32 -CONTEMPORARY TV FICTION

Back in the den, my embarrassment turned to raw fury. I hotly debated with myself. Wayne had all but quit fighting for himself. I'd pledged to stand by him. Yet, I still hadn't a clue of what to do!

"Hello, Ron," a vaguely familiar voice sang, interrupting my deep thoughts. "What do you think of our COVER GIRL?" Spinning around, I immediately leered. "Cover Girl. . .I thought he was to be a uni-sex model? I think, Ms. Delatore that you're ruining Wayne's life!"

"I couldn't disagree more. In fact, I'm CREATING a life for him others can only dream about! Didn't he tell you about his raise?"

I shook my head as she continued, "Being able to model girl's clothes too tripled his potential and his advance.

I quickly did the math. It was a LOT! "But what you're doing isn't natural. He's a guy and..."

"These are the NINETEEN, not eighteen NINETIES, Ron! Don't confuse sex and gender. Wayne has the look which sells. It just happens to sell women's apparel! After he gets a good taste of modeling, he'll never what to change, you watch."

"Never!" I gasped. But she didn't respond as her attention was drawn toward the staircase.

Clasping her hands, she gushed, "Oh, how BEAUTIFUL! I can't get over the progress you're making, sweetheart!" "WAYNE?" I anxiously panted.

"He makes a lovely girl, yes?" Rachel asked, in an intimidating lilt.

At the center of attention was my poor, pathetic friend. All dolled up, his sheer, black patterned nylon clad legs were snugly encased atop four inch, black patent leather pumps.

"He's becoming a STUNNING creature," Mrs. Carr boasted. "The black, sheath cocktail dress's positively GORGEOUS!"

Throughout his debasing, I tried reading Wayne. His glamorous painted face, elegant French braided hair and gold hooped earrings aside, he expressed not an iota of emotion only CHARM! LEARNED CHARM!.

"So sweet of you to come, Ron," he said with flat effect, in no more than an airy whisper. "Perhaps you'll visit another day."

BOSOM BUDDY -33

It was ALL wrong! Wayne never talked like that, especially to ME! But as I slowly left, the faint sound of "ocean music" drifted down from upstairs...

My first day on the job, I was teamed with a trucker on an interstate haul. The first leg went without a hitch. But coming back, we broke down in Yuma and had to wait a week for spare parts!

Two weeks had past since I had seen Wayne. As soon as my truck pulled into the terminal, I made a bee line for his house. I again felt guilty for my lack of support.

"Sorry, Ron," Mrs. Carr frowned. "Wayne left yesterday with Rita. They'll be gone for a week. But I'll tell him you came by."

I grunted, stomping back to my house. "If Wayne doesn't care, why should I?"

Yet I couldn't quit on him! Rachel sure was manipulative, but there had to be something else at work and I knew JUST what it was!

Over the next few days, working local cartage kept me in town. Biding my time, I awaited the right moment to spring my plan.

"Rachel!" I smiled as she stepped out of the corner drug store. It appeared as a chance meeting, but I had secretly stalked her for hours! "Things quiet with Wayne out of town?"

"I suppose," she sighed. "So, what's up with you these days?"

Telling her about my trucking job dovetailed perfectly into my plot. "Being on the road three days straight sure gets boring. You think I can borrow one of Wayne's nature tapes?" "Well...ah.. .I don't know," she balked. My suspicions confirmed, I pressed her. "Sure, guess it's okay," she relented.

Later, with the tape in my hot hands, I ran home. Dusting off my old cassette player, I popped it in.

"DAMN!" I spat, after playing both sides. An hour of rustling trees and tweeting birds left me with a splitting headache, as well as a peculiar clamminess all over.

Seething, I yanked the plug from the wall. The aged batteries must've had some juice left, because the recorder kept playing, but at a far slower speed.

"...Think pretty.. .Feel pretty...BE PRETTY!" a softly seductive female voice gently ordered over slow, droning back-