12

They were soon joined by Midge and Marge. Wiggling twisting, cavorting, they grimaced and jumped to the rapid bead of the phonograph record. Then back to the bood where I was demurely waiting and sipping my malt.

"Don'cha dance, Lily?" Marge panted.

and I step the next one."

"Let's you

"And--any-

" I--I don't jittervug, "Į protested. way I've got a bun knee," I added inspirationally. Barbara glared at me and later, on the way home, she snorted.

"Bum knee! What do you think you are, a football player? Girls twist their ankles, wrench their knees but they don't have "bum knees". Will you please re- member that you are a GIRL! How can I go around telling everybody that you're my 18 year old cousin Lily if you ace like a stupid MAN?"

The next afternoon I was cleaning up my room when Dora entered.

"Lily, take off that housedress and put on a pretty one. My bridge club is here and we are two women short. You and Barbara will have to fill in." Then, the strangeness of the transition of my position became glaringly evident. At this bridge par- ty I was introduced to a group of women, many of whom were not any older than I, yet who placed me in the same catagory as Barbara. We were regarded as teen- age young girls and treated as such in the condescend- ing way married women have towards their younger sisters. These women spoke politely enough to me but in a vague sort of way I sensed a note of patronizing that left me in no doubt that they regarded me as too young to really. wount. The same held true for Barbara but she seemed to be too vain to notice it.

As was usual when a group of women get together, the conversation came around to men and to husbands in particular. Mrs. Selby, one of the women at my table was saying,

"Men are such babies, My husband Jack has to havein everything at his fingertips or else h's completely lost"