s ballet class, tonight. Maybe letting yourself be vulnerable might be a good thing. You’ll certainly understand our daughter better.”

“Yeah,” Tabitha cheers. “I can wait for my friends to meet my new little sister. She’s just as adorable as I’d imagined!”

“You’ve gotta be kidding, Sam,” Aaron whines like a little brat. “Do I have to?”

“If you want to change back—you do,” Samantha replies, gently patting Aaron’s head. “Besides darling, she really isn’t asking that much, is she? It’s just one time.”

“Fine,” Aaron looks at himself one more time in the mirror and cringes, “I’ll go wait in the car.”

“Good thing we saved Tabitha’s old buster seat,” Samantha teases, touching up her makeup. “Safety first!”

Watching his wife struggle to fit Tabitha’s old buster seat, Aaron feels useless, unable to help. His tiny frame and frilly outfit make him so uncomfortable, he hides behind his daughter as every person passes on the street.

Once the pink car seat is installed, Samantha grabs her husband and picks him up with ease. Fastening him into the seat, Aaron sticks his tongue out in protest. Samantha simply smiles.

Waiting patiently for his wife and daughter to get strapped in, Aaron winches as his wife adjusts the driver's seat of his car. Instead of complaining, he decides to simply sit and stew on his thoughts. This is what I get for marrying a witch. Not to mention letting her witch relatives visit whenever they please. Of course, my wife was in on this. She couldn’t wait to see me in a tutu.

“Come on Mommy,” Tabitha says, eager to get going. Looking over at her dad, she kicks her feet with excitement. “I can’t wait to show you what I’ve learned, Daddy! Maybe I can teach you!”

“No, thank you,” Aaron replies, realizing at that moment, for the first time, that his voice has changed too. “I’m going to stay out of everyone's way.”

Watching his daughter's expression sink into a frown at his comments, Aaron looks at his own reflection in the car window.  Man Up Aaron, he thinks to himself, feeling bad. You’re doing this for your daughter.

Samantha buckles herself in and then looks into the back of the car. “Everyone ready back there?”

“Ready to go, Mom,” Tabitha reports, “Dad’s first ballet class awaits.”

When they arrive, the dance hall is packed with girls and boys of all ages and sizes. Aaron hasn’t felt so small for years. Feelings of his childhood rush back into prominence. Tabitha, on the other hand, is thrilled. He’s never seen her so enthused. He can’t help but smile as he sees his daughter coming to life with such joy.

Pulled into the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by girls now taller and older than him, Aaron grits his teeth with determination. He’s going to try his best for his daughter's sake!

Thirty minutes later, sweaty and demoralized, Aaron slams into the floor of the ballet studio for the twelfth time. One of the other girls calls out, “Miss, that little girl has fallen over again.”

Aaron doesn’t move. Oh crap, Aaron thinks as he realizes something that makes him die with shame. That little girl is me. Aaron gets himself into a sitting position and begins to weep thinking, why is this so hard?

Samantha rushes over and squats in front of Aaron. “Aaron,” she says, handing him a tissue, “What’s wrong?”

He refuses the tissue and wipes his eyes with his forearm. “This is too hard,” He exclaims with a sniffle. “I want to go home.”

“Are you sure?” Samantha asks in a tone he felt was a little condescending.

“I’m crying in front of everyone,” Aaron reacts petulantly through more tears, “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Didn’t you have to finish the lesson though?” Samantha replies with a knowing smile.

“I don’t care! Please, take me home right now! I hate this! Everyone is laughing at me!!”

“Did you want to drive?” Samantha asks with a wry smile, hoping her husband would remember the wish and what was required of him.

“You know I can’t drive in this girl’s body!” Aaron whispers angrily, through gritted teeth. “Don’t tease me or we are getting a divorce.”

For Tabitha and Samantha, the ride home was perfectly normal. Aaron rode all the way home in silence. His wife was listening to her favorite radio station. Tabitha was watching a movie on the car’s video player and Aaron couldn’t help but watch too.

The silence gave Aaron time to reflect on his behavior. he had to admit he was pretty ashamed of himself. He would have never thought ballet could be so hard. He hadn’t realized this because, as his daughter had pointed out, he had never been to a lesson with her. And that, of course, was the whole reason he was in this mess now. He had blamed everyone else tonight except the person that was truly responsible for this predicament, himself.

He had not really tried that hard at ballet class. Tabitha had not asked for much and once again his failings had ruined the class for her. Well, that stops now,Aaron pledged to himself. When we get home and I get back in my body I am going to beg for Tabitha’s forgiveness and I’m going to go to every ballet class and recital for the rest of the semester. With that decided Aaron closed his eyes and just enjoyed the ride home. Unfortunately, when they got home, everything changed.

Aaron felt the car stop. He heard Tabitha and Samantha undo their seat belts and get out of the car talking about dinner. He counted to thirty and then he opened his eyes. He looked in the review mirror and saw a little girl staring back at him. He hadn’t changed back. Aaron Screams bloody murder.

Not wanting to deal with her husband’s inevitable emotional outbursts and finger-pointing, Samantha had gone inside quickly. She wanted to give Aaron a few minutes alone to properly come to grips with his current predicament. She also needed to call Aaron’s work and let them know Aaron would not be in for the next few days. She then sent Tabitha upstairs to get changed and bring down one of her old dresses. All that accomplished she set to making dinner.

Aaron had yelled himself horse in the car. Then he walked into the house with his tail between his legs.

“What’s with the grumpy face, Aaron?” Samantha asks, enjoying her husband’s misery more than she knows she should. “You asked me to take you both home and I have.”

“Why haven’t I changed back into a man?” Aaron growls

“You weren’t listening to our daughter, were you?” Samantha remarks, “She said she wanted to do a dance lesson with her—start to finish.”

“I did,” Aaron argus, feeling himself getting overwhelmed. “Doesn’t this silly tutu show that?”

“You didn’t finish the lesson, my love,” Samantha, explains, trying desperately to hide the smile forming on her face.

Aaron sighs. Samantha promised herself that she was not going to rub it in and make Aaron feel worse. Tabitha, however, made no such promise to herself.

“Yeah, Dad,” Tabitha appears from upstairs, holding a small purple dress. “You won’t change back until you complete one with me.” Tabitha hands the dress to her mom and whispers in her ear. “This is so funny Mom. Dad’s my little sitter now.”

“Come on Aaron, let’s get you out of that ballet costume,” Samantha commands, talking at him like she’s his daughter. “Tabi has been so gracious to let you borrow some of her old stuff.”

Samantha helps Aaron out of his leotard, tights, and tutu. She then hands Aaron the old purple dress that Tabitha had found for him to wear. Aaron took it and just stares vacantly at it. “Do I have to wear this?” Aaron asks, grumbling as he tries to work out how it goes on.

“You want to wear your tutu all night?” Samantha replies, letting a little sarcasm sneak into her voice. “Fine if you wanna wear that sweaty outfit for bed, but I promise a dress will be much more comfortable!”

“No,” Aaron answers reluctantly, pulling the purple dress over his head.

As he works the dress down over his body, the dress flutters around his knees. The thin straps cling to his exposed shoulders and he feels somewhat revealed to have clean clothes on.

“Well, isn’t it lucky that Tabi’s old stuff fist that cute little body of yours, Aaron,” Samantha gushes, placing a hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “I’ll tell you what. Tomorrow I will see if we still have any of Tabitha’s old clothes and if we don’t, we can go out and get you some new clothes, OK.”

“No. Not OK,” Aaron sulks. “I don’t want new clothes,”

“Don’t worry Aaron,” Samantha consoles him, picking him up in her arms. “This is only temporary. By next week we will have you back in your old body.”

“Next week?” Aaron squeaks in fear, trying to get out of her arms and failing.

“Yes,” Samantha continues, rocking Aaron gently back and forth. “That’s when the next ballet class is.”

“Oh, good grief,” lamented Aaron, “What about my work? Maybe I can work from home and avoid all meetings!?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Samantha grins. “I have already taken care of that. You’re on vacation for the next week.”

Aaron didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to do. He was completely lost. Samantha began to hum a lullaby that she used to sing to Tabitha, which Aaron actually found very soothing. “Look,” Samantha says, finishing her song, “Please, cheer up. I’m making you both chicken nuggets for dinner.”