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the door for Mary but quickly restrained himself. He must learn to behave like a woman, he thought. Mary started to say something but thought better of it.

Then Mary drove John to White Plains and they entered a jeweller's on Mamaroneck Avenue. When the man said that they did pierce ladies ears, John was seated in a chair, while the operator sterilized his needle. Mary whispered to the gentleman and he seemed to agree to something. John could not hear it.

The operation was soon finished and it did not hurt very much. John thought, "Now I am truly branded as a woman, there is no turning back now." Then the jeweller inserted a small gold ring in each ear.

While John was still seated the man came with a tool which looked to John like a small soldering iron. He thought nothing of it and thought that the man probably had to sterilize the rings. He felt the rings get very hot, first one and then the other. He yelled "ouch."

"It's alright, Lady," the man said, "You won't lose them now, that's for sure.'

Then it dawned on John. Mary had given instructions to have the ends of the rings soldered TOGETHER, so that he could no longer take them off. He started to blush in anger and wanted to shout at Mary. Then his submissive nature won out and he resigned himself to the situation. After all, as long as he had holes in his ears, he might as well have rings in them too.

Then Mary took John shopping. She bought plenty of underwear. She bought for 12 white slips to wear under uniforms. Also panties, bra's, stockings and everything that John might need for the next 12 months.

When they came out of the store, they ran smack into John's secretary. John wanted to run away. He was sure Mary would give his secret away. Fortunately, the girl was not too sure about what she saw, and Mary introduced him as John's sister, Gloria. "Thank heaven for Sis," John thought. This was the second time she had saved his life.

Finally, they went home where John began to calm down a bit after all these exciting experiences. Mary told him to go and prepare dinner while she packed his suitcase with everything he would need. It had been decided that John would leave tomorrow for the villa of Dr. Hepstein to begin his training.

That evening, little was said. Mary called Dr. Hepstein advising her that she would deliver John the next morning at 9:00 am. Dr. Hepstein answered that everything was in readiness for John's schooling.

John slept little that night. He tossed and turned and his thoughts kept returning to the things which he might expect in the

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next period of his life. He realized that it would be most important for him to pass all the tests and he was determined to give his new life a real good try. No matter how hard it was going to be. He tried to picture in his mind how it was going to be, but then he realized that it was nothing but empty speculation.

Finally, early in the morning, the bliss of sleep came over him.

CHAPTER SIX

When John woke up he heard Mary already fussing about, somewhat to his surprise. He had expected that he would be ordered to serve her breakfast in bed. He slipped on a robe.

With a feeling of apprehension, he remembered that today, his first day of "girl" school would begin. If things went well, he would never spend another day as a man. He took a shower and quickly dressed. He noticed that Mary had already prepared his clothing. A simple blouse and black skirt. He attached his stockings to his waist-cincher, smoothed out his attire and paid special attention to his make up. He combed and brushed his hair and regretted secretly that it was not longer. However, the permanent had fluffed out his hairdo quite a bit and it did look attractive in a pert sort of way. Finally, he was ready and he went downstairs where Mary asked him to prepare the breakfast and to hurry about it. When it was ready, Mary and John sat down together at the breakfast table, probably for the last time in many months.

Mary looked somewhat thoughtful, and her usually hard face seemed to show strain, almost as if she was concerned over what was about to happen.

John, taking advantage of what seemed to be a weak moment, said, "I will sure miss you, Mary. What are you going to do while I