SUDSI

TE DAUGNTER

32--IV FICTION CLASSICS

that I am a girl now. She's even going to make me put my hair in curlers."

I looked at my best friend. He looked completely like a girl. What would happen to him??? Suppose he began to feel like a girl? I mean inside, too.

"How do you feel now? About all this, I mean," I said waving at his tight fitting uniform.

"I think it's horrible," Bob complained, "but Mary says I have to do it completely. . .so I'll be believable. She's going to help me practice talking in a higher voice, and...'

وو

He just stopped for a moment, his voice broke, “I even have to wear...you know...these things that girls wear every four weeks..."

I couldn't hide the shock on my face. "But that's preposterous...it's crazy. . .it's. . .unnecessary."

"I know," he replied. "But what can I do? A while back she even spanked me. . .like a little girl...saying that I should strictly obey her, or things would go worse for me. She said it was for my own good. . .whatever that means.

""

"I think she's gone off her rocker," I replied.

"She may be, but I have to keep the peace at home. My wife is still quite ill and if I don't cooperate I afraid that it will really upset her. It's easier just to go along with this plan for her sake." Bob said sadly.

I saw real tears drop on his cheeks. I put my hand on his and noticed for the first time that he wore a small woman's wedding ring with a little stone on it. Words failed me then. How could his mother-in-law be so mean to him?

"Well, if at anytime you want me to talk, just let me know, Bob. I'll always be there, that's what friends are for.'

وو

Bob nodded, trying to smile and then wiping his tears with a frilly hankie he had tucked in his uniform. "Thanks anyway," he said.

"MISS," I heard called and Bob turned his head then stood up to serve some newly arrived customers. I watched him for a while longer, traipsing around in his tight skirt and heels, thinking how very real he looked

as a girl. The next morning Bob arrived at Swifter for his first. day as a girl. Mary had done her job well. Bob wore a simple girlish blouse, transparent enough to show the straps of his slip. It was so close fitting that his false bosom bulged noticeably. I thought I could see a tantalizing cleavage at the neck of the blouse. His outfit was completed with a flaring simple, well fitting plaid skirt and stockings or pantihose. He was forced to take feminine steps in his smart business pumps and his hair had been attractively set with curls covering his ears, not quite hiding the gold stud earrings he was wearing.

Everybody in the office stared at him, of course, but after awhile, he became just another one of the girls. He looked at me helplessly as I went back to the shop. Mary forced him to join the girls for stewardess training. How terrible that must have been for him. How strange he must have felt.

From then on, I walked home with a girl instead of my buddy, Bob. The my surprise, after a while, everyone in town became used to the new girl.

I watched Bob go from a self-conscious awkwardness into a gracefully refined feminine image. His walk, his behavior and affectations, everything reflected a growing femininity. He wore light makeup everyday, just like the other girls and sometimes I thought I smelled some nice perfume.

When Bob came to my home he seemed to spend more time with Dot than with me. I once said something about that and he replied, "I'm sorry, Johnny, it's just that I feel so different now...more like Dot. . .you know..."

I didn't know. But I could guess. Bob was spending so much learning how to do his hair, make-up and junk that he was beginning to think of himself more like Dot than me. It showed in everything he did. His interests, the way he walked and held his arms. The way his long nails were polished bright red, spoke to the woman growing within him.

One Sunday night he had received permission to go