A new thing for John

"I noticed your nails aren't looking very healthy, John." The therapist said and went to her desk.

"Really?" The boy asked looking at his finger nails. "I think they look just like always."

"Then your nails have been unhealthy for a very long time." She took something out of her desk and went back to John. "But I have something to fix it here. So would you please show me your hands?" John held his hands towards the woman, who knelt before him. She opened what she had in her hand, put a small flask on the floor beside her and holding John's hand she brushed a clear liquid on his nails. "This is a clear nail-coat to not only make your nails become healthy again, but to also prevent them from getting damaged." She said again lying about the real purpose. "Girls and women like to use the colored version of it, even some men do. But most men prefer this clear coating."

"I saw mom coating her nails with something like that." John said while his nails got coated. "Bot dad doesn't use any."

"And who had better and healthier looking nails? Mom? Or dad?" Dr. Valentine pronounced the word 'mom', making clear what the answer was. "Most men just don't care about the health of their nails, but you should. Having healthy nails will make you more popular."

John looked at his coated nails. They really looked better with the coating.

"And there aren't only the finger nails to take care of." Dr. Valentine took John's shoes off.

"What are you doing?" He asked surprised.

"I'm going to treat your toenails too." She answered as she took off his socks. "They really need some treatment." She started to coat his toenails with the clear nail-coat she used on his hands. "You should regularly treat your nails with this coat. At least twice a day. And don't clip them too short. That'll only damage the nails even more. Better let them grow out like most girls do. They know why they have longer nails than most boys have."

"Doesn't that make them look girly?" John asked looking at his toenails getting coated.

"It's the other way around. Longer nails look girly because you see them mostly on girls. But that doesn't mean they are a sign of being girly. It's more a sign of style and a good style will make you popular." Dr. Valentine turned it so John would not think of long and coated nails as girly. And now that she was at it, she could use it even more. "Even coating the nails in a colorful coat doesn't make them belong to a girly person. They are just an expression of a person having style and the guts to show it. Same goes for the lips. Having a colorful 'lip balm' applied to your lips doesn't mean you are girly, but that you are brave enough to show that you have style." She finished coating John's nails and stood up. "Or do you think your colored 'lip balm' makes your lips look girly?"

"No, it doesn't." John replied. "It just shows that I have style."

"And that is something to be proud of." She smiled loving how she could make John believe everything she said. Just a step further and he would walk proud in public with his painted lips and his girlified nails.