Doctor Alex Smith, a pediatrician and his wife Mary, a registered nurse, had three children, Tony age ten, Charles age eight and Grace age five. They had a dog named Leo, who although not officially hers belonged totally to Grace.

During Tony's early years he appeared to be gender neutral. This may have been due in part to his mother having wanted her first child to be a girl.

As an only child she had no experience with how to raise a boy. Tony's dad was also an only child who grew up without a father, so he too lacked experience with raising a son.

Not wanting to put pressure on him, Tony's parents allowed him to freely express himself.
Although it made his dad a bit uncomfortable, Tony was allowed to wear a skirt with his jeans, but only while inside the house. He was also allowed to wear his hair just a bit longer than most boys his age wore theirs.

Tony accumulated a sizeable collection of dolls. The condition being that he had to pay for them out of his allowance.

Two years after Tony's birth, Charles was born, he was muscular, athletic, and masculine; he was all boy.

Their dad was ecstatic, and as soon as Charles was old enough, they started playing catch. They wrestled, boxed, and just did all kinds of boy things.

The pleasure this brought to their dad was not lost on Tony, and it did not take long for him to ask their barber to cut his hair to a shorter length.

He put away the skirt and the dolls and began to join his dad and his brother Charles in their physical play.

One day Alex brought home a puppy that the family decided to name Leo. He was a chocolate brown mix-breed with lots of fur, whom the family fell immediately in love with.

By the time Grace was born, Leo was fully grown. He was drawn to her and so was the rest of the family.

As soon as she was able to, Grace claimed Leo as her dog, and he accepted her as his primary owner.

Leo was so much Grace's dog that if Grace was getting punished, he had to be locked out of the house, he could not stand seeing her be unhappy. Whatever Grace told Leo to do he would try his best to do.

Mary and Alex spared no expense in dressing Grace in all the frilly dresses, shoes, ribbons, bows, and buttons befitting an adored little girl.

Grace had all sorts of dolls and tea sets, everything a beloved daughter should have.
Then one day when Grace was about five years old, she saw an advertisement for the All-American Girl® doll. Of course, her parents bought her one. Grace chose the doll named Courtney, she said it was because she could see much of herself in that particular doll.

Courtney was beautiful. Her hair was thick and easily cared for. She came with a book that was about navigating the struggle of dealing with family dynamics. Grace also like that she could design certain facets of the dolls wardrobe and her appearance.

Grace began to spend so much time with Courtney that she all but ignored her other dolls.

Tony was torn, looking at Grace and Courtney, he was painfully reminded of his former fascination with dolls. He would dress them, brushing and combing their hair constantly.

Grace noticed that Tony seemed to spend a lot of time visiting her room as she worked on perfecting Courtney's world. She would invite him into her room to watch her dress and groom Courtney. He would reluctantly decline and tear himself away to pursue other activities.

One day the family heard a loud scream come from Grace's room. They raced to her room to see what was wrong.

Teary eyed, Grace announced that Courtney was missing. Leo went to his favorite person on earth and tried to console her by whimpering and licking her hand.

With a look of sudden insight, Grace told Leo, to go and find Courtney. Like a soldier responding to a command, Leo took off and sniffed around the house, then went into the yard and started sniffing around.

He went to a secluded area of the yard and started digging. Seconds later he started barking loudly. Grace ran to where he was and pulled Courtney, her body wrapped in plastic, from a hole in the ground.

Grace noticed the looks on her parent's faces that were aimed at Tony and she quickly said, "Oh Leo. I am so sorry that I have been ignoring you. You must have burried Courtney to get my attention."
Grace hugged and petted Leo setting his tail to wagging furiously.

Everyone relaxed, none more than Tony. Later that evening he stopped by Grace's room to thank her for diverting suspicion away from him.

With a stern look on her young face, Grace told him,
"Listen, I know who you are. I know what you are about. If this ever happens again, you will be very, very sorry!"

With a clear understanding of her threat, Tony nodded his head and almost said, "Yes mam."

He scurried down the hall to his room and locked the door. He thought to himself, "This girl is evil and she scares me."

Grace definitely seemed to be advanced for her age. Her grand aunt Thelma said,
"Humph, that child has been here more than once! I see my grandmother Alice and my auntie Jessie in her."