Fake Family for a Halloween

Part 1

   My name is William, I'm 35, and I'm the father of a sweet fourteen-year-old girl named Sheila. But you know, life is not always fair. And it just so happened that I have been raising my daughter alone for six years.

Events that happened to me this autumn completely changed my life. And if you're interested, then sit down and hear to my story!

It was almost the middle of October. That evening, my daughter was sitting in the living room with her friend, Kristin, and they were watching a movie together.

I heard a knock on the door and went to check who it could be.

Kristin's father, Arthur, stood on the threshold smiling and held out his hand to greet me.

I told him that the girls were watching a TV, and then I asked him if he would mind coming in and waiting until they were done.

We went into the kitchen. I gave him a bottle of cold beer, and we started chatting about everyday nonsense.

To tell the truth, we weren't friends. It's just hard not to maintain a good relationship when you live across and your daughters have become best friends.

Fate is a strange thing and Arthur is also a single father, although his situation is different from mine.

Half an hour later, the girls ran into the kitchen. Kristin immediately flung her arms around her father, while Sheila came up to me.

"Dad..." My daughter put her hands behind her back and looked at me, making eyes. Usually, she does this when she wishes to ask for something. "You know, Halloween is in two weeks!"

"Let me guess. You've thought up what outfit you want to wear this year?" I asked, completely not expecting a trick.

"We would like to match our clothes this year!" Kristin said, and then she and Sheila looked at each other suspiciously. "But that's not all..."

"Kris, do you really think it's worth trying to ask for this?" My daughter looked somehow guilty.

"If we don't try, we won't find out!" Kristin was a much livelier girl, and therefore crazy ideas were more often her initiative.

"Girls!" I looked at them sternly.

Sheila ran into the living room and returned a minute later with a tablet in her hands!

"We want to dress up like this!" My daughter showed me a picture of a family in retro clothes. "And we want you two to dress up with us!"

Arthur and I looked at each other in astonishment. Considering how embarrassed our daughters where, it was not hard to guess what they wanted, but it's not possible, we're both men!

I opened my mouth to say that it wouldn't work, but Sheila spoke first.

"We understand that what we are asking for is too much, but for at least one day, we would like to pretend to be a complete family." My daughter hung her head sadly and seemed ready to cry. "And it wouldn't even matter if it looked bad."

I turned to Arthur for reassurance, but he merely shrugged and then spoke. "In fact, it might even be funny, but I definitely won't be able to dress like this beautiful lady!"

In his forties, Arthur looks quite impressive. Broad shoulders, an athletic body, and, most importantly, he is over 180 centimeters tall! I, on the other hand, am only 165 centimeters tall. Besides, I am quite thin. If you had to choose between us, the role of a woman would undoubtedly go to me.

I turned my gaze back to the girls, who were looking at me with hope. I squatted down in front of Sheila. This girl, growing up without maternal affection, asked for only such a small thing. How could I refuse her? What kind of father would I be if I didn't fulfill her wish? "All right, all right. Let it be your way! This Halloween, we are going to dress up as a family. But I want to warn you right away that you will regret your decision when our neighbors laugh at us!